Chapter 119: Escape

Ever since Long Shaoyou’s spirit had been corroded by Wei Liancheng’s Imprisoned Fiend Fog, he had been lying on a sickbed.

He had been bedridden for over six years.

His remaining alive in these past six years was totally due to a doctor called Chen Shu.

These past few years, Long Qingjiang had tried to search for other people and use different methods, but without exception they had all failed.

Only Doctor Chen’s medicine could slow down the poison within Long Shaoyou’s body.

Long Qingjiang had also suspected Chen Shu’s identity before, and he had even guessed that it might be Su Chen.

But he didn’t dare verify it.

He was afraid.

If he verified that Chen Shu was Su Chen, what was he to do?

He didn’t want to think about this outcome, so he could only avoid it.

Even so, the biggest issue with this was that one day, sooner or later, he wouldn’t be able to avoid it anymore.

That day, that moment, had finally arrived.

As soon as the vial of medicine shattered on the rock; as soon as Su Chen’s voice floated into his ear, Long Qingjiang knew what was about to happen.

Su Chen transmitted, “Time is of the essence, so I won’t waste time talking. You have two choices: one is to kill me, and the other is to help me. If you choose the latter, get that Shorttailed Foxhound under control and then let me go. After I get out of here, I will get rid of the poison within your son’s body completely, and the accounts between us will have been wiped clean. What you do after that is up to you.”

Long Qingjiang sucked in a long breath of air.

He didn’t say anything.

Both he and Su Chen were quite experienced. There was no need to say anything, and there was no room here for negotiation.

He didn’t say anything; instead, he walked over to one of his subordinates and took the Shorttailed Foxhound, not allowing it to make too much noise.

The Shorttailed Foxhound had already discovered that Su Chen was nearby, but the amount of noise it made was proportional to how close or far Su Chen was from it.

If Su Chen wanted to pass through the group of people, the Shorttailed Foxhound would definitely go ballistic, notifying everyone.

This was why Long Qingjiang was controlling the Shorttailed Foxhound personally and sent everyone far away from him.

As he hugged the Shorttailed Foxhound, he could sense the Foxhound’s struggling becoming more and more frantic.

It could sense that the target it was searching for was coming closer and closer and closer. It was excited, it was stirred up, it wanted to bark loudly.

However, Long Qingjiang’s hand was like a muzzle wrapped tightly around its mouth, not allowing it to move or bark. Origin Energy wrapped around it like a cage, keeping it firmly in place and making it so that it could only let out wronged whimpers.

Suddenly, the Shorttailed Foxhound began to go ballistic, like the dying throes of prey. It struggled so violently that Long Qingjiang almost lost his grip on the Foxhound.

At that moment, he felt it.

The person concealed in the shadows was standing right in front of him.

The two of them were face to face.

How bold of him!

Long Qingjiang sucked in a breath of cold air.

He could hear Su Chen’s voice in his ear, but this time it wasn’t a transmission technique; it was just normal talking.

Su Chen’s voice was just suppressed.

It was only for the two of them to hear.

Su Chen leaned into his ear and said quietly, “Many thanks, Long Clan Elder.”

Then, he patted the little Foxhound once before leaving.

The Foxhound slowly calmed down.

Finally, it stopped making a commotion.

Long Qingjiang knew that Su Chen had managed to survive.

His subordinates were carefully searching the surroundings, but after the vial of medicine shattered against the rock, no further commotion was made.

Su Chen was gone.

He had disappeared.

He had escaped.

No one knew where he had gone. No one expected that Su Chen had already escaped from the encirclement; they just reckoned that he had gone further up the mountain.

As such, they were discussing whether or not to continue chasing up the mountain and forcing him out.

Everyone was talking about how to set up ambushes and how to fill in the gaps.

Long Qingjiang stood there silently like he was a ghost.

He couldn’t say or do anything. All he did was stand there in a daze, wanting to both laugh and cry in his heart.

“Clan Elder, are you alright?” one of the subordinates called out to Long Qingjiang.

