A carriage sped forward along a secluded road.
Qi Shaorong lifted up the carriage curtain, tugged on the back of Zhuang Hao's collar, frowned, and said, "Zhuang Hao, you didn't take the wrong road, did you? This place is too remote."
Zhuang Hao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'd never make a mistake! Feng Yuan's medicinal garden isn't small, so of course it's located somewhere a little farther away from the city. If it weren't, then the land price would be too expensive."
Qi Shaorong nodded and said, "That's true!" The price of land in the city was very high. Although the Business Alliance had a lot of money, they'd never spend their money so wastefully either.
Qi Shaorong drew back into the carriage. Not much time had passed when the carriage suddenly stopped.
Qi Shaorong lifted the curtain and said, "Have we arrived already? I thought that it would take some more time?"
"We're not there yet." Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong wanted to ask him why they had stopped, but when he saw the person standing in front of Zhuang Hao, Qi Shaorong immediately choked back his words.
"Feng He-qianbei, why are you here!" Qi Shaorong asked, forcing a smile onto his face.
Feng He had a dark look on his face, "Why am I here? I was waiting for you."
Qi Shaorong looked at Feng He and thought: This person doesn't seem to have any good intentions!
"Why was Senior waiting for me here? If you wanted to talk to me, there's no need to wait at this kind of place! You don't even have a place to sit out here in the wilderness." Qi Shaorong said with a smile on his face.
Feng He ground his teeth as he looked at Qi Shaorong, and said viciously, "Qi Shaorong, you completely ruined all my plans, do you know?"
Qi Shaorong said innocently, "Senior, why would you say something like that?"
Feng He glared at Qi Shaorong and roared with rage, "Qi Shaorong, do you know how many years I've spent being Feng Yuan's second-in-command? It's already been 173 years…"
Qi Shaorong: "…" 173 years, that's a really long time! That's enough to be double the lifespan of someone from his previous world. Although the lifespan of the people in this world was much longer than the people on Earth, more than a hundred years still wasn't a small number.
"Senior, you have a really good memory!" Qi Shaorong said.
Feng He ground his teeth and looked at Qi Shaorong, saying, "130 years ago, Feng Yuan said that if something ever happened to him, the position as head of the Business Alliance would be mine. I waited, and waited, and after 130 years, the opportunity finally presented itself! Then you, you bastard, came along and ruined everything."
Feng He wildly gestured at Qi Shaorong, his eyes filled with fierce light.
Qi Shaorong: "…"
Qi Shaorong smiled awkwardly and said, "Senior! You've already waited for more than a hundred years, why don't you just patiently wait a little longer, it'll be your turn eventually. You know, hasty men don't get to eat hot tofu, success will be achieved by those who have patience."
"You're talking nonsense! Feng Yuan is already at level ten, while I'm only at level nine. If he hasn't died yet, then I'll be the one to die first. I won't get a second chance if I wait for another hundred years." Feng He said.
Qi Shaorong blinked and thought to himself: This guy's in a similar situation as Kangxi's [1] son, Yin Zhi! Yin Zhi was named the crown prince at birth, and later all that guy had to do was wait for Kangxi to die. Unfortunately, Kangxi was very good at maintaining his health, and continued living well. Yin Zhi, who was originally very gifted and intelligent, ended up going crazy after waiting for so long.
Qi Shaorong looked at Feng He and said, "Senior, actually, being the second-in command isn't that bad either. There's a saying that it's lonely at the top, and those who have higher authority also have more responsibilities. It's easy to become old quickly due to all this stress and worry."
"Shut up, if it weren't for you, Feng Yuan would have died already…" Feng He said angrily.
Qi Shaorong, "…Feng Yuan is doing really well now, stopping us here isn't going to solve anything!"
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said somewhat helplessly, "Shaorong, can't you talk a little less."
Qi Shaorong wasn't even pretending to be nice anymore, now he was clearly issuing Feng He a provocation. Although Feng He hadn't reached the tenth level yet, he's still much stronger than the average person at the ninth level. Zhuang Hao might not even be able to deal with him!
Qi Shaorong: "…"
"You two stinky brats, you've ruined everything! Today will be the day that you die!" Feng He said.
Qi Shaorong's eyes widened and he said, "Senior, don't be so impulsive! As the saying goes, impulse is the work of the devil, it's better to make friends than make enemies!"
"Shut up." Feng He drew out a stack of scrolls and hurled them towards Qi Shaorong.
Zhuang Hao grabbed Qi Shaorong and dodged.
A strange feeling flashed through Qi Shaorong's heart. Up until now, he's always been the one throwing scrolls at other people. Now, his position has changed, it's really…
Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong dodged the incoming attacks again and again.
"Go die already."
Feng He had thrown out nearly a hundred scrolls in the blink of an eye. Qi Shaorong frowned and couldn't help complaining, "This guy is being really wasteful!"
Qi Shaorong thought to himself: Is this what it feels like, getting attacked by someone else's wealth and money? It's really frustrating! Feng He, this guy, was even more extravagant than him! The scrolls that Feng He's using were even higher-leveled than the ones that he uses.
Zhuang Hao raised his staff, and seven kinds of intertwining magic merged together into a magical vortex, crashing onto Feng He's body. Feng He was hit and took two steps back.
Qi Shaorong seized the chance to send out a Shadow Swamp, hindering Feng He's movement. Feng He was slightly at a disadvantage against Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong's combined attacks.
