Chapter Ten The Viscountess

  "Let me take a look at the ordinary equipment." Bai Cangdong gave up on buying Baron-level equipment and decided to buy an ordinary sword to make do with, after all, when he really went out to hunt undead, he would still use Xiang Luo Sword and the pure white Knight's two-handed greatsword.

  "You are a baron, why don't you take a look at the armed forces of the barons?" The woman didn't go to fetch the arms, but instead said something that made Bai Canghai's scalp feel numb.

  Bai Cangdong looked at the woman again, and felt that she had an unfathomable appearance. He didn't know how she could tell at a glance that he was a baron, as he hadn't revealed the emblem of his title on his forehead.

  "I've only just been promoted to baron and don't have that many life marks yet." Bai Cangdong tried his best to make his voice sound calm.

  The woman smiled lightly, and even with a black veil covering her face, it still made Bai Cang's eyes light up, as if he had seen the scene of a hundred flowers blooming.

  "Do you know why this armed shop is named Knight?" The woman said softly.

  Bai Cang shook his head and didn't say a word.

  "If you're willing to be my knight, you can get a full set of baronial armor without paying with even a moment of your life, not just a knife."

  "Thank you, I think I don't need those. Let me take a look at the ordinary armed knife instead." Bai Cangdong completely calmed down after hearing this, he had never thought of becoming anyone's knight.

  The woman looked at Bai Canghai and said: "You have a lot of time to consider, no need to rush to refuse me. If one day you think clearly, you can find me here."

  After she finished speaking, the woman didn't wait for Bai Canghai's response and took out over a dozen knives with different styles from under the counter. From the marks on these knives, it could be seen that they were all ordinary armed forces equipment.

  Bai Cang Dong bought a strange knife with over 1,000 life markings on it and left the weapon shop immediately. He always felt that this weapon shop and that woman were quite suspicious, so he didn't want to stay there any longer.

  "Viscountess, why are you suddenly taking that young man as your knight? A mere newly-promoted baron is hardly worthy of the honor you bestow upon him."

  After Bai Cangdong left the armed store, a tall woman who was almost entirely wrapped in armor appeared beside the black-veiled woman.

  "It's nothing, I just haven't been out in a long time and wanted to do something interesting, didn't expect to meet an interesting guy who would actually refuse me." The woman known as Viscountess smiled strangely.

  "That's because you didn't reveal your name, if he knew you were Viscountess Red Lotus, he would definitely kneel down and beg to be your knight." The tall woman said excitedly.

  "Is that so? Well, next time I run into him, I'll try calling out my name then." The Baroness Red Lotus stepped out of the armory, each step exuding elegance and charm, truly a woman of enchanting caliber.

  The tall woman followed closely behind Viscountess Honglian, leaving until the two of them were far away before the two real armed shop owners cautiously walked out from inside.

  "I don't know why the viscountess suddenly came to our armed store, fortunately her mood was good today, otherwise we would have been in big trouble." someone said.

  "Shh, keep your voice down, don't let the lady hear you. The lady is all-knowing and these words can't be spoken carelessly. I saw that young man refuse the lady's personal invitation earlier, he'll definitely come to no good." Another person said with a hint of schadenfreude.

  "That's for sure, in Douron City, he actually dared to refuse the invitation of Lord Red Lotus, that kid is absolutely going to be in big trouble."

  "Hah! Who made him offend the infamous Poison Widow Red Lotus of Dalun City?!"

  Bai Cangdong returned home and tried to use his new Mo Dao to practice the painful knife technique. The Mo Dao was much lighter than a knight's double-handed greatsword, but slightly heavier than a silk sword. It felt quite comfortable to use due to its inherent properties, making it particularly swift and powerful when chopping and slashing.

  The next morning, Bai Cangdong heard a knock on the door. When he opened it, he found that it was someone from Lord Kael's side coming to collect this month's protection fee.

  "This month's protection fee is one thousand yuan." The man said coldly after glancing at Bai Cangdong.

  "Last month it was only 500 degrees, how did it rise to 1,000 degrees this month?" Bai Cangdong frowned.

  "Tomorrow is Miss Shangfei's coming-of-age ceremony, shouldn't you guys contribute some life points to celebrate?" The man said impatiently: "Poor devil, stop talking nonsense, hand over 1,000 life points or get out of Daluo City, choose for yourself."

  "Or is there a third option?" Bai Cangdong said calmly.

  "A third option? You must be itching for a fight." The man's face twitched, and he threw a punch at Bai Cangdong's face.

  "Halt." White Can Dong had yet to move when suddenly someone rushed over and grabbed the fist that was about to hit him.

  "Red-haired Baron!" The man, seeing that the one who had grabbed his fist was Chen Xifeng, immediately revealed a shocked expression and hastily flattered: "Sir, how did you come here? I didn't know Sir was here. If there's any offense, please forgive me."

