Chapter 680: Jiang Chen Reveals Himself
“w.a.n.g Han? Of all people, how are you worthy of entering the Paramount Realm?” Ling Bi’er despised w.a.n.g Han’s character greatly and cast him a disdainful glance.
w.a.n.g Han had been humiliated by Regal Pill Palace time and time again in the past. Now that Ling Bi’er was looking down on him once more, he immediately felt rage erupt in his heart. You Regal Pill Palace dogs might have humiliated me in the past, but now I, w.a.n.g Han have entered the tutelage of an emperor realm expert! How dare a little wench like you still look down on me! He leered right back at her, “Put that ill temper of yours somewhere else, Ling Bi’er. Your words mean nothing here.”
w.a.n.g Han saluted Sect Head Qin Mo respectfully as he spoke, “Honored master, this woman is a Regal Pill Palace disciple, and has a relations.h.i.+p with Jiang Chen. Jiang Chen will absolutely appear if we hold her captive. In addition, the Regal Pill Palace and I have an all- consuming grudge. Therefore, I humbly request your permission to personally mete out punishment to this woman, master.”
He understood his place very well, and knew that he should always ask Sect Head Qin Mo for permission. As expected, the old man immediately felt a bit more appreciation for this new disciple after hearing his praise. He nodded, “End this battle swiftly, and don’t waste any more time than is necessary.”
The old man himself knew that this was already the sixth day out of the total nine days that the Paramount Realm would be open. Time waited for no one. His biggest objective was to capture Jiang Chen. Nothing else mattered to him. He had no intention of dealing with any other issues that cropped up. Therefore, the old man’s att.i.tude towards any geniuses he encountered in the Paramount Realm could be summed up with one word: kill!
They had run into eight geniuses in the Paramount Realm, and the old man’s had ordered them all slaughtered. Unfortunately, the Regal Pill Palace’s Nie Chong had become one of those casualties. Of course, the old man had been very devious. He didn’t bother killing the geniuses himself, but had instead ordered w.a.n.g Jianyu to do the dirty work. Every person w.a.n.g Jianyu killed distanced him further from the Myriad Domain, and sent him further down the path of absolute loyalty towards the Zither Sect.
w.a.n.g Jianyu’s bloodl.u.s.t had obviously been awakened by this order too. Although he knew that Sect Head Qin Mo was testing his loyalty, he didn’t hesitate at all when killing the Myriad Domain geniuses. It was obvious that the depressed and sullen feelings w.a.n.g Jianyu had suffered lately had birthed a deep hatred for all the sects in the Myriad Domain. He desperately needed to wreak havoc to resolve those negative emotions swirling within him. Therefore, almost every genius they encountered in Paramount Realm died a horrible death at w.a.n.g Jianyu’s hands.
For a time, Ling Bi’er felt utterly disconcerted as she looked at the crazed w.a.n.g Jianyu, the sycophantic w.a.n.g Han, and the old man of unfathomable strength. She had seen plenty of serious situations before, but the one she was facing now was without a doubt the deadliest of them all. For a moment, she didn’t know what to do. She’d just inherited senior Shao Yin’s inheritance, and she did have some escape talismans with her right now. In fact, one of them could even break through an emperor realm cultivator’s domain restriction. However, she was also in the Paramount Realm. She didn’t know exactly what effect it would have on her talismans. Moreover, she was also worried for Jiang Chen. Judging from w.a.n.g Han’s tone, these people were obviously targeting her junior brother.
Ling Bi’er hesitated. She felt that she had at least a 60 to 70% chance of escaping if she were to use senior Shao Yin’s life saving talismans. However, what would happen to junior brother Jiang Chen if she were to escape alone? She snuck a glance at the mysterious old man, and estimated that he was likely an emperor realm cultivator. He was much stronger than any other cultivator in the Myriad Domain. If she were to leave all by herself, what would junior brother Jiang Chen do if he ran into this group?
Ling Bi’er knew that Jiang Chen was powerful and extraordinary, but this time their opponent was an emperor realm cultivator. He was different from any other opponent they had ever encountered in the past. She gritted her teeth and came to a decision.
She suddenly looked at the mysterious old man and said, “Senior, I know not where you hail from, and I know very well I am no match for your strength. You can capture me, but I will ask that you do not harm me. I will cooperate with anything you ask me to do, and I plead only that you do not give me to w.a.n.g Han. I would rather die than submit myself to shame!” Ling Bi’er’s tone was velvet over steel.
w.a.n.g Han was furious, “How dare you still pretend to be a G.o.ddess! You may have been a G.o.ddess in the past when everyone was praising you, but now you’re just a mere captive. I can turn you into a s.e.x slave any moment I want!”
Sect Head Qin Mo suddenly frowned and asked, “w.a.n.g Han, are you sure that this girl is very close to Jiang Chen? Are you sure than Jiang Chen would definitely show himself if we have her?”
“Honored master, Jiang Chen likes this b.i.t.c.h a lot. He will definitely appear.”
“Mm. In that case we will keep her with us. You don’t need to rush to do whatever you want with her. That can be decided after we capture Jiang Chen.” The old man’s chief objective was to capture Jiang Chen. When he saw Ling Bi’er’s determined expression, he too was worried that this girl would kill herself to protect her chast.i.ty. If she really did kill herself, then he would have nothing to threaten Jiang Chen with. If that kid really was hiding in the Paramount Realm, it would be difficult to flush him out if he didn’t have leverage.
With that, the old man stared indifferently at Ling Bi’er and added, “Little girl, I am fairly old, so I would rather not destroy a beautiful little girl like you if I don’t have to. However, if you refuse to cooperate with me properly, then I wouldn’t mind breaking my vow. Even if I could tolerate you, I’m sure these ‘acquaintances’ of yours wouldn’t mind serving you at the same time...”
