Chapter 453: Huang Liang
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
In Shangguan Heng’s opinion, the easiest way to handle such incidents would be to throw the Snow Lotus back to the man earlier on or to the men chasing after it. As long as one didn’t become greedy, he could quickly eliminate such troubles regardless of his strength. If the item in question was extremely precious and happened to something one had been looking for, he would definitely want to keep it for himself. However, that would require three favorable factors.
The first two called for good timing and geographical convenience, so it would be easy for him to escape or hide.
The last one called for him to be at an advantage in terms of strength.
“A Snow Lotus of more than 1,000 years…” Despite that Shangguan Heng had yet to reach the stage of Enter Imperceptibility, he was still able to accurately judge the value of that lotus when he caught his first glimpse of it. This was largely because Shangguan Heng, as someone raised in an aristocratic family, was way above average when it came to the standard and quality of kung fu.
A Snow Lotus of thousands of years was one of the core materials needed for the production of elixirs such as Recover Pill. Different recipes could produce elixirs with different main effects. Among all types of elixirs possible to be produced, some could even improve one’s strength or directly open up certain Apertures.
For ordinary men below the Exterior level, this lotus was definitely considered a treasure. For the legitimate son of the Shangguan family, however, this could only be considered decent. After all, in all areas occupied by the Shangguan family on the west peak of Snowy Jade Mountain, there were already a dozen Snow Lotuses of over 3,000 years. Moreover, allowing the lotuses to grow for one thousand years would mean increasing their quality. Thus, unless the aristocratic families desperately needed the lotuses, they would usually let them grow.
“How would Su Meng handle this situation? Will he throw it back without a second thought to make others believe that the lotus is insignificant in comparison to his wealth, or will he take it willingly and beat everyone else chasing after it?”Shangguan Heng was suddenly looking forward to Su Meng’s reaction.
He could tell that there was no shortage of great masters in that huge crowd. If he were in the position to fight, it might require great effort in order to beat all of them completely. Unlike him, Su Meng was known to be good at fighting against groups of warriors, so how exactly would he confront that group of people?
Just then, Meng Qi stretched out his hand to release five streaks of energy from his fingers and pulled the Snow Lotus into his palm. Meanwhile, the man who threw away the lotus had already left the hill they were on, and started climbing down steadily by holding onto the protruding parts of the ice wall with his hands and feet.
His grip was tight and stable as if he was wearing a pair of transparent gloves that was able to stick strongly onto the ice.
“It seems like Su Meng is going to take the lotus willingly and beat everyone else…”Shangguan Heng became even more excited as he was about to witness Meng Qi in action.
That group of people started an uproar instantly.
“Over there!”
“That man over there has got it!”
“Besiege him now! Never let him escape!”
Instead of shouting out loud, they were all trying to keep their volumes down.
It was because everyone who planned to look for precious medicine or hunt rare monsters on this mountain had received the reminder from their seniors to be careful of the environment here. The higher they venture, the thicker the snow would have piled up. Any slightly bigger movements or louder voices may cause multiple avalanches and trigger changes of natural phenomena, which even masters at Half-step Exterior Scenery would have tremendous difficulties in dealing with. It would be still a challenge for ordinary Exterior masters to survive if they couldn’t escape the avalanche in time!
Suddenly, they saw the blue-robed man who was holding the Snow Lotus jump up in the air. He leaped over the smooth ground and flew down the cliff like an eagle spreading its wings.
“Is… Is he committing suicide?” The masters chasing after the lotus were all dumbfounded.
Shangguan Heng wondered the same. He thought that Meng Qi would confront the crowd. Who would have expected him to act in complete opposite?
“I suppose he’s not running immediately out of fear?” Shangguan Heng had witnessed Meng Qi’s Lightness Skills, so he wouldn’t believe that Meng Qi would kill himself after being scared out of his wits.
Just as the man who threw away the lotus was climbing down steadily, he suddenly sensed his surroundings turn dimmer as if a shadow had obstructed the moonlight.
