Sovereign of the Three Realms

It had to be said that Pillfire City’s ruthlessness knew no bounds; they would stop at nothing when attacking outsiders. Furthermore, there was no way to prove this crime once the item had been destroyed.

“Good, good, very good!” Jiang Chen ground his teeth. “It seems I need to add one more name—Pillfire City’s—to my blacklist.”

Jiang Chen was never one to be trampled on. “Since you want to kill me, then you should be mentally prepared for the possibility of you being killed instead!” He was absolutely enraged. Victory and defeat were common in pill competitions, but very few would actually resort to immediate murder after being defeated.

“Pillfire City’s vicious move is probably not only due to the disgrace of this loss, but also so that they can preserve their domination in the field of pills. They won’t tolerate even the slightest threat. So it turns out that Pillfire City’s philosophy as a hegemon is just that simple and cruel.” Jiang Chen was greatly dissatisfied. He wouldn’t be too surprised if such a matter happened to someone else, but once threatened, he wasn’t one to be trifled with. He had already made Pillfire City a target of his vengeance despite its colossal status. It wasn’t in Jiang Chen’s nature to let an attack go unanswered.

He would remember this grudge well, but was in no rush to return this favor. It’d be inviting trouble for himself if he retaliated without consideration. Pillfire City’s strength was at least on par with that of Veluriyam Capital, or maybe even greater. He had to be cautious if he wanted to seek revenge against such a behemoth. It wouldn’t do to fail in the counterattack and suffer a loss instead.

“It was a great stroke of fortune that I’d refined the golden cicada’s bloodline and gained immunity to all poison before all this. Otherwise, I might’ve been poisoned even without burning the letter with pillfire. Pillfire City, you think so highly of me, eh? So highly that you would resort to such treacherous methods!” Jiang Chen proceeded to dispose of the secret letter with due caution.

He wasn’t afraid of the poison in the snake skin at all, but that likely wasn’t the case for other people. Thus he had to meticulously eliminate all traces of the poison. Afterwards, he destroyed the remainder of the secret letters. He had little interest in them.

His mood had been utterly ruined by Pillfire City. With a great deal of effort, he managed to calm himself before emerging from the secret chamber and heading over to the Ling father and daughter duo’s residential area. The father and daughter duo were finally able to sleep soundly at night and enjoy some peaceful days at Taiyuan Tower.. Ling Xiao had always been on edge as they had wandered the outside world and could be said to have suffered all kinds of torment. He was truly glad now that they had found a safe haven.

He wasn’t actually afraid of the hardship, but he couldn’t bear to see his daughter suffer. This was especially true for this naive and innocent younger daughter of his, who knew so little of the ways of the world. He was relatively unworried about his wandering elder daughter, Ling Bi’er, despite the lack of communication between them. After all, she possessed outstanding talent, wisdom, and knowledge regarding the ways of the world. Even if she was still wandering outside, Ling Xiao was confident she’d be able to overcome any and all hardships. On the contrary, he was much more worried about the younger daughter he always kept nearby. The lass was somewhat naive, insensitive, and was too expressive of her likes and dislikes. She had a tendency to stand up for the oppressed despite her mediocre talents which, needless to say, would get her into trouble from time to time.

Ling Xiao had to maintain constant vigilance along the way out of fear that Ling Hui’er would cause trouble. He could only find relief after they had arrived at Veluriyam Capital and entered Taiyuan Tower. After seeing the status of both Taiyuan Lodge and Jiang Chen, Ling Xiao knew that the Eternal Celestial Capital wouldn’t dare act wantonly even if they came to Veluriyam Capital. He also noticed that the several surviving disciples from the Regal Pill Palace had also walked out from the shadow of their sect’s destruction. They were all quite spirited since they now had a common goal to reestablish the sect. Their mental attitudes and outlook had been completely renewed.

Ling Xiao couldn’t help but gasp in amazement at Shen Trifire’s progress, adding to his recognition and admiration towards Jiang Chen. He was now completely convinced. He also suspected that Ling Hui’er’s had fallen for this youth who had saved her life. Ling Xiao was previously concerned that this man would take advantage of the two sisters’ feelings of gratitude and deceive them.

Recalling that, Ling Xiao felt quite embarrassed about his worries. It wasn’t that Jiang Chen had deceived the two lasses, but rather, his daughters had been the ones to fall in love with him instead. In fact, Jiang Chen already had a beautiful lady in his company and didn’t exhibit any special feelings even towards her. The thought of this made Ling Xiao slightly depressed. But he knew that as a father, he could do little to help in the matters that ensued between youngsters. He knew, at least, that Jiang Chen was an honest man and would never do anything inappropriate to his daughters.

Looking at the mysterious Miss Huang’er beside Jiang Chen, he found that her temperament, manners, and self-restraint all shone with the qualities of a well-raised lady. She had treated Ling Xiao with due courtesy and showed not the slightest bit of indifference just because he was the father of a love rival. Even towards Ling Hui’er, she was still just as friendly as a next-door neighbor.

