Rowan abruptly halted his speech when he felt the surrounding air suddenly turn eerily cold, making him shiver unexpectedly.
'And what did I say to offend her so terribly? I was simply inviting her to join my sect!!' he thought, his heart pounding in sudden confusion.
He rose and stepped away from the table, saying, "Lady Shengxi Yuan, what is wrong?"
The other customers promptly paused their meals to focus on the steadily growing commotion.
Rowan's two guards, stationed at the entrance, observed the escalating disturbance and quickly joined him. They drew their swords and aimed them at Shengxi Yuan, prepared to defend Rowan while silently wondering what he had done to provoke her ire.
Yet even they wore visibly uneasy expressions and trembled noticeably under the effect of the chilly aura she exuded.
"What have you done?" one of them murmured softly to Rowan.
Naturally, Rowan had no idea of the answer to that question, all he had done was invite her to join his sect—was there truly anything wrong with that?
"Scarlet Bean sect!" declared Shengxi Yuan as she abruptly stood and forcefully tossed the token to the ground, causing it to shatter into exactly eight pieces.
"Scarlet Bean sect? Why is such a refined lady mentioning such a contemptible sect?" The other customers who heard Shengxi Yuan began to wonder aloud.
Several of them rose and strolled nearer to obtain a much clearer view of the unfolding commotion.
Rowan remained unfazed by the gathering crowd, his primary concern being Shengxi Yuan's reaction. "Scarlet Bean is the name of my sect, did I do anything wrong by inviting you?" he inquired calmly.
"You are asking me that?" Shengxi Yuan's voice grew even colder. "The Scarlet Bean sect, whose founder was vanquished by a mere demonic beast, the very sect that has failed to produce even the slightest glimmer of a 2-star genius in decades—such a sect dares to invite a talent like myself!"
Rowan was just about to reply when the two guards standing steadfastly beside him suddenly fixed him with fierce, angry glares.
"You!! Why didn't you inform us earlier that you were a member of that wretched sect! We would never have accepted your offer," they exclaimed, their voices dripping with hatred and anger.
"Does the mercenary organization require any reason to accept a mission? I paid, so you all must perform your duty — protect me from her!"
PA!
Before he could even finish his statement, one of them delivered a resounding slap to his plump cheek, the sheer force of which sent him crashing to the ground.
"Fuck you! You damn loser!" came the furious exclamation.
Both of them commenced stomping on his fat stomach with seething hatred and anger, as he emitted rough cries of pain that disrupted the normally peaceful atmosphere.
Shengxi Yuan, who had been enraged earlier, could only stand and watch the drama unfold with a rather satisfied smile upon her face. The other customers similarly observed while murmuring among themselves.
"I heard that the Scarlet Bean sect is so poor they might not even afford the most basic resources to nurture a 2-star genius. If that is indeed correct, then all the expensive clothes that this fatso wears must be loaned or something similar."
"Yeah, Scarlet Bean sect is the worst creation to ever grace this earth. Who would actually believe that the idea of the sect came from a hungry madman finding a vast farm of fine quality Scarlet Beans? No one should be proud of relating themselves to such a sect, unless of course, they are sick in the head like their founder."
"Disgraceful. My distant cousin was approached by someone who remarkably fits the very same description as this fatso, my cousin told me he dealt with him so well that he could not walk for three days."
Rowan overheard the conversations amid the beating and it surprised him profoundly.
He could scarcely believe that the infamous history of his sect had reached Purplecorn City.
'I took a loan of fifty thousand gold tokens merely to afford all these luxuries in order to fool at least one person into joining the sect, and still I failed. How am I ever going to repay it? Damn it! I hate this wretched world! Please, take me back to earth!' he lamented inwardly, his voice rising in anguished despair as the guards seemed to take pleasure in inflicting him with pain.
"Annoying," Shengxi Yuan muttered to herself as she stormed out of the hall.
Immediately upon stepping out, more than ten armed guards employed by Dragon's Bite Restaurant stormed into the hall to put an end to the commotion.
Having learned the cause from Shengxi Yuan, they picked up Rowan's battered body and tossed him out through the window. They then sent the two mercenaries who were escorting him out politely, and apologized to the other customers for the interruption.
Outside, a small crowd gathered around Rowan, who was already writhing on the ground as an uncontrollable pain threatened to snatch away his sanity. He was pretty lucky to be alive after a great fall from such height.
"Damn, so embarrassing," one bystander sneered.
"Wasn't he the one who arrived in that golden carriage? I thought he came from a wealthy family—so why did Dragon's Bite throw him out?" another murmured.
"I think he either couldn't afford their meal or perhaps caused some trouble inside, those are the only valid reasons for him to suffer such humiliating treatment," a third observer added.
The crowd conversed amongst themselves, and none of them bothered to assist Rowan up even though it was blatantly obvious he was struggling.
Thankfully, Rowan had four additional mercenaries, completely unaware of his true identity, patiently waiting outside for him. They rushed quickly to assist him and placed him safely into the carriage while inquiring about the unfolding situation inside.
Sadly, before Rowan could even reply, the other two arrived and narrated the ordeal to their colleagues, who immediately erupted in rage and delivered another round of beatings upon Rowan.
This left the onlookers even more perplexed—why would mercenaries beat their own customer? Weren't they meant to protect him and carry out his bidding?
After the mercenaries were satisfied with their beating, they departed. The crowd surrounding the carriage also dispersed — the situation was exceedingly confusing, with some wanting to help but deciding against it.
Rowan remained in the carriage, roughed up beyond all recognition — the expensive clothes he had borrowed were horribly torn and stained with his own blood, his face rendered almost completely unrecognizable by countless bruises, with roughly seven teeth missing from his mouth and even his two eyes markedly swollen.
The pain was unbearably intense at that moment, and he collapsed.
A few minutes after he collapsed, Shengxi Yuan rode past in her exquisitely decorated carriage, which immediately garnered high praise from the passersby.
She halted the carriage and stared intently at Rowan for several seconds before issuing a new set of orders to her bodyguards.