Book 5, Chapter 93: Youthful Abundance
Chapter 93: Youthful Abundance
“Prince, please save me!”
The young maiden shot towards Su Chen.
Su Chen was planning on dodging, but that young maiden had leapt into his carriage before he could even react.
Once an Arcana Master’s skill reached a certain level, they would undoubtedly possess at least one or two teleportation Arcana Techniques. Using one here was basically her way of saying that she wanted to implicate Su Chen no matter what.
Su Chen was displeased with the woman’s actions and was just about to chase her out of his carriage when he saw the pursuing Harpy unleash a streak of blue light from his hands at the carriage.
“Courting death!” Su Chen growled.
The blue light seemed to abruptly slam into something, freezing in midair.
Unexpectedly, this blue light then suddenly turned around and shot back at the Harpy who had unleashed it.
Both the woman and her pursuer were taken aback.
This blue light was an Arcana Technique that the assailant was very proficient in using. If Su Chen had managed to resist it with force, then that wouldn’t have been so surprising. But the fact that it had suddenly rebounded was incredibly shocking. If you tried to pour water on someone, you wouldn’t be surprised if they dodged or just let the water splash on them. But it would definitely take incredible talent to deflect that water back onto you.
The assailant knew that he was in a dire situation. He desperately yelled, “I……”
But before he could finish his sentence, the blue light slammed into him, leaving behind a hole in his body. The assailant was quite tenacious as well; not only did he not die, but he immediately turned around and fled without a moment’s hesitation.
Su Chen didn’t bother chasing after him, instead passively allowing his carriage to continue advancing.
The woman was stunned as she stared at Su Chen, dumbfounded.
Her original goal was to implicate Su Chen into a brawl and then use the opportunity to run away. Unexpectedly, he was so powerful that he had managed to send her assailant packing with just a single strike.
A Fifth-Ring Arcana Master had been defeated just like that.
The woman stared at Su Chen intently, but Su Chen was wearing a wide-brimmed bamboo hat and his head was lowered, making it impossible for her to see his face.
The woman’s eyes darted around rapidly a few times before she laughed and praised, “Prince, you seem to be quite skilled.”
Su Chen coldly replied, “If I weren’t so skilled, I probably would’ve been killed by your actions.”
The woman hurriedly tried to mollify him by saying, “Prince, what are you saying? I just noticed that you carry yourself with a certain nobility, which is why……”
“The way I carry myself?” Su Chen chuckled. “You can’t even see my face. How can you know how I carry myself?”
“This……” The woman froze momentarily before retreating. “I apologize, Prince, for disturbing you. If this is the case, then I will take my leave first.”
As she spoke, she turned to leave.
Su Chen suddenly called out, “Did I say that you could leave? You seem to think that you can come and go as you please — do you really think that I’m that easy to push around?
The woman was badly startled. Her figure flickered as she unhesitatingly jumped out of the carriage.
However, the instant she reappeared, a hand formed from crystallized Origin Energy appeared behind her and grabbed her, pulling her back in the carriage.
How could this be possible?
How had the driver of this carriage managed to predict where she would reappear?
She thought that this had to be a coincidence, so even as Su Chen pulled her back, she gritted her teeth and teleported away again. Her teleportation technique was somewhat similar to Su Chen’s Whitetower Teleportation in that she could activate it repeatedly; however, the more she used it successively, the more energy it cost to activate.
She once again reappeared a hundred feet away from her original position, but before she could even move, Su Chen’s crystalline hand had captured her again.
The woman was stunned. She knew that she had provoked an opponent she shouldn’t have. As such, she was resolved to escape no matter how much effort it took.
But every time she tried to escape, Su Chen was able to pinpoint exactly where she would reappear — given Su Chen’s ability to perceive spatial fluctuations, there was no way that this woman would ever be able to escape from him.
She tried to escape seven or eight times, but each attempt ended the same. Su Chen easily recaptured her and sat her back down.
Finally, she began to run out of energy, and she involuntarily collapsed on the floor of the carriage, completely out of breath. She had used up almost all of her Origin Energy. She incessantly complained in her heart — he had managed to back her into a corner without even properly attacking her once.
But if her assailant had been driven off with a single attack, it wouldn’t have made a difference even if she had tons of Origin Energy at her disposal. Him attacking would probably result in the same outcome — death in a single blow.
As such, she came to terms with her situation and gave up on trying to escape. She plopped down on the carriage, as if waiting for Su Chen to give her a command.
“You’re not going to try and run anymore?” Su Chen asked.
“I can’t get away anyways, so I’m not going to bother,” the woman huffed exasperatedly.
Su Chen harrumphed back. “Oh, so now you’ve decided to behave? Why couldn’t you have done that from the start?”
The woman rolled her eyes. “If I hadn’t gotten you involved, he probably would have killed me eventually. If I was definitely going to die anyways, I figured it was at least worth a shot.”
Su Chen hadn’t expected her to reply in such a logical way and was momentarily taken aback. She did have a good point. He couldn’t help but chuckle, “That’s true. It was my miscalculation.”
The woman didn’t expect that a simple sentence from her would get Su Chen to agree. She was similarly taken aback.
Su Chen finally lifted his head. The Harpy woman discovered, to her surprise, that underneath the hat was a mask. She still didn’t know what he actually looked like, greatly disappointing her.
When she heard Su Chen say this, all she said in reply was, “Well, one way or another, I did it. You can do whatever you want to me now.”
Su Chen thought for a moment, then said, “I originally thought that you were an evil woman since you tried to drag me into your mess, but you make a good point. No one would spare any expense to preserve their own life. I cannot completely blame you for your actions.”
