Chapter 241: Obtaining The Map Fragment, Hiring A Bodyguard
The two gazes intertwined in midair with both of them emitting some indecipherable meaning. A faint chill was formed in midair and the atmosphere suddenly became somewhat tense.
A pair of dark black eyes calmly watched Hai Bo Dong in midair, who appeared to have become more fierce and overbearing following the recovery of his strength. Xiao Yan’s body bent slightly backward and leaned against the back of the chair. His ten fingers were placed in front of his body. His calm expression similar did not change even the slightest bit because of the fierce Dou Huang Qi he was feeling in the underground room.
In midair, Hai Bo Dong’s gaze carried a little aggression as he stared intently at the black-clothed young man below. A faint force of cold air hovered over his palm. Following the recovery of his strength, the emotions that had been suppressed in Hai Bo Dong for decades had finally once again began to be released in a slow and soothing manner. The Ice Emperor back then was cold and overbearing. There had never been anyone who dared to take anything from his hand. Xiao Yan, however, had broken this taboo.
In the past, Hai Bo Dong did not reveal any enmity because he could not see through Xiao Yan’s strength due to the seal. However, now that the seal had been broken, the extremely powerful Ice Emperor back then had finally and completely returned. The sudden skyrocketing strength had also caused Hai Bo Dong’s heart to quietly start thinking of ways of taking back the map fragments that were Xiao Yan’s hands.
Although Hai Bo Dong did not know what use the map fragments had, he was still able to realize that the secret hidden within the map fragment would definitely not be small. After all, this map fragment was something that had attracted a strong person around Queen Medusa’s level to travel a great distance to chase after him with the intention to kill.
With his body floating in midair, an icy cold air shrouded Hai Bo Dong’s body as his eyes stared at Xiao Yan who had a calm filled face. The young man’s quiet and inscrutable posture finally caused Hai Bo Dong, whose confidence had inflated greatly, to become a little sober.
Narrowing his eyes to tiny slits, Hai Bo Dong recalled the big fight with Xiao Yan a few months ago. His face became grave. When the image of the young man controlling the strange thick white flame back then flashed in his mind, a chill suddenly surfaced in Hai Bo Dong’s heart without warning. Back then, after being in contact with the thick white flame, Hai Bo Dong had a deep understanding of its terror.
As the chill in Hai Bo Dong’s heart rose, his body also shivered slightly. The coldness on his face also gradually disappeared. A smile that seemed gentle was hung on that slightly stiff old face.
After repeated deep thoughts, Hai Bo Dong’s confidence, that had surged excessively because of his soaring strength, was finally suppressed by his rationality and gradually disappeared. He roughly calculated a little and after a few palpitations he realized that even though he had gradually recovered his strength from before, he was still unable to see through this young man’s true strength.
Sensing Xiao Yan’s Qi, it was clearly only that of a Dou Shi. However, after having once fought with him, Hai Bo Dong knew that if anyone really treated the young man in front of him as a Dou Shi and tried to deal with him, he would likely receive a bloody lesson…
“Temporarily it is inappropriate to be enemies with him.”
As this thought flashed in his heart, a gentle smile surfaced on Hai Bo Dong’s old face. He faced Xiao Yan and gave a seemingly friendly smile as he nodded. The cold air shrouding him also gradually withdrew into his body.
With a mocking glint in his eyes, Xiao Yan eyed Hai Bo Dong who, after a deep thought in midair, suddenly took the initiative to withdraw his fierce and imposing manner and began to express kind intentions. Xiao Yan played with the ring on his finger as he smiled playfully and said, “Old Mister Hai, I thought that after recovering your strength, you were planning on eating your words and attacking me… Your manner just now, really could make someone afraid.”
“Ke ke, Little Brother Xiao Yan, what are you saying. How could old me forget the help you have given me? That kind of ungrateful thing is not something that I, Hai Bo Dong, would be able to do.” Hai Bo Dong hurriedly waved his hand and gradually descended. He faced Xiao Yan and explained, “I’m really sorry. Just now, I had temporary difficulty controlling my strength because I suddenly recovered it, startling Little Brother.”
