Chapter 349: A Conversation
Hearing the words of the fourth elder, the newly arrived elder grew serious as he whispered, “It can’t be, although we haven’t come across him before, he was still able to spot us? That is an exceptionally smart mind with a cautious character. Now that he knows we are watching him, unless he is sure he can escape our grasp, he will definitely refuse to leave Mercenary City.”
“But that’s just it! Our plans were to wait for Jian Chen to leave Mercenary City before we come and reclaim our items. But at the most critical moment, these three pieces of trash ruined it all! Now Jian Chen knows that we are watching him, he won’t dare leave the city now.” The fourth elder spoke.
“Ai, if I had known Jian Chen’s skills at detection were so high, I would have tracked him myself. Now that the situation is like this, it’s quite troublesome. If Jian Chen continues to stay within Mercenary City, then we won’t be able to make a move at all.” The elder spoke with a sigh.
“Third elder, you are the intelligent one; what should we do in this case?” The fourth elder calmed himself down.
The third elder’s eyebrows creased together in thought as he muttered, “This Jian Chen was able to become the King of Mercenaries with relative ease, a person like this is by no means ordinary. Since he knows that we are currently watching him, there is no need for us to be secretive about it anymore. Third elder, let us go talk with him and see if there is any way for him to hand over the Seal of Treasure Mountain to us. As for the death of the third young lord, we can wait another day. At the very least, we can recover the Ruler Armament,”
The fourth elder nodded his head, “I thought as much. Ai, the family head was far too greedy if only he hadn’t wanted the third lord to try and take the Solunar Bow from the Huang family during the competition. In the end, we didn’t obtain the bow and the Seal of Treasure Mountain was lost to us. This is truly a disgrace.”
“Forget it, fourth elder. There’s no use trying to think anymore about this matter. Right now we should meet with Jian Chen and hope that we can reclaim the Ruler Armament. Here, eat this.” The third elder spoke as he handed a red pill toward the fourth elder.
The fourth elder had a lot of trust in the third elder, and so without any more questions he took the pill and swallowed it.
Afterward, the two elders headed toward the inn Jian Hua had explicitly said housed Jian Chen.
At this moment, Jian Chen was on his bed and was studying the Illusionary Flash once more. The moment he sensed the elders, he opened his eyes and stared at them.
The third elder stared at Jian Chen for a moment before paying a compliment, “No wonder you are the King of Mercenaries with such a talent like this. Jian Chen, we are from the Shi family. If our third lord Shi Xiangran has ever offended you in the past, we would sincerely like to apologize to you and hope that you do not take this personally.”
Since the other party had not been rude to him, Jian Chen returned the smile, “Senior is too polite. For such a small matter, I, Jian Chen, have already forgotten about it. As long as no one else looks for trouble with me, then I will not recklessly declare anyone as my enemy.”
The fourth elder nearly rolled his eyes at Jian Chen’s words as he cursed him internally. Jian Chen had killed their third lord and had also stolen the Shi family’s Seal of Treasure Mountain heirloom; therefore, it was only natural that the Shi family would chase after Jian Chen.
The third elder laughed, “Haha, brother Jian Chen is really courageous. I wonder if you are willing to return the Seal of Treasure Mountain to our Shi family? We should exchange our weapons of war for gifts of silk. After all, the Seal of Treasure Mountain cannot be activated without a combination of our Shi family’s blood and a special, secret technique. It’s useless in your possession, and it would make our Shi family feel extreme resent toward you. This will greatly impact your relationship with us. Can you please consider our offer?”
“Naturally, if you are willing to return the Seal of Treasure Mountain, then we will naturally give you fair compensation for it.”
The third elder’s words were sweet to hear and he held no ill intent behind them. Even his tone had been calm and cordial without any sense of anger.
Unfortunately, Jian Chen knew better than to believe his words and sighed in disappointment, “I’m afraid to disappoint seniors, but the Seal of Treasure Mountain has already been handed to someone else and is no longer within my possession.”
Jian Chen’s words caused the two elders to reveal horrified expressions as the third elder tried to keep the calm look on his face, “What? The Seal of Treasure Mountain is no longer on you? Is that true?”
“When I entered the holy land, I gave the Seal of Treasure Mountain to Qin Ji, so it is no longer on me.” Jian Chen spoke.
