Sovereign of the Three Realms (WN)

Chapter 697: Capturing Gong Qi Alive

No sooner had he spoken than did the scenery around him flicker. Gong Qi’s eyes narrowed, but soon relaxed as hei sneered, “A formation, is it? This is nothing!”

When he’d looked around, the landscape around him looked like the mouth of a volcano. Lava bubbled ominously as the temperature seemed to jump, the prelude to a volcanic eruption. However, Gong Qi’s skill was only surpassed by his confidence. He felt no fear whatsoever as he extended his hand and clenched his fist. A glyph on his palm flickered brightly, about to attack the formation directly. It was precisely at this moment that several rays of golden light abruptly appeared from beneath his feet. In the next moment, the golden light congealed and transformed into six golden soldiers that completely surrounded Gong Qi. He suddenly began to panic as his pupils constricted violently.

An extremely bad premonition struck his heart like a bell. The three closest golden armored soldiers were all at sky sage realm!Any one of these three soldiers could have pounded him down into the dust on their own, much less than three of them working together. Moreover, there were another three earth sage golden armored soldiers eyeing him predatorily just behind them at the perimeter. Gong Qi felt every hair on his body standing on end. He had the vague feeling that he had just fallen into a trap.

Gong Qi was strong. In fact, he was slightly stronger than Ding Rong. However, he had made one crucial mistake from the start to end; he had drastically underestimated his opponent. This was especially true since Jiang Chen had been careful to portray a weak look in the guise of Ding Rong. This caused Gong Qi to grow even more sure of himself and disdainful of Ding Rong. Since then, Gong Qi’s underestimation of his enemy had only grown more pronounced.

After activating the formation, Jiang Chen had then used the Soldier Rosary Beads. This was his strongest lethal move. With this strategy, even a top rank genius like Cao Jin would only have a roughly sixty percent chance of making it out alive. While this Gong Qi was without a doubt a genius, he was ultimately too young and absolutely incomparable to someone like Cao Jin in terms of cultivation. If Jiang Chen hadn’t wanted to capture him alive, even two Gong Qis combined would have perished beneath a single blow.

Gong Qi’s two bodyguards had already reacted when Jiang Chen activated the formation and prepared to charge into the arena. But Huang’er had not been waiting all this time in vain. She immediately crushed two great offensive talismans in her palm and fired them at the bodyguards. Jiang Chen had acquired these offensive glyphs from Cao Jin. The glyphs’ offensive power was top class, forcing even the two bodyguards to step back to evade the attack. This momentary pause in their attack bought Jiang Chen the time he needed to deal the perfect blow.

When the two bodyguards finally found their footing, Huang’er had already leapt up onto the arena and Jiang Chen had trussed Gong Qi up. Jiang Chen suppressed every single one of the young cultivator’s meridians and fed him a few exclusive pills he’d created out of the Divine Befuddlement Miasma. Moreover, the Divine Befuddlement Miasma of these pills wasn’t at all similar to the one he’d fed to Zhang Ole Third.

Jiang Chen laughed loudly and tore off his disguise, revealing his true face to the bodyguards. “Tell that old fool Gong Wuji to come and see me!”

Jiang Chen’s tone was cold and arrogant. He swept a disdainful gaze around his surroundings and looked down at the two wary-looking bodyguards, “If that old man doesn’t show up in ten breaths, then he can come collect his grandson’s corpse!”

“Don’t you dare, kid!”

“He’s Jiang Chen! Look, he’s Jiang Chen!” Someone recognized him amidst the crowd.

Jiang Chen smiled faintly. He had never intended to hide his identity in the first place. The reason he’d entered the lion’s den today was to make a dangerous gamble. He had heard from Zhang Ole Third last time that Gong Qi especially enjoyed challenging the top geniuses of the Thunder Note Hall and the Great Roc Sect. The information had immediately sparked a flash of inspiration in Jiang Chen’s mind and formed the foundation of his plans. He felt that Gong Qi’s youthful arrogance was a good breakthrough point.

