Chapter 147: Taking Flight
The previous divine flower was nothing like the one Hui Yue had just consumed. Although the the one he previously took was older and more refined, the energy it refined was Wu Wei, and it had managed to refine so much golden energy that even jumping several stars as a King was possible.
To Hui Yue, however, such a jump did not occur as he had been unable to refine and hold the majority of the Wu Wei and the spiritual energy within his body, however Lan Feng had absorbed as much of it as he was able to.
Now, Hui Yue once more had the possibility of advancing in ranks due to a divine flower, but this time he was capable of using every single drop of silvery liquid, not to mention the strands of Qi.
Increasing one’s Qi swirl when the middle dantian was already opened is a very hard task because all the Qi is used to refine spiritual energy, but Hui Yue was gambling that the extra Qi would last long enough so he could refine it.
A silvery hue shone from his body as Hui Yue rotated his cultivation base to its limits, rushing his spiritual energy and Qi threads throughout his body to capture and return this new energy to his dantian cave and spiritual energy sea.
As the spiritual energy and the Qi flooded the two dantians, Hui Yue could feel wave after wave merge with his sea, the foreign spiritual energy turning into Hui Yue’s own causing his cultivation base to surge upward.
As the silvery light shone out from Hui Yue, the young man opened his eyes and silvery light also shone from within.
This hue was different from the one which Sha Yun had, this was sheer energy, as his entire body was filled to the brim with spiritual energy and Qi.
Without saying anything, Hui Yue quickly created six Qi Fans. Hui Yue’s entire body was now steaming. This flower was indeed younger and less powerful than the previous flower, but for Hui Yue it was the most beneficial flower which he could get right now. While controlling the Qi Fans he was also constantly leading more and more Qi and spiritual energy into his two dantian caves, as silvery steam kept rising from his skin and beads of sweat were trickling down his face.
Seeing that energy was literally steaming out of Hui Yue, everyone rushed on top of a Qi fan and they took to the skies. Flying at a speed much faster than last time. This was not a matter of reserving Qi, but a race against time. He was trying to leave the forest before his newly gained Qi was refined into spiritual energy.
Flying just above the treetops, they arrived to a scenery which was the exact same as the day before, and the day before that one. This time, though, they had real hope of actually being able to escape this illusion.
This was an illusion meant for trapping people, and it was, according to Xu Piao, one of the best within the entire Dungeons of the Divine. To escape one needed pure power or be incredibly quick.
Having flown for two hours, Hui Yue’s cultivation base reached the ninth star of the Master rank; he had finally caught up with Deng Wu, just from eating one flower!
His cultivation base which just jumped by leaps and bounds was not as stable as it used to be, but their current situation did not afford Hui the luxury of worrying about the stability of his cultivation base.
Leaning slightly forward, his face was once again pale and the previous beads of sweat turned into streams. His teeth were gritted and his fists clenched as he urged himself to go faster.
Three hours went by and Hui Yue kept the Qi Fans moving at the same speed as when they set off, the Qi he gained from the flower was long since used up, and now he was once again relying on his own Qi swirl.
Four hours went by, and Hui Yue was almost unable to keep going, but he could see that the end of the forest was coming closer and closer, so close that he could almost reach out with his hand and touch it.
Four and a half hours after starting, Hui Yue finally allowed for Qi Fans to disappear. The group had their feet planted on the road which they had been at days before, the road where a forest appeared out of nowhere.
Landing on the ground, Hui Yue was about to sit down and recollect himself as exhaustion was evident all over his face, however, he did not have the luxury to do so as around twenty men were standing in front of them. The twenty men were all wearing mismatched pieces of armor and weapons, clearly something they had looted from their previous victims.
“Well if it isn’t Guild Master Xu,” One of the men said smiling, yet his smile did not convey any sense of warmth at all, instead, it seemed as malicious as a rabid dog. “Why has the Guild Master graced our presence?” He asked, but his expression showed that he was already aware that Xu Piao was travelling in this group.
“What is your purpose for trapping us in the illusion of an endless forest?” Xu Piao asked, his voice condescending as he looked at the mercenaries in front of him. Mercenaries who were supposed to be his employees.
“Don’t take it the wrong way,” The man from before said, still smiling at Xu Piao his grip on the mace in his hand tightened slightly, “We are just doing business that’s all. An our current mission is to obstruct your way and preferably reduce the amount of people in your little party.”
Hearing that, a serious expression appeared on Xu Piao’s face, but it was quickly replaced by laughter. The older man was laughing so loudly that at the end he wiped tears from the corner of his eye.
