Marrying a White Snake Wife is Super Cool

Chapter 361: Chapter 204: Silver Taels are a Good Thing, Good Wherever They’re Spent

Lu Yuan and the others heard the explosion and also came out to see what the commotion was about.

Lu Yuan took a closer look. The flustered uncle clearly wasn’t at the level of a Grand Celestial Master. How could he possibly have overloaded the columnar crystal until it shattered?

’Could there be something fishy going on here?’

Lu Yuan asked for Daoist Longchuan’s thoughts. Daoist Longchuan said, "It was probably just old and in disrepair. After all, these crystals don’t have a regular maintenance schedule. They only get replaced when they break. What a pity."

"A pity for what?" Lu Yuan pressed.

"A pity for that fellow," Daoist Longchuan said, shaking his head with a TSK TSK TSK. "Look at how he’s dressed. He doesn’t look like a rich man. If Guyang Temple makes him pay for it, he wouldn’t have enough even if he pawned his own underpants."

An old man walked out from within the Divine Martial Hall and asked, "What happened?"

A Daoist bowed and said, "Elder, this man broke the crystal!"

"What?" The Elder swept his duster, and sensing the man wasn’t even a Celestial Master, he tossed out, "Just make him pay for it!"

The middle-aged man waved his hands, stuttering slightly, "Daoist, I... I can’t afford to pay for that!"

The Elder, who had been about to turn and leave, looked back and said, "Can’t afford it? Then you can stay and scrub the latrines."

The Elder could guess that the middle-aged man couldn’t afford to compensate them. He was deliberately posturing and making things difficult for him, wanting to show off his authority in front of the crowd.

The onlookers sighed in dismay. The middle-aged man was a Celestial Master, after all. To be humiliated like this was shocking.

Outside, Celestial Masters were always deeply respected by ordinary people.

As for this columnar crystal, a Celestial Master would have to work himself to death for twenty years just to have a chance of paying for it.

If it were an ordinary person, they could toil in the fields from dawn till dusk for two hundred years and might be able to pay it off.

"This is outrageous! That damn thing of yours broke on its own, and you’re trying to make me pay for it!" The middle-aged uncle was clearly enraged.

The uncle drew the Celestial Master Sword from his back and slashed toward the Elder. In his fury, his swordsmanship was wild and without any form.

The six Daoists flanking the Elder swarmed forward, and the clang of metal on metal filled the air.

"Insolence! Is Guyang Temple a place where you can run wild? How dare you show disrespect to the Elder!" one of the Daoists shouted.

It turned out this old man was the Elder in charge of the Divine Martial Hall. He usually just meditated and drank tea, holding a sinecure position.

Daoist Longchuan shook his head and leaned close to Lu Yuan’s ear. "Guyang Temple is really bullying the weak."

Lu Yuan didn’t speak, merely watching the scene unfold.

After just a few exchanges, the middle-aged uncle was captured by the six Daoists.

The middle-aged uncle yelled hysterically to the crowd, "Fellow Daoists, friends! Their equipment was faulty, and now they’re framing me! You have to stand up for me!"

Among the onlookers, not a single person dared to step forward and intervene.

Seeing this, the Elder of the Divine Martial Hall swelled with arrogance and said, "Drag him out and hold him for processing!"

Daoist Longchuan took a step forward, stroking his short tuft of a beard. "Hold on. According to the laws of the Court, you have no authority to detain someone arbitrarily."

"Daoist Longchuan, please don’t meddle in our affairs," said one of the Daoists, who was one of the two from the first trial room.

’Daoist Longchuan is a really warm-hearted person,’ Lu Yuan thought. ’He’s willing to make an enemy of Guyang Temple for this. It seems I didn’t make a mistake in befriending him.’

Su Liyan took advantage of the moment to press close to Lu Yuan’s ear and whisper, "Honey, you were the one who actually broke that crystal. It was on the verge of shattering when I woke you up. I didn’t think it would actually break, and this uncle just happened to be the unlucky one."

Hearing his wife’s words, Lu Yuan’s eyes widened. He turned his head and stared at Su Liyan in disbelief.

Su Liyan nodded with absolute certainty.

Only then did Lu Yuan understand. ’So, I was the villain all along!’

’It looks like I can’t stay out of this,’ he thought. ’I can’t let this middle-aged uncle be wrongly accused and take the fall for me.’

Daoist Longchuan, having been rebuffed by the other Daoist’s words, had no intention of letting the matter drop.

Daoist Longchuan shifted his body, moving slightly to the side. He turned his right palm upward in a gesture of presentation.

Daoist Longchuan coughed twice and continued, "What I, a Grand Celestial Master, say is true. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Lord Lu, the County Magistrate of Taiping City standing beside me, whether you have the authority to detain this middle-aged uncle."

Lu Yuan had actually already been promoted to Prefect of Dongchang. Daoist Longchuan had been traveling and didn’t know what had happened since, so he still thought Lu Yuan was the County Magistrate of Taiping City.

Seeing Daoist Longchuan bring him into it, Lu Yuan stepped forward and responded, "That is indeed correct!"

The Daoists of Guyang Temple had not expected a Court official to come to the Divine Martial Hall for a Celestial Master certification.

Two of those Daoists had seen Lu Yuan and his group earlier and had even witnessed that Lu Yuan’s Spiritual Power was higher than anyone else present.

These two Daoists hadn’t wanted to cause trouble. Since everyone thought the middle-aged uncle had done it, they felt there was no need to point out who had been tested right before him and potentially damaged the crystal.

The Daoists looked at each other, momentarily unsure of what to do.

The Elder of the Divine Martial Hall spoke up to steady his fellow Daoists. "Guyang Temple is the number one temple in Qilu Province. Never mind a County Magistrate from another city—even the local County Magistrate has no jurisdiction here."

’Are they trying to disrespect Guyang Temple?’ the Elder of the Divine Martial Hall thought, very displeased at seeing someone stick their neck out.

Before Lu Yuan or Daoist Longchuan could speak, the Elder began to release his oppressive aura, pressing down on them.

As a newly ascended Grand Celestial Master, even Daoist Longchuan felt a tremor of fear in the face of the Elder’s power. He whispered to Lu Yuan, "This Elder must be among the top ranks of Grand Celestial Masters. What should we do?"