Chapter 726: Slave MarketThe heavens envy those with great talent! Wei Jie spoke a lot, and his emotions had run a little high during the conversation, but Jiang Chen more or less understood what he meant. In the end, it all boiled down to that saying.
“Brother Jiang, there are only a few people whom I’m impressed by amongst my peers, and not even you, brother Jiang, have impressed me so much that I would submit to you fully. However, Young Lord Fan is one of the very few people whom I am fully willing to swear my allegiance to.” It would appear that Wei Jie was a die hard supporter of Young Lord Fan. Jiang Chen wasn’t surprised by this. It would be stranger if the most outstanding genius in Veluriyam Capital didn’t have a large group of followers and admirers. Still, just what exactly had taken the life of a genius like this?
Jiang Chen didn’t try to inquire about the matter, however. Right now, the only thing he was concerned about was the whereabouts of Gouyu, Mu Gaoqi and the others. Young Lord Fan’s death had obviously dealt a great blow to Wei Jie’s psyche and he quite plainly didn’t wish to talk much on this topic either.
“Brother Jiang, since you’ve arrived at Veluriyam Capital, you should be prepared to stay here for a long while, aren’t you? In that case, there are certain things that I need to tell you about Veluriyam Capital. We have seven Great t.i.tled Emperors, and beneath them there a total of twenty eight clans. The aristocratic families only came after these clans, and my House Wei is one of the aristocratic families. However, House Wei is a ninth rank aristocratic family and thus cla.s.sified as one of the highest ranking existence among all other aristocratic families…” Wei Jie explained everything in great detail, and he paid particular emphasis to what Jiang Chen should pay attention to in Veluriyam Capital, and what forces he couldn’t or shouldn’t provoke.
The emperors and the great clans were a moot point. They were of course under the ‘do not provoke’ category. There were also many big and small forces that fell under the ‘do not provoke’ category. Of course, Jiang Chen hadn’t came to Veluriyam Capital to cause trouble. His code of conduct was very simple: he would do no harm to those who did no harm to him.
Jiang Chen had to admit that Wei Jie was a kindred spirit. The two of them chatted deep into the night before Wei Jie finally bid him goodbye. The pair agreed to head out and ask around for information first thing in the morning.
The night pa.s.sed peacefully and quietly. Jiang Chen woke up very early the next morning. Wei Jie had arrived at his residence as well. The duo headed out after they had breakfast. But just as they were about to leave the residence, they saw a group of people walking over from the road to the right of the residence. The leader of the group was a middle aged man and a youngster. They were followed by a pill master dressed in a pill master’s robes. A group of soldiers followed behind the trio.
Wei Jie’s footsteps halted when he saw the group.
“When did you come home, Jie’er?” The middle aged man looked surprised when he saw Wei Jie and walked over with a face full of smiles.
“Fifth uncle,” Wei Jie smiled. “I’ve just returned yesterday evening and haven’t been by yet to pay you a call, Uncle Tong.”
“Cousin, I was very worried when I heard that you were hurt, but it seems that you’re full of vigor and perfectly fine! I can be at ease now,” the young man beside Uncle Tong chuckled and walked over. He looked Wei Jie up and down for a very long time.
“I’m fine, brother Xiu. I’m sorry to have worried you,” Wei Jie’s tone was polite and amiable. They exchanged conventional greetings for a while before Wei Jie finally bid them goodbye, “Fifth uncle, brother Xiu, I need to head out for a bit. I’m sorry, but I must take my leave now.”
After saying this, Wei Jie nodded at Jiang Chen and walked towards the main entrance together. He hadn’t introduced Jiang Chen to them. The group remained where they were and stared blankly at Wei Jie’s back. They looked both shocked and astonished.
“Daddy, that kid looks like he’s perfectly fine, doesn’t he?” The young man called brother Xiu muttered.
“Keep your mouth shut inside the manor!” The middle aged man snapped with a frown. At the same time, he swept a slightly severe glance across the pill master in front of him. The pill master was expressionless, but his eyebrows had wrinkled slightly, “This doesn’t make sense. I controlled the dosage and calculated its effects very accurately. He shouldn’t have came back at all. The Ninelaugh Golden Buddha Powder is no easy poison to cure, so how did he do it? How strange, how strange…”
“Hmph!” The middle aged man flourished his sleeves and looked very obviously displeased with this outcome, “Pill King Jiang, I haven’t treated you badly here, have I? But it seems that you’ve disappointed me this time.”
The pill master smiled indifferently, “Heaven’s plans supersede our own. He may have been lucky this time, but he may not be as lucky the second time, will he? Don’t worry, I have a new plan in the works already.”
…...
After strolling about two kilometers away from the main entrance, Jiang Chen suddenly spoke up, “Young master Wei, are those people from earlier your kin?”
“Mm. My fifth uncle is cousins with my father, and he counts as an uncle of our family. He is only second to my father in terms of status. That young man is called Wei Xiu, and he is my fifth uncle’s son. He counts as a brother of the family to me.”
Jiang Chen smiled subtly and said, “You’re not too close to each other, aren’t you?”
Wei Jie looked startled. He had acted very cordially and considerately earlier, and he hadn’t revealed any displeasure or dissatisfaction at all just now. So why had Jiang Chen said this?
“Brother Jiang, did you notice something?” Wei Jie looked a little surprised.
“Hehe,” Jiang Chen smiled faintly, “If you found it inconvenient to divulge certain things, young master Wei, then it wouldn’t be right for me to speak either. I don’t wish to be suspected of sowing dissent after all.”
