Chapter 701: Bounty, Pursuit
When they charged into the core area, the crowd’s footsteps abruptly came to a stop. Everyone’s expression turned extremely dark and stiff in an instant. They couldn’t stop their hearts from spasming. A few cowardly fighters couldn’t help but look at the sky. They were afraid that Gong Wuji, high up in the sky, would suddenly go berserk and slaughter them all.
Indeed, they’d seen Gong Qi.
More accurately speaking, they saw a partial Gong Qi.
Gong Qi was hung on a tree and swaying slightly in midair. He was barely alive, and his back was engraved with words that had been made by a sharp weapon. “Gong Wuji, this is but the start of my revenge for the destruction of my sect. Neither the Eternal Celestial Capital nor the Great Scarlet Mid Region will escape Jiang Chen’s wrath!”
These b.l.o.o.d.y words appeared incredibly sinister as they were engraved directly into Gong Qi’s back. To add onto that, his arms had been completely hacked off, and his meridians and dantian completely shattered as well. Even if he were to survive, he would just be trash. In any case, he was dead for sure with those kinds of injuries. Gong Wuji’s bitter screams rained down from the sky. He immediately landed beside Gong Qi and held his grandson in his arms. The burning fury in his eyes looked like they could reduce the entire Myriad Domain to ashes. “Jiang Chen!!”
Gong Wuji threw his head back and howled, his unbridled anger and killing intent sweeping through the entire area and causing pa.s.sing birds and land animals to explode into ma.s.ses of b.l.o.o.d.y gore. The landscape in a two kilometer radius around him were completely decimated. Gong Qi’s two bodyguards were also absolutely terrified by this revelation. They were Gong Qi’s bodyguards, but they had failed to protect him and allowed him to fall into Jiang Chen’s hands, even if it had been a consequence that Gong Qi had brought unto himself. It was undeniable that they had neglected their duties as Gong Qi’s bodyguards. Therefore, they were infinitely afraid that Gong Wuji would sacrifice them as an offering to Gong Qi.
Gong Wuji finally lifted his head once more a long time later. His entire being felt so sharp like a blade that the people around him couldn’t help but pull away from him.
“Come over, you two,” Gong Wuji beckoned the bodyguards. “Take Qi’er’s body away and bury it properly. One of the Gong family cannot be exposed like this,” Gong Wuji’s tone was heavy and dark.
He absolutely wouldn’t minded slaughtering everyone here in exchange for his grandson’s life, if that could’ve revived him. But he also knew that venting his anger on others by killing them would only make him an even greater laughingstock than he already was in the eyes of those present. Right now, the most important thing to do was to hunt down Jiang Chen. Now that Gong Qi was gone, they no longer needed to fear for his safety. They would be able to chase and hunt down Jiang Chen without any concerns.
…...
Jiang Chen had kept his promise. He had left plenty of Divine Befuddlement Miasma antidotes around the borders of Myriad Domain. If that Zhang Ole Third could leave the Myriad Domain alive and reach the borders, it was entirely possible for him to find the antidotes. Once he was done with all this, Jiang Chen took a deep look back at the Myriad Domain before exchanging a glance with Huang’er, “Let’s go.”
The two figures drew extremely long shadows beneath the sunset before they gradually vanished along an ancient path. Although Jiang Chen was racked with worry after learning that Gou Yu and the others had been sold to the Veluriyam Capital, he was at least comforted by the knowledge that their lives weren’t at risk. Even though he had figured out their rough locations, Jiang Chen had decided to visit the Great Scarlet Mid Region first. He had no doubts that the news he learned was genuine. He was just afraid that not everyone had been traded to the Veluriyam Capital, and that someone might have been left behind.
After all, the Regal Pill Palace were not lacking in geniuses. Mu Gaoqi was one such example. There was also Elder Yun Nie. He might not be a pill king, but his talent in pills was absolutely deserving of a seat in Great Scarlet Mid Region. At the same time, he was hoping to test his luck and see if he could find the missing sect head Dan Chi, Ling Bi’er and more.
The road to the Great Scarlet Mid Region didn’t really count as a detour. If someone wanted to make their way to the Veluriyam Capital from the Myriad Domain, pa.s.sing through the Great Scarlet Mid Region was a must. One would also have to go through another two lower regions and one middle more region after crossing through the Great Scarlet Mid Region, before they could enter Upper Eight Regions territory.
They would also have to pa.s.s through the territory of quite a number of factions after entering Upper Eight Regions territory before they could finally enter the Veluriyam Capital. Even if they were to encounter no obstacles whatsoever along the way, the trip would still take a minimum of several months time. Plus, he didn’t doubt for a second that they would encounter countless hards.h.i.+ps and obstacles on their way to the Veluriyam Capital.
There were countless wandering cultivators in the Great Scarlet Mid Region. Both Huang’er and Jiang Chen had disguised themselves as such, and although they encountered countless roadblocks and were questioned many times along the way, they had unique methods that could suppress the ripples of their internal energy. This kept any outsider from figuring out their true strength. And so, they calmly entered into the capital of Great Scarlet Mid Region as earth origin realm cultivators.
The Great Scarlet Mid Region was absolutely bustling with activity. Even the old Myriad Empire couldn’t compare to the current Great Scarlet Mid Region. Except, Jiang Chen couldn’t appreciate the Great Scarlet Mid Region’s prosperity at all. If saving his sect members from the Veluriyam Capital wasn’t top priority, he would’ve caused rivers of blood to flow in the streets from the slaughter of these citizens. However, his rationality warned him that this was not the best time to take revenge. The Great Scarlet Mid Region royal household alone contained an unknown number of experts.
