Misty Rain of the Old Times

The drizzle in midsummer did not bring much coolness, but the air was a bit stuffy. The rain soaked into the air and was full of the fishy smell of soil. This bad weather was actually the best time to sit down and drink tea and chat.

The desolate mountains and wilderness are deserted and the official roads are seven or eight miles away, making it the most suitable place to settle some personal grudges.

Whether it was a coincidence or someone deliberately guided him, Chen Xuan didn't care. Since he was here, he might as well have some fun.

The Jin brothers and King Luo came straight towards Chen Xuan. They seemed to be still far away from him, but they were close in a few breaths. They were about ten feet apart, and their eyes met as they looked at each other.

Even though he had seen the two brothers who shared the same body, Chen Xuan had to admit that their height of over ten feet really gave off a strong sense of oppression. They were dressed in pitch-black tiger-scale armor, wielding exaggerated axes and long sticks, and their auras were tyrannical and overbearing, like ancient beasts. They were clearly human tanks!

In front of them, Chen Xuan, who is 1.9 meters tall, looks like a little chick.

Of course, he didn't feel any sense of oppression. At most, the other person was a little special. He would not judge people by appearance, nor would he discriminate against others' defects. After all, they were born like this and it was not what they wanted.

King Luo was wearing a black robe, with a resolute face and an undisguised arrogance between his brows, as if he looked down on everyone. He was over 1.8 meters tall, and the way he looked at Chen Xuan was clearly looking down on him.

His status and position were there. Even if he was a hostage, who could say he had no chance of ascending the throne? He was qualified to look down on more than 99% of the people in the world.

Although this person is domineering, his cultivation is a little lacking. He has only opened up the eight extraordinary meridians and has not even started to open the Ren and Du meridians. Status and position do not equal talent for cultivation. Not everyone is a martial arts genius, especially someone like this who has lived a life of luxury. It is rare for him to have such cultivation in his early twenties.

The Jin brothers who were approaching were all fixed with their eyes at the first sight. They could not see through Chen Xuan's cultivation level. No matter how they looked at him, he was just an ordinary person, standing in the rain with an umbrella, like a handsome young man out for an outing.

The two brothers had ferocious faces and their eyes seemed to be filled with ferocity. They were not going to attack or hurt anyone, but were instinctively alert. They subconsciously took a step forward to protect King Luo behind them. If they were twins, they reached for their weapons as if they had telepathy and took a defensive stance.

Chen Xuan was speechless upon seeing this. If I go out, everyone will praise me as a handsome guy. There are many cases where young girls and wives squeeze their legs together and become crazy about me. Is it really that scary?

Having said that, although these two brothers are a bit stupid, they are innate masters after all, and they are top-notch ones. Naturally, their vision and experience are not bad. They saw at a glance that Chen Xuan was not simple, otherwise they would not have been able to survive to this day.

King Luo is not stupid, but he is not too smart either. His martial arts intuition and experience alone cannot catch up with the Jin brothers. He realizes that the situation may be different from what he thinks, but the sense of superiority brought by his status does not allow him to retreat.

He took a step forward, still within the protection of the Jin brothers, and looked at Chen Xuan proudly, "Are you Chen Xuan? The servant raised by the Gao family in Jingguoyang County?"

Is this a way of exposing someone's shortcomings and slapping him in the face? Or is it a way of clarifying one's own identity and status?
He was telling the truth, and Chen Xuan never thought there was anything shameful about it. Barbarians, after all, spoke without thinking and were stubborn, which was normal. So he didn't bother with him. He nodded and smiled, "Nice to meet you. Are you His Royal Highness Prince Luo, the hostage sent by Rong to my Jing Kingdom?"

Upon hearing this, King Luo's eyes turned cold. The word "hostage" was like a thorn piercing his heart, which was more painful than being slapped in the face.

With anger rising in his heart, he said coldly: "You little slave, you don't know your place. I don't know where you got the courage to speak so arrogantly, and you won't kneel before me!"

No wonder Rong State sent him here as a hostage. He was a big idiot, the kind that could be abandoned at any time. Chen Xuan suddenly didn't find it strange anymore. As the saying goes, there are all kinds of people in the world, but among ten thousand people, there must be an idiot. It's normal. If you argue with him, you will lose.

At this moment, Chen Xuan's smile became even gentler. He had never heard of the word "lowly slave". He had indeed sold himself to the Gao family before, but who had ever said that? Gao Jingming treated him like a brother, and Madam Gao practically raised him like her own son. And now, someone was actually calling him a lowly slave!
Moving his umbrella slightly away, Chen Xuan looked at the gloomy sky and said in silence, "I really don't know how high the sky is or how deep the earth is, but I do know one thing: the person with ulterior motives will probably be in dire straits today. Very, very badly." As he spoke, he met Prince Luo's gaze again and asked, "Who do you think it will be, Your Highness?"

"Your Highness, be careful!" said the short-haired Jin Jian in a deep voice. He was controlling the right side of his body and had already taken a defensive stance with a long black stick as thick as a bowl in his hand.

Jin Cui, who controlled the left side, also held an exaggerated giant axe and grinned, "Although what Your Highness said is true, I am also an innate cultivator after all, so I should give you some face. The word "lowly slave" is really too much."

"Did I say anything wrong? That's the fact. Even if he finds it unpleasant, he has to endure it!" King Luo said disdainfully.

