Yuan Longxuan and Ah Yin sat together like a couple pulled straight out of a painting—so beautiful, so harmonious, they made everyone else jealous.
People could handle one of them being good-looking… but both? Together? Showing off in public like this?
A nearby kid with an entrepreneurial spirit had even dragged over several sacks of cement and stacked them by the roadside.
A hand-painted sign read:
> "Cement—2.5 gold coins a sack. Cheaper than heartbreak."
Yuan Longxuan leaned lazily against the back of his chair, full and utterly content, watching the foot traffic below.
Ah Yin, meanwhile, was still carefully nibbling the last bite of a crystal-red Jade Shrimp, savoring every morsel.
Suddenly—
"Crack!"
A sharp snap came from Ah Yin's abdomen.
Longxuan turned his head in surprise.
What the—she broke through?! Just from eating?!
Sure enough, Ah Yin had quietly advanced to Rank 66 Soul Emperor, her little face flushed red from the burst of energy swirling within her.
She looked conflicted. The food was amazing, yes, but her body was now too full to continue.
Her stomach said stop, but her soul said one more bite…
Watching her puffed-up cheeks and torn expression, Yuan Longxuan couldn't help but laugh.
"You don't have to force yourself. Just pack the rest for tomorrow," he said with a wave of his hand.
The remaining food vanished instantly into his system's storage space. As for the half-eaten Jade Shrimp in her hand—he shamelessly plucked it from her fingers and ate it in front of her.
"Hey! That was mine!" Ah Yin pouted, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Shh, trust me. Stuff like this is powerful—too much of it will wreck your body."
Though Ah Yin was a soul beast in human form, her current body was still mostly human.
Overeating the way soul beasts did would overload her meridians. Moderation was key.
"Okay… I guess," she said, resigned.
Feeling the tidal wave of energy churning inside her, Ah Yin quietly decided that joining Longxuan on this trip had been the best decision of her life.
Meanwhile, Yuan Longxuan had extended his spiritual sense downstairs—targeting none other than the two men he'd noticed earlier: Tang Hao and Tang Xiao.
As expected, it didn't take long for a scene to erupt.
Clatter! Bang!
"You call this food?! This garbage is inedible!"
The roar came from the first floor, loud and deliberate. Tang Hao had flipped a bowl. A few spoons had gone flying.
But Longxuan didn't flinch. He watched from above, unfazed, as if watching a particularly bad comedy performance.
Break a bowl, throw a tantrum? Sure. Just pay up afterward, and we're good.
Downstairs, one of the veteran servers—Xiao Lan—walked over calmly. She'd dealt with worse.
"I'm sorry the food wasn't to your taste," she said, bowing slightly. "But since you finished every dish, I believe it's only fair to settle the bill?"
Juxiang Pavilion had seen its share of troublemakers.
Non-paying customers were automatically added to a blacklist—and blacklisted guests were never served again.
And picking a fight in a restaurant this close to the Heaven Dou imperial city? That was just asking for trouble.
Other guests started watching. Some had already recognized Tang Hao and Tang Xiao.
Yuan Longxuan, still leaning out his upstairs window, looked on with casual amusement.
"Longxuan, why are they smashing dishes after they've eaten? That's so rude," Ah Yin muttered, nose wrinkling.
"Just a couple of clowns," he replied with a smirk. "Best not to associate with bandits like them."
"Mm-hmm!" she nodded vigorously.
Their voices weren't hushed. Anyone with decent cultivation—like the two Soul Douluo brothers downstairs—could hear every word.
Yuan Longxuan didn't care.
"Lan-jie," he called down casually, "Let them go. No need to charge them. It's just a hundred gold soul coins—hardly a loss."
"But add the Clear Sky Sect to our blacklist. I don't want them showing up again."
"Understood, Boss!"
Xiao Lan nodded and turned back to the stunned brothers with a polite smile, then walked away without another word.
Someone in the crowd gasped.
"Clear Sky Sect?! Wait—I recognize them! That's Tang Hao and Tang Xiao!"
"The twin prodigies?"
"Wow. Not very impressive in person, huh?"
"Yeah. Guess all that hype was just that—hype."
As the gossip spread like wildfire, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao's faces turned every shade between white and red.
Yuan Longxuan just sipped his tea upstairs, perfectly relaxed.
To him, two Soul Douluos were nothing but noisy mosquitoes.
"Pfft, it's just 100 gold coins! I'll pay!" Tang Hao suddenly barked.
But it was too late.
Yuan Longxuan's words had already defused the situation while slapping their pride in public.
They had come to pick a fight, create chaos, assert dominance… only to be dismissed like irrelevant nobodies.
Being denied the opportunity to pay was more humiliating than being forced to.
Tang Hao, still fuming, grabbed a heavy pouch of coins and stormed toward Xiao Lan.
"I said I'll pay!"
But she didn't flinch.
"I'm sorry, sir," she replied smoothly, not even looking up from her ledger. "Your meal has already been waived. There is no bill to settle."
Her tone was calm but firm. As a high-ranking Soul Ancestor, Xiao Lan wasn't easily intimidated.
And more importantly—her boss had already made the call.
The brothers were now permanently blacklisted.
Their names would soon join the others on the back wall of the second floor, a silent warning to future troublemakers.
"What kind of place is this?! You don't even want my money?!" Tang Hao snapped.
Oh, now he was angry. Not because of the food. Not even because of the insult.
But because his original plan—to humiliate Yuan Longxuan in front of Ah Yin—had completely backfired.
Now, he looked like a cheapskate and a thug.
Xiao Lan responded without hesitation, still writing.
"We're just a humble establishment, sir. We can't afford to offend powerful sects like yours.
If our food displeases you, we can only offer a refund and politely ask that you not return."
"You said it was bad. Then you didn't want to pay. And now you insist on paying?" She looked up. "Sir, that's putting us in a difficult position."
The words hit like a slap in the face—not loud, but public and polite.
The kind that left no room for retaliation.
......
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