"They only matter because my uncle approved such an arrangement."


    This was one hell of a statement… and I knew it.


    A statement that was extremely political, direct, and honest to the bone. But while it was the truth… It didn''t mean those three girls, or anyone else around us in fact, was happy to hear it.


    After a moment of silence, however, the leading bitch of the pack managed to recollect her thought and restore that aggressively bitchy look on her face.


    "Your uncle? Ha!" she cried out before throwing her hands out as if to say e at me''. "How telling of you to pull out a fact that no one here can verify!"


    In front of me, there were those three girls. To my side stood ire, who had a peculiar look of anxiety mixed with curiosity on her face.


    Those two I could deal with.


    But after my big statement, the crowd around us was the source of my worry. And to put it lightly, it wouldn''t be that much of a stretch for them to take those words of mine and use them as a justification for a lynch!


    Because while what I said was true… thews in the cultivation districts were a lot different than thews outside of them. And while cultivators would be extremely careful with their powers in the secr part of the world, in here…


    "You see, that''s the problem," I ended up speaking out in the calmest and mostposed voice I could get my throat to produce. "You act as if I care enough about your drivel to ept a huge loss on my bet with him just to rub the ufortable truth in your face."


    "Tim, that''s okay, let''s just…" ire attempted to pull me aside… but in her sheltered life, she clearly couldn''t recognize the signs that I, as someone who grew up in one of the denser parts of the city, could see at a nce.


    And it was the fact that with how things were right now, the crowd that gathered around us was unlikely to just let us leave.


    "Not only are they throwing empty words and trying to scare us with them," the leading bitch cleverly incorporated everyone in the crowd into her argument, "but when I''m trying to verify the validity of their ims, they are going to instantly backtrack?"


    Word after word, the girl''s voice grew louder and louder, soon turning into a crowd address rather than something directed at me or ire.


    "And this is exactly where your misconception lies," I pointed out both with my words and by raising my hand and pointing at the girl. "I do not owe you a word of exnation," I took a small, miniscule step ahead. "I do not owe you any proof," a step, "validation," I made another step, "or anything else. I simply exined the truth that I knew you would dislike."


    By now, I stood so close to the girl, that a curious and uniformed onlooker could assume we were about to kiss.


    During my advance, this bitch… actually stood her ground, refusing to move back as I inched closer and closer. And while I was willing to give her credit for that, it didn''t change the crux of the situation in the slightest.


    "That''s a lot of fancy words for someone who''s all bark but no bite!" the bitch then tried to counter, only for ire to pull on my hand even harder as if worried this girl''s words would actually get to me.


    "And you are the one saying that?" I asked, taking a step back to put an emphasis on my exasperation. "Weren''t you the one who approached us all Karen-like, intruding upon our time together just to entertain yourself at our expense?"


    Bit by bit, I started to switch the narrative of the drama over from my earlier statement to the situation that started it all.


    "I just came to say hi to a friend!" the girl protested, clearly unwilling to let this situation blow over.


    "Then, what''s my name?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning a little to the back while showcasing a confident smile to the whole crowd around us.


    "Huh? Your name?" the girl''s eyes widened as she struggled to figure out where I was going with this question. And thisck of understanding… was what finally started to crack her confident facade.


    "Why would I ever care about your name?!" she nearly screamed out before quickly calming herself down and waving her hand around as she put the most disgusted look on her face she could muster, "You better check your privilege, man, because nowadays…"


    "You came up to a friend you saw in town, saw that friend holding hands with a man and yet still failed to even ask for his name?"


    Rather than allowing the girl to go on, even though her actually acting like a Karen actually worked out for us, I kept my pressure.


    I''ve already managed to move the attention from the topic of the rtions between the secr and cultivation world and all the politics around this topic to something all of the people in the crowd could easily understand.


    And as those who weren''t here to witness it happen thought back and imagined the scenario…


    To say the mood changed would be a massive understatement.


