Chapter 380 - But Words Could Kill
“Xu Xiaoshou?”
Xu Xiaoshou mumbled his name quietly under the stares of the banquet attendees.
He took a peek at his notification banner.
Watched, Passive Points +239.
Missed, Passive Points +120.
Suspected, Passive Points +113.
“…”
Although all he did was stand still, the notification banner was refreshing at an alarming speed. Additionally, it had started to climb as more joined the crowd.
Xu Xiaoshou grinned from the corners of his mouth.
‘Wow, this place is heaven!’
Taking a broad gauge of the people who were in the banquet hall, he estimated that it would be around 600 to 700 individuals.
However, the crowd was scattered around. He had only attracted around half of the people, yet he was able to accomplish this level of Passive Point increase.
If the rate of renewing points was sustained, he would accumulate a similar amount of points as the time he fell from Black Cliff in just one night.
Additionally, this method was painless. He did not need to torture himself to gain any new Passive Points.
Xu Xiaoshou controlled his excitement and turned to elder Wen Song. He said his words with a slow shake of his head. “Sir I think you have the wrong person. I’m not Xu Xiaoshou.”
He shook his head sincerely. He tried to play it off as never having met the man before to an extent that he had never heard his name before.
“Ha-ha, do you think you can lie in front of me?” Wen Song sneered.
The denials from Xu Xiaoshou were meaningless to him.
As Wen Chong’s third grandfather, Wen Chong was his precious grandchild. After the news of Wen Chong’s passing had reached him, he had stared at the portrait of Xu Xiaoshou at least a hundred times a day and made sure to burn the face of Xu Xiaoshou into his memory.
Even if Xu Xiaoshou had been incremated, he would be able to recognize his ashes.
Wen Song was not the only one who did not believe him. Zhao Nong and all the other young men in the venue were in disbelief as well.
Xu Xiaoshou could fool no one there.
If there were only a single person who had recognized him, perhaps it would be an honest mistake. However, with more than four people who felt the same way, there was a small margin of error.
Suspected, Passive Points +336.
Xu Xiaoshou glanced at his notification banner and tried to hide his joy. He turned to the crowd sincerely.
“I am really not him.”
“I’m sure everyone here is mistaken.”
Suspected, Passive Points +364.
Zhao Nong stroked his beard and smiled coldly. “I had hoped for you to come clean and admit your crimes with some boldness, yet…”
“You refuse to acknowledge your own name.”
Xu Xiaoshou shook his head. “Do we perhaps look similar to one another?”
Doubted, Passive Points +322.”
“Xu Xiaoshou!”
Wen Song cut into their conversation. “Stop pretending. How could we mistake how you look like and your potential?”
“Ah.”
“You still don’t believe me.” Xu Xiaoshou sighed.
“That’s the right thing to do. I am Xu Xiaoshou,” he added with a grin.
The crowd was dumbfounded.
The sudden twist in the situation caught everyone off guard.
“What is this fella doing?”
“He was so insistent on denying, but now he admitted it.”
“He can’t just admit it like this!”
“If he did not admit it, no Sovereign in the City Lord Mansion would be able to harm him!”
“Now that he admitted it, these old guys will not let him go so easily!”
Voice could be heard in the crowd. Some were confused. Some who are more sympathetic toward the situation were worried for the young man they had never met. Despite it all, Xu Xiaoshou did not care much about their responses.
Instead, he gazed at his notification banner quietly.
Doubted, Passive Points +344.
Debated, Passive Points +411.
“…”
Xu Xiaoshou could no longer suppress the bursting excitement within him as he watched the notification banner refresh at rapid speeds.
He could not believe the thousands of Passive Points he had accumulated after a few sentences.
The City Lord Mansion was truly a valuable place for him.
Xu Xiaoshou realized this was not the highest number of the Passive Points yet. He had to milk the opportunity further.
