Chapter 544: Another Approach
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Qu Jiuniang’s breath was indeed weak. However, it was not caused by injuries but by the restrictions of sealing spells cast upon her. Her abductor had incapacitated her in an instant, depriving her of the use of her many secret artifacts!
She was weaker in power in comparison to the Emperor of the Netherworld but she had held more numerous and more powerful secret artifacts than him. The assailant who captured her should at least be a top-tier Exterior master, being only slightly weaker than Progenitor Doumu. He could also be a Half-step to Dharmakaya, or potentially even stronger than that!
Meng Qi felt the air around him solidify as it appeared that a pair of seemingly powerful and hostile eyes were gazing at him threateningly.
He understood that the illusion was caused by his mood change and the eyes did not exist. Yet still, he wondered about the whereabouts of the man who had easily captured Qu Jiuniang.
He, or they, would definitely not be the red and black-faced men currently guarding Qu Jiuniang. The two men here couldn’t be stronger than the level of the first step of Celestial Ladder!
Did they realize that Qu Jiuniang had no real value? And therefore they heeded no attention to her?
Or are they preparing an ambush in the dark and waiting to strike those who come to rescue her?
Questions entered into Meng Qi’s mind one by one. The fat gerbil he had transformed into carefully circled the place where Qu Jiuniang was held hostage. He kept himself at a distance to search for traps and any signs of an ambush. Unfortunately, he found nothing.
He dared not be too careless and he returned, instead of moving closer. After leaving the rat hole, he transformed back to himself and explained the situation as well as his deductions to Flying Yaksha Yan Wuwo.
“Your deductions make sense. Since we are planning to save her, we have to prepare for an ambush.” Yan Wuwo’s face was exposed in the intense sun of the Immensity Sea and reflected sunlight off like a piece of metal, dimly shining.
He, who had practiced Zombie Fist and who could transform into the Flying Yaksha, had a physical body that was as strong and durable as monks of his level who practiced Golden Bell Shield.
“What’s the plan?” Meng Qi asked.
If it was Meng Qi himself, he would first find out the numbers involved in the ambush, their power, and whether they had laid any formations before acting. He wouldn’t ever act rashly on an impulse.
Yan Wuwo looked as stiff as a real zombie. “First, we find out about the masters and the formations nearby.”
Just after he spoke, a red pillar of fire rose behind him. Upon further inspection, Meng Qi realized that it was a greyish giant consumed with fire. “It” had two fangs and two hollow eyes and the fire on him evaporated all water that was nearby instantly.
“A male version of Drought-Devil? The Drought-Devil that initiates droughts wherever it goes?” Meng Qi closed his eyes subconsciously to avoid the heat after realizing that the greyish Drought-Devil had formed into the shape of a fire-breathing dragon together with the flames on its body, hiding its Gist of Trueness deep in its body.
One of the Godly Fiery Forms of the Nine Dragons?
Meng Qi had practiced The Buddha’s Palm and Eight Nine Mysteries and had extremely sensitive senses. As he had seen Progenitor Doumu’s Dharma Form as well, he managed to guess Yan Wuwo’s true Dharma Form from the various hints and clues. Yan Wuwo had used Drought-Devil in replacement of Red Dragon to form one of the Godly Fiery Forms of the Nine Dragons. Which meant that the Godly Fiery Forms of the Nine Dragons combined with Zombie Fist, was his main cultivation method. Currently, he had only shown part of his Dharma Form.
The burning Drought-Devil’s feet touched the ground and connected with the Immensity Sea. Yan Wuwo stood exactly the same as how the devil stood, seeming to have transformed into the vast earth.
Zombies were made from earth, while Drought-Devil cultivated earth from the fire and were, therefore, the creator of zombies.
Meng Qi, with his eyes shut, felt flames seemingly burning all around him. All matter felt as if it had been reduced to ashes, fluttering and falling down to become a part of the earth.
Is this how fire makes earth?
Meng Qi abruptly opened his eyes. He couldn’t see any flames and could only see Yan Wuwo and his burning Dharma Form behind him as it turned into sand and sept into the soil, making them inseparable from the earth.
Few could be better than Yan Wuwo in the art of Earth Escape... Meng Qi thought as he witnessed this.
Just as he thought this the ground of Immensity Sea, which was covered by rocks and sand, started to shake vigorously. The weathered rocks in the distance all started to fall and break into pieces.
Earthquake!
Meng Qi was shocked at first then began laughing at his own reaction. With his current power and his current location of being at the Immensity Sea, he need not worry about the earthquake at all. They were not in a mountainous region and nothing in sight for miles around.
He flew up and discovered that the epicenter was hundreds of miles underground and its radius of influence amounted to hundreds of miles as well.
