Although the young lad was clad in the Armor of Absolute Invincibility, the young maiden remained skeptical as to if this young lad indeed could afford such a luxury item. However, she did not reveal her skepticism. Hence, after her slight moment dwelling in suspicion, she said in a soft tone, “Sir Zhou, there are numerous types of this Armor of Absolute Invincibility. The most regular one would cost you eight hundred and fifty low-tier Spirit Crystals, the slightly better one would set you back at nine hundred and thirty low-tier Spirit Crystals, and the perfect grade one would be a thousand low-tier Spirit Crystals.

“Alright, give me three perfect grade Armor of Absolute Invincibility then!”

As Zhou Yan spoke, he took out the empty Infinite Spatial Ring from the man he murdered, and with just a thought he connected it with his Pure Jaded Ring of Frost’s Light to transfer three thousand low-tier Spirit Crystals into the empty ring. After doing so, he casually flicked the ring over to the young lass.

With a swift ‘swoosh,’ the ring instantly fell into the merchant guide’s palm while she was still suspicious.

“I shall pay you first, to prevent any unpleasant experience while we browse the merchandise later. Hence, rest assured, you can provide us with your services without a shroud of doubt.”

Zhou Yan was brutally blunt to the young lass. It seemed like he was able to clearly see through the young lass’ worries.

Gu Xi and the remaining maidens were shocked as they felt this exchange was like an actual dream, and before they could react, Zhou Yan had already paid for it. They never expected such an outcome!

The young lass in purple was blushing heavily. She felt ashamed and regretful after Zhou Yan made that statement.

“Sir Zhou, I must apologize… for my behavior earlier.”

Upon sensing the contents within the ring, this young lass bowed sincerely towards Zhou Yan.

“It’s fine. Since I was called useless trash, and although this was indeed the truth, it still doesn’t mean that a useless piece of trash is incapable of possessing purchasing power.”

Thus, the young lass pouted and dared not to speak another word since Zhou Yan’s reaction was hard to read as he was subtly smiling. This was all because of what Zhou Yan had said, and it seemed like self-mockery. However, at the same time, it had subtle hints of teasing, which startled her.

The young lass was immediately humbled and welcomed all of them with utmost respect into the inner confines of the Complex of Treasures.

The inner confines of the Complex of Treasures were extremely luxurious. It was akin to a grand palace. In addition to that, this place was extremely concentrated with the spiritual essence of both Heavens and Earth. It would allow anyone to feel that taking a breath of air in this place was better than the arduous training outside.

Zhou Yan knew that this effect was the result of some Swordplay Alchemy that gathered plenty of spiritual essences. It would be evident as countless of nomadic scholars ventured into this spot in search for training resources and to pledge fealty to the Complex of Treasure, since it was no secret how great and majestic this place was. Any influential scholars who specialized in Swordplay Alchemy would be able to pull off this effect without breaking a sweat.

As they walked through the outer plaza into the inner chambers, Zhou Yan and the trio of lassies were led to a chamber for important guests.

It was extremely crowded outside as it was seemingly an ocean of people. However, as they entered the chamber, they were hardly anyone there.

It was an insanely massive place as an entire high-class shopping district was in there. As they watched from a distance, there were only a few people, with the occasional group of ten wandering in this area.

As Zhou Yan and his group entered and while the lad was watching the people in this area. A few groups of people, too, were observing them. It was apparent that they made no effort to hide the surprised and shocked expressions on their faces.

“Sir Zhou, the Armor of Spiritual Affinity is right over here,” said Lil’ Die in an extremely humble tone.

Zhou Yan nodded as he turned around to speak to both Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner.

However, this time, both Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner did not budge, and even Gu Xi stood quietly at the same spot.

Following the gaze of the trio of lassies, Zhou Yan realized that a couple hundred meters away was a young lass draped in a purple dress. Standing not far from her was a tall and burly middle-aged man with a long beard, and that man was walking with a beautiful middle-aged maiden. Standing beside them was the same young lad from the Xie family, nodding humbly, seemingly being wholly complacent and submissive.

As Zhou Yan glanced over, that young lad from the Xie family met his gaze, and Zhou Yan was able to sense the sinister and ruthless gaze from his eyes.

That lad had a sinister expression as he was seemingly grinning.

Zhou Yan met plenty of people before. However, this was the first time he saw such a sinister and malicious gaze that pretty much fit anyone who felt so much hatred.

As their gazes met, that middle-aged man and maiden walked towards them.

“Liner and Chaner. What in the world are you doing here? Why aren’t you two training at home?”

The beautiful middle-aged maiden had completely ignored Zhou Yan’s presence and spoke directly to both of them.

“Aunty, we’re…”

Before Xiao Chaner even had a chance to speak, that maiden proceeded to cut her off and said, “Forget it, not another word. Next time, please remember to stop interacting with these unimportant, b*stard men. Hurry back home, this isn’t a place for you both!

“One more thing, since you, Gu Xi, had pledged your undying loyalty to the Temple of Frost Blades, then she is our enemy of the teachings of the Sword’s Master of Smelting. Since that’s the case, you should cut ties with Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner, to prevent any unwanted complications to you in any future conflicts.”

“He is brother Zhou Yan, and, and not some b*stard men you’ve claimed! How could you say that about brother Zhou Yan, aunty!” Xiao Chaner snapped back.

“Lady Lan, although the teachings of our sect are distinctly different than the sect you’ve believed, we are still in fact, relatives. Thus, why is there such a need to do something like that? Besides, if it wasn’t for brother Zhou Yan’s father, the Gu and Xiao family would’ve never existed. It’s alright if you do not wish to meet brother Zhou Yan, but there is no need for you to insult brother Zhou Yan.”

