Chapter 22: Friends
Su Chen stopped the transmission and rubbed his head. He could feel a headache coming on.
He quickly reviewed what had occurred thus far.
The greatest problem Su Chen was facing right now was He Xu.
Just He Xu’s existence had brought about two crucial effects.
First of all, his Thousand Faces Beast Bloodline had confirmed that Zhu Xianyao’s enemies could disguise themselves. When there was one it was extremely likely for there to be a second. Zhu Xianyao had no reason to believe that there wouldn’t be another person with the Thousand Faces Beast Bloodline. This was also the main reason why she had grown suspicious in the first place.
Secondl, He Xu was both the best hostage and greatest weakness at this moment. Su Chen had protected him for a while, so nothing had happened to him yet. But as soon as Zhu Xianyao began to suspect him, it would be very difficult for Su Chen to save He Xu for much longer.
The good news was that Zhu Xianyao and the others had no way of directly seeing through disguises yet.
Under these kinds of circumstances, all Zhu Xianyao could do was compel him by force.
She would either force Su Chen to display a combat strength that You Tianyang wouldn’t have, or she would make him to expend all his energy until he wouldn’t be able to keep up his appearance anymore. Both were quite effective tactics.
Thankfully, these tactics were all equivalent to discarding all pretenses. Zhu Xianyao wouldn’t do this until she had confirmed her suspicions.
No, that wasn’t right.
She had one more option, and that was to spar with him under the guise of exchanging pointers!
When he realized this, a strange light flashed across Su Chen’s eyes.
At that moment, footsteps could be heard outside the room. Su Chen immediately pushed open the door, walked out, and found Zhao Jingwen walking towards him.
When he saw Su Chen, Zhao Jingwen smiled and was just about to say something when Su Chen waved and said, “Jingwen, perfect timing. Do you have any Origin Stones? Lend me some.”
“You want to borrow some Origin Stones? What do you need them for?” Zhao Jingwen was stunned.
“For buying materials, of course. Yaoyao wanted us to make preparations within the castle and set up Origin Formations, but before I could do anything, the assassins came. You saw that not all of the assassins died. They might be waiting for an opportunity to spring another trap. That’s why I need to go and buy some more materials.”
“But there are assassins outside. Isn’t it dangerous for you to go out right now?”
“They just suffered a failure, so for the time being they shouldn’t be too intent on trying again. In any case, what reason would they have to attack me? Their target is Yaoyao. If I risk myself a bit more for Yaoyao, she might feel even more gratitude towards me and even begin to like me. Hurry, hurry……”
“Ah…… oh,” Zhao Jingwen helplessly acquiesced. Even though Su Chen had asked to borrow them, he never planned on returning them; after all, they were being used towards the Young Miss’s safety.
Su Chen grabbed the Origin Stones and scurried off. Only then did Zhao Jingwen realize that he hadn’t done what the Young Miss had asked him to do yet.
He was about to call him back, but when he thought about the fact that You Tianyang was in a hurry to protect the Young Miss, calling him back to spar would be a bit too ill-timed. It was better to wait for a bit.
It wasn’t until Su Chen exited the castle that he let out a sigh of relief.
He was just about to head towards Shi Mingfeng and the others when a figure suddenly leapt out of a nearby alleyway and pulled him in.
It was Yue Longsha.
“Why are you here?” Su Chen said in surprise.
“Cut the crap. You still haven’t done what I asked you to do. Thank goodness I came along,” Yue Longsha pouted.
Su Chen sighed, “The situation has become a bit complicated.”
“I know, Zhu Xianyao is here,” Yue Longsha said.
“You’re well-informed.”
“The Secret Task Force isn’t just idling around. How else would I have found you?” Yue Longsha said as she looked at Su Chen with a self-satisfied expression.
Su Chen knew that some of Shi Mingfeng’s subordinates were definitely spies for Yue Longsha. She couldn’t possibly have such a firm grasp on the situation otherwise.
