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Chapter 846 Sentence given (23)

"So, what do you think, Owner Song Ba?"

Song Ba poured himself a cup of wine and took a single gup, emptying the cup before he poured himself another.

With his gaze trained on the clear wine, he asked,

"Are you sure you want to go through with this, young lord? I just can\'t understand it. Is it out of hate, out of envy, or to ensure your position as the next clan leader remains safe? Having a clan member who you think of as a brother, murdered.

Aren\'t things like these taboos in your clans? Is it really worth it?" Song Ba asked, his expression ambivalent.

Chen Zholan took the wine jar and poured himself a cup. After he was done, with a tired sigh he said,

"Like I told you before, I\'m a coward. The fears I have, while irrational, are still there and they have overrun my life completely. I can\'t live like this. If I was a little braver, things would never have gotten to this point.

Either I would have been brave enough to continue forward, or brave enough to accept my limitations and live with them.

But I can\'t..."

Chen Zholan paused as he shook his head in dejection and took a small sip after.

"My cowardice wouldn\'t let me and now the only path I see forward is eliminating Chen Xue. He is the root of it all. As long as he lives, he will be a constant reminder of my weakness and ineptitude, a never-ending source of the fear that is stealing life from me every single day.

If I am to have a chance at living even a normal life, he has to go. At this point, I don\'t even care about my cultivation base, or achieving the things I set out to do when I was young. I just want to know what it feels like to not live constantly afraid.

Owner Song Ba, there is no turning back for me. I have zero hesitation about wanting Chen Xue dead. Only I know how much torment I have been living in because of his presence. I need peace, I need freedom, and right now, killing Chen Xue seems to be the only way to do that.

So, what is your answer? Will you help me with it? I hope you will, but if you can\'t, it\'s okay. I will just have to search for alternative means, but I will have to know your answer promptly. I can\'t afford to delay.."

Silence ensued in the room with both parties, the atmosphere turning solemn as the two maintained eye contact, each with their own reasons for doing so. Song Ba was trying to see if there was any hint of falsehood in Chen Zholan, while Chen Zholan was staring hard to see what choice Song Ba would make.

Even though he felt Song Ba\'s odds of agreeing to the matter were high, Song Ba was right about one thing. Chen Xue was highly valued by the entire clan, and if anything were to happen to him, the repercussions were bound to be severe. Even with Song Ba\'s identity as the owner of a subsidiary organization with ties to the Golden Bamboo Pavilion, if he was caught, the Chen Clan would likely not let him off.

But for people he could work with on the matter, Song Ba was the best candidate. Even without knowing the full details, just based on Song Ba dealing in pill slaves and human cauldrons, Chen Zholan knew the merchant was just as desperate as he was if he was willing to engage in such taboo matters.

Therefore as things stood, killing Chen Xue was in both their best interests.

After a short moment had passed, Chen Zholan finally gave his answer.

"You drive a hard bargain there young lord. It would be remiss of me to refuse you. I agree, Chen Zholan.." Song Ba said his tone firm.

"But, you have to make sure to keep the promises you made, one of which is, that I need you to ensure no one finds out about my business within your clan. Seeing how you were able to sniff it out, I can think of no one better to ensure its anonymity.

Other than that, I will also need your direct participation like you offered, and I can\'t wait until you\'re the next clan leader, it needs to be now. Your fears aside, the clan still values you does it not?"

"It does, why?"

"That is perfect. I\'ve only been there once when I was discussing something with your clan leader, but I have to say the environment in Spiritwood County and Misty Caldera County is really high quality from the denseness of the spiritual qi, to its natural composition. It wasn\'t part of the red maple spirit\'s territory for nothing.

I have long since wanted to have some of my business done there, but with Chen Zian keeping such a close eye on both places, It was next to impossible to find anyone to cooperate with, but with you, young lord, my dreams may be realized.

For me this is non-negotiable, I don\'t care how you do it, but if you want my cooperation, I need my pill slaves and human cauldrons in at least one of the two aforementioned counties, and since I can\'t trust anyone else to do it without Chen Zian finding out, it will have to be you.

That\'s my bottom line, do that, and I will consider your offer, but if you can\'t, then however much I need your farms for my business, I would rather pack up my business and do it elsewhere, or even stop it all together.."

"I will try and get a leading post in one of them but I can\'t have the same numbers as the rest. Even if Chen Zian values me, he always maintains a close watch on those two counties, mostly to guard against Chen Bo.

To be able to do so under his watch, the number has to be small. I can\'t do more than five. I hope you understand..."

"Five is okay... Though this isn\'t contingent on my participation, if you can find another person willing to do this business from those two counties, I would appreciate it if you sent them my way.

I would be more than willing to compensate you in kind for the assistance.."

"If the moment presents itself, I will, but it will be difficult. The elders from these two counties are loyalists, not to Chen Zian, but to the clan. It would be difficult to find anyone amongst them willing to cooperate considering the nature of the business, and the risks it poses to the clan.."

