Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
It was late autumn. The view of the yellow grass and the vast dried sea was spectacular. Further north, the weeds were thinning and covered with snow. Big evergreen trees had been growing everywhere and forming primeval forests that were more than a thousand miles long. The forests, with lush branches and leaves, were wide and connected to each other. The green forests had formed a majestic view in a white snow land.
At the edge of a primeval forest, the snow on the ground had turned muddy after being stepped on frequently by the passersby.
This was not a place without human habitation. Many tribes were hiding in the deep mountains, old forests, icy plains, and caves. On the other hand, a lot of martial artists who were good at ice-related arts had no interest in going to the South. Instead, they loved exploring the Arctic and preferred to isolate themselves from the Wulin at the Central Plains. Their existence might not even be known if they were not discovered by the people of the External Realm who flew to the Arctic to search for alchemical materials such as treasured plants.
At the moment, more than a dozen men and women who had extraordinary aura were standing on the muddy snow. They might appear to be stepping on the ground, but after careful observation, one would find that they were actually floating in the air. The space between the bottom of their feet and the mud could fit about two to three layers of papers. The gap was neither too big nor too small, but it was enough to avoid having contact with the muddy snow.
The leader among the people was a mature woman who was wearing a pinkish-gray dress. Having thick hair and a slim body figure, her face was as beautiful as a rosemallow that just left the water. She was the Ice Fairy, Ye Yuqi. She was surrounded by the elegant and beautiful Thousand-Handed Buddha, Ming Fa, and the Poker-Faced Soul Reaver, He Xiu, who had eyebrows like a sword. All of them were gurus.
Suddenly, they sensed something in their hearts and all looked to the south at the same time. On the snowy land, a tall muscular man in black clothes was walking slowly toward them. He was wearing a Heroic Scarf, carrying a long blade on his back, and gradually building up a heavy and stagnant aura.
As he moved forward, every step he took was slow but heavy at the same time. Within two or three breaths, he had stood in front of the people. His footsteps – being slow but not sluggish – were filled with contradiction, thereby causing dizziness in a few less powerful gurus.
“The ranking of the Frenzied Blade, Su Meng had got a big leap recently. He seemed to have a well-deserved reputation…” thought the gurus who had met Meng Qi for the first time.
“Alright, everyone is here.” Ye Yuqi had a quick glance at Meng Qi, then she frowned a little. She noticed that his aura was slightly different from the past. He seemed to be more confident, as though he had no fear of confronting any enemy in the world.
Apart from Ye Yuqi who was a Great Guru, thirteen gurus were present at the moment. Temporarily, these people were the only manpower that they had, as the rest of the gurus were assigned to go after the other Golden Tent Warriors.
After making an obeisance by cupping their hands together before their chests and getting to know each other’s names, Meng Qi took out something and handed it to He Xiu, the Poker-Faced Soul Reaver from Donghai Sword Village.
It was a bluish-black token that looked like a dagger. Some strange-looking maggots were carved on it, they were so lifelike that they looked like they were actually creeping.
“The Token of the Sword Spirit!” He Xiu, who was always expressionless, blurted out in shock.
The Donghai Sword Village had been searching for it painstakingly. A portion of the Scripture of Nameless Sword – that was taken away by the division of the formless sword spirit – was hidden inside the token. However, its presence was hard to be noticed by the outsiders.
Nevertheless, losing a small part of scripture actually had little effect on the disciples from all divisions. The He Family, particularly, had nothing else to learn from the scripture because the arts they were practicing were already good enough. However, it was a different case for He Qi, the head of the sword village. After the mastery of formlessness in his swordsmanship, He Qi had actually obtained a deeper understanding of the original scripture. It would be helpful if he could collect and arrange all the scriptures from every division and look at them in a holistic way.
In addition, after being nurtured for so many generations, the Token of the Sword Spirit was about to be upgraded to become a Heavenly Weapon and the treasured weapon of the sword village.
