Chapter 693 "Least threatening"

Chapter 693 "Least threatening"

"He sure takes his time", Madam Liang spoke, puffing a cloud of herbal smoke into the air, reclining on a not-so-comfortable sofa of the small room they were escorted to.

"Well, he doesn't know who he's meeting", Zhao Xieren smiled, quite accurately gauging the expectations of the man they were about to meet.

"That makes sense", Liang Yuhan drew on her smoking pipe once more, narrowing her eyes in thought, and then turning to Wu Long "Still, for such a careful approach at first, you sure came openly"

"We had two debilitating factors before. Lack of information, and the lack of manpower who could move", Wu Long shrugged his shoulders.

While he was still cautious even now that those factors were mitigated, it did not mean he had to be afraid to make any moves at all.

"Speaking of information, do we know who that man was working for?" Madam Liang spoke remembering the man who so generously shared his knowledge with them.

"Mm, they're called the Ember Palm Pavilion, it is one of the larger Sects around these regions of the Boundless World, which is likely to be one of the contenders for dominance over this place", Wu Long nodded.

The emerald green eyes of the beauty widened at his answer.

"That Celestial Fox sure is powerful...", she spoke with a hint of being slightly dumbfounded.

"Isn't that something you can do as well?" Zhao Xieren asked with a bit of surprise at that reaction. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Liang Yuhan chuckled with a bit of self-deprecation, "Not at all, at least not in that short of a time and definitely not when the target is in captivity. Things you want to hide are very sensitive, and thus naturally heighten alertness when probed even on the subconscious level. It might be not a problem to get superficial information from a man with illusions, but to get anything related to such sensitive topics is a tall order"

"Don't be too hard on yourself", Wu Long interjected with a smile, "Fen Baihu's powers are uniquely predisposed in this regard, and thus even in her current weakened state she can extract such things with relative ease. She just has to let that man believe that everything goes as he wants it to go"

"Hah, by now he probably believes that he's already back in his organization", Liang Yuhan chuckled, shaking her head.

"He's coming", Wu Long turned to the door, through which Yu Zhen came in after a few minutes.

The Sect Elder's gaze carefully studied his visitors, quite surprised to see two Transcendents, who seemingly were not belonging to any main faction. The beauty of the lady with the smoking pipe momentarily stunned him, but he quickly gathered himself by reminding himself of the circumstances.

"I assume you are the one named Wu Long", he then turned to Zhao Xieren, assuming the owner of the only name he heard would have the highest cultivation.

"Not to mention that the seal is overseen by guardians", Yu Zhen nodded, already slightly regretting prolonging this conversation.

"Who said we'll be tampering with the Seal in any way?", Zhao Xieren shrugged his shoulders.

"You mean..."

"We only need other people to think that there is value in that World Stone. After the revival of this one, it would be easy to believe the other one is reviving too", Old Man nodded with a smile, a light laughter in his tone.

"But... how does that give us advantage?", Yu Zhen made a confused expression.

"Because we know which target is real, while the attention of everyone else would be divided. Besides, if you create an alliance with the Tiebi Mountain Sect that already holds the World Stone within their territory you will effectively be in a dominant position because of the mutually protective alliance. In fact it is the alliance that this old man wanted to propose to you and then broker it with the other side" Old Man Zhao chuckled, causing both Yu Zhen and Yi Pong behind him to lower their heads in thought.

Wu Long did not miss the former, giving a quick inquiring look to the latter behind him, who was more cautious and still shook his head.

Yu Zhen locked his hands under his nose in a pondering pose, visibly hesitating. This old man was awfully forthcoming about the plan he had, but not on any specifics.

"And what is your benefit in all this?", Yi Pong narrowed his eyes.

"The Soaring Feather Trading Group whose interests I currently represent will be the main trading partner of the alliance ", Zhao Xieren chuckled.

'Hah! A merchant', Yu Zhen thought to himself slightly relaxing, while Yi Pong became even more cautious.

"That is all for today then", Zhao Xieren then abruptly stood up followed by both Wu Long and Liang Yuhan, adding "This is no matter where you can be hasty, so there's not much we can discuss now. This old man will come back in two weeks to hear your answer"

The group bid their farewells, leaving Yu Zhen alone with Yi Pong.

A heavy silence hang in the air for some time, before Yu Zhen finally broke it, "What do you think?"

"I don't trust them, especially them being merchants. That old man's behavior and mannerisms are those of someone with authority, the lady is too provocative, to the point you might accidentally dismiss her as not important and thus stop paying attention to what she is doing, and the young man... is dangerous"

"Dangerous? He's the least threatening of the three?", Yu Zhen raised his eyebrow.

"Call it intuition", Yi Pong shrugged his shoulders, not sure how to explain the feeling of dread he felt from Wu Long.

Hehe ^^