"As long as you keep an eye out, it will be more than enough.."

"Okay... So we have a deal?"

"We do, but I will need six months to a year for me to verify if Chen Xue exists and is as talented as you say. Only after I have verified it will I act..

What\'s his present cultivation base?"

"He is at the second stage of the core formation realm?"

"Mmh, no matter how heaven-defying his talent is, it would take more than a year for him to reach the peak stage of the core formation realm let alone reach the palace realm.

We can both afford to wait that long.."

Chen Zholan sighed as he answered,

"I wish we could take care of it today, but with how sensitive the matter is, I understand the need for prudence. Take the time you need, and when you come to a decision, please let me know, soon I hope.."

"I will, young lord.."

The two exchanged a few more words before finally, Chen Zholan left leaving Song Ba, behind.

Alone in the room, Song Ba pulled back the sleeve robe on his right hand until it revealed his forearm. He traced his hand over it whilst muttering an incantation that resulted in his forearm glowing with silver runes, that flashed for a few seconds before disappearing.

"I hope there never comes a moment when I have to use this.." Song Ba muttered to himself.]

The scene that had been playing ended soon after,but immediately after ending, Song Ba manipulated the wing of the heavenly secrets cicada, producing yet another recording.

The next recording was of Song Ba and Chen Zholan meeting a year later, with the former having confirmed the veracity of the information Chen Zholan shared with him.

After everything was confirmed came the planning. The planning phase showed Chen Zholan providing every single piece of information that he knew about Chen Xue which even included his unconscious fighting habits that Chen Zholan had discovered over the years from being his sparring partner.

Every single detail about Chen Xue whether relevant or not was laid out bare to Song Ba. With all the information in place, all they needed was an opportune moment to act, which Chen Zholan had said would provide, completely revealing how.

The scheme involved using Chen Xue\'s father to get Chen Xue away from the clan. In the recording, Chen Zholan sounded confident in pulling it off, owing to the close relationship he had developed with the father and son.

After he shared his plan, Song Ba added to it by providing the entrance tokens for an auction being held in one of the auction houses he was acquainted with.

Song Ba played recording after recording, showing him and Chen Zholan refining their plan, up until the day of Chen Xue\'s assassination. Song Ba didn\'t reveal who he would use, and Chen Zholan didn\'t ask either.

After Chen Xue\'s death, next they met, was three months after the deed was done at the same inn they had met to kickstart the whole thing, and the topic of discussion other than celebrating the successful assassination, was Chen Xue sharing the news of him being confirmed as the next clan leader, with the ascension waiting till he was at the peak stage of the core formation realm as per the rules and how he had found the perfect candidate for Song Ba to add to help him with his taboo business.

That candidate was none other than Chen Gutian. Exploiting his grief, Chen Zholan had devised the perfect plan. Most within the clan suspected the Gui clan of assassinating Chen Xue but without proof and the Gui clan having the same strength as the Chen clan, the higher-ups were unwilling to act which left the grieving Chen Gutian angry at the clan for sitting on the fences and refusing to take action.

Chen Zholan\'s plan was aimed at taking advantage of this satisfaction. He would slowly work on Chen Gutian to the point he would willingly sacrifice anything to get at his son\'s killer which was where Song Ba would come in.

Song Ba as the owner of a subsidiary of the Golden Bamboo Pavilion, didn\'t need to fear the Gui clan, and his identity meant his connections were extensive, even more so than the Chen Clan. Finding the killer would be easy with Song Ba\'s help.

Leveraging on the desperation Chen Gutian had in finding his son\'s killer, Song Ba would offer to search for Chen Xue\'s killer, in exchange Chen Gutian would harbor a few pill slaves and human cauldrons for Song Ba.

Chen Gutian wasn\'t yet the elder in charge of the farms in Misty Caldera County, but the recordings showed Chen Zholan saying how it would be easy to get him the post. Chen Zian having done nothing about Chen Xue\'s death or his killer, either out of guilt or appeasement, as long as Chen Gutian requested it, he would easily be given the post as the elder in charge of Misty Caldera County by the clan leader.

The only issue was getting Chen Gutian\'s agreement to nurture pill slaves and human cauldrons, but that proved to be a non-

issue in the end. Chen Zholan\'s played him like a fiddle.

He preyed on his grief and anger and pretended he was just as angry, willing to do anything, after that, he eased into Song Ba\'s matter and how he would be able to help them. He pretended that he would be the only one to engage in the matter, but he knew, with Chen Gutian\'s temperament, there was no way he would allow him to bear that price and infamy alone.

The recording showed Chen Zholan bragging about how everything played out perfectly from Chen Xue\'s assassination down to the scheme of roping in Chen Gutian.

Chen Zholan had long gone silent when he saw the damning recordings play one after the other. In the end, all he could do was stare at Song Ba in disbelief.

"I told you before, young lord, the only way that matter would ever come to light, is if one of us was the one to reveal it.."