chapter 183

Jiang Xishui couldn’t help but reach out and touch Su Chen’s forehead.

Was he running a fever?

Even Ji Hanyan couldn’t maintain her composure and stammered, “Su Chen, are you alright? Sovereigns in the sea are like Desolate Beasts on land. That’s impossible! You’re basically sending all of these people to their deaths!”

Su Chen, however, shook his head slightly. “That’s a distortion of the truth. Those Desolate Beasts remain in concealment not because they are called Desolate Beasts but because they are simply too powerful, to the point that this continent is not abundant enough in resources to support them. That’s why they have to stay in hibernation. As such, the environment around us has already placed an upper limit on how strong they can be. If Sovereigns are really able to move around freely in the ocean, that means that they must be weaker than a Desolate Beast.”

Jiang Xishui replied, “You must not understand – their use of Origin Energy might be inferior to a Desolate Beast, but the special environment of the sea serves to amplify their strength. If you haven’t witnessed how destructive these beasts can be firsthand, you wouldn’t understand.

Su Chen replied, “I’ve encountered a Desolate Beast in the past.”

Then, Su Chen smiled. “Of course, I also know that those Sovereigns aren’t easy to deal with even if they aren’t quite at the level of strength of a Desolate Beast. But I must do this for my plan. Don’t worry, I just need you guys to distract them for a moment. You won’t really need to fight them.”

“That’s still far too risky. My father won’t agree, and I won’t either,” Jiang Xishui said, shaking his head.

“He will agree,” Su Chen said calmly.

Jiang Xishui was taken aback. “Why?”

“That’s what we’re going to discuss.”

Jiang Xishui remained in the Gu Palace for three days. No one knew what he and Su Chen were talking about during these three days.

But when he left with Ji Hanyan three days later, his expression appeared quite confident and at ease.

Su Chen appeared to have no intention of leaving.

He continued to embrace Gu Qingluo day after day, performing some research on the side. In the blink of an eye, two months had gone by.

This gave the Chu Clan quite a headache.

Su Chen had clearly completed his mission, so what was he still hanging around here for? Better for him to leave as soon as possible.

They had no intention of trying to kill him anymore.

After Chu Huailiang’s failure, the Chu Clan’s intentions of killing him greatly decreased. Most importantly, Su Chen had held up his end of the bargain and hadn’t dispersed the secret technique. It appeared that he was quite trustworthy, and his view was incredibly long-term.

To the Chu Clan, these three curses were of utmost importance, but in Su Chen’s eyes, they were merely an afterthought.

Of course, the bigger factor was Su Chen’s strength.

He had reached the Spirit Burning Realm.

Not only so, but he was also a Tenth-Ring Arcana Master.

The combined strength that these two different cultivation systems brought to him resulted in a huge surge in his personal strength.

It appeared that the bandits had become aware of the situation, and not many people were running around trying to make trouble for Su Chen anymore. As a result, Su Chen didn’t really have any opportunities to test out his strength on anyone.

But the Chu Clan knew that if Su Chen could kill Chu Huailiang while still in the Light Shaking Realm, then it was probably impossible for them to kill him now unless Chu Yuan made a move himself.

The motivation wasn’t there, and their opponent was extremely powerful, so their desire to silence him also decreased.

But they also knew that, as long as Su Chen remained in the Gu Palace, the Gu Clan would not cease to think about how to deal with those curses.

No one knew what kind of promise they would make Su Chen that would change his mind and cause him to start looking for this kind of a breakthrough.

Given how powerful he was, no one dared to say that it was impossible for him.

As such the Chu Clan was very worried, and they kept a close eye on Su Chen. But watching him this intently was also quite taxing!

Eventually, Su Chen was invited as a guest yet again by the Chu Clan, and Chu Yuan politely asked when Su Chen was planning on leaving.

Su Chen thought for a moment. “A few days earlier, the Gu Clan’s Fourth Ancestor mentioned something to me.”

“What did she say?” Chu Yuan didn’t know why Su Chen had suddenly brought this up, so he could only respond in kind.

Su Chen answered, “She wants me and Qingluo to have a child.”

Chu Yuan was taken aback momentarily before his expression drastically changed.

Gu Xinrong was trying an indirect approach!

That was definitely the case.

If Su Chen and Gu Qingluo had a child, that child’s bloodline would definitely be under the influences of the three curses when it awakened. If Su Chen cared for his child and didn’t want them to be under the Chu Clan’s control, he would definitely try to find a way and nullify these curses.

She was planning on using Su Chen’s paternal love to force his hand!

But it was normal for a husband and wife to want to have children. That was not an excessive request, was it?

Chu Yuan didn’t know what to say. After a long moment’s silence, he could only ask, “So is Sir Su interested?”

“Me? I don’t care much for the idea,” su Chen said indifferently. “I need to do a lot of things that may end up offending a lot of people. Having a child will become a weak point.”

“That’s right! This is like Zhu Xianyao, who is right now posing somewhat of a problem for you. You have great ambitions, so you cannot allow these things to take up too much of your attention!” Chu Yuan finally seemed to have found a “breakthrough” and attempted to convince Su Chen with great excitement.

