Chapter 209: Shattered

"Insolence!" Tommy roared, about to lunge at Leonidas. Jared, as the Dragon Sect overlord, wouldn't let Leonidas beat him. However, Jared stopped Tommy, saying, "He's too strong for you." Jared had realized Leonidas's strength when he felt the force behind a simple flick of the man's cane.

Erasmus intervened, taking Leonidas's cane. "Calm down, sir. Many people outside await you. Your reputation will suffer if you fight."

Leonidas reclaimed his cane, snorting, "Get rid of them before they annoy me further!"

Erasmus said awkwardly, "Perhaps you should leave, Mr. Grange. Once my daughter is healed, I'll send you the cinnabar rosary and spiritual brush."

Walter turned to Jared. "Should we leave, Mr. Chance?"

Since Erasmus had promised the rosary and brush, they had no reason to remain. Jared shook his head. "I didn't come here to watch someone die!"

Jared was determined to save Erasmus's daughter. He must be a good person to offer me the rosary and brush. I must help!

Leonidas frowned, glaring at Jared. "Little brat, are you finished?"

Erasmus was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Jared smirked. "Could you stop being so authoritative? Try it and see if I'm right."

Leonidas was taken aback. "How am I supposed to do that?"

Jared pointed to the jade scepter. "Use it to absorb the frosty energy. If it's undamaged afterward, I'm wrong and will leave. Otherwise, I'm right."

"Fine! I'll prove you wrong!" Leonidas picked up his scepter, beginning to chant as he gently stroked Erasmus's daughter's head. With each touch, they saw frosty energy being absorbed by the scepter.

Leonidas shot Jared a disdainful look. "Get out! My scepter is fine!" He continued stroking the girl's head. Suddenly, a cracking sound echoed—something had shattered.

Everyone gasped. Leonidas examined his scepter, finding a hairline crack. He touched it gently, and it shattered, falling to the ground. He cried, "What happened to my scepter?"

Josephine jumped, yelling excitedly, "Wow! It shattered!" She grabbed Jared's arm.

Leonidas was mortified. His reaction to Josephine's excitement was one of anger; the scepter was invaluable. Josephine fell silent, though her excitement was barely concealed.

Jared stated, "Believe me now? Your scepter couldn't contain the frosty energy. Without removing it, she would be dead."

The passage has been cleaned up by:

• Correcting grammatical errors: Fixing subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, and pronoun usage.
• Improving sentence structure: Combining short, choppy sentences for better flow and readability.
• Refining punctuation: Consistent use of commas, periods, and quotation marks.
• Removing the advertisement: The advertisement for a novel website was deleted.
• Minor stylistic edits: Improving word choice for clarity and conciseness. Internal monologue was italicized for distinction.

The cleaned-up passage maintains the original storyline and dialogue while enhancing its readability and professionalism.