Coercion

"Great Elder Su is right; the talisman association did indeed release a map of the qi gathering talisman." Zhen Yuan agreed but quickly continued before the Great Elder could say anything.

"However, the map seems to be that of the low-grade qi gathering talisman. Is Yuan mistaken?" He asked with a mocking look in his eyes.

"How dare you?" Great Elder Su roared and angrily stood up.

Simultaneously, he unleashed his foundation establishment realm aura and a terrifying coercion rushed towards the two boys.

Unfortunately, Zhen Yuan was pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger.

As soon as he felt the qi presence, he unleashed his aura and forcibly crushed the Great Elder's coercion.

However, he didn't stop there.

After crushing the coercion, Zhen Yuan stood up and walked towards the Great Elder.

"You…" Su Tang muttered as his eyes widened in fear.

At the same time, he tried to take a step back.

Unfortunately, his feet were rooted to the ground.

Not only could he not move but a cold sweat had broken out of his body.

Facing the person named Yuan Shen, Su Tang felt insignificant.

He felt less than an ant and had an overwhelming urge to prostrate himself to the young man.

However, his body was frozen in place.

Although he wanted to worship the person, he couldn't do it so he stood there and trembled in horror.

'What is his cultivation level?' Su Tang couldn't help but wonder.

As an elder of a prominent family and a great elder of a branch of the talisman association, Su Tang had met many golden core realm cultivators.

However, none had terrified him as much as the young man before him.

When facing those golden cores, Su Tang felt helpless and fearful.

He despised his weakness but never had he felt so utterly insignificant.

'Is he a nascent soul realm ancestor?' Su Tang wondered.

However, he quickly shook his head in denial.

The Canglan continent was a low-level continent.

At most, it could produce golden core realm cultivators but never nascent soul realm cultivators.

Most importantly, the person in front of him was too young.

Even in mid-level continents like the Tianqi continent, it was impossible to find a twenty-year-old nascent soul realm cultivator.

'Is he from a high-level continent? Why did he come to the Canglan continent? Did he encounter a space storm or other accident?'

In the span of a breath, thousands of thoughts crossed his mind but none touched on Zhen Yuan's secret.

In the end, Zhen Yuan was too abnormal.

Although his cultivation was equivalent to the golden core realm, his existence was not ordinary.

It was this extraordinariness that added a layer of sacredness to his coercion.

"Great master Su is a little impolite." Shen Xu suddenly spoke, his voice laced with an unusual chill.

Shen Xu was at the peak of the qi refining realm.

With his cultivation, it was difficult to withstand the coercion of a mid-stage foundation establishment realm cultivator.

If Zhen Yuan didn't swiftly react, Shen Xu would have been injured.

"I…" The Great Elder started but his body was so suppressed that he could not speak.

Seeing this, Zhen Yuan lightened the suppression and the Great Elder heaved a sigh of relief.

However, he didn't dare to relax for too long.

As soon as he caught his breath, he fell to his knees and looked at Zhen Yuan with fearful eyes.

"Senior, Su Tang was impolite. Please forgive me." He begged and knocked his forehead to the ground.

Seeing this, Shen Xu couldn't help but be surprised.

'This is the cultivation world.' He thought with a self-mocking smile on his lips.

At the same time, he felt a little proud.

After all, Zhen Yuan was his husband.

"Do you still want to know where my Taoist companion learned the qi gathering talisman?" Shen Xu couldn't help but tease.

Hearing the words, Su Tang trembled.

"How can I dare to question the senior? Please forgive Su Tang's presumptuousness." The Great Elder begged and Shen Xu nodded in approval.

"We don't want to make things difficult for you." He said, pulling Zhen Yuan to sit down.

"Thank you, seniors." Su Tang said but didn't dare to stand up.

Hearing this, Shen Xu chuckled.

'He must feel so aggrieved for having to call a qi refining realm cultivator 'senior'.' Shen Xu thought but didn't plan to let the person go.