The simple-minded Hui’er had also begun addressing her intimately as elder sister after only a few days of interaction. Ling Xiao felt that the situation was both funny and rueful. He knew both his daughters were admittedly outstanding, but neither of them had any advantage when compared to this Miss Huang’er. If one were to discuss appearances, even the well known beauty Ling Bi’er was somewhat inferior before Huang’er.

In terms of temperament, Miss Huang’er exuded the traits befitting a lady of noble heritage, while his child exemplified that of a beautiful daughter from a humble family. The two were of a completely different nature. When it came to social interaction, one of his daughters was cold as ice while the other innocent and naive. It could only be said that his daughters had their own characteristics, but held no obvious advantage over Miss Huang’er’s poised and dignified manner.

Most importantly, it was quite obvious that the relationship between Jiang Chen and Huang’er was that of lovers. Although they weren’t yet betrothed, it was easy to see the affinity they had for each other. Thus, whenever he saw his daughter Ling Hui’er getting along so well with Huang’er, Ling Xiao was at a loss for whether he should be happy about his daughter’s broad-mindedness or if he should grieve for her naivety.

……

Jiang Chen was completely unaware of Ling Xiao’s concerns, nor did he have the time to analyze them in detail. He greeted Ling Xiao briefly and inquired after the latter’s well-being. Jiang Chen also told him that he should recuperate in peace at Taiyuan Tower and that he could choose to do some work for the Tower in the future if he so wished. In any case, the Taiyuan Tower was now easily capable of supporting idle people.

Ling Xiao couldn’t help but like this Jiang Chen after seeing his generosity. He had once thought the young geniuses of Regal Pill Palace were quite talented. But now, none of them felt up to par when compared to Jiang Chen. Shen Trifire suddenly walked in while they were talking, “Senior brother, Pill King Lu Feng has arrived and claims he needs to see you urgently for an important matter.”

Pill King Lu Feng had left in high spirits after receiving a large number of Deviant Pill Faction recipes from Jiang Chen last time and hadn’t shown any signs of activity since. How did the mad old man find the time to visit him? Those Deviant Pill Faction recipes were quite sufficient enough for him to study for several years. Not much time had passed since then. Jiang Chen actually quite admired the old man. He had overheard the old man secretly cursing and spitting at the Majestic Clan the day of Taiyuan Lodge’s reopening. He knew that this old geezer had been following him with genuine sincerity. Jiang Chen naturally had to reciprocate since the latter was so devoted.

“Master, something big! Something big has come up!” The excited Pill King Lu Feng was positively beaming when he saw Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen had long since grown accustomed to his crazed manner, “What seems to be the matter? Don’t tell me you want more pill recipes?”

Pill King Lu Feng laughed loudly, “Master, those pill recipes are enough to keep me occupied for three years at least. I don’t need anymore for the time being. I shan’t bite off more than I can chew. This time, I came to report something really important.”

“What’s this important matter? Pray tell,” Jiang Chen smiled. “There’ll be no more recipes for you in the next ten years if I find you raising a false alarm.”

Pill King Lu Feng smiled smugly, “Is there a reward if the information is useful?”

“What kind of reward do you want?”

Pill King Lu Feng laughed mischievously, “I only want master to designate me as a successor of Deviant Pill Faction and publicly announce that I’m your disciple.”

The old man’s demands had always been quite odd. He’d taken such a young pill king as master despite his advanced age. Normally people wouldn’t want such a thing to be known and would choose to stay low-key while reaping the benefits. But this old geezer almost seemed afraid that everyone wouldn’t know that he had taken Jiang Chen as his master, insisting that they announce this matter to the world. This vexed Jiang Chen quite a bit.

“Tell me the news first. What’s it about?” Jiang Chen didn’t want to be pestered endlessly.

“I just received news regarding the Requiem Wood,” Pill King Lu Feng approached mysteriously and whispered with all seriousness.

“What?!” Jiang Chen jumped up in surprise, “From where did you get this news? Why haven’t I heard of it?”

Elder Shun had previously left an enormous reward for any news regarding the Requiem Wood. This reward would activate automatically as long as any relevant clue was found. Jiang Chen had also mentioned this to the Coiling Dragon clan lord before. The clan lord would have notified Jiang Chen immediately if this reward had been activated and news of the Requiem Wood appeared.

“It wouldn’t be valuable news if everyone knows of it. I learned of this news by accident, and it’s still a secret even now.” Pill King Lu Feng smiled bizarrely.

“Oh?” Jiang Chen was fully intrigued by now. If the Veluriyam intelligence networks had learned of this, Elder Shun’s reward would’ve been activated, and the situation would’ve become complicated with the intervention of multiple factions. Who knew when the elder would return to the Upper Eight Regions? If the elder had indeed gone back to Myriad Abyss Island and was preoccupied there, then he might not return. Wouldn’t the reward be an empty promise in that case? Then the Requiem Wood might not fall into Jiang Chen’s hands, as the latter had no ability to offer up Elder Shun’s reward.