"Your son knows he was wrong!"
The moment Xi Munan finished speaking, Xi Zichu lowered his proudly raised head.
"I'm afraid you know it with your mouth, but not in your heart."
"Your son knows it perfectly well."
"He is your great-uncle. Even if the two of you have had little contact and share no affection, you still shouldn't have acted so indifferent!"
"This was in front of Father. I thought there was no need to hide it."
"You can't even be bothered to hide it in front of your father. How can I expect you to make any real effort to hide it in front of others?"
Xi Zichu opened his mouth, but said nothing.
"You!" Xi Munan jabbed a finger at him, his tone filled with exasperation. "You not only underestimated Jiang Chen, you underestimated Hu Shaomeng too. You think you've kept him suppressed for so long entirely through your own ability, and not because of the Xi family's power?"
"If your eyes can see no farther than three feet ahead, you might as well be blind. If your ears can hear no farther than the other side of a wall, you might as well be deaf. The Dongwang Valley's methods of observing, listening, questioning, and diagnosing have turned you into a blind man, a deaf man, and a fool. You believe only that tiny sliver of what you understand!"
Those words were simply too harsh.
Xi Zichu had never heard them before, and found them exceedingly hard to accept.
"Father!" he couldn't help saying. "I was the one who ordered Master Liu and the family elder to go to the mine. I also used Jiang Chen's origins in Maple City to lure the Bone Path Masked One there. With all that, was I not taking Jiang Chen seriously enough? In the end, man proposes and Heaven disposes. Luck wasn't on my side—what could I do? Besides, only the family elder went in the end. How can that be my problem alone?"
"Counting you and me, the Xi family has four Soaring Dragon-realm combatants in total. Master Liu and I cannot make a move. There is a vicious tiger outside and a grave calamity within. The Rizhao Commandery Governor has been eyeing our Xi family covetously for a long time, held back from acting only by the circumstances. You and your great-uncle are the two Soaring Dragon-realm combatants we can use. As you said, there was also the Bone Path Masked One whom you led away like a disaster diverted toward someone else. But where were you when it happened? You were trapped in the city by Hu Shaomeng's illusion, like a marionette on strings!"
"I don't understand. What vicious tiger? What calamity within? The Rizhao Commandery Governor is an ancient old man on the verge of death. What kind of vicious tiger is he? Within five years, I will certainly break through to the Inner Palace realm. Once I reach the Inner Palace realm, it will be time for you to seek the commandery governor's position. As for the internal calamity, in this entire Jia City domain, count them one by one—who is worthy of being called one?"
Xi Zichu felt deeply aggrieved, and the more he spoke, the angrier he became. "Forgive me for saying something disrespectful. If you hadn't been excessively cautious, Father, then according to my original plan, all four of us would have gone out together and simply overwhelmed them with force. How could the Azure Cloud Jade Sheep have changed hands? With that treasure, I could break through to the Inner Palace realm without even needing five years! Which matters more, don't you know how to weigh it? Why put all the blame on your son?"
Xi Munan fell silent.
He looked at Xi Zichu in silence. After a long while, he finally said, "You have disappointed me greatly."
"Get out," he said.
"Father..."
"Get out!"
He even lost control and roared.
...
After leaving his residence, the first place Jiang Chen went was the small courtyard where Zhang Hai lived.
As the first Transcendent cultivator to formally pledge allegiance to him, Zhang Hai's cultivation was only at the Roaming Meridian realm, but Jiang Chen still needed to show him a certain degree of closeness.
Besides, Zhang Hai was a cultivator devoted to alchemy. Even if his skills were only mediocre, refining a few healing pills still gave him some value.
After chatting with Zhang Hai, Jiang Chen moved on to Xiang Qian's residence under Zhang Hai's eager escort.
Compared with Jiang Chen himself, Zhang Hai, who was devoted to alchemy, and Xiang Qian, who was perpetually muddle-headed, were both people who truly needed maids.
In fact, if those two good-for-nothings were not Transcendent cultivators, Jiang Chen seriously doubted whether they could survive on their own.
He walked into the courtyard, which was barely clean. That already counted as good enough. With such a lazy master, the maids could hardly be diligent either.