Feng He looked at Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao darkly, "You two brats, do you really think I'll let you escape? I must kill you two today."
Feng He took out a nine-coloured ring. When Zhuang Hao saw the ring in Feng He's hand, a bad premonition rose in his heart.
Zhuang Hao suddenly threw out some scrolls, "Go."
At the moment that Zhuang Hao threw the scrolls, a dazzling light burst forth from the nine-coloured ring, enveloping Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao. Qi Shaorong instantly felt like all the magic in his body had been emptied out.
Seeing the scrolls flying towards him, Feng He waved his hand and cast out a reflecting spell, sending the scrolls hurtling back towards Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao.
Zhuang Hao took hold of Qi Shaorong. All the scrolls exploded one after another, with one scroll in particular emitting a violent light. When the light faded, Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao had disappeared.
Feng He couldn't find a trace of Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong there, and his expression was hideous.
Zhuang Hao landed solidly on the ground, and Qi Shaorong fell right on top of Zhuang Hao.
After being battered by the explosions of all those magic scrolls, Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao were covered in dirt, and their clothes were in tatters.
Qi Shaorong propped himself up with some difficulty, and looked at Zhuang Hao, saying, "What's going on! I don't seem to be able to use any magic."
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Did you see the coloured-ring that Feng He took out?"
Qi Shaorong nodded and said, "Yes, what was that?"
"That's a God-Imprisoning Ring, it can restrict a person's magic power and fighting abilities." Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong widened his eyes and said, "Why haven't I ever heard of that thing before?"
"It's a priceless artifact, and there are very few in existence. It also has many flaws, for example, the God-Imprisoning Ring is only effective on level nine cultivators and lower, and it's a single-use item. After using it once, it won't have any effect anymore. Many people have never heard of it before." Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong frowned and said, "God-Imprisoning Ring, this name is really too bold."
"Actually, the ring that Feng He used was just an imitation. Not only was his ring an imitation, but all the existing God-Imprisoning Rings in this world are also imitations. It's said that the real God-Imprisoning Rings from the past could really imprison gods, but that's just a legend. Although they're imitations, they're still very precious."
Qi Shaorong nodded and said, "It sure is precious enough. Feng He even used such a precious God-Imprisoning Ring on us, it seems kind of like a waste!" He's only at the seventh level in terms of cultivation, and Zhuang Hao was at level eight. The God-Imprisoning Ring was so powerful, using it on those cultivators at the peak of level nine would be a lot more impressive!
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "Right!"
Qi Shaorong said suspiciously, "By the way, how did we end up here?"
"When I saw him take out that God-Imprisoning Ring, I knew that nothing good would come of it. So I threw out a few magic scrolls, and I hid a teleportation scroll among them. When the magic scrolls were reflected back at us, the teleportation scroll was activated and we were teleported here." Zhuang Hao said.
[T/n: Why didn't he just directly use the teleportation scroll then? Or idk maybe it can't be activated unless it's thrown out and he also wanted to distract Feng He.]
Qi Shaorong patted his chest and said, "That was really dangerous. I can't use any magic right now, if we had stayed back there then all we could've done was wait for our deaths. Had you already calculated that something like this was going to happen?"
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "Yeah."
Qi Shaorong looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "Fortunately, we were lucky. If you made a mistake in your calculations, then chances are, we'd be dead by now."
"The God-Imprisoning Ring may have actually belonged to the Business Alliance. I suspect that Feng He stole it. Feng He really went all out in order to kill the two of us." Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong scratched his head and couldn't help feeling a little depressed. There's a saying that saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-tiered pagoda. He did a good deed for someone! Why did he have to face all these troubles? It seems that Feng Yuan's survival had a huge impact on Feng He!
However, it's not that surprising. It's said that the crown prince Yin Zhi was originally a smart, studious, filial and considerate person. However, Kangxi lived for too long, and Yin Zhi waited, and waited, and waited! Then he went crazy from doing all that waiting. It looks like waiting for too long can make a lot of people go crazy.
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Qi Shaorong looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "It's nothing. Where are we now? For how long will the effects of the God-Imprisoning Ring last!"
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "One month. "
Qi Shaorong's eyes widened, and he said agitatedly, "It'll take so long?"
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "Yes!"
Qi Shaorong stroked his forehead and said, "I think we should find some place to hide. We were teleported away, and Feng He, that guy, is probably looking for us right now."
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "I think so too."
"I also think we should get some new clothes first." Qi Shaorong said, tugging at the tattered clothes on his body.
The scrolls that Zhuang Hao had thrown out earlier didn't consist of just the teleportation scroll, but also some fire magic scrolls. Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao's clothes were badly burned. Qi Shaorong had already tried, but he couldn't use any magic and his storage space equipment couldn't be opened either. It should be the same for Zhuang Hao too.
Zhuang Hao stood up and said a little gloomily, "All my money is in the space in my earring. I currently can't access it, so we probably won't be able to buy any new clothes for now."
Qi Shaorong patted Zhuang Hao on the shoulder and said, "In that case, we only have one option left."
"What is it?"
"Stealing!"
Zhuang Hao frowned and said, "Who's going to do the stealing?!"
Qi Shaorong said matter-of-factly, "You, obviously!"
Zhuang Hao: "… "
Footnotes:
Kangxi: Kangxi Emperor, also called Qing Shengzu, was the second emperor of the Qing Dynasty who reigned from 1662-1722. This dude had like 35 sons and 20 daughters lol.