Chapter 961: Three Underlings
Jian Chen traveled away from the Serpent God Hall in the Octoterra Divine Hall, before leaving the divine hall after confirming that there was no one in pursuit. He then directly flew toward the Heaven’s Spirit Hall in the air. Although the Octoterra Divine Hall could fly as well, it was much slower than Jian Chen traveling personally. He could only travel like this to reach the Heaven’s Spirit Hall in the shortest amount of time.
However, the divine hall was still in Jian Chen’s possession after all. Even if hall elder-level people from the Serpent God Hall came to deal with him, he would be able to hide in the divine hall in time. This would allow him to fend them off using the divine hall’s power.
After all, Jian Chen had completely humiliated the Serpent God Hall this time. No one could be certain that experts from the Serpent God Hall would not tail him secretly and ambush him.
Jian Chen flew cautiously, but it was peaceful along the way. He entered the territory of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall very quickly.
Jian Chen finally made his way to the divine hall of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall after some more traveling. When he arrived, many experts were gathered outside the hall. There were even a few hall elders standing at the forefront. It was like they had been waiting for a long time.
“You must be warrior Jian Chen,” a hall elder said with clasped hands. His voice was steady, bearing no arrogance or pride at all.
Jian Chen stood in the air with the Octoterra Divine Hall in hand. He gazed past all the people coldly and said, “Correct, I am Jian Chen. Looks like you’ve received the news long ago and have spent quite the time waiting here sternly.”
The hall elder smiled, “Spot on, warrior Jian Chen. You must have come for the business a few years ago.”
“Since you’ve already guessed my intentions, let’s cut to the chase. Hand over the three deacon elders that pursued me before, as well as Zhou Tianzi and Zhou Yunzi,” Jian Chen said coldly.
A hall elder waved his hand and called out to the back, “Bring them over.”
Two black-robed young men that seemed around thirty-years old brought up five tied-up individuals from behind very quickly. Two of them seemed exactly the same, making it extremely difficult to distinguish between the two.
Jian Chen’s eyes immediately became filled with killing intent when he saw the twins. He said coldly, “Zhou Tianzi, Zhou Yunzi, never have you thought that a day like this would comehave, have you?”
Zhou Yunzi and Zhou Tianzi both had their strength personally sealed up by the hall elders, so they were completely equivalent to normal people.
The two of them stared at the hall elders in fury and gnashed their teeth. “Never did we think that the great Heaven’s Spirit Hall would do such wretched things. We two brothers have worked for your hall for so many years as guest elders. We’ve done quite a lot in these years; it may not necessarily be meritorious but it was still hard work. Let alone the fact that we two only went to hunt Jian Chen under your orders. Now that he’s become strong, you toss out the two of us as scapegoats. Hmph, we sure are blind. If we knew that your hall possessed such ungrateful people, we would have never taken up the position of guest elders.”
The hall elder furrowed slightly after hearing their words and growled, “Seal their lips.”
An elder immediately took a step forward, directly pointing at their throats. They lost the ability to talk.
Afterward, the tied-up brothers and the three deacon elders were all brought before Jian Chen. Jian Chen could not help but frown slightly when he saw this; he had not thought that the Heaven’s Spirit Hall would follow along so meekly. They had tied up two powerful guest elders like this so straightforwardly. It did not match up at all with what he believed would happen.
“Warrior Jian Chen, we are handing over Zhou Yunzi and Zhou Tianzi who hunted you all those years ago to you. You can deal with them as you wish. We, the Heaven’s Spirit Hall, will definitely not interfere,” the hall elder said with a smile.
“Do you plan on neutralizing my enmity with your hall by handing over the two of them?” Jian Chen asked expressionlessly.
“Correct, it’s just as what you have said. We do not want to be enemies with you, while everything that happened all those years ago was a misunderstanding. We originally planned on inviting you as a guest to our hall, but we never thought that everything would spiral out of control. This lead to all those misunderstandings between us. I am representing the Heaven’s Spirit Hall in giving the most sincere apology. I hope that you can forgive us for everything we have done from the misunderstandings all those years ago.” The hall elder’s words were filled with sincerity. He did not seem to be acting at all.
