Return Journey

Old Master Sun's face turned green, then white. He stared blankly at the bloody, mangled thing in his arms, flung it away as though it were scalding hot, then began to vomit.

Everyone realized what had just happened, and the scene descended into chaos once more.

"Ahhh! Junior Brother, stay away from me!"

"Old Master Sun, listen to my explanation!"

"I-I-I-I, young hero, please listen to my explanation. I absolutely didn't mean to look down on the escort agency."

Jiang Yuan's expression remained calm as he silently took in everyone's reactions.

It was as if no one had seen him destroy the Seven-Headed Strange Phenomena.

Or rather, they could not see the Seven-Headed Strange Phenomena, nor could they see him when he had killed it. Near the Seven-Headed Strange Phenomena, had his traces been concealed as well?

"Young hero, young hero!" Wang Jie had already been pulled out of the dirt by the pale-faced Qian San. Even the blood all over Wang Jie's face could not hide how white he was.

Wang Jie looked at Jiang Yuan, his body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground.

Jiang Yuan glanced at him and calmly uttered two words.

"Nothing serious."

Only then did Wang Jie's complexion improve. Supported by Qian San, he slowly rose to his feet.

Jiang Yuan looked toward the still-chaotic Sun Family residence. Old Master Sun had stopped vomiting and now looked ready to fight Guard Bai to the death.

Jiang Yuan shook his head. None of that had anything to do with him.

The mission, however, did concern him.

Earlier, Jiang Yuan had felt that bringing a whole group to subdue a mere stockade was too troublesome, so he had gone up the mountain alone in a single day.

This stockade did have some strength. Several Late Qi and Blood Stage martial artists, along with a chief who had touched the Hua Jin Heavenly Gate, would have been a thorny problem for ordinary people.

Yet under Jiang Yuan's hands, they had not even lasted a few exchanges.

Jiang Yuan burned the entire stockade clean to the ground.

He had originally intended to return and submit the mission directly, but he had not expected the Seven-Headed Strange Phenomena incident to crop up.

Still, it seemed to have done no harm.

Jiang Yuan pressed one hand down on Guard Bai, who wanted to strike back at Old Master Sun.

With a slight exertion of force, Guard Bai's legs trembled, and he dropped to his knees—facing Old Master Sun, no less.

Old Master Sun froze, then put away the anger on his face and said to Jiang Yuan with some reverence, "Thank you, Young Master."

"No matter. Where is the token?" Jiang Yuan held out his hand.

"Oh, oh, the token is here. Please keep it safe, Young Master." Old Master Sun took a letter from his robes. This was the token; with it, Jiang Yuan could report back to the escort agency and claim completion of the commission.

Old Master Sun's gaze toward Jiang Yuan was filled with awe. This man had gone alone to Black Tiger Stockade and taken Black Heart Tiger's head. Then what of the other leaders?

Even if he had merely gone there to assassinate Black Heart Tiger, that was still absurdly powerful.

Just who was this man? Among the genius disciples of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, was there anyone with such an appearance? Old Master Sun had already resolved to investigate thoroughly. It was best to forge good relations with someone like this.

"Young Master, thank you for wiping out the stockade. Here are five thousand taels in banknotes, a small token of my appreciation. Please accept them." With that thought, Old Master Sun took a banknote from his robes.

Jiang Yuan did not refuse and accepted it.

Within the escort agency, merit was actually more valuable than banknotes, and Jiang Yuan usually had little use for money.

He never had to worry about food and drink. Even cultivation resources had been sufficient when he collected them monthly at the martial arts school. Later, after he began increasing his qi and blood by killing the strange, he cared even less for cultivation resources.

Even so, after saving for so many years, Jiang Yuan had accumulated only a little over eight hundred taels.

In this world, twenty taels of silver covered a common family's food and living expenses for an entire year.

Yet as the Young Escort Chief, Jiang Yuan had saved only this much over sixteen years.

