Sovereign of the Three Realms - Chapter 1831

Chapter 1831: 1831

Having received a clean answer from Jiang Chen, the venerated forefather willingly handed him the written order .

The young man put it away into his belongings without much ceremony . He hadn’t seen the spirit herb vault here yet; it was sure to be one of the best in Myriad Abyss, with a commensurately rich store of materials . Jiang Chen rather looked forward to it .

Returning to his residence, he beckoned to his companions excitedly . “Old Brother Vermilion, Brother Dragon, are you interested in raiding some supplies?”

“Raiding what supplies, exactly?” the Vermilion Bird asked lazily .

“The spirit herb vault here in the Eternal Sacred Land . How about it? Are you interested?” Jiang Chen tossed the order into the air, his tone enticing like he was luring little children .

Long Xiaoxuan’s eyes lit up . “The spirit herb vault? The one here? I want to go . Why would I not?”

The Vermilion Bird chuckled . It glanced at Long Xiaoxuan with a look that belied its opinion: the dragon was still too young and simple .

Long Xiaoxuan voiced its mild displeasure . “Just tell me what you’re thinking, Old Brother Vermilion . Why look like you’re constipated?”

The Vermilion Bird clucked as it shook its head . “Where has your grace gone, Xiaolong? You are a member of a noble lineage, yet your behavior is so crude . ”

Long Xiaoxuan shrugged . “You two are a bad influence . ”

“Not I,” the Vermilion Bird chuckled . “I am the most elegant of birds . ”

“What do you mean by that, eh?” Jiang Chen interjected in a huff . “Are you implying it’s my fault? I see you’re not interested . Alright, I’ll go get rich on my own . Why’re you throwing away my goodwill like that, huh?”

The Vermilion Bird chuckled . “Gifts are often accompanied by difficult requests . Young master Chen, the Eternal Sacred Land’s generosity is no doubt coupled with a mission . ”

“Very perceptive . I’m not getting the herbs for free, no . ” Jiang Chen repeated the gist of what the venerated forefather had said to him . “Old brother, look . I have to go on the missions the sacred land sends me on anyway . This way, I can extract something extra to sweeten the deal . This is a rare opportunity for acquisitions – I wouldn’t miss it if I were you . ”

“Normally, I’d go even without anything to get out of it,” the Vermilion Bird snapped, “but breaking through to divine realm is my top priority right now . Don’t you know how long I’ve waited for this day? Can you bear to see me stew like this?”

“You’ll break through sooner or later,” Jiang Chen grinned . “That you haven’t yet just means the timing hasn’t arrived . Maybe a few more fights or experts eaten will get you there without any work at all . Brother Long needs to increase his strength just as much as you need to break through, no? Xiaoxuan needs chances to fight in practical combat . It’ll be a waste of the dragon bloodline otherwise!”

Long Xiaoxuan nodded several times in succession . “Yes, yes, of course I’ll go . There’s food and fighting to be had . No reason for me to refuse!”

The dragon never passed up chances to improve its cultivation .

“Brother Vermilion, what difference will a few months make for your trip to Hell King Island? Plus, you can’t just sit around to cultivate all day and expect to get anywhere fast . ”

“Ah, kid!” the Vermilion Bird was vexed . “Alright, fine . I’ll go on another of your wild escapades . But this is the last one! After that, I’m definitely going back to Hell King Island . ”

“Don’t worry . You may break through to divine realm already by then . You won’t want to go there anymore . ”

“I hope so . ”

Man and beasts were eager to raid the spirit herb vault when another visitor was announced . House Yan’s Yan Zhenhuai, apparently .

“Yan Zhenhuai?” Jiang Chen blinked, then nodded to himself . That young man was worth seeing . He had a pretty good impression of the young genius . House Yan was wising up at last .

“Show him in,” he waved a hand .

Yan Zhenhuai was quickly escorted in . He was reasonably at ease as he came in . “I still instinctively want to call you Shao Yuan, but I reminded myself to call you ‘Brother Jiang Chen’ from now on,” he smiled wryly .

“Haha, you can use whichever name you like . Did you have something to tell me, Brother Zhenhuai?” Jiang Chen cut straight to the chase . He had raiding to do!

“It’s like this . The house has sent a group of experts into the Boundless Prison . However, they’ve encountered a bit of a problem . ”

Jiang Chen furrowed his brow . “The three months your house promised are up, aren’t they? I haven’t gone to House Yan because I was waiting for you to finish the task . Now you tell me there’s a bit of a problem? House Yan’s failed, then?”

Yan Zhenhuai was somewhat helpless . “The Boundless Prison is a complicated place . The house made a promise it couldn’t necessarily fulfill because it was pressed at the time . It’s very difficult to find two people and bring them out from the Boundless Prison in three months . Even the experts themselves might not be able to return in that time . ”

“So there’s no need to save Huang’er’s parents, is that what you mean?” Jiang Chen’s tone turned icy .

