Chapter 157: Should We?
Just as this one mercenary finished talking, another spoke up, “That’s right, Captain. Although we haven’t come across Jian Chen yet, on the road we’ve already seen over 100 corpses. After a closer look, most of them appear to be close friends within Wake City who are all above the Saint Master level. If Jian Chen can kill a group of Saint Master experts, then his own strength should be that of a Great Saint Master at the very least. Even if we were to face off against him, it’s not guaranteed that we’ll capture him without any losses or serious casualties. I’m afraid that even our complete destruction might be a possible outcome.”
Hearing that mercenary, the other 10 mercenaries couldn’t help but have serious expressions on their faces. This new-found information had sent their heads into a whirl as they realized that if they wanted to capture Jian Chen alive with their Middle Saint Master strength, they would need more effort than they had thought. After all, with their formation, they were capable of going up against a Great Saint Master and the news given to them by the Tianxiong clan explicitly said that Jian Chen had only Great Saint strength. At the very best he would be at the Saint Master level, so at the very beginning, they hadn’t bothered to take Jian Chen seriously.
However, now that they had been wandering within the Magical Beast Mountain Range for a few days, news of Jian Chen’s amazing prowess had reached their ears about how multiple Great Saint Masters had died by his hand. Although they didn’t believe these rumors at first, after seeing corpses litter the ground wherever they went had shaken their confidence.
Right now, these 10 mercenaries were in an awkward position where it was difficult to call off the hunt. They wanted to capture Jian Chen, but at the same time, they worried about going against him. They wanted to retreat from the mountain range, but they were also unwilling to give up the ten thousand purple coin reward that had so enticingly tempted their hearts.
“Captain, we should give up this mission. The fact that we’ve seen so many bodies on our paths is proof of Jian Chen’s might. If we were to come across Jian Chen even with our numbers, we would still not be considered his opponent and would undoubtedly have many people die by his hands.” A scarred middle aged man spoke with fear prevalent in his eyes.
“I second Yun Zhibing’s suggestion. Captain, while ten thousand purple coins isn’t a small amount by any means, but it can’t be spent if we’re dead. If we die here, there isn’t any point to money or enjoying any other worldly pleasure.” Another tanned person spoke.
Hearing these mercenaries speak up, a mercenary with a knife wound slowly nodded his head and said, “Fine then, let us get off of this mountain range.”
With that announcement, every other mercenary let out a breath of air in relief as the tense expressions on their faces loosened up a bit.
“It’s a shame that you cannot walk in the night!”
Suddenly, a moment after the mercenaries were happily rejoicing, another voice was heard.
The new arrival of the voice had caused every mercenary to stiffen.
“Who’s there, come out!” The scarred mercenary called out as he stood up. At the same time, the other 10 mercenaries slowly stood up as well staring cautiously at the dangerous area around them.
Suddenly, a leather wearing person slowly came walking out from behind the trees. This person had long black hair with a piece of tall grass keeping it in place. There were stains all over his skin as he walked forward, but no one could distinguish who he was.
The 10 mercenaries collectively looked at this animal hide wearing person as the knife scarred mercenary yelled out, “Who are you?!”
The animal hide wearing person began to smile with the shadows of the night still covering the rest of his facial features, but the smile could be seen clearly, “I’m the person you’re looking for.”
Bewildered, not a single mercenary could react to this announcement besides having their faces pale abruptly.
“You…you…could you be that Jian Chen?” A man stuttered out. There was an expression of utter panic that had overtaken his face.
The animal hide wearing person nodded his head slowly with a smile, “That’s right, I am Jian Chen.”
There was a miraculous expression on the mercenaries face as they looked at Jian Chen who stared right back at them. None of them had thought that the person they had been looking for all this time would suddenly appear right in front of them just as they had decided to retreat from the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
If Jian Chen appeared a few days ago, these 10 mercenaries would have been overjoyed to see him and wouldn’t have any hesitation. But now…
At this moment, there was a wave of agony that smashed into their hearts.
“Hand over all of the monster cores in your possession and you may leave. Otherwise, you will die here. I’ll give you a few moments to consider your options.” Jian Chen spoke out. His tone was unnaturally calm, but when these mercenaries heard him speak, their hearts all grew heavy.
The 10 mercenaries looked at each other as the leader spoke up, “Honored Jian Chen, the moment you opened your mouth, you wanted us to give up our monster cores, isn’t that too much? After all, these monster cores were earned after so much hard work and risking our lives in order to get even just one more monster core.” He said with an unwillingness. Right after hearing the rumors of Jian Chen killing multiple Great Saint Master experts, the leader had given up on seeing Jian Chen as an enemy.
Jian Chen laughed, “I don’t care for that. Your time is up now, if you don’t hand over your monster cores, then don’t blame me for what happens next.”
Hearing this, the 10 mercenaries all grew unhappy. The leader hesitated for merely a moment before striding forward, “Honored Jian Chen, if you can defeat me within 5 moves, then I will hand over our monster cores. Otherwise, we will just end up in a complete stalemate.”
Jian Chen’s eyes flashed dangerously for a moment as he looked at the leader. “Fine, I’ll defeat you in 5 moves then.” In an instant, an intense amount of Saint Force appeared within his hand as a silver sword materialized.
“Everyone move back!” The middle aged man waved his own Saint Weapon, ready to slash at Jian Chen with the might of his two handed sword.