Xie Lianying’s brow imperceptibly creased. The grey-haired horse bandit leader was, in reality, the patriarch of the Guanzhong Chen Family, Chen Tunyun. The Chen Family were a recently risen family in Guanzhong, and had previous business conflicts with the Xie Family before. He was not surprised by their behaviour.

If the Xie Family could not resolve this matter, they would suffer a great blow in the future.

But Chen Tunyun was famed for his filial piety and was also a late child. In his mind, his old mother and this one son of the Chen Family were more important than his life. Since he had agreed to the exchange, who in the Chen Family would dare object?

Chen Tunyun suddenly turned around.

The speaker was not far behind him on a carriage and in grey robes. Their gender could not be distinguished as they were a small figure and wore a yellow cloth over their faces.

“I want to try.”

This person said again in an even thinner voice when Chen Tunyun turned to look back.

Chen Tunyun’s hands trembled slightly. His face was as pale as paper. He said in an inaudible voice, “Official ..”

“You have a small family that cannot compare to a country. Also, I may not fail, perhaps your family will not be harmed at all.” This grey-robed person had a gentle gaze, but the tone was determined and unequivocal.

Chen Tunyun’s chest surged violently. He was about to say something when the grey-robed person said, gaze harsh and voice cool, “Official Chen, do not forget your status. Do not forget that you are not of the Qin!”

Chen Tunyun seemed to be hit with an enormous hammer. He gritted his teeth and turned around.

Xie Lianying had remained silent this entire time. When Chen Tunyun turned around, he looked deeply at the other and said, emphasizing each word, “You should have heard of me say that I, Xie Lianying, dislike people who have regrets when doing business the most.”

As he spoke, two short and rushed whistles sounded in the air.

A red and an indigo sword light suddenly appeared in the carriages with their open curtains, flashing by the old woman and the child.

Two pieces of flesh flew away from the old woman and the young child out of the cabin.

The old woman and the young child shuddered violently, as though they were screaming at the top of their lungs. But for some unknown reason, they could not make any sound.

This kind of scene was even more terrifying.

“Xie Lianying!” Chen Tunyun roared like a wounded beast, his expression worse than if he was crying.

“Is this not good?” Fu Su’s face was pale. While he could not see the scene inside the carriages, he could guess what had happened.

“It is not good, but this is not what the Xie Family had anticipated.” Ding Ning’s expression turned cold. His gaze had remained on the grey robed person with the shrill voice behind Chen Tunyun. “If I am not wrong, only a powerful cultivator above realm seven could force this patriarch of the Chen Family to change his mind. This realm seven cultivator must know that the Xie Family caravan has no realm sevens so he stopped the Chen Family from trading hostages. He does not want to assassinate Xie Lianying quickly, he wants to use a tactic to steal the Chen hostages.”

“Xie Lianying should not be as mediocre as the rumors say. He should see clearly now if he does not put enough pressure on the other, then everyone from the Xie Family will die today.” Ding Ning’s voice grew colder. “Starting now, the other doesn’t want to obtain enormous benefits from the Xie Family, but to kill all the Xie Family members here.”

“Kill all the Xie family members here?” Fu Su was astounded. “The Xie Family is the richest of Guanzhong, one of the pillars of the Qin Dynasty. Kidnapping members of the Xie Family in exchange for astounding wealth will not disturb the palace, but it will cause great vibrations if the Xie family members are killed. Changling would investigate with full power. These Chen family members disguised as bandits cannot be kept secret. Why do they do this?”

Ding Ning sneered and said, “Maybe from the start, their goal is to remove this pillar, or rather to stop the Xie Family from what they are doing now.”

Hearing these words, Fu Su suddenly thought of a possibility and his heart jumped. At the same time, he became more nervous.

If this was like Ding Ning said, and the shrill cultivator was realm seven, then Xie Lianying, Xie Rou and the others were naturally in great danger.