That was why he had executed this plan step by step, first by baiting out Ding Rong, then killing and pretending to be him. After he encountered Gong Qi, he pretended to be hesitant in attempt to incite Gong Qi’s competitiveness. As expected, Gong Qi was arrogant in his youth. He was slowly lured into the arena, allowing Jiang Chen to deal the perfect blow. With Gong Qi in his hands, Jiang Chen had basically obtained a trump card that allowed him to advance or retreat as he pleased. The news quickly reached Gong Wuji’s ears.

He been holding a meeting when Gong Qi was captured, and his face immediately drained of all color upon hearing this. Gong Qi was his grandson and his darling. In fact, he loved this grandson more than his own son. Gong Qi was almost identical to him in terms of both talent and behavior. The child had inherited all of the qualities of his grandfather, and was in fact even more talented. One might say that Gong Wuji had sunk everything he had into Gong Qi. Therefore, how could he not be shocked and angry to hear that Gong Qi had fallen into Jiang Chen’s hands?

“Jiang Chen… if you dare touch even a hair on my grandson I will shatter your soul and make you suffer for eternity!!” A mad howl came rolled in from the the distance like countless thunderclaps. Some low realm fighters paled greatly upon hearing the roar. They felt as if their consciousness had boiled over in an instant, and that it was a step away from collapsing on the spot.

However, Jiang Chen continued to stand tall like a demon god who’d descended from the sky. He was perfectly calm in spite of Gong Wuji’s earth-shaking aura. His cultivation was far weaker than Gong Wuji’s, but his consciousness wasn’t necessarily much weaker. If Gong Wuji was trying to intimidate him with his might, then he’d obviously barked up the wrong tree.

Jiang Chen’s voice suddenly pierced through Gong Wuji’s rumbling roar in an abrupt fashion.

“Anyone can talk big, don’t you know, old fool? So what if I hurt your grandson, huh?” Jiang Chen swung his arms and slapped Gong Qi’s face twice in a row, intentionally spreading the crisp sounds to every corner of the Regal Pill Palace.

Slap slap!

The sound frightened the people of the Thunder Note Hall and the Great Roc Sect so much that they could faint. Although they were enemies, they couldn’t help but be shocked by Jiang Chen’s actions, and be fearful for his sake. He’s offending Master Gong Wuji as much as he can!

This kid is absolutely out of control! The Thunder Note Hall’s sect head, Great Roc Sect’s sect head, and their respective elders had all rushed into the open. It was obvious that even they couldn’t sit still now that something of this magnitude had happened. This was especially true for the sect head of the Thunder Note Hall. The guy was drenched in cold sweat and feeling goosebumps all over his body when he’d heard that Ding Rong was the one who’d lured Gong Qi to the arena.

He was racked with a terrible premonition for a second. If Ding Rong was the one who lured Gong Qi to the arena, how had he suddenly turned out to be the vestige of the Regal Pill Palace, Jiang Chen? This matter was weird all around. Could it be? Is Ding Rong… The sect head of the Thunder Note Hall felt like going on a rampage himself when his thoughts travelled up to this point. However, he didn’t even have the time to worry for Ding Rong.

This was because Gong Qi was Gong Wuji’s precious grandson! If anything were to happen to Gong Qi because of Ding Rong’s involvement, then Gong Wuji’s wrath would absolutely descend upon the Thunder Note Hall. Even if the entire incident had absolutely nothing to do with the Thunder Note Hall, even if they were the victims from the beginning to the end, they would most likely suffer Gong Wuji’s wrath and be turned into a scapegoat all the same. The sect head of the Thunder Note Hall quickly scuttled to the edge of the arena.

The sect head of the Great Roc Sect had also figured out the ins and outs of the situation. However, he revealed a trace of a gloating smile when no one was looking. Gong Qi was rude and overbearing, and he had put the geniuses of the Great Roc Sect through plenty of hardships while he was around. Worse, the Great Roc Sect couldn’t do anything about it. Moreover, the Thunder Note Hall and the Great Roc Sect were in fact competing against each other even though they were partners on the surface. If the Thunder Note Hall were to lose favor from this incident, then the Great Roc Sect’s reputation would no doubt rise in response. This was literally the most perfect situation for the Great Roc Sect.

