Chapter 255: The Leak of Secrets
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
Dark lights sparked and flashed. Exerting all his strength and having some white foam bubbling near his lips, Wanying Dragon King wielded both his golden hammers and smashed them viciously onto the magnetic barrier around Zhang Yi. Loud booming and buzzing kept echoing out, as Zhang Yi had exercised the Magnetic Grand Magic of his, connecting all the surrounding underground energy veins and natural energies to his magnetic force. When Wanying Dragon King's heavy hammers smote down, it was as if they were smashing onto the Heaven and Earth in this piece of land, causing the surrounding air to tremble violently.
Zhang Yi was just one step away from forming his Nascent Divinity, yet Wanying Dragon King was also one step away from transcending the thunder tribulation and becoming a Heaven Immortal. The gap between their cultivation base was too large. Thus, no matter how Zhang Yi kept kidnapping the natural energies found in the surroundings, he still could not withstand the tremendous force from Wanying Dragon King, which felt like the strikes of thunderbolts and were as heavy as Mount Tai.
A loud crackling noise rang out, as Wanying Dragon King brutally destroyed the magnetic barrier that protected Zhang Yi. A golden hammer thrust down and brushed against his body, breaking and ripping half of his shoulder, and nearly crushing half of his body to shreds. Zhang Yi let out a painful shriek as his body suddenly swayed, while the magnetic forces quickly gathered towards him. Using the magnetic forces, Zhang Yi created several hundred clones of his own image, then he and all the clones shot out in all directions while giving vent to a torrent of furious curses.
Wanying Dragon King was greatly confused by the sudden trick of Zhang Yi, and for a while, he could not figure out which was the true form.
A group of about several dozens of clones rushed to the front of the white flood that was brought up by the surrounding aquatic demons. Then suddenly, a blinding dark light burst out from these clones, while countless tiny black lightning bolts thrust whistling out from them. These clones had just self-exploded, sending out an explosion that equaled the full force strike unleashed by an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. The tremendous explosion caused several hundred aquatic demons to fall back while coughing blood. All their weapons and armors, as long as they were made from metals, were pulled away by the powerful magnetic force, turning into streams of bright beams that pierced through the sky.
After that, another several hundred clones issued a ferocious laugh, as they too self-exploded together. The weapons and armors that were pulled away by the magnetic force, each of them was the Prime magical item that these aquatic demons had refined using their own life force, but were now totally controlled by Zhang Yi's magnetic force. Now, as they were trapped between the magnetic force and the self-explosion of the clones, the divine will that was left in all the magical items was wiped out in an instant. After that, these weapons and armors transformed into a cluster of bright beams, turned their tips, and thrust towards the aquatic demons.
The battle formation of the aquatic demons became very disorderly. Zhang Yi flung his sleeve and rolled up all the subordinates behind him, along with over twenty Nascent Souls of his subordinates who had their bodies destroyed. Then, he transformed into a dark beam and shot into the sky. He had given up the idea of seizing back the Black Dragon Spirit Ring and all the Acquired Spirit Items from Wu Qi. He already knew that it was a trap here, and the conversation between Wu Qi and Qin Qingshui, based on which Ying Zheng had gone ahead looking for Yuji and Li Yueyan, could that be a trap as well?
A great fear struck Zhang Yi, as he thought about the serious blow that Great Qin would suffer if something bad happened to Ying Zheng. A cold sweat spread over him.
Very quickly, the dark beam broken through the interception put forth by the white water and continued shooting straight up a few miles into the sky. While Zhang Yi was about to exercise the escape art to flee from the calamity, Wanying Dragon King had already arrived before him, laughing aloud. He wielded the two huge hammers and smashed brutally onto the dark beam, while crying out in a harsh voice, "Trying to run away from me, young man? You've already fallen into my hands. No matter how strong your divine abilities are, you'll still have to stay down here!"
Then, another hammer strike was thrust out. Zhang Yi managed to evade the attack, but it landed straight on a Nascent Soul cultivator following right behind him. The unfortunate Nascent Soul cultivator howled miserably, then his fleshly body exploded into blood mist in an instant. His Nascent Soul shot out with a long bloody red tail behind, flying disorderly while trying to hide into the magnetic force field put out by Zhang Yi.
Wu Qi saw the benefits he could gain out of the chaotic scene. Without hesitation, he summoned a large sheet of water vapor, covering his body. Then, he quickly flew into the sky, stretched his arm, and grabbed towards the Nascent Soul of the Earth Immortal. The Hand of Web was exercised with the acquired energy of five elements, creating an air vortex with the diameter of nearly one thousand feet within Wu Qi's palm, spraying out an enormous force of suction that trapped the Nascent Soul, reducing his speed of flying.
