Chapter 456: Jiu Gui Takes Action
Translator: TYZ Editor: TYZ, KLKL
Yang Xiaodong stared gravely at the rising water screen in front of the mayor’s residence. The entanglement by the few guards just now gave the mayor’s residence enough time to activate the water screen defense system.
By the time the rest arrived, everyone’s faces turned ugly. Their sneak attack had become an all-out attack. This increased the risk and uncertainty of this mission.
"What happened?" Yang Xiaodong asked with a deep voice.
Mister Dou knew it was better for him to explain the situation and replied, "Someone eavesdropped on our plan."
Yang Xiaodong slowly regained his composure and looked at the distant sky. The line of sand-made words had disappeared. It was that line of sand-made words that exposed his identity.
"Is it Ai Hui’s sand puppet?" he asked.
Yang Xiaodong had a deep impression of Ai Hui’s sand puppet. As Gong Peiyao liked Lou Lan very much, Yang Xiaodong could not help but take notice of him as well. Lou Lan was too smart for a sand puppet.
Mister Dou nodded his head.
"Ai Hui is metal-attributed, why would he have a sand puppet?" Yang Xiaodong was slightly confused.
The rest were puzzled as well. Due to the fact that only earth elementalists could control sand puppets, the use of sand puppets by other types of elementalists was unpopular. A sand puppet that was not controlled by an earth elementalist would be very stupid and was practically unusable.
"Could he be a transfigured earth elementalist?" Jiu Gui interjected.
Some extremely transfigured earth elementalists would modify more than ninety percent of their bodies, so much so that they resembled sand puppets.
Autumn Water shook her head. Her beautiful eyes flickered as she answered with certainty, "No, he is a sand puppet, not a transfigured earth elementalist."
She had personally crossed swords with Lou Lan and she was very certain that she was facing a sand puppet, not a transfigured earth elementalist. Now, she was very interested in the sand puppet named Lou Lan. She had never come across such a unique sand puppet.
She had already made up her mind to capture that sand puppet after everything had been settled.
Lou Lan, such a nice name. It just so happened that she lacked an interesting toy to play with.
No one knew that Autumn Water was already planning on capturing Lou Lan. However, when they thought of the series of unfortunate events that had happened, they became silent.
Autumn Water noticed the depressing atmosphere around her and started talking, "Let’s not care about that sand puppet. Right now, we have no way out. Only by taking down the mayor’s residence and capturing Gong Peiyao or Ai Hui, can we then obtain the refinement method for snow lava. Everyone, do you know how much an A-grade fire liquid is worth?"
Usually, her voice was gentle and alluring. However, at this point of time, it sounded forceful and motivating, energizing everyone.
Now, all they needed to do was to take down the mayor’s residence and they would get what they wanted. There were four Masters in their team. Even if the mayor’s residence had activated its defense system, they merely needed to put in a bit more effort before they eventually took it down.
The cloud defense layer in the sky had already been completely destroyed. As such, they did not need to worry about it.
"Let me do it," Jiu Gui volunteered.
Yang Xiaodong and Mister Dou stood aside for him. They were very curious about how powerful the Seventh Patriarch was. Accordingly, Jiu Gui was more powerful than Autumn Water.
Mister Dou had experienced Autumn Water’s strength before. He did not know how powerful Jiu Gui was to be able to outshine Autumn Water.
Even though both of them were partners, their trust for each other was very limited. All along, they had guarded against each other.
Upon seeing that the water screen was set up, everyone within the mayor’s residence felt slightly more at ease.
Qiao Meiqi was timid and scared of death. At the same time, he was extremely wealthy. As such, he had spared no expense in building a defense system for his residence. The layer of water screen appeared to be very thin but its defensive power was exceptionally strong. It was directly connected to the water elemental energy in the underground rivers.
The motivation for him building Clearwater City here was tightly linked to the favourable natural advantages of this place. Beneath Clearwater City, there were several underground rivers that provided an abundance of water elemental energy and they could even produce Clear Water. This was truly a blessed water elemental land.
With an abundance of water elemental energy flowing into the mayor’s residence, the defense system was nearly impregnable.
