Chapter 492 - A Letter to The Nether River Patriarch
Chapter 492: A Letter to The Nether River Patriarch
Soon, the Suras entered the city.
“Let’s go!”
Jiang He strode forward and followed them.
After doing so for a while, Wang Hou noticed that something was not right and whispered, “What’s going on, Jiang He?”
“Ran into a few enemies,” Jiang He explained.
Wang Hou did a double take and stared at Jiang He in shock, exclaiming, “If I’m not mistaken, the furthest you ever went was the Sky Demon System, and you’ve never been here. How did you manage to make enemies this far out?”
“Does distance matter when it comes to enmity?”
Jiang He could not help laughing. “I had yet to visit the celestial battlefield, but the Green Hill Foxes already hated me to the bone.”
“Oh?”
Wang Hou turned back to look at their target and asked, “Could those few have left Daoist legacies on Earth that you wiped out?”
“Well, no.”
Jiang He replied. “If my hunch is right, those people are Suras… well, it’s not like I have a grudge against them, but I feel that there is still a little misunderstanding between me and their patriarch.”
“Suras?”
“The divergent race that the Nether River Patriarch established?”
Wang Hou appeared weirded out, and clenched his teeth. “How did you manage to provoke the Nether River Patriarch?”
He naturally knew about the Nether River Patriarch, as he had heard many stories from the immortals who had returned to Earth. It was only natural that he was aware of an elite at the Nether River Patriarch’s level.
The person himself was a Demi-Saint, and there was a huge gap in combat ability when it came to the entire tier. Weaker Demi-Saints might not best a Grand Luo commanding godly techniques even if they were wielding paragon treasures, whereas stronger Demi-Saints would be bold enough to screw around with the Saints.
For example, the Nether River Patriarch and the Grand Mage of Xuandu, the chief disciple of the Ren Sect, had all fought Saints before.
While the Saints they fought were the weakest and they had relied upon many an innate treasure, even the weakest Saints were Saints!
Though the Blaze Lord was among the strongest individuals barring Saints, the Nether River Patriarch and the Grand Mage of Xuandu were unparalleled Demi-Saints, save against Saints.
And Jiang He… had provoked the Nether River Patriarch right after he left Earth!?
There is little wonder why he told me he would cause me trouble for journeying with me…
As those random thoughts crossed his mind, Wang Hou pressed, “The Suras did not leave any legacies on Earth, and you never had any dealings with the Nether River Patriarch. How did you get on their bad side anyway?”
Jiang He appeared upset and grumbled, “Like I said, it’s just a little misunderstanding. How does it involve getting on their bad side?”
After casting a look at the Suras up front, Jiang He took a deep breath and said seriously, “Whatever. Since I ran into these Suras, I should use this chance to clear this misunderstanding through them.”
The Suras had all arrived before a large inn, which size was already comparable to Lingzhou City base. A nine-floored tavern could be seen past the front gate, each floor standing over a vast hundred feet tall, being made especially for guests to dine in.
The lodgings were at the backyard of the inn, where separate patios stood.
Each was at least half a Mu, while the largest one was dozens of Mu wide. Within, there was a multitude of pavilions that was decorated exquisitely.
“Dear guests, will you be staying or dining-in?”
A daemon with a pointy snout as well as stubs and whiskers over his face came to greet the trio.
He was Golden Pellet-tier, but all he amounted to in Blaze City was a waiter.
Jiang He remained impassive as he threw out a hundred or so immortal crystals and said, “Staying.”
The daemon’s eyes lit up and he quickly said, “My lords, for guest rooms, we have…”
He started rambling away as he introduced the various rooms available, but Jiang He waved him off and said, “Save it. Where are the three men and two women who had entered just before staying? Just put us next to them… Hey, I said you don’t have to give us detailed introductions, and just take those immortal crystals, get it?”
Money makes the boss.
The rule applied even in outer space.
Soon, after checking in, Jiang He casually threw out several immortal crystals as a tip, saying, “Cook up your inn’s signature dishes and send it to my room… and remember, large portions for twenty.”
There was still a large group waiting to be freed in his Farm.
“Don’t worry, my lord.”
The daemon waiter was so thrilled he almost fainted.
A tip of several immortal crystals?
His annual salary was only worth a thousand spirit stones… A single immortal crystal was therefore worth more than a hundred years’ worth of salary. And yet, this guest was settling bills in immortal crystals and handed him eight immortal crystals as a tip, which he could not have earned even over a thousand years!
On the other hand, Jiang He, thought nothing of it.
He did not know that stays here were mostly paid in spirit stones, and would be fine with it either way—immortal crystals, spirit stones, what’s the difference?
Then, guided by the daemon waiter, Jiang He, Wang Hou, and Wang Siyu all arrived at the backyard.
They headed inside one eighteen-Mu-wide patio, decorated with gardens, fake mountains, pavilions, and stone eagles.
With a thought, Jiang He let out Dumbo, Trumbo, the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers, the Nine Wise Rock Monkeys, Hu Mei, Unknown Fox, Boa Hancock, and Sora.
“After being stuck inside the Farm for so long, come out to stretch your legs… Dumbo, don’t pee anywhere you like…”
Jiang He barked, and turned to find that the Nine Wise Rock Monkeys were already darting everywhere. Some of them were sprawled over a fake hill, just as one had leapt up a rooftop, while two more had jumped into the manmade lake and started fighting.
In comparison, Trumbo was elegant and quiet.
He fiddled around a little before taking out a huge stack of apparatus for experiments, and Jiang He could vaguely hear him say terms like ‘Spirit Qi concentration’, ‘air humidity’, ‘oxygen composition’ and the like.
Just as he was about beat up the animals to vent his irritation, a door-knock could be heard from the patio’s door.
“My lord, mercy…”
The daemon waiter’s pleading voice could be heard.
A cold voice answered flatly, “Open up, or you’ll be dead.”
Jiang He and Wang Hou exchanged a look and turned toward the door.
The doors opened with a wave of his hand.
All five Suras stood outside, shoulder-to-shoulder.
In front of them was that Golden-Pellet daemon who was on the floor, paralyzed by utter terror. Nonetheless, he breathed a sigh of relief when Jiang He opened the door by himself, and promptly got up to run toward Jiang He.
Whoosh!
One of the female Suras pointed casually with her finger, firing a blood light at the daemon.
She was True Immortal-pinnacle, and a little gesture from her finger would be enough to kill that Golden Pellet-tier daemon ten thousand times over.
“Hmm?”
Jiang He’s gaze darkened and he puff out a gust of air.
Splat.
The blood light crumbled.
Then, looking at the five Suras who paled in shock, he flatly said, “I actually had business with you lot, but you’ve come to me instead…”
Lifting a brow and then frowning, he asked, “Perhaps you lot are aware?”
The Suras traded confused glances.
They had sensed that they were being followed and so came here to interrogate them… but lost the guts to do so after Jiang He released a Grand Luo’s aura.
The Golden Immortal Sura stepped up then, offering Jiang He a fist-palm salute in apology whilst saying, “My lord, it was all a misunderstanding. Please forgive us if we had disturbed you.”
With that, he gestured for the other Suras to leave.
“Halt!”
Jiang He barked. “It is no misunderstanding, because I was indeed following you… Have no fear, however, for I won’t stoop so low as to attack small fry like you. Anyway, here’s my question… did you come here to find the Yuan Killer Sword?”
The Suras’ faces dropped at that, and the Golden Immortal shook his head, saying, “My lord, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jiang He was left speechless.
They are already in this situation—why pretend?
I was even ready to come clean.
Hence, the Yuan Killer Sword appeared in his hand with a thought.
Brandishing it while staring at the gaping Suras, Jiang He chuckled, “I dug this out by chance while I was farming a while ago. It is only after I invoked it that I learned that it’s the Yuan Killer Sword, the livelong treasure of your patriarch…”
The Suras and Wang Hou were all left speechless.
What the hell!?
You dug that out by chance while you were farming?
Couldn’t you at least lie better?
Still, despite his inward wisecracks, Wang Hou breathed a sigh of relief.
