Chapter 235: Yang Zhao is Dead?
The honored tutor couldn’t help but sigh internally when he saw Elder Iron jeer and taunt in that manner. It was such a shame that the Precious Tree Sect had such a elder like him.
That a vaunted senior executive of a sect would lose his composure this way in a mundane kingdom and lose so much face to a young man, Elder Iron was quite a unique character alright.
In comparison, Jiang Chen had remained the same throughout in maintaining his cool composure.
Elder Iron looked like he was wasting his years of experience in contrast.
When Elder Iron noticed Jiang Chen’s noncommittal posture, directionless rage surged in his heart. The calmer Jiang Chen was, the greater of a provocation that appeared in Elder Iron’s eyes.
You’re just a brat who still reeks of your mother’s milk. What right do you have to act like you’re above others in front of me?
Elder Iron stared viciously at Jiang Chen, “Jiang Chen, don’t you think you can relax after escaping today. Yang Zhao isn’t Lu Wuji!”
Yang Xiaoqian also bit off her words, “My brother won’t let you off the hook for killing my nephew! Jiang Chen, you best pray that you don’t end up in our hands! We’ll have you begging for death but denying you mercy!”
Jiang Chen smiled faintly, “Yang Zhao? I hope he has the chance to do so in his next life.”
“What did you say?” Elder Iron’s eyes narrowed into slits.
Yang Xiaoqian started laughing coldly, “Have you gone crazy that you actually want to fight my brother? You want to go against a spirit realm expert with just that bit of training? Don’t you think…”
A figure shot up from below before Yang Xiaoqian had a chance to finish her words.
The person was the third director of the Dragonteeth Guard, Qi Tiannan. Panic was written all over his face, as if the sky was caving in and like he’d seen a ghost.
He hurriedly walked up to Shangguan Yi, “General director, something has gone terribly wrong. Vice director Yang, he… he…”
Shangguan Yi’s face grew frosty. “What has he done now?”
His first thought was that Yang Zhao had rebelled against the Dragonteeth Guard.
Qi Tiannan’s expression was like he’s seen a ghost. “He’s… he’s dead, and he died a gruesome death at that!”
“What?!”
Elder Iron and Yang Xiaoqian’s faces abruptly changed drastically.
Elder Iron was even more agitated as he shot over and clutched Qi Tiannan’s chest, screaming out of control with a wild expression, “What did you say? What did you just say?! Say that again!”
With Elder Iron holding him with a death grip, it was a given that Qi Tiannan was unable to move even a muscle.
Yang Xiaoqian also squirmed over as anxiety was written all over her beautiful face. “What did you just say? What happened to my brother?”
Qi Tiannan had a wry expression written all over his face. His teeth were almost chattering as he looked at Elder Iron and Yang Xiaoqian’s vicious expressions. He was afraid that Elder Iron would beat him to death for speaking the slightest wrong word.
Shangguan Yi snorted, “Elder Iron, let go of vice director Qi before you ask your questions. Your behavior is unfitting of your status!”
Elder Iron’s tone and expression was ugly as he roared, “Shangguan Yi, shut your blathering mouth! If anything has happened to Yang Zhao, you’re also an accomplice!”
Shangguan Yi had finally snapped; he could no longer tolerate this unreasonable fellow any longer. “Elder Iron, I could only endure in silence when you threw your weight around arrogantly because you have a much bigger backer than me. But if you’re going to slander and frame me, you’ll find that I, Shangguan Yi, am not a pig or a dog for you to slaughter so freely!”
“What, do you want to rebel against me?” A cruel light dawned in Elder Iron’s eyes.
Shangguan Yi wasn’t afraid in the slightest, “Elder Iron, all things have their limits, don’t drive others too hard.”
Elder Iron was about to really erupt when Yang Xiaoqian glanced at Ye Chonglou and saw that he was hinting Shangguan Yi to not be impulsive.
“Iron dear, let go of him first. Let’s decide what to do after we get some answers.”
Elder Iron snorted and loosened his grasp, shouting, “Just what happened? Describe everything in detail and don’t leave out a single crucial bit!”
Qi Tiannan’s face was ashen as he stammered and spoke slowly, “This was what happened. Vice director Yang came to the headquarters this morning and summoned a few generals for a private conversation. Anyways, the generals came out but the vice director stayed within the secret room. He said he wanted some time to himself and think about some things. But then both Xin Wudao and Qi Fengxian were killed, causing a large disturbance. Some of the men were in a hurry to report in, but the vice director wouldn’t open the door no matter how they knocked. Finally, a vice general worked up the courage to open the door and discovered…”
“Discovered what?” Yang Xiaoqian’s voice was a bit panicked.
“We discovered that the vice director was lying in a pool of blood. It looked like something had nibbled all over his body and his face was destroyed. Apart from the head, almost everywhere else was nibbled down to the bones. We could only identify him through his head, his clothing, and some personal items…”
“How is that possible?” Yang Xiaoqian’s expression changed drastically. She covered her ears with both hands as she cried out hoarsely, “This is impossible! My brother is a earth spirit realm practitioner. Exactly who in the Skylaurel Kingdom would be able to kill him? You must’ve been mistaken!”
Elder Iron also shook his head. “Right, you must be mistaken. Xiaoqian, come, we’ll go take a look ourselves!”
He turned back and glared viciously at Jiang Chen, “Jiang Chen, you’ll be the enemy of my Iron family if you’re behind this! We won’t be able to live under the same sky and this will never be resolved unless one side dies!”
