Chapter 664: Fall of a Saint Ruler (Two)

“You cannot fight them by yourself. You may as well run as far away as you can.” Ge Qiu spoke. But then as soon as he finished speaking, his expression changed shortly afterwards, “They’ve come already. Situ Qing, it’s too late for you to even leave it seems.” He said.

Situ Qing blanched, “Have they already found us here?” He whispered.

Ge Qiu nodded his head solemnly. “They’re already outside!”

“Impossible! This place is hidden extremely well and extremely far away. We left no traces when we escaped back then, how could they have found us?” Situ Qing was besides himself in panic. Jian Chen’s sudden arrival was extremely unexpected to him.

“There’s a total of three people there. That troublesome snake and the patriarch of the Huang family. With the two of us, that’ll be a hard force to deal with. But this manor belongs to me, and if I interfere anymore, then this manor will possibly face extinction. The people behind this manor might be strong, but the people behind Jian Chen are equally strong--especially that grand elder. This is a predicament. Situ Qing, please forgive me for being unable to help you.” Ge Qiu sighed helplessly.

“It seems I can only try to run as far as I can. The difference between our strengths isn’t too high. If I try running, I might just be able to make my escape.” Situ Qing muttered.

……

Outside the manor, Jian Chen, Nubis, and Huang Tianba stood in the skies with a icy look down onto the quiet floor grounds. Despite not a single person in sight, the three of them knew that this manor wasn’t completely abandoned.

With their strength, they could naturally hear every single footstep within the quiet manor. In total, there were several hundred people, but these people were all hidden away in their rooms to cultivate and weren’t moving at all from.

“I’ve lost sense of the the old one. This means my poison has been fully detoxified by him. But judging from the last second, he is hidden away in this place.” Nubis commented.

Jian Chen’s presence had also completely surrounded the manor, enabling him perfect vision of the entirety of the area. Sighing, he spoke, “So there was a hidden school in this place. There’s just about five hundred men, but their combined strength is far beyond what the Sect of Dragon and Tiger can boast. About half of their men are Earth Saint Masters at the very least, and they’ve several times more Heaven Saint Masters as well.”

“What a unique school this is. Everyone is hidden away to practice their cultivation, making them genuine hermits that have detached themselves from the secular world. Becoming Saint Rulers would be no problem for such figures that stand aloof like this. Even these mere Earth Saint Masters would be capable of achieving such a height, what a remarkable place.” Huang Tianba praised.

Jian Chen nodded his head in agreement as well. This school was extremely different to all the other schools he had once seen. But he cleared out his throat to speak, “Master of the manor to this place, please come on out for a chat.”

Jian Chen’s voice had spread throughout the entire manor with such volume that even the hermits deep in a meditational trance were shaken awake. Immediately, all the doors in the manor flew open as men after men came filing out. One by one, they looked up at the three men in the air, and but even Jian Chen’s appearance had brokered no immediate change in their expression or even eye light.

In an instant, the previously quiet manor was filled with clamor and men from every corner.

Twenty-something Heaven Saint Masters dressed in plain clothing appeared in the skies to come to a stop on equal grounds with Jian Chen and the other two. The leader of the group was an elderly figure with hair tied up behind his back. Cupping his hands, he spoke kindly, “How may I address these three sires? This one is the housekeeper of the manor, Bing Huo. Pleased to make your acquaintance”

“You may step down.”

Just as Jian Chen was about to reply, an elderly voice suddenly spoke out from the manor. This voice wasn’t as loud, but everyone could hear it nonetheless. Soon after, a single elderly figure in sackcloth clothing came forward into the skies.

“We pay our respects to the manor lord!”

As soon as this elder appeared, every single Heaven Saint Master in attendance immediately bowed to pay their respects.

“It’s you!” Jian Chen immediately smiled upon sight of this elder.

“Old one, our fight has yet to finish. We should continue it today and see just who the real winner once in for all.” Nubis hissed, ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

The elder moved to the front of the group to look at the three men. Turning his head back, the elder spoke, “Bing Huo, you may all leave and continue with your tasks.”

“Yes, manor lord!” The twenty Heaven Saint Masters all spoke out at once before disappearing back into the manor.

Then, the elder turned back to Jian Chen. “This one is the lord of the Four Harmonies Manor, Ge Qiu. The affairs of last time has nothing to do with this manor, I hope that you three will not try to implicate them in it. If there’s business, do it with me instead.”

“You are a leader, and yet you didn’t think of the consequences with making me your enemy. You’ve brought trouble onto my group, and now that you see that my side is stronger than yours, you still wish to retreat without losses? How easy do you take that to be?” Jian Chen laughed.