Hence, the Token of the Sword Spirit was actually far more important to the Donghai Sword Village than it seemed. Everyone in the sword village was eager to obtain this weapon. However, Gao Qianyuan – the original owner of the token – was an experienced guru who had practiced some kind of special arts. Given the fact that the Token of the Sword Spirit was more powerful than the primary material of a Heavenly Weapon, as long as Gao Qianyuan did not encounter He Qi or other powerful people, he could at least escape from the battle if he was not capable to defeat the enemies. Apparently, to seize the token from Gao Qianyuan was more than just difficult.
Meng Qi gave a slight nod, “Gao Qianyuan has already been killed.”
“Are you the one who killed him?” asked He Xiu in an instant.
Knowing how powerful Gao Qianyuan was, He Xiu could hardly believe the news of his death. It would have been more convincing if Ye Yuqi – a Great Guru – was the one who announced his death. But since Meng Qi was still at the Guru domain, his was at the same realm with Gao Qianyuan.
“Not only was his body condition not good, but also he was too dependent on the power of the Token of the Sword Spirit. Aside from that, since he did not have deep affinity with the weapon, a lot of weak points could be found. It’s not hard to kill him after finding the right opportunity in battle,” Meng Qi replied to him briefly, as though it was an easy job.
“Didn’t you use the Karma Transfer?” He Xiu knew that the most powerful weapon of Meng Qi was the blade of mystery, Karma Transfer. At first, he thought Meng Qi must be depending on this weapon to kill Gao Qianyuan. However, listening to Meng Qi’s words, he seemed to have killed him by detecting the weak points instead.
Meng Qi grinned. “To kill him, is the use of Karma Transfer even necessary? On top of that, why do I need to bear the risk of dying together with him?”
It wasn’t until then that the other gurus understood what they were talking about. The Frenzied Blade, Su Meng, had killed the Nine-Fingered Blue-Blooded Man, Gao Qianyuan. Another guru had lost his life to Meng Qi!
Their thoughts were fluctuating and they were lost for words after hearing the news. Although they were confident with their own capabilities as gurus, they were shocked by the combat capability of Meng Qi that was far beyond his current realm. He was indeed an extraordinary one.
For those in the guru domain, they would have plenty of arts, battle experiences, movements of the Dharmakaya-level, Masterwork of Precious Weapon, and also a well-developed Exterior View. They would be the pillar of strength for the major sects and clans. Hence, the battle between people from the same level of heaven often took a long time before one’s attack could successfully hit on the other one. It would be very difficult for them to either kill or capture one another.
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Among all the gurus that were present at the moment, less than five of them had the experience of killing another guru in a one-on-one combat. Since the process was either extremely dangerous or tortuous, they could only succeed in killing a guru once or twice.
However, the Frenzied Blade, Su Meng, had got stunning battle records ever since he entered the guru domain. Apart from gaining benefits by stirring up internal strife, he had captured the Vile Heavenly Demon alive and killed Elderly Ku with just one strike. Currently, he had added another achievement to his battle record by killing Gao Qianyuan with ease.
Knowing his battle records, the gurus almost felt like they were facing a Great Guru at the moment!
Currently, they were not aware of the value of the Token of the Sword Spirit, otherwise they would feel more surprised.
He Xiu looked at the Token of the Sword Spirit that was handed in front of him. Without hesitation, he took it over and said solemnly, “The Donghai Sword Village will definitely return your favor.”
Meng Qi had already acquired a large amount of treasures and a sufficient amount of good deeds. Furthermore, he was about to obtain a Heavenly Weapon, too. What he wanted at the moment was to form a good relationship with the Donghai Sword Village. In the future, when he was facing the mighty people that were hard to deal with, he might be able to get help from a Man Fairy. As to whether He Qi would help him regardless of the great danger, it was solely his own choice. Meng Qi would never force anyone to make a choice. At the moment, he was only trying his best to form a good basis with the sword village, so he smiled and said, “It’s nothing, I don’t really need anything from you. But would you sit back and watch when I’m in real trouble in the future?”
He Xiu said in a firm tone, “We would be happy to help you in any way we can.”
