Soon, Prince Huo led his men and brought out the Huichun Island Domain cultivators stationed here, one by one.
These people had already been placed under the control of the Tianzhao Island Domain's people, each reduced to puppet-like slaves incapable of independent will.
Prince Huo's face was lined with fury as he glared at the middle-aged man surnamed Han. "Your Tianzhao Island Domain certainly has a long reach. This archipelago is over a hundred thousand sea miles from your territory — what does it have to do with Tianzhao Island Domain at all? And yet you dare run rampant here. Do you really think the Myriad Abyss Island has no justice left to speak of?"
Under normal circumstances, had Prince Huo dared speak to him this way, he would have been killed ten times over.
But now, faced with Prince Huo — a man inferior to him in both status and cultivation — the middle-aged man surnamed Han averted his gaze, his eyes shifting with unease.
He stammered, "Prince Huo… these people, we can restore them to their original state. And… we had absolutely no idea this place was connected to this Young Master. If we had known, not even ten times the courage would have been enough for us to come here and cause trouble."
The fellow had finally told the unvarnished truth. Moreover, since Jiang Chen had not announced his identity, Han didn't dare presume. If he guessed wrong, that would be an even bigger headache.
Yet this honest admission only cut deeper into Prince Huo: "So you're saying that your Tianzhao Island Domain was perfectly content to prey on our Huichun Island Domain, is that it?"
That was, in fact, precisely what had been the case. But in a setting like this, the middle-aged man surnamed Han naturally couldn't nod in agreement. He knew that Huichun Island Domain had found a powerful patron.
Huichun Island Domain itself was nothing, but with that patron standing right here, he couldn't afford to offend them.
The middle-aged man surnamed Han, trembling from head to toe, bowed respectfully to Jiang Chen and said, "This Young Master is young and accomplished — at your age, with this level of cultivation and presence, you would be counted among the very few in the entire Myriad Abyss Island. If I'm not mistaken, you must be Young Master Jiang Chen?"
The fellow was thick-skinned indeed, knowing when to bend and when to stand tall. Moments ago he had been arrogant and overbearing, yet the moment it was time to swallow his pride, he didn't hesitate for a second — the sweet words rolled off his tongue with practiced ease.
Jiang Chen had seen plenty of people like this. He knew that if you didn't give such a person a taste of real pain, they'd forget the lesson the moment the wound healed.
If he showed kindness now, the man would simply assume he was easy to manipulate.
Jiang Chen's expression turned cold. Instead of engaging with the man's words, he turned to Prince Huo. "Did you check? The Ling Shi vein — has it been touched?"
Prince Huo had already inspected it thoroughly. "They were drawing up a development plan. They haven't actually started extraction yet."
The middle-aged man surnamed Han hurried to ingratiate himself: "We truly haven't started! We had originally intended to begin work on the auspicious day after tomorrow. The plan is nearly finalized."
Jiang Chen let out a cold snort. "If you haven't started, then count yourselves fortunate."
"Yes, yes." The man surnamed Han, so haughty moments ago, was now obsequious to an almost sickening degree. The arrogance he had shown toward Prince Huo earlier had completely vanished.
"But that doesn't mean this matter is simply forgotten."
The middle-aged man surnamed Han quickly spoke up: "We were blind and foolish, and we offended Young Master Jiang Chen. Whatever punishment the Young Master sees fit, we won't have a single word of complaint. We only ask for a chance to atone for our sins. As long as it is within the capabilities of our Tianzhao Island Domain, we will comply — we will comply without fail."
This was just like the Sancai Island Domain — once they knew Jiang Chen's identity, there was absolutely no possibility of further defiance. The middle-aged man surnamed Han was no different.
In front of Jiang Chen, how could they dare play any tricks? How could they dare stand firm?
Compromise — the only option was compromise.
Before long, the group of Huichun Island Domain cultivators who had been stationed here were all restored to their senses. When they saw Prince Huo, when they saw their own people, these cultivators were struck with overwhelming shock.
And when they saw the middle-aged man surnamed Han behaving with such subservience toward Jiang Chen and Prince Huo, they were each struck dumb, unable to believe their eyes.