“Sure,” He said while still chuckling, “You are forgetting one thing though,” Xu Piao said while still chuckling, golden energy gushing forth from his body summoning a protective barrier around him. “I might not take on missions, but do you truly believe that they would hand me a whole branch of the Mercenary Guild could I not deal with ordinary King ranked experts such as yourself?”
A haughty atmosphere surrounded him and an arrogant expression adorned Xu Piao’s face as he mockingly laughed at the man in front of him.
Seeing the arrogance on Xu Piao’s face, the man with the mace also laughed out loud, before he lifted the mace above his head. As soon as the mace rose a thunderous yell sounded out supporting their leader.
Hearing the cheer everyone should have gotten worried, yet no such emotions were shown on Xu Piao’s face, instead, slight embarrassment was visible.
“To think that I was dumb enough to fall for something as simple as the illusion craft,” He sighed while scratching his head, “And as though that was not enough, who would have imagined that I had to be saved by someone who is not even a King ranked expert. A simple Master ranked guy had to save me and my subordinate. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is?”
Hearing Xu Piao speaking, the man with the mace looked at him confused as though he did not know the man standing in front of him. The golden light which kept gushing forth from Xu Piao was incredibly domineering and although the man with the mace was a strong King ranked expert, he was far from being at the peak of the King rank like Xu Piao.
“Xie Lan, stand by and keep Hui Yue safe,” Xu Piao suddenly barked out orders, and the woman who followed him nodded her head and stood next to Hui Yue, golden light shone from her hands and clad her body in an otherworldly aura making her beautiful appearance even more bewitching.
“Deng Wu, Sha Yun deal with all the small frys, Wang Ju Long assist whomever needs it. I’ll deal with this guy on my own.”
Hearing that Xu Piao was the one giving orders mixed expressions were visible on the faces of Hui Yue’s friends, yet after contemplating for a few seconds all of them nodded approving the plan of action which was their best solution.
The cultivators whom Xu Piao called ‘small frys’ were all either Master or Grandmaster ranked, something which caused a wry smile to appear on Deng Wu’s face. With a glance backwards, Deng Wu noticed that Hui Yue entered meditation, seated still with Xie Lan by his side. His expression was completely blank focused entirely on his meditation alone.
Seeing this, Deng Wu snorted slightly but deep within was a feeling of relief. Hui Yue truly pushed himself past his limits forcing his body to hold out until he had safely managed to get them out of the illusion. For him to sit back and meditate was something they all felt he deserved.
The golden shine around Xu Piao had been gushing out for some time, and as the Guild Master raised his arm the golden light surrounding him took the shape of a massive golden arm which made the exact movements as his actual arm.
Using Wu Wei in battle was the strongest force one could have. Wu Wei was an energy which allowed for anything to be formed from it. Unlike martial art skills one did not need to practice specific skills and activate the Qi in specific patterns within their meridians.
Instead, Wu Wei can be created into any shape or form the creator desires, allowing for quicker changes in the shape that Wu Wei takes, along with no limits on what one wishes to create. The thing which holds one back is the amount of Wu Wei one can control.
The arm which was created from Wu Wei was now three meters long, the palm of the hand a meter and a half long.
The golden arm and hand was raised above Xu Piao’s head and ever so slowly it started to descent upon the mace-wielding man and his followers. The pressure increased multiple times and it felt as though the palm was not only descending down upon the men, but also squeezing the air, itself, multiplying the pressure which they had to endure. It did not take long before the first men started collapsing on the ground.
Seeing this, the man with the mace had a grim expression on his face, before golden energy also gushing out from his hands forming a square which protected his men and himself.
After having protected his men, the man used more of his Wu Wei to create yet another item. This time it was a golden spear which he threw up towards the massive hand.
The spear pierced right through the hand and Xu Piao gritted his teeth in reply, his face slightly more pale than it had been before but, nonetheless, the hand continued its descent. The pressure growing increasingly stronger as more and more of the ‘small frys’ collapsed on the ground.
One forced himself to stay standing, but eventually his leg bone snapped.. Others were not as strong as him being able to stay standing against the heavy pressure, instead, they collapsed right away.
Seeing that his barrier made no difference the golden energy used for the barrier gathered into the hands of the mace wielding man and then his mace suddenly grew in size turning golden. After a few moments the mace was the same size as Xu Piao’s golden arm; with gritted teeth and determined eyes, the man slammed the gigantic golden mace into the golden arm and hand causing Xu Piao to stumble backwards, blood spraying from his mouth.