255. Merchant vs genius (1)

Chen Ren froze as Yalan came to a halt.

Both of them looked down from the rooftop, their eyes settling on the street below.

It was filled with Thunder Blade Sect cultivators, led by Yun Zhaotian.

They stood scattered across the area, some positioned on top of broken puppets, others on large slabs of stone that had been torn from the ground. There were nearly two dozen of them. Chen Ren’s brows furrowed seeing them.

It didn’t make sense.

Not that many of them had ascended from the seventh floor. He was sure of it. So how were there more of them here now? How had they escaped the Zombie Queen?

For a brief moment, a thought crossed his mind. Was the Zombie Queen… letting them pass?

He dismissed it almost immediately.

There was no way to confirm something like that right now, and even if it was true, it didn’t change the situation in front of him.

His gaze shifted and locked on Yun Zhaotian who stood at the center of the formation.

The man’s posture was relaxed, almost casual, as if he had already taken control of the situation. His eyes were fixed on Princess Yanyue, who stood at the far end of the street, her expression tight with a visible frown.

They were talking.

From the way both of them looked, it was clear there hadn’t been a fight yet.

Chen Ren kept observing. With Yalan beside him and lightning at his command, he could easily launch a surprise attack. He could take out a few of them before they even realized what was happening.

But he didn’t because he knew that the Thunder Blade Sect cultivators were expecting him.

Princess Yanyue had sent three flares into the sky. Anyone with half a brain would understand what that meant. They would be waiting for him to show up.

Which raised a more important question.

Why had she done it?

She wouldn’t willingly drag him into a trap.

And judging by the scene below, this hadn’t escalated into violence yet. There were no Thunder Blade Sect casualties, no signs of an all-out clash. At most, this was still a standoff—a verbal confrontation that hadn’t crossed the line.

That made sense. Even if Yun Zhaotian didn’t care about her status, Princess Yanyue wasn’t someone to be taken lightly. Everyone had seen what she had done against the Zombie Queen.

After that, only a complete fool would pick a fight with her, no matter how many people they had on their side.

So what was this?

As Chen Ren thought it through, he came to a simple conclusion. The best way to understand it was to step into it himself.

His body still ached, but the pills had done their job. The pain had dulled, his bones were holding, and his qi had recovered enough for him to move properly again. If things turned bad, he wasn’t the only one who would be fighting anyway.

He turned his head slightly toward Yalan.

“I’m going down,” he said. “Stay hidden. Step in if you think my life’s actually in danger. Also take Wang Jun. He will be safer here.”

Yalan snorted. “When is your life not in danger?”

Chen Ren let out a small smile and patted her lightly before putting the head on her back even as he grumbled. “Also… keep your size up. Might help scare them a bit.”

With that, he didn’t wait.

Lightning surged through his legs as he moved.

He jumped from the rooftop, crossing over towards the smaller buildings in quick succession, each step taken precisely despite the lingering strain in his body. The wind rushed past him as he closed the distance, his eyes locked on the scene below.

Then he leapt outward.

His body dropped toward a nearby pole, his hand catching it mid-air as he slid down in one smooth motion before landing on the ground right between Princess Yanyue and Yun Zhaotian.

The moment he appeared, everything shifted.

Both of them turned toward him instantly, and the surrounding Thunder Blade Sect disciples reacted just as fast. Weapons came out, some creating lightning projectiles, and several of them looked ready to rush in.

But none of them struck. Chen Ren noted that immediately. It was a good sign.

Princess Yanyue was the first to speak. “Sect Leader Chen,” she said in a calm tone that carried a hint of dissatisfaction, “I expected you to be here ten minutes ago.”

Chen Ren exhaled lightly. “Got held up.”

His gaze shifted and locked onto Yun Zhaotian.

“I see you made it to the eighth floor,” he said. “Not alone either.”

Yun Zhaotian let out a faint scoff, his eyes narrowing slightly. “I should be saying that to you,” he replied. “I’ve greatly underestimated you.”