“Ah!” Long Qingjiang seemed to have been awoken from a dream. “Did you reach an agreement?”

“Su Chen might have gone in another direction,” the subordinate replied. “Everyone feels like we shouldn’t take too many risks and chase after him; instead, we should just hold the line. After all, Su Chen’s strength…… is not to be underestimated.”

Everyone had been scared to death by the simultaneous massacres of five teams.

That subordinate was carefully watching Long Qingjiang and only finished his sentence upon confirming that Long Qingjiang wasn’t growing angry.

“Oh, I see,” Long Qingjiang assented, then nodded. “Alright, then let’s do as you say.”

“Yes, sir!” The underling cast a strange glance at Long Qingjiang but didn’t take it to heart, thinking that Long Qingjiang might have been stunned by the massacre Su Chen had committed. He left to take care of arrangements.

Long Qingjiang just stood there and watched his subordinates, as well as individuals from other clans, searching the mountain for the person who was no longer there anymore.

At the base of the mountain, Su Chen glanced up.

The sky was already dark. Lanterns began to light up the whole mountain, making it seem like it was still daytime there.

“It seems like they aren’t planning on sleeping tonight,” Su Chen laughed as he turned around and left.

————————————————

The pursuit lasted all of three days.

On the second day, they reached the peak of the mountain, but after coming up empty-handed, the Bloodline Nobility Clans sent another group of people on a search.

The reason they did this was because no news of Su Chen’s return had spread yet in Clear River City.

Since Su Chen had yet to return, that meant that he might still be on the mountain.

As such, everyone continued to diligently search.

Su Chen’s disappearance was like an invisible string pulling along everyone’s hearts.

Of course, no one would have imagined that Su Chen at this moment was sitting in one of the Intoxicating Fragrance Pavilion’s private rooms drinking wine with Wang Wenxin.

“I can’t believe it. Not only did you escape from the grasp of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator and the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans, you were also able to completely lead them on,” Wang Wenxin laughed as he poured Su Chen a full cup of wine.

“First, I wanted to waste some of their resources, and second I wanted to protect Long Qingjiang. No one is an idiot; if I kill a bunch of people in Long Qingjiang’s territory, then suddenly disappear and reappear in Clear River City, and Long Shaoyou suddenly recovers not long after, it won’t be hard for people to connect these series of events.”

“You’re really planning on saving his son?”

“Having no trustworthiness is not a good thing. In addition, even if I protect him like this, Long Qingjiang will be found out sooner or later. When news that I, Su Chen, keep my word even to my enemies spreads…… Hmm, that will be beneficial to me too.” Su Chen tossed a peanut into his mouth as he spoke calmly.

“That’s true. Then you’d better stay here for a bit and wait for this all to blow over……”

“No, that’s alright. I actually have a third reason as well – I wanted to see how that bastard Lu Qingguang was going to react. In other words, at the very least I wanted An Siyuan to witness what Lu Qingguang did in these three days. The time should be about now,” Su Chen said.

What had Lu Qingguang been doing in these past three days?

He didn’t do anything.

Doing nothing was the greatest betrayal.

If it was just one day, he could have found an excuse. Not doing anything for three days, however, was inexcusable.

Su Chen wanted to let An Siyuan know who was the one plotting against them behind the scenes.

“Understood,” Wang Wenxin nodded. “So what are you planning on doing next?”

“Help me send a notice to Jiang Xishui. Tell him that, from now on, he can begin his mission of combining all the pirates. Oh, right, don’t forget about West River Forest either; let him take the forts there as well. We can also take the Peaceful Flourishing Hall for ourselves too.”

“What? You’re planning on confronting the Bloodline Nobility Clans head-on at this moment?” Wang Wenxin was stunned.

Su Chen said slyly, “The only reason I didn’t seize all their resources in West River Forest and left them some opportunities on the waterways was because I didn’t want to force those Light Shaking Realm freaks out. Now that one of them has made a move against me…… do you think there’s any need to hold back any longer? Send out the notice. I’m going to dig them up by their roots this time so that they know what the consequences of angering me are!”