Chapter 346 – You, What Right Do You Have?

After Xu Xiayan’s explanation, Su Ming, who now had some understanding of the Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion, had perhaps figured out exactly why they were so relentless in pursuing Chi Qian.

It was for no other reason than this very issue — a “lack of high-end combat power” that kept the team from advancing to S-Rank.

“The Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion has a total of seventeen Upper-Rank Professionals — a full ten more than Iron Rose, which is also an A-Rank team, and roughly seven more than our own Summer Chasing Smoke. In terms of Upper-Rank Professional headcount alone, they actually have a few more than some S-Rank teams.”

“But of those seventeen Upper-Rank Professionals, only one is a Six-Star Professional, and four are Five-Star. The remaining twelve are all Four-Star.”

“For a team like the Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion, Upper-Rank Professionals are no longer rare. What’s truly rare is combat power that can be considered top-tier even among Upper-Rank Professionals.”

Xu Xiayan’s eloquent voice carried into Su Ming’s ears.

“If the Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion could produce even one more Six-Star Professional, they could replace our Summer Chasing Smoke as the team closest to S-Rank in all of Tianfeng City. Their strength wouldn’t be far off from an actual S-Rank team.”

It was precisely because they lacked that one Six-Star Professional — that one piece of high-end combat power capable of being the decisive finisher — that the Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion, despite having more Upper-Rank Professionals than even an S-Rank team, still couldn’t measure up to Summer Chasing Smoke.

“The Qiao Family’s second son is so relentless about Chi Qian precisely because he’s trying to bring in that one decisive piece of high-end combat power for the Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion.”

Xu Xiayan shot Chi Qian a glance and smiled as she said it.

“Chi Qian was already at the peak of Five-Star before, and could break into Six-Star at any moment.”

“Now that she’s officially made it to Six-Star, the Qiao Family’s second son is naturally even less willing to give up.”

“Especially when the high-end combatant he’d had his eye on ended up joining some unknown little team — that only makes him even more unwilling to accept it.”

And that was why, over the past month, he had repeatedly come into conflict with Chi Qian.

To all of which Chi Qian had only one thing to say.

“He’s got his priorities backwards,” Chi Qian said, shaking her head. “If that’s the case, then what he should be doing is putting his energy into his own breakthrough — not endlessly trying to recruit other people in pursuit of so-called high-end combat power.”

Wasn’t that the truth?

By Xu Xiayan’s account, although Qiao Zhi’s talent and potential didn’t match his elder brother’s, and he had been stuck unable to break through for some time, the very fact that he hadn’t yet broken through still proved that he at least had the potential to do so.

That being the case, Qiao Zhi’s current strength was probably also at the peak of Five-Star — just one step shy of Six-Star.

If that was so, then rather than obsessively chasing after high-end combat power and burning himself out trying to recruit others, he would have been far better off settling down and pushing for his own breakthrough.

Xu Xiayan and Wang Di clearly thought the same, and agreed wholeheartedly with Chi Qian.

That said, Xu Xiayan added one more thought.

“It’s possible Qiao Zhi has tried, but kept failing, so he eventually gave up — we can’t know for sure,” Xu Xiayan said. “For years now, internal affairs of the Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion have been handled by Qiao Zhi. Qiao Liang, who’s actually the Captain, has gradually been ceding authority and stepping back from day-to-day matters. It looks like, after watching Qiao Zhi keep failing to break through, he simply decided to let him focus on running the team’s internal affairs instead.”

Which was why, today, Qiao Liang hadn’t come. Only Qiao Zhi had.

“Well, well.” Su Ming let out a whistle. “Turns out I’m not the only Captain around here who’s a hands-off boss. The Captains of these big teams are all even more hands-off than I am. Now that I know that, I feel a lot better.”

Whether it was the Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion or Iron Rose, internal affairs were now being handled by their current Vice Captains, while the Captains had all become hands-off bosses themselves. Which made Su Ming feel suddenly justified.

“Captain.”

Chi Qian let out another wry smile.

“You little brat — talking nonsense with a straight face again.”

Even Xu Xiayan couldn’t help but laugh.

Only Wang Di shot Su Ming a discreet sidelong glance and said nothing.

In his view, perhaps the worse outcome would be if Su Ming weren’t a hands-off Captain.

After all — in terms of strength, Su Ming was just a fresh-out-of-the-gate small-time Sorcerer. And in terms of skill at running internal affairs, just how proficient could an eighteen-year-old kid really be?

In Wang Di’s view, Azure Mercury being run by Chi Qian was the only thing about this team that actually made sense.

Otherwise, this newcomer team that had broken his own team’s record might well end up nothing more than a brief flash in the pan.

If Su Ming hadn’t been a junior from Xu Xiayan’s hometown, Wang Di would honestly have been tempted to try recruiting Chi Qian into Summer Chasing Smoke himself.

A Six-Star Professional like Chi Qian was the kind of asset that would make any team’s mouth water — not just A-Rank teams like the Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion and Iron Rose with their special circumstances. Even S-Rank teams weren’t immune.

It was only because S-Rank teams generally already had multiple Six-Star Professionals on their rosters — and because Chi Qian had previously been at only peak Five-Star, not yet officially a Six-Star, and now that she was already “spoken for” the S-Rank teams considered it beneath them to openly fight over her — that she had been left alone. Otherwise, in this past month alone, Chi Qian might well have been getting recruitment offers and poaching attempts from S-Rank teams too.

“This time around, among the teams we hired, only those two are A-Rank. The rest are all B-Rank, and in terms of strength they probably won’t measure up to you.”

Xu Xiayan then went on to give a rough rundown of the other eight B-Rank teams.

