Chapter 235: No Matter What You Do, Don’t Tell Me...
Human Realm, Dark Forest.
There was already a patch of brightness in the darkness—Jiang Che and Ren Fengxiang had cleared out a large open space in the Dark Forest.
Ren Fengxiang was meticulous in his cleaning, most of the time he didn’t say a word.
The trees they cleared out were all hauled away to Xiong Jie and the others over there, letting them use Jiang Che’s instructions to build buses for traversing the forest.
After being cut and cleared, the Dark Forest lost its devouring property; weaker creatures could now touch it without any harm.
"When the time comes, bring Xiong Jie here, let him camp at this spot. Your territory will be expanded a bit," Ren Fengxiang said, satisfied as he surveyed the open ground.
The space they’d cleared wasn’t right next to Jiang Che or Ren Fengxiang’s territory—there was still some distance between them.
At first, Jiang Che had wanted to set it up next to his own territory, but Ren Fengxiang firmly refused.
The clearing wasn’t large, about the size of a small town.
They hadn’t cleared too much, just enough for Xiong Jie to set up a stable camp.
"When you have more and more dungeon people, you can send them out—station them in different places." Ren Fengxiang nagged, giving detailed instructions.
"Aren’t you going to let anyone into your territory? You could try expanding too." Jiang Che looked at him curiously—he’d tried out Ren Fengxiang’s dungeon, but hadn’t triggered any stage.
Ren Fengxiang never explained the reason for that.
He just diverted the topic and talked about something else.
"I won’t. Anyone who lives here becomes like me. I don’t want to drag them down." Ren Fengxiang shook his head.
"Is that so?" Jiang Che asked, looking at him in confusion.
Ren Fengxiang’s lowered eyes dodged his gaze; when he finally looked up at Jiang Che, he nodded heavily, "That’s right."
He wasn’t telling the truth; he just didn’t want to increase the strength of his own territory.
It wasn’t until after the dungeon was created that Jiang Che came in.
That was when he realized he had no control over the dungeon.
In an instant, he figured out what had happened. When his spiritual power tried to slip into the anchor’s core to regain control, it was shoved out by a repulsive force.
That repulsive force was all too familiar to him—it was the very source of his power.
It was that same Lord who had changed him into what he was now.
From that moment on, he knew he was no different from any of the others under the control of evil spirits.
He used to have some freedom—the Lord never really bothered with him.
But now, after creating a territory, it was as if a piece of trash suddenly shone and the Lord snatched back control.
As a slave under control, it was easy for him to read the Lords’ intentions, since everything existed to serve their master.
Unless that Lord wanted to hide his intentions.
But he didn’t sense any attempt to hide—the Lord even openly displayed the result.
Ren Fengxiang wasn’t an idiot; he could tell the Lord was doing it on purpose.
Purposely tormenting him, purposely flaunting the plan.
If he told Jiang Che, whether Jiang Che killed him or not, it would be torture for both of them.
Jiang Che let out a sigh, looked at Ren Fengxiang’s body, and spoke again with certainty, "I’ll deal with this for you."
Ren Fengxiang nodded, without asking how Jiang Che would do it.
"Just do it recklessly, don’t bother with the details, I trust you." He wouldn’t listen to how Jiang Che planned to fight back—because the Lord behind him would overhear every word.
He never used to care about any of this, or who was controlling him.
No matter what he became, it wasn’t important—the limbs could be conjured with energy, even better than before, so why care about hands and feet?
The vase on his body was his best defense—no one could break it. He was, in a way, a symbol of invincibility.
It used to never matter, but now, things were different.
The Lord behind him was plotting against Jiang Che.
He revealed everything to Ren, including how he’d deal with Jiang Che, including what he’d just said to Jiang Che’s Lord’s wife, and how she, lovestruck, wouldn’t kill Ren, all of it, he knew.
He’d never met Jiang Che’s wife, but hearing the account from the Copper Vase, he immediately thought, this woman, not bad!
Ren Fengxiang grinned at Jiang Che. The Copper Vase had calculated everything, predicted Jiang Che wouldn’t kill Ren, and confirmed that Ding Ning wouldn’t kill Ren either.
He’d predicted Ren wouldn’t commit suicide, because even Ren’s death would mean the dungeon belonged to the Copper Vase, giving him even greater control.
Ren’s survival or death made no difference.
He’d told Ren all this, purely to torment him.
But he missed one thing!
Ren Fengxiang hefted the branch and tossed it onto the accumulating pile of dark wood at the side, forming a small mountain.
The Copper Vase failed to predict Ren!
Ren was not some puppet to be ordered around!
If this began with him, then he’d figure out the solution himself.
Since childhood, he’d always protected Jiang Che—never had Jiang Che stand in front for his sake.
"Brother Xiang, Ning just told me, the spiritual projection is almost ready."
"Just go. I’ll take care of the people and dungeon here for you." Ren Fengxiang waved dismissively, not caring. "I’ve got nothing else to do, I’ll clear more space for you and pick a few people to station here."
Jiang Che looked at him doubtfully—not that he didn’t trust Ren Fengxiang’s abilities.
He just felt odd. It made him uncomfortable, like Ren Fengxiang was a dying man, preparing affairs before his death, making arrangements for those who come after.
"Why’re you staring at me like that?" Ren Fengxiang glared back. "I just want you to get stronger, to better solve this problem for me."
"Then I won’t have to stay inside the vase, and the dungeon can recruit some subordinates for frontier expansion." Ren Fengxiang slapped Jiang Che on the shoulder.
"Nobody wants to become like me and come to my dungeon, right?"
Jiang Che nodded. That was true—even in his mind, no human would want to become like this.
"When you get there, do your best!" Ren Fengxiang, having heard from the Copper Vase, no longer worried about Ding Ning harming him.
"Of course, I’ll work hard and protect everyone!" Jiang Che clenched his fist.
Ren Fengxiang looked at Jiang Che and smiled with understanding.
He paused, then spoke, "Jiang Che, whatever you do later, don’t ever tell me..."