Jiang He’s action was reasonable, since there was no need to make an enemy of the Nether River Patriarch over a mystic treasure.
In his perspective, Jiang He halted the Suras and peacefully spoke to them was perhaps to return the Yuan Killer Sword and conclude his karmic connection with the Nether River Patriarch.
The Suras seemed to share the opinion too.
Meanwhile, Jiang He looked utterly guilty and said, “I was actually going to visit Sura personally when I had the time, and to clear things up with the Nether River Patriarch, but somehow ran into you lot on the way… perhaps this is fate.”
“You’re being too courteous, my lord.”
The Golden Immortal was all smiles, and said, “Our patriarch had fought a great battle against a Lesser Saint of a western sect, and accidentally lost the Yuan Killer Sword. Our clan had been searching for it over thousands of years without giving up, but we simply had not a clue where to look. Now that our patriarch would revive soon, orders were given and that’s why we’re here to look for again.”
“And since you are wiling to return the sword, my lord…”
However, Jiang He had turned to leave even before he finished.
He wanted to call out to stop Jiang He but did not dare to do so.
Still, he thrilled on the inside.
The Yuan Killer Sword was the greatest treasure of his ancestor, and if he could bring it back with him, the patriarch would reward him handsomely… the chance to rise beyond was right in front of him!
Meanwhile, Jiang He had entered a guest room.
He took out pen and paper, and started to think.
“Hmmm…”
“I really don’t know how to start…”
“How do I explain this to the Nether River Patriarch?”
“That I got this Yuan Killer Sword by chance?”
“It was his, but he lost it and I picked it up… logically speaking, returning a lost item to its owner is a sign of my magnanimity, but wouldn’t returning this thing make a fool of me?”
Jiang He thought about it for half a day, and came up with a compromise before starting to write.
He first wrote a bunch of gibberish, claiming that it was impossible to return the Yuan Killer Sword now that it was in his possession—he picked it up anyway and did not stole it.
Therefore, returning it may be grace, but not returning was personal right.
[Be that as it may…]
[Considering that this has been a lifelong treasure of yours with which you had fought over countless ages, I’m willing to offer spiritual compensation in return for your deep sentiments.]
[Earth calendar, eighth of December, 2021.]
[Signed, Jiang He.]
With that, the letter was complete.
His handwriting was a little untidy but more or less readable. Still, he made an error on the ‘Nether’ part of the Nether River Patriarch’s name, and since he could not be bothered to rewrite it, he scratched off the wrong writing and rewrote ‘Nether’ above the typo.
After that, Jiang He took out a Spatial Ring a stuffed a hundred thousand immortal crystals inside.
He was ready to offer that as spiritual compensation for the Nether River Patriarch, but soon realized that he himself had billions of immortal crystals. Therefore, would the Nether River Patriarch have a lack of these?
The snacks from Earth, on the other hand, might be a rarity for the man.
Hence, Jiang He took out the 100,000 Immortal Crystals and called Dumbo, telling him to take half of the spicy potato strips, potato chips, cola, chicken wings, hamburgers, and the like, and stuff it all into the Spatial Ring.
Dumbo had actually bought truckloads of snacks.
Jiang He made a rough count.
It was worth over several million bucks, even dozens of millions…
“This would be quite generous as compensation.”
With that, he was finally relieved.
Beaming, Jiang He returned to the Suras and said, “Here is a letter and some gifts. Please bring them to the Nether River Patriarch.”
He held up the letter and Spatial Ring.
Then, considering that the Suras might steal some of the snacks, Jiang He frowned and demanded both be returned, putting a seal before instructing seriously, “The things inside are for your patriarch. Don’t get any ideas.”
The Golden Immortal Sura vaguely felt that something was not right.
Jiang He just had to return the Yuan Killer Sword… why the letter and the Spatial Ring? Could he have kept the sword inside ring?
Still, he became relieved after some thought.
‘In the end, even a Grand Luo would want to save face too. Perhaps being intimidated directly by our patriarch’s name to return the Yuan Killer Sword would make him lose face, which is why he would put the sword in the ring.’
‘As for the letter, he wanted no more to build ties with the patriarch using this opportunity.’