Honestly, this was the first time Chen Xuan had encountered such a fool. He immediately understood. No wonder he was being used like a knife. Perhaps he had some brains, but not much. Perhaps it was due to his status, and his lack of brains, which gave him an arrogant personality. This kind of person came with a purpose and was the most likely to cause conflict. So, what was King Jiang's purpose in tempting him? Did he want him to kill him, or did he want him to kill him?
"If I kill him, as the prince of Rong State, even if he is a hostage, his status is transcendent, which may cause a conflict between the two countries. In this case, how can Rong State let it go? Jing State will definitely take an attitude and give an explanation, and I will be in trouble. On the other hand, if he kills me here, tsk tsk, for Prince Jiang, the little princess will be solved easily. At most, she will be sad for a while. It's a good plan without bloodshed."

In a flash, Chen Xuan had figured out a lot of things. In addition, he vaguely felt that there was a third possibility, that is, neither he nor King Luo could do anything to each other, but the hatred had already been formed. If King Jiang appeared at a suitable time, then he would have more room to maneuver. He could get huge benefits by standing on either side, and it was possible that he could have the best of both sides.

As expected of King Jiang, he is quite awesome for wanting to do something big.

Why was Chen Xuan so calm? Was it Prince Jiang who was causing trouble behind the scenes? The reason was very simple. Although Chen Xuan was not interested in court disputes, he knew after a little thought that doing so would be in the best interests of Prince Jiang. The Crown Prince wanted stability, Prince Qing was guarding the border, and the other princes were not as good as him. Moreover, the two sides had a feud.

The premise is that no one realizes that Chen Xuan actually has the cultivation level of a grandmaster, so any conspiracy or calculation is bullshit.

Even if King Luo is an idiot and is used as a knife, it does not mean that Chen Xuan will pity him and forgive his ignorance. Trouble comes from the mouth. We are all adults and should be responsible for our words and actions.

Although there's no such thing as a Grandmaster being unbearable to insult, who wouldn't show some courtesy to a Grandmaster? Even the ruler of a country has to be mindful of his words and actions. King Luo is simply courting death.

Verbal attacks couldn't hurt Chen Xuan at all. He had cursed people so much in his previous life, so King Luo's words were nothing to him. But that didn't mean Chen Xuan didn't care.

In just a few words, within a few miles around, except for the Jin brothers, there were more than a handful of innate masters who came. Chen Xuan was quite familiar with the aura of some of them, but those people did not show up.

It's getting more and more interesting. It seems that Prince Jiang is not the only one planning for Prince Luo. Is he adding insurance behind the scenes to ensure that things can go smoothly according to his design?
Chen Xuan smiled and looked at Prince Luo more gently. The little thing was unimportant. He had more important things to worry about. He changed the subject and said, "Your Highness Prince Luo, was it you who had the news of the rare 'Golden Branches and Jade Leaves' tree spread? And thus lured me here?"

I don’t understand Chen Xuan’s train of thought. He seemed ready to fight and kill just a moment ago, but now he is so friendly?

As if he had suddenly found a sense of superiority in intelligence, King Luo said with disdain, "As expected of a lowly slave, you are also a servant. You think you are so smart. How can you help your young master with such a talent? I used a little trick and you fell for it."

He admitted that he was the one who spread the news. Chen Xuan automatically ignored those two words and continued to ask, "So, is there such a tree?"

If there were, he would have wanted to give a few leaves to the little princess. To Chen Xuan, conspiracy and scheming were nothing compared to the little princess's gaze and smile.

"I overestimated you. I heard that you have innate cultivation, and I thought you had some extraordinary qualities. It turns out that this is all you have? You only want to please girls. Don't you understand the situation? You actually care about a mere tree?" King Luo smiled disdainfully, his sense of superiority was simply overflowing.

Your mindset is probably just one of 'jealousy', what's so superior about that? Chen Xuan didn't bother to refute and continued to ask: "So is there any?"

"Since you care so much, then I will tell you that the 'Golden Branches and Jade Leaves' tree does exist, but it only grows ten feet in ten years. It is rare in the world and has a very harsh growing environment. It only grows in a few places in my Rong country and is usually only given as a state gift. It is not found in other places. How can I bring it here easily? But just spreading the news to lure you here is enough," said King Luo with a proud look on his face.

How could you come up with such a plan? I don't even know who secretly bewitched and guided you, and you're so proud of it.

As guards, the Jin brothers did not interrupt when King Luo was speaking. At this moment, they looked at King Luo in surprise, then looked at Chen Xuan, and felt a chill in their hearts.

This was so strange. The prince was such a domineering and arrogant person, how could he answer everything the other party asked? He was completely following the other party's rhythm. What kind of weird martial arts did this person practice to be so good at bewitching people?

What a bullshit! Chen Xuan doesn't even need the spiritual interference of a grandmaster. This simple-minded guy can fall into his own rhythm with just verbal guidance.

After getting a clear answer, Chen Xuan nodded and said, "Really? That's good. How about this, I don't really care about that tree. You have one hour to bring me a few leaves. Then, your mouth stinks, so cut out your tongue, slap yourself and knock out a mouthful of teeth, then kneel down and kowtow respectfully. I won't hold it against you for spreading rumors to lure me here today. How about that? I'm a very generous person, right? Although there's a high probability that you'll feel offended by what I said, I still have to remind you that this opportunity only comes once, and I hope you know how to cherish it!"

...(End of chapter)