Chen Tunyun screamed heart-wrenchingly, Fu Su and Ding Ning talked, and Xie Lianying wore a cold face. He looked at Chen Tunyun and said, “I do not know your intentions, I do not care what grandmasters you have among you. But I can promise that my two attendants will not care for their lives. No matter how fast your person can act, before I or they fall down, we will have your mother and your precious son’s heads fall to the ground.”

“I will not give you any opportunity to choose.”

Xie Lianying paused, and looked expressionlessly at the dozen of Xie family members surrounded by bandits behind Chen Tunyun. “If you do not release people in the span of three breaths, it will not be a piece of meat, but an arm that will come off them.”

“Do not!”

Chen Tunyun was soaked in sweat like he had been in water. He looked dazedly at the two figures bleeding out in the carriage. His right hand left the reins and moved upwards.

At the same time, the thin and short grey-robed person not far behind him narrowed their eyes.

He quickly released a thin but exceptionally sharp presence.

Chen Tunyun’s body was still making the movement of lifting his right arm, but his right arm did not lift up because his entire arm had separated from his shoulder and fallen down.

Chen Tunyun had reacted when the grey-robed person released their present, but he still could not stop the other from cutting off one of his arms. The moment his right arm was cut off, he finally attacked.

He gave a shout of despair.

A rainbow light appeared in his left hand and he attacked the grey-robed person behind him at astounding speed.

There were two horse bandits between him and the grey-robed person. The two bandits gave screams before they were even touched by the light of the rainbow. With the sounds of bones breaking through their bodies, they flew backwards.

This rainbow light dispersed a presence unique to a lifebond item but seemed to be more powerful than ordinary lifebond items.

The grey-robed person’s eyes seemed to be flashing with stars.

The rainbow light was astounding fast but extremely slow in his eyes.

When the two horse bandits in front of him were thrown back, their bones broken, he sedately reached out with his right hand.

He wore a silver-colored metal ring on his right thumb.

As he reached out, there seemed to be a silver mountain that fell down and instantly condensed into his metal ring.

Silver flows of energy flowed out through the small seal scripts on the metal ring and covered his palm.

His palm seemed to be filled with heavy mercury which then spread up his arm to his body.

Without any fancy moves, he used this silver hand to grab the rainbow light.

The moment the silver palm touched the rainbow light, bright beams of light flashed through his fingers. Great power was about to explode along these lights, but in the next flash, the power seemed to permeate into the sticky silver energy flows like they were sinking into the water.

The silver layer was covering half of the grey-robed person’s body. Without any obvious movement, lines suddenly shot out of the border of the silver covering. Like countless silver flowers, the lines bloomed over the other side of his body.

At the same time, Chen Tunyun’s eyes widened.

His body seemed to be crushed by an invisible but enormous object. He threw up a spray of blood in the air as his body flew backwards, appearing so light that he seemed to float through the air.

The rainbow light was firmly trapped by the silver palm. The light quickly dimmed and showed its true appearance, that of a horn-shaped rainbow jade.

Ding Ning had been focused on the silver thumb ring and the rainbow light. He had recognized what the two items were long ago, but had remained silent.

“It is the Silver Rakshasa Thumb Ring, and the Worryfree Horn.”

Fu Su’s expression turned ugly. He said coldly, “They are from the Chu Dynasty.”

The Chu Dynasty was the best at forging, and the strongest seal weapons in the cultivator world came from the Chu.

The Worryfree Horn came from the Worryfree Palace of the Chu Dynasty which had disappeared for many years. It was possible the item had been lost in other countries. But the Silver Rakshasa Thumb Ring was one of the treasures of the Chu Silver Thread Workshop. Although called a workshop, the Silver Thread Workshop was in reality one of the ten great cultivation places of the Chu Dynasty. A secret sect treasure like this naturally would not end up in the hands of cultivators from other dynasties.

“As a Chu person, you do not qualify to use the Worryfree Horn,” the grey-robed cultivator said coldly, shaking his head. He did not seem to want to conceal his identity at this time.

Translator Ramblings: Xie Lianying is gambling to win this hostage situation.