Now, Old Master Sun had given Jiang Yuan five thousand taels in one breath. For the Sun Family, that was a serious bleeding.

This silver would still be quite useful to him.

Jiang Yuan knew that Old Master Sun wished to befriend him, having taken notice of his talent and strength.

Jiang Yuan was not afraid of showing others some of his exceptional qualities. Wearing the skin of a "genius" was not necessarily a bad thing. Who would imagine what kind of power lay hidden within the body of a mere little qi-and-blood genius?

The talent and strength he revealed now were kept within a certain range, and could instead become his camouflage.

Jiang Yuan casually twisted Guard Bai's neck. He had heard every detail of the grudge between Guard Bai and Old Master Sun while standing nearby. There was absolutely no room for reconciliation between them. Since he had accepted Old Master Sun's silver, he might as well help him settle this problem.

Seeing Jiang Yuan casually snap the neck of an expert of the same level, Old Master Sun's awe deepened further.

"Jiang offers Old Master Sun one more reminder: that strange thing just now killed most of the people in this residence."

After saying that, Jiang Yuan spoke no more. He clasped his hands toward Old Master Sun and left the Sun residence.

Wang Jie watched Jiang Yuan's departing back from the side, feeling both fortunate and unwilling, yet he did not dare utter another word.

The Three Brothers of Hanshan exchanged glances, then silently left the residence as well.

After hearing Jiang Yuan's words, Old Master Sun's face turned pale. Then he gritted his teeth and gathered the remaining people in the Sun residence.

They all possessed cultivation, which was why they had not died immediately under the influence of the strange phenomenon.

Old Master Sun sent trusted men to inspect the Sun Family residence. Sure enough, just as Jiang Yuan had said, most of the Sun Family members had died in bizarre ways.

Old Master Sun promptly gave some money to the martial artists who had come to help and had them make a commotion outside.

Then he began gathering the family assets.

The Sun Family was a prominent household in town, and a large chunk of meat in the eyes of the other lineages.

Now that the Sun Family's strength had been greatly damaged, it was absolutely no match for the other lineages. They could only abandon the pawn to save the king.

They would abandon all of the Sun Family's real estate and take the silver and other portable valuables. As long as he and the Sun Family's martial artists remained, the Sun Family's foundation would remain. They could completely rise again from the ashes. And he had just formed a good bond with that young hero from the Zhenyuan Escort Agency—rising again from the ashes would not be a problem!

Old Master Sun had lived long enough to become shrewd. Having now endured the baptism of this strange incident, he clenched his teeth, summoned the boldness of his youth, and buried all his grief in his heart.

Jiang Yuan had no interest in how the Sun Family resolved its problems.

He was now on the road back to the escort agency.

This trip had yielded quite a bounty.

First, he had completed the commission. Then there was the silver income.

Old Master Sun had given him five thousand taels, and he had also found three thousand taels in banknotes at Black Tiger Stockade.

Black Tiger Stockade's assets naturally amounted to far more than that, but Jiang Yuan had taken only the banknotes. The treasures were too cumbersome, so he had not taken them, instead distributing them among the pitiful people who had been abducted to the mountain.

Eight thousand taels in banknotes could accomplish many things.

For example, buying Exotic Beast meat!

After killing the strange phenomenon, his qi and blood had risen by another stretch. Yet his physique was unusual; despite gaining so much qi and blood, he still had not touched the Hua Jin Heavenly Gate.

Perhaps qi and blood cultivation could still be improved through Exotic Beast meat. That was the orthodox method of cultivating qi and blood.

Killing strange beings was something one could only encounter by chance, never seek by desire.

Thoughts churned endlessly in Jiang Yuan's mind, and before long, he returned to the escort agency.

He headed toward the mission hall, intending to submit the mission for merit, then exchange it for the Dragon's Roar Spear Technique.

Then he would tackle the Third Life and break through to Hua Jin...

He had not expected that, upon arriving at the mission hall, someone would be waiting there to block his way...