Chapter 167 - 166: Final Choice

Chapter 167: Chapter 166: Final Choice

Having decided on a battle plan, Zhao Chi finally replied.

"I am the Lord here. You are invading my territory, and I have the right to kill you on sight."

Zhao Ji was taken aback.

To him, those words had been shouted in Qi Yue’s clear, bright voice.

Even her voice was so perfect.

Excellent.

Zhao Ji smiled. "So, it’s you. ’Kill on sight,’ you say? Can you even kill a noble? You should be well aware of what you’ve done, right? To dare run from our encirclement... you’ve certainly got guts."

Zhao Ji and his men had already entered Javelin range.

But Zhao Chi didn’t order the Attack.

He also had some questions he wanted to ask.

Seeing that Zhao Ji seemed willing to talk, Zhao Chi decided to take the opportunity to chat with him.

He didn’t respond to Zhao Ji’s questions or accusations.

Instead, he asked his own question directly:

"How did you find my territory?"

This was a critical question.

All this time, he had thought it was safe to be out and about with Gu Qing acting as the front.

After all, Gu Qing wasn’t a Lord and this territory didn’t belong to her. Logically, there should have been no way for them to be tracked.

If these nobles had some special methods, he would have to be much more careful in the future.

’If there even is a future...’

Zhao Ji snorted.

He seemed displeased that Qi Yue had asked a question instead of answering his.

But then he asked a question of his own.

"Let’s not talk about how I found you first. I want to hear what method you used to hide your territory. We couldn’t find any trace of it at all. Every time we tried to investigate, the results came back as nonexistent."

’If they were trying to find a territory through Gu Qing’s Identity, of course it would come up as nonexistent. Gu Qing doesn’t even have a territory.’

But that wasn’t important to Zhao Chi right now.

He frowned. "How did you track me here? You answer me first, and I’ll tell you."

Zhao Ji nodded. "Fine."

Li Yan quickly tried to dissuade him, "My Lord, there’s no need to reveal too much. We can just as easily interrogate them after we capture them."

Zhao Ji raised a hand. "It’s fine. It’s not much of a secret. If we can get them to lower their guard and surrender, whether it’s a genuine surrender or not, it would be a great achievement. Besides, it seems they have many other secrets."

Li Yan thought for a moment and nodded.

Zhao Ji said, "We pried some information out of your gatekeeper, but all of it was useless. It was completely impossible to pinpoint your location."

A gatekeeper?

’Who’s that?’

Zhao Chi was still trying to remember when Gu Qing whispered, "That blind old man?"

Right!

It had to be him.

Before entering Strong Fragrance Food Street for the first time, one had to register their personal information.

He had said at the time that it was a unique method of Identity verification.

But he could only identify Gu Qing, not Zhao Chi, so of course it was useless.

Zhao Ji continued, "When you slipped away from me back then, I used a Tracking Technique on you, but you managed to remove it midway."

Zhao Chi recalled that Gu Qing had felt her steps were heavy.

So she had used the Purification Technique to remove the negative State.

At the time, it was just to get rid of the slowing effect. He never expected that, in a happy accident, it would clear away the Tracking Technique as well.

Zhao Ji went on, "But what a shame. We had already sprinkled Spiritual Stone Powder on the ground nearby, and you can’t get rid of that with a Spiritual Technique. It may be the most primitive method, but sometimes, it’s surprisingly effective."

Spiritual Stone Powder?

A Spiritual Stone was a type of stone that could store Spiritual Energy.

After all, Spiritual Energy could only be replenished through natural Recovery, and once it hit its limit, it would stop recovering.

This was somewhat wasteful.

However, one could infuse Spiritual Energy into a Spiritual Stone, allowing the body to continue its natural Recovery.

Thus, the Spiritual Stone served as a medium for storing Spiritual Energy.

When Spiritual Energy was needed, it could be withdrawn at any time, which was very convenient.

When storing Spiritual Energy, a Spiritual Ability Lock could be placed on it, ensuring only those who knew how to unlock it could use it.

The person who set the lock could use this unique Spiritual Ability Lock to sense things within a certain range.

If this kind of Spiritual Stone was ground into powder, the Perception Effect would still exist.

That’s why this method was sometimes used for tracking.

However, this method was rather Basic and primitive.

It was easy to counter.

For example, simply changing one’s shoes or clothes would do the trick.

Or one could just circulate Spiritual Energy throughout their body to make the Spiritual Stone Powder’s Effect disappear.

Zhao Chi sighed softly.

So that was the method.

It was certainly crude and unsophisticated.

Zhao Ji laughed. "It’s fine, no need to blame yourself. You could say this is fate. To be honest, you were just visiting a black market; that’s not a huge problem. The biggest issue is resisting arrest, and that problem can be as big or as small as we want it to be."

Li Yan reminded him, "Lord Zhao Ji, they are very likely part of the resistance. That is the biggest problem."

Zhao Ji gritted his teeth and whispered, "I fucking know that. Do you understand how to negotiate? You have to downplay their culpability so they’ll lower their guard. If you don’t get it, then shut up!"

