Chapter 99 - 99: No Killing On The Ring
It was late at night in the Yiran Inn, and Chen Chen was still giving blood to the Black Tortoise egg.
Compared to the previous day, there were a few more cracks on the Black Tortoise eggshell, and it seemed that it would take at least ten days to two weeks to hatch.
"You drink my blood every day, so you'll also have my bloodline too, right? What should I name you?"
"How about Son Tortoise?"
While being distracted, Chen Chen began to realize that his hand had stopped hurting. When he was almost done draining blood from his body, he would drink a bowl of tonic soup made by An Jiuniang to nourish his body!
Dong-dong...
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Seeing this, Chen Chen put away the Black Tortoise egg and opened the door.
"Junior Brother Sun, is something wrong?"
Sun Tiangang was standing at the door with a somewhat worried expression.
"Successor, Zhang Ji hasn't returned yet."
Hearing this, Chen Chen frowned slightly.
He had been gone for two hours. Those who cultivated immortality were usually swift on their feet; Zhang Ji should've been back long ago.
It was impossible for Zhang Ji to be playful and go for a stroll in the night market.
Zhang Ji was an honest person, and his favorite hobbies were reading or cultivating.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen could not help but be worried.
Zhang Ji had 10,000 Spirit Stones with him. There's no way I would've gotten robbed, right?
"Junior Brother Sun, wait at home while I go look around the gambling den."
"Okay, I'll inform you using the communication token if he comes back." Sun Tiangang agreed.
Chen Chen nodded and turned around to leave the Yiran Inn.
...
At night, the capital was bustling, especially the streets where the brothels and gambling dens were located. They were brightly lit with many people coming and going.
Chen Chen frowned as he searched using the system.
However, he found nothing throughout his journey to the Auspicious Gambling Den.
Unfortunately, Zhang Ji's status of cultivation was too low so he didn't have a communication token. Otherwise, he would've been much easier to find.
When he thought of it, Chen Chen sighed.
Fortunately, Zhang Ji was favored by the heavens and was born blessed. Otherwise, he wouldn't have such a steady mentality.
He entered the Auspicious Gambling Den and asked the staff, only to hear that someone had indeed come by and bet 10,000 Spirit Stones on him, which was to his relief.
'Good thing he has already spent those Spirit Stones. At least he won't be targeted by robbers.'
Just as Chen Chen was about to go out and look for him, the communication token lit up.
It was a message from Sun Tiangang.
"Senior Brother, Zhang Ji is back... but..."
His words were random and his speech was slurred. Chen Chen's heart dropped as he suddenly became filled with fury.
'It seems that something happened, the culprit better not let me know who he is!'
Without hesitation, Chen Chen flew towards the Yiran Inn, arriving at the entrance in only a few short moments.
When he arrived, he noticed the echoes of several girls crying within the Yiran Inn. Hearing the crying, Chen Chen tensed up and hurriedly entered.
In the courtyard, Sun Tiangang was transfusing his ethereality to Zhang Ji, his face covered in beads of sweat.
At this moment, Zhang Ji's body was covered in blood and he appeared to be limbless. He was no different from a corpse!
Seeing this scene, Chen Chen took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart. He then yelled, "Let's go!"
When Sun Tiangang saw Chen Chen, he hurriedly made way, as if Chen Chen was his master and pillar of support.
Seeing how miserable Zhang Ji was, Chen Chen took out a small bottle of Heavenly Spirit Bell Stalagmite from his storage ring without hesitation and gave it to Zhang Ji.
Suddenly, a rich burst of vitality spewed out from Zhang Ji's body, as some of his external injuries had already begun to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Seeing the scene, the girls at the side stopped crying, as they looked at Chen Chen with horror in their eyes.
'That's the means of an immortal!'
However, Chen Chen ignored their gazes and asked quietly, "How did he come back?"
He had just examined Zhang Ji's body and realized that there were several fractures inside his body. It was impossible for him to make his way back alive with his injuries.
"He was left at the door, the culprit was already gone when I found him." The anger in Sun Tiangang's eyes was about to emanate after he spoke. He then lowered his head again as he seemed to be sobbing.
"Senior Brother Chen Chen, Junior Brother Zhang Ji's... elixir field has been ruined."
"What!?!"
Hearing this, Chen Chen panicked and his pitch became higher. He hurriedly touched Zhang Ji's diaphragm, only to realize that there was indeed no ethereality in his elixir field. There was no reaction either.
'His elixir field has indeed been ruined!'
The elixir field was not a tangible organ but an intangible and invisible existence that could not be repaired just with strong vitality or ethereality.
The Heavenly Spirit Bell Stalagmite may be able to repair one's heart and allow limbs to regrow, but it could not repair the invisible elixir field.
Perhaps, only creation items that were similar to the Primeval Fruit of Ethereality, could repair an elixir field.
Perhaps, Zhang Ji's cultivation path could be continued only if he gave up on cultivating immortality and turned to other sordid paths.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen's heart was filled with sorrow.
Zhang Ji was favored by the heavens, so Chen Chen always thought that nothing would ever happen to him. Hence, he was never worried about Zhang Ji's safety. In fact, he would occasionally let him do something dangerous, such as taking him to the capital this time.
