Chapter 71: Confrontation

After completing the transaction, Su Chen didn’t stay any longer. He quickly handed over command to Tang Ming, Zhou Juanjia, and the others. Then, he left the Third River Army behind and hurried back to Clear River City.

Before he left, he didn’t forget to find Tang Ming and ask him for a vial of blood to research, causing Tang Ming to grumble unhappily.

He hurried back to Clear River City under the cover of night. At this point, the sky had yet to brighten, and Clear River City was still quiet and restful.

However, Su Chen knew that this peace and quiet probably wasn’t going to last for much longer.

He didn’t do anything else. Instead, he headed back to the Su Palace to rest.

The next morning, Su Chen was still sleeping when he heard the low ringing of a bell coming from the direction of the docks.

That bell represented failure and mourning, implying that a massive loss had just been sustained.

When he heard the sound of this bell, a trace of a smile appeared on Su Chen’s face.

He knew that the notice had finally been delivered.

He turned over and then went back to sleep.

Two hours later, Mingshu came and knocked on the door.

“Sir Daiyang requests to see you.”

“Let him wait in the guest hall for a bit.”

A moment later, Su Chen emerged. A young Confucian Scholar was standing in the guest hall; it was An Siyuan’s servant, Lu Yiyang.

When he saw Su Chen, Lu Yiyang raised his hands and bowed in greeting. “Yiyang greets Knowledge Executor Su.”

“Sir Lu is courteous. For what reason have you suddenly come here today?” Su Chen invited Lu Yiyang to sit, then motioned for Mingshu to pour some tea.

Lu Yiyang laughed, “Actually, Sir Su, you should know why I’m here.”

Su Chen pushed the dregs of tea leaves in his cup and said, “Sir Lu, I’m a bit confused by what you could mean.”

“If Knowledge Executor Su doesn’t know, then I will just say it. Last night, a fleet of commerce ships belonging to the Clear River Alliance was robbed.”

“Oh?” Su Chen remained expressionless. “Is that really so strange? Lingyuan Marsh is filled with pirates that roam there, and commerce ships are always being robbed. Is that so strange?”

“But this is the first time that boats attached to the alliance have been robbed.”

“So what?” Su Chen raised his head and looked at Lu Yiyang.

Lu Yiyang laughed, “Nothing much, really. I’m just worried that there are going to be a lot of people who think that you had a hand in it. I am just under the City Lord’s orders to come and check in first. There will probably be some others who are going to come and pay you a visit later.”

When he heard this, Su Chen finally retracted his playful expression and asked, “What did the City Lord say?”

“Just like everything else that Knowledge Executor Su has done previously, you cannot admit to it.”

“I’m afraid that even if I don’t admit to doing it, they’ll think that I was the one who did it anyway.”

“I trust that Knowledge Executor Su has your own way of dealing with it,” Lu Yiyang said.

“Mhm,” Su Chen said calmly as he played with the dregs of tea leaves. “These next few days, I will appear publicly a number of times. After a few days, when the robbery occurs again, there naturally will be evidence that I was not present at the robbery.”

“That’s one way to do it. Even though they might not believe you...... But why do you need them to believe you? As long as you can get away with it, that’s good enough. But Sir Su, if you aren’t there, do you still trust those people to take care of things?”

“You can let the City Lord know that I have some friends who I can trust.”

“Alright! Then I will say goodbye for now.”

Having obtained the answer he needed, Lu Yiyang didn’t waste anymore words and took his leave.

Lu Yiyang had just left when Chief Steward Lao came to visit.

Of course, he was not representing the Lian Clan this time but all ten Bloodline Nobility Clans.

The Lian Clan was one of the first clans to get into it with Su Chen, but because of the peace negotiations afterward, the Lian Clan had never made any more trouble for Su Chen. Furthermore, Chief Steward Lao knew what he was doing, so Su Chen’s relationship with the Lian Clan was actually decent.

After the robbery happened, all of the Bloodline Nobility Clans wanted to find Su Chen immediately, but they discovered after a long time that Chief Steward Lao was the most suitable.

After Chief Steward Lao came, they began to talk.

First, Chief Steward Lao expressed his “cordial greetings” on behalf of the Bloodline Nobility Clan alliance, then brought up his own thoughts on the matter involving the Lingyuan pirates. Su Chen cooperated by expressing his “shock” and extreme unhappiness over the Lingyuan Disaster. He believed that the Lingyuan Disaster was a big issue and that everyone needed to unite to deal with it. Finally, both sides reached a mutual agreement on what to do regarding the pirate attacks; they agreed to strengthen their mutual efforts to wipe out the pirates before Chief Steward Lao bid farewell. Su Chen saw him out personally, demonstrating that this was a successful discussion.

Of course, as soon as he left the Su Palace, Chief Steward Lao’s expression collapsed.

After sending Chief Steward Lao away, people from the Origin Bureau arrived.

Xing Shabei wanted to see him.

When he arrived at the Origin Bureau, Xing Shabei sat on his high seat, his expression gloomy.

When he saw Su Chen, he said directly, “Knowledge Executor Su! You seem to be quite free these days.”

Xing Shabei was used to being bossy, and he had no interest in beating around the bush. He made an accusation right off the bat; evidently, he had already made up his mind that Su Chen was responsible for robbing the fleet.

Unfortunately, Su Chen wasn’t a pushover. He didn’t even look up as he said, “You wanted to see me just to ask me how I was doing?”

These words were extremely infuriating. Xing Shabei almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

He stared at Su Chen and said, “Su Chen, you......”

Su Chen raised his hand. “Let’s not beat around the bush. I have a lot that I need to do every day. A lot of people have already come looking for me today, so I already know what you want to say. I’ll answer you directly – I have nothing to do with the robbery of the alliance fleet. I’ll just say that. Whether you believe me or not is up to you.

As he spoke, Su Chen began to walk out.

“Su Chen!” Xing Shabei slammed the table. “Do you really think that you can act outside of the law after doing something like this?”

Su Chen turned around and glanced at Xing Shabei. “Act outside of the law? Well said! These past years, the Bloodline Nobility Clans have been cooperating with pirates to monopolize the waterways and resources without paying any taxes. Not only that, but they have also roped in criminal gangs and damaged this city. Do they really think they can act outside of the law?”

Xing Shabei stared angrily at Su Chen. Su Chen stared back at him impolitely. Sparks flew as they glared at each other confrontationally.

After a moment, Xing Shabei laughed dryly, “Good, good, brat! You’ve got some guts! I want to see how long you can act so arrogantly for.”

“It will be longer than you can,” Su Chen answered as he continued to walk out of the Origin Bureau.

As Xing Shabei watched him leave, he suddenly yelled, “Su Chen, the Blood-Robed Guards and the Hero’s Medal won’t be able to protect you forever! If you push someone too far, they might not even need too many people – a single expert might be enough to completely wipe you off the surface of this world!”

Su Chen paused for a moment, but he didn’t say anything in the end and left.

However, the killing intent in his heart only grew stronger.

He originally didn’t have any feelings about Xing Shabei, but now it looked like he was getting more and more annoying.

Perhaps it would be good to think of a way to get rid of him; otherwise, having this Origin Bureau Head always handicapping him was always going to be a bother.

On the other side, however, Xing Shabei’s words gave him a warning.

He knew what Xing Shabei was getting at.

If he really pushed the ten Bloodline Nobility Clans too far, it wasn’t impossible for them to kill him as long as they were willing to pay a price.

A Light Shaking Realm cultivator could take care of everything.

Perhaps...... I should start making preparations for that, Su Chen thought to himself.