The old man began chuckling evilly after he finished speaking. Ling Bi’er’s scalp tingled with fear as she listened. She forced herself to calm down and put on a fearful and obedient look. “I only ask that I am not humiliated, senior.”
“Let’s go.” The old man’s expression sank as he waved a hand indifferently and walked forward. The group continued to make their search inside the inner region. They ran into a couple more Myriad Domain geniuses along the way, and w.a.n.g Jianyu killed all of them without hesitation. Ling Bi’er burned with fury when witnessing this, but there was nothing she could do about it.
“w.a.n.g Han, why haven’t we encountered Jiang Chen yet?” The old man’s tone had grown a little irritated.
“Honored master, Jiang Chen hates being left out. I suspect that he isn’t in the inner region at all, but rather the transcendent region,” w.a.n.g Han voiced his deductions.
After pondering for a moment, the old man waved a hand and said, “Then we go to the transcendent region.”
Ling Bi’er felt both anxiety and yearning on the inside. Her heart was in disarray. She knew that junior brother Jiang Chen was most likely in the transcendent region. She was worried that these people would hurt him, but also had the optimistic hope that senior Shao Yin’s powerful talismans could help the two of them escape together.
Ling Bi’er was roughly seventy percent sure that she would be able to succeed if she were to escape by herself. But no matter how she calculated, she deduced that their chances of success were only forty percent at most if she were to meet up with Jiang Chen and attempt to escape together. However, Ling Bi’er was willing to try even if the chances of success were that low.
She knew that junior brother Jiang Chen would be in great trouble if she didn’t meet up with him. The Sacred Sword Palace was one thing, but that old man was an emperor realm cultivator. Nothing was certain.
Even if she set aside that he was her father’s savior, Ling Bi’er still would’ve made the same choice without hesitation. He was the first man to walk into her heart and the first man she was able to accept without any reservation. In Ling Bi’er’s mind, she would rather walk into death herself so that Jiang Chen would be safe.
…...
Meanwhile, the battle by the lake had waned. It’d lasted for six full hours, and both parties were nearing complete exhaustion. Even so, neither Jun Mobai nor Lin Hai were willing to let their opponent escape. They played trump card after trump card, flinging every ability they could dredge up at each other. The frenzied battle continued without a decided victor. In the end, they even blasted each other with their ultimate trump cards.
Bang, bang!
Both cultivators collapsed onto the yellow sands that now were decorated with long ditches drawn. Like a newly ploughed field, the gouges pockmarked the entire battleground. Both vomited blood at the same time and struggled to climb on their feet. It was obvious that that final clash had cost them.
“You madman, if you keep this up we’re both going to die here, Lin Hai!” Jun Mobai swore loudly.
Lin Hai said furiously, “How could I possibly die before you? And did you just call me a madman? Does it look like I’m fighting myself? Aren’t you crazy as well?!”
Jun Mobai sighed, “We’re both in big trouble if someone appears right now.”
“Then you deserve it!” Lin Hai was an extremely swift and fierce person. He struggled to his feet and attempted to wave his flag, wanting to deal Jun Mobai the final blow.
Jun Mobai’s face paled greatly, “Are you seriously planning to die, you madman?”
Lin Hai leered, “You definitely must die, or how could I possibly obtain Emperor Featherflight’s inheritance for myself?”
Jun Mobai was just about to say something when his eyes widened in complete disbelief. He stared behind Lin Hai, as if he had seen the most unbelievable thing in his entire life. Lin Hai sneered and said, “No need to try this trick on me, kid. You trying to distract me so you can ambush me, aren’t you? Don’t you think that trick is a bit old?” It was obvious that Lin Hai didn’t believe that anything was behind him at all. However, he immediately heard footsteps behind him.
They were extremely firm footsteps.
He panicked, and nearly fell over because of how fast he turned around. A young man stood there, seemingly smiling at them both.
“Jiang Chen… Jiang Chen?” Lin Hai was shocked as he looked back at Jun Mobai. For a moment, he was obviously confused by the connections that were possibly in play. He wasn’t sure if Jiang Chen was another Ninesuns Sky Sect spy. After all, this world was full of half truths and whole lies. No one could say for sure whom they belonged to until their ident.i.ties were exposed.
“Senior brother Lin Hai, senior brother Jun, what are you…?” Jiang Chen pretended to be curious as he stared at the two sorry-looking figures.
Jun Mobai hastily gave Lin Hai a meaningful look before explaining, “You’ve arrived just in time, junior brother Jiang Chen. It’s like this, we discovered this inheritance palace, but this Lin Hai simply wouldn’t stop fighting with me for it. Now we’re both hurt. Thankfully you’re the one who came and not someone else, or the alternative would’ve been simply inconceivable.”
Lin Hai immediately understood that Jiang Chen was no Ninesuns Sky Sect disciple. Lin Hai was fighting Jun Mobai to the death just a moment ago. But now, they were tacitly cooperating and standing on the same side. Otherwise, in their current conditions, they would be dead for sure if Jiang Chen learned the truth. Lin Hai immediately slapped his head with regret and said, “I was foolish, I was so foolish. Brother Jiang Chen, your Regal Pill Palace has the numbers, so this inheritance is all yours. I only ask that you can give me a share too.”
Jiang Chen had to admit that these two weren’t only good at acting, but also quick to a.s.sume their respective roles. If he hadn’t known from the start that they were spies, he might actually have had the wool pulled over his eyes. No wonder they had risen to their current positions. Their acting skills were top notch.
“Please come over and give me a hand, junior brother Jiang. We must make haste, or we may not even be able to get a share. Especially if the Great Cathedral shows up,” Jun Mobai spoke with complete insincerity.