Chapter 88: Obvious Scheme

Su Chen met Zhang Tingyue again that afternoon.

This time, he was joined by six other people.

Standing in front of the Origin Energy Tower, Zhang Tingyue laughed, “Prince Su, it’s me. I wanted to talk to you about my nephew again. Do you have some time?”

Su Chen glanced at the people behind him and then replied, “If there’s anything you want to talk about, we can do it here.”

“Why not find some other place to slowly talk it over?” Zhang Tingyue asked.

Su Chen shook his head. “We’ll talk here.”

Zhang Tingyue knitted his eyebrows, trying to think of a way to phrase it, but Zheng Bashan impatiently said, “Brat, are you scared now? What? Do you think that you are safe just by relying on your instructor’s Origin Energy Tower? Hmph, if you dared to do it then you need to be willing to be held responsible. Your instructor won’t be able to protect you!”

Zhang Tingyue was infuriated because Zheng Bashan’s words had opened up the conversation immediately.

Even if they couldn’t make a move within the Hidden Dragon Institute, he still wanted to find a quieter place so that he could put a bit more pressure on Su Chen. If they discussed it here, then Su Chen would feel like he had some kind of backer.

However, since the words had already been said, there was nothing Zhang Tingyue could do.

When Su Chen heard Zheng Bashan’s voice, he raised his eyebrows and coldly laughed. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“What we are talking about? Brat, you’ve been exposed!” Zheng Bashan clamored madly. “We know that you killed Zheng Kuang and the others. Are you still denying it? Come with us now and we’ll leave your corpse intact!”

Su Chen ignored her and turned to the others. “Can someone tell me more clearly what is going on?”

In all honesty, Zhang Tingue admired Su Chen for remaining so calm even in this kind of situation.

However, he still said, “Su Chen, you grew indignant because Sheng’an seized your Adamantine Ape, so you put some Stonesoul Medicine on him to attract the Clay Giant’s attacks, right?”

“Where’s the evidence?” Su Chen countered.

“Jin Ling’er is our evidence,” Third Mother Guan said.

Su Chen laughed, “Do you think that I would tell Jin Ling’er this kind of thing?”

“Of course you wouldn’t tell her, but Jin Ling’er would have discovered it. Did you really think that she would do nothing given that such a great event had taken place? She knew that our clans would get involved, so she had been looking for evidence the entire time.” Third Mother Guan pulled out a medicinal vial. “This must be the Stonesoul medicine you used, right? Jin Ling’er found it near the location of your campground, and of your small team, only you are an alchemist…… Hahaha, what else do you have to say?”

“Jin Ling’er!”

Su Chen squinted his eyes slightly.

Then, he laughed in a low voice, “So she really wasn’t very reliable in the end.”

“So you confess to it?” Zhang Tingyue said.

Su Chen laughed disdainfully, “Whether or not I admit to it isn’t that important. What’s important is, can you really accuse me just because you found an empty medicinal vial? There is no evidence to prove that this vial is mine. Someone else could have used it and then planted it there to frame us. The Hidden Dragon Institute won’t believe you just because of this.”

“You’re not wrong, but it’s enough for us if we know it was you,” Zhang Tingyue said in a sinister voice. “Now that we’ve found the mastermind, do you still think that you can escape from this?”

“Or do you think that you can hide in the Hidden Dragon Institute for the rest of your life?” Hong Ming said.

That was also true.

If there wasn’t enough evidence, the Hidden Dragon Institute might not be able to do anything to him, but the six clans wouldn’t be willing to let him off the hook.

This situation was very different from the previous conflicts that Su Chen had been involved in.

To exact their revenge, the six major clans were probably willing to wait for even a hundred years in front of the Hidden Dragon Institute.

Upon hearing these words, even Su Chen couldn’t help but sigh. “How unlucky. I thought that I had pulled it off flawlessly, but it looks like I wasn’t able to get away with it in the end. If that’s the case, is there no way that I can get out of this now?”

Was he finally about to confess to it?