All of a sudden, the gigantic soul of the Dark Nether Python shot up into the sky. Controlled by Qin Qingshui, it opened its mouth and swallowed the Nascent Soul in an instant. A miserable shriek could be heard coming out from its stomach, as the Nascent Soul was quickly dissolved and digested by the deadly poisonous gas inside of its body. In the next moment, a large clump of pale-green poisonous gas burst out from Qin Qingshui's body. Abruptly, the body of the Dark Nether Python stretched longer, reaching over one thousand feet long, and it looked ten times more vicious than before. On top of that, the beast soul became so dense that it looked like a corporeal being. If one looked from afar, it looked exactly like a Dark Nether Python with a fleshly body.
It kindled Wu Qi with a flame of anger. He turned scowling at Qin Qingshui and roared, "Among all the Nascent Souls here, I want at least three of them! Or else, there will be no end to our scores!"
Qin Qingshui burped, with an expression that looked fully satisfied and contented. Then, he broke out into a loud laughter and said, "Don't worry, I'll not fight with you. My Patriarch had used three inner cores of extraordinary beasts to stimulate my beast soul, lifting my cultivation base to Nascent Soul realm. As a result, I cannot further stimulate my beast soul in the next three years, or I'll be risking turning myself into a real Nether Python! Hehe, so, no matter how many Nascent Souls you manage to capture today, *burp!* most of them would be yours!"
Not far from them, Qin Nihu threw his head back and cried out, "Damn it! One of my arms is broken. I want one Nascent Soul too! Even if I can't use it now, I'll keep it with me, and use it when I attempt to make a breakthrough for Nascent Soul realm in the future! Wu Qi, you b*stard, how could you chop off one of my arms? We were just putting up a show! Did you have to be so cruel?!"
Wu Qi pulled out a thick stack of advanced grade talismans and threw towards Zhang Yi, blotting the sky with thunderbolts, fireballs, freezing ice, and golden blades. Then, he roared, "You're the b*stard!! I was being cruel? Had you been kind and tender when you attacked me? Look at this wound on my stomach!! That strike nearly broke my backbone! Damn you, Qin Nihu! You better don't let me bump into the two sinecures of your clan in Meng Mountains!"
Standing right next to Qin Nihu, the two Earth Immortals of Nascent Soul realm twitched their lips, then carefully gave the surrounding several thousand aquatic demons a glance. They bowed their heads lowly.
As Wu Qi had a very strong bond and friendship with the aquatic demons in Longyuan River, both of these Earth Immortals really wished they would not bump into him in the depths of Meng Mountains. Wu Qi was a ruthless and cruel man, and it was very likely he would kill both of them for the convenience sake, then take away their Nascent Souls to concoct some medicinal pills, or even swallow them straightaway. As the Nascent Soul of an Earth Immortal contained the purest energy essence, as long as one's fleshly body could endure the impact of energy and had sufficient enlightenment to the Heavenly Dao and cultivation base, the consumption of one Nascent Soul could allow an ordinary mortal to form his own Nascent Soul immediately!
On the other side, Wanying Dragon King kept swinging his huge hammers, smashing and hitting Zhang Yi like he was trying to kill an annoying bug. The brutal attacks cracked and destroyed Zhang Yi's dark escape beam, causing him to cough blood and look really miserable. The gap between peak-stage Nascent Soul realm and peak-stage Nascent Divinity realm was like the gap between peak-stage Gold Core realm and an ordinary human baby. If not for the miraculous abilities of Zhang Yi's Magnetic Grand Magic, which allowed him to absorb the natural energies and turn them into his own to keep replenishing the consumption of his energy, he would have long been killed by Wanying Dragon King.
Right at the moment when the escape beam was destroyed, Wu Qi quickly stretched his arms out, grabbing towards the Nascent Souls that flew out in all directions. When a Nascent Soul cultivator lost his corporeal body, even if he were at the peak-stage of Nascent Soul realm, he would be left with the overall strength that was weaker than a Gold Core cultivator. Exercising the Hand of Web, Wu Qi's hands darted back and forth in the sky while generating loud whistling noises. The acquired energies of five elements had turned into a vortex of five colors, which kept absorbing Nascent Souls into his palm one after another. Then, they were sealed by Wu Qi and thrown into the Black Dragon Spirit Ring.
Unexpectedly, the soul of Black Dragon revealed himself from the ring, opened his mouth widely and swallowed two Nascent Souls that Wu Qi had just captured. He let out a satisfied dragon cry, then quickly plunged back into the ring and began digesting the Nascent Souls slowly and replenishing his energy. Wu Qi cursed helplessly, then hastily sprung up in the air and pursued a few Nascent Souls that had fled about one mile away.
Lord Xiansheng, the three great demons, and several thousand aquatic demons leaped and shot into the sky like a pack of hungry wolves, as they plunged into the group of cultivators that Zhang Yi brought with him here. For demons, the Nascent Soul and Gold Core of human cultivators were great tonics that they could devour straightaway. While human cultivators would need to consider the risk of having their energy mixed with impurities, these demons did not have such considerations. They could even devour human cultivators alive, let alone devouring their Nascent Souls and Gold Cores.