He subconsciously raised his head and saw the carefree man from earlier flying down the cliff with his head pointing upwards and feet pointing downwards. His clothes flapped against the wind under the great momentum, making him look like a God descending from Heaven. With an expressionless face, he held the Snow Lotus with one hand and formed the shape of a saber with the other. He then cleaved downwards while suspended in mid-air.
This ‘saber attack’ was executed with aggressive power and imposing momentum, even the man could feel the burst of energy in his face. He had never encountered anyone who dared to act so recklessly on this dangerous cliff, so he was in shock for a while and only realized what was happening when the palm energy reached right where he was.
“Is this reckless man not afraid to die?”
Hanging onto the ice wall, the man could not change his position at his will, so he had to dodge the attack by quickly turning his back against the wall using only one hand and one foot. At the same time, he drew out his sword and pierced towards the strong burst of energy.
His strength wasn’t bad either. How could he have escaped with the thousand-year Snow Lotus from a group of masters otherwise?
The palm energy appeared to be powerful and impenetrable, yet when the man pierced through it, he felt empty and sped up his movement involuntarily, clashing with Meng Qi’s palm saber at the side.
“Bang!” A tremendous force was surprisingly hidden in that feeling of emptiness, so much so that the man wielding the sword felt an instant numbness creeping up his right arm, then all over his body.
That was an example of implying emptiness through an actual display of vigorous energy!
After being advised by Gao Lan on his martial arts, Meng Qi had understood bladesmanship, sword art, palm stroke, fist attack and many different types of kung fu on a more interconnected level. Now he was even able to initiate the technique of Seven Immortal Illusions!
By taking advantage of the force, Meng Qi easily made a turn to appear in front of the sword-wielding man like a gigantic bird that was swift in its motion. He changed his gesture to form a shapeless sword with his fingers, and hit the core acupoint on his chest after dashing through the defense that the man had formed with limited strength.
Hanging on such a terrifying cliff, the man could not change his position actively or dodge Meng Qi’s attack. He had no choice but to watch this expressionless man sealing his core acupoints, then holding his collar as he brought him up the cliff again. Meng Qi moved up quickly by stepping onto the ice wall with only the tip of his feet, as if he was walking on a smooth ground.
Since he had not been climbing for long, he was quite close to the top, so with a feeling of lightness, he reached the safe spot again with the man in the blue robe.
He felt his collar being pulled as he left the ground for the second time. This time they leaped over that group of masters, who were obviously confused at the situation, and ran towards to the spot where they had jumped off earlier.
“What exactly is he trying to do?” Shangguan Heng was at a complete loss as he watched Meng Qi jump off the cliff to bring back that man who caused this trouble, then he ran towards the opposite direction, flew over the people chasing after them, and started running away from them slowly. The whole process looked just like a vulture capturing its helpless prey.
“Go after them quickly!” Those masters had finally come to their senses again. Without thinking too much, they ran in Meng Qi’s direction subconsciously.
Being rather familiar with the environment here, they seemed to have gradually shortened the distance between them and Meng Qi. Just as they were about to catch the sword-wielding man, Meng Qi stepped onto the steep cliff while holding the man by the collar, and surpassed them again after making a big turn. Then he started running towards Shangguan Heng.
“What is he trying to do…” The masters chasing behind felt strange at first, yet since they were all not willing to let go of the thousand-year Snow Lotus, they turned and ran towards another direction as well.
After reaching a spot that was sheltered from wind, Meng Qi paused to wait for the men behind to catch up. When they came slightly closer, he placed the Snow Lotus back into the arms of the sword-wielding man and unsealed his acupoint, then sat by the bonfire casually again.
Everyone present was taken aback, including Shangguan Heng. “What on earth just happened?” They were all thinking.
Meng Qi looked at the sword-wielding man and others chasing after him, then smiled.
“Please continue.” He said.
The sword-wielding man glanced back subconsciously and was immediately overwhelmed by an irresistible sense of fear. “This distance, this distance was exactly the same as the moment I threw away that Snow Lotus!”
