The tower of a man finally showed a touch of tenderness when he spoke of his daughter.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "You entrust your belongings to me — aren't you afraid I'll keep them for myself?"
The tower-like bellowed loudly, "Old Fang here was blind enough to call that scum Hou San a brother. But this time, I don't think I've misjudged. You're no ordinary man — you wouldn't deign to take my little stash. Besides, you're different from everyone else on this Dongyan Island."
"Nothing special about me. Anyone who threatens me will be wiped off the face of the earth all the same," Jiang Chen said coldly.
"No, no, no — that's exactly where you're different from the rest. You only fight back when someone crosses you. You don't go looking for trouble. You're not like a jackal, always on the offensive. At the very least, you haven't lost the most basic shred of humanity. But here, keeping your humanity may not necessarily be a good thing. Out here, only the beast in you will let you live longer, live better!"
Jiang Chen's brow furrowed. "Enough. You've already delivered this little sermon before. I have my own bottom line as a man. If I abandoned all my humanity and became nothing but a beast, I might as well never leave this place."
He meant every word.
What had he come to the Myriad Abyss Island for? To find the woman he loved. That was the shining ray of humanity, the brilliance of being human.
If he turned into a wild animal, completely devoid of his humanity — even if he escaped this place and found Huang'er, what then? If Huang'er fell into the hands of another beast, what difference would it make compared to falling into Xiahou Zong's clutches?
The greatest difference between man and beast was precisely that single thread of humanity that refused to die.
"Bring me the items. If I make it out of here, I will go to Six Leaf City."
The tower of a man stared at Jiang Chen as though he were some kind of monster, studying him for a long while. Only then did he silently walk forward and place a Storage Ring before Jiang Chen.
"My daughter is twenty-three this year. When I was exiled to Dongyan Island, she was only five." The tower of a man seemed to be talking to himself. "Her talent is better than mine. What a pity — her fate is cruel, and she wasn't born into the right circumstances. If she'd been born into a noble family, she would surely have become a top-tier genius…"
His voice grew faint, and his swaying figure vanished from Jiang Chen's sight.
Jiang Chen watched that tower-like silhouette disappear. For a moment, an inexplicable wave of emotion stirred in his heart.
He did not bother examining what was inside the ring. Jiang Chen guessed it was most likely cultivation resources. A father who risked everything for his children was almost always trying to secure better resources for them.
Putting away the Storage Ring, Jiang Chen set aside all his various emotions. He sat cross-legged and adjusted his mind until it was as calm and still as an undisturbed well.
After roughly half an hour, he rose to his feet and continued advancing.
Though Dongyan Island was called an island, its area was vast. Even with Jiang Chen employing his Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil, all he could see in every direction was an endless expanse of green mountains — the island's end was nowhere in sight.
"This island's area, even if it couldn't compare to an entire upper domain, would at least rival an ordinary lower domain." That was Jiang Chen's estimation.
That such an enormous island existed solely to imprison hardened criminals — now that was a grand undertaking indeed.
"So the Myriad Abyss Island is far more complex than I imagined." Jiang Chen pondered this. He had originally assumed the Myriad Abyss Island would simply be an archipelago — a collection of islands where countless cultivators resided.
It seemed his assessment had been far too conservative.
Out in the boundless ocean, the Myriad Abyss Island was likely no smaller than the main continent of the Divine Abyss Continent.
The most crucial thing was that nobody knew exactly how many island domains existed within the Myriad Abyss Island, nor did anyone know how large it truly was.
That was the most terrifying part.
The main continent of the Divine Abyss Continent was vast, yes, but its general geography and territorial divisions had at least been established during the ancient era.
Of course, even the entire human domain was merely a drop in the ocean compared to the main continent of the Divine Abyss Continent.
And Dongyan Island — just one penal colony within the Huichun Island Domain — was already this enormous. How much larger, then, was the Huichun Island Domain itself?
Most importantly, the Huichun Island Domain ranked somewhere between second-rate and third-rate among the whole of the Myriad Abyss Island — it couldn't even hold firm as a second-rate domain.
Such second- and third-rate island domains probably numbered beyond counting throughout the Myriad Abyss Island.
The only thing Jiang Chen could do now was keep himself from growing too impatient.
"Leaving this Dongyan Island won't be easy. But I don't have the luxury of spending endless time here. Huang'er is waiting for me in her clan. The Radiant Light King City needs me to return and take charge. If I'm trapped on Dongyan Island for ten or a hundred years, everything will be over."
Without these bonds tying him down, Jiang Chen might have chosen a more cautious survival strategy — to slowly feel out the lay of the land before making any moves.
But time was not on his side.
Jiang Chen told himself he had to adopt a more proactive approach.
Pressing forward, Jiang Chen made no effort to conceal his speed. It wasn't that he wanted to show off — he simply didn't want to run into any more bizarre encounters along the way.
Just as Hou San had said, every person you met on this island might be looking to take your life.
The best strategy, then, was to avoid others as much as possible. And even if he did bump into someone, his speed would allow him to shake them off — a display of dominance that would discourage the troublemakers from pushing their luck.
After traveling several hundred li, he finally emerged from the mountainous terrain. From a distance, Jiang Chen spotted a cluster of structures that, upon closer inspection, appeared to be a city.
"A city?" Jiang Chen felt a spark of interest. Cities were typically the most densely populated areas and the best places to gather information.
He decided to go check it out.