As a guru, He Xiu was qualified to make a promise on behalf of his sect after someone had handed him the Token of the Sword Spirit.
The gurus around them could somewhat get the value of the Token of the Sword Spirit from the reaction of He Xiu. Although they knew that Meng Qi was trying to form a good affinity with the sword village in order to get their help in return, they admired Meng Qi for how he was able to control his greed in the face of such a precious weapon. When Gao Qianyuan was killed, since nobody else was there, pocketing the weapon seemed to be more in line with the greed of human nature. Thus, it could be seen that the Frenzied Blade, Su Meng, was truly an honest and righteous person who deserved the reputation of being a hero.
Ye Yuqi nodded quietly and said, “Some tribes of the Icy Plains have found the traces of Hasula and the Golden Tent Warriors around here. According to their reports, Hasula has at least five gurus with him. They have snuck into the forest, but it’s still unknown where they want to escape.”
She told the purpose of this gathering briefly.
Since nothing was blocking the view from the sky, to avoid getting spotted by the people from the Tip-Top and guru domains who had the magical power of Third Eye and Heavenly Eye, the escapees often chose to stay close to the ground and use conveyance techniques such as the Fire Escape, Earth Escape, Water Escape, and Wood Escape. Basically, they would hide their traces using the slopes, trees, and rocks, in the forest. Hasula and his subordinates were a good example of that.
“Let’s work in groups of two or three and search around for more clues,” a guru from the Cui Family of Ge Zhou suggested. “Since Hasula and his subordinates are escaping, they won’t be able to kill every person that catches sight of them. I believe they have left behind many traces. Perhaps we can get more information from the tribal people.”
Ye Yuqi looked around and said, “Get ready for the tools of contacting people and seeking for help. We need to prevent Hasula and the others from fighting back.”
It was common for the people to fight back when fleeing, so they must be careful of that.
The gurus who had the mentioned tools had spared some to Meng Qi and the others who did not have one. Anyway, they were not valuable items.
During the process of grouping, Meng Qi pondered for a while and said, “I’m used to acting alone. I can take care of the assigned areas by myself.”
There were too many secrets in his acts. After acquiring the General Principles of the Premier Golden Stamp and the fifth of the nine seals, they had to go hand in hand with the Arts of Eight-Nine. If they were not used, his power would be weakened considerably due to the disintegration of his arts. In the face of dangerous situation, it would be hard for him to restrain from using the arts. Under such circumstances, he felt more comfortable to work alone. Upon the discovery of his secret arts, he could just eliminate the enemies, but he certainly could not treat his teammates the same way.
Moreover, after he activated the Arts of Eight-Nine, he would not fall into traps easily as long as he was alert and careful, unless he encountered with a Dharmakaya. Nonetheless, if he really met an enemy of the Dharmakaya realm, it made no difference whether he had a teammate or not.
Ye Yuqi knew that Meng Qi had a lot of secrets. Without waiting for the others to respond, she replied, “Go ahead.”
Soon, the grouping was completed and the gurus headed to their designated primeval forests.
…
In a dark place underneath a tall tree, the head of the Golden Tent Warriors, Hasula, was sitting up straight on a giant rock. The wounds on his body had healed. While clenching his right hand into a fist, he looked around, “Rumors are saying that the Dharmakaya is currently looking for the whereabouts of the Khagan. He isn’t coming after us.”
“Here comes the chance. It’s time to teach the dogs from the Central Plains a lesson. Let them know that we, the great heroes of the Grassland, won’t just allow them to hunt us down like that!”
Several guru warriors – who still looked calm when they were fleeing – nodded their heads and said yes. Then, they looked aside.
At the side, there was a coffin surrounded by reddish-yellow mist!
Hasula had also shifted his gaze to the coffin. He then said with a deep voice, “Your help is much appreciated, emperor.”
A deep and raspy voice could be heard within the coffin, “I need a fresh body of a guru to help a Tip-Top person from my sect to enter the second level of the Heavenly Stairs. We can both benefit if we cooperate with each other.”