A Chaotic World

Chapter 201: Windfall Yet Again

From the very moment that Lu Tianzi found out about the existence of Beiqian Zuo, Lu Tianzi had decided that he absolutely had to guard against this man.

It was a good thing that he now had a face to match to the name, but Lu Tianzi knew better than to let any of his emotions show.

At least, now was not the time for that.

Had Lu Tianzi been a little less rational, he would have directly called out Beiqian Zuo for plotting against the assault party.

However, Lu Tianzi understood that even if he did that, he would not only fail to implicate Beiqian Zuo, but he himself would suffer dire consequences.

After all, it was a matter of word against word.

As long as Beiqian Zuo decided to flat out deny his involvement in this matter, there would be absolutely nothing that Lu Tianzi could do about it.

At the same time, it would directly expose what Lu Tianzi did to the extraction team.

Considering that he would only stand to lose if he tried anything, Lu Tianzi could only hold it in despite the fact that the mastermind was standing right before him.

But if a good opportunity ever arose in the future, Lu Tianzi would certainly not hesitate to get rid of this Beiqian Zuo once and for all!

"Senior, I speak of nothing but the truth." Lu Tianzi clasped his fist towards Beiqian Zuo, not lacking at all in his etiquette. "May I know which part of what I said does not make sense to senior?"

"Hmph! Don't act all innocent with me!" Beiqian Zuo sneered. "No matter what, as the top ranker of the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet, how could it be possible that you are incapable of helping them at all? Does it even make sense for them to say that you would only slow them down if you stayed?"

"Senior, that truly sounds like what the extraction team would say. Because that is exactly what the leader of the extraction team said to me too," Nanlan Qianxue chimed in.

Juncheng and Nanqing Haowen nodded from the side.

They were also present back then, and had clearly heard Beiqian You tell Nanlan Qianxue that she would easily become the weakest link that dragged them down if she chose to stay behind.

The Beiqian You of that time had been proud and confident, and truly seemed like he cared not about anyone else.

They would not be surprised even if he told Nanlu Tianzi the exact same thing.

However, Beiqian Zuo was not convinced.

"So what if he told you that? Nanlu Tianzi is the top ranker of the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet! Things are naturally different in his case!" Beiqian Zuo was fast losing his patience.

"Oh? Now Elder Beiqian remembers this point?" Elder Mingxin scoffed. "Earlier when I brought up the same point, didn't Elder Beiqian say that no matter what their rank is during the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet, they are all at the Essence Condensation realm, so there should not be much of a difference between them?"

"How is this the same as that?" Beiqian Zuo retorted.

"And how exactly is it any different?" Elder Mingxin refused to back down either.

Sparks flew as the two Origin Core realm martial artists stared down each other, neither side willing to take a step back. The intensity of their emotions gave birth to a formless pressure within the command tent, one that only intensified with each passing moment.

"Enough," General Mojian was the one to break the tension in the air. "Or do you wish to continue embarrassing yourselves?"

Upon his reminder, Elder Mingxin finally turned her attention away from Beiqian Zuo and back towards the acting commander. "My apologies, General Mojian."

"Tch!" Beiqian Zuo looked away as well.

The pressure within the command tent receded, allowing Nanlan Qianxue, Nanqing Haowen, and Juncheng to let out a breath of relief.

Subjected to the intense pressure that had built up in the command tent earlier, they were starting to feel extremely uncomfortable. This was especially the case for Juncheng who had the lowest cultivation level. He was already drenched in cold sweat by now.

Despite that, all of them had sensed the tension in the air and dared not voice out their discomfort.

If they did, it would probably only serve to dampen the momentum of Elder Mingxin who had been standing up for them.

Thankfully, General Mojian eventually intervened.

Incidentally, this bit of pressure was nothing to Lu Tianzi.

"Elder Beiqian, now is not the time to point fingers," General Mojian continued. "Why don't you lead a few members of your Flying Dragon Hall out to look for the extraction team? I believe that you are worried about their current situation as well, aren't you? Let's not waste time then, you can leave now."

"Understood," Beiqian Zuo nodded.

Since General Mojian had already passed down his instructions in such a firm manner, Beiqian Zuo had no choice but to follow.

Beiqian Zuo gathered a couple other Origin Core realm martial artists before taking their leave, but not before shooting yet another cold look towards Elder Mingxin and Lu Tianzi.

"All right, I believe everyone is tired now, but the war is far from over. Have a good rest and get ready for the next battle," General Mojian dismissed the group.

They had just experienced a major clash against the Dragon Cauldron Army, and there were many of them who were still injured.

Now that Nanlu Tianzi had returned, and they had a clearer picture of the events that transpired, there were no longer any pressing matters that they had to attend to immediately. Thus, there was naturally no reason for General Mojian to keep everyone here any longer.

Most of the people who had gathered in the command tent quickly returned to their respective rest areas, but there were a select few who remained.

Among them was none other than Fourth Prince Mosha.

