Chapter 635 - 633: Brewing a Conspiracy

After returning to the City Lord’s Mansion, Feng Hu recounted what had happened to his father, Feng Qi.

For a moment, Feng Qi fell into a brief silence.

Perhaps he was weighing the gravity of the situation. After all, a mysterious faction like Chenxi Pavilion had suddenly appeared in Xingyuan City, and he was unsure of their intentions.

He felt that Chenxi Pavilion could pose a threat to the City Lord’s Mansion.

Ultimately, Feng Qi found himself somewhat in agreement with his son, Feng Hu.

"It seems Chenxi Pavilion is indeed not to be trifled with."

"But no matter their purpose, it’s fine as long as they don’t threaten our City Lord’s Mansion."

Feng Hu spoke again, "Father, this matter is of great importance. We should report this to the Sovereign and let him know about it."

"If the Sovereign takes this seriously, he might send experts to investigate Chenxi Pavilion, which would save us the trouble."

Feng Hu was very clever. The City Lord’s Mansion didn’t dare provoke Chenxi Pavilion, but as subjects of the Tang Kingdom, they could pass the information up the hierarchy.

Then, the higher-ups might send experts. Besides, the Tang Kingdom was immensely powerful; they could surely uncover the background behind Chenxi Pavilion.

Hearing his son’s words, Feng Qi cast a glance filled with great appreciation.

"Excellent, Hu’er. You truly haven’t disappointed me."

"You’re right. This must be reported to the higher-ups."

Once the decision was made, Feng Qi sent a secret letter to Lion Heart City, the capital of the Tang Kingdom.

Jiang Chen finally finished his work for the day.

He stretched lazily.

However, he let out a faint sigh.

’Refining a Treasure Artifact is still quite difficult.’

Using the Thousand-Hammered Refining technique to refine Magical Treasures, Jiang Chen could now easily craft Supreme-Grade Dharma Artifacts.

Even so, he still couldn’t refine a Treasure Artifact.

Among the Artifact Refiners in the Lower Realm, very few could refine Treasure Artifacts.

As for Artifact Refiners who could refine Spiritual Treasures, they were as rare as a phoenix feather or a qilin’s horn.

Although the Divine Wind Fan he had created was at the Spirit Treasure Level, its main component, the Phoenix Bird’s feather, was comparable to an Immortal Artifact on its own. He had only modified it slightly, not truly refined it, for it to become a Spiritual Treasure.

Now that he had learned the Artifact Refining Technique, he would be able to refine the Divine Wind Fan again in the future, turning it into a Magical Treasure of the Immortal Artifact Level.

The most crucial element for refining a Treasure Artifact was the materials.

He needed to find heavenly treasures and earthly wonders to be able to refine a Treasure Artifact.

Materials like refined iron were no longer sufficient for refining a Treasure Artifact.

Jiang Chen had already collected some materials for refining Treasure Artifacts, but his few attempts had all ended in failure, wasting the materials.

Clearly, refining a Treasure Artifact was no simple task.

After cleaning up, Jiang Chen walked out of the Artifact Refining Room.

"Young Master."

Seeing Jiang Chen emerge, Mr. Qiu Shui greeted him.

Jiang Chen nodded. At that moment, Chenxi Pavilion was once again bustling with a large crowd of people buying Magical Treasures. Business was booming.

"The people from the City Lord’s Mansion came by again earlier."

"But we’ve already sent them away. I don’t expect any trouble from them for a while."

Mr. Qiu Shui reported what had happened to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen didn’t pay it much mind.

He glanced around Chenxi Pavilion. Now that members of the Jiang Family were out helping, Mr. Qiu Shui and the others were no longer needed for day-to-day tasks.

That evening, Jiang Chen gathered Mr. Qiu Shui, Xiaotian, Flame Dragon, and Black Fire Crow.

"Now that Chenxi Pavilion is stable, you should all go and focus on your Cultivation. Raising your Cultivation is what’s most important."

