“I-it’s the mayor!”

“Thank the heavens the mayor is here!”

The entire crowd went into an uproar when they heard the mayor’s voice.

Out of nowhere, two men suddenly appeared within the center of the conflict. They both had shocked looks on their faces as they scanned the area. Buildings were destroyed, people were hurt, and a pitiful looking spirit beast was struggling to stay up right.

One of the men immediately became enraged.

“Mr Yan, Please explain to me why your nephew has attacked my people when I have treated you two as honoured guests!” The man said. It was quite evident by the way he was speaking; he cared deeply for the people injured. This man was obviously the mayor of Heaven’s peak.

“You are right, I also would like an explanation, Yan Mu, come here!” the other man said sternly. His tone seemed serious yet it carried no real underlying tone. It was as if he could care less about what had happened and only asked Yan Mu to come over in order to satisfy the mayor’s question.

“Uncle, Mayor of Heaven’s Peak.” Yan Mu did not hesitate to give a small bow to the two.

“Tell me what happened!” The uncle demanded. He simply stroked his grey beard with uncaring eyes as he listened to the story.

“Yes, while I was strolling around, a little girl bumped into me and stained my clothes. I demanded an adequate apology but her mother intervened so I demanded one from her. At the same time, my spirit beast became a little rowdy and before I knew it, a little girl threw a rock out of nowhere!” he said in a confused and angry tone. “My spirit beast then became enraged and hurt the mother and child and then charged at the little girl. I don’t know how but her brother managed to subdue my spirit beast and now my spirit beast has become a cripple! ” crocodile tears began falling down his face.

“Mayor, won’t you seek justice for me?” he pleaded.

The crowd of people who heard this were infuriated! The blatant lies seemed to stir a fury within everyone and they all began to surround the mayor, shouting out exactly what had happened.

“Shut up!” the bearded man shouted.

His voice carried a power which terrified everyone and made them zip their lips. “I don’t think there needs to be further investigation, it is quite clear that this boy had crippled my nephews Spirit beast.” he pointed at Relic.

“Although it seems my nephew had a somewhat … rough approach, it definitely is not appropriate for his spirit beast to suffer. Mayor of Heaven’s Peak, we both know what kind of spirit beast this is. It’s part of one of the major families within the Primordial Bird King’s Region, the Divine Paradise Peacock. The mere rarity of finding this beast makes it worth several thousand divine essence stones.” The old man sighed. “However, for the betterment of the relationship between Heaven’s peak and our Yan family, I believe we can just waive it off. Isn’t that right, nephew?”

“Yes, please think nothing of it mayor, I think severing both of that boy’s arms will be enough.” his tone was still malicious as ever.

The entire crowd was speechless. With one fell swoop the young and old man seemingly placed all the fault of Relic and even offered an easy solution out. Some of them wanted to shout at the old man, but even with the mayor here, they felt an invisible pressure, rendering them incapable of speaking.

“Why did you order your goons to go after the girl?” The mayor gave a deep glare which made Yan Mu take a step back.

“T-that was a misjudgement on my part. I was overcome with emotions seeing my spirit beast in such a way. ” He then turned to the Divine Paradise Peacock who was currently struggling to stand up. “Although I can forgive for what had happened, surely my spirit beast deserves some justice.” His acting was very convincing. Had the people around here not seen everything with their own eyes, perhaps some would even feel sympathy for Yan Mu.

“N-no!” a young girl's voice interjected. Everyone looked to the young girl who had her arms out in front of her brother. “He only did it to protect me; if you need to punish someone you can punish me!” She said resolutely. She tried to hold in her tears but anyone could see she was ready to burst down.

The mayor walked towards Hana and placed his hand on top of her head. “You must really care for your brother a lot.” he spoke softly.

Hana nodded.

“Don’t worry, there will be no more tears today.” he petted her on the head. He then looked at Relic’s bruised and bloodied arm and tossed him a pill. “Swallow that, it will help heal you arm.”

Relic caught the pill only to have a surprised look on his face.

“Mr Yan, do you mind releasing the pressure from my citizens? I do not believe it is necessary.”

The old man glared at the frightened crowd once more before releasing the pressure. The entire crowd felt as if a huge pressure was taken off their shoulders and let out a breath of relief.

The mayor then walked towards the woman who was still on the ground holding her daughter. Her foot had swelled to the point that it looked like it was ready to burst with blood.

The mayor bent down and asked: “Are you okay?”

“My daughter...”

They mayor quickly place his hand on the unconscious girl and scanned her body. “Don’t worry, she’s just unconscious. Will you tell me what happened?”