In the middle of this conversation, a single figure in white immediately flew out from the depths of the manor to leave as quickly and quietly as he could. In a flash, he disappeared into the forest without making a single sound.

Noticing this, Ge Qiu gave a faint smile before addressing Jian Chen, “Jian Chen, I know that you have Mercenary City standing behind you, and even the ancient families fear you. But my Four Harmonies Manor has patrons of its own. Might you have heard of the Pure Heart Pavilion before?”

“Pure Heart Pavilion?” Jian Chen asked in confusion. But then one of the memories in his head came rus.h.i.+ng back to him.

Back when he was searching for the Saint Ruler’s cave, he came across a small village where a small school was. That school’s name was the Pure Heart Pavilion.

However, the headmaster of that pavilion was only just a Heaven Saint Master and wasn’t too incredible-looking.

The name Pure Heart Pavilion led Nubis and Huang Tianba to both ponder for a moment. The Four Harmonies Manor was an extremely strong school on the continent, and there weren’t many factions that could rival them in overall strength. At the very least, they could be considered an ancient family in status.

Half a moment later, Huang Tianba seemed to have met a conclusion. His eyes light up from realization and grew wide as a result. “Pure Heart Pavilion?” He gasped. “Could it be the very same Pure Heart Pavilion as one of the ten guardian clans?”

“Correct; they are the one and the same!” Ge Qiu confirmed.

“Your….your Four Harmonies Manor has connections with the Pure Heart Pavilion of the ten guardian clans?” Huang Tianba repeated in utter astonishment.

“That is correct. Our Four Harmonies Manor are related to the Pure Heart Pavilion. And it is no ordinary relations.h.i.+p either. In all honesty, the Four Harmonies Manor can be considered an outer sect to the Pure Heart Pavilion. Its goal is to find cultivators from the outside that are compatible with being disciples for the Pure Heart Pavilion.” Ge Qiu spoke.

“So I see. Then you are the Pure Heart Pavilion’s outer sect. No wonder your students can all ignore the temptations of the secular world.” Huang Tianba spoke with clarity.

At the mention of the guardian clans, Jian Chen’s eyebrows furrowed together. Although he didn’t understand much about them, he knew that a guardian clan’s strength surely must be enormous and therefore difficult to take on.

“You detestable human, you are men of the guardian clans?” Nubis’ hissed between his teeth. Although he wasn’t afraid of anything in the world, the men of the guardian clans were no pushovers. They could just as easily kill the entire Gilligan clan if push came to shove.

Huang Tianba’s expression darkened by several shades. Turning his head to Jian Chen, he whispered, “Jian Chen, the guardian clans of the continent all possess obscenely strong strength. They stand miles apart from even the ancient families and have ever since protected the Tian Yuan Continent in the shadows. They aren’t weaker than Mercenary City even. We should consider this a done deal. Offending the guardian clans for such a small manner would give senior Tian Jian no small amount of trouble himself.”

Having listened to Huang Tianba, Jian Chen sighed. He hadn’t expected to hear that this elder was in fact affiliated with one of the guardian clans. This meant he had no other choice but to give up on making him an enemy. After all, his current strength wasn’t even enough to deal with an ancient family by himself, let alone the guardian clans which were even stronger than the ancient families.

“Very well then. Ge Qiu, I’ll let go of the unhappy business we once had with each other before. But on one condition, you must tell me where the Saint Ruler of the Sect of Dragon and Tiger is.” Jian Chen spoke.

“Jian Chen. Situ Qing has long since left. He is no longer in this manor, and even I don’t know where he has gone.” Ge Qiu spoke.

“Is that right?” Jian Chen asked before turning to Nubis.

Focusing for a moment, Nubis sniffed at the air with his nose and flicked his tongue out to seemingly taste it. “He has been found. He only just left, we can chase after him still.” Straight away, he transformed into a beam of golden light and shot towards the direction where Situ Qing had left in.

“We’ll be going too then.” Jian Chen and Jiede Tai immediately gave chase to follow Nubis. And in the blink of an eye, they were gone from sight.

Ge Qiu stared off into the distance where Jian Chen and the others were flying towards with a small sigh. “Situ Qing, it’s not that I don’t wish to help you, but that I’m unable to help you. Jian Chen has the grand elder of Mercenary City backing him up, and I can’t invite the Pure Heart Pavilion to help out. This matter can only be resolved by me alone; in the case something happens, the Pure Heart Pavilion won’t bother to help out this manor. Mercenary City is strong, and even the guardian clans are unwilling to make trouble with them over such a trivial matter, let alone a just cause. The Pure Heart Pavilion has no interest in interfering at all I’m afraid.”