Chapter 150: Roping In (1)
Long Qingjiang watched the various clans leave before returning to the room, his expression serious.
“Father, have they left?” Long Shaoyou came over and said.
After letting Su Chen go at the Southern Mountain, Su Chen had sent over the medicine for saving Long Shaoyou, allowing Long Shaoyou to recover and become healthy again.
Long Shaoyou had been bedridden for six years. His temperament had become much calmer. His face was a bit pale because he hadn’t seen the sun for a long time, but his condition had been on the up-and-up during these past two months of recovery.
“Mmm.” As he watched his son mature, Long Qingjiang felt that every price that he had paid was worth it.
No matter how greedy, cruel, and savage he was, he was at the very least a proper father when taking care of his son.
Long Qingjiang watched his son and said, “The people left, but their misgivings haven’t yet. Su Chen played his hand perfectly! He ruined the entire alliance basically without making a sound.”
“Since Father has already guessed that Su Chen was the perpetrator, why didn’t you tell them?”
“So what if I guessed that it was him? Some things don’t depend on whether or not you can think of it but when you think of it. Now that the situation has reached this point, he is already revealing the cards he holds. Su Chen probably doesn’t care if everyone knows at this point.”
“But if we say it now, at the very least they won’t think that we were responsible……”
Long Qingjiang interrupted him. “So what? If they think the Evil Tiger Gang was under my control, would they try to destroy me?”
Long Shaoyou was stunned.
Long Qingjiang said, “They won’t, but Su Chen would!”
“Su Chen.” Long Shaoyou felt a jolt go through his heart. “Father, you……”
Long Qingjiang sighed. “Shen Yuanhong is dead, Wei Pei has fallen into a lower cultivation base, and w.a.n.g Zhanyu personally tried to stop Su Chen but failed. Every time we have clashed with him these past few years, we have always been the ones to come out at a disadvantage. Yes, I am afraid. I don’t want to offend him anymore.”
“But isn’t this equivalent to giving up on the others? Father, isn’t that a bit too selfish?”
“Selfish?” Long Qingjiang laughed coldly, “The fates of the Shen and Wei Clan should be sufficient to demonstrate that no one is not selfish. Where did Su Chen get the guts to use just a Long Clear Gang and an Evil Tiger Gang to incite internal strife amongst the clans? Wasn’t it because he could tell that everyone had their own goals and plans? An alliance? That alliance was founded for the sake of profits, and so it can be dissolved for profits as well. It cannot be relied on. Shaoyou, you must understand that allies are the people you can rely on the least in this world. They will always help you when you don’t need it, but will discard you as soon as you are the most in need.”
Long Shaoyou patted his son and said, “I would rather be the one doing the abandoning rather than the one being abandoned.”
Long Shaoyou felt his heart tremble. He nodded and said, “Your son understands.”
“Since you understand, come with me to invite our guest in,” Long Qingjiang said as he stood.
“Guest?” Long Shaoyou was confused.
He turned around and saw that the hall was still totally empty.
Long Qingjiang, however, spoke to the empty doorway: “Esteemed guest, please come in. I welcome you.”
A chuckle could be heard coming from the empty doorway.
Immediately afterwards, a person’s figure seemed to slip out of the shadows. It was the Shadow Servant Chang Er, but at this point he was already a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator.
Chang Er laughed, “Clan Patriarch Long, you truly are perceptive. The few tactics I have cannot deceive you.”
Long Qingjiang waved for his aides to retreat. “I am a trustworthy person. I am very grateful that he kept his end of the deal and saved my son. Please, let him know that I have no heart to fight him in the future.”
Chang Er laughed. “Clan Patriarch Long, your act of conceding defeat is quite convincing, but you didn’t tell your son that there is another important reason that you don’t want to offend my master, right? You are afraid that my master will tell everyone how he was able to escape from Southern Mountain, right?”
Long Qingjiang’s expression changed.