“Not at all . The house is trying its best . I came for two reasons: first, at the behest of the patriarch, to request a small extension . Second, to privately request you to forgive House Yan for this small misstep . I’m sure Huang’er is kind enough to hope that you give House Yan some leniency, even though she’s broken with the house already . ”

“You’re certainly right on that count,” Jiang Chen nodded . “If I wasn’t taking Huang’er’s feelings into account, House Yan would not deserve mercy . I don’t mean to offend you, Brother Zhenhuai, but that’s the truth . ”

Yan Zhenhuai’s expression was wry . “Indeed,” he sighed . “House Yan bears almost all of the blame . A single mistake has blossomed into a chain of blunders . Several opportunities were offered and missed . Not just the patriarch, but all of the other members are culpable as well . ”

“Huang’er included?” Jiang Chen frowned .

“Oh, no! Huang’er did nothing wrong . Meeting you was the first step towards normality . ”

Jiang Chen smiled a little . “Never mind all that . An extension is reasonable enough, but how long should it be? I can’t just let House Yan’s efforts go on indefinitely . If the house can’t even do this much to redeem itself, that proves it doesn’t have the right to remain in the capital . There are many other factions stronger and more loyal, aren’t there? They wait for the sacred land’s support . ”

Yan Zhenhuai had nothing to say . Yes, there were many houses stronger than House Yan right now . If the sacred land was unsatisfied with the house’s attempt at atonement, it was quite possible it would be pushed aside for another .

There was nothing he could really do, given his position . He gestured toward the door . At his signal, several burly men brought in several chests .

“Brother Jiang Chen, these are a token of House Yan’s contrition . There are three chests in total for your records . ” Yan Zhenhuai was just straight up offering gifts .

Jiang Chen perused them through a half-smile, but didn’t move . Was House Yan resorting to bribery?

Seeing his host’s impassivity, Yan Zhenhuai clapped . “Open them up for Sir Jiang to see . ”

The chests were opened to reveal empyrean spirit stones, resources, spirit herbs, and other valuables .

“Is House Yan willing to pay such an expensive cost?” Jiang Chen was mildly astonished .

“Brother Jiang Chen, the patriarch means to ask for three more months . Each month of additional delay after that will mean another chest owed… as compensation for your frustration . ”

Jiang Chen swept his gaze across the three chests . “I’ll accept these gifts,” he stated coolly, “but these three extra months are final . Do not test my patience . I’m only giving this one chance . ”

Though it was rude to answer a smile with a slap, Jiang Chen did feel rather annoyed . How could he not? Despite taking three months, House Yan had completely failed in their task .

He liked the gifts objectively, but couldn’t forget himself because of them .

After the verbal warning, Jiang Chen sent Yan Zhenhuai off .

He knew that his own strength was somewhat insufficient to venture into the Boundless Prison just yet . If House Yan couldn’t pull it off in the end, though, he would have to head in himself .

“I hope House Yan won’t disappoint me too much . ” Jiang Chen wanted to forgive House Yan . That was why he’d given it the chance to redeem itself . If the house couldn’t grasp that chance, though, there was nothing he could do .

Yan Zhenhuai’s visit had dampened his cheery mood .

The three boxes of goods had involved a reasonable amount of effort . Jiang Chen toyed with their contents for a few moments, then smiled faintly . “Take whatever you want, Brother Dragon . Don’t be too modest . ”

The dragon snickered . “Oh, I won’t . ”

The Vermilion Bird lacked interest in items of this caliber . “Young master Chen,” it asked, “the Taiyi Skymender Pill exists for ascension from great emperor to empyrean . Is there something for empyrean to divine?”

Jiang Chen glanced toward the bird . “What’re you trying to ask, Old Brother Vermilion?”

“Haha, I just wanted to know whether something like that exists . ”

“It does,” the young man nodded readily . “However, I don’t think Divine Abyss has the requisite materials . ”

“What materials? Tell me . I might’ve heard of them . ” The Vermilion Bird’s eyes lit up .

“Old Brother Vermilion, you don’t need pills to help you break through to divine realm . Trust me, don’t overthink things . You’ve been stuck on your breakthrough for awhile now . The act of doing so has become an inner demon . If you keep on going like this, it will only be harmful to your cultivation,” Jiang Chen gently reminded .

He had felt the sacred fowl’s clear restlessness as of late . Perhaps godhood was too great of an attraction, a fixation for countless millennia . Now that the bird had the chance to get there, it thought about it every waking moment . As time went on, an inner demon began to form .

This was not a good sign .

The Vermilion Bird’s expression froze in thought .

“Young master Chen, do you really think I can break through to divine realm with no problem?” it asked once more out of concern .

“If you let your inner demon get the best of you, you can forget about achieving divinity for the rest of your life . A shadow of it is already beginning to appear . You must control yourself and destroy it, lest it trouble you in the future,” Jiang Chen warned .

The Vermilion Bird had indeed changed somewhat over the past few days . It had become a little harder to understand . Jiang Chen hadn’t paid it much mind at first, but the bird seemed to be developing an inner demon .