"What do you think, Mosha?" General Mojian asked.

"What do you mean, General Mojian?" Mosha asked in return.

"What do you think truly transpired?" General Mojian rephrased his question a little.

"Your subordinate dare not speak carelessly without proof," Mosha answered matter-of-factly.

"I am not asking you this question as your commander right now." General Mojian shook his head helplessly. "I am asking you as your elder brother. Tell me what you truly feel."

Mosha was surprised by such a declaration.

Indeed, General Mojian was better known as Second Prince Mojian, son of the Scarlet Moon Overlord, and an individual who had proven his capabilities over the years. Otherwise, he would never have been given command over the Second Battlefront.

However, this was the first time that his elder brother had ever consulted his opinions regarding official matters. Perhaps now that he had broken through to the Origin Core realm, his elder brother was trying to involve him in more decision making matters.

Unfortunately for General Mojian, Mosha never had much interest in schemes and plans. All he was concerned about was growing stronger as a martial artist.

Of course, that did not mean he was incapable of seeing through the little tricks that others were playing at.

"In that case" Mosha's eyes glinted with a sharp light. "I have a feeling that both of them are lying."

"You think so too?" General Mojian let out a deep sigh as he fell into deep thought.

Embroiled in their little disputes even when they were still at war, how capable of them!

At this moment, General Mojian was only hoping that neither side would jeopardise the victory of their Scarlet Moon Kingdom in order to fulfil their own selfish desires.

If he ever found out otherwise, he would do everything in his power to make sure that such a person would have hell to pay!

***

After assuring the others that he really was all right, Lu Tianzi returned to his tent, where he spent the first few hours meditating so as to readjust his condition.

No matter what, he had still fought with an Origin Core realm enemy, in addition to a huge number of Essence Condensation realm opponents. Even if he managed to come up on top in the end, he still had to expend quite a bit of his Essence energy in doing so.

It was just a good thing that he did not suffer any serious injuries in the process. That would be far more difficult to recover from in a short period of time.

By the time Lu Tianzi opened his eyes again, it was already night time.

He filled his stomach with some quick bites before starting to set up his formation flags within the tent.

The assault operation might have had its fair share of dangerous moments, but it had finally come to an end.

Now, it was time for Lu Tianzi to take a look at his gains!

Lu Tianzi was particularly looking forward to this.

It had to be known that members of the extraction team were all from the mighty Flying Dragon Hall. Even if they did not have any wondrous treasures, surely there would still be a good amount of beast cores within their spatial rings?

Weng-!

There was a light buzzing sound as Lu Tianzi activated the concealing formation.

Don't disappoint me!

He quietly wished in his heart before sinking his perception one by one into the hundred or so spatial rings in his possession.

And then his eyes lit up in surprise.

With each passing spatial ring, the light in his eyes only grew brighter and brighter.

As expected of the Flying Dragon Hall!

When he totalled up the amount of low ranked beast cores, it actually numbered over a thousand!

This was an absolute windfall!

On top of that, there were a myriad of weapons and other random items.

Then again, there were more than a hundred members in the extraction team, so it was only naturaly that there would be this amount of items.

Had it been any less, Lu Tianzi might really start to despise the Flying Dragon Hall.

The only problem now was that he was quickly running out of space on his spatial ring, and shamelessly putting on one of their spatial rings was not exactly the best idea.

For all he knew, someone might be able to recognise certain specific traits of the ring, thereby linking him to the fate of the extraction team.

That was a risk that he absolutely dared not take!

It seemed like after the war, he would have to look into getting a spatial ring of a higher grade

Keeping that in mind, Lu Tianzi went on to inspect his newly acquired Isolation Chime Bell.

He was especially pleased with this treasure bell.

As someone who had plenty of secrets to hide, the ability of isolation was something that could be especially useful to him.

On top of that, the treasure bell had a complex energy storage system, which meant that as long as it was charged beforehand, it would not require a constant supply of Essence energy from the user for it to remain active.

This would allow Lu Tianzi remain focused on battle even while the Isolation Chime Bell was in use.

Then again, had it been linked to Beiqian You through continuous channelling of Essence energy, it would have been that much harder for Lu Tianzi to break that link to steal the treasure bell.

This was the same as how he could not simply remove someone's weapon right before the point of contact, getting rid of his enemy's defences at the very last moment.

Lu Tianzi believed that after his mastery over the Limitless Mirror Eye improved, he might actually be able to do just that. But perhaps his enemies would have become much stronger by then as well, and would have their own methods to prevent such an outcome.

Of course, this was a matter of the future, and the current Lu Tianzi had no intention to worry about this.

Instead, he spent the rest of the night in meditation, slowly refining the large amount of primordial Slaughter Essence that he had absorbed during the day.

After all, no matter how much treasures or wealth he obtained, improving his cultivation was still the most reliable way to improve his strength.

And right now, more than anything else, he really needed to become stronger. At least until he was capable of standing up against Beiqian Zuo, who was at the Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm!