The man in black said coldly, "We have no wish to take your lives. All we want is one thing the two of you are carrying."

Ning Chen was a little surprised. "What thing?"

The man's gaze landed on Feng Qizheng. "Young Lord, we are of the Underworld Thieves' Sect."

Feng Qizheng was dumbfounded.

Ning Chen was taken aback too.

What were Underworld Thieves' Sect men doing in the Wu Kingdom?

The man in black went on, "Since the Young Lord refuses to own who he is and join us in the great cause, then hand over the token Prince Qi left behind, and we'll pursue the cause ourselves... From then on, we'll have nothing more to do with the Young Lord."

Without thinking, Feng Qizheng asked, "What token?"

The man said, "The jade pendant."

Feng Qizheng heard that and brightened. Hand over the pendant and he'd be rid of these people for good? Great... It was just a beat-up old piece of jade.

His eyes went straight to Ning Chen.

When he'd come clean to Ning Chen about who he was, he had given the pendant to him.

But something flickered in Ning Chen's eyes, and he fell deep in thought.

Something felt off.

To pull off any great scheme, they'd need Feng Qizheng's royal blood and his claim. With nothing but a jade pendant, they'd have no right and no standing. Who would follow them?

Suddenly Ning Chen's pupils contracted.

He remembered what Xiao Yanxi had told him: Kang Baobao had wiped out the whole Flying Dagger Sect for the sake of a jade pendant.

The Heavenly Yang and Earthly Yin Pendants.

Kang Baobao had slaughtered that entire sect for the Heavenly Yang Pendant.

And these people were going to all this trouble for the pendant Prince Qi had left behind. Could this pendant be... the Earthly Yin Pendant?

Ning Chen narrowed his eyes at the man in black. "You're really from the Underworld Thieves' Sect?"

The man looked at Ning Chen and said nothing... Probably afraid that the more he said, the more he'd get wrong.

Ning…