Chapter 15: Plan (2)

There was a room on the eastern side of West Laina Castle. It was quite spacious, and the interior was relatively organized and tidy.

That was Su Chen’s room.

He was there now, standing at the window and gazing outside as if he were deep in thought. But in reality, he was listening to Shi Mingfeng’s words.

“Okay, that is all the material we have on You Tianyang and the Zhu Clan. Unfortunately, You Tianyang doesn’t know what their true motives are in coming here either. Zhu Xianyao really was quite cautious. Su Chen, what are you planning on doing next?”

Su Chen replied, “First, we’ll need to limit our contact. The chances of us being discovered are too high with Light Shaking Realm cultivators around. From now on, we’ll contact each other once a day early in the morning as people are the least alert during that period of time. If I don’t come looking for you, then don’t try and find me. I also need to think of a way to protect He Xu. If I want to prevent them from killing him, I need to make his life more valuable. Old Shi, I need you to make some movements outside so that Zhu Xianyao believes that her younger sister did in fact send multiple people to assassinate her.”

“Is it worth making such a hassle for a single person?”

“Does the Immortal Temple not value the lives of their own people?”

Shi Mingfeng laughed, “No, we’re just used to failure being equivalent to death.”

“Well, I’m not used to it yet, and neither have I failed yet.”

Shi Mingfeng fell silent for a moment before saying, “Okay, so now what?”

“Now we wait.”

“Wait? Wait for what?”

“Wait for Pall to leave.”

When would Pall leave? Of course it would be after business negotiations had concluded.

Two days later.

Within one of the guest rooms on the castle’s second floor, Pall and Zhu Xianyao were still locked in fierce negotiations with one another.

“Ten million Origin Stones! You need to pay at least ten million Origin Stones. All other conditions are only meaningful if they’re built upon this foundation,” Pall said as he patted his large stomach.

Opposite him were Zhu Xianyao, Zhu Baiyu, and Su Chen.

After three days of negotiations, all conditions besides one had basically been settled. The only thing that hadn’t been set yet was the down payment.

Zhu Xianyao and Zhu Baiyu glanced at each other before Zhu Xianyao finally said, “We can agree to that condition. However, we don’t have that much on us, so we can only ask the clan to deliver it. This will take about a month.”

“No problem,” Pall nodded and agreed. No matter how short sighted he was, he was patient enough to at least wait for a year.

“Alright then. We hope that during this period of time we can continue to stay in this castle. This place is remote and relatively desolate, so it seems that we can only stay here anyways.”

“As long as our deal is on, you can stay here for as long as you like.” Pall didn’t seem to mind at all.

As he spoke, he motioned with his hand. A Sand Race servant approached Pall and knelt before him.

Pall then said, “This man is the captain of the castle’s guards, Culler. I cannot remain here for too long, since the territory I own has too many matters that I need to attend to. Your safety here will be overseen by Culler. Culler, help me take care of these esteemed guests.”

That Sand Race individual lowered his head. “As you wish, esteemed Leader.”

Su Chen, however, felt his heart tremble slightly as a strange feeling surfaced.

The same day that their negotiations concluded, Pall led his subordinates and returned to Ali Palace. West Laina Castle returned to its former peacefulness, but with a few additional human guests from a different country.

——————————

That night, Su Chen was resting in his own room when he suddenly heard a knocking sound from his door.

It was Zhao Jingwen.

“Young Miss has requested your presence,” he said.

This time, Zhu Xianyao met with Su Chen in her own chambers, but Su Chen wasn’t alone with her this time. Zhu Baiyu, Chief Steward Zhu Jiu, and Zhao Jingwen were all there, along with another group of people. They were all Zhu Xianyao’s direct subordinates.

“Sixth Uncle.” Zhu Xianyao first glanced at Zhu Baiyu,

Zhu Baiyu nodded. “We searched the place already. There aren’t any Origin Tools here that can eavesdrop on us.”

“Check everybody’s body too,” Zhu Xianyao suddenly said.

Su Chen felt his heart jump.

Was this prudent caution? Or were they suspicious of something?

Zhu Baiyu walked over and began to search each one of them.

Thankfully, Su Chen had been somewhat prepared for this and hadn’t brought any transmission Origin Tools with him, allowing him to pass the test uneventfully.

After confirming that everything was safe, Zhu Xianyao continued, “Because Pall insists on us handing over ten million Origin Stones, we can only rely on this delaying tactic. In other words, from this point onwards we only have a month to complete our plan.”

So they did have other intentions after all! They had never planned on handing over a single Origin Stone from the very beginning.

This was all a ploy!

Once he heard Zhu Xianyao’s words, Su Chen could finally confirm this point.

Zhao Jingwen said, “A month is too short. Pall hasn’t discovered the secrets hidden in this castle after all this time, meaning that Kapius’s stashes won’t be easy to find.”

Boom!

Su Chen felt like an explosion had gone off in his head.

Kapius!

So they were also here for Kapius’s secret treasures!?

Su Chen immediately understood. Undoubtedly, Zhu Xianyao had gotten wind of this matter from the Immortal Temple, which was why she was also here. After all, the Zhu Clan had been fighting the Immortal Temple for a few years now, and obtaining information and clues unrelated directly to the matter at hand while interrogating their captives was an extremely common occurrence.

Everything else that had occurred before this fell into place.

Zhu Xianyao and the others hadn’t taken a forceful stance. Instead, they had contacted Pall under the excuse e of purchasing the Blackrock Gold Mine. On the surface, it seemed like their goal was to obtain the mine and establish a base of operations here, but they were actually planning on searching the castle. As soon as Pall had agreed to let them stay in this castle, they had also obtained the right to search the castle as they pleased.

Actually, this was much more reliable than Shi Mingfeng’s plan. After all, controlling someone’s state of mind wasn’t invincible. Over prolonged periods, it would eventually be discovered. Zhu Xianyao’s tactics were effective for a long period of time, and the chances of accidents occurring were also diminished.

Unfortunately, their luck wasn’t good. Pall just wouldn’t fall for their bait and only gave them a month in the end.

But why was the Zhu Clan so interested in Kapius’s secret stashes? Had they caught the Immortal Temple’s disease of wanting to dig up holes everywhere?

Zhu Xianyao said, “That’s not something we can do anything about. From this day onwards, everyone will need to search diligently. Right, Tianyang.”

“Ah?” When he heard Zhu Xianyao call out his name, Su Chen was stunned. This plan involved him too?

Zhu Xianyao sighed, “You kept asking me before this why I brought you here, and now I’m going to tell you very clearly. You know about Kapius, right?”

“Oh, I know a bit......” Su Chen replied in a slow tone.

As expected, Zhu Xianyao had to give Su Chen a quick primer on Kapius. It was obvious that Zhu Xianyao knew quite a bit about him, and some of the information was new even to Su Chen. As such, Su Chen listened with keen, unfeigned interest.

“Our goal this time is to find the secret stashes that Kapius left behind. You should know by now why we brought you along, right?” Zhu Xianyao replied.

When he heard this, Su Chen abruptly came to his senses.