Sovereign of the Three Realms

These wandering cultivators were all fierce people. They instinctively wanted to yell at the newcomers who’d butted in on their conversation. However, when they noticed that the strangers’ attire seemed to identify them as sect disciples from the Great Scarlet Mid Region, they forcefully swallowed the abuses that had formed on the tip of their tongues. The one-eyed man cast the strangers a glance, then nodded indifferently. “It just did. That’s what everyone outside is talking about at the moment. Haven’t you heard?”

The sect disciples weren’t as strong as the wandering cultivators, nor did they have any wish to cause unnecessary trouble. As such, they quickly stepped outside to check the bounty notice for themselves. Jiang Chen wasn’t surprised to learn about the bounty on his head. After so many conflicts, he and the Great Scarlet Mid Region were at complete odds with one another. It was only natural that the Great Scarlet Empire had issued a bounty for his head.

The crowd that was checking out the bounty notice was enormous. Thankfully, the empire had stuck similar notices in several different places. As he was just one of the many people checking out the bounty notice, Jiang Chen didn’t stand out at all. He sneered inwardly as he stared at the bounty notice. A bounty on my head, eh? He wasn’t afraid of this sort of thing in the slightest. It was true that a bounty such as this would draw many desperate cultivators like hungry wolves. However, despite this, Jiang Chen wouldn’t be afraid of trash like them, no matter how many of them there were.

Jiang Chen returned to the Dragon & Phoenix once he’d checked out the bounty notice on him. He’d only just returned when he noticed a group of people walking down from the second floor. A young man dressed in oriental clothing stood in the center of the group, while bodyguards stood closeby both in front of and behind him. The bodyguards were obviously on high alert as they eyed their surroundings with hawk-like eyes. Besides the young man’s group, there was also another group of people, who were obviously of high status as well. The head of that group was actually a first level emperor realm cultivator.

“I’m really sorry, Elder Gui. I would’ve saved him for you if you’d notified me earlier. It’s this prince’s fault for not noticing that he possessed an innate wood constitution of high order.” The young man in oriental clothing had called himself a ‘prince’. Could it be that he was a prince of the Great Scarlet Empire?

The person next to him seemed to be called ‘Elder Gui’. He had an average build, and was dressed in light blue clothing. He didn’t look special at all. However, his first level emperor realm cultivation caused an aura of natural dignity and power to radiate off of him.

“Forget it. There’s no point in talking about this any further since you’ve already sold it. It’s simply unfortunate that we missed out on that innate wood constitution;it was already too late when I heard the news.” Elder Gui sighed softly and looked incredibly regretful.

Even though the duo had conversed in hushed tones, Jiang Chen’s consciousness was extremely powerful. He’d heard every word of what they said. An innate wood constitution of high order? Could it be that they’re talking about Mu Gaoqi?

“Indeed. I might not have agreed to sell all of those people to them so quickly if they weren’t from the Veluriyam Capital. Even this prince can’t afford to offend the Veluriyam Capital, not to mention the fact that we’ve more than likely already forced all of the information out of them that we could,” The third prince explained.

Elder Gui nodded, then casually asked, “I’ve heard that you’ve obtained the recipe for a pill called the Longevity Pill. The Great Scarlet Empire is planning to gift it to the Eternal Celestial Capital, is it not?”

Eternal Celestial Capital? Jiang Chen immediately understood who this Elder Gui belonged to when he heard this. As he’d guessed earlier, the elder was a member of the Eternal Celestial Capital. It was no wonder that even the imperial prince had to speak so cautiously in front of him.

“Well… my father is in fact preparing to gift the recipe for the Longevity Pill to the Eternal Celestial Capital. However… the empire’s finances have been a little tight in recent years. As such… it would be wonderful if Elder Gui could put in a good word for us so that we can share in the Longevity Pill’s profits as well.”

Elder Gui smiled calmly and replied, “The sect master has already declared that the empire shall receive twenty percent of the total profits. Don’t worry, the higher-ups of the Eternal Celestial Capital aren’t unreasonable.”