Gu Xi’s expression morphed into a serious and bitter look.

“You keep saying ‘Zhou Yan’ and ‘Brother.’ You truly have a knack in making others envious of you. However, I have never made a mistake in my words, and this person who you call ‘Zhou Yan’, was merely adopted by the Lord of the Zhou family, Zhou Wuzhen. He was just an abandoned baby, nonetheless, all for the sole purpose of training and humbling the true heir of the Zhou family, Zhou Lingyao.

“Only Zhou Lingyao was the trueborn child of Zhou Wangchen. This person is nothing more but a useless trash of an imposter, a b*stard child, so to speak!

“And you guys were completely oblivious to that since you were fooled by that person! Hmph, that’s so bold of you to pretend to resemble Zhou Wangchen. I can’t believe the audacity of some people!”

The moment this maiden made such a bold statement, both Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner were instantly gobsmacked and baffled as they stared at Zhou Yan with complete disbelief. They seemingly hesitated, as if they were thinking about something.

At this moment, Gu Xi stepped up by Zhou Yan’s side, unwilling to move an inch.

Zhou Yan stared with a blank look at the reaction of these people, as he had now understood the Zhou family was never as simple as he had imagined.

Judging from the way things had progressed, it seemed that the Zhou family never just wanted to strip him of his identity. Still, they had also intended to replace his status and identity with Zhou Lingyao.

Thus, although he was utterly shocked by the news, he kept his emotions hidden. It seemed that the powers of this maiden and the middle-aged man were both around the first rank within the realm of the Blade’s Menace. Hence it did not matter how powerful this young lad was as he still very much lacked the combat prowess to attack these people.

“The Zhou family had made an official statement about this matter, and still you guys won’t believe? We shall cease any more discussion about this matter since you are no longer a child. Hence, you guys can no longer be as unreasonable as you were.

“It’s true that Zhou Wangchen had graced our family the opportunity to rise into greatness. However, we had also done plenty to repay him back. Then, your father, Xiao Zhan, was crippled, which meant that my brother was also crippled. This was the result of Zhou Wangchen’s goodwill that he had graced us, which had been repaid in full years ago.

“Thus, there is no need for the relationship with Zhou Wangchen’s son anymore. Besides, Zhou Wangchen isn’t as glorious as he was back then anyway…”

“If you guys wish for freedom and to earn a blessed life in the future, then you should work hard towards that goal. Train in the ways of the Sword’s Master of Smelting and be handpicked as the heiress. Both of you should begin learning from Sir Xie Feng and let him guide you. Then, the chances of being favored by the Elder of the teachings in the ways of the Sword’s Master of Smelting would be a lot higher!”

As this maiden spoke, her words seemed weighted and were blunt and realistic.

Since there was a shift in Zhou Yan’s personality, he was now able to remain calm. If this had been the young lad in the past, he would have irrationally argued with that maiden, all to prove that he was indeed Zhou Wangchen’s son and the entirety of the Zhou family was lying…

He now knew that it would be impossible for this maiden to have no clue that he was indeed Zhou Wangchen’s son based on the events that had happened during his childhood. Since he had spent most of his childhood days in the Xiao and Gu family’s home, how could this maiden not know the truth?

It seemed that she had intentionally not sought out the truth, and the Xiao family were, in fact, very obviously bribed by the Zhou family.

Perhaps, it could also be because they had not heard any news about him and was uncertain if he had come all the way to the City of Heavenly Prophecies just for the Xiao family after his father’s death. Hence, this maiden’s statement was based on someone else’s assumption.

It was very likely that this maiden knew that as when Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner made their way here, during the entire walk, everyone had seemingly grown closer, and Zhou Yan had even brought up some events of the past. Thus, how would they not understand or definitively know who he was? Also, if they were oblivious to his identity, they knew Gu Xi was incredibly smart, so how could they possibly believe that Gu Xi was foolish enough to make such a misjudgment?

However, both of them hesitated.

If they were oblivious to the truth and were unable to judge what was, in fact, the truth, Zhou Yan could not blame them, since they never knew anyway. However, they could positively tell that he was, in fact, Zhou Yan, the son of Zhou Wangchen, but regardless, they hesitated…

Hence, he finally knew the real reason why the young lad of the Xie family was relentlessly targeting him and had stared down both sisters. He also came to realize why he seemingly felt distant from the sisters. He finally knew why. It was all due to the different choices they made.

In the face of a greater benefit, the sisters had chosen to give up on the ‘fallen’ and decided to accept the help of the Xie family that would indirectly help strengthen their family.

All these thoughts manifested in his mind at this moment.

He was disappointed as if he had been betrayed by the choices these sisters made.

The young lad hated this feeling.

He frowned slightly. However, at this moment, Gu Xi, who was standing beside him, had seemingly sensed this feeling from him. She grabbed his shoulders compassionately in an attempt to comfort him.

Without saying a word, the actions she demonstrated gave him a tremendous sense of comfort.

“Aunty…”

Both Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner lowered their heads as a slight feeling of remorse could be heard when they called out to their aunt.

“Don’t you dare call me aunty. Have the both of you forgotten how your father had fallen?” yelled the maiden in a cold voice.

Both Xiao Chaner and Xiao Liner trembled slightly, and eventually, they slowly lifted their heads and stared with a remorseful and apologetic gaze towards Zhou Yan. They said, “Sir… Zhou, we’re so sorry…”