After absorbing the Battle Qi, Green’s injuries were miraculously improving. He opened his eyes and saw Meirin. She stood before him with a worried expression and he couldn’t help but chuckle slightly. “Good stuff. The injuries are completely cured.”
Meirin and the others couldn’t help but be relieved. At the same time, Meirin asked, “Are you really fine? But your meridians had been injured,”
Green nodded his head and said, “I’m fine, really. This Magic Peach is really amazing. It seems we will have to save a few for our own use.”
Zhao Hai couldn’t help but laugh. Green stood up from the bed, looked at the crowd, and questioned, “Master, how are the arrangements for the slaves? Now that they are back in the space, I fear some of them won’t be that used to it.”
Zhao Hai nodded. The slaves had been used to life outside of the space where they had their own rooms along with their own meager possessions that they cherished a lot. Since they have returned to the space, they were somewhat sad.
Green said with a cold voice, “Purcell clan, you all just wait. Sooner or later, what you had given us, we will certainly return it.”
Zhao Hai also had an expression of hatred. This time, the Purcell clan really went too far. They even requested a Rank Nine expert to deal with them and they wanted to exterminate them all.
* * * * *
What the group didn’t know was that presently, the Purcell clan was more worried than them, especially Kaiser. Kaiser absolutely did not expect that even after he asked a Rank Nine expert, Green could still escape. If Buffy killed Green this time, then he could say it was fortunate. If they couldn’t kill Green, it would be very troublesome for the Purcell clan.
Although Buffy said he had injured Green, and that it was possible that Green wouldn’t make it back to Rank Eight, there was still Meirin who was also a Rank Eight water magician.
If Meirin came to confront the Purcell clan from the front, then they were not afraid. But they were afraid that Meirin would attack them from behind. The Purcell clan had a lot of business within the continent. Each year, they would send caravans along with some of the juniors of the clan to allow them to try and gain some experience. If Meirin wanted revenge, then she could retaliate and get rid of those people. Their losses would be big as they couldn’t just let a Rank Eight expert follow and protect all these people. After all, they didn’t have that many Rank Eight experts.
Kaiser felt sick as this was the plan he had put forward. Now, his plan could be regarded as a half-failure. If Buffy could also kill Meirin, then that was better. Otherwise, his plan would fail completely.
* * * * *
Buffy also felt that things were complicated. After he arrived at Fort Iron Mountain, he found out that there was no one there. He moved to search the surroundings of Iron Mountain, but still wasn’t able to find anyone, which made Buffy feel strange.
Rank Nine experts also had a weakness. That is, whenever they went somewhere, they liked to use their own divine sense1 to survey the place.
Divine sense was a unique ability used by Rank Nine experts, whether they were a warrior or a magician. Once practitioners reached the Rank Nine, they would gain divine sense. Before reaching Rank Nine, most practitioners could only achieve spiritual sense2 that could be used to observe and detect something inside their own bodies. A Rank Nine expert warrior could use their divine sense to cover a radius of one kilometer. Rank Nine magicians, however, usually had a stronger spirit than warriors. Their divine sense could cover a radius of up to three kilometers.
Upon Buffy’s arrival at Fort Iron Mountain, he had used his divine sense to investigate Iron Mountain and it had resulted in him not finding anyone. He even went inside Fort Iron Mountain and searched, but he really didn’t find anyone there.
If one were a mercenary, then you could have observed details such as the thickness of dust within Fort Iron Mountain to check if someone had just recently left. Buffy, however, couldn’t use such knowledge for this situation. If you wondered about his lifelong experience of murdering people, everything he knew about the person he was tasked to murder and their detailed information would already be provided. All he had to do was go to their door, kill the person, and then clean it up. This time however, he really didn’t know anything. He just took a glance through Fort Iron Mountain and found there was nobody there, so he flew towards Iron Mountain to search there.
He certainly wasn’t like others. As he flew, he searched Iron Mountain bit by bit while using his divine sense. In the end he still found no one as he flew by. Still, he hadn’t flown past the canyon where the corn was planted. Even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to recognize them.
Since Zhao Hai hadn’t been found, Buffy decided to turn and fly back instead of going to the Carrion Swamp to explore. Although Buffy didn’t care about the world, he was still loyal to the Purcell clan. Since he didn’t found Zhao Hai, he planned to return and tell the clan about it.
Even though Zhao Hai knew that Buffy had already left, he didn’t dare go out of the space. They didn’t know if Buffy was still around Fort Iron Mountain. If Buffy was still there and they went out, then they would be exposed. Therefore, Zhao Hai decided to stay longer within the space.
Also, Zhao Hai’s food transaction with the Purcell clan hadn’t been stopped and he hadn’t raised the prices. He was very clear that it was not the right time to increase the price. If they increased the price, then Purcell clan would try and retaliate. Though he wasn’t afraid of them, this was not the case for Laura. In order to not get Laura into trouble, they decided to continue their normal trading with the Purcell clan.
Kaiser’s mood wasn’t good as he sat within his office. Papers just lay on the table since he wasn’t in the mood to manage them.
Yesterday, he had planned everything properly. As long as Buffy killed Green with one strike, he could then send Rank Eight experts to the Black Waste and kill Meirin which would then settle this entire matter. He would then gain the support of most of the centrist elders, greatly stabilizing his position as the First Elder.
