As an assassin, Su Xiuxing had studied a bewildering variety of things.
Concealment and stealth, tracking traces and shadows, wind-based Dao arts, assassination techniques... he knew a broad range of disciplines.
With all of that brought together in one person, his strength was indeed quite respectable.
But after Jiang Chen finished looking through all those cultivation arts and secret techniques, not a single one was worthy of his attention.
Su Xiuxing had learned many things, but none of his cultivation arts was especially outstanding. The stacks looked substantial, yet they even contained a meticulous record of the ordinary Dao art Wind Blade!
Although Jiang Chen was now without a sect or faction, without roots or backing, he had already studied Zhuo Lie's Flamebloom as his Grade C Dao art, the Bind Tiger, Sea of Flowers, and Thorn Crown collected by the Chongxuan family as his Grade B Dao arts, and he had also obtained a reserve of lower Grade A Dao arts from Jiang Wuyong of the royal Qi family.
His horizons had long since been raised extraordinarily high.
That said, the fact that Su Xiuxing had cultivated his current combat strength from such a jumble of cultivation arts showed that he did have some talent for being an assassin.
What interested Jiang Chen most about Su Xiuxing was his talisman-making art. But that probably involved his sect's blood curse, so there was no chance of it being passed on.
"Do you think cultivation arts of this level can show your sincerity?" Jiang Chen asked as he casually gathered up the manuals. Even a mosquito's leg was still meat; he planned to hand all of them over to the Deduction Platform later.
"My lord, I've searched my heart and ransacked my belongings. I really have nothing else I can produce. Whatever else you want, just take it." Su Xiuxing steeled himself and spoke with his eyes closed.
Jiang Chen: ...
He could not be bothered to waste words. He walked straight over, forced Su Xiuxing's mouth open, and stuffed a Dao essence pellet wrapped in wood qi inside.
Su Xiuxing felt something spread through his body in an instant. The balance of his five qi seemed to shift slightly, but when he examined himself carefully, he could detect nothing else unusual.
"What did you make me swallow?" he asked in alarm.
"The Heaven-Extinguishing, Earth-Destroying, Man-Dying Pill," Jiang Chen bluffed. "It is a secret formula passed down by the royal Qi family and is not used casually. You should consider yourself lucky."
"Heaven-Extinguishing, Earth-Destroying..." Su Xiuxing stood rooted to the spot, as if struck by five thunderbolts.
Just from its name, it sounded like an unparalleled poison.
"Don't be nervous. It won't activate easily. When it does, your soul will simply scatter and vanish. It won't hurt at all, of course. As long as you help me with something, that soul-scattering outcome definitely won't happen."
"Help... with what?" Su Xiuxing's voice was strained.
Jiang Chen smiled. "I haven't decided yet. Let's set a time limit of one month, shall we? Once the matter is settled, I'll naturally give you the antidote."
"Of course, during that time, you can secretly seek help from anyone you like. Xuankong Temple, Dongwang Valley, whoever. See whether anyone can find its trace and neutralize it. I don't believe even the royal Qi family's top-secret poison can be broken, but you might as well give it a try. It may help you feel more at ease."
Xuankong Temple was the eastern holy land of Buddhism and was also famous for its medical arts.
As they spoke, Su Xiuxing had already examined himself at least ten times, but the poison pill was like a stone sinking into the sea, leaving no trace at all.
The royal Qi family's secret poison was truly terrifying. Forget finding an antidote; he could not even locate it!
"I'm not looking anymore. I'm not looking anymore. I'll do as you say," Su Xiuxing said meekly.
"Don't look so miserable," Jiang Chen said, pretending to be displeased. "Since you came to take my life, isn't it only reasonable for you to sell your life to me once?"
"Reasonable. Very reasonable." Su Xiuxing forced a smile that looked worse than crying.
Jiang Chen was in an excellent mood after effortlessly acquiring a Heaven-Piercing realm fighter.