“But I will need a child sooner or later,” Su Chen said, dumping a pot of cold water all over Chu Yuan. “I won’t be by Gu Qingluo’s side for a long time. She’s all alone and might get bored, so it would be a good thing to have a child to take up her attention.”

How was she lonely!?

She had all those subordinates to keep her company! She wasn’t lonely at all!!

Chu Yuan howled with frustration in his heart, but he could only put on a fake smile and chuckle, “True, true. But……”

He drifted off, not sure what to say next.

Su Chen spoke up first. “But when I think that my child will eventually be trapped under the Chu Clan’s administration in the future, just like Qingluo, I feel hesitant. If possible, I would prefer that my child wouldn’t have a bloodline belonging to the Gu Clan. Perhaps I should research this.”

Chu Yuan was delighted. “That’s definitely a possibility.”

Figuring out a way to seal his child’s bloodline was also a way around the situation.

However, Su Chen continued, “But this would be unfair for the child. I am also so busy, having promised to elevate cultivation techniques for many different clans, meaning that I won’t have that much time to spend on this matter. If I have a child before I am able to resolve this issue, I’m afraid it’ll all be over.”

Can you not keep changing your mind? Chu Yuan felt like he was about to insane.

He stared at Su Chen forlornly and said, “Sir Su, please just say exactly what you are thinking.”

He could tell that Su Chen was doing this on purpose.

There was naturally a purpose for him saying all of these things.

Su Chen chuckled. “I do have an idea that can solve all of these issues.”

“What’s your idea?”

Su Chen took a sip of wine and ate a piece of meat. Just as Chu Yuan was about to lose it, he said, “Let Qingluo leave with me.”

Put simply, Su Chen was asking for Chu Yuan to let Gu Qingluo leave Empty Mountain.

This was a huge deal.

Chu Yuan immediately shook his head. “Impossible. The Chu Clan’s responsibility is to keep an eye on the Gu Clan and prevent those with the Gu Clan’s bloodline from spreading to anyone else.”

“Aren’t you just worried that the Gu Clan will build up their outside influence and begin their rise to power again? It’s not like members of the Gu Clan haven’t escaped in the past, but it doesn’t seem like any of them have been able to achieve this. It’s already been three thousand years. The members of the Gu Clan have likely already given up on this kind of idea.”

Chu Yuan said calmly, “That’s just because their strength has been limited by us. If one day they are no longer under governmental suppression, and their influence begins to increase, they will want to rise to power sooner or later. After all, ambition is always very closely tied to strength.”

Su Chen had to confess that there was some truth to this statement.

The Gu Clan’s members had no ambition at the moment because their strength was being suppressed.

If one day the Gu Clan’s influence reached a critical mass, it was almost certain that they would embark on a quest to reclaim their former glory. In fact, it would probably only take them around three thousand years.

“We can temporarily put aside the matter of children for now. If it does happen, I will definitely find a way to remove their bloodline from them. If not, I will send my child back to Empty Mountain so that the Chu Clan can keep an eye on them. What do you think?” Su Chen said sincerely. “You can treat me as the person who responsible for keeping an eye on Gu Qingluo.”

Chu Yuan said helplessly, “I believe in Sir Su. But the situation is not as simple as you think it is. The Chu Clan’s oversight of the Gu Clan is a matter of duty. This was decided by the seven countries together. If I let her go, that would be going against our agreement, and might even be seen as treason. The consequences are serious!”

Su Chen replied calmly, “I know. But this agreement is made by humans, so it can also be broken by humans. As long as the seven countries agree to make an exception, there shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Chu Yuan was speechless.

Even though he was unwilling to do so, Chu Yuan still nodded.

A second later, Su Chen chuckled. “Fine, then. Right, there was something I forgot to tell you, Your Majesty.”

“What is it?” Chu Yuan was taken aback, and a trace of uneasiness rose in his heart.

Su Chen said, “The other six countries have already given me their agreement.”

What!?

Chu Yuan almost leapt out of his seat.

“This is impossible!”

“Please take a look, Your Majesty.” Su Chen placed six sealed scrolls in front of Chu Yuan.

These six sealed scrolls had come from the six countries, signed personally by Long Sang’s Lin Mengze, Liaoye’s Li Wuyi, Cloud Rising’s Du family, Owl Country’s Cheng family, and Great Wind’s Feng Zhuying.

Chu Yuan could see just by glancing at the contents of the letters that, as long as Gu Qingluo didn’t spread her bloodline to any outsiders, they were willing to let her leave the confines of Empty Mountain.

On each of the six letters was stamped a genuine blood seal.

The blood seals clearly indicated the support of the imperial households so that there could be no mistaking or falsification of intent.

Chu Yuan trembled as he read through these letters. His mind was a complete blank.

It wasn’t because he had to let Gu Qingluo go, but because Su Chen’s movements were simply too unpredictable.

He gazed at Su Chen and asked, trembling, “Can you tell me how you managed to accomplish this?”