Despite his anxiety, Yu Ziheng was nevertheless a highly-trained acolyte of the Golden Light Cave. The shout he gave was a mere diversion as two spiraling rays of light shot from his fingers straight at Meng Qi!
Seeing that he was on the verge of success, Yu Ziheng could hardly hold back his joy, but then he saw five lean fingers, white as jade, materializing before the blue spiraling rays of light. The fingers, despite their delicate appearance, were encircled by sparks of brown and yellow light and glimmers of black and white streaking lights coupled with a swirling purplish aura.
The middle finger bent and flicked at the swirling blue lights, shattering it into a drizzle of lights that fell harmlessly onto the ground. With the sparkles and swirling lights still writhing around it, the white hand was hardly bruised or injured.
“The Tri-gem Wish Fist cast using fingers? Is he so skilled that he could perform any technique so freely?” His doubt that his enemy was one of the remnants of the Jade Virtual Palace grew considerably, reinforcing Yu Ziheng’s suspicion that his enemy was stronger and more skillful than he was!
He felt a sudden shudder of fear, urging him to retreat, but then he remembered the many Exterior Realm warriors of the Wang Clan and the Gongyang Clan still in the great hall. With their help, he might be able to win. However, the moment of hesitation cost him dearly.
Just then, a dark cloaked figure was reflected in his quivering eyes. The person had evaded the attacks of the other warriors of the Exterior Realm and had approached him.
Dressed in archaic robes with simple motifs, the stranger was standing over him, looking at him with eyes deep and distant. Yu Ziheng looked at the stranger, frozen with awe and surprise. Meng Qi raised his right palm. Destructive powers concentrated on the palm of his right hand as he struck while Yu Ziheng felt himself rooted to the spot, unable to flee nor evade!
The air around the pearly-white fingers fell into a darkened gloom, and a fearfulness paralyzed Yu Ziheng, who felt a staggering pressure like the weight of a mountain bearing down on him. His fingers would not follow his commands—even removing a Secret Treasure from his Space Ring seemed impossible.
“Luckily, I still have the talisman I have always kept with me for such situations!” Yu Ziheng channeled his powers, summoning two bolts of light that scurried around him and fused to form a huge Yin and Yang symbol behind him. The silhouette of the symbol produced a strong pressure that repelled all incoming attacks, slowing down the palm that was falling upon him.
Finding an opportunity, Yu Ziheng activated his talisman and turned into a blinding flash that shot out of the great hall into safety.
The golden flash of light bolted swiftly that even the speed of sound paled in comparison, tearing through the clouds in the blue sky as Yu Ziheng finally heaved a huge sigh of relief. Suddenly, however, he felt everything around him turning dark. A huge shadow loomed over him, eclipsing even the bright afternoon sun.
He cast his spiritual senses ahead of him and saw a palm so big that it enveloped the entire sky above him. The fair and milky hands overshadowed him, throwing a dark shade over him and the land beneath him. Instantly he felt fear and despair for there was no way he could escape unscathed from such a huge stroke!
The huge palm fell upon him, and Yu Ziheng immediately returned to his senses, discovering that he was still in the great hall and the figure of the stranger in archaic robes was still towering over him like a frightening demon studying its prey. The stranger’s right sleeve fluttered as he struck once more with his palm, reaching before his very eyes as Yu Ziheng realized that his conjurations earlier and the activation of his talisman were nothing but illusions!
With the I, the Unique and Righteous and the One Heart Affecting Another stroke of the Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship, Meng Qi had used the two techniques to empower the Seven Immortal Illusions and conjured hallucinations!
Yu Ziheng crumbled in panic. He had barely been able to react when Meng Qi’s stroke was already almost at his forehead. Meng Qi’s approaching hand balled into a fist, leaving only his middle finger that stretched toward Yu Ziheng. Everything around them was immediately shrouded in sudden darkness that Yu Ziheng could not even feel isolated from the pool of natural energies around him.
Meng Qi’s middle finger gently tapped Yu Ziheng’s forehead, but the gentleness belied a destructive stroke that caused him to suddenly bulge and explode with a deafening bang. Yu Ziheng had erupted into a huge discharge of sheer energy that nothing of him was left. The powerful blast sent a shockwave that even the swirling energies of Nature in their surrounding simmered and churned, shocking everyone in the vicinity.
“Clack!” Yu Ziheng’s Space Ring fell with a clatter upon the palace floor. The loud noise echoed through the hall, rousing everyone around from their brief awe.
“Yu Ziheng was reduced into nothingness, only to return to Nature as fragments of energy?” The rest of the warriors of the Wang and Gongyang Clans could not help but feel a slight quiver of fear sprouting from deep within them, having witnessed the invincibility of the enemy!