After a round of messy attacking and seizing, in just a blink of an eye, all Zhang Yi's subordinates were killed, leaving behind only seven Earth Immortals with the strongest cultivation base, who were left struggling for survival. However, they were facing the besiege from Lord Xiansheng and three great demons, who kept showering them with countless Yin thunderbolts, causing them to keep coughing blood. It looked like they could last not much longer.
Zhang Yi's face turned purple with panic. He looked up to the sky and cried, "With all the great reputation I've enjoyed all my life, I'm going to die here today! Heaven, oh Heaven, with the profound achievement in the field of divination, why didn't my Teacher foretell today's calamity? During the normal days, Teacher can sense all the natural and man-made disasters that happen anywhere in the territory of Great Qin, even a few years in advance. But, why did he not tell us any signs concerning today's calamity?"
Wu Qi thrust out the Sword of Greedy Wolf and cut a deep wound on Zhang Yi's body. He sneered and said, "Sure enough, old mister Guigu'zi's art of divination stands at the top of the world, but Great Chu is no way inferior in this field. His Majesty Qu Ping had led a group of thirty-six thousand ghosts and deities and constructed a Heaven Deceiving Formation, covering all the heavenly secrets within the area of one million miles in Meng Mountains to distract the flowing underground energy and the path of the stars in this part of the land. Unless you have the cultivation base of Heaven Immortal, your divination will not come back with anything useful!"
"The Heaven Deceiving Formation constructed by the ghosts and deities of barbarians?" Zhang Yi said angrily, "If I, Zhang Yi, manage to escape alive today, I'll definitely lead an army into Great Chu's territory and kill all those strayed mountain ghosts and deities!"
Wu Qi did not respond to his angry grumbling, but worked with Wanying Dragon King in slowly weakening Zhang Yi's magnetic force. As per what Yan Dan told them, if they bumped into Zhang Yi, Li Si, Xu Fu, or any other important ministers of Great Qin, the best option was to capture them alive. After all, when it came to talents, no one would have enough of them!
Slowly but surely, the magnetic force field around Zhang Yi's body turned dim, and it looked like he was about to be captured alive by Wu Qi and his company. But all of a sudden, a huge golden talisman, about ten miles in length, made its debut in the sky. A vast, mightily immortal air burst and sprayed out from the golden talisman, and a row of huge characters could be clearly seen on it - 'The Eight Dimensions Demon Vanquishing Talisman'.
Out of nowhere, a layer of golden flame surged up on the bodies of Wanying Dragon King and all the aquatic demons, and in just a very short moment, the flame ripped their skins and tore their flesh to shreds, while the smell of burning filled the air.
Although he had a cultivation base approaching Heaven Immortal realm, when Wanying Dragon King was enveloped by the golden flame, it turned his scales to shreds in less than one second, and burned many patches of his skin and flesh to ashes. He cried and howled because of pain, "A talisman made by a Heaven Immortal! A talisman that is used specifically in vanquishing demons! Retreat, my children! This is the power of Heaven Immortal. There is no way we can stand up against it!"
A talisman made by Heaven Immortal? While cursing at the top of their voices and bodies wrapped in a layer of golden flame, Lord Xiansheng and all the aquatic demons plunged their heads into the river. While they were quick in fleeing, among the several thousand aquatic demons that came here, nearly half of them were burned into ashes before they could run away. Over two thousand Demon Cores the size of water buckets were spinning rapidly in midair. It looked like they were going to be burned into ashes by the golden air of immortal.
Wu Qi hastily stretched his arm toward the sky, pulling all the two thousand demon cores into his palm. After that, he snapped in a harsh voice, "Who are you? Why are you make things difficult for Great Yan?"
A cold laugh was heard coming from a very far distance. Then, a loud wind breaking noise echoed out, as an arrow pierced through the air and landed right on Zhang Yi's hand. The voice then said coldly, "The Great Yan had deployed a trap to slay the dragon. They want to kill the Emperor of the Great Qin! This is the formation map that was used by Great Yan and Great Chu. Follow it and Ying Zheng shall have thirty percent chance to escape. Go now to the rescue and delay no more!"
With his hand tightly gripping the arrow, Zhang Yi issued a loud, long cry. Abruptly, his body transformed into a large sheet of dark beams. He coiled up all the Nascent Soul cultivators around him before he spun and flew away.
"Don't you try to run away from here! Zhang Yi, put down that formation map!" cried Wu Qi at the top of his voice. After that, he stepped onto a sword beam and chased behind Zhang Yi.
Qin Nihu and Qin Qingshui exchanged a glance, then both jumped up in exasperation. "Who leaked the military plan? Find that man out and cut him into ten thousand pieces!"
Bringing with them all the remaining cultivators, they hurriedly sprung into the air and pursued in the direction where the arrow came from. Soundlessly, the golden talisman vanished into thin air, while at the far distance in the mountain ridge was just a complete emptiness. Not even a soul or ghost was in sight.