Chapter 670: Underestimated?
“Although Xiao Chen is really impressive now, he has offended the five big factions. He probably will have few peaceful days in the future.”
“Before this, he had offended Situ Gang and Gui Wu. Now, he offended these five people. This Xiao Chen is really not afraid of anything.”
Once Xiao Chen was far away, the people in the mission hall started to discuss in low voices.
After Xiao Chen left the mission hall, he noticed Yu Zhiqiang and the other faction leaders standing outside. He paused for a moment before turning away and leaving.
As Lan Feichen watched Xiao Chen leave, his eyes seemed like they would spew with rage.
“Senior Brother Yu, are we just going to let him walk away like this? You can clearly see his ambition. He wants to take the top rank of the Contribution Ranking and push us down,” Lan Feichen said hatefully.
The other three faction leaders nodded as well, agreeing with Lan Feichen’s opinion. Then, they all looked at Yu Zhiqiang.
Yu Zhiqiang replied indifferently, “What can we do even if we don’t let him leave? After all, this is still the inner sect; we cannot strike too heavily. We can only cause nuisances at best; there is no point to that.”
“Then what should we do? We can’t sit idly as we watch him rise up step by step,” Lan Feichen said anxiously.
A cold gleam flashed in Yu Zhiqiang’s eyes as he smiled sinisterly. “Naturally, we can’t. In the next month, all of us should stop accepting missions. Pass me all the Inferior Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls you got. I will help you exchange them for Medial Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls.
“We will all undergo closed-door cultivation for a month to push ourselves to peak Medial Grade Martial Monarch. When he comes back, we will deal him a massive blow, snatching away all the proof of his completing the missions.”
After saying this, Yu Zhiquang revealed a vicious expression and laughed, “Ha ha! I really want to see the expression he makes when he receives the punishment for failing all the two-thousand-contribution-point missions.”
The eyes of the other four lit up. They all felt that this plan was very impressive.
These faction leaders would not need to kill Xiao Chen and carry the name of traitor for plotting to kill their own sect mate. However, they would be able to deal him a fatal blow. In the sect, the punishment meted out for a mission failure was quite severe.
The higher the reward, the severer the punishment. The missions that Xiao Chen took were all for two thousand contribution points and above.
If Xiao Chen failed the whole lot, the sum total of the punishments might be enough for the Supreme Sky Sect to cripple him and chase him out of the sect.
Feng Wuheng suddenly thought of another problem. He had a suspicious expression as he asked, “Senior Brother Yu, how are you going to exchange our Inferior Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls into Medial Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls? We won’t end up suffering a great loss, right?”
At the faction leaders’ cultivation realm, they could no longer use Inferior Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls for breakthroughs of small bottlenecks; they could only rely on Medial Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls.
As these people had frequently snatched the resources of their fellow sect mates, they had accumulated a lot of Inferior Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls. However, they did not have any means to exchange them for Medial Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls.
Thus, these people felt that it was strange for Yu Zhiqiang to suggest using their Inferior Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls to exchange for Medial Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls. Furthermore, they worried that the exchange rate would be unfavorable—that would be too much of a great loss.
Yu Zhiqiang smiled and replied, “There is no need to worry. The rates are definitely fine. I have established a friendship with one of the true inheritors, Senior Brother Hua. We can obtain the Medial Grade Spirit Gathering Pearls from him.
“The true inheritors were split into two factions. Senior Brother Hua’s faction happens to be at loggerheads with Senior Brother Chen Xiao’s. With Senior Brother Hua as our backer, we do not have to fear offending Senior Brother Chen Xiao in connection with Xiao Chen.”
The few of them no longer felt any doubts. They all thought that the plan was feasible. After breaking through their bottlenecks, they would wait for Xiao Chen to return and deal him a heavy blow, snatching away his mission completion proofs. The plan was perfect without any gaps.
Yu Zhiqiang continued, “Even if Xiao Chen miraculously escapes from our hands and obtains the top rank, Yun Feiyu will not let him off, either. That fellow is even more ruthless than us. How can he let a newcomer rise above him?
“No matter how the situation pans out, this Xiao Chen is destined never to rise up, forever to be suppressed under us.”
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Xiao Chen was able to guess the plans of these people, but he did not give them too much thought. Aside from the mysterious Yun Feiyu, he was not anxious about anyone at all.
Before absolute strength, all plans were useless. All Xiao Chen had to do was continuously strengthen himself, achieving the goal in his heart.
This journey would take very long, and Xiao Chen could run into many unexpected dangers. With these considerations, he exchanged the Quintessence Gathering Pills and other Rank 8 Medicinal Pills he did not need for Superior Grade Spirit Stones.
Then, Xiao Chen went to the inner city and purchased some Rank 8 Medicinal Pills that he could use in battle. He bought three pills for quickly replenishing Quintessence, three pills for treating injuries, and three pills for dealing with poison.
After everything was ready, Xiao Chen had more or less used up all his Superior Grade Spirit Stones.
Holding the three-thousand-contribution-point mission sheet, he encouraged himself before starting his journey.
All the loose cultivators Xiao Chen had to kill for the two-thousand-contribution-point missions were slightly stronger than the Seven Black Wind Killers. Nevertheless, they were roughly around the same level and would not surpass them by much.
However, the loose cultivator Xiao Chen needed to kill for the three-thousand-contribution-point mission was not a small-time local robber. Instead, he was a notorious bandit.
