A Chaotic World 266 Poison Master Beiwei Jinguo

"You actually plotted to kill your friend?" Jue exclaimed in shock, his fists clenching up in subconscious rage. "What a treacherous man! Don't you know that when you are out, your friends are the only ones whom you can depend on? How can you betray your friend's trust in you?"
Without warning, Jue stepped forward and grabbed the middle-aged man by the collar. His eyes stared straight into the middle-aged man's, and his fists trembled slightly in anger.
As the leader of a team, Jue wholeheartedly believed in the concept of loyalty and brotherhood.
In his eyes, someone like the middle-aged man who plotted to murder his own friend deserved a fate far worse than death!
"Wait, sir, please hear me out!" the middle-aged man pleaded in a panic.
"Did you or did you not poison your friend? Don't you even dare think of lying to the captain of the Iron Claw Brigade!" Lu Tianzi chimed in from the side.
He was really getting into his character now. Having someone to front things for him was pretty d.a.m.n convenient.
"T-This…" the middle-aged man's eyes frenziedly darted around. Seeing the judgemental looks on everyone's faces, he understood that he no longer had any chance of squirming his way out of this. "I was forced to do so! I didn't have a choice!"
"Bulls.h.i.+t!" Jue delivered a punch straight into the middle-aged man's stomach area.
Pu-!
The middle-aged man doubled over in pain before falling to his knees.
As an Intermediate Essence Condensation realm martial artist, he simply did not stand a chance against the might of Jue who was already at the Peak Essence Condensation realm.
"You deserved that," Xing commented coldly. She could certainly understand the rage that her captain was feeling right now.
"Tch! Just looking at you disgusts me!" Jue stepped forward once more, but the middle-aged man hurriedly raised a hand to signal him to stop.
"Cough! Wait, hear me out…" the middle-aged man called out weakly while trying to catch his breath.
"You have already admitted to the act, so what more is there to say?" Jue cracked his knuckles menacingly.
"I really didn't have a choice!" the middle-aged man insisted. "The two of us are orphans who grew up together since young, and I wouldn't have wanted to harm him either if I had a choice! But who asked him to not know his limits? Without a reputable family to back him up, he should have been contented with slowly growing stronger. Instead, he just had to go and get into a relations.h.i.+p with the Dongluo Family's precious daughter. Not surprisingly, the girl's family disapproved of the relations.h.i.+p and wanted to get rid of him. If I didn't help them with it, they would simply hire another person to do the job. On top of that, they would even silence me as well!"
"So for your own safety, you decided to sacrifice your friend? Not only that, but after poisoning him, you even brought him here just to put on a show and stage it as an accident, wanting us to be your witnesses?" Jue was only further angered by his explanation. "How meticulously planned!"

"It is either him or me! What else can I do?!" the middle-aged man yelled in indignation.
"Don't try to pull one over Captain Jue, you certainly had a choice! With your current cultivation level, there is nothing stopping you from just giving him a warning before leaving for somewhere safe," Lu Tianzi retorted. "How much did they pay you for this?"
The middle-aged man was momentarily stumped by the question. "You don't understand how influential the Dongluo Family is! Even if I try to run, they will certainly be able to track me down!"
"So how much is it?" Lu Tianzi repeated his question.
The middle-aged man did not really care for Lu Tianzi initially. But with everyone staring at him, he could not help but feel slightly intimidated.
"T-They offered me a hundred low ranked beast cores…" the middle-aged man's tone softened. "But I am willing to split it with all of you here as long as you swear not to expose the matter!"
Bang-!
"Argh!" the middle-aged man cried out in pain as Jue's boot slammed into his chest.
"Do I look like I care for your bit of beast cores?" Jue scoffed in disdain.
"You can have all of the beast cores, I don't need them anymore…" the middle-aged man whimpered. "Just don't let the Dongluo Family find out about this. They will never let off anyone who knows about the matter."
Lu Tianzi sighed inwardly as he watched this happen.
In the end, individual strength was still the most important thing. The middle-aged man only landed in such a state because he was lacking strength.
Otherwise, what could Jue or the rest of them do to him even if they found out about his ploy?
The middle-aged man could have just killed them all to silence them!
"Who do you think I am? I am Jue of the Iron Claw Brigade!" Jue harrumphed proudly. "I do not fear the Dongluo Family one bit! If I didn't know of this matter, then so be it. But now that I have learnt of it, you will be coming back with me to testify against the Dongluo Family!"
"What? No, please don't! If the Dongluo Family finds out that I failed, they will really kill me!" the middle-aged man exclaimed in horror.
"Get him!" Jue instructed.
On his command, the four other members of the Iron Claw Brigade immediately leapt into action. With four of them mobbing a single person, they easily knocked him out before binding his hands behind his back with some form of special rope.
During this time, the young man from before proceeded to feed the concoction he made to the unconscious man.
It was not an easy task feeding such a viscous mixture to someone who was completely unresponsive.
By the time he was done, the heavy downpour outside had already let up completely, and golden rays from the sun had starting piercing through the shroud of the clouds.
