Chapter 337: Parasites

"Young Master, you're back," greeted Li Cang with a bow in front of the cave-dwelling inside the courtyard.

Looking at Li Cang, Fang Chen smiled and remarked, "Your martial cultivation has improved.”

Li Cang was secretly shocked. His young master had such keen perception despite being blind, he didn’t expect that.

"I was able to buy Qi Condensing Pills thanks to the spirit stones you’ve bestowed me, Young Master. They helped me improve my martial cultivation a lot," replied Li Cang respectfully.

Fang Chen nodded lightly.

After returning to his quiet room, his divine soul left his body and returned to the Immortal Origin District. It went straight to the Jade River Pavilion.

The young man Fan Chen had seen earlier might’ve seemed only at the Qi Refining Realm on the surface, but he was actually at the Foundation Building Realm. He had a treasure that hid his aura so well that even Golden Core Realm experts might find it difficult to see through it. If it weren't for Fang Chen's extraordinary divine soul, he wouldn't have been able to detect it.

Since this person was masking his cultivation, then he had to have a hidden agenda.

Inside the Jade River Pavilion, the young man was standing quietly in front of a row of Immortal Origin Stones. There were several young attendats standing behind him.

"Young Master, the Immortal Origins brought this time are of excellent quality. They will surely fetch a good price," said one of the young servants, chuckling softly.

The young master smiled. "Remember, the price at which Immortal Origins can be sold depends not only on their quality but also on the stories behind them. This is one of the reasons our Jade River Pavilion's business has always been prosperous. Think carefully. I want you to spin a nice tale for these Immortal Origin Stones.”

The young servants nodded immediately, their minds already starting to concoct stories.

Fang Chen couldn't help but smile, then he focused and appraised one of the Immortal Origins. The feeling he had felt before surged again, and as a tenth of his soul energy was consumed, the Immortal Origin Stone in front of him turned transparent. However, he didn’t witness any phenomena. The Immortal Origin Stone was empty.

It was then that a servant came slowly and bowed the young man, then said, "Young Master, Lord Jue has arrived.”

The young man nodded lightly. "Please escort him to the tea room.”

Shortly after, the young man arrived at a tea room. When Jue Wudi spotted him, he raised his eyelids slightly and said, "I heard that someone opened a mid-grade spirit stone in the district?"

"That's right," said the young man, sitting down opposite to Jue Wudi, smiling lightly.

Jue Wudi smiled. "It's really a stroke of luck."

The young man couldn't help but laugh. "It indeed is luck. He opened up an Immortal Origin Stone worth a single low-grade spirit stone to get it. That Immortal Origin hadn’t been sold for several years. Who would’ve thought that it held a mid-grade spirit stone.”

The two talked for a while, and then Jue Wudi suddenly said, "I've been receiving fewer pills lately. I need a lot of pills to advance to the mid-stage of Foundation Building Realm."

"You know that Blood Spirit Pills are not easy to refine. If you want more pills, you need to have remarkable achievements," said the young man lightly.

Fang Chen’s eyes turned cold when he heard their conversation.

These guys were cultivators of the Spirit Blood Sect!

Jue Wudi sneered and said, "My achievements are not enough? Who caused the war between Grand Qian and Grand Wei? In that battle, thirty million mortals died, and we refined a total of three hundred Blood Spirit Pills because of it.”

“That was why I gave you twenty Blood Spirit Pills back then! That was how you made rapid progress and became the most eye-catching genius of the Jue Family," said the young man. "The Spirit Blood Sect has never treated you unfairly. You know very well what kind of talent you had and what kind of position you held in the Jue Family before you joined the sect.”

Jue Wudi frowned. "Tell me, what do I need to do in order to get more Blood Spirit Pills?"

"In two and half months, the trade conference will begin, and both the imperial family as well as the Dongfang Clan, which is the strongest family of Grand Wei, will definitely be attending. I want you to kill the young master of the Dongfang Clan. Once that happens, a massive war between these empires is inevitable. At least hundreds of millions will die before the matter comes to rest,” said the young man with half a smile.

Jue Wudi took a sharp breath.

Hundreds of millions of lives?

His expression changed, and he finally said in a low voice, "It's impossible for the war to be so devastating. The Azure Cloud Empire will intervene."

"You don't need to worry about the Azure Cloud Empire. There are people who will delay their involvement. By the time the Azure Cloud Empire intervenes, the war will already be over," said the young man.

Jue Wudi fell silent for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Alright, I will take action when the time comes, but I can't guarantee whether I can kill the young master of the Dongfang Clan or not."

The young man immediately smiled. "Just having your word is enough reassurance for me." Pausing slightly, the young man asked, "What do you think of that person who has just returned to the Fang Family?"

"He’s not a simple guy...." said Jue Wudi softly.

"Indeed. He just arrived in the capital and he has sold over a hundred Purple Lightning Talismans. He also opened a mid-grade spirit stone. I don't quite think this was pure luck," said the young man with a smile. "You should pay attention to him when you have the time, or perhaps get Fang Lingxing to test him," said the young man. “That woman is extremely obsessed with you. She’ll do whatever you say.”

"I will talk to her." Jue Wudi nodded. He paused for a moment then said, "The Jue Family has two guests. They’re claiming that their ancestors had some connections with the Jue Family. Our ancestor seems to attach great importance to these two individuals. Should I have someone investigate them?"

Fang Chen's eyes flickered.

So it turned out to be the Jue Family.

Jiang Zhong had once mentioned that there was a prominent family within the Grand Qian Empire that had once served the Jiang family as slaves. Now, it seemed clear that they were from the Jue Family.

Fang Chen couldn't help shaking his head.

They’re jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

These two had been chased around back in the Flame Empire by Spirit Blood Sect cultivators, and now they were attracting the attention of the Jue Family in the Grand Qian Empire.

Fortunately, it seemed that Jue Wudi was in the dark regarding their identities, so there shouldn’t be any immediate danger for the two.

"Your Jue Family existed for many years, so it's normal to have some friends from previous generations. There's no need to investigate," said the young man.”

"I'm was just casually mentioning it to you, no other intentions. I'll take my leave now," said Jue Wudi.

The young man nodded slightly. "Go ahead."

On his way out, Jue Wudi mumbled to himself, "After I complete this mission, I’ll probably have accumulated enough achievements to apply for a promotion to the mid-stage Foundation Building Realm.”

In the quiet room, Fang Chen slowly opened his eyes.

The young master of the Jade River Pavilion was a Spirit Blood Sect cultivator. Did that mean that the Jade River Pavilion was somehow connected to the Spirit Blood Sect? He definitely needed to look into this.

But what he could be certain of was that both the young master of the Jade River Pavilion and Jue Wudi were cultivators of the Spirit Blood Sect.

There were countless cultivators in the capital city of Grand Qian, and aside from those two, no one knew if there were any other Spirit Blood Sect cultivators hiding.

Now that he had come to know of their plan, Fang Chen was already brewing a plan of his own.

Since they wanted to assassinate the young master of the Dongfang Clan at the trade conference, it meant that this event would significantly impact the tensions between the two countries and could lead to war.

His goal was to disrupt their plans by ensuring the safety of the Dongfang Clan's young master.

Fang Chen's eyes flashed with a cold smile. "I'll carefully uncover how many 'parasites' are hidden in the imperial capital when the time comes.”

One could imagine that similar conversations had to have taken place in the past within the Grand Xia Empire, too, where a few words decided the life and death of hundreds of thousands of Grand Xia soldiers.