This old fox Long Qingjiang acted like he was afraid of Su Chen because he had been beaten so many times, but he was actually afraid that Su Chen would disclose what had occurred on the Southern Mountain. If Su Chen were to disclose that, w.a.n.g Zhanyu definitely wouldn’t let him off easily.
This was why he pretended not to know anything even though he had already guessed what was going on and even bore the cross of the Evil Tiger Gang willingly. This was also why he pretended not to know that Chang Er was nearby even though he was quite aware of it.
However, he hadn’t expected that Chang Er was already quite aware of what was going through his head.
Chang Er had never been that good at talking and likely wouldn’t have thought of all these things. As such, Su Chen had probably already guessed what was going on beforehand.
Upon realizing this, Long Qingjiang let out a long sigh. “Indeed, nothing escapes Bureau Head Su’s attention. If that’s the case, may I know why Bureau Head has sent you here?”
“Nothing really. There’s just an interesting scene that is about to play out. He asked me to invite Patriarch Long to come watch with him.”
“What kind of interesting scene?”
“You’ll know when you get there.” Chang Er turned around and left.
Long Qingjiang and his son glanced at each other, then walked out together. Quite a few members of the Long Clan followed closely behind.
Chang Er led the Long Clan on a winding path before they finally arrived near an alley.
Chang Er opened the door to one of the residences and walked in. Within the courtyard was a small platform.
A person was standing on the platform. It was Su Chen. He stood on the platform with his hands behind his back, as if he were looking at something.
When he saw that Long Qingjiang had come with his son, Su Chen laughed and said, “Please, Patriarch Long, come take a look.”
Long Qingjiang didn’t understand. He stepped on top of the platform and directed his attention to what Su Chen was looking at. His body suddenly froze.
Within the alleyway, a violent battle was taking place.
Rather than a battle, but it was more like a one-sided slaughter, and the ones being slaughtered were Xiong Tianyue and the Xiong Clan. At this moment, he had activated his Bloodline Ability to its greatest extent, and an illusory Vampiric Bear image roared behind him. However, under the Origin Formation’s effect, no sound could be heard. It almost looked like they were watching a silent film from where they stood.
“You!” Long Qingjiang stared at Su Chen in anger. “What is the meaning of this?”
“No particular meaning. I just wanted to tell you that from this day onwards, another clan will be gone from the ten Bloodline n.o.bility Clans,” Su Chen replied indifferently.
Long Qingjiang clenched his fists. “So what? You’re just relying on your momentary advantage from mounting a sneak-attack. From this day onwards, if they don’t realize who’s the one causing trouble, they must be so stupid that no medicine will be able to save them.”
“That’s correct. From this day onwards, even an idiot would realize this. At that time, if I wanted to ambush them and kill them one by one, it would be impossible,” Su Chen replied. “That’s why I called you over.”
An uneasy feeling began to well up in Long Qingjiang’s heart. He said, his heart pounding, “What does this have to do with me?”
“How could it not have anything to do with you?” Su Chen said calmly. “No matter how you look at it, the last place he visited was the Long Clan. With the matter of the Evil Tiger Gang at hand as well, tell me, how do you think they will view you after this?”
Long Qingjiang’s heart trembled so violently that it almost shattered. He spoke through gritted teeth, “I will explain everything to them.”
“Hmph, you haven’t even explained the matter of the Evil Tiger Gang yet,” Su Chen said disdainfully. “Of course, I know that if you really want to explain things to them, you would be able to do it. Actually, you would even be able to cover up the matter of the Southern Mountain to them, so I have prepared an additional form of insurance.”
“What?” Long Qingjiang didn’t understand.
Su Chen pointed at a nearby place and said, “See, there’s an Origin Formation Disk over there, recording us talking right now. The Xiong Clan Patriarch is currently fighting for his life, but Patriarch Long is here talking peacefully with a disruptive criminal like me as he watches the Xiong Clan fall into ruin…… If this kind of an image falls into the hands of the other Bloodline n.o.bility Clans, I believe that you wouldn’t be able to wash it away even if you were to jump into the Heavenly River.”
Long Qingjiang felt his vision go dark.