Jiang Chen wasn’t going to let Mr. Qiu Shui and the others just kill time at Chenxi Pavilion; he wanted them to focus on their Cultivation.

Having them appear before was to intimidate Xingyuan City. Now that even the City Lord’s Mansion was deterred, there was little point in them remaining out in the open.

"Alright. We’ll go into seclusion to cultivate. If you need anything, Young Master, just call for us."

With no objections, Jiang Chen sent Mr. Qiu Shui, Xiaotian, and the others into the Dragon-locking Realm to cultivate.

Meanwhile, Jiang Chen himself had hit a bottleneck with his Artifact Refining Technique, so he naturally took over managing the miscellaneous affairs of Chenxi Pavilion.

In truth, there wasn’t much to do. Xiao Jun and Mr. Jiao could handle most of it.

So, he left Chenxi Pavilion and strolled around.

His reasons were twofold: first, to familiarize himself with Xingyuan City, and second, to prepare for refining a Treasure Artifact.

He was now beginning to tackle the matter of refining a Treasure Artifact.

A single Treasure Artifact, even a random one, started at a price of at least a million, or even ten million, yuan crystals.

「At the same time.」

In the shop next to Chenxi Pavilion, Cao Huai’s face was grim. Seven or eight people were gathered around him, every one of them furious.

"Damn it! Chenxi Pavilion has taken all the business. We can barely afford to eat! We’re eating dirt!"

"Shopkeeper Cao, you have to think of something for us."

Everyone turned to look at Cao Huai. His Cultivation was relatively high, at the Martial Master Eighth Layer Heaven.

They watched as Chenxi Pavilion’s business flourished day by day, while they didn’t have a single customer.

Naturally, they couldn’t stand it any longer.

Today, they had all gathered at Donghui Pavilion to discuss the matter with Cao Huai.

Cao Huai said helplessly, "The City Lord’s Mansion intervened and still couldn’t do anything to Chenxi Pavilion."

"What makes you think I have a solution? I’m just like the rest of you, waiting for the day we have no more business and have to shut down."

Someone said angrily, "We have to drive Chenxi Pavilion away, or none of us will survive!"

"Right! You said it! I won’t be happy for a single day as long as Chenxi Pavilion is still around."

Everyone deeply resented Chenxi Pavilion.

To put it bluntly, it was pure jealousy.

After a moment of silence, Cao Huai finally spoke. "Well, it’s not like there’s no way to get rid of Chenxi Pavilion."

Everyone immediately looked at Cao Huai.

Their faces were filled with righteous indignation and vicious expressions.

"Boss Cao, if you have a way, just spit it out."

"As long as we can make Chenxi Pavilion scram, we’ll do whatever it takes."

"I’ve hated that Chenxi Pavilion for a long time."

Everyone wanted to drive away Chenxi Pavilion, and Cao Huai was no exception.

His eyes darted, and he said with a wicked smile, "It’s actually very simple. We don’t need to confront Chenxi Pavilion head-on."

"All it takes is a single fire. We just need to burn Chenxi Pavilion down."

Hearing Cao Huai’s words, the crowd was stunned for a moment.

Burning down Chenxi Pavilion... it really wasn’t that difficult.

All it would take is for someone to set a fire.

And this plan was the simplest and easiest to carry out.

"Boss Cao is right."

"Why don’t we just burn Chenxi Pavilion down and force them out of business?"

"What if Chenxi Pavilion just opens up again?"

"We’ll keep burning it down until they finally scram for good!"

The group discussed their malicious plan.

Right then, Cao Huai asked, "Who has someone clever they can use? Have them go and set fire to Chenxi Pavilion tonight."

One of them stood up. "Leave it to me. I’ll find someone to set the fire."

With that, everyone began to snicker sinisterly.

It seemed as though they could drive Chenxi Pavilion completely out of Xingyuan City overnight.

After they finished their discussion, the crowd dispersed.

As for Jiang Chen, he was still unaware of the conspiracy being hatched by Cao Huai and the others.