Li Yan opened his mouth.

He wanted to say more, but he felt that Zhao Ji did have a point, so in the end, he said nothing.

Zhao Ji said:

"I see your territory has quite a few good things. This Kerosene is impressive. How come I’ve never seen you selling it outside?

"If you sold it, you could probably make a lot of money from the commoners, right?

"And how did you hide your territory’s coordinates? Why was the information from the black market gatekeeper correct, yet we still couldn’t find your territory?

"All this information is quite valuable to me.

"You understand what I’m getting at, don’t you?"

Zhao Chi was still weighing his options.

After all, he wasn’t actually part of the resistance right now.

His biggest crime was probably tax evasion.

As for visiting the black market and resisting arrest, those weren’t terribly serious offenses.

After all, his family had already pledged allegiance to Zhao Quan, so these issues were no longer issues.

But if he were to go to war with the Zhao Ji before him, it would be a completely different story.

Daring to Attack a noble was tantamount to joining the resistance.

Not even Zhao Quan could protect him then.

Zhao Ji stared at Qi Yue, watching her frown in silence.

So, Zhao Ji smiled. "Rest assured, the Spiritual Stone Powder on you happens to be from the batch I spread myself, and I haven’t told anyone else. So, this is just between the two of us."

Hmm?

Zhao Chi’s eyes lit up.

Correspondingly, Qi Yue’s eyes also lit up.

Seeing Qi Yue’s big eyes sparkle, Zhao Ji thought his words were having an Effect.

He decided to strike while the iron was hot. "Don’t worry, I can keep this under wraps. No one else knows. And as long as you surrender and tell me everything you know, I will grant you my protection."

Although Zhao Chi was tempted, he couldn’t be sure if the man was telling the truth.

If he was telling the truth, then things would be simple—he could just kill them. But winning wouldn’t be easy.

If he was lying, and Zhao Chi still chose to fight, there would truly be no turning back.

Zhao Chi was deep in thought, but Zhao Ji’s patience was wearing thin.

At that moment, Li Yan shouted, "You women had better not be ungrateful! Lord Zhao Ji has already been more than generous. Don’t try any tricks, or you’ll only be hurting yourselves in the end."

Zhao Ji turned his head and nodded at Li Yan.

A jolt of joy went through Li Yan.

It wasn’t often that Zhao Ji showed him approval.

Encouraged, Li Yan continued to shout, "Besides, Lord Zhao Ji has already used the Boundary Lock! You have no way of escaping, and no accomplices can come to save you! This is your last chance, so surrender now!"

Zhao Ji nodded at Li Yan in satisfaction.

Zhao Chi had noticed long ago that they had used a Boundary Lock.

Now, not only could he not get out and others could not get in, but even communications were completely cut off.

You could say that Zhao Chi’s and Zhao Ji’s territories were now two completely isolated islands.

As long as the Boundary Lock’s 2-hour Duration hadn’t ended, no one could intervene.

Zhao Chi was making his final analysis.

Going to war with nobles was like a woman’s first time.

The first time is always the hardest.

But once you’ve done it once, the rest comes easy.

’Of course, Gu Qing is Special; she isn’t that kind of woman.’

’Should I fight?’

’If the enemy has already informed other nobles, then fighting is suicide.’

’If the enemy hasn’t told other nobles, then there’s a sliver of hope.’

’But that’s only if I can win.’

’If I surrender...’

’Maybe there really is room for negotiation.’

’But Gu Qing and the others would be lost.’

’And I would live, but like a dog.’

’How the hell could I accept that?’

’To hell with them!’

’At least there’s still a chance for a perfect ending.’

Zhao Chi had made up his mind.

"Gu Qing, you take the Female Hero on the left. Finish her off quickly!

"Qi Yue and I will handle the Hero on the right.

"Tang Ruan, the enemy Lord and Hero in the center are yours. Your task is the most critical. You have to hold them off for us!"

"Wait for my signal, then we all move together!"

Tang Ruan nodded seriously. "Yes, I will hold them off with my life."

Gu Qing smiled. "Now that’s more like it. Let’s do this! I’ll give it my all to take her down."

Zhao Ji called out from a distance, "Well? Have you finished considering? What are you three whispering about? Are you discussing the terms of surrender?"

Zhao Chi shouted back, "That’s right, we want to surrender! What exactly do we need to do?"

"Huh? Really?" Joy surged in Zhao Ji’s heart.

"My Lord, be careful. It might be a trick," Li Yan reminded him promptly.

"I know." Zhao Ji nodded, then shouted, "Just come over and sign the vassal agreement."

Zhao Chi said softly, "Everyone, forward ten steps. Prepare to throw."

Gu Qing and Tang Ruan also gave the order in low voices, which all the Female Soldiers and female artisans heard.

They all advanced ten steps together.

Zhao Ji was stunned and tried to stop them. "Hey, hey, hey! Just you come over alone! They don’t move."

The distance between the two sides was now 24 meters.

The perfect throwing distance.

Zhao Chi bellowed, "Throw! Skewer those sons of bitches!"