Jian Chen stared fixedly at the hall elders of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall as the light in his eyes flickered. This development of the situation had completely surprised him. He had originally thought that he would at least need to have a great battle with the Heaven’s Spirit Hall—just like what had happened with the Serpent God Hall—to resolve the matter. However, he had never thought that the Heaven’s Spirit Hall would apologize by themselves. He found this quite unbelievable.
After a period of hesitation, the divine hall in Jian Chen’s left hand suddenly expanded and then he tossed the two people into it. They could not resist at all, and the divine hall returned to his hand quickly afterward. Jian Chen said to the hall elder, “Just Zhou Tianzi and Zhou Yunzi is far from enough for us to reconcile over the matters from before.”
The hall elders seemed to have anticipated that Jian Chen would say something like this long ago. As such, without any reactions, one of them ordered, “Summon the three decon elders.”
Very quickly, the three people were summoned from the divine hall of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall. They remained as usual, bearing no particular emotions.
“Warrior Jian Chen, the three deacon elders have come. Why don’t we get the three of them to apologize to you and clean off the slate with that,” a hall elder added in suggestion.
“A simple apology won’t be enough,” Jian Chen said as he shook his head gently. Although the Heaven’s Spirit Hall had behaved extremely kindly, a simple apology definitely would not be enough to make up for the time that they had tried to hunt him down all those years ago.
“Warrior Jian Chen, may I ask what you need such that you can let this matter go?” A hall elder asked with no particular emotion, but some anger had already sprouted in his heart. They were one of the three great halls; they had never ever spoken so kindly and meekly to someone. Jian Chen was a first.
“There’s only one way to resolve it, and that is for me to personally end their lives in vengeance,” Jian Chen said sharply. He was unwilling to give in.
“Jian Chen, you’ve gone overboard…” The expressions of a few hall elders changed in reaction to his words and someone immediately called out involuntarily. He was filled with anger.
The three deacon elders were all members of the upper echelon, the true core members of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall. Their status could not be compared to Zhou Tianzi and Zhou Yunzi, as the two of them were foreigners. They could be cast aside at any time, but they could not lose the three deacon elders.
Jian Chen’s face sank and the Octoterra Divine Hall immediately flew from his hand. It suddenly began to expand and at the same time, the Emperor Armament appeared in his right hand. It shone with a dazzling dark light while its aura of destruction flooded the region.
“Since you beg to differ, you will be up for a battle.” Jian Chen’s voice was icy while killing intent surged in his eyes. He had made the preparations for battle long ago. He would not let them go just because of the friendly manner of the Heaven’s Spirit Hall.
The hall elders all became rather ugly from this development of the situation, but none of them planned to fight Jian Chen. Even if they ignored the fact that they could not harm Jian Chen at all since he had the Octoterra Divine Hall, their relationship would go downhill as soon as they began fighting. This was disobeying the order set down by the hall master.
“Fine, fine. Jian Chen, we will let you deal with the three deacon elders,” a hall elder said helplessly.
The faces of the deacon elders all sank when they heard that. A sliver of emptiness filled their eyes that now brimmed with despair.
The three deacon elders all stopped twenty meters away from Jian Chen and said proudly, “Jian Chen, we’re here. If you want to kill us, if you want to torture us, go ahead.” The three deacon elders carried no fear. They did not fear death.
The three of them knew very well that the Heaven’s Spirit Hall had abandoned them, but they had no complaints at all. After all, their loyalty to the Heaven’s Spirit Hall was undoubtedly great to be able to become deacon elders.
“Jian Chen, the three deacon elders are all central members of our hall. We don’t want to watch them just die here like this either. Why don’t we get the three of them to swear their loyalty to you in exchange for their lives.” An old voice boomed in Jian Chen’s ear at this very moment.
Jian Chen’s eyes lit up when he heard that, before glancing at the hall elders. He then said to the three deacon elders, “I’ll give you an opportunity to live. Swear your loyalty to me.”
The three deacon elders looked at each other when they heard this and immediately revealed a sliver of determination. They would rather die than obey. However, their faces changed very quickly and after some slight deliberation as if they were caught in a dilemma, they agreed to Jian Chen’s suggestion in the end. “Alright, the three of us will now completely devote ourselves to you.”