Jiang Chen smiled faintly as he was completely unmoved by Elder Iron’s threats. This elder had long since had a bone deep hatred of him, even without Yang Zhao’s matter.
Shangguan Yi didn’t know whether to be happy or sad when he suddenly heard this news.
Generally speaking, Yang Zhao’s confederates would naturally flee in all directions with his death and become a pile of scattered sand from henceforth. This great power within the Dragonteeth Guard would be thoroughly dissolved, just like this.
This was definitely a good matter for Shangguan Yi as it meant that he had exterminated this tumor without expending a single soldier.
This was the good aspect.
It would naturally be followed by a bad aspect.
With Elder Iron’s expression, Shangguan Yi knew that if Yang Zhao was truly dead, then with Elder Iron’s personality, he would naturally vent out his feelings on Shangguan Yi.
He would then have Elder Iron as an enemy for the rest of his life.
“Forget it, Elder Iron would’ve transferred his anger on me regardless, no matter what role I played in this matter. I have a clear conscience. Even if his family’s influence is able cover the sky with one hand, he can’t suppress me for no reason. Besides, his family doesn’t own the Precious Tree Sect!”
“Old Qi, let’s take a look as well.”
Shangguan Yi summoned Qi Tiannan. Now that Yang Zhao was dead, the internal hierarchy of the Guard would be reformed. He’d still have to make sure that Qi Tiannan was on his side.
Qi Tiannan also shot him a grateful glance. The former had truly been afraid that Elder Iron would slap him to death in his anger just now.
It was a good thing that the general director had stepped forward and resolved the matter for him.
Shangguan Yi cupped his fists towards Ye Chonglou, “Noble tutor, I will express my apologies later to you for making you watch such a farce together with me..”
Ye Chonglou only responded faintly, “Shangguan, you’re the general director of the Dragonteeth Guard and this power has been bestowed upon you by the kingdom. You just need to be yourself and have the bearing of a general director. Why look ahead into the future or back into the past? You’d before afraid of the wolves in front of you and tigers behind you. The more you consider, the more you want to keep matters in balance, the less you wish to offend anyone, the more you will offend in the end as you fail to please both sides.”
Shangguan Yi started. The noble tutor was obviously not just casually saying these words. He patently wanted to give Shangguan Yi some advice and enlighten him.
As Shangguan Yi reflected, hadn’t his previous attitude been a wishy washy one of wanting to please both sides?
This was much easier said than done.
And now, Jiang Chen may not think all that favorably of him, and he’d thoroughly offended Elder Iron.
With a bitter taste in his mouth, Shangguan Yi sighed lightly and responded fervently, “My deepest appreciation to the noble tutor’s advice. I was indeed thinking too much before.”
He then cupped his hands at Jiang Chen, “Jiang Chen, although I didn’t protect you just now, I still look greatly favorably upon your potential. I have no right to give you any pointers with the honored tutor guiding your way, I just hope that you take some care.”
Jiang Chen didn’t blame Shangguan Yi. As the general director of the Guard, he had no relationship with Jiang Chen. From the perspective of relations, it was natural for him to lean towards Yang Zhao and fear Elder Iron.
Smiling faintly, Jiang Chen also cupped his hands in return. “General director, the honored tutor’s words are worthy of deep contemplation. I rather think that the general director would be well served by thoroughly considering them.”
“I am ashamed.” Shangguan Yi looked at Tian Shao again. “Tian Shao, not bad, not bad at all. In terms of responsibility and charisma at least, you put me to shame.”
Tian Shao grew fearful and hastily said, “The general director is noble and lofty, with each move and gesture affecting many. I’m just a small general and have no other choices available to me.”
Indeed, Shangguan Yi was different from Tian Shao.
Tian Shao could openly declare his allegiance and stand on Jiang Chen’s side because he was Ye Rong’s confidante and on the same boat as Jiang Chen.
If Yang Zhao rose to power, then Tian Shao wouldn’t even have a resting place for his corpse.
As a result he, chose Jiang Chen because he had had no other choices.
Shangguan Yi was different. As the general director, he had to consider the greater picture. However, he was vaguely regretful at this moment because he felt that he’d tried to balance too much and pleased neither party in the end.
Ye Chonglou chuckled when Shangguan Yi and the others left, “Jiang Chen, you kid, I feel that I can see through less and less of you.”
The old tutor’s intuition had been quite strong. He’d deducted that something was about to happen when he saw the hint of Jiang Chen’s smile just now.
However, he never would’ve thought that such a huge matter would occur!
Yang Zhao had died without any movement or sound at all, completely without reason. There had been no foreshadowing at all. No one even knew when or how he died!
The most important thing was, although anyone could suspect Jiang Chen, there were no evidence to accuse Jiang Chen with.
This was because Jiang Chen had been in the air above the headquarters during the time that Yang Zhao had died. With so many pairs of eyes watching him, there was no way he could’ve slipped away no matter how strong he was
Besides, with Jiang Chen’s level of training, no one would believe that he’d be able to kill the earth spirit realm practitioner Yang Zhao!
However, if it wasn’t Jiang Chen, how did Yang Zhao die?
Speculations abounded, but Ye Chonglou wasn’t the sort to pursue something to the very end. When he saw Jiang Chen’s noncommittal demeanor, the old tutor knew better than anyone else that Jiang Chen’s secrets were much more than those that he’d revealed.
Even the old tutor couldn’t help but be deeply curious about a young man like this. This young man had assaulted the old tutor’s jaded heart time and time again.
The old tutor had seen countless people in his life and witnessed innumerable so-called geniuses, but none of them had given him the feeling of being unable to define them.
The only one was Jiang Chen!