Sovereign of the Three Realms

Deep within the Precious Tree Sect, Iron Can almost leapt up in anger and fear when he learned that Iron Dazhi and Zhou Yi were being held at the Jiang manor.

He’d been the one who’d learned that Ye Chonglou was coming to the sect this time and had privately authorized Iron Dazhi and Zhou Yi to go destroy Jiang Chen.

Who would’ve thought that they’d fail?!

And, the entire group of eighteen with two earth spirit realm practitioners had all fallen, without even the help of Ye Chonglou!

This news petrified Iron Can. He was well aware of Iron Dazhi’s strength.

His nephew’s potential on the world of martial dao was much, much higher than his. To put it frankly, Iron Dazhi’s level of training would surpass his in another three years.

Therefore, he’d been greatly confident when Iron Dazhi took the field himself.

However, reality had once again slapped Iron Can in the face. Iron Dazhi had been taken and was held by Jiang Chen!

He’d even sent messengers telling Iron Can to bring ransom, or they’d be killed after 24 hours.

He’d start killing one every 15 minutes until none were left.

Iron Can almost spat out a mouthful of blood when he heard these words.

How long had it been since he’d last been threatened? When had anyone dared use such an attitude to talk to him, Iron Can?! Who had dared openly declare themselves enemies of the Iron family?

There were none within the sect, never mind a mere mundane kingdom.

But today, he’d just so run into one!

“Jiang Chen!!” A violent light shone in Iron Can’s eyes as teeth cracked in his clenched jaw. He wanted to lead a thousand strong army right now to charge into the capital, raze the Jiang manor to the ground and slaughter anything that moved within.

However, reason told him that although this kind of thinking was pleasing, it was impossible to execute.

The head of the Precious Tree Sect, Xie Tianshu, would’ve surely received word of this, not to mention Ye Chonglou backing up Jiang Chen.

There was no reason for sect disciples to travel to an ordinary kingdom and harass its nobles, or surround their manor.

This was forbidden even for sect disciples.

Sect disciples could bluff and bluster or throw their weight around, but they had to observe the basic rules of conduct.

Of course, there were many instances in which they ignored the rules.

But that was under circumstances that no one would take them to task for.

Now, the sect head could bring trouble down on his head at any moment. Iron Can wouldn’t be able to fabricate an excuse in their defense even if that old man Ye Chonglou came around asking questions.

Ye Chonglou was in the right with this matter. If it blew up in their faces, it was enough to make the Iron family limp away with a severe lack of face.

If the lawsuit was taken up with the sect head, Xie Tianshu would be sure to add fuel to the flames and pin the Iron family with a severe crime.

The worst thing was, he had authorized Iron Dazhi to head towards the capital and had privately deployed 16 law enforcement disciples!

This had originally been a private operation, and wouldn’t have been a big deal had no one pursued it.

But once it blew up, this transformed into a thorny problem.

Putting aside the fact that he, Iron Can, had no right to deploy the law enforcement disciples, even if he did, he couldn’t make them take action without a warrant.

Not only had he done the forbidden, but he’d lost them within the Jiang manor.

If he didn’t save them all, the hall of law enforcement elder absolutely wouldn’t let him have an easy time. He’d probably thoroughly offend this elder to the death.

The hall of law enforcement represented the laws of a sect, the discipline and its order.

Breaking the hall’s laws was to disrupt the sect’s order.

It was enough to completely tank his prospects if this matter grew any bigger.

Iron Can’s mind was in a wild disarray, as chaotic as a slurry of porridge.

He had never thought that Iron Dazhi and Zhou Yi would be captured in the Jiang manor, and had thought even less that Jiang Chen would try to openly swindle him.

The prisoners would die if he didn’t bring the ransom.

This was Jiang Chen’s final message to him.

Iron Can had no doubt that Jiang Chen would actually do so. The latter hadn’t even creased his brow when killing someone.

Regarding the deaths of Lu Wuji and Yang Zhao, even Liu Chengfeng of the Northern Palace — Iron Can firmly believed even now that it was all at Jiang Chen’s hands.

He was deeply conflicted as he knew that 12 hours wasn’t a lot of time. He could no longer hesitate.

He grit his teeth; at this point, he could only call upon his thick face to find his esteemed elder father, Iron Long.

Iron Long had obviously just come back from a senior executive meeting as his face bore traces of weariness. When he saw his son’s dispirited and distracted expression, he knew that his dear old son had caused trouble again.

Iron Long had already been a bit irritated on account of the meeting, and his exasperation only grew when he saw his son, “Speak, what is it this time?”

Iron Can wasn’t afraid of anything in the heavens or earth, but he feared his old man.

“Father… I’m sorry, I didn’t take good care of the kid Dazhi.” Iron Can had obviously gotten a good handle on his father’s character. He knew the more pitifully he portrayed himself, the more his father’s heart would soften.

“Dazhi? What happened to him?” Iron Long’s face changed when he heard these words.

