Chapter 663: Fall of a Saint Ruler (One)

Leveling a cold look at the horrified expression Kris had, Jian Chen revealed a callous grin, “Sectmaster Kris, so we meet again so soon.”

Kris had not even a little bit of color left in his face by now. All he could do was look behind at the dozen Heaven Saint Masters behind him with a look of utter despair.

When they accompanied the Saint Ruler last time, Jian Chen had killed off several of their Heaven Saint Masters and drastically reduced the Sect of Dragon and Tiger’s strength. The Heaven Saint Masters with him here today were ones that recently broke through thanks the several millenia’s worth of knowledge saved up by the Sect of Dragon and Tiger.

At mention of the name ‘Jian Chen’, the other Heaven Saint Masters all blanched. They didn’t participate in the fight with Jian Chen last time, but the horrifying story about how Jian Chen killed several of them with a single palm was told to them. They knew that Jian Chen was young, but his strength was already past into the Saint Ruler realm, a realm that was completely beyond what they could fight against.

“Jian Ch--Jian Chen, ju--just what are you planning to do?” A slight stammer arose in Kris’ voice when he looked behind at the other two figures with Jian Chen. He was nervous and completely intimidated by the enormous power the other side had. With the Heaven Saint Masters gathered here, their combined powers wouldn’t even be enough to give the Saint Rulers as big as a problem of having food stuck between their teeth. Not only could these three kill them at a flick of the finger, there was no hope of escape for the Heaven Saint Masters.

Jian Chen couldn’t help but smile at the completely cowed figure that was Kris. “Sectmaster Kris, fear not, I didn’t come today to make trouble with you Heaven Saint Masters. Hurry up and call out your Saint Ruler.”

His words caused the Heaven Saint Masters behind the sectmaster to let out a long exhale in relief. The heart that was threatening to leap out from their throats finally resettled back into their chests. But the last few words spoken by Jian Chen was still enough to cause some pain for them.

“Jian Chen, our previous sectmaster hasn’t returned since the battle!” Kris spoke beneath his breath, as if carefully observing Jian Chen’s reaction in fear that Jian Chen might just kill him out of anger. RIght now, his entire life was literally resting on the palm of Jian Chen’s hand.

“What, your Saint Ruler isn’t here?” Jian Chen spoke with a heavy look.

Kris’ heart skipped a beat at the icy look in Jian Chen’s face. Without delay, he quipped, “Ever since our escape, the previous sectmaster never returned back to the sect. None of us know where he is.”

Nubis’ tongue flicked in and out from his lips before looking to Jian Chen. “They speak correctly. That man hasn’t returned, there is no scent of his being in the air.”

Thinking for a brief moment, Jian Chen spoke, “It seems that we must go find him then, starting from the other two guests. Nubis, you must know where one of them went, please lead the way.”

“The response is weakening, he must be in the process of detoxifying it. We need to hurry or else he’ll completely detoxify himself, leaving us with no trace to follow.” Nubis spoke.

“Then there’s no time to lose. We need to go at once.” Jian Chen responded before flying away with Nubis and Huang Tianba.

Watching the three men fly away, the men from the Sect of Dragon and Tiger let out a sigh in relief. Their foreheads were all completely drenched with sweat due to their anxiety from this stand off. Although the three of them didn’t feel as if they were Saint Rulers, the amount of pressure exuded onto them was still extremely massive and practically scared them out of their wits.

“Sectmaster, what should we do? Although they aren’t after us, how do we make sure that they don’t do so later?”

“As Saint Rulers, they don’t even need to bother fighting one of us. But below them is the rest of the Flame Mercenaries, do you think they’ll send them after our sect to eliminate us? With our strength, we stand no chance of fighting them.”

“Ai, if I knew that such a day would come, I’d never would have sought trouble with such an outstanding genius. We’ve brought trouble onto our heads.”

Quibbling amongst each other, the Heaven Saint Masters from the Sect of Dragon and Tiger continued to speak about just how they gained a powerful enemy with furrowed eyebrows.

“Sectmaster, the Flame Mercenaries are far too close to us. If we stay here, we won’t be safe. We should evacuate the sect at once.” One of the elders spoke to Kris.

“Yes, sectmaster, we should hurry and evacuate right away. This way, we’ll be safer than before.” Another elder spoke out in agreement.

Kris shook his head however with a sigh, “A migration of the sect isn’t as easy as you say it is. We don’t have that many disciples, but there’s still several thousand of them. There’s no way we could move so many people without a trace, and neither can we disappear without a trace to begin with. The Flame Mercenaries have grown extremely strong and their names have spread throughout the area. Not a single person here doesn’t know their name. If they wish to find us, then we’d have no way of escaping into any direction. Where would you even propose we run off to? There’s nowhere to go, and nowhere to hide. Unless we give up on our disciples and escape by ourselves would we stand a chance, but I, Kris, will never do that.”

“Then what should we do, sit here and wait for our deaths?” Someone asked.

“Our personal relationship with Jian Chen isn’t too far gone. The one that he has an unforgivable relationship with is the sectmaster himself. See how he didn’t do a thing to us when he first came. I can guess that Jian Chen doesn’t plan on killing us. There’s time to turn this situation around, as long as we find a day to visit them to offer up our apologies, I believe could make this mountain into a molehill and eventually a gone deal.” Kris replied.

……

In a vast mountain range stood an ancient-looking manor. This manor was extremely quiet with nary a sound to be heard. No one could be seen either, making it seem like an abandoned manor if anything where no one lived. From the outside, the manor looked dilapidated, but the interior was utterly spotless.

At this moment, a white-robed man was standing right next to the grim-looking Ge Qiu in the center of a room. Both of them looked worried and extremely uneasy.

At this moment, the sounds of footsteps could be heard as another elder came walking into the room to sit by the elderly man.

“Ge Qiu, how goes detoxifying the poison?” The second man asked the first.

Ge Qiu nodded his head, “The poison of a Golden-Striped Silver Snake is well deserving of its name if it can endanger the life of even a Saint Ruler. If not for the fact that I’m stronger than the snake, then this poison surely would’ve been a lot harder to detoxify.”

He sighed before looking back to the elder to condemn him, “Situ Qing, I told you before to not meddle with the affairs of the people. And yet you still don’t listen. Are you content now? A powerful foe has appeared, and he invited the grand elder of Mercenary City. How will you deal with this now? If not for the fact that the grand elder is loathed to do anything to us, our group would have been unable to escape from that place alive.”

Situ Qing’s face grew rigid. “I didn’t think that Jian Chen would have such a mountainous support behind him. He has not only the grand elder of Mercenary City as a patron, but an ancient beast of extremely strong strength. Ai, killing him will be even harder now.”

Ge Qiu’s eyes blinked, “Situ Qing, the way I see it, you’re asking for death. Even now, you still wish to kill Jian Chen. You should think about how to protect yourself. While you’re safe here in the meanwhile, it won’t be long til they find you. Sooner or later, they’ll arrive here and drag even this manor into your troubles. Ai, I’ve been brought into your own troubles by helping you out.”

“Ge Qiu, you’re right. For the sake of not implicating the manor if they arrive here, I’ll be on my way away from this place as soon as possible.” Situ Qing stood up as if to prepare to leave.

“You cannot fight them by yourself. You may as well run as far away as you can.” Ge Qiu offered up his suggestion.

Just then, the expression on Ge Qiu’s face changed. “They’ve come already. Situ Qing, it’s too late for you to even leave it seems.”