Venerable Volcano appeared in the main hall and asked solemnly, "What happened?"
Qiao Meiqi’s face turned deathly white but he did not lose his composure, "Yang Xiaodong colludes with outsiders to conspire against us!"
Venerable Volcano looked through the water screen and heaved a cold breath. "Three Masters?"
He could sense a similar aura from the other party.
At this point of time, Qiao Meiqi had completely regained his composure. He loosened himself from his guards’ support and said, "With the addition of Yang Xiaodong, they have a total of four Masters."
The look on Qiao Meiqi’s face was malevolent. With his eyes filled with hatred, he gritted his teeth and roared, "I must kill Yang Xiaodong the traitor! I have to seek revenge for my guards!"
At this moment, the eyes of the few guards beside him turned red and teary. They saw with their own eyes how Yang Xiaodong had killed their comrades.
Venerable Volcano did not say anything. With four Masters outside, they were definitely in a disadvantageous position.
Venerable Volcano’s gaze landed upon the old man holding a vine staff with empty eye sockets. Suddenly, he thought of someone and his facial expression changed. He walked directly to the balcony and yelled towards the sky, "Are you Northern Underworld King, Mister Dou?"
"I didn’t expect Venerable to be able to recognize me. Venerable, I trust you have been well since we last met," Mister Dou replied with a deep voice.
A hoarse and awful voice drifted across the air, making it unbearable for people to listen to.
Venerable Volcano’s face turned solemn as he replied, "Everyone minds their own business. Can you tell me, what’s the reason Mister Dou has come to attack us?"
"I am here for the sake of money and I don’t wish to hurt the innocents. We will leave as long as you hand over the refinement method for snow lava."
Yang Xiaodong was expressionless. Autumn Water and Jiu Gui looked at each other.
Venerable Volcano realized what was going on and his heart sank. Ai Hui would definitely not hand over the refinement method as the snow lava was of great importance to him. Venerable Volcano knew Ai Hui’s temperament. It had always been Ai Hui taking advantage of others, not the other way around. It was impossible for anyone to take advantage of this fellow.
Ai Hui might appear cheeky and impish, but in reality, he was an extremely steadfast and stubborn individual. Back in the days, when Venerable Volcano was trying to get a bowl of porridge from Ai Hui, he had done some research on the Battle of Central Pine City. As such, he clearly knew about Ai Hui’s temperament. Furthermore, Shi Xueman, who was extremely resolute and stubborn too, was here as well.
Venerable Volcano would definitely not pressure Ai Hui.
The Gong residence was his employer, but he still owed Ai Hui a favor.
To Venerable Volcano, the person whom he owed a favor to was far more important than his employer.
"I see. It’s a pity I am not the one who makes this decision so I have to discuss it with the rest. May I know who are the other two Masters?" Venerable Volcano replied calmly.
"These two are Patriarchs from the Assembly of Patriarchs," Yang Xiaodong said plainly.
He purposely revealed the identities of Jiu Gui and Autumn Water to make sure they would not back out of this mission.
Autumn Water smiled and did not bother about Yang Xiaodong’s move. She bowed and greeted, "Nice to meet you, Venerable! I am the Ninth Patriarch of the Assembly of Patriarchs, Autumn Water."
"I’m the Seventh Patriarch of the Assembly of Patriarchs, Jiu Gui," Jiu Gui bowed and greeted Venerable Volcano as well.
"All of you are indeed talented and youthful, becoming Masters at such a young age. I feel really old," Venerable Volcano praised them.
Autumn Water smiled sweetly, "Venerable has a well-known reputation and I have admired you for a long time. As a form of respect to you, as long as you can hand over the refinement method for the snow lava, we will definitely not harm anyone."
"We will have to discuss about it first," Venerable Volcano muttered.
Autumn Water did not agree to his request and looked at Mister Dou.
Mister Dou nodded his head and replied, "As a form of respect to Venerable, give him an hour to think about it."
Venerable Volcano replied, "Thank you, everyone."
After Venerable Volcano finished his sentence, he returned to the main hall. Everyone was looking at him at this moment.