After entering the capital, the duo frequented many taverns and tea shops. These were the easiest places to learn about the latest news. On this day, the duo appeared at the empire’s most reputable tavern, the Dragon & Phoenix. Of course, they couldn’t just book a private room outright with their current disguises. It so happened that there were many southern guests making a trip to the north gathered in the lobby, and so Jiang Chen requested a table that was close to the edge of the room and ordered some dishes.
The great hall was noisy and bustling with activity. He extended his consciousness a little and continuously gathered information from the surrounding tables. But although some of these people were talking about Myriad Domain, the content of their discussion were rather unimportant as it was of lower importance. Jiang Chen didn’t rush things. He continued to extend his consciousness slowly. Suddenly, he locked his consciousness onto a particular table. There were four of them, and they were all dressed like sect disciples.
“Hehe, the commotion is quite big this time. Thank goodness we haven’t been sent to the Regal Pill Palace, or it would’ve been a great misfortune.”
“I know, right? Everyone thought at first that the Regal Pill Palace was rich and easy pickings. They were all lamenting their bad luck for not getting a chance to tag along. Now it would seem that it was a deadly task, hahaha.”
Jiang Chen had figured out that these four people were probably part of a sect that had a.s.signed to attack Myriad Domain. It was just that their target hadn’t been the Regal Pill Palace.
“That’s why they say risk and return are two sides of the same coin. If the Regal Pill Palace didn’t have an unknown factor like Jiang Chen, they would’ve been a rich mark to rob. Did you see what we got from the Walkabout Sect? They had nothing but a bunch of poisonous stuff.”
“Hehe, speaking of the Walkabout Sect, I heard that the poison Jiang Chen used to ambush the Thunder Note Hall and the Great Roc Sect was none other than the Walkabout Sect’s Spirit Restraint Powder.”
“Yeah, I heard about that too. How weird, I thought Jiang Chen is a Regal Pill Palace disciple, so how did he know how to use Walkabout Sect poison?”
“Who knows? C’mon, drink up!”
Jiang Chen sneered inwardly. He wasn’t lacking in Spirit Restraint Powders alright. He’d picked up quite a bit of this poison back when he killed the Walkabout Sect’s elder Wei Wudao and confiscated his s.p.a.ce ring, and had obtained even more from killing Wei Qing. He’d used up most of it after he had set up the traps and attacked the Thunder Note Hall and the Great Roc Sect in that offensive barrage. However, Jiang Chen could easily ma.s.s produce more given enough time when it came to poison.
“The Thunder Note Hall and the Great Roc Sect is so out of luck this time. I heard that a holy king’s grandson of the Eternal Celestial Capital died, alarming even our Great Scarlet Emperor himself. This definitely is one h.e.l.l of an incident.”
“Yeah. But weird, how did the Eternal Celestial Capital get involved?”
Jiang Chen was first surprised by this dialogue, then realized immediately after that the Eternal Celestial Capital had kept its involvement hidden in the beginning, but the truth had gradually spilled out into the open as their clash against the Ninesuns Sky Sect had gradually escalated. It would appear that the Eternal Celestial Capital had fully emerged into the open now.
“I guess the situation of the Divine Abyss Continent is just so mysterious. Sigh, in the end a fourth rank sect like us is just too weak.”
“Yeah, we’re nothing in front of a first rank sect.”
“I heard that the Great Scarlet Mid Region’s bounty is about to come out today. I’m so curious! What kind of bounty do you think the empire will give out this time?”
Bounty? Jiang Chen immediately understood that the bounty must be directed at him.
“Hehe, everyone, I heard that this Jiang Chen may very well come to our empire in an attempt to save his sect members. Who knows, maybe we could use this chance to rise to the top!”
“Stop dreaming already! Just us alone? Jiang Chen killed even Ding Rong of the Thunder Note Hall!”
“Even a holy king of the Eternal Celestial Capital was played like a fool, much less Ding Rong! There’s no way people like us could deal with that Jiang Chen.”
“Ss.h.!.+ Be quiet. Do you want to die, talking about a holy king of the Eternal Celestial Capital like that?” The group of people immediately fell silent and drowned themselves in alcohol. They obviously all thought that their conversation had gone a little overboard and decided not to gossip any further.
It was at this moment a couple of energetic-looking cultivators rushed into the restaurant. The leader of the group yelled loudly, “Boss, bring us a couple of jugs of alcohol, quickly!”
“Haha, boss, the empire is definitely sparing no effort to capture Jiang Chen. Any person who manages to capture that guy would be granted the t.i.tle of duke, a thousand acres of land, and awarded the Great Scarlet Patriot Order. They would also gain five million sage spirit stones, three thousand Heroic Sage Pills, one sky rank spirit herb and the chance to found a sect and be ruler of his own territory in the Great Scarlet Mid Region.”
“Boss, this is the our chance as the Ghost Cave Five!”
These noisy wandering cultivators were actually quite powerful. One of them was actually at earth sage realm while the remaining four were all at mortal sage realm. The leader of the group was a one-eyed man. He gripped his wine cup and said slowly, “I didn’t think that we would encounter such a great opportunity travelling to the Great Scarlet Mid Region this time. Considering all the years we’ve spent wandering around the lands, it is probably time to find a good place to settle. Are you guys sure you want to do this?” The one-eyed boss looked at his brothers and asked for their opinions with a serious expression on his face.
“Let’s do it!”
“Of course we’re doing it, the one who freaking thinks otherwise is a coward!”
“This is a rare opportunity for wandering cultivators like us. We must make this gamble no matter what!”
Wandering cultivators had always been more rough and direct type. When the table of sect disciples heard of their discussion, they all walked over and asked, “Hey brothers, has the bounty came out already?”
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