Chapter 716: Showing Concern, Saving Face, Same Thing

[...And that’s what happened while you were inside of the treasure vault, milord.]

’Huh...on the one hand, kudos to this motherfucker for just abusing the prejudice of those more powerful than himself to do this dirty work. Very supervillainy and politician-like.’

[And on the other hand?]

’Next chance I have alone with him, I’m either wringing his neck or making him an offer that he won’t be able to refuse. Whichever comes first.’

[What about the elder that loose the cursed hammer that is now sitting in your hip?]

’I already gave him a concussion, let’s just call it even...maybe...’

[Well, feel free to think about what you’re going to do. Because I think the matriarch is about to drag your butt into a conversation with both of those people.]

’Say what?’

__________________________________________

"Alright, you lot feel free to test out your new aether treasures in our training halls. We got a couple hundred dummies that can withstand the power you guys are now packing. As for puppet boy here, he’s coming with me."

"Okay...wait, why?"

"Because the Elder that just got injured, just so happened to be the one in charge of the seal that was supposed to keep Xiao Liu’s fancy new hammer in check."

"Ah..."

"So as I said, Xiao Liu. Come along, let’s go give the elder some assurance that the cursed weapon under his watch is now in good hands."

"Right..."

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<<From the looks of it, you two have managed to sustain some pretty nasty head injuries, but nothing that is untreatable. Just have a rest, take these pills, and you should be right as rain in the morning.>>

<<Thank you, doctor.>>

’Aight, how the hell did we get here so quickly?’

In the medical hall of the Zhen Clan’s estate, Zhen Jun Yao and Elder Zhen Tinh were currently undergoing medical treatment after they had sustained some...rather questionable injuries.

Elder Zhen Tinh had suffered a heavy blow to the head and was currently unconscious, while also leaving him a black eye, while Zhen Jun Yao had also been knocked out but the damage was significantly lighter.

Granted, that should’ve been expected given that the former was attacked by some unknown method, while the latter had faked his own attack in order to remove any suspicion that he was the assailant. While he was technically innocent anyways, it didn’t hurt to help shore up his alibi with some bodily injuries.

Luckily, after the two of them had been rendered unconscious, the sound of falling items had alerted some passing guards to the their injured forms and they were swiftly carried over to receive medical treatment.

Which was why, as of this moment, both Zhen Jun Yao and Zhen Tinh were currently resting in the medical hall with bandages wrapped around their heads and some aether pills on hand. Of the two though, Zhen Jun Yao was the only one conscious at this time.

’Well...things could’ve gone significantly better,’ Zhen Jun Yao thought to himself as he stared up at the ceiling from his bed. ’But I should be expecting such difficulties without my illusion jade. Shit.’

This wasn’t the first time Zhen Jun Yao had made use of the Zhen Clan’s elders’ proclivities for violent solutions to his own end, but this was the first time he had to do so without the use of his [False Dream Jade] on hand. Which was a situation he absolutely hated with every fiber of his being.

Normally, he would’ve just had an audience with the elder in question, tell him what he had seen and how it was relevant to that particular elder’s interest and use the jade to erase his own presence from the target’s memories so that they think they came up with the idea themselves. Turns out it was significantly easier to use a memory altering item on someone when the subject of the memory altercation was the person doing the altering.

The idea of having his work done this way was to relieve himself of any possible culpability. On the chance that one of these schemes fail, the elder wouldn’t be able to tell other people that it wasn’t their idea in the first place.

But now, Zhen Jun Yao was stuck in a position he had long since dreaded but never thought he would actually be in.

He was stuck, injured by his own machinations, with the probability of himself being the blame for these injuries being much higher than he anticipated or wanted.

’You know what? It’s fine. I may be injured, but Elder Tinh is unconscious. All I have to do is get to the point where I can just tell the doctors I’m fine and I can just leave. Due to his head injuries, there’s a high chance that they may doubt whatever the elder may say in regards to what happened. After that, I can just-’

<<Disciple Jun Yao, you have some visitors.>>

<<Huh? Who’s visiting?>>

<<Hell~o>>

’Oh...shit...’