Chen Ren smiled faintly. “People often do.” His gaze drifted across the gathered disciples before settling back on Yun Zhaotian. “Either way, I’m assuming you’re not the type to accept an apology and move on like a mature adult, right?”

Yun Zhaotian stepped forward, his face already flushed at his words. “What you did wasn’t something that can be brushed off. It was a stain on my honour as a cultivator. And that’s something you will pay for. There’s no other way around it.”

Chen Ren felt a flicker of irritation rise within him.

He had dealt with his fair share of arrogant young masters before, but there was something about Yun Zhaotian that made him particularly insufferable.

Still, he kept his tone steady. “So what? You expect me to hand over my body so you can chop my head off and feel better about yourself?”

Yun Zhaotian clicked his tongue. “It would have been better if you had that much sense. The heavens might have been kinder to you in your next life.” He paused briefly, then continued, “But since I know you won’t do that, I’ll offer you something else.”

Chen Ren’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What kind of offer?”

“A duel,” Yun Zhaotian said simply. “An honour duel.”

He took another step forward, his voice carrying across the area.

“I’ll give you a chance at my life, and I’ll take one at yours. We do it here, in front of my junior disciples and Princess Yanyue. No interference, no tricks unless you truly have no honour left.”

Chen Ren let out a quiet chuckle.

“And why would I agree to that?” he asked. “You’re at the peak of the foundation establishment realm. I’m nowhere near that. It’s pretty obvious how that ends.”

Yun Zhaotian scoffed. “What, are you scared?” His gaze turned colder. “You should have thought about the difference in our cultivation before you decided to steal from me.”

Chen Ren almost replied that it wasn’t stealing if the items had never belonged to Yun Zhaotian in the first place.

But he stopped himself.

Instead, his gaze shifted to Princess Yanyue.

Her face was calm, almost indifferent, giving nothing away. But Chen Ren knew better. There was no way she would stand by and let him die. That wasn’t her style, and more importantly, it wasn’t in her interest.

Which made this situation even stranger. Why had she waited? Why had she let things reach this point?

Anyone with eyes could tell how this would go. In a direct fight, Chen Ren was at a major disadvantage.

Stolen story; please report.

This duel wasn’t fair.

He could also tell Yun Zhaotian had chosen it deliberately.

He had seen everything—Princess Yanyue’s strength, Yalan’s presence—and understood that a direct confrontation would cost him too much. So instead, he had proposed a duel.

And Princess Yanyue had agreed to it.

If there was one thing he could take a good guess at, it was that she had called him because she truly believed that he could win. That thought lingered for a moment before something clicked in his mind.

He was the one who had told her before that he had a way to deal with Yun Zhaotian. And that was true, but he hadn’t expected to be in such a situation.

If he had the choice, he would have avoided Yun Zhaotian for as long as possible, growing stronger before facing him. But now, standing here, that option no longer existed.

There was no clean way out. A duel might actually be the best way to end this. Though, Chen Ren wasn’t entirely confident he could win, despite the trick he had in mind.

But he was confident he could survive. And if things truly went wrong—Yalan would step in.

That thought settled his mind.

Yun Zhaotian’s expression grew impatient as the silence stretched. “So?” he said, his voice tightening. “Are you going to die honourably, or do I have to chase you down again?”

Chen Ren glanced once more at Princess Yanyue. Then he nodded. “Fine,” he said calmly. “Let’s have a duel.”

Yun Zhaotian’s lips curled into a smile. “So you do have some courage.”

Around them, the Thunder Blade Sect disciples reacted immediately. Some let out cheers, others looked at Chen Ren with open disdain, as if the outcome was already decided and they were simply waiting to watch it unfold.

Chen Ren ignored all of them.

He turned and stepped towards Princess Yanyue instead, stopping just a little further away from her.

“I hope I don’t regret this,” he said quietly.

Princess Yanyue met his gaze. “You do have a way to defeat him, right?”

Chen Ren gave a small nod. “So you did call me here because you thought I could win.”

She didn’t deny it. “I did. It’s better this way. If he’s left alone, he’ll only create more problems for us on this floor.”

