Chapter 366: Inescapable Net (Four)
As he ran, Jian Chen continued to think about his options. Changing directions every so often, he made a dash for the nearest city.
Jian Chen had already memorized the surrounding environment, so he knew that a thousand kilometers away was a single First Class City. With a wind attributed Heaven Saint Master chasing after him, he would only be able to throw him off temporarily. If he were to stop, then the Heaven Saint Master would quickly catch up.
So running without a purpose or direction was out of the question. Once his Saint Force were to become empty, then he would be at a point of no return. He had to enter a city. With many different types of people around, he could hide himself without being caught.
Quickly, Jian Chen made the journey to the First Class City and when he arrived he leaped over the wall to hide among the buildings sheltered behind it.
Not too long after Jian Chen’s disappearance, an azure streak of light could be seen as the third elder flew through the air. Floating in the air during the middle of the night, he stared down toward the city, “What a crafty youngster. Seeing how you stopped within a city, that means you cannot keep that speed up for an extended period of time.” Afterward, the elder remained motionless as he studied the city with his eyes, as if trying to find a trace of Jian Chen that could be followed.
Some time later, the sounds of seven Heaven Saint Masters flying through the air could be heard before finally stopping right next to the third elder of the Shi family.
“Third elder, could Jian Chen have hidden himself within the city?” The fourth elder asked.
The third elder let out a sigh, “This Jian Chen’s speed is truly too fast. Even with my entire strength, I was unable to keep up with him. He managed to disappear in the city, and I’ve yet to figure out where he is located.”
“How… how is that possible? Third elder, is Jian Chen’s speed so truly fast that even you cannot keep up?” The fourth elder’s eyes grew extremely wide in disbelief at the words coming out from the third elder’s mouth.
But he wasn’t the only one. The two brothers from the Jiede clan could only stare in disbelief as well. An Earth Saint Master being able to outpace a wind attributed Heaven Saint Master was an impossible feat until now.
Hearing this, the third brother of the Cai family hid a small smile. If even a wind attributed Heaven Saint Master wasn’t able to catch Jian Chen, then Jian Chen escaping from his hands was not too much of an embarrassing thing.
“This Jian Chen is far too crafty. To hide in a city where there are thousands of people and buildings, finding him will become an extremely arduous task. If we are not careful, he’ll take advantage of our carelessness and slip out among the others.” One of the elders from the Jiede clan spoke.
“Fellow comrades, it’s already dawn, we should hurry up and assign ourselves to a specific area to ensure he does not escape our grasp once more.” The third brother spoke.
“The way I see things is that the eight of us should go to the city lord and have him garrison some soldiers to help us. The rest of us will then guard the cardinal gates as well as the other isolated areas of the city. This way, Jian Chen cannot escape from us.” Another elder spoke from the Jiede clan.
The third brother nodded his head lightly, “This is the only option left. I will go inform the city lord, the seven of you should go spread out and guard your areas. We must maintain a strict guard, no matter who tries to leave they must use clear water to wash their faces. This is to prevent Jian Chen from changing his face. If anyone doesn’t comply, be merciless.”
With the plan in place, everyone set out to accomplish their side of things.
Within a large garden, a group of soldiers with torches held high could be seen patrolling the area. Just from their appearances, anyone could tell that this area did not belong to a regular person.
Not too long after the guards had patrolled the area, a dark shadow suddenly appeared from the side. Within the guise of night, he entered without a sound into one of the empty rooms.
This figure was Jian Chen. After selecting an empty house to reside in, Jian Chen strained his ears for any outside noises before settling down with the white tiger by his side. Taking out another Class 5 Monster Core, he began to recover his lost Saint Force.
The white tiger seemed as if it had sense the danger Jian Chen was in, so on the way, the tiger cub had been very quiet as it remained around Jian Chen’s chest. Its eyes looked about the area in curiosity, and when they got to the empty house, it sat by Jian Chen’s side. Straining its ears as well, the cub didn’t make another move.
Time went by as the sun quickly hung high into the sky. By this point, Jian Chen had fully recovered his strength and stood up to survey the area.
This room hadn’t been inhabited by a person for a very long time, so there was a layer of dust on the ground. Furthermore, the arrangements of the furniture were rather basic, as if meant for the next resident to do the arrangements when they moved in.