The strong shaking made cracks in the ground. Once the shaking stopped, from one of those cracks, a pile of gravel formed and condensed into the familiar human figure of Yan Wuwo.
The burning Drought-Devil had disappeared.
He created the earthquake? But why was the epicenter hundreds of miles away?Meng Qi questioned after he came to an understanding of the situation.
If a top-tier the Exterior master used all his strength, his impact could travel hundreds of miles too. Earthquakes could self-propagate and thus it wasn’t strange that they could affect places hundreds of miles away. What was strange was the position of the epicenter!
This was Yan Wuwo’s special trick. He utilized it to make those in the ambush think that a real earthquake had occurred. This would make it easier for him to deduce their positions and powers.
Yan Wuwo was silent and passed a message into Meng Qi’s mind, “Within fifty miles from here, there are three top-tier Exterior grandmasters, and another five grandmasters. I can only roughly sense their presence, but not their identity.”
“That’s weird!” Meng Qi blurted out.
Because of the appearance of the Primary Instruction of The Buddha’s Palm, the were many grandmasters at the Fish Sea and Tan Han region. Still, it was ridiculous for eight of such grandmasters to be present within fifty meters of them.
Thus, they could confirm that an ambush was present!
“Yes.” Yan Wuwo didn’t say much and merely confirmed Meng Qi’s deduction.
Meng Qi then said, “I’m not sure how many grandmasters are in the ambush and how many are just doing investigations. Erm, regardless, we should just assume that we have eight grandmasters as our enemies to prevent any surprises.”
Yan Wuwo put his hands behind his back and flew up before suggesting, “We will have to ask the Primogenitor to lend me a hand.”
Although he was proud and conceited and thought himself to be the equal of other the Exterior masters, the three top-tier Exterior masters here, as well as the other five grandmasters of the seventh to eighth Heaven, still may be too difficult for him to handle.
Meng Qi thought so too and flew back with Yan Wuwo. There were many of the Exteriors flying due to the earthquake which made movements of the two seem normal to others.
As they were flying, Meng Qi gave thought more in-depth about the happenings and he began to realize that something was amiss.
“Leader Yan, do you think that those that caught Jiuniang knew her status as a member of the Immortals?” Meng Qi questioned after he sped up suddenly and flew in front of Yan Wuwo.
Yan Wuwo stared at him and remained silent while waiting for him to continue.
Meng Qi considered as he reflected, “If they do not know, they could easily trigger Jiuniang’s self-destruction while using secret techniques such as Soul-Searching to torture her. If this is the case then who are they targeting?”
“Although for many, Jiuniang is an unknown and a mysterious expert of the exterior. Capturing her could mean no risk, though, it would be stupid to just capture her without understanding the forces behind her as it would be merely making enemies for nothing.”
“I agree that they knew the identity of Jiuniang. The target of this ambush should be the Immortals.” Yan Wuwo didn’t say much about this matter and seemed muddle-headed, but actually, he had already made his own deductions.
Meng Qi continued, “If the target is us Immortals, would they not consider the presence of the Primogenitor and the presence of Dharmakaya?”
The appearance of the Primary Instruction of The Buddha’s Palm meant that it was highly probable for Primogenitor Lingbao to be around. What use would a few grandmasters do?
“Those who know about the Immortals and Jiuniang may not know about the Primogenitor.” Yan Wuwo said.
The Immortals were a secret organization that had its official members and powers hidden and left unknown to the world.
“What if they know? Perhaps this ambush is specifically aimed at the Primogenitor!” Meng Qi remarked quietly.
If that was the case, those top-tier the exterior masters and grandmasters would be only a cover to reassure the two and trick them into thinking, Oh, there is indeed an ambush, but the threat of ambush stops here!
Yan Wuwo’s expression did not change. “I have considered this before. Perhaps we could allow the Primogenitor to pass by in his true identity with Cui Qinghe and He Qi. In this way, we would have three Dharmakayas, which would be too much for an ambush to handle.”
That would be the safest way but it would also be their last choice. Regardless of whether Cui Qinghe and He Qi will co-operate, and regardless of whether they will discover any secret from it, the mere fact of exposing the secret alliance of the three Dharmakayas will make their plan of seizing the Primary Instruction become much more difficult.
Meng Qi mused, “Perhaps we don’t need to bother those masters.”
“You have another way?” Yan Wuwo finally showed some emotion.
Meng Qi smiled and replied, “Even though the Heaven Sovereign of the Myths is a Dharmakaya, the leaders of the Immortals are more highly regarded. There are only a few Dharmakayas left now and the chances of other powers considering Dharmakaya’s presence will be extremely low. They will at most prevent Dharmakayas from striking and prepare plans of escape. Although, they will never plan to ambush a Dharmakaya, as there is a higher possibility of there not being Dharmakayas from the Immortals.”
