Book 6, Chapter 74: Surrender
The web of sword light stopped inches away from Zhong Zhenjun’s face.
It was as if someone had hit the pause button. In that moment, all of the web’s momentum dissipated.
Only Su Chen, with his extremely precise control over spatial Method Power, could accomplish this. No one else could have dispersed a web of dense spatial power that they had created themselves once it was unleashed.
Su Chen glanced at Zhong Zhenjun. “You’re willing to be my slave, even if that means becoming an ox or a horse?”
Zhong Zhenjun kowtowed repeatedly. “Yes, I am willing to be treated like an ox or a horse by Sect Master!”
The soldiers watching below were immediately thrown astir.
Zhong Zhenjun was still the leader of the Black Flame, a powerful Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator. It was incredibly embarrassing for someone like him to kowtow and beg to be spared.
Even so, Zhong Zhenjun had managed to live to this point not only because of his own personal strength but also because he didn’t care much about losing face - perhaps the latter more so.
Su Chen glanced at Zhong Zhenjun and thought for a moment, then said, “Even though you’re just an old dog with no shame, I must admit that you do have your uses.”
Zhong Zhenjun was delighted. “Yes. I am still an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, and I am willing to fight to the ends of the earth on Sect Master’s behalf.”
“Fight to the ends of the earth? I have the Boundless Sect’s disciples, so I have no need of you.” Unexpectedly, Su Chen shook his head and said, “You’re an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator, so the best fit would be for you to stay by my side and be my research subject.”
What?
Zhong Zhenjun was stunned. “Don’t......”
Su Chen jabbed out with his finger onto Zhong Zhenjun’s neck. Zhong Zhenjun reflexively opened his mouth, and a pill flew into it, entering his body.
“Eat it and don’t resist. Otherwise, you will die!” Su Chen’s words were simple, yet full of meaning.
Zhong Zhenjun didn’t dare to move. He could sense the medicinal power rapidly diffusing throughout his entire body. Eventually, he crumpled to the ground, completely drained of strength.
“From this day onwards, you will be my research subject. Whenever I reach the Ultimate Emperor Realm, perhaps I will allow you to fight to the ends of the earth on my behalf.” As he spoke, he grabbed Zhong Zhenjun and threw him behind him. Iron Cliff caught him and put him away.
This powerful Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator had become Su Chen’s research subject just like that.
Once he had done this, Su Chen retracted his hand.
He glanced below and found that the Black Flame’s members were all staring at him, speechless.
Now that their leader had been tossed about and eventually turned into a research subject, what was there for the rest of them to do?
Su Chen said, “If you surrender, you can live. Otherwise, you will die.”
After reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm, Su Chen had grown tired of speaking in long sentences. Now, he kept all his speaking short and succinct.
The members of the Black Flame glanced at each other before eventually deciding to surrender.
This den of criminals, which had existed outside of the realm of the law for so long, and which many people had tried to capture to no avail in the past, changed ownership overnight.
This was truly a miracle.
But now that the entire Abyss was gone, the Thousand Illusions Island was not such a big deal.
Actually, incorporating the Black Flame was actually going to be more troublesome.
After a moment’s thought, Su Chen said, “These people are the scum of the earth, so we shouldn’t allow them to join the Boundless Sect. We should keep them as an external part instead. But we must bring them all back; they are not allowed to wander as they please. The Thousand Illusions Island will be left to some disciples to guard on a periodic rotation. It will serve as an outpost for the Boundless Sect, responsible for gathering materials from the sea. The trade routes that we had set up before can be used again. After all, the sea is full of riches, and it would be a tragedy to waste them like this.”
“Sect Master is truly wise!” Everyone was filled with admiration.
From this day onwards, the Boundless Sect had managed to eke out a territory belonging solely to themselves.
“Then what should we do about the disciples who defected?” Li Chongshan asked.
This was quite a problem.
There were still a thousand or so Boundless Sect disciples amongst the ranks of the Black Flame.
At the moment, they were probably the most apprehensive out of everyone present.
After all, humans hated traitors more than all else, and the way that they dealt with traitors was usually extremely harsh.
Gu Qingluo said, “Husband, some of these people were tricked by Zhong Zhenjun and left in a moment of confusion. There might have been some who even regretted their decision but weren’t able to rejoin.”
“Sect Master’s wife!” Lin Xiao and the others said in shock.
It sounded like Gu Qingluo wanted to forgive them.
“Sect Master’s wife, we cannot allow this. These traitors can’t be let off so easily. Otherwise, how will the Boundless Sect find its footing? And how will we get the disciples to have faith in us?” someone pleaded.
“No matter how you look at it, they were once our disciples. They only left because they were cheated away by someone’s flowery speech, and their actions are still understandable.”
“That still doesn’t mean we can spare them. Leniency now will only lead to problems in the future. Don’t forget that there are still tens of thousands of disciples watching us right now.”
“The law should be considered, but so should our human ties.”
The higher-ups of the Boundless Sect began to discuss animatedly amongst one another.
Su Chen fell into a deep silence.
He didn’t mind that they were arguing. His consciousness crystal allowed him to absorb everyone’s suggestions, then consider the proposals from multiple different angles.
After a long time, Su Chen raised his hand.
The discussion came to a halt.
Su Chen said, “I never had any expectation that people would be loyal to me forever. As long as the disciples who left didn’t do anything that would shame the Boundless Sect’s name, I am willing to let bygones be bygones. If they want to return, I am willing to welcome them with open arms.”
Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.
Su Chen was going to take the broad route.
Even as his strength had increased, his heart and his mindset had only broadened.