Xiao Yan smiled as he was seated on the chair. His long hand patted his sleeves as he smiled and said in a soft and somewhat regretful manner, “It really is a pity. The little me had originally planned to experience the true strength of Ice Emperor who had once shook the entire Jia Ma Empire. Looking at things now, it looks like I won’t have this kind of chance. How regretful…”
Hearing this, the corner of Hai Bo Dong’s eyebrows twitched slightly without anyone noticing. His sharp gaze stared stubbornly at the face of Xiao Yan who did not appear to be joking. A moment later, he let out a laugh and swiftly shifted his gaze away. At the same time, he quietly rejoiced in his heart. Looking at Xiao Yan’s display, it seemed that Xiao Yan did not possess much fear for the him who had recovered his strength… Luckily, he had not turned against this guy just now. Otherwise, if they were to really fight, it would be difficult to say just who would win or lose. Moreover, offending an alchemist who could refine a tier six medicinal pill was obviously an extremely foolish thing to do. If Hai Bo Dong possessed the ability to kill Xiao Yan on the spot, that choice could still have been considered, but once he allowed Xiao Yan to escape, then the troubles in his future would persist continuously. The well informed Hai Bo Dong was even more aware than Xiao Yan about how terrifying a high tier alchemist’s ability to gather people was.
“Ke ke, what is Little Brother Xiao Yan saying. These old bones of mine do not have the vigor of you young people.” Hao Bo Dong laughed dryly as he waved his hand.
Xiao Yan was noncommittal as he smiled. He slowly stood up from the chair, extended his palm and stared intently at the old person in front of him. With a faint smile, he said, “Old Sir. The seal has already been broken and my task can be considered to have been completed. The map fragment…”
Once the two words ‘map fragment’ entered his ears, the shriveled face of Hai Bo Dong twitched slightly. However, this time around, he did not find any other excuses. This was because he could clearly sense that during the short time he was silent, the Dou Qi in the young man’s body had already begun to flow turbulently. Within those dark black eyes, an icy cold feeling was also gradually hovering over them. Clearly, if he said anything to postpone things, the young man in front of him might well immediately turn against him and attack.
Hai Bo Dong smiled bitterly and sighed. His finger rubbed on a storage ring and a small piece of yellow skin parchment, which appeared extremely old, appeared in his palm. He was extremely sad to give it up as he stroked this ancient map fragment while he sighed, “I have made maps for decades, but have never seen a map that was as complicated as this. Not long after I obtained it, I attempted to make a copy of this map fragment. However, the map that I finally made was strangely very different from the original map. After experiencing this a few times, I could only give up this idea. Perhaps this had something to do with the map being only a fragment.”
Xiao Yan’s gaze focused intently on the piece of map fragment and then glanced at the expression of Hai Bo Dong. Although he vaguely knew some reason for it, he did not open his mouth to answer his doubt. Back then after obtaining the first map fragment at the Magical Beast Mountain Range, Yao Lao found that there was an extremely large Spiritual Energy hidden within these map fragments. This kind of spiritual energy was extremely obscured. Unless one was an alchemist, a job where one’s Spiritual Strength exceeded ordinary people, it was very difficult for other people to sense it. These Spiritual Energies would not directly cause any harm to people but if anyone wanted to copy the routes and lines on the map, these Spiritual Energies would unknowingly erode one’s sanity, causing the map that you finally reproduced to be completely different from the original one!
Hai Bo Dong rubbed the map fragment for a long while, unwilling to part with it. Finally, he shook his head despondently and handed it to Xiao Yan. He smiled bitterly and said, “Ugh, take it. Looking at it from my experience, these map fragments should have been divided into a few portions. It is not very useful having only this one portion in my hand. Moreover, wanting to find the other map fragments in this vast continent is undoubtedly harder than finding a needle in the sea.”
Xiao Yan smiled, extended his hand and received this extremely smooth map fragment. He sized it up as a faint vicissitude and ancient flavor rushed at him. It appeared that the time this map fragment had undergone was not likely to be short.
As he held this small map fragment, Xiao Yan took out the other small map fragment that he obtained from Hai Bo Dong the last time from the storage ring. After which, he put them together. When he saw that the points where the two came into contact did not have the slightest gap, he sighed in relief.
“Hee hee, Little Brother Xiao Yan, you seem to be extremely interested in these map fragment?” Seeing Xiao Yan’s manner, Hai Bo Dong’s eyes rotated as he asked with a laugh.
“I have quite a great interest in all these strange and unique things.” Xiao Yan smiled slightly and gave a very vague reply.
“Little Brother, the map fragments in my hand have all entered into your pocket. Hee hee… I wonder if you can tell me what exactly is the use of this thing? Once you put all the map fragments together, what will you be able to obtain?” Hai Bo Dong rubbed his hands together. He was unable to contain the curiosity in his heart as he asked with an awkward smile.