But of course, he didn’t reveal any of his thoughts and wore a sanctimonious look on his face instead. Not wanting to fall behind, he also ran towards the edge of arena and put on an appearance of irreconcilable differences with Jiang Chen.

Gong Wuji’s sucked in a deep breath and forcefully restrained his anger. He glared at Jiang Chen with eyes as cold as a hell magistrate’s, “What do you want, Jiang Chen?”

“Are you trying to discuss something with me?” Jiang Chen’s tone was indifferent. He sneered and said, “Stop looking like a dead fish if you really want to discuss something with me.”

Gong Wuji hated Jiang Chen so much he could explode on the spot. But still he restrained his anger and said, “Aren’t you something! Speak. What do you want in exchange for stopping all this?”

“Do you think you can give me what I want?” Jiang Chen sneered.

“Say it.” Gong Wuji worked hard to restrain his anger, but he’d locked his consciousness firmly onto Jiang Chen and was searching for that one bit of opening. If he saw even a tiny bit of opening, he would absolutely deal Jiang Chen a fatal blow without hesitation.

“My Regal Pill Palace lies in shambles and ruins. Can you restore it? Those of my Regal Palace people are dead. Can you bring the dead back to the living? Come on, tell me. Which one of my requirements can you fulfill?” Jiang Chen was filled with righteous indignation as he said this, killing intent growing ever thicker. If his rationale hadn’t warned him that Gong Qi was still useful to him, he would’ve torn this guy into shreds already.

Gong Wuji pondered for a moment before saying loudly, “Let’s cut the angry words, shall we? Nothing can be changed at this point already. Jiang Chen, you can hardly escape death yourself if you kill my grandson . Why don’t we find a compromise that we both can accept?”

This was the truth alright.

“Jiang Chen, stop persisting in your erroneous ways!” The sect head of the Thunder Note Hall also said loudly.

Jiang Chen laughed loudly, “Persist in my wrong ways, you say? You invaded my sect and killed my peers, but here you tell me that I’m the one who’s in the wrong? Gong Wuji, are you forcing me to kill this brat?”

Gong Wuji immediately swore on the inside when he heard this. He glared fiercely at the sect head of the Thunder Note Hall. The sect head of the Thunder Note Hall felt cold sweat pouring down his back and retreated in haste. Although he knew that Jiang Chen was purposely driving a wedge between him and Gong Wuji, there was nothing he could do to justify his actions. Any justification was pointless to Gong Wuji at this moment. It would do nothing but make Gong Wuji feel even more disgusted by him.

“Jiang Chen, I admit that I’ve underestimated you, but do you seriously think that you can control me just because you captured my grandson? What a joke!” Gong Wuji still refused to admit that he was in a bad spot.

“Oh? Does this mean that we’re parting ways now?” Jiang Chen smiled malevolently suddenly slashed down on Gong Qi’s left arm with his own hand.

Crack!

A broken arm flew towards Gong Wuji. Gong Wuji’s expression changed greatly as big droplets of sweat rolled down his forehead. Gong Qi also roared out with anger and pain, “Jiang Chen, I swear I’ll kill you!”

Jiang Chen shrugged, “I guess you’ll never accomplish your oath in this lifetime.”

Gong Wuji panicked when he heard this, “Wait!”

“Jiang Chen, tell me anything you want!” Gong Wuji gave up on maintaining a tough outlook. He knew that Jiang Chen had thrown all caution to the wind and wasn’t afraid to go to the extreme. Even if he could kill Jiang Chen after this matter was over, he still wouldn’t be able to save his grandson’s life.

Jiang Chen obviously didn’t plan to kill Gong Qi right now either. He stared at Gong Wuji indifferently and said, “Since you insist, then I won’t be holding back my requests. Remember, and I am only going to say this once: Don’t try to negotiate with me. If you do it even once, I swear that you won’t even get the chance to collect his corpse.”