Xie Jianyu drew a spell in the air. The ancient writing gave out a bluish hue before it transformed into a translucent snake dragon and chased after the thief.
Soon, a loud cry was heard some distance away. Xie Jianyu calmly walked over and found the boy on the ground. He was desperately pulling at the shining blue rope that stubbornly wrapped itself around his ankles.
"Let me go!" he screamed at Xie Jianyu, who looked down at him with a haughty expression. "Let me go!!!"
"Is there not something that you need to do first?" Xie Jianyu asked.
The boy gritted his teeth. Tears welled in his eyes when he reached for the gold pouch inside his pocket and flung it at Xie Jianyu.
"Take it!"
Xie Jianyu caught the gold pouch lightly.
The boy started to sniffle as he sat cross-legged on the ground. Xie Jianyu had a complicated expression on his face.
Clearly, the boy was a thief. But he was a thief because his poor living circumstances forced him to be one.
Xie Jianyu knelt with one knee in front of the sniffling boy.
"Boy, what’s your name? Are your parents still alive?"
The questions earned him a glare from the boy.
"I am not a boy!" he cried out in indignation. "I am already fourteen years old!"
Xie Jianyu looked at the boy’s emaciated appearance up and down.
Fourteen years old, but he looked so haggard and undernourished.
"Fine. Young man..."
Xie Jianyu quickly covered his face with his sleeve when the thief grabbed a handful of soil and threw it at his face.
When Xie Jianyu lowered his sleeve again, the thief was gone. There was no point chasing after him after he recovered the gold pouch, so he went back to find the old woman.
In the center of Rainbell Town, a crowd gathered in a big circle. A middle-aged man stood on top of a wooden crate and spoke to the town’s inhabitants.
"Everyone, the gods have abandoned us," he announced dramatically. "There are some well-off regions to the south. Let’s gather able-bodied people to invade these towns and rob them of their resources!"
Xie Jianyu’s face darkened.
He unwittingly tightened his grip around Winter Frost. Although human beings were the weakest race of all mortal beings, must they resort to violence whenever they faced adversities?
"That’s right. I don’t want to be hungry anymore!"
"My children died two weeks ago because no one is helping!"
"We only get what we want by doing something!"
This was bad, Xie Jianyu thought as he listened to the voices of the town inhabitants left and right.
The pebble had been cast into the pond, stimulating all the pond creatures.
If Xie Jianyu did not do something soon, the entire Human Realm would fall into great havoc once again. When that happened, the Heavenly Realm could no longer do anything to help.
"That is not a good idea," the Crown Prince spoke up loudly, attracting the attention of the crowd. Everyone turned their heads to look at the newcomer. "If you need to rob others to save yourself, you are no better than demons."
The middle-aged man scowled at him. He jumped down from his makeshift platform and pushed at the surrounding people to get through.
Before Xie Jianyu knew it, he was already surrounded by the town’s inhabitants.
"Who are you, Young Master? Did you come from one of those wealthy towns?" the middle-aged man asked while smacking his lips.
"My, my, look at that jade pendant. I have never seen such shiny accessories. Even the crown on your head looks like it was made by the finest artisan."
The middle-aged man’s hand shot up. He tried to take off Xie Jianyu’s hair crown, but the latter smacked his hand away with Winter Frost’s sheath instead.
The middle-aged man was stunned to see the sword’s sheath. A few valuable gemstones were embedded within. Clouded by greed, he promptly made a few calculations in his head. If the jade pendant and the golden crown cost at least several hundred gold coins, then the sword must be worth at least ten taels of gold!!!
"Aiyahhh...!!!"
The crowd watched in astonishment as the middle-aged man suddenly threw himself to the ground. He then proceeded to throw tantrums like a little child.
"Aaaaahhh! Dear gods! Life is so unfair to me! I am just a poor, old man!" he sobbed without shedding any tears.
The middle-aged man then pointed a trembling finger at Xie Jianyu’s face.
"Did you all see it? He hit me! Ahhhhhh he hit me so hard! This young man has a beastly, violent personality! Look at him! All of them, rich people from neighboring towns are like this! Ahhh my arm... my arm is broken!!!"
"..."
Xie Jianyu was rendered speechless.
He did not deliver a very convincing performance, considering that Xie Jianyu hit the side of his hand but he complained about a broken arm instead.
Nevertheless, the town inhabitants chose to side with one of their own.
"How cruel," someone commented. "Just because you are rich, you think that you can do anything you want."
"Grab him! Take all those glittery items off him!"
Xie Jianyu slowly inched backward to keep a distance between him and the town inhabitants. They stared at him with hungry eyes. Their hands were extended in his direction, intent on robbing him of every valuable item.
Xie Jianyu clenched his jaw. What was he supposed to do? He could not raise his sword and slay these human beings, no matter how despicable they were. These were human beings after all.
His instincts urged him to either fight or flee. Because he could not fight, then he should retreat for now.
Xie Jianyu turned on his heels and dashed away, but he bumped into someone instead.
The Crown Prince rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked up at Zhang Fengxi’s handsome and youthful face.
The heir of the Longjing Palace had a wide grin plastered all over his face.