Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road

Chen Fan waited outside, bored out of his mind as he watched patrol after patrol of soldiers come and go, none of them detecting his presence. The highest-level defensive forces were presumably at the Xiling King's side. This royal palace could be considered the most exalted place in the mortal world of the entire West Ridge Mountains, yet a minor cultivator like him could come and go as he pleased if he wished? Sure enough, with strength, one could do whatever one wanted. Fortunately, the palace held little attraction for high-level cultivators. Otherwise, could the people within still live so comfortably?

He did not know how long he had waited when the doors of the Treasure Pavilion slowly opened a crack. First, a head poked out, then a body. The prince had emerged! Chen Fan immediately sharpened his focus and watched his movements.

Yet the prince did not go anywhere else. He directly retraced his route, climbed back over the palace wall, and arrived at a secluded corner of the royal city outside. Then, instead of heading toward the residence where he lived, he hurried all the way in the opposite direction.

Chen Fan followed at an unhurried pace. Suddenly, as though he had realized something, his steps halted, and he did not dare continue forward. From afar, he saw the prince pacing beside a large tree, seemingly waiting for someone.

What if an expert came here? Chen Fan realized that he was terrible at tailing people too. Last time in Blackrock City, he had been discovered, and Wan'er had even been poisoned because of it. Thinking of that, he moved farther away and concealed his aura. This way, so long as the newcomer's cultivation was not far above his own, he should not be easily discovered.

"Why did you come so early today? Have you found it already?" Suddenly, a black shadow appeared beside the distant corner of a wall.

Chen Fan's heart tightened. He had encountered this eerie concealment technique again. Fortunately, this time he was farther away and more cautious, so he would not be noticed for the moment. Still, their voices were too indistinct for him to hear clearly; he could only make out the general situation.

From the prince's movements, however, Chen Fan could still discern some clues. The prince reached into his robes and took out an object. The man in black did not immediately accept it, instead producing a square container, clearly unlike an ordinary long jade case. The prince placed the item in his hand inside, and the man in black immediately put the container away.

The two said something else afterward, but Chen Fan could not hear it. At last, they parted ways. The man in black vanished directly into the darkness, while the prince returned to his slow and sluggish state. After wandering aimlessly around the city for a while, he headed toward the residence. He looked much the same as when he had first left it, wooden and dazed like a clay statue.

Chen Fan continued following the prince for a while. Before he reached the residence, Chen Fan suddenly flashed forward and blocked his path. The prince only slightly furrowed his brow before his expression swiftly returned to normal. Yet that tiny change still did not escape Chen Fan's eyes.

"Enough. Stop pretending!" Chen Fan said coldly.

The prince acted as though he had not heard him and continued walking forward in a daze, as if he had not seen Chen Fan at all. He walked straight into him.

Chen Fan sneered. A surge of Origin Qi instantly gathered in his palm, and he struck at the prince. This move contained no offensive force; otherwise, the prince would likely have been slapped half to death. The palm force struck the prince, sending him bouncing backward. He landed hard on his backside, and it was obvious that he was in considerable pain.

"Ah, what happened to me? Where am I?" The prince sat on the ground, looking as though he had suddenly regained consciousness.

"Hehe, what happened to you? Shouldn't I be the one asking that?" Chen Fan's attitude remained icy.

"Ah? Senior, what great expert might you be? Earlier, this junior seemed to lose consciousness and cannot remember anything that happened. To be honest, this junior is the son of the West Ridge King. Ever since an accident, I have constantly suffered from this condition. My royal father ordered people to investigate, and it seems I was afflicted by some formidable poison, which is why I became like this. My royal father previously sought help from several cultivators as well, but they were all powerless to do anything." The prince spoke with a dejected expression.

Chen Fan chuckled inwardly. Your problem really would be beyond the ability of ordinary cultivators.

"Finding an antidote for someone who was never poisoned in the first place is indeed difficult!" Chen Fan ignored all the prince's explanations and directly delivered his conclusion.

"What does Senior mean by that?" The prince cried out in alarm.

"What's wrong? Now that I've seen through you, you won't keep acting?" Chen Fan was in no hurry. Standing where he was, he sized up the prince, his eyes filled with mockery. The sight made the prince's heart turn cold. Sitting on the ground, his eyes darted nonstop.

