Chapter 59: Conjectures
Randall was very depressed.
He knew that Martin would be unwilling to let things go. If Martin hadn't argued with him in the first place, Randall would not have locked him up.
He didn't know that Martin had Roger, a young master of the Meng Clan, behind him. Now Randall found himself in an awkward situation. To please Fren, a young master of the Zhuge Clan, he had offended Roger. But Randall hadn't accomplished anything.
It was too late to repent.
“Martin, if something is unclear, let's go back and talk about it,” said Zen with a wink to Martin.
Now that Martin had been released, they needed to consider the matter carefully before making a decision. If they fell out with Randall, they would be in a bad situation, too.
Stubborn as Martin was he had a clear understanding of the situation in which he found himself. Hearing what Zen said, he cast a scornful glare at Randall and shut his mouth.
Seeing that everything was settled, Jon guided the crowd out of the yard.
Randall remained in the yard. He was quite upset. He glanced at Liam, who had also stayed behind. Randall growled, “Didn't you say that Zen was just an ordinary disciple without any influential background? Why is a person from the Meng Clan behind him?”
If he had known what was going to happen, Randall would never have agreed to get involved.
With his temper and ruthlessly efficient style, Randall wanted to beat up Liam!
But Liam had come to the Dragon Fort on behalf of Fren, so Randall didn't dare to offend him too much. He had already annoyed Roger, a nobleman of the Meng Clan. If he couldn't align himself with Fren of the Zhuge Clan, Randall would be in a more precarious position.
“It's ... It's because ...” Liam didn't have a reason. He was equally puzzled. Liam turned to Randall and said, “Zen is an ordinary disciple at Cloud Sect. And he has no strong background. I don't know how he made the acquaintance of a young master from the Meng Clan.”
Liam was wondering about this as well. Why did Roger help Zen?
He was aware of the rules of conduct of noblemen. There were two ways to be a part of them. The first was to bring great benefits to the children of the noble clans. The other was to be obedient and submissive to them and do what they asked. Either way, children of noble clans never considered ordinary people as friends.
However, Roger, the young master of the Meng Clan, was willing to stand up for Zen and take care of him. How did Zen attach himself to the Meng Clan? And what did he rely on? Liam was confused.
“I told you that we should have killed that boy. It was a simple and easy task. But Liam, you idiot! You wanted to kill him inconspicuously. That was too much to hope for. You wanted him to be killed by the blade locusts, but now he is alive. As far as your ability is concerned, I consider it a joke that Fren sent you to do this!” grumbled White Fiend.
“It's not too late. The minute Zen leaves the Dragon Fort, we'll kill him,” said Black Fiend with a dark smile.
“You are right. Now that we have offended the Meng Clan, we should kill Zen as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will face not only the wrath of the Meng Clan, but also Fren's anger!” said Randall.
Liam nodded and said, “Well, then, we'll do as Black Fiend has suggested. As soon as Zen comes out of the Dragon Fort, we'll kill him.”
A wild look reflected in their eyes at the prospect of getting even with Zen.
They knew the rules of the noble clans. If ordinary people were useful to the noblemen they served, they would earn endless benefits. If, however, they proved useless, the noblemen they assisted would surely kill them.
...
...
After leaving the small yard, Jon walked Zen and the others out of the main army camp. Along the way, he said, “You have upset and disgraced Randall. I believe that he will act on this humiliation. They will find every opportunity to kill you. So, I advise you to leave Dragon Fort and return to Cloud Sect as soon as possible.”
Roger agreed with Jon. He said, “Zen, you have got the crystal core of the queen blade locust. You will be able to exchange it for a lot of points. It has been a rewarding trip for you! Will you return to Cloud Sect with us?”
“I'm still trying to figure out how on earth you managed to get rid of that queen blade locust!” said Jon. He had heard about the ins and outs of the matter. He knew that Zen had not only escaped from the clutches of the queen blade locust, he had also killed her and retrieved her crystal core. But that was what he found hard to believe.
Jon knew that Zen was strong and had a great capacity for fighting. But even with his strength, Zen was not powerful enough to be a challenging opponent to the queen blade locust. He couldn't believe that Zen had killed her by himself.
Hearing Jon's statement, Zen smiled but chose to remain quiet. By no means could he afford to explain. He couldn't tell Jon that he had not killed the queen blade locust. The fire scorpion lion had killed her. While the queen's crystal core might not be very valuable in their eyes, the fire scorpion lion's crystal core was precious indeed.
The fire scorpion lion's crystal core was the best material for pill refining and weapon refining. The top seven clans in the empire would do anything to get the fire scorpion lion's core! If they knew where the fire scorpion lion was, they would send people to seek, hunt, and kill it. If that happened, the people seeking the fire scorpion lion would find the dead bodies of both, the queen blade locust and the fire scorpion lion. Then they would speculate that Zen was in possession of the crystal cores of both creatures. This would be a huge mistake! Zen would not be so stupid as to expose the matter.
So, Zen changed the topic and asked, “Roger, how many points can be exchanged for the queen's crystal core?”