The woman was delighted when she heard this. “So you’re willing to forgive me?”
Su Chen nodded. “I can forgive you for making trouble for me. But since I have saved your life, it therefore belongs to me now.”
“What?” The woman was stunned. Was there ever a rule as unreasonable as that? He had saved her life, but now her life belonged to him?
Su Chen commandingly ordered, “Tell me your name.”
“I……” The woman hesitated momentarily before obediently replying. “My name is Ying Ying[1. Her name can be roughly translated to Youthful Abundance, which is what I will use from here on out. Because of Su Chen’s confusion in the following sentence, I chose to present it in its phonetic form first.].”
“Ying Ying?”
“Ying as in youthful……” Youthful Abundance said nonchalantly as she waved her hand. “What about you?”
“You can call me Master Azure Mark.” Su Chen didn’t use Halcyon Wing Streak’s actual name.
The reason for this was because if he used Halcyon Wing Streak’s identity too often, then he would eventually be exposed sooner or later.
The one thing he had going for him at the moment was the physically real pair of wings on his back, but there were many ways for his disguise to be seen through. As such, Su Chen had decided to wear a mask and assume a fake name. He gave off the appearance of a person who didn’t want to reveal their true identity.
This was also compatible with what had happened to Halcyon Wing Streak — after everything he had gone through, it was only natural that he would try and cover things up so that his reputation wouldn’t be damaged by his past.
In this way, he could use Halcyon Wing Streak’s identity when he needed it and avoid using it when he didn’t need to. As a result, he would be able to advance and retreat as he needed.
The mask only served to accentuate his disguise.
This mask of his was actually an Origin Tool that Zhu Chenhuan had found for him. It could conceal his presence from consciousness probes. Besides the mask, everything Su Chen was doing at this point originated from ideas that the Zhu Clan’s advisors had strategized for him. They all ensured that he would be able to travel as he pleased in Harpy territory.
“Master?” Youthful Abundance was very unhappy with Su Chen’s demand. “Who wants you to be their master?”
“That’s not up to you.” Su Chen reached out his hand and smacked Youthful Abundance on her back, shoving her out of the carriage interior. “From today onwards, you will drive the carriage for me, as well as serve me water and tea. All of these affairs will be your responsibility.”
“I won’t……”
Before she could even finish her sentence, Su Chen jabbed his finger in her direction.
Youthful Abundance felt a strange energy permeate her body. A sudden chill spread from the center of her being. She immediately realized that she had fallen under a controlling technique.
No one was more proficient in controlling others than Su Chen.
He hadn’t even developed a particular technique for this purpose. But because he understood the composition of Harpy anatomy so well, he could take command of their bodies with but a strand of Origin Energy. He was confident that there were probably no more than ten Harpies in total who could remove this control technique of his.
Youthful Abundance knew that she had been taken control of and plopped to the ground in despair. “It’s all over. I still needed to notify my clan that Fate’s Hands is planning on taking action against them.”
“Hm?” Upon hearing this name, Su Chen abruptly lifted up his head. “Did you say Fate’s Hands?”
“Yes!” Youthful Abundance hugged Su Chen’s lag. “I beg you, let me return and notify them. Fate’s Hands is going to slaughter them!”
Su Chen fell silent.
It was no surprise that he knew about Fate’s Hands. After all, they were another group of Arcanist Remnants, just like the Immortal Temple and Resurrection Door.
The Arcanist Remnants were spread throughout the lands of the Intelligent Races. Because they couldn’t see eye-to-eye with any of the other Intelligent Races, and because their ambition was not yet fully snuffed out, they were always thinking of ways to stir up trouble.
Just like the Immortal Temple, Fate’s Hands was considered a terrorist organization amongst the Harpies. All they did was kill and steal.
Whatever the humans suffered from, so too did the Harpies. Their situations were actually fairly similar.
Su Chen couldn’t help but fall into deep thought when he heard Youthful Abundance’s words.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Given his relationship with the Immortal Temple, it was entirely possible for him to contact with Fate’s Hands amiably as well.
However, after a moment of thought, Su Chen gave up on this idea.
He was currently carrying out a plan and had no time to focus on such trivial side issues. Fate’s Hands could only help him a little, and they could potentially turn on him at any point in time. Since everything was already going smoothly, there was no need for him to complicate the situation.
Su Chen quickly decided to not interfere.
Youthful Abundance thought that by mentioning Fate’s Hands, she could move Su Chen, but Su Chen completely rejected her suggestion after a moment’s thought. “It has nothing to do with me. Send the carriage on its way.”
Youthful Abundance grew incredibly agitated, but Su Chen completely ignored her, callously motioning for her to start driving the carriage. No matter how she pleaded, it was useless.
This guy really has no heart, Youthful Abundance thought to herself bitterly.
But there was nothing she could do. After thinking for a moment, all she could say was, “Are you not concerned about Fate’s Hands attacking my clan?”
“They’re just interested in your clan’s wealth. I am not interested.” Su Chen immediately stopped her attempt in its tracks.
In terms of wealth, how many people could compare with him?
Su Chen was only ever interested in knowledge.
Boundless knowledge.
As he spoke, he returned to the carriage, opened another book of Harpy Arcana Techniques, and began to peruse it.
Youthful Abundance was disappointed by his tone, but when she saw the book he was holding, an idea sparked in her head. She yelled, “Then what about Jade Clearmist’s treasure stores? Are you interested in that?”
“Oh?” Su Chen glanced up from his book.