The moment those words were uttered, an immediate uproar broke out among the surrounding cultivators!
"Isn't that woman Pei Shishi from the Tian'e Sect? She's actually forging a marriage alliance with a direct son of the Ancient Clan?"
A burly fellow standing beside the speaker gave a low sneer. "Tsk, brother, don't tell me you didn't know? The Ancient Clan that the Tian'e Sect allied with is merely a subordinate branch of the Ancient Clan's Sun clan. Sending the prized daughter of their own sect right to their doorstep—probably only the Tian'e Sect could do something so shameless."
Realization dawned on the man's face, and he murmured repeatedly that everything made sense now.
Other cultivators who remained ignorant cast envious glances toward the woman in midair. In the entire Northern Region, who didn't know that the Six Ancient Sacred Sect's strength had grown by leaps and bounds after joining forces with the Ancient Clan's Sun clan? If one could truly marry into an Ancient Clan, it would genuinely be a case of one person attaining the Dao while even their dogs and chickens ascended to heaven. The gulf between the Tian'e Sect and the Ancient Clan's Sun clan was like the difference between heaven and earth.
"Tsk, tsk. Pei Shishi has truly flown up the branch to become a phoenix, eh?"
"Isn't that the truth? Looking at the way she's dolled up today, flaunting herself like that, I almost thought she was a harlot from some brothel!"
"I really don't know what that eldest young master of the Sun clan sees in her! Am I not a hundred times better than her?"
No matter how one listened to the chatter of many female cultivators, every word dripped with envy and spite.
Both Kong Xun and the young man traveling with them were stunned. Neither of them had known anything about this! To think that other male disciple had spent the entire journey doting on her and fussing over her needs—only for it to turn out that she was being personally delivered to someone else's bed!
Only now did Kong Xun understand why the sect master and elders had repeatedly urged them to take utmost care on the road.
At this moment, Pei Shishi reveled in being the center of attention. She felt like a white crane standing proudly amidst chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs. Her haughty gaze swept across the surroundings, yet the onlookers saw Sun Zhen's eyes turn slightly cold.
Looking at the woman before him, whose chest pressed against him seemingly without intent, he spoke in a frigid tone. "If I remember correctly, you should... only be a concubine, right? Fiancée? Heh..."
Sun Zhen's gaze brazenly swept up and down Pei Shishi's figure.
He did not speak another word, but the disdain in his eyes was unmistakable!
A wave of mockery immediately rippled through the gathering of cultivators below.
"Hahahahaha! I really thought she had managed to climb the high branches of the Sun clan! After all that, she's just a concubine!"
"Heh, isn't she just relying on her Primal Yin Body and water-attribute constitution to deliver herself to someone else?"
"I knew it! How could the Sun clan ever pick a fiancée like that from the outside world? But if she's just a concubine... well, that makes total sense! Hahahahaha!"
The grating words drilled relentlessly into Pei Shishi's ears!
The converging gazes made her whole body squirm with discomfort, like steel needles jabbing painfully into her flesh and blood. Her fierce pride made it nearly impossible to endure such vicious gossip and mocking stares.
Pei Shishi drew several deep breaths, suppressing the fury in her heart, and forced a gentle, pleasant smile. "You are right. This humble girl overstepped her bounds."
Sun Zhen gave her a cool, indifferent glance, then turned to the young man and said, "Sun Jie, do as I instructed. Finish the job before noon and seal the mountain."
The somber-faced Sun Jie hastily bowed with clasped fists. "Understood, Second Young Master."
After Sun Zhen departed, Sun Jie cast a beam of spiritual light into a jade slip, instantly opening a three-zhang-wide gap in the Six Ancient Sacred Sect's mountain gate boundary.
Twirling a bloodstained dagger in his hand, Sun Jie announced with a beaming smile, "Gentlemen, step right up."
Many cultivators quickly formed a long queue, handing over their previous tokens while offering an additional portion of spirit stones. In return, Sun Jie handed each person a thumb-sized feather token. Faint light rippled across the feathers, inscribed with simple talismanic formations, and their distinct colors divided them into high, medium, and low grades.
As the line moved forward, almost everyone could not resist shooting a backward glance at Pei Shishi before passing through.
Having endured the humiliation until now, Pei Shishi suddenly erupted in fury!
In a flash, she blocked the path of a burly man and said frostily, "You—your spirit stones are doubled!"
The man frowned immediately. He could tell she was deliberately singling him out; after all, his voice had been the loudest when mocking her earlier.
"Pei Shishi, this is the Six Ancient Sacred Sect, not your Tian'e Sect!" the man barked. "Are you using public office to avenge a personal grudge?"
To the side, Sun Jie's expression shifted slightly. Even though the woman's cultivation realm was not particularly high, she was, after all, the Eldest Young Master's concubine and Dao companion... For a moment, he found the matter somewhat tricky.
Before long, however, Pei Shishi's voice echoed in Sun Jie's ear.
"Please don't worry, brother. Shishi won't cause trouble; my heart is simply suffocating with irritation, so I only wish to discipline a few individuals. Later, Shishi will surely present a modest gift to express my gratitude."
Hearing this, Sun Jie decided to turn a blind eye.
A seductive smile surfaced on Pei Shishi's face. Her alluring gaze swept over Sun Jie's lower body, and then she turned around, her face instantly turning as cold as ice as she snapped, "Can you pay or not? If you can't afford it, get the hell out of here!"
The man's expression changed repeatedly. Clenching his teeth, he finally spoke in a low, strained voice. "Originally, I only had to supplement five hundred mid-grade spirit stones. Doubled... I only have eight hundred on me! Miss Pei, could you please make an exception? This is all I have..."
At those words, Pei Shishi crossed her arms over her chest and sneered. "No money? If you have no money, why were you barking so loudly earlier, huh? If you can't pay, scram! Not only are you a penniless beggar, but your mouth stinks!"
To seize this opportunity to step onto the Dao Comprehension Platform, the man had hoarded spirit stones for years. As a rogue cultivator with no one to rely on, every stone he saved had been gathered through brushes with death.
Listening to the woman's endless stream of insults, the man's eyes gradually turned vicious. His cheeks twitched slightly, and he suddenly threw a violent punch straight at her!
"Die, you foul bitch!"
A sudden gust of fist wind surged forward. Pei Shishi blanched in terror, letting out a shrill scream.
"Ah! Brother Jie, save me!"
A glint of cold light flashed through Sun Jie's eyes. The dagger spun in his palm, and he struck with blinding speed!
A streak of golden light flashed across the air, and the man's entire hand was severed cleanly at the wrist!
Li Guanqi watched the scene in cold silence.
The sharp dagger drove an inch into the man's lower jaw. The short-statured Sun Jie tilted his head slightly to look up at him, his voice icy. "If you have the money, pay up. If you don't... and dare to make trouble, then leave your life behind."
The man's eyelids twitched uncontrollably, but under the stinging pain of the dagger, he ultimately backed down. Sun Jie was extremely formidable; at the very least, not a single Soul Formation Realm cultivator present was his match.
As the dagger was withdrawn, the man cast a venomous look at Pei Shishi. Just as he bent down to retrieve his severed hand from the ground, a woman's dainty foot came down firmly upon it.
The sole ground down with relentless force, producing the sharp, sickening crunch of shattering bone.
Squatting on the ground, the man snapped his head up!
His hateful glare collided directly with Pei Shishi's haughty, downward gaze.
"Weren't you enjoying your curses earlier? Why have you stopped barking now?"
Chapter 702