4: Deal With It

Qin, Li, Jiang, Long, Fendou. The five most powerful clans in Black Owl City. They are more or less equal in strength and prestige, each occupying their own territories and large businesses, but the Long clan rules over the other four, as it is the current city lord's clan. It is also the clan favored by the Dancing Reed Kingdom's aristocracy to rule over the medium-sized city because of their contributions.

Anyhow, other than the regular members, servants, guards, and elders from at least two generations back, everyone with a hint of status, including children, came out when the matter about what's happening at the city plaza was disclosed to them. They, too, want to gain some benefits. Even the city lord went to personally see the matter with own eyes.

If you can see Black Owl City from above right now, there are 5 clumps moving towards its center, where the city plaza is located. Currently, there is one big clump there.

Each clan's entourage is composed of the current clan head, their aides, the clan elders, their best fighters, the young talents and younger, and lastly, if you sugarcoat it, you can call them loyal soldiers. Frankly, they're cannon fodder.

Currently, Fendou Yi is enjoying himself with passing on paper cups and helping people increase their cultivation. The smile on his face grew bigger upon sensing the big movements from five directions.

The city plaza is currently jam-packed, but it was suprisingly orderly in the middle; a folded long line is situated there. Slight thought process manipulation did the trick.

The five clans arrived at this point of time. Seeing the groups with intimidating presence appear, not to mention the recognition of its members' identities, the crowd can't help but part the way towards the pushcart for them. As for those in line, they can only move to the side. They can't afford to offend the individuals who have come. The blowing winds also stopped shortly after.

Fendou Yi outwardly frowned upon this occurence, but deep inside, he was beaming with a nefarious sneer. He gave a glance each at the new arrivals.

"Old coot Li, so you have come," said a man with a goatee and thin mustache, wearing a verdant robe and orange loose pants. He is Jiang Luo, the Jiang clan's current patriarch. There was a disdainful smile on his face as he continued, "I know why you're here. Don't even try to contend for the miraculous ice cream."

"Hmph, you only dare to antagonize us because of our short history. The resources are for those who are capable of claiming it. Nasty codger, let's see if your clan can still compete with us in a few years," hollered a man with a bald head and flowing, dark gray mustache and beard. He is wearing a plain black robe with a red collar and hems, but his aura is anything but plain. This is Li Gang, the Li clan's current head and the person known as the 8th strongest individual in Black Owl City with his cultivation of Qi Stabilization Stage and decent expertise in battle, just below Qin Song, the current Qin patriarch, who ranked 7th and Long Daoming, the city lord and the current Long clan patriarch, who ranked 6th.

"You're right. Only the strong are worthy of it, so why not have your people go back now?" mocked Jiang Luo, indirectly boasting about his Jiang Clan being ranked 3rd among the five major clans, while belittling the Li clan for being last.

A staredown then commenced between the Jiang clan and Li clan, which caused the atmosphere to become oppressive for the bystanders. Hostility can be smelled in the air. Both sides held their weapons close, ready to engage the moment their leaders willed it. Fendou Yi grabbed his own paper cup to eat his ice cream while watching intently.

"Then, how about we have a martial exchange right now?" said Li Gang, clenching his teeth while unleashing his aura. The sudden release of inner qi strength put pressure on the surrounding martial artists and the common people were frozen, having difficulties breathing.

"Friends, we are all here for the same thing, so why not discuss things first before we proceed?"

An amiable voice interrupted the tense atmosphere. It was Fendou Dian who spoke. In the recent few years, it was always the Fendou clan who acts as the mediator between the Jiang clan and Li clan.

Long Daoming, just across the city plaza facing the Fendou clan people, concurred, saying, "I agree with his suggestion." By his side, Qin Song nodded his head, also agreeing. Both of their groups remained quiet, knowing they would get their share.

"What's up with all of you, people? Even if you compete amongst yourselves, I will only serve one paper cup per person. You all won't be able to change my mind."

