SORRY, I’m half an hour late, wrote a bit slowly.
Chapter 174 [Tacit Understanding] (6400)
This stance of the Golden Armor clearly indicates that it has no hostile intentions.
Chen Yan didn’t relax, he merely leaned out from the tree crown, still sitting at the treetop. His bow and arrow were lowered — though the bow was slightly drawn, the arrow was still nocked on the string, merely pointing at the ground.
"No need to come down, I like the view from up here — we’re not so far apart that we can’t hear each other, after all, neither of us is deaf, right?"
Golden Armor stared at Chen Yan for two seconds, nodded, then picked up the self-heating meal box from the ground: "Yours?"
Chen Yan smiled: "Fellow Taoist Golden Armor, it looks like you haven’t eaten yet today? Feel free to have it."
Golden Armor sighed inwardly.
It’s not just today, I haven’t eaten for two days!
He glanced at Chen Yan, suddenly raised his eyebrows and smiled, saying, "Then I must thank you for your generosity!"
Then, this guy actually opened the meal box, scooped some of the still warm rice and dishes, and without care for appearance, grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth.
As Chen Yan watched this guy eat so messily, he calmly asked, "Need chopsticks?"
"No need." Golden Armor pinched a piece of meat from the box with his fingers and stuffed it into his mouth, looking unconcerned: "No need for chopsticks, but if I could get a bottle of water, that would be great."
Chen Yan laughed and tossed a bottle of mineral water from his bag.
Golden Armor caught it mid-air, glanced at it: "Thanks!"
"Aren’t you afraid the food is poisoned?" Chen Yan laughed.
"I’m hungry, not stupid." Golden Armor, chewing with a full mouth, chuckled unclearly, "I showed up unexpectedly. This meal was obviously prepared for yourself — unless you can foresee the future and poisoned it in advance knowing I’d come?"
Chen Yan nodded, stopped talking, simply watching Golden Armor wolf down the mealbox contents and drink every drop of the water bottle.
Golden Armor burped carelessly, sighed at the now empty meal box in his hands, seemingly still wanting more: "Any more?"
"Fellow Taoist, meals have a price." Chen Yan murmured.
Golden Armor thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Being left by you in the mine, attacked by those guys, wounded, clothes torn, losing many things — my current state of hunger is your doing, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you compensate me a bit?"
Chen Yan clapped his hands, cheering: "To turn things around so boldly, I truly admire your shamelessness, fellow Taoist."
Golden Armor’s expression stayed the same: "In that situation, if I didn’t trick you, I wouldn’t have found a chance — moreover, Fellow Taoist Wang, you weren’t short-changed, you got back at me later, didn’t you?"
Chen Yan nodded, suddenly recalled something: "How did you get out?"
Golden Armor gazed at Chen Yan: "What about you? How did you cover hundreds of miles so quickly?"
Pausing, Golden Armor seemed to recall something, nodded: "A Divine Transport Talisman? Or some other spell?"
Chen Yan stayed silent, just stared at Golden Armor.
Golden Armor sighed: "You have a Divine Transport Talisman, how do you know I don’t have similar means? If I lacked a trump card for escape, I wouldn’t dare venture to the mining area for the Divine Tree.
Wang Chuyi, since we both tricked each other in the mine, let’s call it even, discussing it now is pointless. After all, you didn’t gain an advantage, and I got away in the end."
He glanced at Chen Yan’s bow and arrow, shook his head dismissively: "Lay it down. You don’t practice Body Technique Combat Techniques, even if you drew the bow and shot at this range, I could reach and kill you before you moved."
Chen Yan, unfazed, smiled: "You’re welcome to try."
Golden Armor frowned, focused on Chen Yan, moments later, his face showed growing dubiousness — Chen Yan’s confidence seemed to puzzle him.
"Never mind, since I had a meal at your expense." Golden Armor touched his clothing, hesitated a bit, then slowly took out something, fiddling with it in his hand, tossed it to Chen Yan from a distance.
Chen Yan caught it, glanced — it was a talisman.
Instantly recognized, it was a talisman crafted similarly to his own [Sealing Spirit], the technique differed slightly but was broadly similar.
"A transformation talisman, I used this to turn into a Fierce Beast Race miner and blended in." Golden Armor, indeed forthcoming, spoke plainly: "This thing I don’t need now, so I’ll give it to you as payment for the meal."
Exchanging a powerful talisman for a simple meal, the worth of this transaction was exorbitant.
Chen Yan pondered, then tucked it into his clothes.
Seeing Golden Armor showing no hostility, he carefully put down the bow and arrow but still sat atop the tree without descending: "Fellow Taoist Golden Armor, since we parted last, have you been wandering around in the forest west of the Evil Land Mountain?"
"That’s right, I’ve been wandering there for some time now, and sneaked a look at the Fierce Beast Race village we talked about last time." Golden Armor said, frowning and shaking his head: "Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate that spy, I suspect he might be dead."
He raised his eyelids, looked at Chen Yan: "That village, however, is peculiar, many buildings are dilapidated, it seems to have been severely damaged, even the village chief is unexpectedly weak, like newly appointed. And many of the strong men in the village are dead or wounded, not many of our Human Race slaves remain."
Chen Yan responded mildly with an "Hmm".