Now, it seems...
He failed to protect Zhang Ji who could not escape the ordeal.
*Coughs*
The cough interrupted Chen Chen's trance. Zhang Ji slowly opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Chen Chen's cold and handsome face.
"Big Brother... I knew I wouldn't die."
"You're still smiling, your elixir field has been destroyed! Tell me, who did it!?" Chen Chen barked in exasperation.
"It seems to be a successor who follows Qi Bufan. I couldn't see him clearly, he struck too quickly."
While speaking, Zhang Ji pulled out a betting ticket that was stained with blood and placed it in Chen Chen's hand.
"Big Brother, fortunately, he didn't take this away. It's worth more than 100,000 Spirit Stones... I was scared soulless."
Looking at the blood-stained betting ticket, Chen Chen lowered his head as his eyes were slightly reddened.
"Qi Bufan!"
At this point, he completely understood why Qi Bufan didn't kill Zhang Ji and instead left him at the entrance of the Yiran Inn after ruining his elixir field.
'This is blatant provocation!'
'Qi Bufan left Zhang Ji alive as he wants me to know that I'm the culprit!'
'How arrogant!'
"Big brother, avenge me in the Ranking Battle tomorrow. In the future, I won't be able to cultivate anymore, I'm afraid I can only do simple things for you."
Zhang Ji's eyes were extremely gloomy at this point.
The effects of the Heavenly Spirit Bell Stalagmite were great. At this moment, most of his external injuries had already healed and his broken bones had also started reconnecting.
Without the excruciating pain, he naturally detected that his elixir field had been destroyed.
When he thought of the fact that he would no longer be able to cultivate immortality in the future, he fell into great agony.
"Don't worry, with me around, the destruction of your elixir field is not a big deal. Sooner or later, I'll allow you to cultivate immortality again."
After he spoke, Chen Chen wiped his eyes. He was truly upset and miserable, unlike the successors who were pretending yesterday.
Did he lack Spirit Stones?
Actually, he didn't. Tens or hundreds of thousands were just a number to him. Anyway, the truly good things could not be bought with Spirit Stones.
To him, there was no harm in taking money. However, Zhang Ji now had his elixir field destroyed.
This made him feel extremely guilty.
He had taken away too many things from Zhang Ji. If not for him, the Primeval Fruit of Ethereality would have belonged to Zhang Ji. If not for Zhang Ji, he would have never gone to the Tianyun Clan.
However, the silly Zhang Ji would always look up to him and treat him like an elder brother even though he had fooled him several times before.
Now, Zhang Ji's elixir field had also been ruined because he was running an errand for Chen Chen.
He wouldn't take it lying down no matter what!
"Jiuniang, please have someone send Zhang Ji back to his room to rest."
Chen Chen turned and said to An Jiuniang with a sullen expression.
Hearing this, An Jiuniang immediately arranged for two girls to help Zhang Ji back to his room.
"Senior Sun, does Elder Zhao know about what happened over here?"
Chen Chen turned his head to look at Sun Tiangang again.
"I haven't informed him yet." Sun Tiangang shook his head.
Afraid that he would be misunderstood by Elder Zhang of the Youshui Clan, Elder Zhao was now staying in an inn that was hundreds of meters away. It was just a stone's throw away.
However, he had now gotten used to having Chen Chen as his master and pillar of support, and thus forgot about Elder Zhao.
"Good that you didn't inform him."
Chen Chen spat out a mouthful of turbid Qi with a cold gaze in his eyes.
The Ranking Battle of the 36 clans was brutal and everyone was fighting each other, all for the sake of the interests of their clans. He could understand why but he wouldn't fight hard with someone because of that.
However, Qi Bufan had actually harmed an accompanying disciple who was only in the Qi training period, outside of the Ranking Battle.
It was already a violation of the rules which also touched Chen Chen's bottom line!
"Senior Brother, you want to..." Sun Tiangang couldn't help but ask when he noticed the piles of gloomy clouds and the terrifying aura coming from Chen Chen.
"I'm going to avenge my brother. He's provoking me, huh? Doesn't he want me to know that he's the culprit? Now, he has succeeded but I wonder if he can afford to pay the price."
After he spoke, Chen Chen adjusted his clothes and took out a book from his storage ring, which he then handed to An Jiuniang.
"Jiuniang, this is a book about business management that I have been compiling for a while. I was going to give it to you when I left, but it seems better to give it to you now."
An Jiuniang grabbed the book and covered her small mouth, her eyes filled with shock.
'What is the successor trying to do!?'
Before she could figure it out, Chen Chen had already begun making his way towards the exit of the Yiran Inn.
Seeing this scene, An Jiuniang did not know what Chen Chen was going to do. She immediately exclaimed, "Successor, why don't you defeat Qi Bufan in the ring tomorrow and take revenge for Zhang Ji!?"
Hearing these words, Chen Chen paused slightly.
Without turning around, he instead said coldly, "Killing is prohibited in the ring."
His words were full of murderous intent. An Jiuniang simply felt her body turning chilly, like her heart.
By the time she came back to her senses, Chen Chen had already disappeared.