  "Hmph, how dare you hit people at random." Chen Xifeng gave him a cold glance.

  "This guy refused to pay protection fees and even dared to talk back to me, I just gave him a little lesson. He paused for a moment and then said: "If he has any relationship with you, sir, we'll waive his protection fee for this month."

  "I think you'd better kneel down and apologize to him immediately." Chen Xifeng said.

  That person's face changed: "Red-haired Baron, although you are a noble baron, but I am the Earl of Dalun's man, and now I am also doing things for the Earl. I am respectful to you, and I dare not offend you in the slightest. If you want to deal with me as an opponent, I'm afraid the Earl will not agree."

  "Not bad, you haven't offended me. If I were to take action and kill you, Count-sama would definitely investigate, but you're going to attack a baron, that baron wants to kill you. Even if it's Baron Kiren here, he won't say anything." Chen Xifeng said with a smile.

  "You're trying to frame me! The Earl is a wise and discerning man, he will not be deceived." the man said sternly.

  "Who would bother to wrong you, you're overestimating yourself, Old Bai. Let's settle this quickly and leave, the others are waiting for us." Chen Xifeng said, no longer looking at that person, turning to speak to Bai Cangdong instead.

  The white-haired old man revealed the baronial crest on his forehead, contemplating whether to teach that person a lesson. Unexpectedly, as soon as that person saw the crest, he thudded to the ground and began kowtowing, scolding himself loudly. After a while, he lifted his head and slapped his own face with both hands, turning red and swollen in just a few slaps.

  "Let's go." Bai Cangdong and Chen Xifeng left together, and the man didn't dare to stop beating himself until the two of them were out of sight.

  "These guys are getting more and more arrogant, collecting fees in the name of Earl, as far as I know, the protection fee set by Earl has always been 100 life points per month, never increased, let alone Miss Shangfei's coming-of-age gift, those people don't even have the qualifications to attend, Earl will not accept their gifts either, they must be taking advantage of Miss Shangfei's coming-of-age gift to make a profit, I shouldn't have let him off so easily just now." Chen Xifeng said with hatred after hearing Bai Canghai explain the situation on the way.

  Before long, Chen Xifeng brought Bai Cangdong to a small courtyard inside the Kui Lun Society.

  "Red hair, is this the new person you've brought? How long has it been since he was promoted to baron?" Just as Bai Cangdong had just entered, he was surrounded by three big men. One of them, a muscular man with horse-riding muscles on his arm, looked at Bai Cangdong and said.

  "When did you become a baron and how many martial skills do you have?" asked the man with a sturdy build and piercing eyes.

  "How many baron-level warriors do you have?" asked a man who looked somewhat frail.

  "Less than three months after being promoted to Baron, he learned a martial skill and only had one Baron-level armed great sword." Bai Cangdong answered the questions of three people in a row.

  "It's been less than three months since he was promoted to Baron, I'm afraid he can't even fully control his own destiny." the muscular man said.

  "A person who only knows one martial art is basically useless. Once someone has seen it, it's hard to have any further use." The sharp-eyed man said.

  "There's only one suit of armor for a baron, being a baron is really poor." the weak-looking man said.

  The last three people's eyes fell on Chen Xifeng's face like cold electricity, and they said in unison: "Is this the new team member you found for us?"

  "Cough, listen to me, most of the barons already have their own teams and can't find anyone else. Tomorrow is Miss Shangfei's coming-of-age ceremony, if we can't gather five people, we won't be able to participate in the martial arts competition, so..." Chen Xifeng said awkwardly.

  Three people lost interest in Bai Cangdong and didn't ask for his name, each doing their own thing.

  "Lao Bai, don't mind them too much, they're just a bit impatient by nature, but they're actually good people. Once you get to know them, you'll see. There's a separate room inside, why don't you take a rest first? Or go practice your martial skills in the courtyard. Tomorrow morning we have to participate in the Martial Arts Competition." Chen Xifeng arranged for Bai Cangdong and chased after those few people who ran off.

  "Red hair, you're also too unreliable. I asked you to find someone, but you brought back this useless person. If Knife Shield was still here, we would have had a chance to break into the top five. Now it's hard to say if we can even make it into the top ten." The muscular man complained.

  "It's not like there's no way out, rushing into the top ten at least still has a martial skill to grab, if you can't grab the championship, then nothing will be gained." Chen Xifeng said.

  "Never mind, let's just do it this way. If we put in a bit more effort later on and are lucky, who knows, maybe we can still make it into the top five. Getting two martial skills wouldn't be bad either," said the weak-looking man.

  "It's like this now."

  After discussing for a long time, the four of them parted ways to attend to their respective matters.