"Enough. You needn't keep searching for excuses. Since I have made such a judgment, I naturally have a way to see through all of this."

The prince's expression wavered again with uncertainty. In the end, he sighed. His tone was full of helplessness, with a trace of pleading. "This matter is of great importance. This junior was also coerced by others. I hope Senior can lend a hand!"

As he spoke, he repeatedly kowtowed to Chen Fan. Yet while his head was lowered, an imperceptible curve formed at the corner of his mouth.

"Hmph, even now, you still dare play tricks before me?!" Chen Fan suddenly shouted and struck out with another palm, directly at the prince.

This time, he used twenty to thirty percent of his true strength. The prince was blasted several yards away, tumbling over several times before crashing heavily to the ground and coughing up blood. He was clearly badly injured. Meanwhile, a half-burned stick of incense fell onto the ground beside him. He stared at Chen Fan in terror, his entire body trembling nonstop. His lips moved, but whether from severe injury or excessive fear, he could not speak for a moment.

"Spirit-Mystifying Incense indeed. Hehe, if you hadn't run into me, perhaps you really could have kept muddling through forever." Chen Fan was not angry at all now. Instead, his interest in the matter had grown even stronger. A prince actually carried Spirit-Mystifying Incense and had repeatedly committed crimes without being discovered. What was laughable was that his father deeply believed his son had fallen victim to some vicious method, seeking people everywhere to investigate and treat him. A thief crying thief indeed.

At that moment, the prince's body began to sway, and his eyes gradually lost focus.

This was bad! Seeing this, Chen Fan hurriedly gathered Origin Qi in his palm and extinguished the half-stick of Spirit-Mystifying Incense. Then he rushed to the prince's side and struck him again, sending some of his own Origin Qi into the prince's body and driving it through his circulating meridians.

The prince's body, which had been about to collapse, was finally supported. Yet he remained seated, his eyes shut and his body unmoving, as if he could not break free and regain consciousness. He had truly become like a zombie.

What? With such low cultivation, he dared light Spirit-Mystifying Incense at close range? How was that any different from suicide? He was only an ordinary child. Although he was not much younger than Chen Fan, there was no comparison between their temperaments. At the first sign that things had gone wrong, he had done something this foolish. Chen Fan had previously thought that, since this fellow had managed to act under everyone's noses for so long, he should possess some courage and cunning. Who would have thought that he would be frightened so badly by Chen Fan that he nearly died on the spot?

Well, now the living witness was gone too. Chen Fan had not particularly wanted to dig deeply into the prince's affairs anyway; after all, he was merely a minor character. What Chen Fan cared about was the plan of whoever stood behind the prince. Judging from his previous meeting with the man in black, the prince certainly knew some secrets and had already been cooperating with them. Whether willingly or not, as long as Chen Fan continued following the vine to find the melon, he would surely uncover something.

Forget it. Since he was already useless, Chen Fan could only think of another way. Looking at the prince, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind...

The next morning, in the prince's residence, the West Ridge prince lay motionless in his room, as if sound asleep. Seeing this, the servants did not dare disturb him lightly, and so the matter remained calm for the time being.

Naturally, Chen Fan had brought the prince back overnight. With his skills, he did not alert the guards around him at all. Thus, everyone believed that the prince had stayed in his room all night and never gone out.

An entire day passed, and night arrived again. Chen Fan had calculated the time. It was now the hour when the prince had met the man in black the previous night.

Chen Fan stood beside that large tree, dressed exactly like the prince had been the night before. That was right—this was the plan he had come up with. There was no helping it. Since he could no longer follow the prince to find that person, he had to go himself. Fortunately, Chen Fan and the prince were similar in height, build, and age. As long as they were not too close, it really would be difficult to distinguish them at a glance.

All he had to do was wait for that person to appear, then strike directly. Since his aura could not possibly be concealed from the other party, his only chance was to catch him off guard. When experts exchanged blows, victory or defeat could be decided in an instant. In the current situation, Chen Fan was in the dark while his enemy was in the open, so it was not as though he had no chance. Besides, he had two helpers with him.

He only feared that the man would not come. If that happened, this clue might be cut off. Chen Fan recalled that the prince seemed to have found something and handed it over to the man yesterday. It was entirely possible that their relationship had ended there.