Wei Jie had been putting an act when he faced his relatives just now. The reason he hadn’t told Jiang Chen about it wasn’t because he was trying to hide anything, but simply because he thought that family drama shouldn’t be spread about carelessly. When he heard Jiang Chen’s words, Wei Jie smiled wryly, “You truly are a genius who can stand toe to toe with the Eternal Celestial Capital, brother Jiang. It would appear that I cannot hide even something like this from you. My fifth uncle has fought very fiercely against my father since young, and when our generation was born, his son fights fiercely against me as well. That’s why what you saw earlier is just an amiable act.”
Jiang Chen nodded slightly, “It is a fierce fight that can only end in blood. You know that this father and son are the ones who had planned to kill you, don’t you?”
Wei Jie shook and looked at him with a face full of surprise, “What did you say?”
Jiang Chen was surprised himself to see such a strong reaction from Wei Jie. He’d thought that Wei Jie had known about this from the beginning, but it would appear that was not the case. “You didn’t know?” Jiang Chen rubbed his nose a bit with embarra.s.sment.
Wei Jie’s eyes were filled with disbelief. It wasn’t that he hadn’t suspected them before. In fact, he had speculated that it might be there work a long time ago, or he wouldn’t have told Wei Qixia that this father and son were the poison inside the manor walls. But although he might have guessed this, only his father, Wei Qixia and a handful of people knew about this. He had never brought this up to Jiang Chen. So he was surprised, just how did Jiang Chen learn about this?
The atmosphere between the two became a little awkward for a moment. Jiang Chen sighed softly and said, “Just a.s.sume that I’ve spoken out of turn if you don’t believe me, young master Wei. Do forgive me.”
Jiang Chen wasn’t trying to drive a wedge between the two parties on purpose. He simply thought that he should remind Wei Jie of his impending troubles since he was cooperating with young master. Conflict would be detrimental his rescue plans too.
Wei Jie let out a long sigh, “Family shame should not be spread carelessly. I wasn’t prepared to talk about this scandal, but I didn’t imagine that you would have guessed it already. I’m curious, though. How did you guess it?”
Jiang Chen shook his head, “It’s not a guess. I’d realized it only just now.”
“Just now?” Wei Jie looked even more bewildered.
“There was a pill master standing next to your uncle, and he had probably refined the Ninelaugh Golden Buddha Powder within the month. There is a bit of leftover presence on him that is so weak that only a professional would notice. Moreover, I noticed a hint of killing intent from your cousin Wei Xiu while you were conversing with your fifth uncle. He hid it well though, and since you were in a conversation, you missed it. Things were clearer to me since I was an onlooker.”
Wei Jie was stupefied. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. The smell of the Ninelaugh Golden Buddha powder? Jiang Chen could sense it even though it was concocted almost a month ago? Just how powerful a consciousness and sense of smell did one have to have to notice it? Moreover, he had noticed Wei Xiu’s killing intent even though Wei Jie himself hadn’t noticed anything. This Jiang Chen… no wonder he was able to repeatedly pull one over the Eternal Celestial Capital. He really is an expert who hides his claws well.
“You’ve schooled me again, brother Jiang. There are always someone better out there, I see.” Wei Jie looked impressed, “Seeing is believing. I am truly impressed.”
Jiang Chen wasn’t trying to show off on purpose. Since his point had been made, it was now up to Wei Jie to deal with it. Internal conflict within a family was nothing novel. Even the small Eastern Kingdom had plenty of conflicts over power within the royal family.
“Where are we going, young master Wei?” Jiang Chen asked.
“We’re heading to the Fish and Dragon District.”
“Where’s that?” Jiang Chen asked curiously.
“As the name would suggest, it’s a place filled with all sorts of people. It acts as an extremely large trading zone where all kinds of business happen. All slave trading basically happens in the Fish and Dragon District.”
All sorts of people? And they call it the Fish and Dragon District? [1] Jiang Chen shook his head inwardly and thought that Veluriyam Capital really was very different from everywhere else. It was impossible that slave trading would happen between the sects of the Myriad Domain.
There were plenty of people in the Fish and Dragon District, and it was bigger than Jiang Chen imagined. People of all types were present. One only needed to take a casual glance to find sage realm cultivators everywhere on the streets. Even emperor realm experts could be glimpsed often. As for origin realm cultivators, they were literally innumerable, as many as the hairs on an ox. Here, even an insignificant servant was at minimum spirit realm. A spirit realm cultivator was at the bottom of the status quo in this society. Even a random street sweeper was at least a spirit realm cultivator.
One could see that Wei Jie had an enormous social network. After entering the Fish and Dragon district, he would often be greeted by people on the streets. It would appear that he was pretty well liked. Wei Jie was extremely easy going himself. He would always smile welcomingly at anyone who greeted him. It neither make him look arrogant, nor make him overly humble. “This is the place.”
The duo entered an alleyway after pa.s.sing through several streets. The alleyway wasn’t wide, but there was another world inside once they entered. There were actually all kinds of stalls within this enormous trading zone. There were actually countless slaves who were kneeling at each stall. These slaves all had price tags on them, so they were obviously for sale. However, it wasn’t like Jiang Chen had never seen slave trading during his previous life. He unleashed his consciousness and looked everywhere.
The first row, the second row...
After sweeping through the slaves again and again, he didn’t find any familiar faces from the Regal Pill Palace at all. “They’re not here. Let’s head inside,” Wei Jie pulled Jiang Chen into a shop in the market.
“Oh, isn’t this the young master of House Wei?” A slightly sharp voice rang the moment they stepped inside, “What a rare customer! So? Have you come here to buy a few slaves for your fancy?” A man with a face covered in makeup chuckled and beckoned them over.
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