Chapter 91: A Real Opportunity
Streams of Qi had gathered and rushed upwards, breaking through the sealed Aperture acupoints. Meng Qi, who was weak and ill, forced his will and remained calm. He followed the process of disacupin Dharma Access and worked his Qi force into spikes and struck the inner force that had sealed off his Aperture acupoints.
Poof! The intangible sound of penetration had chimed inside Meng Qi, the inner force that had already began to fade suddenly collapsed completely and his acupoint was unblocked!
Meng Qi didn’t stop and continued working his genuine Qi to disacupin the other acupoints, and moments later, all of his Aperture acupoints had been unblocked.
Meng Qi was now able to make his genuine Qi flow without obscurity. His strength had only recovered 10%, which was not even enough to drive the Golden Bell Shield, but he was able to move freely and fight if needed.
He slightly exerted some power and broke the rope that had tied his hands. Meng Qi then carefully removed the last obstacle and looked at An Guoxie.
He was still sitting cross-legged and harmonizing his Qi-circulation with his eyes closed. It was clear that he had changed his clothes but the wound under his neck, which was like a ferocious centipede in motion, was still visible and healing.
Meng Qi squinted his eyes, trying to decide whether he should use Wind-god’s Legs to escape or take this opportunity to put an end to An Guoxie once and for all!
He knew that An Guoxie was severely hurt, but he had been recovering for quite a while now, not to mention taking copious amounts of elixir. His wounds should be stabilized by now, meaning he could exert over half of his strength, which is in stark contrast to my condition. I’m still recovering from the aftermath of using the sacrifice formula.
After an analysis of his strength and coming to grips with the fact that his Buddhist Commandment Blade had been broken, Meng Qi knew that even if he gave it his all and hit the opponent with the Arhat Fists, he still would not be able to kill An Guoxie. The most damage he could to do him was just wound him again because his Protective Upstanding Qi would have been re-activated after his wounds had stabilized.
So, he could either wait a while longer until his strength recovers to about 30%-40%, or he could escape now.
Though Meng Qi had the courage to put his life on the line, he wasn’t irrational. After close analysis, he decided it was best to leave this place.
He wished he still had the Pearflower Storm Needles with him. As he watched the “perfect position” in which Au Guoxie was sitting. Meng Qi sighed and slowly got up. He utilized the footwork of the Lightning Changes and backed off silently. Once he created some distance, he’d be able to fully use the Moves of Wind-god’s Legs to bolt without being afraid of alerting An Guoxie.
Suddenly, everything went blurry and his body felt numb, and he then saw An Guoxie by his side.
“I thought you’d take the chance to sneak-attack. The last time you tried to kill me, you were so unafraid of dying, what happened this time?” An Guoxie said, half smiling.
Meng Qi was shocked, “How long have you known?”
“To be honest, I haven’t figured out how I’ll torture you, but do you know why I only sealed off your acupoints and did nothing else?” An Guoxie smiled again, he looked ferocious under the cold moon-light, “Because I like seeing other people’s hope turn into desperation. That is why I gave you hope, gave you the hope to escape and just when you thought you’d succeed, I’ll personally crush that hope. It gives me great satisfaction to see your expression now, and it is worth waiting all this time.”
Sick old bastard! Meng Qi couldn’t help cursing under his breath. The last time it was Gu Xiaosang who did it.
An Guoxie shook his head while smiling, “No, I don’t see enough desperation from you. Little Bald Ass, you must be punished for trying to escape.”
As he said those words, he pressed his right hand on Meng Qi’s Dantian forcing him to disgorge.
Pain rushed to Meng Qi’s head, and his muscle and skin which had been modified under the influence of the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt had plumped up for protection. But the external pressure was too great that his skin and muscle soon flattened. Meng Qi felt as though his Dantian had been sliced by a steel knife.
“Right, I consider this abrogation of your martial arts as punishment.” An Guoxie said with a sly and smug look on his face, and obviously satisfied, “little Bald Ass, don’t be desperate, keep hoping, haha!”