“Finally… At last, I have fully mastered The Beginning Finger and the other techniques derived from the Fist Art of Five Beginnings and Five Morals…” Meng Qi coldly stared down the rest of the warriors of the two clans with his hands behind his back.
“The Wang and Gongyang Clans have committed treason by slaying our King! Now, we of the Tian Clan will exact justice from you!” Tian Heng, the Minister of Justice appeared before the young King of Chen, standing in front of him to shield him from danger as he activated the protective barriers around the hall to prevent any collateral damage to the rest of the palace complex.
With this battle, the Tian Clan would effectively hold the reins of Chen State—power and influence second to none within the state were within their reach. With the help of Meng Qi, Tian Heng harbored no more reservations in dealing the death blow to his opposers!
Knowing that the battle was lost, Gongyang Gao laughed with a final act of defiance. “Fight to your death! We will be able to repay them with vengeance as long as one of us makes it out!”
The retainers of the Tian Clan rushed forward to engage them and another ferocious bout ensued. Bolts of stray auric blades and projectiles flew around, pummeling the walls and structures of the halls as they collapsed despite the barriers tryingto contain them.
Meng Qi strolled through the battlefield as if he was enjoying a brisk walk with the Elements of Virtues defending him. His hands raised sporadically to cast auric blows, instantly striking enemies dead.
Secret Treasures were hurled at him by some of the enemies in their desperation, but it was all in vain—Meng Qi easily deflected them with hardly any effort.
The cacophony of frantic screams, anguished howls, and disorderly explosions began to subside as the battle reached its conclusion. Not one of the Clans of Wang and Gongyang made it out of the palace alive.
Deep in the Golden Light Cave of Mount Wudang, Taoist Chixia sat upon his bed. Strands of black fumes laced with a blood-red shade poured from his nostrils, rising into the air like coils of slithering serpents.
His eyes suddenly flew open. One of his eyes radiated a reddish hue while the other twinkled with a sparkle of gold.
“Something feels wrong…” He muttered as he performed some divination calculations. His face turned glum.
“Uncle Master Chixia! Something is wrong! Something is wrong! The soul lamp belonging to Senior Brother Ziheng has been extinguished!” An acolyte of the Golden Light Cave scrambled frantically into the chamber as he screamed with horror.
The Taoist’s eyes flared, spewing sparkles of gold and red from each eye as he answered, his teeth gritted with hate and anger. “I know.”
A golden flash of light erupted and wrapped the Taoist before whisking him into the air toward Chen State.
The city of Shangying was now a landscape of battered walls and collapsed battlements.
Standing before the young King of Chen were the Minister of Justice, Tian Heng and his assistant, Tian Kuo. Taoist Chixia repeated the accounts told to him by his three hosts. “The Wang Clan conspired with the Yuxu monster to launch a coup by slaughtering the Gongyang and Tian Clans and then blame the followers of the School of Mo?”
He repeated the answers provided to him in response to his inquiry. A faint disdain in his tone indicated his doubts.
“How is it even possible that the Wang Clan had the nerve to slay the disciple of the Golden Light Cave?”
Tian Heng attested to this. His face was sorrowful and his eyes gleaming with sincerity. “That is true. A member of the Wang Clan confessed to this when he saw that a disciple of the Golden Light Cave had been killed. It was through his warning that the Tian Clan was able to escape the fate that befell the Gongyang Clan.
“Moreover, it is hardly difficult for the Wang Clan to blame the murder on the School of Mo, especially with the help of the notorious Yuxu monster.”
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He heaved a long sigh and his eyes glistened with tears. “My poor Brother Gongyang. Long has he waited to restore the greatness of his clan, yet he had to suffer such a fate and die a martyr…”
His words touched even the stony heart of Taoist Chixia, who could not help but wonder, “Could it be true?”
Coincidentally, the young king remarked innocently. “The Minister over the Masses and the man in dark clothing killed many people. They were so close to reaching me…”
“Even a child has said so…” Taoist Chixia brooded darkly over their words. He decided to divine the truth for himself later and interrogate the warriors who were involved in the battle.
Tian Kuo then walked up to him and produced a strand of hair. “This is from the Yuxu monster. Do you think it will be helpful, Master Taoist?”
Taoist Chixia’s eyes immediately sparkled with glee. “Of course!”
An injured limb or a severed appendage would be useless as the remaining lifeforce has been drained away, but a strand of hair would be enough for him to track his enemy!
Then again, it could only be done if his enemy was not strong enough to prevent being traced by him.
Holding the string of hair in one hand, Taoist Chixia made a few calculations with methods of divination. It wasn’t long before he snorted.
“There is no way he can escape!”
He had found the trail of the Yuxu Remnant. The perpetrator was at the northern region of the Chen State, moving toward the States of Qi and Lu.