Another voice interrupted the conversation between the clan heads. Everyone looked at the source of the voice. They saw the middle-aged man, who's the owner of the pushcart, licking some ice cream on his cup. Most people thought that he would have a rough time for overstepping his bounds.

"You are the vendor of this allegedly miraculous "ice cream"? It is indeed an interesting thing." stated Long Daoming, who approached the pushcart to face the middle-aged man. He has the eyes of an eagle, a pronounced jawline, an aquiline nose, long eyebrows that exuded sharpness, a smooth-looking with moustache paired with a well-kept, straight black beard, and a prominent crown of long dark hair. He is wearing a white brocade robe with the image of a Golden Five-Clawed Dragon embroidered on it. With a longsword on the right side of his hips, he looked like a general. Well, having commanded an army to fight against the region's opposition and won many battles with lesser casualties compared to the norm, he is, by every right, an exemplary general.

He was staring at the glowing, creamy solid snack in Fendou Yi's hand, his eyes expressing slight expectations because of what he has been told: the ice cream can increase one's cultivation.

"A cup costs 10 silver, dear customer. You want a cup?" offered Fendou Yi, who raised his cup to have another lick.

"Sure." accepted Long Daoming as he signalled for his aide, who lent him the silvers. After paying, he saw the basin's insides, more than half filled by the ice cream. The fragrant scent tickled his nose and refreshed him. His expectations grew higher. He gave it a taste.

His eyes then slightly narrowed. He took his time consuming his cup of ice cream. Licking it clean, his body then unleashed winds like the previous customers, but the gusts he released had a velocity the earlier ones didn't possess. The martial artists had to firmly stand their ground, while the common people were forced to clump together to avoid being blown away. The slower and weaker ones were unlucky, as they rolled through the city plaza while escorted by the chaotic wind.

'It's better than a Qi Manipulation Realm level pill! This will be very useful for nurturing talents,' thought Long Daoming as he felt a substantial increase to his cultivation base of Qi Shaping Stage.

He would've liked to buy more for himself, by either convincing or pressuring the middle-aged vendor, but with all the major characters present, he would need to take care of his reputation. Thus, he can only restrain himself.

After the ferocious gusts stopped, Long Daoming announced, "This is indeed helpful in cultivation! It has no side-effects and is delightful, too. Everyone, this is a good opportunity presented upon us," and then turned to Bao Lang, his aide, as he ordered, "Have them buy their share of ice cream."

"As you command, City Lord Long," respectfully replied Bao Lang. He then organized the Long clan people to form an orderly line. Gusts of wind blew again, here and there. Because of Long Daoming's position and network of connections, the other clan heads and their people can only wait for the Long clan to have their fill.

As Fendou Yi was serving the ice cream, he took notice of all the familiar faces in the city plaza; those of the same generation as him, his would or wouldn't be friends, lovers or enemies. He especially stared the longest on his family, who is also here in the city plaza. Looking at them all, he inwardly sighed deeply.

All kinds of memories popped up to haunt him again; those that are pleasant and despairing, ones where he felt close or distant to someone, others about how these individuals would change, whether sudden or gradual . . .

Many walked the righteous path. Many strayed from it, too. Some stuck to their beliefs until the bitter end, while some have forsaken it, either for benefits, the greater good, or their greater good. There are also those who wished to be known by the world, just like how he used to be. Youthful, confident, determined, without the slightest hint of the notion that the world will have something to hinder them, thinking there's always a way so long as one has the will . . .

He envied and admired them. Their aspirations and commitments, their justifications for actions, their good and bad intentions, their benevolence and evils, all that builds up their character, their mentality, their humanity. But now, he was numbed of it all. It made him think that the people he's looking at weren't humans, but autonomous dolls.

His curse has made it so that he will live the same lifetime, always. The constant repetition of having the same beginning has forced a concept into the very core of his being that every detail of everything he had ever known was nothing more than elements of a stage play. Or a puppet show cruelly orchestrated by the very universe he exists in, just to toy with him. And there's nothing he can do about it.