Yet enemies truly met on a narrow road. At that moment, a hoarse voice came from a dark corner nearby. "Why have you come again? Didn't I tell you that my lord has no further instructions for now?"

Chen Fan was startled and looked toward the source of the voice. A figure clad completely in black and wearing a bamboo hat emerged. It really was this fellow. Chen Fan said nothing, merely lowered his head and assumed a timid, submissive appearance.

"Could it be that there is more than one piece of Crimson Blood Sand in the royal palace?" Before Chen Fan could speak, the man continued on his own.

Vermilion Blood Sand? What was that? It seemed the prince had been helping them search for this item. Chen Fan gave a faint nod, pretending to answer him, never once raising his head.

"That's wonderful. If you can find that item again, my lord will surely reward you handsomely..." The man in black initially sounded somewhat delighted, but then he suddenly realized something and angrily said, "No, that's not right. You're not Chen Tianyun. Who exactly are you?! Why are you impersonating the prince?"

Chen Tianyun? That was probably the prince's name. In any case, being exposed was within Chen Fan's expectations, so he did not panic. He raised his head, looked at the man, and said, "My surname is Chen too. I'm his older brother."

The man in black was first stunned, then came to his senses. "You dare toy with me! Eh, no, that's not right. You're the one from Blackrock City that night..."

Before he could finish, a sharp pain shot through his thigh, as though something had pierced him. Then he vaguely saw a tiny black shadow leave his side and enter Chen Fan's sleeve. What was that? It seemed to be some kind of hidden weapon! He had been struck just like that. Did Black Dragon Pool possess such hidden weapons? Terror immediately filled him. That day in Blackrock City, he had recognized the Venomheart Darts. Those were secret treasures of Black Dragon Pool, not something ordinary disciples could use. Now he had been struck by another unknown hidden weapon. How could he not be afraid?

"I wasn't toying with you. My surname truly is Chen. As for why I am here, I imagine you understand that as well. Quickly tell me the truth. Perhaps there is still time to give you the antidote." At this moment, Chen Fan felt more like the villain.

The man in black was even more horrified upon hearing this. So he truly had been poisoned. At this moment, he could feel a strange energy moving through every part of his meridians. His limbs began to go numb, and he could no longer easily gather Origin Qi. It really was a bizarre poison. Without an antidote, he feared he would be unable to recover by himself.

"If this one tells you everything, will Your Excellency spare this one's life?" The man in black's strength had greatly fallen, and he was suffering from severe poison. He had no desire to fight at all. After all, he was merely a runner; there was no need to truly throw away his life for this.

Chen Fan felt somewhat awkward. Little West had eaten all sorts of poisons since childhood, and its snake venom had now become far too complex to identify clearly. How could there be an antidote? Still, he had never intended to let this man go anyway.

"Speak quickly. You won't be able to hold out against my poison for long," Chen Fan said coldly.

"Yes, yes. This one will tell Your Excellency at once..." In order to survive, the man in black revealed everything he knew, word for word. "This one is the deputy leader of the Falcon Gang, one of the Nine Gangs and Eighteen Strongholds under Heaven and Earth Gate's jurisdiction. My gang and several other forces merely follow Heaven and Earth Gate's orders, secretly carrying out these tasks. At first, this one did not know why we were doing those things. But later, I encountered an expert from Heaven and Earth Gate who had this one directly carry out special tasks, and only then did I learn some secrets. It turned out that the series of things we had been doing all along was to provide resources for the cultivation of another, even more highly ranked great figure." As he spoke, the man in black's voice grew weak. Clearly, the poison had begun to seep deep into him.

"Those children were taken for cultivation? And the stealing of all kinds of materials everywhere, including the item the prince was made to search for—were they all for this?" Chen Fan asked, inwardly shocked. Stealing materials was one thing, but what kind of vicious secret art required the lives of so many children for cultivation?

"That is correct. The prince was originally one of that lord's cultivation sacrifices as well. But considering his special status, he could be put to use and made to help steal precious treasures from within the palace. That expert even said he would take him as a disciple, though naturally that was nothing more than bait." The man in black seemed no longer able to endure the poison. He urgently said, "This one has told you all I know. I hope Your Excellency will grant me the antidote."