The third prince murmured in agreement, but internally felt quite skeptical. The Great Scarlet Empire was the one who would obtain the recipe for the Longevity Pill, yet not only was the Eternal Celestial Capital taking it for free, they were also only doling out twenty percent of the total profits. How could this be anything but unreasonable? Yet despite this, he could only complain about this silently.

Meanwhile, Jiang Chen had rage had grown to towering heights as he sat at his table. The Longevity Pill was his exclusive recipe, yet these bastards were going to divide the proceeds amongst themselves! How dare these bastards talk about dividing their ill-gotten gains so openly and shamelessly in public! However, it wasn’t like it was entirely bad news. Judging from this third prince’s tone, everyone in the Regal Pill Palace had likely been sold to the Veluriyam Capital.

Jiang Chen had originally planned to inquire about details of the trade, but after a moment of careful consideration, he decided that it would be easy enough to find such a large group of people when he entered the Veluriyam Capital. He immediately withdrew his consciousness from the group and moved his gaze away from them. Now that he’d confirmed that there weren’t any Regal Pill Palace members left in the Great Scarlet Empire, he no longer had any need to eavesdrop on their conversation. On the off chance that his enemies discovered him eavesdropping, he’d simply be putting himself in danger instead.

This was the capital of the Great Scarlet Empire; if his identity were to be exposed, his movements would be greatly obstructed. Jiang Chen and Huang’er departed from the capital the next day, and headed for the Veluriyam Capital. However, he felt slightly depressed at the fact that he hadn’t been able to wreak absolute havoc and bloodshed in the capital. At the same time, the divulgence of the Longevity Pill recipe, the wood spirit spring falling into Gong Wuji’s hands, and the fact that so many of his sect members were sold to Veluriyam Capital were all simultaneously clouding his mood. Only Palace Head Dan Chi and Elder Yun Nie were privy to the recipe. As such, the Longevity Pill’s recipe must ‘ve been forced out of Elder Yun Nie. This revelation caused Jiang Chen to feel quite dejected, as he hadn’t thought that of Elder Yun Nie as a cravenly person. Huang’er consoled him when she saw that Jiang Chen was feeling a little down, “Sir Jiang, everything will turn out alright in the end. It’s better that they were sold to the Veluriyam Capital than falling into the Eternal Celestial Capital’s hands.”

This was also true. Since they’d been sold to the Veluriyam Capital, he still at least had some leeway to rescue them. If they’d fallen into the Eternal Celestial Capital or the Great Scarlet Mid Region’s hands, then he wouldn’t have had any leeway. Jiang Chen had originally wanted to exchange Gong Qi for his sect members, but unfortunately… he’d been a step too late.

……

Meanwhile, Gong Wuji and his men had just returned to the capital of the Great Scarlet Empire. Almost all of the important figures in the Great Scarlet Mid Region were present for this meeting. Amongst them were three third-rank sect heads and even some important royalty from the Great Scarlet Empire. While it was undeniable that these third-rank sect heads were at least equal to or stronger than Gong Wuji, they didn’t dare to act rudely in front of him. Even though Gong Wuji was only at the fourth level emperor realm, he held a prominent level of status as the holy king of the Eternal Celestial Capital; he represented the Eternal Celestial Capital itself! As such, even the emperor of the Great Scarlet Mid Region had to show him some respect.

“Holy King Gong, we’re also much aggrieved by this news. No one could’ve imagined that a mere Regal Pill Palace could produce such an irregular cultivator. However, we’ve already issued bounty notices for him throughout the region. We’ll capture him even if he grows wings,” The Great Scarlet emperor spoke with a heavy tone.

Gong Wuji nodded indifferently. “I appreciate your kindness. However, while it’s true that the bounty notice can draw the public’s passion, I doubt that they’ll actually be able to hunt Jiang Chen down. That bastard is as cunning as a fox; he was able to slip through my grasp even when I’d laid down flawless plans.”

