Unreasonable Venus

A strange silence instantly settled over the teahouse.

Li Yuan looked at the unreasonable customer standing before the bar, his professional smile fading significantly.

If she had just come early for tea, he might have been able to make an exception. But from the very beginning, she hadn't shown the slightest intent to negotiate, and she had flatly rejected his compromise. This was crossing a line.

Even the most patient man has his limits, and being jolted awake from a sound sleep was never a pleasant experience.

Li Yuan pushed the bag of gold coins back toward her, his tone turning cold.

“Madam, I will say it one more time—the shop is not open for business. Please leave. If you continue this, I will have no choice but to notify the patrolling City Guard.”

Venus, who had been resting her chin on her hand to see how he would react, was actually stunned for a moment.

Then, she covered her mouth and let out a light laugh.

This was the first time in over a decade that someone had genuinely amused her.

She looked at the teahouse owner, who clearly didn't have the slightest ripple of mana yet was solemnly trying to threaten her with the City Guard. The irritability between her brows dissipated quite a bit.

“The City Guard?”

She spoke flippantly, tilting her head slightly. Her lazy tone carried a sense of natural entitlement.

“Forget the City Guard; even if you called the King himself, he couldn't make me leave.”

Li Yuan frowned, sensing that this wasn't simple—those words sounded like someone flaunting their status.

However, thinking back to that large red crawler in the sky above the Royal Capital earlier, combined with her complete disregard for the rules in the Kingdom's Legal Code, she probably wasn't just talking big.

Anyone who could keep such a massive crawler as a pet naturally wouldn't have a simple identity.

But even so, that didn't mean she could do whatever she wanted.

Even back when he reached the Mahayana stage on the Kyushu Continent, he never presumed to be above the laws of the world.

Above the Mahayana stage were Immortals, and above Immortals were the Heavenly Dao, Chaos, the Great Dao, and so on... There is always a higher heaven and a greater person—it was such a simple truth, so why did so many people fail to understand it?

Li Yuan sighed inwardly and tried a different approach.

“Then tell me, what will it take for you to leave?”

The answer this time was very quick and direct.

“Just satisfy my request.”

She tapped the bar counter, her tone even more assertive than before.

“Let me drink milk tea until I'm satisfied.”

Li Yuan was momentarily speechless. Wasn't this just going in circles?

He glanced at the bright daylight outside the window, then at the bag of gold coins on the bar, and finally took a step back.

“Fine, I can make the milk tea,” Li Yuan said. “But the shop is not currently open for dine-in. You must take it to go.”

But Venus didn't even think before rejecting him outright.

“No.”

She rested her cheek on one hand while the other pointed at the bar. She narrowed her eyes at Li Yuan.

“I want to drink it in the shop.”

After saying this, she didn't continue to rush him. Instead, she leaned forward slightly, looking at the young man with great interest.

—Interesting. It wasn't easy to encounter someone so intriguing.

This teahouse owner looked like a well-educated noble youth; his speech was proper, and his conduct was beyond reproach. Most impressively, he seemed to truly have his own principles.

It wasn't the kind of act nobles put on for show, but a genuine... stubbornness.

Little fellows like this were rare nowadays. If he had vocational talent, he might have achieved significant success.

She wondered if he would be able to maintain this composure once he found out who she was.

To her surprise, Venus felt a slight pang of pity for him regarding that.

Li Yuan naturally had no idea what she was thinking. He only knew that his last shred of patience was about to run out. Seeing his final concession rejected, he could only let out a soft sigh.

“In that case, you get nothing.”

Li Yuan pushed the bag of gold coins back in front of her.

“Madam, do as you please, but do not touch anything in the shop.”

With that, he turned toward the stairs, clearly intending to ignore this troublesome intruder.

Just as he reached the foot of the stairs, a cold light suddenly flew from behind him.

A short dagger grazed his shoulder and slammed into the wooden wall beside him. The hilt of the dagger was still vibrating slightly, letting out a faint hum.

Then, Venus's voice came from behind him, playful yet carrying a hint of chill.

“Next time, it won't be the wall.”

Li Yuan stopped in his tracks. He looked up at the short dagger embedded in the wall, then at the wooden wall that had only recently been repaired.

He felt his breath hitch—this teahouse had only been reopened for a few days, and everything here was brand new...

Furthermore, the interior of the teahouse, acting as the formation core, didn't have much defensive power. It was like she had found a glitch in the system.

He slowly turned around, the expression on his face gradually turning cold. Finally, with a dark look, he walked back to the bar step by step.

Venus also turned around in her seat, and their eyes met.

Originally, she was just a bit irritable and wanted to drink something she liked while finding some amusement. But now, she suddenly felt that this owner was more interesting than milk tea.

After being threatened, he didn't panic or beg for mercy; he even dared to step forward to confront her... Though he was just an ordinary person, his presence was quite strong.

Just this point alone made him superior to many noble knights. However, she wanted to see what this young man would do next.

And Li Yuan was now truly angry.

If it was just the annoyance of having his rest disturbed earlier, that emotion had now transformed into genuine rage.

He had a good temper, but that didn't mean he didn't have one at all.

His willingness to be reasonable didn't mean he would infinitely tolerate the provocations of others.

After a brief silence, Li Yuan said coldly, “Leave now, and I can pretend nothing happened. If you continue, don't blame me for being impolite.”

Hearing this, Venus laughed lightly once more.

She tilted her head and looked at Li Yuan, her eyes filled with even more interest as she asked slowly.

“Oh? And how exactly do you plan to be impolite?”

Her tone was thick with the air of someone watching a show; she wasn't taking him seriously at all.

Li Yuan didn't waste any more words—he simply raised his hand and reached for her wrist.

The movement wasn't fast, and he didn't use any spells; it was just a plain, ordinary grabbing motion.

A flash of amusement crossed Venus's eyes. Naturally, it was impossible for her to be caught like this.

The moment Li Yuan's hand was about to touch her, she gave a light tap with her toe. Her entire body slid away from the chair, gliding along the edge of the bar until she reached the window.

Li Yuan missed, but he didn't rush to chase her.

He simply turned his steps, rounded the bar, and walked toward her one step at a time.

Leaning against the window, Venus smiled and offered a comment:

“Not a bad reaction.”

As soon as she finished speaking, her figure blurred. She moved from the window to a small table, her finger giving a light push on the edge of the table to shift herself to the other side.

Li Yuan reached out again, and again, he was just a bit short.

Venus's mood improved considerably.

It had been a long time since she played a little game like this. She controlled her speed, making sure she wasn't completely untouchable while ensuring he wouldn't actually catch her.

The teahouse wasn't large, and the space between the bar, tables, chairs, bookshelves, and stairs was limited.

But for her, this distance was more than enough.

As a Sky Knight, even without using her true strength, her physical reactions and footwork alone were not something an ordinary person could keep up with.

She retreated from the table to the bookshelf, then veered from the bookshelf toward the stairs. Her movements were light and graceful as her figure darted through the narrow space.

But strangely—the expected scene of the young man being toyed with and spun in circles didn't happen. Every time she shifted positions and looked back at him, she found that he was always approaching her in that same unhurried manner.