However, he didn’t want to concern himself with this matter. All he said was, “He Xu was captured. I don’t want the plan to fail, so I snuck in by myself. The matter that you’ve entrusted to me I have always kept in my heart. Actually, before this all happened, I discovered the location of that list of names. I just haven’t had the opportunity to seize it.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s in a crystal ball that Kong Cheng keeps on himself. It seems like it can’t be placed inside an Origin Ring, so it probably has some kind of spatial-type attribute to it.”
“Spatial-type attribute?” Yue Longsha asked with curiosity.
“Yes. It’s not just a list of names; it’s also a long-distance communications tool that can communicate with specific targets that are very far away.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he used that list of names to get a guy called Feng Xihuo to come and assassinate me.”
“Feng Xihuo?” Yue Longsha was stunned. “No wonder he would appear here of all places.”
“You saw him?” Su Chen was stunned.
“This afternoon, just before Zhu Xianyao was attacked,” Yue Longsha replied. “He’s a well-known hitman amongst the Immortal Temple’s ranks. You could say he’s also well-known amongst the Secret Task Force as well. Even though he’s in the Yang Opening Realm, he has quite a few secret techniques that allow him to explode with sudden strength and deal killing blows in a single strike. He’s even killed a Light Shaking Realm cultivator before. If it weren’t for the fact that I want that list of names and didn’t want to alert the enemy to me, I would have captured him today.”
“What does he look like?”
“He’s a middle-aged man with a face full of wrinkles. His skin is very dark, and he looks just like a little old man. He’s quite short and his ears stick out. Because he isn’t skilled in disguising himself, he likes to wear a straw hat that covers his face, and one of his habits is wearing shoes woven from grass. His bloodline is the Fierce Explosive Beast, which allows him to store up energy and unleash it all at once to inflict a fatal blow. This is what makes him very difficult to deal with if you aren’t prepared. The Light Shaking Realm cultivator that he killed was done so in one such blow……” Yue Longsha said without stopping.
He had to admit that the Secret Task Force did indeed have some skill considering how much they knew about Feng Xihuo’s background.
Unfortunately, even though they had a clear understanding of his background, they still weren’t able to catch him. Feng Xihuo had a habit of quickly escaping if his first blow didn’t land; thus while he had many successful assassination attempts, he also had many failures as well. But whether he succeeded or failed, he always kept himself safe. Not only did he have the ability to explode with power, but he was also very fast.
“Got it.” Su Chen nodded. “I’ll try and think of a way to keep helping you.”
“There’s no need,” Yue Longsha laughed. “Since we know what the list of names can do and where it is, I can go and take it myself.”
Her initial headache was that she didn’t know enough about the list of names. Now that she knew that it was kept in a crystal ball, she was brave enough to fight for it even without Su Chen’s help.
“Wait, Longsha,” Su Chen called out. “How many people did you bring with you?”
“More than enough to deal with Shi Mingfeng and the others.”
“Can you wait for a bit? I don’t want to make things even more complicated before we find Kapius’s secret stashes.”
“Do I have to agree?” Yue Longsha asked.
Su Chen grew a bit agitated. “I was the one who told you about the location of the list of names.”
“But I also told you about Feng Xihuo. I don’t owe you anything anymore!” Yue Longsha said without a trace of politeness.
“This……” Su Chen was rendered speechless for a moment.
He hadn’t expected Yue Longsha to refuse him so bluntly and coldly, and that her brain would be so quick.
He didn’t know what to say for some time.
After a while, he finally said, “What if I am just asking for help? You are my friend. I hope that you can help me.”
Yue Longsha smiled and said, “Fine.”
Su Chen hadn’t expected that Yue Longsha, who was refusing him so bluntly just now, would suddenly be so easily persuaded. He couldn’t help but feel stunned.
Yue Longsha said, “The reason I refused you beforehand was because I didn’t like that reason…… but I like this one.”
She turned around and left once she finished speaking.
As she was leaving, she said, “Remember, Su Chen, we are friends. This is the reason that I am helping you.”