“That is except for one organization, which is our nemesis the Myths. They will definitely know about the Primogenitor and know that he is a Dharmakaya. If this matter concerns them, we can be sure that their trap is targetted at the Primogenitor. Perhaps my snooping had already been discovered, but they purposely ignored me to lay the trap perfectly.”
“This matter would be much simpler if we can find out whether or not the Myths are involved, and if they sold our information to other organizations.”
Yan Wuwo nodded slightly and replied, “How do we start?”
“Have you forgotten about the Blessing-endowed Heavenly Official Zhou Qiushan?” Meng Qi countered as he smiled.
As a regular member of the Myths that had appeared here, he should know about the happenings. As long as they don’t spy on the secrets of the Myths and just ask about the Bluecloud Progenitor, he should not self-destruct.
Yan Wuwo had been a decisive person all along, accepted Meng Qi’s request immediately. He hadn’t even considered keeping Zhou Qiushan to bait out the other members of the Myths.
After discussing this, Yan Wuwo went underground once more while Meng Qi transformed himself into another the Exterior master to look around for the whereabouts of Zhou Qiushan and Qian Kai.
......
After a half day of searching, Meng Qi saw Qian Kai, Zhou Qiushan and the Gatekeeper Lu Jiang looking for something in a gully at a place where the Buddha Aura was surging.
“Should I strike?” Yan Wuwo asked as he appeared suddenly.
Meng Qi shook his head and answered, “We need to prepare for possible high-level officials from the Myths near Zhou Qiushan. Please hide first and pull me out of trouble if the matter does not proceed smoothly.”
Yan Wuwo stared at Meng Qi, “Are you confident that you can capture him?”
“Definitely.” Meng Qi spoke with confidence and in a calm tone.
Yan Wuwo hid underground once more, while Meng Qi waited patiently for his chance to strike. After a while, Zhou Qiushan, Qian Kai, and the Gatekeeper separated. The distance between them growing larger with each passing moment.
Meng Qi transformed into the Cultivator Grand Sun Shen Bao and held the middle of his scabbard with his left hand. After which, he quickly made his way near to Zhou Qiushan.
Zhou Qiushan was surprised at first, then as he sensed Meng Qi’s breath he relaxed before he spoke, “Why did Brother Shen appear here?”
His eyelid was beating slightly, making his black mole appear more conspicuous.
“I thought about it and decided to still co-operate with you. With that decision, I followed your trails all the way to here.” Meng Qi smiled as he walked towards Zhou Qiushan.
As they were talking, Meng Qi had passed the safety distance.
Zhou Qiushan heaved a sigh of relief. “This is good, with Brother Shen’s help, we should be able to enter there...”
Before he could finish speaking, Meng Qi quickly took a huge step forward. This reduced their distance by a hundred feet and he was suddenly only ten feet away from Zhou Qiushan. He then swung out his now clenched right fist.
His fist was white and was surrounded by golden and black-and-white spots. Solemn and sacred sentiments filled the air, with the flavor of Tao and Virtue interweaved in the midst. This made the fist with clear joints seem like a Jade Ruyi Sceptre.
Zhou Qiushan didn’t have time to react and a shield in the form of a layer of colored glaze light suddenly appeared out of his body. His secret artifact had been activated!
The Jade Ruyi Sceptre fist landed with the feeling of holiness and ancestry law emerging with it.
Silently, the white fist penetrated the colored glaze light shield!
Zhou Qiushan was engulfed by shock and surprise. Purple Qi came out of his body and the sense of virtue and prosperity emerged. He had seemed to always to be able to escape from such disasters.
The golden light spots increased in intensity and the white and black colors combined into one. There seemed to be a Golden Lotus growing on the top of the Jade Ruyi Sceptre which shone with a black and white glow.
In the dense light, shifting in the cover of Purple Qi was useless. The fist landed right in the middle of Zhou Qiushan’s forehead.
Turning hardness into softness, turning yin into yang, the fist opened immediately and held Zhou Qiushan’s forehead tightly. Genuine Qi sept into Zhou Qiushan’s forehead and sealed his Vital Spirit as well as his physical body.
At this time, a red pillar of fire rose and enveloped Meng Qi and Zhou Qiushan then disappeared underground.
The Gatekeeper Lu Jiang and Qian Kai felt the fight and rushed to help at once.
When they arrived, they only saw sand and gravel, without a single trace of any person. Zhou Qiushan had disappeared!
A layer of cold sweat appeared on Qian Kai’s forehead. If not for the fact that he had only just parted with Zhou Qiushan, he would have suspected that he had a dream, or that Zhou Qiushan had never been here!
Zhou Qiushan was captured in just two minutes time?
Such a frightening enemy!