Supreme Emptiness

Chapter 2212: Chapter 2256: Express Delivery

Jiang Fan kept his composure. Judging by the man’s tone, he wasn’t willing to fight the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis to the death. Furthermore, Jiang Fan might not even be able to afford the price he would ask for.

”What do you want to trade with me?” Jiang Fan asked. He wondered what he had exposed that would warrant an entity of this caliber seeking him out for a deal.

The young man in the bamboo hat didn’t beat around the bush. A pitch-black Jade Box materialized in front of him. Jiang Fan looked it over; the Jade Box was completely sealed without a single seam. Moreover, the material it was made of was extremely unique and impenetrable to the senses.

”I need you to deliver this Jade Box to Nanqian and hand it over to the current Prime Minister Situ Mie,” the young man said.

Jiang Fan’s eyes flickered. ”Why me?”

Merely delivering an item seemed far too easy and simple. Was it really worth such a powerful existence personally seeking him out for a trade? The man could easily have a trusted subordinate deliver it without a hitch.

”I only want you to deliver it!” the young man in the bamboo hat replied.

”Then allow me to refuse!” Jiang Fan answered without hesitation. Why should he wade into muddy waters for a deal that was so obviously problematic?

The young man smiled and beckoned with his hand. An eerie, ancient hall, compressed to the size of a fist, materialized. Waves of agonizing roars echoed from within the hall, as if countless resentful spirits were imprisoned inside.

Jiang Fan’s pupils constricted. ”Jian Wuchou’s Soul Refining Hall?”

During the previous trade fair, Jian Wuchou had brought out the Soul Refining Hall and offered it for sale at the price of Three Thousand Daqian Divine Coins. At the time, no one could afford it. After the trade fair, Jian Wuchou had been ambushed by an existence whose very name was taboo—someone the Long Xu Sage and the others didn’t dare provoke, let alone mention. Jian Wuchou had only managed to save his life by offering up the Soul Refining Hall.

Was the person standing before him that very taboo, peak-level expert? No wonder he had the confidence to claim he could kill the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis!

So, the man wanted to use a Soul Refining Hall as payment for Jiang Fan to deliver the Jade Box?

After a brief moment of thought, Jiang Fan still refused. ”Compared to a Soul Refining Hall that tempers the soul, my safety is far more important.”

The young man chuckled. ”What if I also help you erase the blood character brand on your forehead?”

”What?” Jiang Fan’s body jolted violently.

He remembered Qiqi once saying that the blood character brand wasn’t impossible to permanently erase. The brand, at its core, was a sliver of the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis’s Law. As long as someone possessed a Power of Laws stronger than the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis’s, they could forcibly wipe out the brand.

If the young man in the bamboo hat could do it, Jiang Fan would be free from the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis’s pursuit forever. Once he successfully escaped the Martial Vault, it would be like a fish leaping into the Vast Sea. Trying to find Jiang Fan across the boundless heavens would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

However, couldn’t he achieve the same result by using his wish from the King of the Weapon Vault?

The young man seemed to read Jiang Fan’s thoughts. ”Using a wish from the King of the Weapon Vault on someone like the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis is a colossal waste.

”The King of the Weapon Vault is a Saint Realm expert, and at this current stage, he cannot travel outside.

”The wishes he can grant at this moment are very limited.

”It would be better to save it. You can make your wish when the day comes that all Saint Realm entities between heaven and earth can roam the heavens freely. It won’t be too late then.”

Jiang Fan suddenly understood. No wonder asking the King of the Weapon Vault to kill the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis was impossible for the other party to fulfill. It turned out that even someone as powerful as the King of the Weapon Vault couldn’t just move as he pleased.

But, did the young man just say that the Saint Realm experts of the world would eventually move freely? Was that true? He couldn’t begin to imagine what the heavens would become if those Saint Realm experts, beings capable of effortlessly destroying minor worlds, awakened in droves.

”Well?” the young man asked. ”The Soul Refining Hall and erasing the blood character brand, in exchange for you personally delivering this item!”

