All three of these men were death warriors trained in the household of Marquis Tenglong. Ordinarily, they feared nothing — not even death itself. But there was something in Jiang Chen's smile that sent an icy chill of terror through their very bones.
"Jiang Chen, since you already know, why bother asking? Just give us a quick end!"
"Kill us!"
"Want to die? It's not that easy. Tell me — how many of you are there, and who's leading?" Jiang Chen had no doubt that all of this was connected to Marquis Tenglong.
The real question was how many men Marquis Tenglong had sent. That was what mattered most.
"You can't escape anyway, so what does it matter if we tell you? The one heading up the hunt for you is a True Qi Grandmaster. Jiang Chen, you may have taken care of us, but you're doomed all the same!"
"A True Qi Grandmaster?" Jiang Chen hadn't expected that. He never imagined he held such weight in Marquis Tenglong's mind that a True Qi Grandmaster would be dispatched after him.
Yet the more extreme Marquis Tenglong's response, the more it stoked Jiang Chen's defiance.
"So what if he's a True Qi Grandmaster?"
A True Qi Grandmaster was certainly formidable, but Jiang Chen was far from without advantages. The three techniques — including the Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil — granted him benefits that even most True Qi Grandmasters lacked.
On top of that, he had made extensive preparations beforehand, and plenty of hidden cards had yet to be played.
With all those preparations combined with his own strengths, Jiang Chen was confident he could hold his own against a True Qi Grandmaster for at least a time. And if he played it right, killing one wasn't out of the question either.
Having extracted the information, Jiang Chen naturally had no intention of letting the three live. He dispatched them one by one, then selected the death warrior whose build was closest to his own.
Right there on the spot, he began his transformation. His disguise skills were no empty boast.
In short order, Jiang Chen had turned himself into a spitting image of the man — about seventy or eighty percent alike. He took the black outfit and face mask as well.
Once the makeover was complete, a plan formed in his mind. He disposed of the other four bodies, cleaned up the scene, and continued on his way.
"This ambush can't be the only one. The question is whether that True Qi Grandmaster will be waiting ahead. To deal with a True Qi Grandmaster, I need to catch them off guard."
In a head-on confrontation, with his seven-meridian cultivation, going toe-to-toe with a True Qi Grandmaster was genuinely difficult. At best, he might barely stay alive. Killing the opponent would require a stroke of extraordinary fortune.
But if he could strike first — if he could set a trap and take the enemy completely by surprise — his odds improved to at least sixty or seventy percent.
After all, the Moon-Shattering Flying Knife technique, paired with those nine mysterious and godlike heavy-feather flying knives, excelled precisely at catching the enemy unaware and snatching victory through a sudden, decisive strike.
After traveling another fifteen or twenty-five miles, the Royal Capital drew ever closer.
Once he crossed this mountain pass, he would reach the main road — a direct route to the capital. On the main road, anyone trying to make a move would have to think twice.
Therefore, the final ambush would surely come before he rounded this mountain ridge.
Sure enough, when he came within a thousand meters of the ridge, Jiang Chen's Heart of Rock technique detected faint traces of oppressive intent.
The pressure was hidden masterfully — almost imperceptible.
If Jiang Chen hadn't cultivated the Heart of Rock technique, relying on a warrior's instincts alone, he would never have detected it. Forget someone at seven-meridian True Qi — even a True Qi Grandmaster would likely have missed it.
But the Heart of Rock trained the power of the mind, making Jiang Chen's intuition razor-sharp — far keener than many True Qi Grandmasters.
"Fine. In a direct confrontation, I'm the one in the open and they're in the dark — no way I win. My only option is to gamble on the unexpected. I can only hope they've sent just one True Qi Grandmaster. If there are two, I'll have to flee deep into the mountains."
With that resolve, Jiang Chen kept moving without breaking stride.
Just as he approached within three hundred meters of the ambush zone, several figures shot out from the shadows with swift hissing sounds, blocking his path.
"Ge Laowu, why are you alone?"
The speaker's voice was sharp as a blade, and his eyes swept over Jiang Chen like instruments that could pierce through metal and stone.
If Jiang Chen hadn't cultivated the Heart of Rock and maintained an iron-steady mind, one look from those piercing eyes would have given him away.
"Sir, I have intelligence on Jiang Chen."
"What intelligence?" The leader was none other than Long San — Marquis Tenglong's trusted expert and the one commanding the hunt for Jiang Chen.
"We found something along the way." Jiang Chen produced a bundle he had prepared earlier, holding it out respectfully with both hands.
The leader was clearly cautious. He used a long sword to flick the bundle open.
In that very instant, Jiang Chen's body surged into motion. His palm pulsed with True Qi, and he sent the bundle hurtling directly at the leader with a sharp thrust.
Simultaneously, his left arm snapped out in a rapid sequence.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The heavy-feather flying knives transformed into five streaks of cold light, each aimed at one of the five surrounding men.
At such close range, the knives' unique properties combined with the profound mysteries of the Moon-Shattering Flying Knife technique made them devastatingly effective.
All four nearest men were pierced through the throat before they could even react. Only the one standing slightly farther away managed to dodge on pure instinct when he saw the flash of cold light — but he wasn't entirely successful. A heavy-feather knife had sunk deep into his left shoulder.
Of course, these five were merely collateral targets Jiang Chen took along the way.