Zhen Jun Yao was initially curious as to who was coming to visit him in the medical hall since he while he had an amicable personality, he didn’t really have anyone he considered a friend within the Zhen Clan.

The last person he was expecting to see was the branch clan scion who just so happened to be the reason why he and the elder were infirmed in the first place.

Zhen Liu entered into Zhen Jun Yao’s room with an unusual amount of confidence and levity in his steps. A sharp contrast to the rather imposing visage he displayed inside of the vault. Granted, that confidence could very well be due to the cursed blacksmithing hammer that was now hanging off of the man’s hip like a treasured sword.

Zhen Jun Yao eyed the young man warily as he entered, unsure as to why the man was visiting him in the first place...unless...

’No...there’s no way he actually knows that I was involved...right? Wait...why is he even here in the first place?’

<<I hope you don’t mind me visiting. Matriarch Xun Tian is currently checking in on Elder Tinh at the moment and she brought me along. She also asked me to check in on you, I do apologize for interrupting your healing as it were.>>

<<Oh...it’s fine, I get having to do what the matriarch asks. She is a bit...forceful in that regard.>>

<<Right?>>

In actuality, it wasn’t fine at all for Zhen Jun Yao, but he had to fake it.

’Besides, he probably doesn’t know that I was involved with the incident involving his hammer...right?’

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[So...how are you playing this, maestro? Going to do the unfathomable demon lord thing again?]

’Normally I would, but thanks to you guys I absolutely know everything about this guy to the point where my leverage on him is more like a deep plunge off of a cliff. So...I’m going to try and do this like a mafioso.’

[Er...why?]

’Demonic entities are most terrifying when dealing with the unknowns, organized crime is very known and terrifying when exposed. You’ll see what I mean in a couple of seconds.’

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<<So in your own words, would you mind telling me what happened in Elder Tinh’s office?,>> Zhen Liu asked as he pulled up a stool next to Zhen Jun Yao’s bed. This was so he could see the man eye-to-eye.

<<Ah, yes, well...>>

Over the course of five or so minutes, Zhen Jun Yao spun a fascinating yarn about how he went to go visit the elder because he had some questions in regards to a new aether art he had just acquired. Apparently, Elder Tinh was the most skilled in regards to palm-based aether arts, which is why Zhen Jun Yao sought out his aid.

However, when he arrived to the elder’s office, he had found the man in a life-or-death struggle against some unknown assailant.

Zhen Jun Yao managed to fight off the attacker with Elder Tinh’s help, but the two of them were injured as a result and rendered unconscious due to the assassin using some unusual aether treasure.

The last thing he remembered was seeing the assassin disappear like a puff of smoke.

<<Interesting...do you have any details or features about this assassin? Perhaps I can help make a composite sketch.>>

<<Ah...no, sorry but I don’t have anything like that. Everything happened so fast, that I couldn’t keep track of anything.>>

<<Hmm, yes. That makes sense...,>> Zhen Liu nodded in agreement. <<When telling a lie, it’s easier to keep the details as sparse as possible, that way you don’t have to keep track when you tell others the same fib.>>

<<Exa-wait, what?>>

As soon as those particular set of words left Zhen Liu’s mouth, the Fourth Young Master of the branch clan took on a more...sinister posture.

<<Now, I don’t know about you, but I find it to be a very interesting coincidence that the elder you went to go and visit for some assistance in learning, just so happened to be the same elder that was in charge of a seal that kept a cursed hammer in check. An elder that doesn’t seem to like me or my family all too much, and a cursed hammer that just so happened to be in a vault that my cousins and I were visiting. A cursed hammer that you can’t seem to keep your eyes off of.>>

The moment this observation was brought up, Zhen Liu could physically see Zhen Jun Yao make an effort to turn his eyes elsewhere.

<<So would you happen to know, how that seal got broken?>>