But just as she had said, none of those eight B-Rank teams had anything worth Su Ming or Chi Qian’s particular attention, so her introductions of them weren’t as detailed as before.

“That’s basically the lay of the land,” Xu Xiayan said to Su Ming. “If you’re interested, I could take you over to greet the Captains or Vice Captains of those teams.”

Clearly, Xu Xiayan was trying to help Su Ming expand his network.

Unfortunately —

“That won’t be necessary.” Su Ming had been about to say something more when he suddenly picked up on a stir nearby. The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Someone’s already coming over here. Though chances are it’ll be an uninvited guest.”

Su Ming’s words left the others momentarily stunned. Then they noticed.

In one corner of the bar, a man with several followers in tow was striding straight toward them.

Unmistakably — Qiao Zhi.

“Look, the Qiao Family’s man is on the move.”

“He really did go over there, huh.”

“Now we’ve got a show to watch.”

The various team leaders in the bar were noticing it too, settling in to watch the spectacle — some with the unmistakable air of “the bigger the scene, the better,” some outright gleeful, looking like they wanted nothing more than for things to blow up.

Zhu Yun’s brow furrowed for a moment, then quickly smoothed out. She stayed right where she was and watched silently to see how it would play out.

Chi Qian, Xu Xiayan, and Wang Di — all three of them — had their gazes flicker slightly. One pair of eyes turned cold, another took on an amused glint, and the third filled with open interest.

In such a setting, the already-low murmur of the bar dropped even further, as though by silent agreement.

Every gaze was fixed on Qiao Zhi, on Su Ming, and on Chi Qian. Nothing else in the room mattered.

And so, with his entourage trailing behind him, Qiao Zhi came to a stop in front of Su Ming.

That’s right — in front of Su Ming.

He didn’t go to Chi Qian. He didn’t go to Xu Xiayan. He had come straight for Su Ming.

“So you’re this Su Ming?”

Qiao Zhi’s gaze raked over Su Ming, blatantly and brazenly.

Wang Di had sized Su Ming up earlier too — but he hadn’t been anywhere near this open about it.

Su Ming didn’t immediately look at Qiao Zhi. Instead, he silently took a sip from a glass of wine he’d somehow gotten his hands on, and only then turned to face him.

“I am Su Ming.” Meeting Qiao Zhi’s brazen stare, Su Ming smiled. “Should I be calling you Vice Captain Qiao? Or Young Master Qiao?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Qiao Zhi clearly didn’t care about the form of address. In a low voice, he said, “That’s not what I’m here to discuss — and you should know it.”

Qiao Zhi’s brazen gaze shifted onto Chi Qian. His intent couldn’t have been more obvious.

He had come for Chi Qian. There was no other reason.

“Come now, Vice Captain Qiao.” Su Ming said with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “Poaching someone right under the nose of her Captain — do you really think that’s appropriate?”

At Su Ming’s tone and choice of words — that half-smile that wasn’t really a smile — Qiao Zhi’s expression darkened once again.

He had assumed that when he personally came to confront this rumored fresh-out-of-the-gate rookie Sorcerer, the other party would, if not outright flustered, at least feel some degree of pressure.

An eighteen-year-old kid — a One-Star Sorcerer. To Qiao Zhi, someone like that was no different from an ant.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have spared such a person a second glance.

And yet, here this kid was, standing across from him this calmly — with a hint of amusement on his face, even. That genuinely wasn’t something Qiao Zhi had been expecting.

Of course, he didn’t take it to heart.

A composed demeanor didn’t really mean anything.

“Name your price.”

Just like that, Qiao Zhi came right out with the reason for his visit.

And what he was about to say was already perfectly obvious to everyone.

“As long as you’re willing to transfer Chi Qian’s allegiance and hand over her contract, our Brocade Dragon Jade Pavilion is prepared to use the full strength of the team to fulfill one condition of your choosing.”

At Qiao Zhi’s words, the entire room erupted into murmurs.

Even Xu Xiayan and Wang Di raised their eyebrows.

Well, well — Qiao Zhi was prepared to go all-in here, sparing no expense.

The full strength of the team, to fulfill a single condition?

That was no small promise.

And yet — never mind Su Ming, even Chi Qian didn’t so much as change expression.

In fact, Chi Qian didn’t even feel like saying anything more. She simply watched coolly from one side.

Because only she truly knew just what kind of off-the-charts character her own Captain really was — and just how much he wasn’t to be trifled with.

He thought this was going to shake her Captain?

Not by a long shot.

And as expected —

“Listen, Vice Captain Qiao — you can’t force a melon off the vine and expect it to be sweet. Why keep pushing someone who has no interest?”

Su Ming’s tone was unchanged, his mockery effortless.

“You’ve already failed at this so many times. Can’t you just give it up?”

The implication couldn’t have been clearer.

“You’re refusing?” Qiao Zhi’s expression grew darker by the moment, until he couldn’t hold himself back any longer. “Do you really think a team of your caliber is worthy of someone of her legendary stature?”

To which Su Ming’s response was this.

“Whether we’re worthy of her or not isn’t for you to decide.”

Su Ming set down his glass and looked at Qiao Zhi.

“No matter how high-and-mighty your words may be, there’s one thing I need to remind you of.”

“At the end of the day, I succeeded in recruiting Chi Qian — while you spent a full year before me failing again and again.”

“Something I managed to do, you couldn’t do. And now you’re standing here telling me I’m not worthy?”

“So let me ask you — you, what right do you have?”

Su Ming’s words, still wearing that same half-smile that wasn’t really a smile, fell over the entire room and silenced it.

(End of Chapter)