Chapter 3827 — No Fighting Allowed
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
If one piece of Star Ink Stone had turned up at the Hong Merchant Guild, then perhaps there was a second—no one could say for certain.
And even if there were no Star Ink Stone, there might still be other heaven-and-earth treasures to be found. Yu Jiang had spent three years in the Scripture Pavilion, and his eye for certain rare and secret treasures was keener even than that of the appraisal experts in some merchant guilds. There might well be an opportunity to snap up a bargain.
As for his appearing at the Hong Merchant Guild at this moment, that was no cause for surprise either. Despite the recent uproar, and though the guild had declared in so many words that his master Nan Tianyong was not welcome to set foot inside, it had never once said that Yu Jiang himself was barred from entering.
And reasoning much as Wei Zhao had, Yu Jiang had been keeping close watch on the outer and middle streets of the market these past days, even prodding his master Nan Tianyong into spending a great many spirit jades to recruit certain merchants as eyes watching Lin Er's movements. Yet the last thing he had ever expected was to come face to face with Lin Er here in the Hong Merchant Guild—on a day that was not even a day when the inner street was open!
The Star Ink Stone snatched away, the sneak attack launched midway, and then being beaten half to death in return—Yu Jiang's rancor toward this Lin Er was truly a hatred to the bone; he wished he could flay the man's skin and drink his blood. Otherwise he would never have gone to such lengths, stirred up such a commotion, and dug three feet into the earth to drag Lin Er out!
But now, meeting him face to face with no warning whatsoever, Yu Jiang was just like Wei Zhao—stunned for an instant.
A moment later, the two of them reacted almost at the same time, and their first impulse was to strike a killing blow at the other. After all, both Wei Zhao and Yu Jiang knew full well that the feud between them was a fight to the death, that there was no possibility whatever of clasping hands and making peace.
This enmity was far deadlier than the opposition between Wei Zhao and those men of the Welcome New Pavilion. Meng Jueming and the rest, Xu Lingchong included, likewise regarded Wei Zhao as a thorn in their eye and a spike in their flesh, but not to the point of a fight to the death—at least they would not risk everything and pay any price to kill him.
Even Nan Tianyong, Yu Jiang's master, did not necessarily harbor such a deadly intent toward this Lin Er. Only Yu Jiang—Yu Jiang alone—had to kill Lin Er.
There was only one reason: the Star Ink Stone.
Cultivators are the most practical of people. Where profit is concerned, there are no eternal friends and no eternal enemies—unless one is deeply won over, like Xiao Che, Qiao Hongcai, Li Zhengming, and Zhong Yongliang.
Even being beaten half to death by Lin Er before—to be frank, Yu Jiang might not have gone to such lengths to dig Lin Er out on that account alone. The fundamental reason that drove him to it was one thing only: the Star Ink Stone.
The Star Ink Stone—before a treasure great enough to change a cultivator's fate, one might disown even one's own father. If Yu Jiang could simply let Lin Er, the enemy who had beaten him half to death, go unheeded, that would be a wonder to behold.
In an instant, the two of them raised their aura to the utmost without the slightest reservation, their strongest killing moves on the verge of erupting.
After all, they had already fought a desperate battle before, and each knew the other's strength well. Whether it was Wei Zhao, who had gained the upper hand last time, or Yu Jiang, who held the advantage in cultivation grade, neither dared to slight the opponent before him—otherwise, a single careless moment could truly cost them their lives.