Hearing Zen ask such a silly question, Sun, who had not spoken for a long time, began to cough violently. He even had to thump his chest with his hands to stop the coughing! He turned to Zen and asked incredulously, “Whoa, whoa, Zen! You don't know?”
Zen shrugged his shoulders, showing that he really knew nothing about it. Since he had never thought himself capable of getting the queen blade locust's crystal core, Zen had never looked into it.
“The queen blade locust's crystal core can be exchanged for a thousand points. So, you are going to have a small fortune,” said Roger with a broad smile.
“A small fortune ...” Zen and Sun were both shocked when they heard Roger. A thousand points were equal to two thousand cubic crystals! In the entire Burning Sky Empire, no more than 50 clans, most of which were the noble clans, possessed 2, 000 cubic crystals.
But to Roger, it was a small sum of money. Zen and Sun couldn't help being in awe of Roger. They assumed that all children of noble clans were billionaires.
“A thousand points is a lot of money. But it's not enough. I'll stay here and earn more points,” said Zen while looking at Roger.
It was true that Zen had initially sought to gain 100 points to get a ticket to visit his sister at Hell Mountain, but Zen had changed his mind. He wanted to earn as many as possible by killing the greatest number of blade locusts.
Saving Yan Luo from Hell Mountain would cost him a million points. And so far, Zen had accumulated only about one-thousandth of what he needed.
Hunting for blade locusts, especially the blade locust officers, was an excellent opportunity for Zen to earn points. The insect aggression usually lasted two or three months every year. After this period, he would have no choice but to wait for the next year. Zen didn't want to waste this opportunity.
Roger and other people looked at Zen in surprise. They didn't know why Zen wanted to accumulate so many points. Did he want to exchange them for pills? Or did he want to exchange them for refining skills? Perhaps he wanted to swap them for magic weapons? For Zen, at this stage, a thousand points were sufficient to exchange for anything he needed.
“Are one thousand points not enough? Then how many is enough?” asked Sun.
Zen answered with a bitter smile, “Probably one million points.”
Hearing this, Sun coughed violently again in fright.
Even Martin, who knew little about Cloud Sect was frightened by the figure. He had interacted with several disciples of Cloud Sect, and he knew that the crystal core of a blade locust officer could be exchanged for one point. Zen wanted to accumulate one million points, which was equivalent to hunting a million blade locust officers. The number was so unexpected. They were all scared by the figure Zen quoted.
Roger was stunned, too. After the shock wore off, he began to wonder why Zen needed so many points, and what he wanted to do with them.
A million points were equivalent to two million cubic crystals. It was a considerable sum of money even for a nobleman.
Even at Cloud Sect, only a few treasures needed a million points to be redeemed.
'Will he exchange them for a fairy weapon?
No, he won't.' Roger knew that Zen was only at the marrow refining level. Given his strength, he was unable to unleash the power of a fairy weapon. So he wouldn't be doing this for a fairy weapon.
'Does he want to earn a ticket to the Cloud Road?
No, he doesn't.' It was true that he could walk on the Cloud Road by the use of a million points, but considering his current cultivation stage and his strength, he wouldn't pass the trial.
'Is he going to save someone from Hell Mountain?'
Roger felt that this inference was closer to the truth.
Several people had been imprisoned in Hell Mountain. But most of them had been there for three or five years.
A million points ... that meant that the person had been sentenced to a thousand years' imprisonment there.
Could it be her?
The girl whose talent no one could match? She had been sentenced to a thousand years of contemplation at Hell Mountain. Wasn't her surname Luo?
Zen Luo was her namesake. What was the relationship between them?
Zen was trying to accumulate a million points. That meant that he wanted to save her from Hell Mountain!
So far, the results were clear. Roger was very confident of his inference.
Although he hadn't seen her before, as the young master of the Meng Clan, he was aware of what was happening at Cloud sect, especially the important things.
Roger couldn't help repressing a sigh of admiration. Zen Luo and Yan Luo were both geniuses, but it was a pity that they were not of noble birth and that they were always offending other people. Otherwise, Yan Luo wouldn't have been imprisoned in Hell Mountain.
Zen had taken it for granted that he could save Yan Luo from Hell Mountain as long as he accumulated a million points. He was so naive.
It was not quite as easy as that. But if Zen could accumulate a million points and had the power to save Yan Luo from Hell Mountain, the Meng Clan could also give them a proper hand at the back.
But Zen's strength was the premise of everything. Meng Clan's assistance depended on whether Zen had the ability to do so.
That was what Roger thought about all this. He didn't realize that he was very concerned about Zen. He said, “Since you are determined to stay here and continue to hunt for blade locusts, you must be careful about those people!”
Zen nodded and thanked him, “I will pay attention to them, and thank you for your help, Roger.”
Roger patted Zen on the shoulder as a faint smile danced on his lips. Then he said, “Don't mention it. I hope you accumulate a million points as soon as possible and bring her out of torture Mountain!”
Zen did a double take when he heard what Roger said. He had mentioned that he needed a million points. He hadn't said anything about Yan Luo. It was amazing that Roger was able to guess Zen's purpose based on this detail!
No wonder Roger was the elite figure in the Meng clan. He was brilliant!