Chapter 399 - 221: To Catch a Thief, First Catch the King

Lin Yuan City, north side.

Deep within Zhao’s Earth Castle, which had been expanded several times over.

Here stood a vast and magnificent mansion, sprawling across a wide area.

The scale of the estate far surpassed that of an ordinary official’s or Noble Family’s residence.

From its thirty-foot-high vermillion-lacquered gates to the pavilions and towers within—adorned with soaring eaves, interlocking brackets, carved beams, and painted rafters—the entire place exuded a presumptuous luxury and majesty.

This was the sole and absolute center of power in present-day Lin Yuan City.

Prince Zhao’s Mansion!

In the deepest part of the mansion, inside a lavish grand hall several times more magnificent than any ordinary council chamber.

Zhao Kang, the Patriarch of the Zhao Family, was seated on a massive throne carved from a single piece of Thousand-Year Cold Jade. He wore a black brocade robe embroidered with a four-clawed flood dragon and a Purple Gold Crown on his head.

Compared to three years ago, his face had grown colder and more perverse, his eyes turning exceptionally sinister.

A faint yet terrifying aura, characteristic of a Refining Organ Realm expert, emanated from him, seeming to shroud the entire empty hall in a layer of frozen frost.

Below him, a young man, also dressed in fine robes, knelt on one knee, reporting respectfully. His face bore a strong resemblance to Zhao Kang’s, though his features were softer and more sinister.

It was his younger brother, Zhao Ran, the second-in-command who now held authority over all of Lin Yuan City’s military and public security.

"Brother, it’s all been taken care of!"

Zhao Ran’s voice held a trace of unconcealable excitement and cruelty. "Those damn remnants of the Seven Stars Gang who didn’t know their place actually dreamed of gathering their forces to launch some bullshit assassination to seize power. Hmph, a bunch of rabble! They were completely sold out by the moles I planted among them! Now, everyone involved in the plot has been thrown into the Celestial Prison!"

Atop the main throne, Zhao Kang slowly nodded.

"Very good."

He paused, then slowly rose from the massive Cold Jade throne and descended the steps one by one.

"But it’s not enough!"

He walked up to Zhao Ran, clenched his fists, and said through gritted teeth:

"These bastards are like rats in a sewer, endlessly persistent!"

"Torture them! Brutally!"

"Skin them! Rip out their tendons!"

"Use every method you can think of. Squeeze them until they tell you where all the other hidden rats are!"

A ferocious and crazed glint, like that of a demon, flashed in his eyes!

"This time, I will... catch them all in one fell swoop!!"

Just then, something unexpected happened!

In the center of the grand hall, the air suddenly rippled like the surface of water!

Immediately after, the figure of a young man in gray martial attire, standing tall and straight, materialized out of thin air!

"Who’s there?!"

Zhao Kang was horrified! His eyes flew open as he stared deathly at the uninvited guest!

’How is this possible?! The mansion is heavily guarded, layer after layer. How did he get in?!’

However, what unsettled him even more was...

...this young man before him showed no fluctuation of Strength whatsoever!

It was as if he were just an ordinary person who had never practiced martial arts!

’I don’t care!’

’Whoever he is, anyone who trespasses here... dies!’

A murderous glint flashed in Zhao Kang’s eyes. In a flicker, his body crossed several dozen feet and appeared before the young man!

His hand, covered in the immense Strength of the Refining Organ Realm, formed an eagle’s claw and viciously aimed for the top of the other’s skull!

In the next moment, however, the expression on his face froze.

He felt as if his hand had struck an invisible but indestructible wall!

Immediately after, a terrifying power, countless times stronger than his own, rebounded violently from that "wall"!

"BANG!!!"

He was sent flying back more than ten times faster than he had charged forward!

His entire body, as if hit head-on by a cannonball, instantly smashed a huge human-shaped hole into the obsidian wall at the back of the hall, embedding himself deep within it!

Zhao Ran, at the side, was utterly stunned!

"Brother...?"

He stared dumbfounded at the scene before him, his mind a complete blank!

His brother, Zhao Kang, was a top-tier expert of the Refining Organ Realm!

The Refining Organ Realm!

In this small Lin Yuan City, there were barely even any Force Integration Martial Artists. The Refining Organ Realm was akin to godhood!