In other words, everything had returned to the state before the man tried to push his troubles to Meng Qi, except that he was feeling in a completely different way right now!
“No wonder he said ‘please continue’…” The men chasing him had also understood Meng Qi’s intention, and were all surprised by it.
“He went through such a great trouble just to ‘stay out of the business’?”
“Yet he displayed unbelievable strength while going through the trouble!”
The surroundings were as silent as the dead.
The sword-wielding man first realized the situation he was in, so he started running madly towards the cliff, hoping to escape with his outstanding climbing technique.
Just as his movement broke the silence, others started chasing after him with all their strength. Interestingly enough, none of them dared to look at Meng Qi directly in his eyes as they passed him.
“Why did you do that?” asked Shangguan Heng, apparently he was still confused about Meng Qi’s intention.
“In order to achieve Oneness of Heaven and Men and find my own path in kung fu, it’s not enough to only understand the Heaven and Earth.” Meng Qi smiled and continued, “I must also cultivate my mind, restrain any greedy intentions and never deviate from my true self. Although a thousand-year Snow Lotus is indeed precious to me, I must adhere to my integrity. I may try to get it for myself if it hadn’t been taken by others, but since someone else had got it, I won’t mingle with their business. He tried to shift his trouble to me earlier on, so to repay him, I decided to scare him a little.”
When he said ‘precious’, he meant that he could exchange it for a lot of Karma points.
“I understand that, but why the trouble? Why must you emphasize ‘continue’?” Shangguan Heng asked the question he was most confused about.
Meng Qi looked ‘deeply’ into his eyes.
“You don’t understand…” he said.
Indeed, Shangguan Heng couldn’t understand. He was left with no choice but to harmonize his Qi-circulation while waiting for dawn to arrive.
Another day had passed before they finally reached the top of the mountain. Their journey was filled with many terrifying moments, but luckily none of them had a life-threat.
The area at the top was quite small, with a few jagged rocks covered in a layer of ice that would never melt. Right at the center of the top sat a small house made of ice. Judging from its appearance, the space inside would only allow one person to sit cross-legged.
A strange-looking man was sitting inside. His beard and hair were all grey and messy, long enough to cover his whole face. Only a pair of eyes that were filled with perplexity could be seen on his face.
He was staring at the clear and blue sky, lost in deep thought.
“Senior Huang Liang, I’m Shangguan Heng from the Shangguan family here to visit you,” Shangguan Heng greeted him politely.
Meng Qi once heard from Shangguan Heng that this man had the family name Huang. Since he believed that one’s life is just like a dream, he gave himself the name Huang Liang, which also has the meaning of ‘pipe dream’.
The man ignored them, still deep in thought.
“Senior Huang, I brought a friend with me today. He often ponders over the actual and surreal aspects of heaven and earth, and would like to consult you on this matter,” Shangguan Heng explained after an attempt to control his temper.
The strange man suddenly turned to look at Meng Qi, and asked in his deep, hoarse voice, “You understand the actual and surreal aspects as well?”
“Indeed, I have been pondering over many similar ideas, such as what can be altered and what cannot, if the world we live in is unique, what are the essential differences among all stars in the universe and so on,” Meng Qi answered in all honesty.
“Besides the reputable sects and familes, I can’t imagine that there are still people in this world who share the same thoughts as me, I am not alone!” The strange man chuckled and said.
His eyes were dark and deep like an unfathomable ocean, they looked like the stars at night, yet there was no spark in them. From his eyes, one could sense a feeling of lost and confusion.
“I’m able to think deeper and further than ordinary men because of the impartation I have received and the secrets I have learned. Moreover…” he paused before continuing, “I don’t belong to this world.”
Meng Qi was shocked. “Is this man a time-traveler like me, or is he from the World of Samsara?”
Shangguan Heng was even more surprised. “This maniac has never mentioned it before!”
“However, the words of a maniac can’t be fully trusted.”
“In my world, there are people cultivating kung fu as well…” said Huang Liang slowly.