“If you tell me method of practise now you won’t suffer any of this anymore. I’ll just leave you here and let you be on your merry way. Tempting enough for you?”
Though Meng Qi was experiencing immense pain in his Dantian, he was not as desperate as An Guoxie. After all, he had gone through a life-or-death moment. At present, he was still very calm, which was a difficult feat because he knew that even if he handed out the Transformation Strategy, An Guoxie would never let him go. Therefore, he dismissively turned his head and gave no answer to An Guoxie.
An Guoxie snorted and said nothing more. He sealed Meng Qi’s acupoints again and went back to harmonize his Qi-circulation.
“Since my Dantian has been destroyed, he wouldn’t be so vigilant anymore, which means I still could escape!” Meng Qi did not worry too much about losing his martial arts. After An Guoxie began his healing, Meng Qi fell asleep straight away, trying to regain some energy. Maybe a “Common folk without Kung Fu” could still escape.
The following few days, An Guoxie grabbed Meng Qi and roamed the outskirts of Immensity Sea. The monsters and creatures deep within the Gobi Desert were still scary even to a skilled martial artist with Nine Apertures opened. Under normal circumstances, perhaps he would traverse the Gobi Desert, but since he had sustained serious injuries, it was best to go around.
Meng Qi was cooperative all the way, patiently waiting for his chance.
This day, An Guoxie and Meng Qi reached an oasis in the middle of the Immensity Sea. The oasis was full hustle and bustle in the past, but as the sandstorms had continuously struck the place, the oasis kept shrinking and the environment had become more hostile. Many people had to leave their homes to find other oases.
That was why from the the outlook, the oasis seemed like it was covered by a layer of dust. Most of the buildings were old and torn, the only buildings that seemed clean were the inn in the centre and its surrounding houses. On the other side of the lake, there were abandoned temples and palaces.
The inn was quite busy because there were many merchants and traders, the dozen or so tables were almost full. Some were merchants, some dressed like desert tramps and others Jianghu swordsman.
There was a table of four in the center, which was occupied by young swordsman chivalrous women. They were cocky and full of pride as though the whole Jianghu was waiting for them to conquer.
Meng Qi saw them as soon as he stepped into the inn, not because of their flashy appearance, but one of the young men had an inlayed ice crystal snowflake on the back of his hand. The sword on his hip was around seven inches shorter than the average sword, which was very striking but odd.
This could only mean one thing that they were the free disciples of the Snow Mountain Sect who had earned the qualification to roam outside of their mountain-base.
Only the Snow Mountain Sect used this kind of long sword, and only they would tattoo the ice crystal snowflake on the hands of their free disciples as their symbol.
As a part of the Six Sword Sects and the main stream martial arts branch who clashed with the Jin Gang Temple for the land title of the West Regions, the free disciples of the Snow Mountain Sect had opened at least Two Apertures.
“This is an opportunity!” Meng Qi thought.
Since An Guoxie’s appearance was striking to say the least, many eyes were on him as soon as he stepped into the inn, the disciple of the Snow Mountain Sect was no exception. But it seemed he had recognized who An Guoxie was as he tightened his eyebrows. But he went back to his conversation with his crew.
Unlike Shaolin, the Snow Mountain Sect was based in the West Regions. So if An Guoxie could avoid it, he would not provoke them. He dragged Meng Qi to the corner and ordered some food.
Meng Qi looked closely at the disciples of the Snow Mountain Sect and realized that apart from him, there were two lads and a girl. The girl was delicate and cute, who wasn’t what you’d call pretty but very approachable. The lad was tall and wearing black, and he had average features and was talking to the disciple of the Snow God Clan. The other lad looked and dressed like a scholar, but his bulging temple showed that his strength was not to be underestimated. Meng Qi suspected that they had all reached Enlightenment.
That disciple of the Snow Mountain Sect was dressed in white, average looking with a big nose, having a cold and cocky look in him.