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Such notorious bandits could be found everywhere in the hundred and eight provinces of the Tianwu Domain. They ranged far and wide and were hard to track down.
Normally, these loose cultivators would not bother with minor depredations like robbing a small clan of a small city. Such work did not suit their status or the way they did things.
They usually did not come out much, but when they did, they would make a big show of it and then disappear without a trace. They would go into seclusion for one or two years before coming out again, so they were much more problematic than the Seven Black Wind Killers.
Loose cultivators were also known as evil cultivators. In the entire Tianwu Domain, the number of loose cultivators who could be termed a notorious bandit was just a hundred. The mysterious information brokers had organized an Evil Cultivator Ranking, which ranked all the infamous notorious bandits.
This time, the three-thousand-contribution-point mission Xiao Chen had accepted was to kill one of these notorious bandits—the ninety-sixth-ranked loose cultivator, Lone Wolf.
According to the information in the mission sheet, Lone Wolf had advanced to peak Medial Grade Martial Monarch. He was a Half-Fiend with the bloodline of the White Wolf Race. His physical body was strong, and he could transform into a full Fiend at any time.
By relying on his Half-Fiend body, Lone Wolf could take down ordinary late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarchs within a hundred moves.
Furthermore, he had accumulated a far more baleful aura than the Seven Black Wind Killers had—it was practically solid. Just one look would cause people to tremble and shake in fear. The negative emotions from the baleful aura would seep into the cultivator’s sea of consciousness, forming all sorts of illusions that were hard to deal with.
“The other sects have probably received news of Lone Wolf coming out from closed-door cultivation as well. In this mission, aside from Lone Wolf, the disciples of the other sects are my biggest enemy,” Xiao Chen mumbled to himself.
At times, the disciples of these famous and righteous sects were scarier than the loose cultivators.
Five days later, Xiao Chen had transited a few transportation formations and provinces. He arrived at the smallest of the eighteen southern provinces—Qiushui Province.
Although known as the smallest province, Qiushui Province was still half the size of the Sky Dome Realm’s Great Qin Nation. A Rank 7 sect governed the province; its sect leader was merely a half-Sage.
It was easy to imagine how little control such a sect had over the province. Thus, notorious bandits like Lone Wolf had great opportunities.
When the news of Lone Wolf’s emergence this time reached the second largest City—Heavenly Water City—the City Lord immediately took action.
Heavenly Water City had a few rare mines in its vicinity and controlled a merchant river as well as a few Rank 2 Spirit Veins.
Although Heavenly Water City did not have any rare or precious treasures, when all these things were added up, they would be worth a lot. If they were all stolen, the profits would be significant.
For example, while a million Medial Grade Spirit Stones would not be worth much, ten million or a hundred million would be enough to interest several sect disciples.
Xiao Chen withdrew his aura and arrived at the nearest inn to the City Lord’s Residence in Heavenly Water City. He was not in a rush to find a place to stay; he merely wanted to reward himself with some food and wine.
The inn had four floors and a large atrium that allowed a view all the way to the top. When Xiao Chen sat on the third floor, he could see the people on the floors above and below.
As he ate, he felt the auras of several people scanning him, checking him out.
These people measuring up Xiao Chen were rather impressive. The weakest of them were late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarchs. Some of them were already at the peak of the late stage.
While a late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarch and the peak of the late stage only differed by a bit, the difference in strength was immense. Xiao Chen believed he had a seventy percent chance of defeating a late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarch. However, he felt his odds of defeating a peak late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarch were only fifty-fifty. Furthermore, he would have to take extra care.
Naturally, it would be impossible for the tiny Heavenly Water City to attract so many experts for no reason at all. There was only one possibility—they were here for the same reason as Xiao Chen.
While Xiao Chen appeared to be eating and drinking carefreely, he was using his Spiritual Sense to inspect the peak late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarchs, scanning them several times and not missing out on any detail.
Although he had withdrawn his aura, he had not learned any Martial Techniques for hiding his strength. Being of the same or higher cultivation, these people easily discovered Xiao Chen’s cultivation when checking with their Mental Energy.
“He is just a middle-stage Inferior Grade Martial Monarch, not worth mentioning at all!”
The people who had probed him withdrew their attention. Then, they revealed gazes of disdain, ignoring Xiao Chen after that.
Even early-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarchs would not be sufficient to kill Lone Wolf. One had to be a peak late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarch leading a team. If a middle-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarch went alone, he would just be seeking death.
Xiao Chen noticed the expressions of all these people and smiled indifferently. He ignored them and continued to assess the peak late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarchs.
A man in elegant, black, embroidered clothes sat at a table near a window. He looked handsome and outstanding. His cultivation was peak late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarch.
Two people sat beside this person, both late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarchs. The entire team looked formidable.
A similar team sat at a table on the fourth floor. The leader was a girl dressed in yellow. She looked very pretty with apparently stunning manners. Likewise, she was also a peak late-stage Medial Grade Martial Monarch.
In the eighteen southern provinces, there were two other Rank 9 sects aside from the Supreme Sky Sect—the Full Moon Pavilion and the Thousand Mystery Sect.
If Xiao Chen did not guess wrong, the man in black should be from the Full Moon Pavilion while the girl in yellow should be from the Thousand Mystery Sect, and they were likely to be peak inner sect disciples.