Chapter 40 Questions and Answers
Chen Gan'er struggled to connect the frail old man before him with the awe-inspiring red-armored giant from earlier.
The old man, dressed in linen, darted his eyes wildly, a look of fear in his eyes, his lips trembling as he muttered something to himself.
Chen Gan'er suspected this old man's cultivation level was perhaps significantly higher than his own, but he certainly hadn't reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Could his previous imposing presence be due to the massive suit of armor lying on the ground?
Taking advantage of the man's apparent disorientation, Chen Gan'er was about to approach and finish him off when two people approached from afar. They
had been far away when he first saw them, but the next moment, they appeared not far away.
Chen Gan'er could then clearly see they were a man and a woman.
The man was no more than twenty years old, handsome, but his narrow brows and expressionless face gave him a rather cold look.
The woman, no more than twenty-eight, also had a beautiful figure and features, her eyes brimming with curiosity, but she stood behind the man, seemingly focused on him.
The man ignored the old man shivering in front of the armor, but kept looking at Chen Ganer and Chen Xuanlin.
Chen Ganer's vigilance rose. The strength of these two people was definitely extraordinary, perhaps not inferior to that of the red-armored giant.
The man looked at them for a while before he set his sights on Chen Xuanlin:
"The sinner Chen family leader?"
The pain Chen Xuanlin felt from using the Soul Summoning had subsided a lot at this time, and he could barely stand up tremblingly.
Seeing this, Chen Ganer immediately stepped forward to support Chen Xuanlin.
The undead in the foundation-building stage had stood behind Chen Xuanlin at some point, staring at the man who suddenly appeared with empty eyes.
After Chen Xuanlin stabilized his body, he said hoarsely:
"Disciple of the Wang family?"
The man ignored the undead in the foundation-building stage behind Chen Xuanlin, and just looked at Chen Xuanlin and said:
"Since you've defeated the Scale Guards wearing the Ghost-Faced Rotten Armor, I won't make things difficult for you this time when we meet the shore."
"I came here to retrieve the Ghost-Faced Rotten Armor."
Chen Xuanlin pointed at the trembling old man in front of the armor and said,
"You can take the armor with you, but he must stay."
The gloomy young man narrowed his eyes, and a subtle pressure slowly released. Chen Xuanlin remained unfazed. The
gloomy young man then sneered: "Interesting." "You're a
piece of trash, so I'll give it to you. I hope you can survive the future landings, and I also hope you can maintain your pride and not be conquered by other islands." "After all, you Chen clan members are the best 'vessels'. It would be bad if you fell into the hands of other islands."
The man said no more. With a flick of his finger, the scattered pile of ghost-faced rotten armor instantly shrank, finally being stored in a delicate golden gourd at his waist.
The man surnamed Wang glanced at Chen Xuanlin once more, then at Chen Gan'er, then turned and walked away with the maid by his side.
A moment later, they were gone from Chen Gan'er's sight.
He never once glanced at the withered old man shivering on the ground.
After the man surnamed Wang returned to the courtyard on Resource Island, the maid spoke,
"Young Master, I didn't expect the Scale Guardians in ghost-faced rotten armor to lose."
"This Sinner Clan is truly more complex than it appears."
"But why didn't you take action, Young Master? With your strength, that Foundation Establishment stage undead would be no match for you, right?"
The man took a sip of his wine, refilled it, and then said,
"Why do you think I didn't take action, Young Master? Was it because I was afraid of that Foundation Establishment stage undead, or was it because I was worried the Sinner Clan had other tricks up their sleeves?"
The maid's eyes widened as
she spoke, "Young Master, these are no problem. I don't know why you haven't taken action."
The man snorted coldly, "I fear the being that caused the Ghost Face with Rotten Armor to dissipate..."
"How could an ordinary person possibly summon that being to take action? That being is on the same level as the ancestor worshipped by my Wang family, or even more terrifying."
"Hehe, even after all this time, the Chen family is no ordinary person. Since there's a being protecting the Chen family, I, Young Master, will show some leniency."
With that, the man surnamed Wang poured himself a glass of wine and drank it.
"I just didn't expect that the Chen family, who were so resolute back then, would actually cooperate with the being in the gray fog."
The maid's face grimaced at this. "So, this trip has yielded nothing. There's no point in going ashore."
The man smiled and said,
"That's fine. Let's visit a few more islands with cultivators and let the Ghost Face with Rotten Armor recover. Then we'll go back."
...
Chen Gan'er watched the two retreating figures, eager to inquire about why the Chen family was labeled a sinner.
But thinking of Chen Xuanlin's condition and the fact that even Foundation Establishment Undead had a time limit, he kept silent.
Only after the two had left did Chen Gan'er ask,
"Brother, why don't you just ask them why they landed on our Sanyin Island, and instead leave this crazy old man behind?"
Chen Xuanlin said,
"If he doesn't want to answer, we won't be able to get any information out of him. By keeping him here, I'm already using my power to bully others."
"But if we do nothing, he'll easily discover something, and the Chen family is in danger today."
"What information we can get depends entirely on what we can extract from this man."
Chen Gan'er then captured the old man.
The old man's cultivation remained intact, and he bore no wounds, yet for some reason he had become disoriented.
His face was terrified, his eyes unfocused, his lips trembling, as if he had witnessed something utterly terrifying and was terrified.
Chen Gan'er slapped him several times, but the old man remained stunned, neither resisting nor speaking.
Chen Xuanlin shook his head, restraining Chen Gan'er's further violence.
He channeled his soul power between his fingers and touched the old man's forehead, using it to gather his spirit. Then he asked, "
How did you reach Sanyin Island?"
The old man's eyes remained hazy, but he spoke slowly and haltingly,
"Young Master heard about the past of the sinner Chen family... and wished to subjugate them."
"So Young Master used... the power of a forbidden entity to transfer the physical auras of three native islanders to us... so we could reach the island."
Chen Gan'er, standing by, asked anxiously,
"What's the real reason for calling our Chen family criminals? Tell me now."
The old man slowly replied,
"I... don't know. This is a top secret, known only to the direct descendants of the Immortal Island."
Chen Gan'er grabbed the old man's clothes and roared,
"Then tell me, what did the Chen ancestors do to cause their descendants to suffer this torture on Sanyin Island, a land without spirits."
The old man replied,
"It seems... it's related to the gray fog."
Chen Gan'er was stunned, not knowing how to ask further.
Chen Xuanlin asked,
"Are many Immortal Island families searching for the Chen family?"
The old man's eyes were blank, and Chen Xuanlin answered simply,
"It seems that something major has happened in the gray fog and the Sea of Death recently, which is why several Immortal Island families are searching for the Chen family of Sanyin Island."
Chen Xuanlin continued,
"How many of those immortal islands are capable of finding ours?"
The old man replied woodenly,
"Very few, and the cost is too great."
Chen Xuanlin asked again,
"What forbidden power did you use to reach this island?"
"It is..."
Bang!
The old man had barely uttered the word "wang" when his head exploded with a bang, staining both of them with blood and brain matter.
This startled Chen Gan'er. While this man was somewhat delirious, he hadn't lost control of his cultivation. How could he suddenly explode?
Chen Xuanlin wiped the blood from his face and said,
"Perhaps this is why he agreed to leave this person with us."
"The immortal islands that exist in the Sea of Death have their own ways of protecting their secrets."