"Could it be that the Xiahou clan's rebellion and the royal family's coup haven't launched yet?"
Now, at least one or two months had passed. If the rebellion had kicked off, news should have spread by now — it was impossible for there to be absolutely nothing.
Jiang Chen was thoroughly perplexed. He lingered at several bustling spots across Xiaotang Island for quite a while, but still heard not a single word about any rebellion.
While he was musing over this, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from beside him, followed by a hearty voice: "Greetings, brother."
Jiang Chen turned his head to look and saw a fair-skinned young man with delicate features approaching him with a cupped-fist salute. A faint smile hung on the young man's face, and his bearing came across as exceptionally effeminate.
"Do I know you?" Jiang Chen's brow furrowed slightly.
The man certainly looked refined enough, but Jiang Chen felt an instinctive wariness toward him. Some primal intuition told him that this person's effeminate air was far too thick.
"My name is Zhou Yue. I noticed your outstanding bearing, and since you seem to be traveling alone with something weighing on your mind, I took the liberty of approaching. Might I invite you for a drink?"
"I don't know you, and I'm not interested in drinking." Jiang Chen hadn't come to Xiaotang Island to make friends. Besides, he simply didn't like this person.
The effeminate young man, Zhou Yue, appeared remarkably composed: "As the saying goes, why must we have met before to share a drink? We haven't known each other in the past, but having met now, we know each other. Why not set aside your preconceptions and enjoy ourselves together?"
"Not interested. Stay away from me."
Jiang Chen placed great weight on first impressions, and his first impression of Zhou Yue was poor. No matter how flowery the man's words, he had no intention of entertaining them.
Zhou Yue, seeing Jiang Chen's impatient attitude, flashed a hint of displeasure across his brow. In the end, however, he didn't erupt. Instead, he cast Jiang Chen a meaningful glance, smiled eerily, shook his head, and walked away.
This person who had appeared out of nowhere only soured Jiang Chen's already poor mood further.
He tossed a few coins on the counter and prepared to leave.
The tavern's young attendant, seeing Jiang Chen set down the money, stole a furtive glance at him but didn't dare meet his eyes directly. Yet there was unmistakably a flicker of pity and sympathy in his gaze.
Jiang Chen's spiritual sense was extraordinarily powerful. Every faint expression on every patron's face — anyone within several hundred meters, so long as they fell within his field of vision — could not escape his notice.
The young attendant's eyes clearly held something more.
Jiang Chen took note but said nothing. Perhaps the boy meant well, but Jiang Chen had no intention of making a scene. If the attendant was trying to warn him kindly, calling attention to it would only put the boy in danger.
With that, Jiang Chen kept his wits about him and headed outside.
He had barely turned the corner when several figures came striding toward him with menacing intensity. Every last one of them looked ferocious, and upon spotting Jiang Chen, they quickened their pace, fanning out to surround him in a semicircle.
"You! Surnamed Gu! Last time you owed our young master several million Heavenly Ling Shi and then vanished for years. We've finally cornered you — where do you think you're running today?"
"Debts must be repaid. That's the way of the world. You actually thought you could hide? You might dodge the first of the month, but can you dodge the fifteenth?"
The lot of them started cursing and spitting invective at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen's brow furrowed. Seeing how aggressively they were carrying on, insisting with absolute certainty, he initially wondered if they had the wrong person.
But then it clicked.
These people probably weren't here to collect a debt at all. They were local toughs on Xiaotang Island — possibly even in cahoots with that Zhou Yue from earlier.
They likely made their living preying on strangers traveling alone, picking off fattened lambs.
And perhaps he, Jiang Chen, was the fattened lamb in their eyes?
His mood had already been poor, and being confronted like this sent a spark of fury shooting up inside him. He swept a cold glance over these clueless fools.
"I'll say this once. Leave — now — and I might let you off," Jiang Chen said, his voice even colder than his gaze.
"Ha! This kid's lost his mind! Looks like he's dead set on dodging the debt. Brothers, get him!"
"Grab him! Take him down!"
These fellows were at the Emperor realm at best, with the strongest among them only at half-step Heavenly Sovereign. They were relying solely on their superior numbers.
And because Jiang Chen had kept his aura tightly restrained — letting none of his overwhelming power leak out — these local thugs had targeted him.
He honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd encountered something like this. Being provoked by a handful of Emperor realm cultivators? And them shouting "take him down" at that?
Were these people truly that oblivious to danger?
Jiang Chen crossed his arms over his chest, a thin, disdainful smile curling at the corner of his lips. He stood there like a mountain — utterly still, immovable, as though he had entered a meditative trance.
"The kid's got a death wish! Get him! Break him!"
"Everyone, at once! Cripple him!"