"Go find Steward Hu and have him arrange a place for you to stay. Tell him I sent you. As for what you do next, wait for my orders." Jiang Chen tossed his dagger back to him. "Take your weapon."
Su Xiuxing caught the dagger and opened his mouth. "My talismans..."
When he saw Jiang Chen's eyes narrow, he quickly changed what he was going to say. "My obedience will definitely satisfy you!"
...
Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen, you never used to extort people.
How could you learn that from that fat Chongxuan Sheng?
You must never do this again.
Jiang Chen sighed inwardly.
But the feeling of extortion... really was delightful.
Self-reproach aside, Jiang Chen truly felt no guilt about how he had treated Su Xiuxing.
Those who kill others will always be killed in turn.
Every assassin should be prepared to die.
The main reason Jiang Chen had not killed Su Xiuxing was that he did not consider the man much of a threat. The secondary reason was that he needed manpower. As for his interesting personality and the like, those were all minor details.
He entered the Ethereal Realm, dumped all of Su Xiuxing's chaotic cultivation arts onto the Deduction Platform, and received twenty-five merit points in return.
"Just as I thought. Ordinary stuff like this yields very little."
He now had a total of four hundred and twenty-eight merit points. The thousand merit points required to unlock the third layer of the Deduction Platform were still a long way off.
Jiang Chen withdrew his mind, sat cross-legged, and cultivated. Nothing happened throughout the night.
Early the next morning, Zhang Hai returned. With the incentive of Dao Essence Stones, he had become much more enthusiastic.
He brought back bad news.
"That Li's Stuffed-Pastry Shop you mentioned had already closed yesterday. I pried open the door and went inside, but there wasn't a single person in the room. I asked the neighbors, and none of them knew where Old Li had gone."
"Old Li has disappeared?"
On the surface, that lead had gone cold.
The other lead was naturally the assassin organization, the Tower of All Under Heaven.
Jiang Chen had already learned from Su Xiuxing, an assassin with no principles whatsoever, that the Tower's headquarters was in Cangfeng City, in another part of the State of Yang.
The assassin organization was indeed very small. Its tower master was only a Soaring Dragon realm cultivator. Jiang Chen was not necessarily afraid of it.
It was just that a round trip from Jiacheng would probably take half a month.
But...
Leaving aside whether the Tower of All Under Heaven had more detailed information about the employer, just considering Jiacheng itself, whoever had hired someone to kill him, whatever the reason, had to be connected to the Azure Stone vein he was handling.
At a time like this, leaving the Hu family mine would be foolish.
No matter who his hidden opponent was, Jiang Chen had no intention of playing detective with them. As the local power, they could erase any traces far too easily.
If he went looking for Old Li himself with murderous intent, he would only let others lead him by the nose and would never find his way back.
So Jiang Chen held on to one key point: someone wanted to force him to give up the Hu family mine, and he would plant himself firmly right here.
No matter how dazzling your tricks are, I will break through them with one punch.
Just as in a clash between two armies, the most important thing was not to counter every move, but to hold on to one's fundamental position.
Jiang Chen was speaking with Zhang Hai when Shuanzi came over to report.
"Master Jiang, Young Master Xi has brought several people here tied up. He says he has come to apologize to you."
"Which Young Master Xi?"
"Young Master Xi Zichu of Jiacheng."
"Who did he tie up?"
Shuanzi moved closer and lowered his voice. "The steward says they're all the heads of Jiacheng's smaller families."
Hu Shaomeng of the Sea-Fishing Tower, the Chongxuan clansman who had transported the Dao Essence Stones, the assassin Su Xiuxing, and Jiacheng's young master Xi Zichu... at this tiny mine, people had come and gone one after another as if through a revolving door.
He had tied people up and brought them here. What was he planning?
Jiang Chen smacked his lips and smiled. "This mine has certainly been lively these past few days. Every kind of demon and spirit has come knocking."
He led the way outside. "Come with me and let's see what this is about."