    "You approached the two of us as we were busy talking and holding hands. Then, you start to throw poorly disguised shade while trying to rub your superiority and position in our faces. And now you get all bitchy when I do the same?"


    And just like that, we went full circle to the very point of the discussion I initially wanted to avoid.


    But if this girl was smart enough… she would never let me do it. And no matter how the discussion would shift, or how the mood of the crowd would change, this would always remain a great point for her to draw back to. A point that I would never be able to refute if it was thrown back in my face.


    Now that I brought it back up myself, however…


    "I mean, he isn''t wrong…"


    "Isn''t that Cassie? I''ve heard rumors, but to see her bully others out in the open with my own two eyes…"


    The crowd filled with murmurs and whispers as everyone took their own take on the situation and eagerly shared it with whomever they were out in the streets with.


    "The truth of the matter is, I''m not going to call my uncle to deal with you. Heck," I spread my arms open as if to show I wasn''t armed or eager to fight to begin with "I''m not even gonna bother retaliating in any way or form!" I slowly lowered my hands only to reach out with my right arm, andnd it over ire''s shoulders before bringing her closer as I gave her a side hug.


    "You are not worth any more of our time, so we are simply going to leave."


    With that said, I didn''t bother wasting even a single second more of the girl, opting to stand by my words and turn around, ready to leave.


    Now that the mood of the crowd had shifted, it was the perfect opportunity to make our exit and stop putting our time and mental weight on this pointless drama.


    "That''s right! Run back to that loser of a n head of yours! Your uncle or not, for as long as he''s stuck at the ninth stage, he will forever remain just a bitch to my n!" Cassie screamed out, proving that she never experienced enough setbacks in her life to know how to deal with a situation she didn''te out on top of.


    And feeling how ire tensed up underneath my arm…


    "Would you like for me to retaliate?" I asked, both my tongue and my fists itching to get back at those bitches who dared to strike at ire true enough to actually make her react.


    "No, let them dogs bark as they wish," ire muttered through her tightened lips, clearly trying to hold her emotions back. "As for what she said…" she sighed before shaking her head, "I will bring it up with the father and let him decide how to deal with those kids."


    The corner of my lip moved up as a small, proud smile emerged on my face.


    It wasn''t easy to hold one''s emotions back when they were at their highest and make an urate, mature, and calm decision. That''s why, seeing and hearing ire do just that only served to raise her standing in my eyes even further, a feat that I routinely doubted to be possible only for, just as routinely, ire to prove me wrong.


    "Run as far as you like! It won''t change the fact your father will never advance and your n will be forever banished from the spiritual realm!"


    Paying Cassie''s shouts no mind, I focused all my attention on ire''s face so that I could tell at what point those bitches would cross the line. The line beyond which ire would no longer be willing to act mature and, instead, opt to deal with the troublemakers directly.


    "Say whatever you want, but you already know your father will never advance to the tenth stage!"


    At this point, ire merely sighed as her shoulders dropped a little.


    But her face, rather than being sad, infuriated, or annoyed… merely showed signs of mental exhaustion.


    "Isn''t that why you found a rich mortal bastard to stick to? Because you know your n are nothing but talentless losers?!"


    Seeing the two of us just… walk away without paying her any mind had to really tickle Cassie wrong given just how undignified she was willing to make herself be out in the open… just to throw some more childish insults our way.


    But at this point, while I could respect the hustle, I just couldn''t let all of her words go unpunished, could I?


    And so, I leaned my head over the shoulder, easily catching the stare of the trio given how the crowd parted away to give the two groups a direct line of sight of each other.


    "Just one piece of advice in the passing from someone too smart to deal with your psychotic episode," I called out before putting a lovely smile on my face… An easy feat as I imagined theeuppance that was already in the making.


    "You say ire''s father will never break through, how talentless he is and all… But, if you think about it…"


    I even went as far as to stop and took a moment to think, knowing full well that these kind of small pauses was just the right tool to keep the crowd of onlookers engaged.


    "Wouldn''t the day when he breaks through anyway the very day when your own hand will end up pping your own face?"