Chapter 25: A Turnaround
“Stop!”
Suddenly the crowd heard a voice as deep as booming thunder.
Jiang Chen’s expression changed. He left the ring as quickly as he could.
Almost at the same time, a blast blew a huge hole where Jiang Chen had been standing.
A middle-aged woman appeared in the chaos. She was dressed like a Taoist nun and looked a bit scary with her sagging eyebrows.
“Gui Ya!”
Someone recognized her.
Gui Ya was standing in the ring with her hands behind her back, looking down on the people. Gao Yue showed up at the moment when she was about to speak. Gao Yue shouted at her, “What were you thinking? I’ll kill you if you hurt my son!”
If Jiang Chen hadn’t dodged in time, he would definitely have been severely injured.
Gui Ya didn’t expect that an average woman like Gao Yue had the nerve to reproach her. She was on the verge of flaring up, but suddenly sensed some majesty in Gao Yue. The light in her almond eyes was as sharp as a treasured sword.
Gui Ya was stunned for a second by what she sensed in Gao Yue. But fortunately, Gao Yue’s aggressiveness disappeared so soon that Gui Ya thought it was an illusion.
However, she didn’t get the chance to respond to Gao Yue, since Jiang Wentian and the Jiang’s elders also came up to her.
“Gui Ya, why did you attack my grandson?”
“If I didn’t, he would have pierced my apprentice’s back and paralyzed him,” Gui Ya said.
Meng Fei was shocked by what he had heard. He looked over to Jiang Chen with fear.
Jiang Chen had intended to kill him or paralyze him with only one movement, without considering the consequences. He was scared when he thought about him.
“Do you think such things could happen while we are watching on the side?” Jiang Wentian said coldly.
“Besides, you sent your apprentices to take part in our annual dinner, but you were hiding somewhere. What did you intend to do?” Jiang Tianxiong put aside the conflict between the east and west courtyard while they were confronting the foreign enemy together.
Everyone was looking at Gui Ya, waiting for her answer.
“I’ll be straight with you. My apprentice and Su Qian are lovers, but Su Qian is engaged to Jiang Chen. So I hope you could end this engagement.”
Gui Ya didn’t beat around the bush. She was speaking in a domineering manner.
Jiang Wentian had heard the story, but to his surprise Gui Ya also got involved. He looked over to Gao Yue and Jiang Chen wonderingly.
Gao Yue didn’t know how to respond. She looked nervous.
“Grandpa, the engagement was already ended. I sent a certificate of divorce to the Sus,” Jiang Chen said.
“Did you?”
“Hum, do you know what kind of negative impact you make on a girl by sending her a certificate of divorce? It seems your east courtyard is ignorant of your current situation. You went too far!”
“Exactly. You don’t have the right to divorce Su Qian,” Meng Fei said immediately.
Jiang Chen sneered at him, “First of all, she was seeing another man when she was still engaged to me. She didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. Second, she didn’t respect my mother. What’s wrong of me to divorce a lady of such easy virtue?”
“Your right isn’t decided by what she did, but by your strength,” Gui Ya grinned sarcastically. It was amusing for her that Jiang Chen had given a serious speech.
“Are you threatening the Jiangs? Are you sure you want to do this?” Jiang Wentian said to her.
“Senior Lord Jiang, without the Windblade, the Jiang Mansion is much less powerful. Don’t look at me like that. The Southwind Ridge won its reputation and property only thanks to the Windblade. Since he isn’t here now, many people are coveting your Jiang Mansion. The current situation is unfavorable for the Jiangs. Are you sure you want to offend me because of an engagement?”
Gui Ya continued arrogantly, “After all, many forces want to invite me over.”
The Jiangs were embarrassed when they heard Gui Ya’s words, but there were people gloating over what was happening as well, like Jiang Feng and Jiang Jian.
As for the outsiders, the disciples of the Swordquest School were sitting on the fence for the moment.
Xiao Hai suddenly saw something and stood up.
“Senior, you are not the only one coming after Jiang Chen. Me, too!”
Gui Ya was quite arrogant. She glanced at him and was on the verge of saying “who do you think you are,” but suddenly found he looked familiar. She asked, “Are you Master Cao’s apprentice?”
“Yes.”
“Oh? What happened?” Gui Ya asked out of curiosity.
“Jiang Chen broke my hands not long ago. Today my master will take revenge for me.” Xiao Hai, who had kept silent, finally flared up.
Because he saw his master coming.
Is all this only a flash in the pan?
The east courtyard had suffered from endless disappointment. On this day, Jiang Chen’s performance brought hope to everyone. But to their surprise, more troubles were waiting for them.
Not until then did people see Cao Chenghua coming.
“Master Cao.”
Gui Ya gave him a smiling face instantly.
People living on this continent had reached a consensus. That is, you could offend anyone except an alchemist. These guys controlled panaceas as well as human resources.
“Ha, Jiang Chen, looks like today won’t be easy for you. What will happen next?” Meng Fei thought gloatingly.
Cao Chenghua had come to rock the boat, so he didn’t show a friendly face to anyone.
Fan Tu said to him, “Your apprentice molested our lady with insolent words…”
“Fan Tu!” Jiang Wentian hasted to stop him with an angry roar.
Jiang Wentian walked up to Cao Chenghua and said to him, “Master, there might be some misunderstandings…”
Cao Chenghua ignored him. He looked at Fan Tu and said, “Let me ask you. Did you or did you not keep slapping my apprentice even if he had claimed he was an alchemist?”
“I did,” Fan Tu admitted.
“It was his master’s order.” Xiao Hai pointed to Jiang Chen in haste.
“You continued to attack his arms, knowing that he was my apprentice! It looks to me like the Jiang Mansion doesn’t need an alchemist.”
On hearing this, the whole group of Jiangs turned as white as a sheet. The joyful atmosphere was completely gone.
“That’s right. We don’t need a crappy alchemist.”
Jiang Chen spoke, to everyone’s surprise.
“Master, it’s him! It’s him!” Xiao Hai pointed to him agitatedly.
Cao Chenghua, with a long face, looked over. What he saw bewildered him. Wasn’t that the guy whom he met in the Pegasus Chamber of Commerce?
“We’ve met again so soon, Senior!” Jiang Chen was smiling mysteriously.
“My…my young friend, it’s you!”
“It’s me, Master Cao,” Jiang Chen said. “My master has figured out what your problem is. I plan to tell you about it next time. Looks you don’t want to know anymore.”
“No! No!”
The sudden turnaround bewildered Cao Chenghua. He tried to calm down and said, “Could you tell me why you beat my apprentice?”
Jiang Chen took out a Gathering Yuan Pill and handed it over to him. He said, “It’s your apprentice’s work. Please take a look and you’ll see what’s wrong with it.”
Cao Chenghua took it and checked it carefully. He thought his apprentice had made some mistake, but he started to frown a while later.
“My young friend, there is nothing wrong with it. It’s very pure.”
Xiao Hai, who was beside him, raised his head and said, “Master, of course it’s pure.”
“The panacea is all right. The problem is with the ingredients he used.”
Xiao Hai turned pale on hearing Jiang Chen’s words. Cao Chenghua pulled a long face again. He crumbled the panacea and smelt it.
“Why does it have…” Cao Chenghua, frowning, found medicinal materials for class two panaceas were used.
Jiang Chen said, “Because your apprentice’s work is crappy, he has to use better ingredients to guarantee the success rate. We wasted huge amounts of good materials in these two years and were unaware of it. We paid him good money. Master Cao, what do you think? Should I or shouldn’t I break his hands?”
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