As such, the same identical circumstances that wouldn't end finally took its toll on him. Snapping, he has done many things that would either hail him as the noblest in all of his universe, or the worst, most malicious entity that even the holiest of beings wouldn't even think of redeeming him.

There were no limits, restrictions, or mental inhibitions that obstructed his deeds. Worst of all, while he did do those deeds with the thought that it will be helpful for the goal of breaking the curse's loop, it was actually for the sake of experimentation, the knowledge enlightening and maddening him at the same time. It was a complicated feeling.

He interfered with timelines, disrupted world laws, made literal tears on the fabric of space, sowed karma all around, and made use of life and death, involving others and himself, as if it was nothing more than an abacus. He even made an attempt to vanquish the entirety of his being. Yet, its results brought him farther from what he wanted to achieve: he will always be back where he started, same old, same old.

The finding pained him more than any kind of torture possible in his plane of existence. Having experienced those tortures as a basis for comparison, he knew that the pain he felt during the realization absolutely eats at him.

All he knew is that no matter what he does, whether he became an immortal ruler, a dung collector, a make-believe god, a hellborne asura or an ordinary person like most, all his efforts will be undone. And after everything, he cared no longer.

"Excuse me, I'd like my share, please."

He was snapped out of his reverie by words spoken by the charming boy in front of him. Even in his absentmindedness, his body was working on its own, but his grip on the paper cup didn't loosen and, with his strength, this boy couldn't even nudge a finger of his. He then let go, causing the boy to nearly stumble back in surprise, for he almost dropped his ice cream.

After steadying himself, he didn't get angry. Fendou Yi, who knew him better than himself, expected this. The boy then said, "Thank you." His cultivation is then fortified by the ice cream's essence.

This is Long Aotian, currently 14 years of age, and the eldest son of Long Daoming. He will be a compassionate man with a good moral compass, a sensible, honorable individual, and a generational cultivation prodigy. He is the leading personage of his generation with his cultivation level of the Qi Sensing Stage.

Through Fendou Yi's vision, one can see a kind of distortion surrounding Long Aotian; this distortion is also tethered to an ever-fluctuating, intangible, wide spiderweb-like network spread out in the skies which can only be sensed by using Divine Sense to the extreme. Well, everyone has this distortion as well, but it was negligible compared to Long Aotian's.

This distortion is their Fate Force and the spiderweb network is called Destiny's Table. The former can decide the scale of matters one will deal with in the future, while the latter can map out the directions one may possibly walk. The average person's Fate Force has a denseness of 1-2 inches, while Long Aotian's Fate Force is half a meter. As for Fendou Yi's, he doesn't know, as he neither cannot see nor confirm it, even if he asked a Spirit Keeper at the pinnacle, whose specialty lies in divinations, to look for answers.

Anyway, Long Aotian is a good man. Fendou Yi respected him from the bottom of his heart even in his first lifetime, before he knew about his curse.

Having looked into his memories, Fendou Yi found out that he used to have a crippled dantian when he was born. Because of this, Long Aotian suffered a fate worse than what he had, since Fendou Yi was still able to cultivate. He was always mocked, disdained and insulted as trash in the Long clan, though they only did it behind his back since he is still the son of the clan head. Even in this state, he had faith that the heavens won't abandon him.

And as expected, the heavens didn't disappoint. A necklace left behind by his mother actually housed the spirit of a Saint. The spirit guided him on his path to greatness, leading to him becoming a Paragon at his prime. This remained consistent for about 84.3% of his lifetimes. The remainder is where either Fendou Yi took his Fate Force as his own or bolstered it, both of which he used to fulfill his selfish reasons in an attempt to undo his curse.

'Now, that I think about it, there's only about two more lifetimes to go before I reach my 100,000th lifetime.' Fendou Yi then wondered what would happen after it was achieved; but he didn't linger on this thought further, since expectation is the killer of objectivity, according to him.

Following behind Long Aotian in the queue is an elegant, pretty little girl. She looked to be around 11 years old and slightly resembled him. She was wearing a yellow pastel gown that reaches down to her knees. Her eyes are shining brightly upon seeing the ice cream in the basin. She also subconciously gulped at how tantalizing it looked to her.

Long Xiaofei, Long Aotian's younger sister, has always been a foodie. Knowing her, she would be after the ice cream's taste more than its effect on cultivation. Just like little Dan'er, she downed the entire cup in seconds.

After finishing, she entered a short daze, which then turned into a face of longing, and then finally stared at Fendou Yi with puppy dog eyes. There was childishness and begging in her look, but Fendou Yi will never fall for it, not after he experienced hardships because he succumbed to dozens of pairs of those eyes from many other cunning women who can be considered witches or vixens, literal meanings applicable. While Long Xiaofei is pure and innocent, miles apart from those women by a long shot, he still wouldn't give her another cup, because that would break his earlier established "one cup per person" rule and it would disrupt his plans in the long run with a butterfly effect.

"Please, may I have some more?" pleaded Long Xiaofei to the indifferent Fendou Yi wearing a business smile. She'd pay additional silvers, even if she only received a small scoop, but the middle-aged man replied with a straightforward "No." She can only leave the queue in low spirits.

Many boys in line and all around the city plaza were agitated upon seeing the cute girl, who they admire and dream being together with the moment she matures, look dispirited after they saw how the vendor treated her. They then gave looks of animosity in the middle-aged man's direction. Fendou Yi snorted inwardly after seeing those lovestruck buffoons' reactions.

Next up is a young boy with narrow, fidgety eyes, thin lips and pointy nose. He is Long Dushe and he is one of the few treacherous members of the Long clan, which emphasized and instilled camaraderie and honor among its members. In 0.01% of Fendou Yi's lifetimes, this degenerate succeeded in killing Long Aotian before he was able to break through to the Core Formation Realm using despicable means.

Seeing how the middle-aged man treated Long Xiaofei earlier, with how Long Dushe coveted her, he felt that Fendou Yi's attitude was intolerable. Reaching his turn, there was a malicious glint in his eyes as he said, "See how I'll deal with you after this for offending her."

Hearing this, Fendou Yi leaned his upper body forward and spoke in a volume only audible to the two of them as he said with a hidden cheeky grin, "sEe HoW i'Ll DeAl wItH YoU aFtEr ThIs fOr OfFeNdInG hEr."

Long Dushe gnashed his teeth upon hearing this. With a grunt, he left the queue with his ice cream. After this, the Long clan finally all received their cups.

This time, it was the Qin clan that formed their queue. Qin Song was a man of few words, decisive and has no hesitation in his movements. He is also a crouching dragon, keeping a low profile at all times. His clansmen also rarely go out of their manor unless they're in needs of resources, going out to gain experience, or on a business trip. It makes people forget that their clan is the second most powerful in all of Black Owl City.

Qin Song took his paper cup without a sound and didn't consume its contents immediately. He went to a secluded corner of the city plaza before ingesting the ice cream. A gust of wind similar to Long Daoming's in strength bursted out from over there.

Only Fendou Yi can tell that he was slightly stronger than Long Daoming even though they are both in the Qi Shaping Stage. He can observe from Qin Song's body condition that he was able to complete the Body Tempering Stage. Thus, his Physique Molding status was higher than Long Daoming's, since Long Daoming only peaked at the Blood Empowering Stage before breaking through to the Qi Manipulation Realm.

He served the Qin clansmen quickly, but paused for an infinitesimally slight moment when it was a gaunt boy's turn. His face can only be considered above average, but it has a unique charm. His arms are almost long enough to reach his knees. Qin Shan is his name, and he is destined to be the greatest assassin cultivator of Turbulent Tornado Continent.

He only nodded before receiving his paper cup, then left the queue to directly go back to the Qin manor. The people of the Qin clan that went out were lesser compared to the other clans, so their queue might be the shortest out of the five clans that came.

The Jiang clan then took their place. Jiang Luo's avarice was evident on his face, but he wouldn't take action with all the pairs of eyes that are watching. He then attempted to coax Fendou Yi to give the Jiang clan all the ice cream he has on hand and in exchange, he can marry into a Jiang clan branch family. Of course, he only received the middle-aged man's reply, "I refuse." His mood soured, but right now, he can't act recklessly. He devoured his ice cream immediately and was surprised by its effects.

His Qi Stabilization Stage cultivation base reached the maximum level and he felt the bottleneck for the next breakthrough. His smile could reach his ears, while his thoughts wandered on how he can suppress Li Gang the moment he reaches his level.

After serving a few elders of the Jiang clan, Fendou Yi then met another boy the same age as him named Jiang Chen. He is a shy person and guaranteed to be Fendou Yi's friend throughout his childhood unless he decided to antagonize him intentionally. He would die of poison four years later, but this didn't bother Fendou Yi anymore. To him, with his now almost non-existent remorse, it felt like a chore to save a dying person that would be alive again whenever his lifetime is reset.

Next is a cute girl whose face looks to be around 9 years old, wearing a pink sleeveless dress, but her body's structure is similar to a twelve year old's, showcasing rapid growth. This is Jiang Ruochen, and in Fendou Yi's opinion, she will be one of the sexiest women he has ever met when she has fully matures, surpassing even some of those beauties from higher-levelled planets. Cold on the outside and warm on the inside, he married her in at least 20% of his lifetimes. When eating her ice cream, she is also way more reserved than Long Xiaofei, even though she is younger.

It was now the Fendou clan's turn to line up. Fendou Dian took his share, as did the elders and other youngsters. Fendou Yi secretly added more scoops on his family's paper cups, though.

Lastly, it was the Li Clan. The moment Li Gang came forth, he acted with no scruples as he roared, "Hey, you! How about giving all of what remains in the basin to the Li clan? Of course, we will pay you accordingly, but if you refuse because of your self-imposed rules and such, huhuhu, you will be able to find out what happens later." It was a naked threat. At this time, there is still a large bucket's worth of ice cream in the basin. If the Li clan were to have it, knowing its effects, they would be able to catch up to the other clans.

Most of the onlookers can only shake their heads at this. While the Li clan is the one with the shallowest foundation, they are the most overbearing clan as of late. They can only feel bad for the middle-aged man. Others watched on for fun, wanting to see what happens next on this interesting show.

As for the other clans' stand on the matter, they want the ice cream as well, but they don't want to have a complete falling out with the Li clan because of a street vendor. They will only think about how to negotiate, or coerce, the Li clan after they have received the magical ice cream.

Raising his left eyebrow, Fendou Yi looked at Li Gang, then put down the serving spoon on his right hand on the pushcart. He raised his right hand up to his chest afterwards, his palm faced inward. Seeing this, Li Gang smiled devilishly, thinking that he succeeded in convincing the vendor to give away his wares.

Fendou Yi then swatted Li Gang with a backhand motion with his right hand, looking like he waved a fly away. Li Gang was sent tumbling in the direction of the southwest mainroad, stopping only after he smashed through two walls on a shop's building. His appearance is currently bloodied, chest slightly caved in, and his breathing is faint.

It happened too suddenly for the surrounding people to properly register what actually happened. Also, only those who have reached the Qi Manipulation Realm were able to get a glimpse, only a glimpse of what truly occured and they were shaken to the core. They sensed the middle-aged man's cultivation base of Qi Stabilization Stage, but how was he able to completely overpower Li Gang?

The answer is that while Fendou Yi struck out with his strength suppressed only at the level of Qi Stabilization Stage, with his completed foundation, having achieved all optional stages of the 5 Minor Realms of the Foundation Building Phase; now achieved 10-star Divine Grade Physique, and acquired toughness of the Land Shaker Realm body cultivation, along with the complete control of his power because of his Primordial True Soul, his actual Qi Stabilization Stage strength is comparable to any cultivator half a step into the Dao Forming Realm, so he had to suppress his strength even further. He only used 1% of his Qi Stabilization Stage strength to deal a "light blow" on Li Gang.