Chen Ren nodded slowly, understanding her reasoning. Yun Zhaotian wasn’t someone who would stay out of things. If left unchecked, he would interfere sooner or later, especially when it came to something like the master lift.

Taking care of him now made sense.

Even if the timing wasn’t ideal.

Chen Ren exhaled softly and turned back toward Yun Zhaotian, who had already taken a stance, clearly ready to begin at any moment.

“I’ll need a few hours before we fight,” Chen Ren said.

“What?” Yun Zhaotian’s expression darkened instantly. “Why?”

“I just fought through a workshop full of puppets,” Chen Ren replied calmly. “I need time to recover my qi and deal with my injuries. Unless you want to call this an honour duel while fighting someone who isn’t even at his best.”

Yun Zhaotian stared at him for a moment, clearly weighing the words. Then he let out a quiet huff. “Fine. But don’t leave my sight. If you try to run, I’ll chase you down and kill you anyway.”

He paused briefly before adding, “You have six hours.”

Chen Ren shook his head slightly. “Eight.”

Yun Zhaotian’s eyes narrowed, but after a moment, he gave a reluctant nod. Without another word, he walked over to one of the stone slabs at the side and sat down, his gaze never leaving Chen Ren for even a second.

Watching him, Chen Ren wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. But still, he himself sat right next to Princess Yanyue.

Parts of his body still hurt, but he could feel the qi from the healing pills working and rejuvenating him, and his dantian also filling back up.

When he had first become Chen Ren, such a thing would have made him not want to get off the bed for days, but now rather than focusing on the pain, he was thinking on how to deal with Yun Zhaotian.

The man simply sat in the distance, looking all confident and Chen Ren knew he had more than a few reasons for his confidence. And although he had a way to win, he would have to bide a lot of time for that, and from what he had seen, Yun Zhaotian has a lot of ways to finish the fight fast.

All in all, he would need a lot of luck and different ways to hold him back. But no matter how much he thought, he wouldn’t know what to do until he turned to Princess Yanyue, and an idea struck him.

“You must have a lot of information on Yun Zhaotian, right?”

She raised an eyebrow. “The royal family don’t interfere with the Guardian sects. We have a mutual relationship, despite them being under us.”

Chen Ren scoffed. “You also must have a technique to make sure no one listens to us. Please use it, and tell me what you know about him. Knowing you, you would have gone as far as to even put a spy in Thunder Blade Sect.”

At that, her face twitched a bit, and she frowned at him, but the next second, he felt a wave of qi enveloping them.

Chen Ren smiled before Princess Yanyue said, “What do you want to know?”

Chen Ren replied, “Honestly, everything I can learn about Yun Zhaotian’s battle techniques, but most of all his weakness.”

At that, Princess Yanyue scoffed. “Then you would be disappointed, Sect Leader Chen.”

“Why?”

“Because Yun Zhaotian doesn’t really have any particular weakness,” she said. “He has trained since a very young age, and he is a genius. A genius that works hard could only ever be defeated by another genius, and hence, even among the Guardian sects, only Han Qingshi can defeat him in the younger generation.”

Chen Ren smiled wryly at that, clearly not liking the answer. He was no genius, especially not in combat, and expecting to find some hidden weakness now felt like wishful thinking.

If Yun Zhaotian had any flaw, he would have already covered it long ago.

After a moment, Chen Ren looked back at her. “Then do you think I would be able to last long against him?”

Princess Yanyue raised an eyebrow. “How long?”

“At least twenty minutes.”

She went silent for a moment before shaking her head. “It’s hard to say. Based on your cultivation and techniques, no. But you always have tricks up your sleeve, Sect Leader Chen. I just don’t know them.”

Chen Ren nodded slowly.

That was the problem.

Even he didn’t know which of his tricks would actually work. All he knew was that Yun Zhaotian could likely counter most of them if given the chance.

Still, he couldn’t just give up on the idea. In the end, he felt like there was only one way to get what he needed.

He turned back to Princess Yanyue.

“Tell me every public battle Yun Zhaotian has been part of. I want to know how he fought, if he got injured, and how he won or lost. Everything.”

***

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