“You hoodlum! To give away such a precious treasure as if passing a gift, you… you ruffian! Are you not afraid of death? The treasure of the Shi family… just how could you give it away?!” The fourth elder exploded with a furious rage as he pointed at Jian Chen with a quivering finger. If it were not for Mercenary City, he would have long since tried to strangle Jian Chen.
The third elder’s expression grew dim as his eyes gained an unholy light to them. Then, while he was thinking, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and began to write on the air with his blood, forming a complicated looking array after some time.
With an explosive shout, the third elder pressed against the core of the formation, “Seal of Treasure Mountain, return!”
As soon as he spoke, Jian Chen’s expression grew startled as he felt the Seal of Treasure Mountain within his Space Ring suddenly begin to tremble and shake as if trying to separate itself from the Space Ring.
Jian Chen’s heart skipped a beat; he hadn’t thought that there would be such a summoning skill. Fortunately, the attractive force was not all that strong, otherwise Jian Chen was afraid that the Space Ring would be unable to hold it in.
Jian Chen clenched the Space Ring tightly so that the Seal of Treasure Mountain wouldn’t escape.
The bloody formation slowly began to grow faint before disappearing from view completely. However, the third elder who had drawn the formation grew pale in the face. It would appear that this secret skill had used up a lot of his energy.
“Jian Chen, you cannot deceive us, it is still within your possession. You should hand it over to us so we may return home without any further conflict.” The third elder’s expression was weaker than before, but the honest face was still there.
As it was now, Jian Chen didn’t bother to hide anymore secrets and spoke, “Seniors, you should go home.”
“Are you certain that you will not return the Seal of Treasure Mountain? It will only bring you more trouble.” The third elder asked Jian Chen once more for confirmation.
“That is not your business to worry about.” Jian Chen didn’t plan to return the Seal of Treasure Mountain. In fact, he would rather give it to someone else rather than return it to the Shi family. He knew that even if he were to give it back, the family would still not forgive him. He was already well experienced in matters like this.
The third elder sighed before taking out an embroidered pouch, “Jian Chen, do you know what this is?” When Jian Chen didn’t answer, the third elder continued to speak, “This is a poison I spent a dear sum of money to purchase from a friend. Inside is what is known as the Hundred Poisons Powder. Its poison is extremely toxic and is the amalgamation of hundreds of poisons. It is without flavor or color and can be spread through the air. As long as this poison enters the body, then even a Heaven Saint Master will not escape unharmed. Aside from a specially made antidote, this poison is incurable.”
Hearing this, even the fourth elder had become surprised. “Third elder, you truly are a mastermind! How admirable, no wonder you had me eat a pill early, that was the antidote?”
The third elder laughed and nodded his head before looking at Jian Chen smugly, confident that he had power over Jian Chen’s life now.
Jian Chen also smiled as he looked at the elder, “Third elder, if you could tell me, am I poisoned?”
“Correct!” The third elder nodded his head, “Jian Chen, ever since we entered the room, I used this powder to send poison through the air, spreading it throughout the room. You’ve already breathed in the poison, but you weren’t able to detect it.”
Unable to stop himself from laughing, Jian Chen threw his head up carelessly for a moment before looking back to the indescribable faces of the third and fourth elders.
“Third elder, I’ve neglected to tell you, but my body is immune to many things. Your poison holds no power over me.” Jian Chen laughed as if he had shared a funny joke.
The third elder’s face looked as if he had suffered a terrible blow as his expression immediately scrunched up to look rather vicious and ugly like. Originally, he had thought he had finally cornered Jian Chen, but Jian Chen had somehow managed to cross the wall he had put up without any effort at all.
“Fourth elder, we’re going!” With a swish of his robes, the third elder returned the powder to his sleeves and turned around.
The fourth elder glared coldly at Jian Chen, “Youngster, you had best stay within Mercenary City for the rest of your life.” With that, the fourth elder left the building.
That night, while Jian Chen had noticed that there were no more uninvited guests, countless of hidden eyes had started to look at Jian Chen around the clock.
Jian Chen knew that both the Jiede clan and Shi family were now monitoring him in an effort to prevent him from escaping from under their eyes and take their Ruler Armament away with him.