The young Su Chen had forsaken the Su Clan for their indifference towards him. Now that he was a Sect Master, he had learned how to care for even the disciples that had abandoned him.
He understood their difficulty and sympathized with their struggles. He was willing to overlook their idiocy and forgive them for their mistakes.
All rivers converge to the vast sea.
In that moment, Su Chen was truly demonstrating that a person with a great heart was destined to achieve great things.
Even Li Chongshan couldn’t help but sigh, “Sect Master is truly brilliant!”
“But the disciples who actively harmed the sect after leaving cannot be spared,” Jun Moxie replied darkly.
“Of course.” Su Chen nodded. “That will require you all to interrogate them one by one. Those who did not make a mistake will be allowed to return. Those who made small mistakes will remain with Black Flame. Those who made big ones...... You decide how to handle them.”
“Yes, sir!” all of the higher-ups responded.
It took roughly half a month to handle the Black Flame.
The original members of the Black Flame found their statuses unchanged, but Jun Moxie was assigned as their leader.
Jun Moxie was sinister and sly by nature, making him a perfect candidate to lead the Black Flame. After selecting a few more outstanding disciples to fill in their ranks, the Black Flame was rapidly subjugated.
At the same time that he was managing the Black Flame, there were two more situations that required Su Chen’s attention.
One was related to the current situation within Long Sang Country.
Lin Zuiliu and Lin Shaoxuan were slowly but surely losing control of the situation.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Gu Qingluo had sent some reinforcements to them after destroying the Abyss, the two of them probably would have been killed by Lin Mengze already.
Now that Su Chen had returned, it was time for him to resolve that situation.
However, there was one more thing that he needed to take care of: Eternal Night.
The Neptune’s Eye was in his hands. According to the plan, it was time for Su Chen to go and meet with Eternal Night.
Su Chen himself had to personally take care of this, so he decided to send Li Chongshan back to Long Sang Country with the Boundless Sect while he and Gu Qingluo would travel to Sky Country and meet with Eternal Night.
The day of separation quickly arrived.
A large army departed from the Thousand Illusions Island. After being away for so long, it was finally time for them to return.
On the other side of things, Su Chen and Gu Qingluo were also preparing for departure. Apart from the two of them, only the Void Seahorse was going to come along. Without the Deep Sea Sorrow’s influence, the Void Seahorse’s intelligence was continuing to grow. It had gotten to know Su Chen somewhat while on the island, and it was grateful that Su Chen had killed the whale Sovereign and brought it back to the real world. Its fear of Su Chen had also increased after seeing the Boundless Sect’s might in all its glory.
In addition, Zhong Zhenjun’s surrender had been a good demonstration for it. As a result, the Void Seahorse understood that it needed to make a choice, and it eventually decided to be Su Chen’s pet.
It wasn’t strange for a human to have a pet, but a Sovereign pet was extremely extraordinary.
Su Chen had only one pet before, the Death’s Shadow of a Youth. However, as Su Chen had gotten stronger, it was left behind, and Su Chen left it behind at the sect to do as it pleased.
This Sovereign, however, was more than worthy of following him until the end of time.
Su Chen sat directly on the Void Seahorse and said, “I leave the matter in Long Sang to you.”
Li Chongshan said, “With us there, Sect Master has no need to worry. The Harpies, however, are the real danger. I’m just worried that Eternal Night is going to try and take the treasure and keep the hostage. If that happens, we’ll be in trouble.”
Su Chen chuckled. “Eternal Night is still waiting for me to help him take the Immortal’s Soul and won’t do anything to me.”
Li Chongshan, however, shook his head. “If I was Eternal Night, I would insist on capturing you even if it meant giving up on Sky City regaining its mobility.”
“Oh?” Su Chen squinted his eyes.
Li Chongshan continued, “Even though Sky City is important, in my eyes you are even more important. Sky City is, at the end of a day, merely a powerful castle. It is not truly invincible. Your actions, however, are dramatically increasing the strength of the human race as a whole. In the future, we humans will definitely be the strongest of all the Intelligent Races.”
Su Chen replied, “I understand. But don’t forget, everything I have done is in the past. Sky City, however, is the future.”
No matter how useful Su Chen was, the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques’ sixth level had been developed. Him reaching the Thought Manifestation Realm was already an established fact.
Killing Su Chen wouldn’t affect the spread of the Flying Immortal Cultivation Techniques, or the Boundless Sect’s rise to power. All that would happen would be the Harpies losing out on their opportunity.
It was impossible that Eternal Night would make this decision based on his personality.
Su Chen was very confident in this. After all, Eternal Night had let him go once already, and Danba had already chosen to do this even before Eternal Night.
All of the strong individuals Su Chen had encountered thus far all had a similar thought: increasing their own strength was more important than killing their opponents.
They were very clear that they would never be able to kill all their opponents. If they wanted to survive in the midst of a hostile environment, and improve their quality of life, increasing their personal strength was far more important than killing all of their enemies.
This was why Danba was willing to cooperate with Su Chen, and why the same went for Eternal Night.
No matter how strong their opponents became in the future, they could only focus on doing what was best for them.
Not to mention that Su Chen had more than enough self-confidence now.
Even if Eternal Night wanted to do something to him, it wouldn’t be easy.
It was impossible for Eternal Night to predict that Su Chen’s strength would have advanced to such a terrifying degree merely in the span of a few short years.
“I leave the matter in Long Sang to you, and you leave the matter with the Harpies to me. We’ll see who can finish their mission first, then meet at the Demonic Wind Altar,” Su Chen said as he gripped Li Chongshan firmly by the hand.