Everyone began to yell inside their hearts.

Zhang Tingyue said, “Su Chen, if you choose to leave the Hidden Dragon Institute with us, we’ll make it quick. However, if you waste too much of our time, I cannot say how much you will suffer in the future.”

“So that’s how it is.” Su Chen tilted his head and thought for a moment, and then he suddenly said, “I know that I did something wrong. Can I try to buy myself a lifeline?”

“Buy? What will you buy it with? Do you think that you have more money than six Bloodline Nobility Clans?” Jiang Tao laughed.

“How about a method to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline? I think you will like it.”

————————————————

When Zhang Tingyue and the others finally left, they left filled with shock from what Su Chen had told them.

Upon returning to the Origin Energy Tower, Su Chen found Cloud Leopard sitting there waiting for him.

“Is it finished?” he asked.

Su Chen nodded. “Mhm. They said something like ‘this is no small thing’, ‘we can’t make that decision’, ‘we need to report back first’, ‘only our clan’s patriarch can make that decision’, etc.”

Cloud Leopard laughed sarcastically, “They’re just putting on a show. The next time they come they’ll say that their clan’s patriarchs agreed, but that 1) they need to verify that the technique is real, and 2) that you cannot secretly sell it to others. On the surface, it will seem like the matter was taken care of, but secretly they will still try to send people to kill you. Rather than trying to get revenge, however, it will be considered an assassination.”

“As long as I force them to target me secretly, it’s good enough,” Su Chen sighed. “As long as they cannot act openly, they lose some of their natural advantages. They will not be able to target me brazenly, so their strength will also be limited.”

“But you are still in the Qi Drawing Realm. They don’t need to be too strong to deal with you.”

“What if I told you that I could reach the Blood Boiling Realm in a month as long as I wanted to? Would you believe me?”

Cloud Leopard shook his head. “You haven’t invented that kind of cultivation technique.”

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.” Su Chen shrugged his shoulders.

Based on the rate of his absorption because of his Origin Energy Eye, it wouldn’t be hard for him to reach the peak of the Qi Drawing Realm.

However, now was the time to build a foundation, and there was no need for him to be in such a hurry.

In addition, remaining in the Qi Drawing Realm didn’t necessarily mean that he couldn’t increase his strength. In the beginning, when Shi Kaihuang had bored a hole through the Formation-Piercing Rhinocerous, he had said that a Qi Drawing Origin Qi Scholar could achieve that step, and that he was still extremely far away from reaching that level.

If he wanted to achieve his great ambitions, it was better to take things slowly and one at a time. The Hidden Dragon Institute contained many inconspicuous yet monstrously talented individuals. Su Chen didn’t know whether someone had ever achieved what Shi Kaihuang had ever described, but before he was able to sweep through the Qi Drawing Realm, he was in no hurry to increase his cultivation base.

At that moment, Cloud Leopard asked, “Should we let the Zhu Clan know? Do you think they will fall for it?”

Su Chen replied, “Whether they fall for it is not important. What’s important is that they cannot possibly allow it to land in the hands of others if they want to maintain their monopoly over Kaihuang’s Heaven. It’s an obvious scheme because even if they discover it, they will still need to go along with it.”

Upon saying that, Su Chen suddenly laughed. “When I was young, I listened to a lot of storytellers. One time, the storyteller recounted a tale of how a large group of Origin Qi Scholars fought with each other for a secret book. The circumstances might seem similar, but their goal was not just to obtain that secret book but to also stop it from spreading…… They will very quickly discover that they are very different concepts. I cannot steal a secret technique from someone else, but if they want to stop a secret technique from spreading, it is extremely difficult to do so. Did they really think that I would be stumped if they stopped me from selling it on the Dreamrealm network? Haha, how idiotic! If I can’t sell it on the Dreamrealm, does that mean I can’t sell it in the real world?”

Cloud Leopard laughed. “That’s because they aren’t you. They have no way of understanding your thoughts. Selfish people look at other people in a selfish light as well.”