“Mayor, I do not believe this is necessary!” The bearded man interjected but a cold sweat suddenly formed as he felt a terrifying pressure descend on him. The pressure prevented him from speaking any further, much like the way he had stopped the regular mortals from speaking. The only difference was that he could feel the vast difference in power. “He is actually such a high level...” His face darkened.

“Sorry, I’m talking to my people, I hope you understand.” A murderous underlying tone could be heard from the mayor’s words.

“O-of course…” Although it was just a few words, the bearded old man was shivering inside.

They had been previously conversing with each other regarding a potential deal between this town and his Yan family. This mountain produced high quality spirit water which could be used in medicine, drinks, food, practically everything. Spirit water was merely regular water which had been exposed long enough to high concentration of qi. The exposure transforms the water into spirit water which carries many benefits if consumed.

The bearded man came from an illustrious family and the mayor had treated them as honoured guests when they arrived. The bearded man knew the mayor was powerful as he could not sense what realm the mayor was at. However, as the mayor treated them with such courtesy, he had believed that his family was still greater than this mayor. Now that he truly felt the mayor’s power, he couldn’t help but take a step back and reassess the situation.

The middle-aged women began to re-tell exactly what happened and by the time she was done, the mayor turned to the Yan Mu and his uncle with murderous intent. “I have treated you two as guests of my town and yet you dare treat my people like this?!”

The murderous intent washed over the two and Yan Mu staggered back, frightened. “U-uncle!” He quickly stood behind his uncle.

“Yan Mu, it seems this time you have gone too far. You have to make an amends to the people you have hurt.” He spoke solemnly.

Yan Mu couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His uncle had always dotted on him, letting him do whatever he want. No matter what he did, his uncle would always have his back. Although he was quite shock, seeing the hardened face of his uncle, he had no choice but to accept it.

“I-I apologize...” he stuttered, his face red with embarrassment. The young man always felt apologising was for the weak not the wrong.

The crowd of people were disgusted by Yan Mu’s apology. Not only did it sound insincere, it was as if he was mocking them. His expression showed no signs of remorse and instead, looked as if he wanted to beat someone up!

The mayor frowned before giving a sigh. “Since the young master of the Yan family apologized I suppose we can resolve this issue.”

Both the bearded man and the Yan Mu exhaled a breath of relief.

“However, there is still the issue of compensation!” the mayor continued. “Whether your spirit beast acted with or without your instructions, you have injured several of my people. Not only that, you also acted against Mrs. Wan and her child too severely!” The middle aged women looked at the handsome mayor with sparkling eyes. “You must pay adequate compensation to all of these people you have hurt!” he demanded.

Yan Mu looked at the pitiful state his spirit beast was in and gritted his teeth. He removed the ring he had used to control it and threw it on the floor before crushing it under his foot. As soon as the ring was crushed, transparent chains could be seen on the Divine Paradise Peacock which then subsequently broke apart.

The beast was now free but with its neck injured, it could not move.

“I offer my spirit beast as compensation. Although it is now useless you can still harvest its body for material.” With that, the young man turned and began to leave with his guards.

The bearded man sighed and then waved his hand out. A small lumpy sack suddenly appeared in his hands. “Here are 200 spirit coins as compensation to those my nephew hurt. I believe this much should cover the injuries and expenses.” He threw the sack to the mayor and continued: “I hope this ordeal with not damage the relations between us. Please come by later and we can have a relaxing afternoon tea session.” He said before turning away and followed the direction Yan Mu headed.

“Is this enough?” the mayor asked.

“Yes, thank you very much….But, my daughter...” She looked over at the still unconscious girl in her arms.

He placed his hand on top of the little girl's head and slowly a green light enveloped her body. The small gash on her head slowly closed up and the girl opened her eyes. “M-mother?” she looked up at women holding her.

The women immediately embraced the little girl with tears in her eyes.

“Thank you! Thank you!” The mother couldn’t hold back her emotions.

The mayor nodded and then placed his hand on her foot.

The same green light enveloped her injured foot. Within seconds the swelling was gone and the foot looked like it was never injured!

“Wah...” the mother gasped in shocked.

“How do you feel?” he asked

“It...it doesn’t even hurt!” she jumped up excitedly.

“Mn.” he smiled back. He proceeded to heal everyone who was injured by the Peacock. The unconscious men found themselves waking up feeling refreshed. The children who only sustained minor injuries no longer felt any pain.

He then turned and walked back to Relic. “I want to have a word with you, please come with me.”

Hana quickly stood in front of her brother.

“Y-you’re not going to punish him are you?” she asked worriedly

“Don’t worry, it’s just a chat, you will have him back in a few minutes.” he gave her a smile

“Just wait for me.” Relic reassured her. The two made their way towards a tree, a couple meters away from the crowd of people.

The mayor then spoke an incantation and although people could see them talk, no one could hear a thing.