“The Snow Mountain Sect did not have a notorious reputation, but I don’t know whether they will extend a helping hand… ” Meng Qi thought to himself, but he didn’t irrationally seek help. After all, not all the disciples of big clans were like Jiang Zhiwei and myself, having understood the Gist of Trueness and the Desperate Hit. Even if the Snow Mountain Sect disciple had opened his four Acupores, but the others were only at the beginner stage of Enlightenment, then their joined forces would not even be able to harm the injured An Guoxie—The Crying Elder’s impartation was indeed extraordinary, definitely on par with that of the big clans, and An Guoxie was a highly skilled martial artist with Nine Apertures opened, so he was on a different level altogether.
He ate silently, and while An Guoxie was not paying attention, he bit his index finger and used his blood to write the words “Help me” on his side of the table leg.
Meng Qi seized his opportunity after they had finished their dinner and An Guoxie turned his back to walk up the stairs of the inn; He turned his head towards the young swordsmen and silently muttered the words “help me” and pointed towards the table where he had sat.
He repeated the words three times and followed An Guoxie upstairs.
He didn’t expect them to understand what he had mouthed, but only wanted to draw their attention towards the words “help me”, which he had written. And hopefully they’d recognized who An Guoxie was and got more help.
Walking a few steps, An Guoxie suddenly stopped and said to Meng Qi with a laugh, “Alas, I still prefer the torn temple.”
After those words, he dragged Meng Qi out of the inn, traversed the forest and bypassed the lake to finally reach a torn and abandoned temple.
Having watched An Guoxie leave, the Snow Mountain Sect disciple and others frowned and headed towards the table where Meng Qi had sat.
“He’s asking us for help.” The scholar said in a low voice and wiped away the blood-written words, “Brother Bo, shall we help him?”
Brother bo was the Snow Mountain Sect disciple, he frowned and said, “That was the ‘White-headed Vulture’, who is beyond our abilities. And we don’t know who that monk is, what if it were just a dog-eat-dog situation between the evil spirits?”
He didn’t want to take any risks.
After hearing the name ‘White-headed Vulture’, the your girl and the lad in black both shook their heads at the scholar and said, “Childe Gu, don’t bite off more than you can chew, though our purpose is to be just and help others, we still can’t do things that are beyond our abilities. How about we call some elders to come to our aid at the next oasis?”
“I know, I’m not gonna be rash, but before we call the elders, we must find out that monk’s identity.” Childe Gu thought for a second and said, “I’ll go and check things out tonight, and hopefully find some things out.”
“Alright then, but do be careful.” the Snow Mountain Sect disciple said sternly.
…
In the torn temple, as soon as Meng Qi sat down, An Guoxie came over and laughed, “You reckon they’ll come for you?”
How did he find out again? Meng Qi was slightly surprised, but he collected himself straight away and said nothing.
“That’s the very expression that I’m looking for.” An Guoxie said joyfully, he then squatted and took Meng Qi’s right hand, “You were using this hand to write back then, weren’t you?”
“What do you want to do?” Meng Qi saw that he had gone a bit crazy.
“What do I want to do? As long as you tell me the practicing method, I want nothing. And I will set you free. But if not, I will break your right hand inch by inch.” An Guoxie had an odd look, as if to warn him not to test him.
Meng Qi gritted his teeth and said coldly, “You go right ahead.”
An Guoxie laughed and squeezed hard, then the bones in Meng Qi’s right hand started breaking inch by inch.
This pain went straight to his heart, Meng Qi had almost fainted, what followed was more cruel torture, which felt like he had suffered through the ten major corporal punishments.
“Next time it’ll be your left hand, then your left leg, right leg, your crown jewels, you get the idea… ” An Guoxie satisfyingly stopped, he sealed off Meng Qi’s acupoints again and went to meditate.
Meng Qi lay in front of the incense altar, and he had lost feeling of his right hand with only rushes of pain keeping him half awake.
“There are still opportunities.” He told himself.
Everything went dark and Meng Qi was drowsy, but he heard a shocked girl’s voice,
“Little monk, what happened to you?”
“Apply for treatment, and you can deduct the karma points from me. I’ll exchange my elixir for karma points.”
Meng Qi squeezed a smile, “Here comes my opportunity!”