"Senior Brother Liu, we came here to support the First Prince. If we can use him to put some pressure on the Dragon Tooth Guard, we can absolutely crush that kid. Then his good stuff..." The triangle-eyed youth offered his plan to Liu Can.
Back when they were all half-step Spirit Realm, they had fought bitterly over how to divide the spoils, which only let Jiang Chen slip away with the lion's share.
Now that Liu Can had broken through to the first level of the Spirit Realm, his cultivation had surged and he possessed overwhelming strength. The others naturally deferred to him and didn't dare talk about an equal split anymore.
Liu Can nodded with a sinister look: "The First Prince has grand ambitions. He won't be particularly interested in wealth. However, among that kid's entourage, there are two beauties with truly fine looks — quite exotic, in fact. The First Prince has a taste for that sort of thing. If we could present them to him, it would make for a fine gesture of goodwill."
"Good, it's settled then. The beauties go to the First Prince, and we divide the kid's stuff according to our last agreement, right?" Yi Qiansui slapped the table and called out.
All eyes turned to Liu Can. If Senior Brother Liu didn't nod, everything was just empty talk.
Liu Can considered the situation — he needed these people to give their all, so he had to throw them a bone. He nodded: "Fine. We'll go with what we agreed on last time. Spirit birds — two for each of you. If there are any cultivation technique manuals, you can each make a copy."
Half-step Spirit Realm and the first level of the Spirit Realm were fundamentally different. The others were overjoyed when Liu Can agreed.
"Senior Brother Liu, there's no time to waste — let's go visit the First Prince right away!"
...
One hour later, the residence of the First Prince of the Tiangui Kingdom.
"Liu Can, this person you speak of — do you know anything about his background?" First Prince Ye Dai asked with a faint smile.
"Background?" Liu Can was momentarily taken aback. "We received Your Highness's summons and rushed to the Royal Capital. We really haven't had time to look into that. Could this kid have some impressive backing?"
First Prince Ye Dai was the most popular among all the princes of the Tiangui Kingdom, showered with favor, and one of the hottest candidates for the next King.
His face was fine as carved jade, his eyes bright as stars, and his manner was elegant and refined.
"Well, his backing isn't exactly impressive. But this fellow is certainly interesting. It's just a pity that he's destined to be an enemy rather than a friend."
"Your Highness, what do you mean?" Liu Can asked, slightly surprised.
"This person comes from the Eastern Kingdom. He was a legendary figure there not long ago — his name is Jiang Chen. He single-handedly crushed the Long family's usurpation in the Eastern Kingdom."
"The Eastern Kingdom?" Liu Can had been worried about tangling with someone untouchable, but hearing it was the Eastern Kingdom, he immediately relaxed. "That tiny little country? Even if there's some legend attached to him, it's still limited."
First Prince Ye Dai smiled: "Intelligence suggests the first person this kid visited upon arriving at the Royal Capital was our Fourth Prince."
"Fourth Prince Ye Rong?"
"Indeed. Our Fourth Prince usually keeps a low profile, doesn't make waves, seems perfectly unassuming. But if you think he's a docile, well-behaved person, you'd be sorely mistaken. Why did this Jiang Chen come to the Tiangui Kingdom? There's definitely the Fourth Prince pulling strings behind the scenes."
Liu Can pondered this: "Your Highness, then what would you have us...?"
Liu Can paused and made a downward chopping motion with his right hand.
"Jiang Chen killed disciples of your Qianlan Northern Palace. The law of the land cannot tolerate that. Your Qianlan Northern Palace isn't just going to take it lying down, is it?"
Liu Can smiled with satisfaction. Though the First Prince hadn't said anything explicit, the hint was crystal clear. They were being told to use this incident as justification and bring Jiang Chen down hard.
"Rest assured, Your Highness. If we of the Qianlan Northern Palace let some outsider kid swagger around the Tiangui Kingdom, where would our face be? We will file a serious protest with the Dragon Tooth Guard and demand a fair investigation — blood must be answered with blood!" A sinister smile spread across Liu Can's face.
"There are quite a few of our people in the Dragon Tooth Guard. I'll make sure my subordinates pay special attention to this matter. The Four Great Dojos are bases that the Treasure Tree Sect has established in the Tiangui Kingdom. Killing a disciple of the Four Great Dojos in broad daylight — that's a slap to the Tiangui Kingdom's face, and an even bigger slap to the Treasure Tree Sect!" Ye Dai's tone turned stern.
Liu Can was secretly delighted. With the First Prince's assurance, he had nothing to worry about.
"Heh heh, Jiang Chen, is it? Some legendary figure from the Eastern Kingdom, is it? Well, when you're in my Tiangui Kingdom, if you're a dragon, you coil; if you're a tiger, you lie flat! This time, I'm going to humiliate you slowly, torment you, then kill you, take your women, and seize your fortune!"
...
Jiang Chen sat in a chair with his eyes closed. He had been brought here over an hour ago.
The room had clear windows and clean furniture, and the chair was a fine golden sandalwood piece.
After being brought here, no one had come to question him or speak to him.
Jiang Chen understood — this was the cold treatment.
Before the Dragon Tooth Guard figured out his background, this was how they handled things: offend no one, but don't curry favor either.
He also knew that after this hour or so, all the relevant parties had likely started making their moves, and whatever intelligence was to be gathered had probably been gathered by now.
Things would certainly not remain this calm going forward.
Putting all those miscellaneous thoughts out of his mind, Jiang Chen used the Heart of Rock technique to settle his mind and sort through the events of the past few days.
With a creak, the door swung open.