After sitting in the room for several moments, Jian Chen’s eyes fell upon his Space Ring. With some hesitation, he grabbed another Space Ring and began to divide up his things. The Ruler Armaments, Heaven Tier Battle Skill and several other precious objects went into one Space Ring while the other Space Ring contained several sets of clothes, some monster cores, and money.
Then, Jian Chen swapped out his Space Ring for the other one. The Space Ring with his more precious items went into a small box which he began to find a hiding place for it.
Since there were eight Heaven Saint Masters surrounding the city, it was difficult to predict if he would survive or not, so he needed to prepare himself. One plan was to hide the more precious items in a Space Ring and place it in a concealed area. Even if he were to die, Jian Chen had no desire to see the items be recovered by either the Jiede clan or Shi family.
If he were to escape from this calamity, after everything had blown over, he could come back and retrieve the items.
After locking the items within the box, Jian Chen thought for a moment before hurriedly opening the box up once more. Taking the Duanyun Sword and the Seal of Treasure Mountain out, he placed them in a third Space Ring. He knew that the third brother of the Shi family had a method to find the Ruler Armaments, so he needed to separate them from the other precious items.
Nightfall came by quickly, leaving the garden empty. Jian Chen lightly opened the doors and escaped outside with the white tiger. In a moment, he came across the well used by the inhabitants of the building. Taking the Space Ring with the box in it, he tossed it into the well and headed back toward the room he was staying in. Leaping onto the beams of the building, Jian Chen released a sharp amount of Sword Qi from his fingertips and dug a small finger sized hole for the other Space Ring to be placed.
Placing the Space Ring with the Ruler Armaments into this hole, Jian Chen filled the hole back up, making it extremely hard to notice and utterly impossible for even the gods to know.
After all of this was done, Jian Chen let out a sigh in relief. Even if he were to be discovered, it would still not be easy for either of the two families.
At daybreak, Jian Chen changed his face again. He then hugged the obedient, little white tiger against his chest and lightly rubbed its head as he said in a low voice, “Litle tiger, I need to go scout around to figure out the situation, and can’t bring you with me. You have to listen well, and obediently stay here. Don’t go running around, alright?”
The tiger cub’s bright eyes stared up at Jian Chen, leaving him unsure of whether or not his words were understood.
Ignoring the issue, Jian Chen took out several milk bottles and left the tiger cub on the bed before leaving the room.
Jian Chen discreetly made his way onto the streets from the manor. By walking from the alleyway onto the main street, he made it seem like he was just another passerby. He then began to inspect the houses to see what type of area he was in.
On the gates to the villa, a large board could be seen hanging overhead with the words, “Huangpu Trading”. Evidently, this area was heavily reliant on trading.
Remembering the name of the villa, Jian Chen left the area and began to wander around the city.
A First Class City was far bigger and more luxurious than a Second Class City. When one entered a First Class City, one would be able to see several rich and strong looking mercenaries that were clearly not seen in such concentrated amounts anywhere else.
Suddenly, a loud noise could be heard as a squadron of armored soldiers visited store after store as if searching for something. On the road, they continued to question everyone in such a manner that caused everyone to grumble in annoyance and confusion.
Just then, a soldier blocked Jian Chen’s path, “Have you seen a person carrying a pure white magical beast anywhere?”
“I have not.” Jian Chen’s face didn’t betray any emotions as he replied.
“You may go. Remember, if you are to see either a snowy white magical beast or a man with perhaps an unnatural bulge, you are to immediately report this to the city lord!” The soldier’s face carried a serious look as he stared at Jian Chen.
“Yes, understood. If I see such a thing, I will make sure to notify the city lord straight away.” Jian Chen replied.
After that, the soldier didn’t pay anymore attention to Jian Chen and left him to interrogate someone else.
After walking down three streets, Jian Chen could see the same soldiers visit every single store or home and block off people to interrogate them.
Carelessly, Jian Chen wandered the streets before finally coming across the city gates. Instead of a steady stream of people walking in or out, there was a large congestion of merchants and travelers.
Walking to the higher levels of one of the nearby restaurants, Jian Chen could only see a large amount of soldiers guarding the city gates with several large vats of water. With each person that tried to enter or leave, the soldiers would use a wet rag to scrub at their faces. Even the rich and powerful were not exempt from this treatment, much to their anger.
Seeing this, Jian Chen couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Right now this city was under the complete control of the Jiede clan and the Shi family. With this, they had set out an inescapable net all over the city.