“Old Mister Hai, I have already told you that other than seeing this kind of map fragment once during that auction, this is the first time that I have obtained a map fragment. Therefore, I am also not too certain what kind of things it is hiding.” Xiao Yan waved his hand and replied with a smile.
Hearing this, the corner of Hai Bo Dong’s mouth parted. He laughed along twice but he mumbled in his heart, “You don’t know? It would be strange if you didn’t know. Only a fool would risk his life to enter the desert for a piece of a map fragment which he does not know the details of. Seeing your shrewd manner, do you look like a fool?”
After hearing Xiao Yan’s words, Hai Bo Dong also understood in his heart that the former did not wish to share the secret of the map fragments. At the moment, he could only shake his head helplessly. After all, the map fragments had recently fallen into Xiao Yan’s hand. Attempting to snatch it forcefully was not possible. Therefore, he could only forcefully extinguish the curiosity in his heart.
After carefully placing the map fragment into an exquisite box and storing them into the storage ring, Xiao Yan let out a relief sigh in his heart. This thing had finally reached his hands after a few twist and turns.
“Old Mister Hai, now that you have already recovered your strength, I don’t think that you will continue to stay here to be a shop owner, will you?” Xiao Yan inserted his hands into his sleeves as he suddenly asked with a smile directed toward Hai Bo Dong.
“Back then the main reason for me staying here was to study the map fragments and to search for a method to break the seal. Now that the seal has been broken, there is naturally no reason for me to continue staying here.” Hai Bo Dong nodded his head, glanced at the smiling Xiao Yan and involuntarily asked, “Do you have something?”
“Haha, I indeed have something that I would like to request Old Mister Hai’s help.” The ten fingers in Xiao Yan’s sleeves gently flicked as he laughed softly.
“Hee hee, you are going to use a favor from a Dou Huang so soon?” Hai Bo Dong laughed, “I have said before. You have helped me once so I owe you a favor. However, if you want me to help you now, this favor… will be gonet.”
“I believe that Old Mister Hai might well owe me even more favors in the future. Not for any other reason, but just because I am an alchemist and an alchemist who can refine a tier six medicinal pill.” Xiao Yan smiled faintly as he replied.
“Ah, although your words are a little arrogant, they are true. An alchemist who can refine a tier six medicinal pill is someone whom even a Dou Huang would be willing to befriend. Of course, I am no exception.” Hai Bo Dong sighed and nodded his head while sharing the same feeling. No matter how one put it, an alchemist, especially a high tier alchemist, will forever be a companion or a friend that every strong person would like to have in this continent.
“Tell me, what do you want me to do? As long as it is within my capabilities, I will not refuse.” Hai Bo Dong stroked the short beard on his chin as he smiled and asked.
“Two months later, I will head to the Misty Cloud Sect. When that time comes, I might have some conflict with them. All Old Mister Hai needs to do is to show your face when that time comes.” Xiao Yan let out a gentle sigh and was silent for a while before saying.
“Misty Cloud Sect? What did you provoke them for? That’s a really big player.” Hearing this, Hai Bo Dong was at a momentary loss before he immediately replied in surprise.
“I am only going to settle some scores.” Xiao Yan carelessly said without explaining any details. After all, it was not something overtly glorious.
“The Misty Cloud Sect is very strong. There are many strong people in it. It looks like this request of yours is quite difficult.” Hai Bo Dong fondled his chin and said with some hesitation.
Seeing that Hai Bo Dong was a little hesitant, Xiao Yan smiled and said, “Old Mister Hai, you can be rest assured that I am not asking you to be enemies with the Misty Cloud Sect. If they use their large numbers to bully me or use their strength to bully the weak, Old Mister Hai just needs to show your face.
“Use their strength to bully the weak? You are really humorous. With your strength, other than the Misty Cloud Sect Leader, who else can contend with you?”
“Due to some reason, I do not wish to reveal my strength. When that time comes, I will only use my strength on the surface.” Xiao Yan waved his hand and replied with a smile.
“Huh? What a baffling decision.” Hearing this, Hai Bo Dong was as a loss. He mused for a moment before nodding his head and helplessly saying, “Alright, I do owe you a favor. I will accompany you to the Misty Cloud Sect. Although I dare not say that I can turn the Misty Cloud Sect upside down now but if it is only to ensure your safety, it should not be too difficult.”
Seeing that Hai Bo Dong nodded his head, Xiao Yan laughed softly. With a Dou Huang bodyguard, some of those antiquated and stubborn fellows at the Misty Cloud Sect should know how to exercise restraint.