And yet, his brother—an expert of the Refining Organ Realm, the "god" of Lin Yuan City—had been sent flying in a single exchange?!

An icy chill shot up from the soles of Zhao Ran’s feet straight to the top of his skull!

He trembled, looking at the still-calm young man as if he were seeing a ghost.

What terrified him was that he still couldn’t sense any aura of a Martial Artist from this young man!

’Th-this guy... what in the world is he?! Is he a man or a ghost?!’

The newcomer was, of course, Jiang Che!

After finding out the situation in Lin Yuan City, he had directly activated [Shadow Escape] and infiltrated Zhao’s Earth Castle!

He had no intention of wasting any more time slowly investigating his parents’ whereabouts.

To catch the thief, you must first catch the king!

As long as he captured Zhao Kang, the current and only "king" of Lin Yuan City, and made him use the entire city’s resources to search, he refused to believe he wouldn’t be able to find them!

Jiang Che paid no mind to the guy still embedded in the wall, unsure if he was dead or alive.

He turned his head, his gaze falling upon the already terrified Zhao Ran, and asked coldly:

"Who is Zhao Kang?"

Swept by that icy gaze, Zhao Ran shuddered. He subconsciously raised a trembling finger and pointed at the "human-shaped wall ornament."

"He... he’s... Zhao Kang..."

’Hm? That’s him?’

Jiang Che was startled and quickly walked toward the wall.

Three years ago, he had only caught a fleeting glimpse of this person.

It was just that the current Zhao Kang looked somewhat different from back then.

Coupled with the fact that his Realm had also improved, Jiang Che hadn’t recognized him.

Moreover, Jiang Che had just arrived and hadn’t heard their conversation.

He was anxious to find his father, so he had revealed himself immediately.

When he saw someone attacking him, he’d instinctively swatted back without paying much attention.

’No way... I think... I only used a tiny sliver of my power...’

’This guy... how can he be so fragile?’

’I’d better not have accidentally killed him!’

He walked to the wall, grabbed the already unconscious Zhao Kang, whose bones were all shattered, and pulled him out of the wall like pulling a radish, casually tossing him onto the floor.

He checked for breathing and let out a sigh of relief when he found a faint trace of it.

He then took out an unknown Elixir Pill from his robes, shoved it directly into Zhao Kang’s mouth, and infused a thread of pure True Qi to protect his heart meridians.

A moment later, Zhao Kang slowly regained consciousness.

The moment he opened his eyes and saw Jiang Che’s face right in front of him, he instantly recalled the terrifying scene from before and let out a bloodcurdling scream, as if he had seen a ghost!

"Don’t! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!"

Where was the slightest trace of the cold, perverse, kingly demeanor he had before?

He was curled up on the ground, snot and tears streaming down his face as he begged for mercy. "I’ll give you anything you want! Money! Women! Treasures! I’ll give you anything! Please, just don’t kill me!"

Jiang Che looked at his pathetic display with eyes full of disdain.

"I ask, you answer."

"Yes! Yes! Senior, please ask! Ask anything you wish!"

"You are Zhao Kang?"

"Yes! This lowly one is!"

"You’re the boss here now?"

"That’s right! In all of Lin Yuan City, this lowly one’s word is law!"

"Who is Zhao Ran?"

Hearing this, Zhao Ran, who was standing nearby, trembled and stammered, "I... I am... Zhao Ran..."

Before the words had even left his mouth, his vision blurred!

"BANG!"

The next moment, he followed in his brother’s footsteps, getting deeply embedded in the opposite wall.

"This palm strike is the price for injuring my master back then," Jiang Che said calmly, retracting his hand.

However, he had forgotten that Zhao Ran was merely in the Bone Forging Realm. How could he possibly withstand such a seemingly casual palm strike from him now?

Jiang Che swept his Divine Thought over and discovered that the guy in the wall was already breathless!

Jiang Che looked at the "human-shaped wall ornament," who had died with his eyes wide open, then glanced at Zhao Kang on the floor, who had already lost control of his bladder in fear. A trace of helplessness appeared on his face.

"I really didn’t mean to kill him. I just... didn’t control my strength properly."

"Do you... believe me?"