Originally, he and Zhen Yuan had no problem with the talisman association.

However, Su Tang wanted to bully them and almost injured him.

When he thought of that, Shen Xu felt Su Tang should continue kneeling.

"Great Elder Su, our Taoist couple wants to sell a talisman map." Shen Xu stated.

"May I ask which map the two seniors want to sell?" Su Tang asked in a polite voice.

"I want to sell an improved map of the qi gathering talisman. Does your association want it?" Zhen Yuan asked in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Want." Su Tang shouted and excitedly tried to stand up.

However, before he could, a powerful coercion fell on him and he returned to his kneeling position.

"Seniors, Su Tang is willing to buy the map of the improved qi gathering talisman." The Great Elder said.

"Good."

Soon after, the two sides agreed on a price and the Great Elder handed over a storage bag filled with thirty million spirit stones.

After that, Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu held hands and left the talisman association.

However, they didn't go far before they realised someone was following them.

"It should be Rong Hao's person." Zhen Yuan stated.

"What should we do? Do you want to fight them?" Shen Xu asked.

"I will do whatever my wife wants." Zhen Yuan said and Shen Xu couldn't help but smile.

Although they were not in love yet, Shen Xu liked how Zhen Yuan treated him. For this reason, he was willing to open his heart to his mysterious Taoist companion.

'A time will come.' He thought and then turned to look at Zhen Yuan.

"Ayuan, let's return to the inn." He said.

"What about your certification?"

"I can do it in the next town."

"Are you sure?"

"We have attracted too much attention. Although we are not afraid, let's try to avoid unnecessary trouble."

"Good."

After that, the two got rid of their tail and slunk into an alley.

When they came out at the other end, they had changed their clothes and removed their masks.

A while later, they returned to their inn room and Shen Xu heaved a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong?"

"I was a little worried we would encounter Xiao Weimin." Shen Xu said and Zhen Yuan couldn't help but rub his wife's hair.

"Don't worry about him." He said.

Unfortunately, Shen Xu didn't appreciate the young man's careless attitude.

"Ayuan, you don't know the horror of the main protagonist. If I can, I want to avoid him for the time being. As long as our luck is weaker than his, we will never defeat him even if our cultivation is higher."

Hearing that, Zhen Yuan looked at Shen Xu with a doting look.

From what Shen Xu told him, Zhen Yuan had some understanding of what a main protagonist was.

Because of this, he knew Shen Xu's wish was bound to come to nought.

After all, Xiao Weimin was determined to entangle Shen Xu.

Even if Shen Xu tried to avoid him, the plot would always find a way to pit them together.

"Fortunately, we have an unbreakable Taoist contract. Although we can't avoid Xiao Weimin, we can at least be sure you won't become his concubine." Zhen Yuan said and subconsciously clenched his hands.

For some reason, the thought of Shen Xu being with someone else made him extremely uncomfortable.

When he thought about it, his heart was not at ease and he had the urge to find the person and beat him to death.

"Ayuan, what do you think the Great Elder will do?" Shen Xu changed the subject when he saw Zhen Yuan's discomfort.

"He won't let the matter go." Zhen Yuan said and quickly continued.

"He will report to the talisman association but what can they do to us?"

"You are right. Even if they find us, there is nothing they can do." Shen Xu said and chuckled.

The following day, Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan went to the town lord's residence to collect the bounties of the Marsh bandits.

After that, they returned to the inn and stayed there to await the departure of their caravan.

When the time came, the two left the inn but didn't go far before the protagonist and his group found them. Fortunately, everyone was in a hurry and had no time to waste on nonsense.

Soon after, they arrived at the meeting place and gathered with the rest of the caravan.

However, as soon as they looked around, Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu realised their caravan had new members.

[Young master Rong and his people have joined our caravan.] Shen Xu transmitted.

[It's not unexpected.] Zhen Yuan said.