However, he hadn’t ever thought that Green would actually have an ancient magic tool which he could use to unexpectedly escape. Although he hadn’t heard of anyone using such ancient magic tools, since Buffy said it was so then it should be the truth. He could only hope that Buffy would be able to successfully find Meirin and kill them all. This would likely help him recover from the setback.
Kaiser sat spellbound, looking forward for Buffy to come back quickly to give him the news. This was because he felt that the Second and Third Elders had changed their looks towards him after Green escaped.
Kaiser understood what their gazes meant. The Second and Third Elders were waiting for him to make a mistake. If Buffy wasn’t able to destroy the Buda clan this time, then his good old days would be coming to an end.
With these thoughts, Kaiser couldn’t help but become irritable. He loudly called, “Lani, come here.”
Lani, who was outside, froze for a moment, but still immediately went to Kaiser and bowed. “Great Elder, what are your orders?”
Kaiser looked at Lani’s graceful figure that was hidden within her magic robes. He spoke with eyes full of desire, “Come here.”
Lani hadn’t been following Kaiser for a day of two, so she understood Kaiser’s meaning. Looking at Kaiser’s expression, she knew what he wanted to do. She wasn’t afraid, but instead gave a charming smile back3.
* * * * *
In the eyes of outsiders, on this day, the Purcell clan seemed just normal. However, the people within the clan actually understood that this was just the calm before the storm. Everyone was waiting for Buffy. If Buffy was successful, then there wouldn’t be any big happenings inside the Purcell clan. If Buffy failed, then it would be a huge storm blowing towards the Purcell clan. People there feared that there would be a necessary reshuffling of ranks.
Everyone in the Purcell clan waited for the news, while the other major forces in Casa City also sent messages to the Purcell clan members to inquire about any changes. They were all waiting for Buffy’s news.
Don’t underestimate the power of the other respected and large clans. They had placed spies in the Purcell clan, so as soon as an important matter happened in the Purcell clan, they would know of it and word will spread all over the continent. Even the high officials wouldn’t be spared from this.
This only meant that even if you were in a high position, you wouldn’t have any privacy. Of course, these words were only relative to other high ranking people and it would be impossible for the commoners to know about these matters that involved the senior officials.
Laura was among such forces. Laura now sat in her study, frowning. Nier4 was standing behind her as usual while Quinn John sat opposite of her, also frowning. The three of them didn’t say anything.
After some time, Laura loudly called, “Messenger.”
A servant who stood outside the room immediately came, bowing to Laura and asked, ”What are your orders, Young Lady?”
Laura said, “Are there any new reports about the Purcell clan?”
The servant bowed and said, “There has been no news yet as Buffy still hadn’t returned.”
Laura nodded and the servant bowed while retreating. Turning her head, Laura asked Quinn John, “Grandpa Quinn John, what do you presume the Purcell clan members are thinking? Why did they come up with such a thing this time around? This will affect our plans.”
Quinn John smiled bitterly and said, “What else but the pride of those great nobles as well as the extravagant actions of these aristocrats. The matter between the Purcell clan and the Buda clan is well known throughout the continent. This time, I heard that the head servant of the Buda clan is already a Peak Rank Eight. If someday he breaks through, it will be very troublesome with regards to the Purcell clan. Therefore, they went and looked for an excuse to kill the opposite party, but they hadn’t thought that their opponents would possess an ancient magic tool. This allowing them to escape. If Buffy is successful this time, then all the better. However, if he failed then the Purcell clan would have to live with it. As such, our plans will be affected.“
Laura stood up agitated. “These fellows are really… the Buda clan had already met with misfortune, and now they added insult to injury. They broke the engagement and made it so that they can extinguish them, which created so much trouble. If because of this matter, a civil war starts with the Purcell clan, then along with the issue of grain production, the large firms will certainly mobilise. I fear that food prices won’t be stable for long. ”
Quinn John smiled bitterly. “For now, we can only wait. If Buffy’s operation is successful, then everything is fine. If it is not successful, we have to think of a way. Oh, right. Young Lady, I think we should go and greet Mr. Zhao Hai ahead of time?”
Laura shook her head and said, “We should first wait for the exact news from the Purcell clan. Anyway, no matter what, this issue won’t affect Mr. Zhao Hai.”
Quinn John sighed and said, “I feel sorry for the Buda clan. This time, I fear they won’t be able to escape this difficult situation. After all, Buffy is a Rank Nine expert.”
Notes:
- This chapter was MTL'ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.
- Please support the author if you love this novel.
- Please check out the Editor's footnotes, thanks.
1 神识 - Shén shí. Shén (神) can mean deity, god, spirit. Shí (识) can mean knowledge, recognition, understanding. As such, I decided to use 神识 as divine sense since divine knowledge just didn’t work in terms of imagery and wording. ↩
2 If you look up top, 神 can also mean spirit. Since people below Rank Nine can use this as well, but they aren’t termed Deities, it made more sense to convert it to Spiritual Sense. So Deities use Divine Sense while non-deities use Spiritual Sense, yet the words are basically the same… It just depends on who is using it.↩
3 *vomit action* I was expecting it, but… sigh.↩
4 Again, all previous incarnations of Near will be changed to Nier. Thanks to commenter Jinx for bringing up the desire to see that change. I was going for either Nier, or Neer, but Near was fine too.