The three gentlemen present all had wary looks as they stared at Yang Qing, especially the elderly man and the orange-red-haired man with a sword.
They had both clashed against Yang Qing, though briefly, that interaction left them with shockwaves running through their hearts. The elderly man had his wrists fractured with bone showing while the orange-red-haired man still felt his arms tingle from the lighting attack even though his hands had healed.
His pupils constricted when he finally saw the object clad in purple lightning that he had clashed against. He had assumed it was another weapon that matched the grade of his sword if not better but when the blinding purple lightning disappeared all that was left behind was a smooth green jade-like bamboo that was about the length of an arm. It gently floated back to Yang Qing's hand.
"Ellie it's okay," softly said Yang Qing as he placed one of his hands into the whirlwind which seized immediately revealing the cloud-swallowing kite in a disheveled appearance.
Yang Qing sighed in relief when he saw her because other than a few ruffled feathers and mild indentation she was mostly okay except for the rope burn around her neck where part of the flood dragon tendon binding rope was tied to.
Yang Qing surmised she had been trying to use the sheer force of her speed to break the rope but it would have been impossible since based on his judgment the flood dragon tendons used in making the rope were from one that had atleast reached in the middle stages of the palace realm and the craftsmanship was atleast from a blue grade weapon refiner who successfully transformed the tendons into a middle tier monarch grade artifact.
Ellie despite her sturdy body would be hard-pressed to destroy something of such a level not unless she was in the palace stage but if she was the matter wouldn't have gotten this far. She would have been able to defend herself without suffering any losses and if she decided to hide there was no way the company present would have seen through her cloud camouflaging techniques not unless they had special means or physiques like Mao Yunru's that is able to see through most illusion and camouflage techniques that were at the level of her cultivation base.
"I told you to not neglect your training. Instead, you spend your days stealing my fish. You're letting down your bloodline and talent if just three palace stage cultivators are enough to corner you this badly.
If you keep going on like this at this rate the two newcomers may overtake you, especially Haishi," said Yang Qing as he gently chastised her before sighing.
He couldn't be too hard on her since if she wanted to run there was no way the three people present would have caught up with her but she stayed because of him. It was why he decided to let up in the end.
Ellie in the meanwhile had her head lowered in shame and embarrassment the whole time and only raised it when Haishi was mentioned. A defiant will born of crisis seemed to have been ignited in her.
Yang Qing lightly chuckled at this as he sliced the remainder of the rope with his palm. When the rope was down, a green flame that was distinctly similar to the flames from the green flame tree was produced from his hand which he then proceeded to cover the whole body of Ellie with.
Ellie screeched in comfort as the flames covered her, she even spread her wings to ensure no part was left uncovered by the flames.
Once he was done, Yang Qing turned to face the three men who judging by how they were floating in the air without the use of treasures were all in the palace realm.
His gentle look swiftly turned frosty which made those facing him flinch but the golden-haired man soon recovered as a look of confidence appeared on his face.
The orange-red-haired man by his side frowned deeper and deeper once he saw the confident look from the golden-haired man. He exchanged a few glances with the elderly man who only offered a bitter smile in exchange.
"I guess I should thank you all for taking care of my bird when I wasn't around. You even went through the trouble of gifting her a monarch-grade rope around her neck.
We don't know each other but you all went through so much trouble to make sure Ellie over here was well-taken care of. Truly the Red Maple Empire is a place that welcomes its guests with the highest hospitality," Yang Qing said as he took out the token that he was handed at the border.
"It's too good for someone like me, you can have it back since I've had all the hospitality I can take from this place," he added as he tossed the wooden token over to the orange-red-haired man who caught it with a complicated expression.
From his features, Yang Qing guessed he was part of the royal family bloodline and one of the rumored four palace stage experts that the Red Maple Empire had.
Yang Qing didn't know much about him or the rest of the palace stage experts in the royal family since there were thousands and thousands of kingdoms, empires, clans, and organizations that were at the level of the Red Maple Empire, he couldn't remember them all.