The city plaza that was once bustling turned silent in the blink of an eye. Time stood still for a moment. Even the winds stopped blowing. A clan head was struck down in front of all of Black Owl City's inhabitants.

Jiang Luo, seeing Li Gang in a sorry state, felt great terror when he looked at the ice cream vendor now. Long Dushe's lips were trembling at the scene. Long Daoming, Qin Song, and Fendou Dian stared deeply at the middle-aged man in hopes of being able to probe his true cultivation base.

As for Fendou Yi, he looked at the shivering Li clan members in the queue, before beckoning them to come forward, shouting, "Next customer, please."

It brought everyone to their senses, then the entire city plaza exploded.

"Oh my god! He absolutely decked Li Gang!"

"There's a hidden expert in Black Owl City!"

"With Li Gang grievously injured, the Li clan wouldn't dare be arrogant for at least a few months."

"He might be at the Core Formation Realm!"

"If they were to see this man in broad daylight, the Li clan disciples will scatter like rats! Serves them right for being way too domineering."

The hubbub continued for a long time. It was silenced again when Fendou Yi spoke softly, repeating, "Next customer, please." This time, even though his voice is weaker than his first call, everyone inside the city plaza heard it as clear as day, having a certain timbre that they are unable to make heads or tails out of.

Unexpectedly, it was the quiet Qin Song that went towards Fendou Yi, cupped his fists, bowed politely, and respectfully asked, "May I know your name, good sir?"

He wasn't able to receive an answer, though. Fendou Yi was motioning for the Li clan members on queue to hurry up. Qin Song suddenly seemed to have understood something, so he took a step back, turned around, then left without another word. Before leaving, he told his people to continue observing until the spectacle is over and only then would they be able to leave.

The Li clansmen came to Fendou Yi's pushcart quickly and left it just as fast. The elders ordered for their clan head to be sent back to the Li manor and had the guards invite all available doctors in the city to nurse Li Gang back to good health. As for thoughts of revenge, they didn't even dare to look directly at Fendou Yi. As for those who did stare at him with negative emotions, he only told them to "Deal with it."

The Li clan queue was proceeding at an alarming phase, until it was a certain boy's turn, when Fendou Yi refused his silver coins and gave him a paper cup of ice cream for free, telling him, "The money is better used to purchase medicine for your mother, so keep it."

This boy has an indomitable will, one that even the heavens will be unable to topple in the future; but upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, the boy was stunned speechless, then recovered quickly to kowtow and replied, "Many thanks, senior." Fendou Yi nodded at him, then told him to tell his mother the good things he is blessed with on this day.

Li Feng was overjoyed, then left with a spring in his steps. Fendou Yi can see his Fate Force that is two meters in radius. The boy can only attain the World Creator Realm at his greatest, but he was able to rival Perpetuals. All of Li Feng's future achievements was for the sake of bringing his mother happiness. This ordinary goal made him go through hellish experiences. Due to being a simple-minded person, Fendou Yi will always help Li Feng if he asked for it.

The clans left the city plaza one by one, with the Fendou clan being the most contented, while the Li clan felt the most gloomy. They would be, knowing they'd be harassed by the lesser clans until their clan head has fully recovered. Lucky for them, Li Gang isn't in a critical condition.

After selling the rest of his ice cream, Fendou Yi left the city plaza with his pushcart, going down a mainroad, turning to a sideroad, then disappearing in a dark, isolated alleyway. He then kept the pushcart in his personal dimension space.

He is enjoying himself, and only he knew how crazy the things he would be doing to fend off his abysmal boredom. This is nothing compared to how he would plan on rattling the entire universe he is in for shits and giggles.

There were still loads of people remaining in the city plaza; excited, contemplating, and worried about the future. A powerhouse popped out of nowhere, the Li clan is shook, and a large amount of people powered up. Every one of these matters are significant to the common populace. They can only looked forward to the events that would take place in the next decade.