Chapter 865: The Resplendent Emerald Veranda’s True Intentions
Jiang Chen’s expression was solemn. He’d felt no goodwill towards any power that existed in Great Scarlet Mid Region at all, and the Resplendent Emerald Veranda was no exception. They’d tried to kill him just because he made contact with Wei Xing’er and bought a few people from the auction. They were completely unafraid of any consequences. People who saw no worth in life were obviously nothing good.
Liu Wencai and Lu Yali walked over while he was deep in thought. Their faces were riddled with shock. The five sage realm experts were akin to children who’d just started walking before Jiang Chen. Four of them were taken out in the blink of an eye, while the last one could do nothing but beg on his knees. They wouldn’t have believed it possible if they hadn’t witnessed this scene with their own eyes. They’d noticed there was a gap between their strength and Jiang Chen’s back at Eternal Spirit Mountain, but the gap had still been visible and measurable then. But today, that gap had grown so big they couldn’t even see his back anymore.
“Brother Boulder, can we be the ones to take his life?” Liu Wencai suddenly asked. Jiang Chen nodded and didn’t object his request. Liu Wencai had improved a lot over the past couple years. He had been just an earth origin realm cultivator back at Eternal Spirit Mountain, but was already a sky origin realm cultivator. He could see that the evolution of his bloodline was continuously unearthing the potential within his body and enabling him to reach new heights. If that calamity hadn’t befallen Myriad Domain, and if Liu Wencai had an another three to five years’ time to cultivate in the Great Cathedral, he definitely would’ve risen above many others and become a genius that even the Great Cathedral would fight over. Unfortunately, fate had its own game to play.
When the mortal sage realm cultivator heard that they were going to kill him, he immediately begged, “Please, please, don’t kill me. I have information, very precious information that will definitely be useful to you all. If you are friends with the young madam, then I guarantee you’ll regret not hearing this information.”
Jiang Chen raised a hand and stopped Liu Wencai when he heard this. The combined weight of G.o.d’s Eye and the Evil Golden Eye landed on his victim. The cultivator couldn’t stop sweating and chattering under Jiang Chen’s might, but he said, “You… you are stronger than I am, but I… I would rather die than tell you what I know if you won’t spare my life.”
Jiang Chen knew of a few ways to search the soul, but he hadn’t practiced any of them as of now. Moreover, it was extremely difficult to search the soul of a cultivator at the same rank as the seeker. Therefore, Jiang Chen couldn’t deny that it would be an issue if the fellow refused to speak even on threat of death.
Huang’er walked over. “We can spare your life, but how can we make sure that you won’t betray us if we spared your life?”
Wild joy erupted from the person’s eyes when he saw a glimmering hope of survival. He hastily responded, “I can swear an heavenly oath that I will reveal everything I know to you as long as you spare my life. I will leave this place immediately and go into hiding. Even if l am unlucky enough to be captured by the family later on, you will be long gone by then. They won’t be able to find you even if they try.”
Huang’er exchanged a glance with Jiang Chen. “We can spare him. We might as well get that information than waste our time like this.”
Jiang Chen didn’t mind killing one more or one less person. Killing a small fry like this fellow wouldn’t cause the Great Scarlet Mid Region’s strength to drop drastically. His life carried no weight whether Jiang Chen spared him or not. Plus, this cultivator had betrayed his master right after losing to the enemy. There was no way he could serve the Great Scarlet Mid Region after this.
Jiang Chen nodded, “Make the oath, and don’t try to play any tricks, you hear me? Any smart tricks or word games you try to play will only backfire on yourself.”
The heavenly oath was a most effective tool. A coward like him wouldn’t dare go against his oath in a million years. Therefore, Jiang Chen wasn’t afraid that he would renege on his oath. As expected, this fellow carefully plotted out his words before he swore a flawless heavenly oath. When he was done, he stared pitifully at Jiang Chen. “You… you won’t kill me, will you? You won’t go back on your words after I confess, will you?”
Jiang Chen smiled. “That’s a gamble that you have to take.”
He didn’t have the inclination to swear a heavenly oath to a captive. Huan’er frowned, “Either you confess now, or you won’t get the chance to say anything ever again in your life. You are our captive, and you don’t have the right to bargain with us.”
Said captive was extremely depressed to hear this, but he didn’t dare go against her words. He knew that he was a captive too, and that he had no right to speak on equal terms with his captors. Haggling would only kill him faster, which was why he said honestly, “We are the Resplendent Emerald Veranda’s men. We have been ordered by our superiors to capture you.”
“Why?”
“That’s because you are acquaintances with our young madam and hence, potentially remnants of Myriad Domain. As a member of Great Scarlet Mid Region, it is our obligation to hunt down all remnants of Myriad Domain.”
Jiang Chen sneered, “You mean your young madam, Wei Xing’er, is nothing but a figurehead?”
The cultivator shook his head, “Not exactly. She is the young madam of the family after all, so she is not completely without real status. It is true that our master is using her, however. More specifically saying, he’s raising her for a certain purpose. I’m not sure exactly what purpose it is, but I did hear that the master needs a cauldron of pure yin to cultivate a certain art. The young madam happens to have the requirements and talents necessary for his cultivation, so she was secretly chosen by the master as his cultivation cauldron. You can say that her time as the ‘young madam’ of the family is her last supper.”
Cultivation cauldron? Jiang Chen and Huang’er exchanged a disdainful glance with each other. A cultivation cauldron basically meant a cultivator of the opposite s.e.x to be used as a cultivation medium and tool during a time of need. Normally, the people used as cultivation cauldrons were met with horrible ends.