But he was willing to bet there was probably a dossier of the royal family member along with the other three palace realm experts, at the main library and the branch headquarters at the Yellow plain county, a small county the size of a city that was at one of the borders between the Red Maple Empire and a rank 3 kingdom under the rule of the Zou clan.
The county was technically in the Red Maple Empire but due to its wars with the neighboring kingdom, it turned into a lawless land where victims of the war on both sides hurdled together.
Stability returned to the place when the Order built a branch there which gradually turned into a buffer zone between the Red Maple Empire and that kingdom. The name of the kingdom was the Five clover kingdom and one of the two rank 3 kingdoms located in his quadrant of evaluations.
"Fellow daoist I..," Just as the orange-red-haired man was about to speak, Yang Qing raised his hands to stop him in his tracks.
"There's no need for us to waste our time here with perfunctory remarks. It's not like whatever you will say will end up with us exchanging laughs over 5,000-year-old wine and good food and becoming sworn brothers at the end.
We are not stupid people here. The general at the border, I think his name was Qin Qiang, must have given you vivid descriptions about me and Ellie here. So there's no way you attacked her thinking she was an ownerless spirit beast but you did so knowing full well she had an owner and I'm sure there's no way she would attack a group of palace stage experts first when she is just at the late stages of the core formation realm.
So A, you are either stealing her wantonly with no care of her owner's thoughts, or B, you did it deliberately to draw me out. Whatever the reason I could care less since what must happen will happen," Yang Qing coldly said.
"And before you try to threaten me with your backgrounds, neither the Golden bamboo pavilion nor the Red Maple Empire will save you from your just rewards," Yang Qing ominously said as he tightly clenched the bamboo stick with sparks of purple lightning occasionally flashing by.
"Fellow daoist there's no need to be rush. We can resolve this amicably without a need for bloodshed. It took a lot of effort for us to reach where we are and it would be a shame to jeopardize it over a little misunderstanding.
I am willing to pay 100 high-grade stones for my slight behavior and if you are willing to part with the cloud-swallowing kite I'm even willing to pay any amount you ask. You already know I'm from the Golden bamboo pavilion so I can back my words," the golden-haired young man said still with poise and confidence though there was still some wariness in his voice.
Yang Qing's feats of breaking the flood dragon tendon binding rope and simultaneously deflecting two attacks from palace stage experts were no easy feat. Were the roles reversed he was not sure he would be able to replicate such a feat. He was both wary and puzzled on how someone who seemed just at the first stage could release such pressure that would overwhelm a third-stage and two second-stage palace realm experts.
He along with the elderly man were both at the second stage while the orange-red-haired man was at the third stage of the palace realm. Every increase in cultivation no matter how minor in the palace realm was a qualitative increase, unlike the lower realms where level skipping fights were common.
Once one reached the palace realm, fighting above your cultivation base was something only the true monsters of cultivation would do. It was why the golden-haired young man decided on diplomacy despite the confidence he had in his backing or their numbers. If a battle was to break out, heavy injuries were a guarantee. He couldn't risk it, especially with the merger underway and the opportunities that came along with it.
Yang Qing who was prepared to fight paused as he asked with a dumbfounded expression,
"You want to buy Ellie?"
"I do. As long as you name the price I'm willing to meet it," said the golden-haired man.
"There are fools everywhere you go no matter how illustrious the background," Yang Qing silently muttered as he made an exhausted sigh.
"Despite her dumb look she has a bloodline that guarantees at the very least she will reach the domain realm when she matures and you want to tell me your Golden bamboo pavilion can afford it? If it could, you'd have more domain experts in your organization since they could just buy them.
I'm a little short on time so the words end here. You need to prepare yourselves. Don't worry I won't kill you since your actions don't warrant it yet but a beating is a must," Yang Qing solemnly said as he let go of the purple lightning bamboo that floated by itself.
"Eight trigrams elemental barrier," Yang Qing said as he brought his palms together. A small circle formed in between those palms before it grew and covered a few kilometers around them enclosing them in a transparent dome.
