Chapter 257: Pressure
Seeing how the Tianhua Sect’s men were quite pleasant in attitude and didn’t have any notion to cause trouble, Jian Chen let out a breath of air in relief inwardly. He was no longer a single person fighting for himself because of the Flame Mercenaries. So Jian Chen truly did not want to offend anyone that was too powerful, otherwise his Flame Mercenaries would face annihilation a second time.
Jian Chen greeted the three politely and then led the three into the Kai clan’s courtyards.
Within Jian Chen’s personal courtyard, he and the three men from the Tianhua Sect sat at a stone table before smiling wide, “Fellow brothers, I’ve heard that the Tianhua Sect is two thousand miles away from Wake City. You must have rushed here, is that true?” Jian Chen didn’t waste any time on idle words and immediately got straight to the point.
The three men looked at each other with a hint of hesitation before Qing Yun cleared his throat. “The truth is, our Tianhua Sect has heard about sire Jian Chen having a Class 5 Monster Core. That is an item our Tianhua sect desires to have, so our leader has ordered us to come to Wake City to see if we are able to purchase it from you.”
Jian Chen had a regretful look on his face from that answer, “My apologies, but while I do indeed have a Class 5 Monster Core on me, it is not for sale since I have use for it as well.” Jian Chen’s cultivation needed a ton of energy from monster cores, and in order to heal the Azure and Violet Sword Spirits, he would need a tremendous amount of that energy. While he had plenty of Class 3 and Class 4 Monster Cores, it was still not enough. A single Class 5 Monster Core was equivalent to a hundred Class 4 Monster Cores in terms of energy. So a Class 5 Monster Core would definitely remain in his possession, besides, he didn’t need anymore money anyways.
Class 5 Monster Cores could easily be bought within a highly populated city where experts gathered, but in a far away city like Wake City, they were especially rare. Even if they could be found in the market, then their prices would be extravagantly high.
The men had known this result was coming, yet they couldn’t help but have a look of dejection on their faces as they listened to Jian Chen. A Class 5 Monster Core was a treasure that even the Tianhua Sect would want. If they were to go to a major city to buy one, then the hazards associated with it would be heavy. If the news were to escape that they bought one, then on the road they would be besieged by bandits who would fight them over it. In the Tian Yuan Continent, there weren’t many Earth Saint Master bandits, but there were plenty of major bandit groups or even Heaven Saint Master experts that wanted in on the monster core.
After talking for a while, the three men all left the courtyard in a hurry.
Returning back to their original inn, the three men congregated in the same room behind closed doors.
“Teacher, now that we know this Jian Chen is not willing to sell his Class 5 Monster Core, what shall we do?” The bald headed Qing Mu said.
Qing Yun narrowed his eyes, “This Jian Chen seems very young, but with the experience I’ve gained in my lifetime, I can tell that this person is not ordinary at all. He is a mystery with strength that is equally shocking. Although we weren’t able accurately guess just how strong he is, if he was able to fight with a Class 5 Monster, then that means his strength isn’t anything minor. Furthermore, he was able to kill Liu Zheng who is similar to me in terms of strength.”
“Teacher, then should we return back to the sect?” Qing Shan spoke with an unwilling face.
The middle aged man went silent for a moment. “If a youth like this has such a strength, then my only concern is that Jian Chen has a strong clan supporting him. This isn’t something we can recklessly dive into, we first must report back to the leader and wait for a confirmation on the next step. Qing Shan, Qing Mu, you two will stay in Wake City for now and pay attention to whatever happens. Bear in mind, you must not cause trouble for the Kai clan and wait for me to return.”
“Yes, teacher.” The two instantly replied. Although the age difference between the three wasn’t all that much, Qing Mu and Qing Shan both placed a heavy importance on Qing Yun in their hearts.
Qing Yun didn’t hesitate and left the room before mounting his Class 3 Magical Beast to ride back toward the Tianhua Sect in a hurry.
The Kai clan had Jian Chen sitting down by his courtyard. After the three men had left, Jian Chen remained at the table in deep thought.
The allure that the Class 5 Monster Core had, brought him more attention than he had thought it would. He had no idea that a Class 5 Monster Core would have even Earth Saint Masters come from far away to buy it. Jian Chen did know that if his own strength wasn’t strong enough to make the others afraid, then the monster core would have been stolen from him long ago.
Today had been the day where he had sent off the Xia clan and then was promptly visited by the Tianhua Sect which was not weaker than the Xia clan. Both clans were not to be trifled with and each had an Earth Saint Master supervising them. Who knew whether or not in the future that an even stronger faction would show up?
An Earth Saint Master was a high leveled expert that could threaten even Jian Chen. After seeing the power of the three Class 5 Magical Beasts fight him, Jian Chen could roughly guess that if he were to come across a First or Second Cycle Earth Saint Master, then his azure and violet Sword Qi would be able to help deal with them. However, if he were to come across a Fifth or Sixth Cycle Earth Saint Master, then his odds were significantly lower.
The difference between each Earth Saint Master was extremely vast, thus why they were split into two six cycles. From the first to sixth cycle, the gap between each cycle was an almost uncrossable divide.
The Xia clan and the Tianhua Sect’s Earth Saint Masters were threats to Jian Chen and his Flame Mercenaries. Even though he had a decent amount of Great Saint Masters, up against a large clan, there was no chance of victory.
“Let’s take advantage of this situation. I must take this chance to improve my own strength.” Jian Chen spoke with determination before returning to his room.
Sitting in a cross-legged position on his bed, Jian Chen held a Class 4 Monster Core in both hands as he began to think to himself deeply. After making the breakthrough to become a Great Saint Master and learning the existence of the azure and violet Sword Spirits, he knew that both spirits were in dire straits and required an enormous amount of energy to slowly recover. The fact that both Sword Spirits were weak played a direct part in how strong the Sword Qi would be. While he was fully capable of helping the Sword Spirits recover their strength, Jian Chen couldn’t guarantee just how much he could play a part since an extremely large amount of energy was needed.
Right now, he had two different methods of improving his strength.
The first was to give every single last bit of the energy he cultivated to the azure and violet Sword Spirits to allow them to heal. This way the Sword Spirits would grow stronger as well.
The second was to use the energy for himself and increase the strength of his own body and capabilities. However if he were to use the second method, then unless he cultivated to the Peak Great Saint Master level, he would not be a match for any Earth Saint Master by himself.
Jian Chen thought to himself for a moment without making a decision. Finally, he decided on the second path to carefully cultivate his own strength. Although the azure and violet Sword Qi was extremely strong, in the end, it was a foreign power to him and not truly his. If he grew too reliant on it, then his future path would be severely impacted by it as well. He had to improve his own strength so that he would be able to fully support himself under this existence in a new world.