This was the perfect time for him. There were plenty of Spiritual Cultivators around, all of whom had not entered the barrier yet.
He knew he had to strike while the iron was hot.
“When I denied it, you didn’t believe me. When I did not deny it, you still didn’t believe me.”
Xu Xiaoshou waved his hands nonchalantly. “By the way, what do you guys think my name means?”
Zhao Nong and Wen Song exchanged looks of disdain.
They both mentally agreed that the young man was a very strange individual.
The unexpected and out-of-the-norm question had thrown both of them off. They stood silently momentarily unsure of their words.
“You killed…”
Before Wen Song could finish, Xu Xiaoshou cut in. “Yes, I killed someone. What does it have to do with you?”
“…”
Wen Song was at a loss for words.
The words Xu Xiaoshou had spoken greatly haunted him. He had dismissed the topic with such ease. It was almost as if he was unaware that the victim was Wen Song’s dearest grandchild.
“You!”
Xu Xiaoshou waved his hands and cut him off before he could unleash his rage. “Why? Do you want to avenge him?”
“By fighting me? Right here?”
“You are a bully. You want to take someone weaker like me on simply because you’re strong.”
Wen Song fell silent.
The chain of accusations had made Wen Song red in the face. He gritted his teeth as if he wanted to say something, but he was unable to get another word out.
He had the intention to do that. After Xu Xiaoshou’s repeated accusations, he did not dare confess his intentions.
Cursed, Passive Points +1.
In fact, Wen Song almost gave it away in the moment of rage. He inhaled deeply and thought about his response.
He thought about the appropriate response to the words that were clearly meant to agitate him and what would smooth the situation over.
The expressions of the young talents around them had changed as well.
This young man was smart.
“I’ve never seen someone with such a sharp tongue. His words have their logic to it as well.”
“Wait. Isn’t this bullying? Isn’t this the strong picking on the weak?”
“Right! I always hated people who picked on the weaker ones! They are the worst!”
“You are mistaken! This isn’t a fight! From the looks of it, it sounds like he killed someone!”
“Same!”
Their conversation sparked a heated debate amongst the crowd. Others had become aware of the occurrence and joined in. Xu Xiaoshou subconsciously became the center of attention in the guest hall.
Impressed, Passive Points +162.
Debated, Passive Points +477.
Belittled, Passive Point +62.
“…”
Xu Xiaoshou glanced at the notification banner and looked casually toward the old man. He realized the other man had not recovered from his anger yet.
He was much weaker than he had expected him to be.
He supposed Wen Song was constantly buttered up by his family as the head of the Wen clan. He had lost his sense of self-awareness and could no longer take any oncoming criticisms in a quarrel.
Above all, he had made the mistake of picking a fight with Xu Xiaoshou.
He raised his eyebrow playfully and laughed.
“Ha, you old thing.”
He stepped forward and focused his gaze on the old man. He casually said, “You know how we young men like to fight with one another. The fella launched a sneak attack on me, and I misjudged my attack. It was all accidental.”
“Do you want to use this excuse and attack me?”
“Does the highest level of the Master Stage want to fight a mid-term of the Origin Court like me?”
“That’s truly something reputable to do!”
“You’re so amazing!”
Xu Xiaoshou was merciless with his sarcasm.
To speak truthfully, the old man was only at the highest level of Master Stage. This level was nothing to Xu Xiaoshou at this point.
Should the worse happen, all he had to was to call Aje out for assistance.
It seemed rather amusing to him that the elders put so much emphasis on respect for seniority, especially if they were on the more powerful end. Yet, they refused to pay respect to someone like Xu Xiaoshou if he proved himself to be more powerful than them.
His words were a smack on the face to Wen Song. He had not thought through his arguments before starting the quarrel.
The old man was shaking with anger. When Xu Xiaoshou finished his sentence, his mouth was opened, but no coherent words nor sentences could come out of it.
“You… You…”
“You what? Why are you stammering?”
