400: Zhou Xun helps

The conditions were clearly laid out, and the black-clad man looked at Chen Tianming with great interest, eager to see what choice he would make.

Wu Wenlong was incredibly anxious, but he had no bargaining chips to offer, so his gaze fell upon Yue Xiaojie, who was acting as though the matter had nothing to do with her.

"Yue Xiaojie, say something! You don't really think that if Brother Chen leaves, your retainer will be able to get you out safely, do you? Especially when you haven't gained anything in this palace!"

Great families may appear glorious, but in reality, their internal struggles are incredibly brutal.

Even as the eldest legitimate daughter of the Yue family, if she yielded no results and her power waned, these things would become the sharp knives that would kill her.

The Yue family does not support useless people, not even their own eldest legitimate daughter.

If she returned from this trip empty-handed, what she would face would not just be the accountability of her family head, but also the ambitions of other branches of the family trying to get ahead.

The life of a single retainer might not seem all that important, but in the eyes of a great family, if the sacrifice of a retainer cannot be exchanged for equivalent benefits, then in the eyes of those in charge, it is the master's fault.

"Wu Wenlong, are you threatening me!"

Yue Xiaojie asked through gritted teeth, her eyes filled with anger toward Wu Wenlong.

She could accept threats from anyone, but certainly not from this man, Wu Wenlong, whom she looked down upon.

"I am just stating the facts clearly. The life of a retainer might not mean much to your great noble family, but to you, Yue Xiaojie, he is one of the few retainers you have left, isn't he!"

"..."

Facing such a sharp question, Yue Xiaojie choked up, unable to say a word, because what the other party said was the absolute truth.

It is said that your enemies know you best, and they are the ones who understand most clearly what you lack.

Yue Xiaojie and Wu Wenlong could not be considered mortal enemies, yet they understood each other better than anyone else.

Seeing the two of them about to start arguing endlessly over their personal grudges again, Zhou Xun hurriedly reprimanded them.

"Enough! Haven't you made enough of a laughingstock of yourselves for others to see?!"

"..."

Zhou Xun's authority might not amount to much, but to those present, he was the second pillar of support after Chen Tianming. Crucially, Chen Tianming's demands were perhaps something only Zhou Xun could satisfy.

The great families still possessed much power, but they could not unite like Zhou Xun, especially when it came to investigating information.

If she truly possessed the same capabilities as Zhou Xun, why would Yue Xiaojie bother trying to win him over?

The black-clad man looked at Wu Wenlong and Yue Xiaojie mockingly, then asked Chen Tianming.

"Look at them; they can't even resolve their own personal disputes. Do you really think they can accomplish what you want to do? In Black City, I might lack other things, but I have quite a few channels for gathering information on people!"

Because of what Zhou Xun had said earlier, the black-clad man was very cautious and did not promise everything outright.

He wanted to avoid Zhou Xun using his words as an excuse later to demand that he produce the person right then and there.

Chen Tianming looked the black-clad man up and down and hesitated for a moment. The item Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady had given him showed no reaction, so it was clearly not this black-clad man.

Before doing this, he knew it would be troublesome, but he hadn't expected it to be this troublesome.

Finding one person in a massive city purely on his own was indeed difficult, but with so many people around, he still possessed too little information.

"You all sound very convincing, but I only care about the results."

Chen Tianming said with a chuckle; he didn't care about their personal affairs.

He only needed to know the location of the black-clad man, and then he would use his own strength to capture the target and bring them back.

Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady had guaranteed him that the target's strength would not exceed his own, which was why he had such an arrogant attitude.

"It seems that with your attitude, we have nothing to talk about!"

The black-clad man's expression became a bit more ferocious, and his eyes were full of scrutiny toward Chen Tianming.

Chen Tianming glanced indifferently at the black-clad man and shrugged.

"You were the one who brought this up, so it's not my problem!"

"..."

"Hahahaha..."

The black-clad man laughed, but this time it lacked the cheerfulness of the previous two times; it was filled with more anger.

In his eyes, he had been toyed with by Chen Tianming.

He had extended such an olive branch, yet Chen Tianming didn't know what was good for him and refused to accept it.

To him, this was simply a great humiliation, especially in front of so many people he looked down upon.

"I admit you are a rare talent, but in front of me, you are trash!"

"I'll tell you one more time: submit to me, or you will pay a painful price."

Chen Tianming looked at the aggressive black-clad man, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold arc.

"Are you threatening me?"

"You can think of it that way. After all, since our cooperation has fallen through, I cannot let you leave this place!"

"Then I'd like to see how you make me pay a painful price!"

Chen Tianming laughed disdainfully, tightening his grip on his longsword. He knew the black-clad man intended to go all out!

Previously, he had hidden his strength, and the opponent had fought with ease, clearly having a trump card.

"Hmph!"

The black-clad man rushed over, engaging in a fierce battle with Chen Tianming.

As the two martial artists clashed, their energy leaked out, immediately blowing away many of the people nearby.

They all knew that the black-clad man's martial arts were very powerful.

But they hadn't expected Chen Tianming to be so desperate this time, using lethal moves right from the start.

"Bang!"

"Pfft!"

When the two collided, Chen Tianming suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered backward.

He had deliberately exposed a flaw just now to lure the opponent into attacking, intending to seize the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

The black-clad man was no fool; he also saw that Chen Tianming was stalling him, but he didn't take it to heart.

Because he knew Chen Tianming didn't dare to harm him in the slightest; he was just stalling.

Chen Tianming silently cursed, realizing the opponent seemed to have seen through his intentions and was deliberately holding back.

Although he had medicinal pills, it would still consume a significant amount of true energy.

Especially since he didn't want to expose his lethal moves; Yue Xiaojie and Zhou Xun were, after all, not his true allies.

Sometimes displaying necessary strength was fine, but if he showed too much, creating too great a gap from what they expected, it would cause them to have other ideas.

It was precisely for this reason that Chen Tianming chose to hesitate, not daring to expose himself easily.

"Brother Chen, I have a secret treasure here that will definitely help you defeat him!"

Zhou Xun said, simultaneously throwing a gourd-like secret treasure to Chen Tianming.

By doing this, he was also expressing his stance.

"This is..."

Chen Tianming was stunned.