After dividing up the spoils and learning more about the Mountain Ruins from the Liu brothers, Ji Yuelan, and Jiang Ruoxin, Zhang Tie had gained greatly. Though he still wanted to keep talking and learn more about the Sky-Piercing Realm, after the group had chatted in his room for a while, the Liu brothers—now in possession of a large haul of elemental crystals—were the first to grow restless. They seemed eager to return to their rooms and count exactly how many elemental crystals they had obtained, so they bade Zhang Tie farewell. Seeing the Liu brothers leaving, the two women found it inconvenient to remain in Zhang Tie's room as well. Although Ji Yuelan was somewhat reluctant, she could hardly stay in the room of a lone man and woman under everyone's watchful eyes and invite gossip, so she left with them.
Zhang Tie escorted the four of them to the door.
"If I had insisted on leaving just now, what would you have done?"
Having already stepped out of Zhang Tie's room, Jiang Ruoxin suddenly turned back and used voice transmission to ask Zhang Tie a question. Only Zhang Tie could hear her words.
"Heh heh..." Zhang Tie sneered twice, deliberately putting on a vicious expression as he replied through voice transmission, "Once you've boarded a pirate ship, it's no longer up to you. As someone in the know, you think you can jump ship halfway through and wash your hands of it? How could it be that easy? To keep the Star Emperor Temple from coming after me, I'd have no choice but to harden my heart and silence you forever!"
"Silence me?"
"Of course!" Zhang Tie swiftly looked Jiang Ruoxin up and down, making her feel uncomfortable all over. Then, stroking his chin, Zhang Tie said, "Heh