Not wanting the trail to turn cold, Taoist Chixia leaped into the air and then a jet of reddish glow enveloped him as he shot into the sky, leaving only a few words uttered by his disembodied voice.
“The Golden Light Cave will send people here to see to the aftermath…”
He would properly investigate the disaster in its entirety!
Tian Heng glanced at Tian Kuo and asked him, “Have you dealt with those who were involved in the fight?”
“Yes. They have been made to swear an oath of secrecy under my spells and their memories have been altered for good measure.” Tian Kuo replied telepathically.
Meng Qi had used the Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth technique to alter the memories of the warriors involved in the carnage as a measure against the scrutiny of the Golden Light Cave.
Tian Heng nodded and turned to the young king, the current King of Chen, praising his dramatics. “You have done well, my liege.”
What innocence remained on the face of the child subsided swiftly. “Both clans of traitors would have replaced me with a puppet long ago if not for your constant protection.”
The crimson flash of light flew swiftly like a bolt of lightning across the sky. In the blink of an eye, he had covered a huge distance, reaching the mountain ranges that skirted the north of Chen State. Further divination indicated that his target had not left the border. This suggested that he was injured and could be looking for a quiet place to recuperate.
“This is consistent with the facts supplied by the Tian Clan!” Taoist Chixia stowed the hair—he may have to use it again if his quarry was able to escape him. He floated in mid-air, looking down and studying the terrain below him. In his hands, he held an archaic bow, the strings of which he pulled gently. A golden bolt of light shot from the bow, whistling through the air with lightning speed before striking a deep gorge.
“Bang! Splash!”
The walls of the gorge crumbled and fell, filling it with rocks and boulders as huge clouds of dust were thrown into the air, temporarily obscuring his vision.
Out of the dust, a figure flew into sight. Clad in a headdress and dark-colored archaic robes, it was Meng Qi. He grasped in one hand bolts of crackling lightning, and the Flowing Fire in the other. It was a sight both imposing and stern as he had assumed the appearance of the Juzi of the School of Mo.
“It is you? You have led me here?” Taoist Chixia had wanted to strike his target immediately without mercy, but then he recognized Meng Qi. He was startled to find him uninjured but he understood immediately that he had fallen for Meng Qi’s trap.
Meng Qi himself was hardly hasty in engaging his enemy. In a deep voice, he bellowed. “I am here to exact justice for the former King of Chen. I challenge you to a fair combat to the death!”
Meng Qi realized that he was no longer in the domain of the Ninth Heaven where he suffered the restrictions of the Dharma and Logos of Nature. He did not have his companions to support him this time and the enemy seemed adamantly thirsty for his blood. Hence, as he fully comprehended, this would be a true duel against a true grandmaster following his clash with the Blue Stair Assassin! An opportunity for him to test his strength, and he would have his revenge!
It was, after all, for the purpose of pursuing greater heights that he had entered the Apotheosized World this time!
Taoist Chixia was taken aback by Meng Qi’s sudden proclamation. When he recovered, he howled with laughter.
“You, alone?”
“On what grounds does this fool think he can defeat me without any allies waiting in ambush?”
Breaking into an insidious grin, the Taoist could not help but chuckle.
“Taste the power of a true grandmaster!”
The words had barely left his lips when dazzling red jets of light squirted from his back like wings. Golden sparkles gathered around him, enveloping him like a dense shield as his powers triggered changes even in the weather.
Meng Qi immediately felt something had gone awry with the magnetic forces around him. Strong forces could be felt from his left and right flank, threatening to draw his body and rip him apart. At the same time, a pull from beneath tried to drag him down. It was with considerable effort that Meng Qi was able to remain in mid-air, but his weapons seemed to be noticeably heavier than before.
If he wished to move forward, the pulling forces acting upon him turned into forces of pressure that shoved and pushed at him. Meng Qi noticed that Taoist Chixia had intentionally placed a huge distance between them to work on strengthening his grip on the energies of Nature around them and to control the tide of the battle with only his Dharmic Form conjured!
“What do you think of the Form of the Charging Crimson Glow I conjured?” Taoist Chixia could hardly suppress his arrogance, smiling as sparkles of crimson and gold twirled around the fingers of his right hand as it gripped the string of his bow. The sparkles met occasionally, bursting into angry sparkles of arcing electricity as he pulled heavily upon the bowstring.
There was a brief flash of golden light as a golden auric projectile materialized.
“You may have mastered the Yin-Yang Seal and the rest of the Heavenly Golden Scripture, but you are not yet a grandmaster who can compete with me!” Taoist Chixia roared. His fingers released the taut bowstring, letting loose the golden projectile that tore through the air like a bolt of lightning, incinerating all dust particles and dispelling the swirling winds around him as it charged toward Meng Qi.