Jiang Fan weighed his options. Just as the young man had said, it wasn’t worth wasting the King of the Weapon Vault’s wish right now. Yet, agreeing to deliver a letter knowing the risks involved was equally irrational.

After mulling it over, he gritted his teeth and said, ”Alright! I’ll deliver it!”

If this person wanted to harm him, with strength surpassing the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis, why would he go to such great lengths? Jiang Fan decided to take the gamble.

The young man smiled. ”A straightforward answer!”

He flicked his finger, sending the Soul Refining Hall and the black Jade Box flying in front of Jiang Fan.

”As for the brand on your forehead...” The young man raised a finger and pointed through the air.

The brand acted like an octopus latched onto Jiang Fan’s body, desperately shrinking back into his flesh. However, guided by the young man’s finger, it was drawn out bit by bit. Finally, with a POP, it detached from his forehead and thrashed in midair like a living creature.

Jiang Fan instantly felt his entire body relax, experiencing an unprecedented sense of relief. It was as if a chain that had bound him for ages had finally been shattered.

He glared at the blood character, a cold glint in his eyes. This brand had plagued him like a lingering curse ever since he broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm. Now, it was finally stripped from his body!

The young man in the bamboo hat slowly clenched his fingers. The blood character brand trembled as cracks spiderwebbed across it.

Right before it was crushed, Jiang Fan’s eyes flashed. ”Senior, can you Seal it instead?”

The young man cast him a puzzled look.

Jiang Fan’s gaze sharpened. ”The Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis has relied on this Blood Seal to hunt me down all this time.

”Someday, I will use this very Blood Seal to hunt him until he has nowhere to hide and nowhere to run!”

The young man was taken aback for a moment before bursting into loud laughter. ”Hahaha! Such ambition!

”Very well. I will wait for the day you hunt down the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis!

”My intuition tells me that day isn’t too far off!”

He clenched his fist, and a golden Seal slowly wrapped around the blood character brand.

”With this Sealing in place, the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis won’t be able to sense the blood character’s existence.

”Once you tear the Seal open—provided you are strong enough—you will also be able to rely on this blood character to sense his location.”

He then tossed it to Jiang Fan.

”Thank you!”

”Remember, hand the item over to Prime Minister Situ Mie personally!” the young man said.

With those words, he blurred into an afterimage and vanished.

Jiang Fan gripped the black Jade Box, a sharp gleam in his eyes. ”I had just arrived at the Martial Vault, and this person had already seized a Soul Refining Hall. He planned this from the start.

”This thing might not be easy to deliver.”

A trace of worry flickered in his eyes. However, since he had accepted the task, he would naturally see it through to the end!

Carefully storing the Jade Box, Jiang Fan turned his attention to the eerily Yin Qi-filled Soul Refining Hall. This hall could temper souls; perhaps it could help his soul break through to the Sage Realm.

But now was not the time!

Although the blood character brand had been removed, he still couldn’t let his guard down. If he were recognized by the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis in his current state, he wasn’t confident he could survive a second time!

He tucked away the Sealed blood character brand. After a moment of thought, he also stored the King of the Weapon Vault’s wish-granting Jade Talisman.

Then, he sat cross-legged and took out the Sword Dao Laws he had collected earlier. Though they were just a faint sliver of the Sword Dao left behind by the Sword Saint, they were still quite formidable when gathered together.

Jiang Fan channeled all of it into the Tai Chu Prison Sky Gourd.

The yellow gourd brightened bit by bit until it shone with a blinding radiance, making it impossible to look at directly. The sheer amount of Laws contained within was somewhere between two and three clusters of Three Calamities Realm power!

Jiang Fan felt deeply reassured. With the No Regrets Great Sage’s time-freezing Taichu Seed combined with the Tai Chu Prison Sky Gourd, which Three Calamities Realm expert below the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis could withstand a blow? Even the Chaotic Ancient Blood Marquis himself would probably have to think twice!

Furthermore, his gains from this trip didn’t end there!

With a thought, he brought out the Yuhua Divine Boots.