It was rare for Xiang Qian to be clear-headed today. There was no smell of alcohol on him, either.
It seemed he had already prepared himself for Jiang Chen to come calling.
Jiang Chen dismissed the maids.
"Let's hear it," Jiang Chen said directly. "What are your plans?"
"If you want me gone, I'll leave. If you don't, I'll keep muddling along." Xiang Qian was no longer dazed, but his tone remained as ghostly as ever. "A bed is a bed, wherever I lie down."
"Your strength is not weak. Have you considered working for me?"
"I'm already working for you."
His meaning was obvious. He could watch over the mine and escort the miners back to Green Sheep Town. Those simple tasks were fine. Anything else was out of the question.
Before the battle with the Dog-Mask, Jiang Chen would not have cared whether Xiang Qian stayed or left.
But after discovering the strength Xiang Qian had concealed, his value had increased. He was worth spending some effort to retain.
That was simply how things worked in this world.
Jiang Chen had come to the State of Yang alone, carrying only a sword, without a single soldier at his side.
The business in the State of Yang had been secured by Chongxuan Sheng. If Jiang Chen couldn't take control of it, it would soon be seized by Chongxuan Zun's side.
No matter how small the State of Yang was, it was still a state. With such a large enterprise and all kinds of resources scattered everywhere, Jiang Chen could not consolidate it by himself.
He needed people. A great many capable people.
That was why he accepted Zhang Hai's pledge of allegiance, cultivated Little Little, and was now trying to win over Xiang Qian.
Besides, Xiang Qian was far stronger than Zhang Hai.
"I won't force you. Whether you stay or leave is entirely up to you." Jiang Chen recalled the way his father had managed the family business in the past and set the tone first, doing his best to dispel Xiang Qian's wariness.
"I've seen your strength, and I believe you can play a much greater role. I also hope you will. Of course, I'll offer appropriate compensation. As long as you're willing to work for me, we can discuss all of it. The price will be clear, and I absolutely won't let you lose out."
"I don't know what reason made you choose to live in your current state. And unless you want to tell me yourself, I won't ask."
"What I want to tell you is..."
Jiang Chen said seriously, "If you have a grudge, I won't avenge it for you. If you have someone or something you can't let go of, I can't give you peace of mind. If you have troubles, I won't be responsible for making them disappear. But if you work with me, you'll have the chance to do those things yourself one day."
"I admit that you're strong and talented." Xiang Qian's eyelids drooped halfway. "But you're only at the Heaven-Piercing realm... Do you know how vast this world is, or how strong the truly powerful people are?"
"Forget it." There was no mockery in his tone as he spoke. "Forget it. There's no way. I'm merely a few decades older than you, and what I've squandered isn't just time. You and I aren't the only ones without hope."
Yet Jiang Chen's bearing, expression, tone, and intentions did not waver in the slightest.
"I emerged victorious from the Celestial Residence Secret Realm. The divine-skill Inner Palace realm is already within my grasp. Before that, the Soaring Dragon realm naturally won't be a problem either. But the Inner Palace realm is absolutely not my destination."
Jiang Chen said, "Because my enemies aren't there."
His future stretched far ahead, and so did his goals.
Xiang Qian looked at the young man before him. There was no drunkenness in his eyes, yet he suddenly became dazed.
That youthful appearance...
It was all too familiar.
Once, he had whipped a famous horse while drunk, fearing only that his own sentimentality would lead him to miss a beauty. A young man like that...
He did not know when it had begun.
The young Xiang Qian was still alive, but Xiang Qian's youth had died.
Xiang Qian had thought he had already accepted all of this. But he could not deny the dejection filling his heart at that moment.
At last, he said, "I'm not a man without hope, but this truly is a hopeless world."
"I'm willing to stay. Consider it waiting to see when you'll realize that."
"But I decide how much effort I put in and how I put it in. The only thing I can promise you is that I won't put in less effort than Zhang Hai. You only need to pay me the same compensation as him."
Jiang Chen smiled.
People who did not make promises lightly often had promises that carried more weight.
"Deal!"
Before Jiang Chen left, Xiang Qian added lazily, "I forgot to report one thing to you."
"What I cultivate is the art of flying swords."