"He will be fine after a short rest," the young man clapped the dirt off his hands.
"That's good to hear," Jue nodded before clasping his fists towards the young man. "I wonder how I should address this young brother?"
"Beiwei Jinguo," the young man answered curtly.
Sensing the unhappiness in the young man, Jue could not help but laugh awkwardly. "If not for young brother Beiwei, this man's ploy could have gone completely unnoticed. I apologise for my earlier rudeness. If there is anything I can do to make up for it, do let me know."
"Don't worry about it," Beiwei Jinguo shrugged.
"How about this? We will be bringing these two guys back with us to Bog Town. If you are heading in the same direction, we can ensure your safety along the way," Jue offered out of goodwill.
Beiwei Jinguo's eyelids fluttered as his heart wavered for a moment. However, he shook his head in the end.
"I am not headed to Bog Town," Beiwei Jinguo shook his head.
"Oh? Where is young brother Beiwei going then?" Jue asked.
"Wondertrap Mountain," Beiwei Jinguo saw no reason to hide his destination.
"What?" Jue exclaimed in shock. "Do you want to reconsider your choice? Wondertrap Mountain is really as dangerous as the rumours say! It would be best to avoid going there unless you are fully prepared."
"I will be fine. The so-called dangerous plants there pose no threat to me," Beiwei Jinguo answered matter-of-factly.
"What about the wild beasts there? You were concerned about that earlier, weren't you?" Jue probed further. "Is there a specific reason why young brother Beiwei has to head over?"
"Why do you need to know why I am going?" Beiwei Jinguo asked in return. "Would anything change even if you did?"
"This…" Jue was rendered speechless.
It seemed like he had really offended this Beiwei Jinguo earlier. The way Beiwei Jinguo spoke was truly not giving him any face at all.
Still, Beiwei Jinguo was right.
It was not as though he and the Iron Claw Brigade would go out of their way to accompany Beiwei Jinguo to Wondertrap Mountain just to ensure the young man's safety.
After all, the only relations.h.i.+p between the two was Jue feeling both apologetic to the young man and admiring his ability to cure the Viper Sprout poison. That was not a deep relations.h.i.+p by any measure.
"Well, I wish young brother Beiwei good luck for your trip then," Jue sighed before turning his attention to Lu Tianzi. "I have not gotten your name yet, young brother, but we do have a lot of time to chat on our way back to Bog Town together."
"I'm sorry, sir, but we would not be heading straight to Bog Town. We would like to take our time instead," Lu Tianzi declined with a polite smile.
"Haha, it seems the young couple probably wants to spend some time alone, so let's not bother them!" Xing laughed from behind.
"Is that so?" Jue's gaze darted between Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue a couple of times before he let out a helpless sigh. "Since that is the case, I shall not insist further. If there is fate between us, we will meet each other again in Bog Town."
"Farewell," Lu Tianzi clasped his fists in respect.
With that, the Iron Claw Brigade left the small inn with the two unconscious men in tow.
After seeing them off with his gaze, Lu Tianzi turned towards Beiwei Jinguo. "Brother Beiwei, I am thinking of heading to Wondertrap Mountain as well. Do you mind if we travel together?"
"You are going to Wondertrap Mountain as well?" Beiwei Jinguo eyed Lu Tianzi doubtfully. "What are you going there for?"
"I am just going to take a look," Lu Tianzi answered with a smile.
"If you have no reason to do so, I'd advise you not to put yourself through such unnecessary risks. Non-martial artists going to Wondertrap Mountain is just equivalent to suicide. Even if you are thinking of committing suicide, leave me out of it," Beiwei Jinguo refused.
"What if we are martial artists too?" Lu Tianzi confidently replied.
With a flick of his wrist, a regular sword appeared in his hands, drawn out of his spatial ring.
Beiwei Jinguo immediately widened his eyes in genuine surprise.
With how Lu Tianzi had sucked up to Jue earlier, Beiwei Jinguo had thought that Lu Tianzi was probably just some random starstruck non-martial artist. He certainly had not expected Lu Tianzi to actually be a martial artist as well.
But if he was a martial artist, then it was highly likely that his partner would be one as well. No wonder she had her eyes closed since the start, she must have been sitting in meditation this whole time.
And judging from the fact that he could not see both of their cultivation levels, they must be at the Essence Condensation realm at least!
With these two Essence Condensation realm martial artists travelling with him, he should be much safer from the wild beasts that Jue had spoken of earlier.
In return, he would also be able to protect them from the various poisonous plants that the Wondertrap Mountain was infamous for.
No wonder the other party proposed to travel together.
It was a win-win situation for both of them!
"I will be relying on you then," Beiwei Jinguo clasped his fists towards Lu Tianzi. "You probably heard it earlier already, but I am Beiwei Jinguo. May I know your name?"
"You can just call me Tianzi, and my companion's name is Qianxue," Lu Tianzi smiled as he returned the greeting with a clasp of his fists. "The weather has already cleared up. Shall we get going then?"