"Why are all of you looking at me?" Venerable Volcano asked.
Gong Peiyao’s face turned white as she replied, "Sister Xueman and the rest will definitely not agree to their request. Furthermore, these people are not to be trusted."
"Of course I know about these things," Venerable Volcano chuckled.
"Then...."
"Having an hour to delay their attacks is better than having none," Venerable Volcano replied.
Everyone realized what was going on.
After thinking for a while, Venerable Volcano said, "Go and notify Miss Shi, all of us are in the same boat now."
Qiao Meiqi quickly instructed one of his guards to notify Shi Xueman in the underground meditation room.
After a while, Shi Xueman hurried over to the main hall.
After Shi Xueman finished listening to everyone’s recounts of what had happened, she asked, "How about Lou Lan? Is he back?"
Qiao Meiqi shook his head and replied, "Once the water screen is activated, we are disconnected from the outside world. Lou Lan can’t enter the mayor’s residence. Luckily he used the sand-made words to alert everyone about the intruders. Everyone arrived here pretty fast, Lou Lan should be alright."
Shi Xueman regained her composure. Shi Xueman’s gaze swept across everyone as she asked, "What do all of you think we should do?"
Venerable Volcano laughed bitterly in his heart. If they did not give a good answer, this lass was going to flip out. He gave a soft cough and replied, "I will disagree with anyone who suggests to hand over the refinement method for snow lava. I haven’t forgotten that I still owe that lad a favor."
"We will fight them to the death!" Qiao Meiqi gritted his teeth.
"Everyone joins hands and fights them together," Shi Xueman nodded her head.
Very soon, one hour had passed.
"Let’s attack now," Mister Dou said plainly.
Jiu Gui nodded his head and stepped forward with a flat wine flask in his hand. There was a reluctant look on his face, but he still opened the lid of the wine flask and drank a few mouthfuls of the wine inside.
The wine flask contained his specially concocted Dragoncry Spring Wine. More than half of his income had been spent on concocting this fine wine.
Dragoncry Spring Wine was his trump card. Usually, he would be reluctant to use it but he had to take it out at this point of time.
An intoxicated flush appeared on Jiu Gui’s face. His eyes became hazy and his body began to sway. Traces of mist were being emitted from his body, pervading the air with an unusual wine fragrance.
A mysterious aura of might was given off by his body.
Yang Xiaodong and the rest were surrounding him, and their hairs stood on end.
In everyone’s eyes, the seemingly wobbly, scholar-like man looked like a horrifying dire beast that had descended from the prehistoric era.
This was definitely not a misperception!
The elemental energy surrounding Jiu Gui began to undulate violently. His swaying body in the air was giving off a vibrating buzz. He resembled a massive, unknown dire beast that was flapping its wings.
Jiu Gui’s hazy eyes suddenly widened. Oddly, his intoxicated pupils became almond-shaped, resembling the eyes of a serpent. They were completely devoid of warmth and emotions.
He opened his mouth and let out a neigh-like sound. The sound was completely inhuman, resembling an angry roar of an unknown dire beast.
Everyone there was an experienced veteran, but they had never heard this kind of sound before.
A tinge of fear appeared on Autumn Water’s face.
Suddenly, Jiu Gui’s figure vanished into thin air.
The next moment, a loud boom resounded through the air as the water screen in front of the mayor’s residence trembled violently.
A sonic boom exploded in the air.
Within the mayor’s residence, everyone’s facial expressions changed drastically. Their ears were ringing, as if their ears were being punched. Those servants who were of lower base levels had blood seeping out of their mouths and noses.
Gong Peiyao uttered a yelp and fell to the ground. Venerable Volcano’s face turned grave as a surprised look flashed across his eyes.
He had never seen such a weird Path of Master.
The loud sound was produced when the other party landed a punch on the water screen. It was a punch that contained pure power, without any techniques involved.
At this moment, the previously frail-looking Jiu Gui was exactly like a prehistoric dire beast that possessed a combination of terrifying strength and speed.
Venerable Volcano could not see this monster’s figure with his eyes. All he could see was a blurry afterimage.
Venerable Volcano was shocked. What is this Path of Master?