Chapter 521 - Another One Surnamed Jian?

Gu Han suddenly understood. “Scavenging?”

Back when he had been the young master of Tianwu City, he was the pillar of the family. As such, he had dealt with rogue cultivators quite a bit, so he understood their methods and styles well enough. He just hadn’t expected it would have such a name in the Tiannan Realm.

Just then, the third man pointed at Chongming inside the pit. “Look, Big Brother! Looks like there’s a chicken demon too!”

The burly man raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? A chicken cultivating to a demon is rare! Let’s bring it back and roast it!”

Glancing at Chongming, Gu Han shook his head. He's probably the only person in the world who would dare say something like that to Chongming.

The burly man turned to Chen Qing, murderous intent surging in his eyes. “What a pity. You've got rotten luck running into the three of us! Since we can’t squeeze anything out of this penniless wretch, we’ll just have to make it up from you. Judging by your look, you’re in the same line of work too, so you’ve probably got plenty of good stuff!”

He considered Chen Qing beneath him, unworthy of even being called a colleague.

Chen Qing’s heart ached and he subconsciously glanced at Gu Han. He swallowed most of my good stuff in one gulp!

The burly man sneered, slowly closing in. “Why are you looking at him?! He’s just a penniless wretch. I don’t even see any storage rings on him!”

Since Gu Han was heavily injured, his sharp aura was nowhere to be seen. Of course, the burly man couldn’t see through Gu Han’s depth and didn’t take him seriously either.

Gu Han nodded, expressionless. “A storage ring, huh. I don’t have one, true. But I’ll have one soon enough.”

The burly man didn’t understand. “What? By scavenging?”

Gu Han ignored him and looked at Chen Qing instead. “It’s quite interesting. I guess I’ll temporarily be a scavenger too.”

Chen Qing’s professional ethics overrode his reason, and he subconsciously explained, “Strictly speaking, only picking things off the dead counts as scavenging. What they’re doing doesn’t really count.”

Gu Han nodded. “Makes sense.”

The burly man turned cold. “You're about to die, and you're still running your mouth?! Get them!”

The auras of the three men surged. Their forms blurred, and they instantly closed in on Gu Han and Chen Qing. Just then, the black sword within the pit let out a soft hum.

In the next moment, three peerlessly sharp flashes of aura streaked past. The three men stiffened after three squishes. The light in their eyes rapidly dimmed, and their corpses crumpled to the ground. Gu Han hadn’t moved at all. Though he was grievously wounded and had less than twenty percent of his peak strength, dealing with three Transcendent realm cultivators was no trouble at all.

With a wave of his hand, the three storage rings immediately flew into his grasp. He looked at Chen Qing. “How about now? They’re already dead, so does this count as scavenging?”

Chen Qing trembled and, against his conscience, said, “Y-yes!! Senior, you are a very qualified scavenger!”

Hailing from humble beginnings, he wasn't particularly strong, but his ability to read people was second to none. Even though Gu Han had just killed three men, his expression hadn’t changed in the slightest. He was more indifferent than crushing three ants. Clearly, he had experienced this sort of thing many times before and had already gone numb.

The three men's storage rings held little of value. Altogether, there were only about a dozen drops of Transcendent Substance. Clearly, whatever Transcendent Substance they had obtained, they had refined and absorbed immediately. After all, strength was everything for rogue cultivators.

After a moment’s thought, Gu Han didn’t take them himself. A mere dozen drops of Transcendent substance wouldn't do much for him anyway. He walked over to Chongming and gently poured the Transcendent substance into his mouth. However, aside from smacking his lips, Chongming continued sleeping soundly. It seemed the Transcendent Substance was completely useless to it.

Not far away, Chen Qing was dumbstruck, and so were his three disciples. He’s feeding his chicken with Transcendent Substance?! Just how loaded is this fellow?!

How they wished they could take the chicken's place!

Upon seeing their eager expressions, Gu Han silently lamented the poverty of rogue cultivators. He took an empty storage ring and tossed the rest of the items to Chen Qing. “It’s yours.”

It was easy to go from rags to riches, but hard to go from riches to rags. Having grown accustomed to drinking Transcendent Substance like water, he looked down on these “ordinary” pills. Yet to Chen Qing, these were all precious goods.

Chen Qing was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly, “Thank you, Senior! I will never forget your great kindness! If the opportunity arises in the future, I will surely repay you!”

Even as he spoke, he was already preparing to leave. Gu Han was, to put it simply, a great killer god. Principle 97 of The Scavenger’s Manual stated, “A wise man does not stand beneath a collapsing wall. The best way to avoid danger is to stay far away from its source.” Clearly, Gu Han was a source of danger.

However, Gu Han wouldn’t let him leave. “Not so fast.”

Having just arrived in the Tiannan Realm, he was unfamiliar with the place and required a guide. Gu Han could tell that Chen Qing was cowardly and knew his place, but the man was also sharp-witted, making him the best candidate.

Chen Qing was conflicted. “Life as a rogue cultivator isn’t easy. I won’t take your Transcendent Substance for nothing. Senior, just consider it repayment for your kindness. I don’t want it anymore.”

After much deliberation, he still felt that his life was more important than Transcendent Substance. Wealth could be regained, but a life couldn’t.

Gu Han raised an eyebrow, and the black sword fell into his hand in response. “Is that so? But I’m the type who doesn’t like owing others favors.”

Whether intentional or not, his sharp aura brushed against Chen Qing.

The seasoned scavenger’s eyelid twitched, and he straightened his posture. “Senior, you truly are the most honorable and trustworthy person I have ever met! Thank you!”

Behind him, one of the disciples mustered up courage and glanced at the black sword. “Senior, are you a sword cultivator?”

“Yes.”

“Are you from the Profound Sword Sect?”

Gu Han was taken aback. “The Profound Sword Sect? What place is that?”

Chen Qing was also stunned, thinking to himself, Senior, how could someone as formidable as you have never heard of the Profound Sword Sect?

Naturally, he didn’t dare ask. Instead, he stammered out an explanation. The Profound Sword Sect was a first-rate force located a hundred thousand li away. Its sect master was a great cultivator at the Freedom realm and a renowned sword cultivator celebrated throughout the Tiannan Realm, second only to Ling Ya in fame.

The Profound Sword Sect had extremely strict admission requirements, so it had very few disciples. However, every one of them was a fearsome sword cultivator of terrifying strength. Although they only had a hundred or so people, even those powers with tens of thousands of members didn’t dare provoke them lightly.

Chen Qing added, “Moreover, the Profound Sword Sect selects a Sword Prince in every generation—one who gathers all glory upon himself. Only a peerless, monstrous genius can hold that position. Even among all the Heavenly Prides of the Tiannan Realm, he ranks firmly in the top three!

“Rumor has it that this generation’s Sword Prince, Jian Wuchen, is the most stunning Sword Prince in history! Unfortunately, a rogue cultivator like me can't even hope to catch a glimpse of him from afar.”

Gu Han’s heart stirred. The Profound Sword Sect? A Sword Prince? The Profound Sword Sect is not exactly identical to the Profound Heaven Sword Sect... but if you said there was no connection at all, I wouldn’t believe it! And, Jian Wuchen...

Upon hearing that name, he felt somewhat put off.

Another one surnamed Jian?[1]

1. Gu Han is referring to Sword Prince in Chapter 373. “Jian” is sword in English. ☜