“Father, Dazhi grew enraged when he returned from training in the outside world and heard that our family had lost face thanks to Jiang Chen. He took Zhou Yi with him to create some trouble for Jiang Chen. I don’t know what the Jiang brat did to capture Dazhi and Zhou Yi. The brat’s arrogance knows no bounds; he’s trying to swindle money out of me. He says that if I don’t submit the ransom, he’ll start killing people one every 15 minutes after 12 hours. There were 18 in total during this trip, and he’ll start killing them until they’re all dead.”

“What?” A stern light shot out of Iron Long’s eyes. “He really said that?”

“Without a doubt.” Iron Can’s heart leapt with joy. He wanted to arouse his father’s emotions and also make his father hate Jiang Chen. If his father personally put in an appearance to take down Jiang Chen, then their success was guaranteed!

“Humph.” Iron Long thought of something and leveled an icy look at Iron Can. His voice also became frosty, “Why did Dazhi suddenly go to a mundane kingdom? Given that Ye Chonglou has already spoken, Dazhi’s arrogance might know no bounds in the folly of youth, but are you equally as brainless?”

“Iron Can, don’t try to play smart with your old man. Speak truthfully. Was it that you saw Ye Chonglou make a trip to the sect and wanted to take advantage of his absence?”

Iron Long’s gaze was harsh as he stared at Iron Can.

“I…” Iron Can quivered. He wanted to lie and get himself out of this, but his little tricks were completely useless beneath Iron Long’s sharp eyes.

“Sigh.” Iron Long let out a long sigh. “Iron Can, you truly disappoint your father. Are you really that flighty? Do you want so badly for your father to erupt in open hostilities with Ye Chonglou? Do you really want to push Ye Chonglou to the Xie family that badly? Jiang Chen, a mere ordinary genius like him, there are plenty of opportunities to take care of him in the future. Has his existence made you so crazed that you’re unable to sleep? With your little bit of shrewdness and your nonexistent patience, how will you inherit my legacy in the future? How will you continue to lead our Iron family in the future?”

Iron Long originally had two sons.

Iron Can was the younger one. He had an elder brother who was Iron Dazhi’s father.

However, Iron Long’s eldest son had died in an accident not too long after Iron Dazhi had been born.

Therefore, the Iron family only had Iron Can in this generation to take on the family mantle.

As for other branches of the family, although there were many others, how would Iron Long possible give his legacy onto another relative?

Iron Can was his only choice.

But, his performance had always been one of hopeless mediocrity, and he’d disappointed Iron Long time and time again.

It was because that he was so disappointed that Iron Long had secretly started training Iron Dazhi some more. He hoped that Iron Dazhi would grow up quickly and aid Iron Can, perhaps even directly hand over the reigns to Iron Dazhi in the future and have Iron Can act as the assistant.

But suddenly, Iron Can had run over to tell him that Iron Dazhi had been taken by others!

How would such news not make Iron Long fly into a rage?

If Iron Can hadn’t been his own son, Iron Long probably would’ve slapped him to death at this point.

Iron Can also knew that he had thoroughly infuriated his father this time. His eyes darted to and fro, too scared to meet his father’s eyes.

“So tell me, what do you intend to do?” Iron Long restrained the fury in his heart with effort.

Iron Can’s tone was vicious and ruthless, a violent light shining bright out of his eyes. “I would like father to lend me some of your personal guards so I can carve my way into the Jiang manor and save everyone.”

“Preposterous!” Iron Long slammed his hand on the table, so angry that his moustache flared towards the skies. “Do you think the situation isn’t chaotic enough, you fool?”

“Do you think Ye Chonglou is a piece of decoration?”

“Do you think Xie Tianshu would allow you to act how you would?”

Regret, sheer regret that his offspring didn’t measure up to his hopes! This Iron Can was far inferior to his fallen son.

To put things bluntly, if it wasn’t for Iron Long propping everything up, Iron Can would be a complete and utter buffoon.

He still wanted to use force at a time like this?!

“Then… do we really let that dumb animal Jiang Chen con us? Father, since when did our Iron family fall to the depths in which an ordinary disciple can bully us?” Iron Can was unwilling to accept this. He truly couldn’t accept bowing his head to Jiang Chen and paying ransom.

Iron Long burst out in loud curses, “Idiot fool! Do you still think our family is fighting with Jiang Chen now?”

If it wasn’t for Ye Chonglou supporting Jiang Chen, and the fact that Xie Tianshu was their opponent within the sect, Iron Long wouldn’t hesitate at all right now.

Whoever dared keep one of his descendents would be directly trampled.

But the current situation didn’t tolerate him taking the slightest bit of force.

To still use force now meant that they were fully erupting in hostilities with Ye Chonglou and pushing the latter towards Xie Tianshu’s camp.

He kept telling himself that he had to calm down. This wasn’t the time to rage.

He controlled the fires of fury within his heart and sighed with dejection. “Go, see what Jiang Chen wants and give it to him!”

“Give it to him?!” Iron Can leapt up.

“Give it to him!!” Iron Long brought his hand crashing down on the table. “Iron Can, I’ll warn you one last time. If you don’t handle this matter well and make even more of a mess, then I will punish my blood relations even if you are my son! It will be like I had never sired an idiot like you!”

A fury that burned to the skies came crashing onto Iron Can, making him almost fall to the ground. He’d finally realized that he’d completely and thoroughly enraged his father this time!