“He can run for now, but he can’t run forever. Someone will definitely keep an eye on him the moment he appears, and when that happens, the news will quickly pass from one person to the next. It will be extremely difficult for him to escape when that happens.”

Gong Wuji nodded noncommittally, then spread open a map. His gaze swivelled back and forth between the Myriad Domain and the Veluriyam Capital. “This kid must be heading towards the Veluriyam Capital. How many routes are there between the Myriad Domain and the Veluriyam Capital?”

Everyone started looking when they heard his question. In the end, several main routes were identified.

“Here, here, and here,” Gong Wuji noted and circled several important places on the map. “If Jiang Chen plans to escape, he’ll eventually consume whatever resources he has on him. Once he’s used up all of his resources, he’ll have to resupply somewhere, not to mention the fact that items such as high rank escape talismans can’t be reused. Furthermore, the Regal Pill Palace doesn’t have the ability to create high rank escape talismans. As such, he’ll have to go to one of these places if he wants to buy more. That’s why we must pay close attention to these few important points.”

Gong Wuji’s analysis was quite logical. Everyone nodded in agreement with his assessment. Suddenly, a person stood up and smiled. “Master Gong, this prince has a plan in mind. May I offer my thoughts?”

This man was none other than the third prince of the Great Scarlet Empire that Jiang Chen had seen earlier at the Dragon & Phoenix. “Hehe, please allow me to introduce myself first: My name is Yan Wanyu,” The third prince hastily introduced himself when he saw the doubt and evaluative look that had appeared in Gong Wuji’s eyes.

The Great Scarlet Emperor hastily added, “Holy King Gong, this is one of the princes of the Great Scarlet Empire, and is our third son. He’s always been resourceful, and is the one who was responsible for the interrogation of the Regal Pill Palace’s captives.”

Gong Wuji couldn’t help but feel a bit of discomfort when he heard about the captives, even though it had been a while. If the Great Scarlet Empire hadn’t sold the captives to the Veluriyam Capital, his grandson Gong Qi might yet still be alive. Of course, hypothetical situations like these held no meaning whatsoever, but the knot in his heart couldn’t be resolved that easily. That was why his expression had become a lot frostier when he heard that Yan Wanyu was the person responsible for the captives. In fact, Yan Wanyu had stood up to present his plan exactly because he knew about the entire situation and was worried that Gong Wuji might hold a grudge towards him; he was trying to make up for this mistake.

Seeing Gong Wuji’s noncommittal response, Yan Wanyu continued brazenly, “Considering how much Jiang Chen values the relationships of his sect, I believe that we can use this to target his weakness. Didn’t we fail to capture the Regal Pill Palace’s sect head, Dan Chi? We could absolutely pretend that we’ve captured Dan Chi at one of the strongholds, then lure Jiang Chen into a trap. According to the intelligence I’ve acquired, Jiang Chen owes a debt of gratitude to this Dan Chi. There’s no way that he wouldn’t come and save his sect head when he hears that Dan Chi is in captivity.”

This suggestion caused everyone’s eyes to light up. It was true that they might not necessarily be able to capture Jiang Chen if they simply tried to track him. It would be akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. As such, it would be far easier to make him come to them.

This was both a covert and an overt scheme. This scheme was doable so long as Jiang Chen and Dan Chi hadn’t met each other yet. The only flaw in the plan was that they had no idea if Jiang Chen and Dan Chi had met up yet. Regardless of this, it was still worth a shot. Logically speaking, Jiang Chen and Dan Chi shouldn’t have run into each other yet. Considering their current circumstances, it wouldn’t be easy for them to meet up since they’d split up. With everywhere being under strict lockdown, it wasn’t too likely that they’d coincidentally met up either. A message glyph could only work within a certain range, and only if they both knew each other’s locations. If they were located at two different corners of the world, it would be impossible for them to communicate with each other.

Shout out to Killer Nights, a supernatural filled novel of a guy trying to figure out what’s going on in the city’s prostitution quarters!