In the best case scenario, the cultivation cauldron would be crippled. In the worst case scenario, the cultivation cauldron would lose their life outright. Moreover, the process of this type of cultivation was so horrendous that it was almost publicly acknowledged as the worst thing that could happen to a cultivator.
The fate of a cultivation cauldron was worse than that of a slave. A slave at least had a life and the hope of freedom. A cultivation cauldron’s journey was a one way trip. Moreover, both the process and the ending were absolutely horrifying. Eight out of the ten cultivation arts that required a cultivation cauldron in the martial dao world were evil arts. Generally speaking, the ratio of female cultivators being used as cultivation cauldrons were higher than males. This method was commonly known as plucking yin to nourish yang.
Real dual cultivation cultivation arts did exist in this world. Dual cultivation arts that were acknowledged as right and proper emphasized on coupling yin and yang. There was no such thing as using one person’s power to replenish the other. That was true evil.
“What cultivation level is your master at?”
“Our master is a sixth level emperor realm expert. I heard that he’s planning to reach the seventh level emperor realm, the sky emperor realm.”
“Seventh level emperor realm, huh…” Jiang Chen nodded slightly, “It would seem that your master is quite strong.”
There weren’t many seventh level emperor realm experts in the Great Scarlet Mid Region. Most of the sect leaders of fourth rank sect who’d invaded Myriad Domain were only third level or fourth level emperor realm at best. A seventh level emperor realm expert could be the leader of a third rank sect, a head of the Great Scarlet Mid Region or even a heavyweight in the imperial family.
After all, the Great Scarlet Mid Region wasn’t particularly strong in the human domain. The Myriad Domain was just weaker than them. Jiang Chen asked a few more questions to find out almost everything he could about the Resplendent Emerald Veranda. After that, he restrained the captive and threw him into a very concealed spot.
“I’ve put a restriction on you that will automatically dissolve three days later.” Jiang Chen hadn’t left any tracks to be found in this desolate and uninhabited place, so he wasn’t worried about the threat of discovery.
“Wencai, Fatty, allow me to send you along your way.” When he led Liu Wencai and Lu Yali across thousands of kilometers and confirmed that no one was tracking them down, Jiang Chen finally came to a pause. “Watch out for yourselves, you two. You absolutely mustn’t cause any trouble while you’re still in Great Scarlet Mid Region. Make way for Veluriyam Capital the soonest you can,” Jiang Chen advised.
Both Liu Wencai and Lu Yali looked reluctant to part with Jiang Chen, but they understood that this wasn’t the time play coy. They immediately bid their brother goodbye and went on their way.
Jiang Chen shot a glance at Huang’er after sending Liu Wencai and Lu Yali on their way, knowing what she was hoping he would do. Huang’er was a softhearted girl, and she had felt a kins.h.i.+p with Wei Xing’er even though they’d met each other only once at the Great Scarlet Mid Region. It was obvious she wanted to head to Great Scarlet Capital and save her. But he felt that now wasn’t the best time to save Wei Xing’er. The cultivation of an evil art and the process of nurturing Wei Xing’er into the perfect cultivation cauldron wasn’t something that could be achieved in just a day or two. Jiang Chen felt that saving Wei Xing’er after he returned from the desolate wildlands might be a better choice.
It wasn’t that he was a cold blooded man. It was just that curing Huang’er of her Generation Binding Curse was more important than saving Wei Xing’er to him. Wei Xing’er wouldn’t be in danger even if he did nothing for now. But Huang’er’s Requiem Wood might be gone if he missed this opportunity. Although he’d managed to suppress the Generation Binding Curse for now, it was ultimately a temporary measure. If her curse were to erupt one day without the Requiem Wood to cure it once and for all, then even Jiang Chen would be able to do nothing about it.
“Huang’er, I know that you wish to save Wei Xing’er, but we can’t afford to delay our trip to the desolate wildlands any longer. How about this, we’ll come back to Great Scarlet Capital after we return? The Resplendent Emerald Veranda is still nurturing Wei Xing’er, so it’ll be a few years more before its master can use her properly. There was no way he would give Wei Xing’er her current treatment if it’s something can be completed in a short time.” Jiang Chen’s deduction made a lot of sense.
Huang’er thought over the suggestion for a moment, knowing that everything Jiang Chen did was for her own sake. Therefore, she nodded, “Then let us go and return quickly.” The pair quickly left the place after making up their minds.
Inside the Great Scarlet Capital, at the Veranda.
“Have the five not returned yet?” The Veranda master had youthful looks and a head of s.h.i.+ny black hair. The look in his eyes were deep in a way that gave people an unfathomable feeling. The senior executives standing before him right now were all emperor realm experts.
“Master, they have served the Veranda unfailingly for many years. I am sure that they’ll capture their targets if they truly are the remnants of Myriad Domain.”
“Don’t worry, Master.”
The master nodded and asked, “We have not slipped up in front of the young madam, have we?”
“Allow me to report, Master. The young madam looked pretty unhappy after she returned today. It seems that she figured out that the slaves she bought were resold in the market.”
The Veranda master frowned, “Whose sloppy work is this?”
“Please quell your anger. As long as she is not privy of your ultimate objective, I doubt that she’ll care too much about it. In my opinion, she seems to enjoy her life as the young madam quite a bit.”
He pondered for a moment. “Ensure that everything is conducted in absolute secrecy. I will achieve a breakthrough in three years’ time.”
Suddenly, someone rushed in to make a report in the middle of their discussion. “Master, the second group of men we sent out reported that everyone in the first group was killed in action.”
“What?!” Everyone present jumped to their feet with a look of shock on their faces.