Jiang Chen already had a plan. He had made a few subtle adjustments to their spiritual consciousness before removing the seals on their five senses.
"Who... who are you?"
"Where is this place?"
"Am I dead?"
As these slaves regained their consciousness one by one, still somewhat dazed, they began firing questions.
By this point, Jiang Chen had already sent all his fellow disciples from the Danggan Palace to another level of the cave dwelling. Only he and these ten slaves remained. Below them were the other slaves whose qi sea seals had not yet been removed.
A faint smile hung at the corners of Jiang Chen's lips. In no hurry, he didn't answer their questions, instead letting them sort out their thoughts on their own.
Though he didn't know the backgrounds of these people, they were all Saint Realm powerhouses. Expecting them to submit immediately was clearly unrealistic.
Jiang Chen had no intention of trying to persuade them either. Rather than wasting his breath trying to win them over, it was far better to let them understand the situation on their own.
About a quarter of an hour later, these people had gradually gathered their wits. One by one, their gazes turned toward Jiang Chen with unmistakable hostility, some even glinting with a faint murderous intent.
"Sir, what exactly is this place?"
"Hmph, just a green boy playing tricks — don't act all mysterious!"
"Speak! What is this place? And who the hell are you?"
When these fellows realized that the young man before them seemed to be at a lower martial cultivation level than they were, the restraint they'd been barely maintaining erupted.
Jiang Chen smiled coldly. "It seems your minds have cleared up, but you still haven't grasped your situation. I've heard the story of the Zhongshan wolf — biting the hand that feeds you. That would be your sort, wouldn't it?"
"Boy, what do you mean?"
"Speak plainly!"
"What do I mean?" Jiang Chen's expression darkened. "The fact that you were captured and sold into slavery — do I really need to remind you of that? Or are you pretending to be ignorant while knowing full well?"
These people naturally knew their situation. It was just that, seeing only a single young man before them, they thought they saw an opportunity.
Now that Jiang Chen had laid their situation bare, their arrogant bluster was reduced by thirty or forty percent.
"Young brother, please tell us plainly what's going on. I'm several hundred years old. Being ambushed and sold into slavery is the greatest shame of my life. If you want to enslave this old bag of bones, I would rather die than suffer the humiliation."
"That's right! You want to enslave us? Only over my dead body!"
These fellows all began shouting.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "Right now you have hands and feet, and you can move freely. If you really want to die, I won't stop you. Go ahead — die. Die for me and show me."
Die?
Anyone could talk big. But if it actually came down to dying, they probably wouldn't be willing.
Sure enough, Jiang Chen's words made each of their expressions turn unnatural and exceedingly awkward. Clearly, asking them to actually die wasn't something they could bring themselves to do on the spot.
"I don't know who sold you, and I don't know who you'll be sold to. I'll just tell you this: you are in the Glazed Glass Royal City. At the time, you were at the Sikou family's Myriad Puppet Pavilion in the Glazed Glass Royal City, already tagged and ready for sale. If I hadn't rescued you, you'd probably have been sold off to some family by now to serve as slaves, taking orders for the rest of your lives — living as the lowest of the low, trampled underfoot."
Though Jiang Chen's words were lengthy, they were delivered in an unhurried, measured manner without any hint of arrogance.
After finishing, he smiled leisurely. "If you all feel I made a mistake in rescuing you, I can send you right back to the Myriad Puppet Pavilion right now. Where you end up being sold, and whose servants you'll become — that won't be my concern."
Jiang Chen truly wasn't begging these people for anything. He simply wanted them to understand their situation.
With that, Jiang Chen pointed below. "Take a look down there... There's a whole pile of slaves waiting to be sold. I rescued them as well. Go look at their condition, then compare it with yours. You'll see just how lucky you are."
Following the direction of Jiang Chen's finger, everyone looked down.
"Go take a look," Jiang Chen said with a faint smile.
These ten people had only just regained their consciousness. Their bodies hadn't fully recovered, but walking a few steps wasn't much of an issue.
At his words, they all went down to investigate. After a look, every single one of their faces changed dramatically.
These slaves not only had their five senses sealed, but their qi seas as well. Moreover, the seals on their qi seas were clearly destructive in nature.
Whoever controlled those seals could crush a sealing jade slip and obliterate them in an instant.
After seeing this, the ten walked back up slowly, their expressions complicated. The defiant looks they'd worn earlier had clearly vanished.
"Well?" Jiang Chen smiled. "Before this, your situation was actually the same as theirs. If I hadn't spent my spiritual consciousness to remove the seals on your qi seas, your lives would have been at the mercy of a single thought from the Sikou family."