Chapter 414: Taking a Hostage
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
Relying on the convenience of the teleportation formation, it did not take long before Wu Qi arrived at the Yu Hua Heavenly Realm after leaving the Green Cliff Planet.
While he was still absorbed in the deep and affectionate kiss he had with Princess Zhang Le before leaving, tasting the lip rouge which she left on his lips, a few idlers had already gathered up around him and began to introduce him the good places to visit in Yu Hua Immortal City, while dragging and pulling his sleeves. Using extravagant descriptions, they kept telling him how rare and special the shops they recommended were, sounding as if anyone who visited their shops even once would immediately become a Primordial Immortal.
A rather handsome man, who had a dandified appearance, clad in a green outfit and having a large red flower set upon his head, not possessing any cultivation base, came forward with a big smile on his face as he said, "Greetings, Senior! You've come at the right time! A virgin with early-stage Nascent Divinity cultivation base has just arrived at our place, 'He Chun Brothel'. Today, we will be holding an auction for her first night. You can never miss such a rare opportunity, Senior! If you take a virgin of an early-stage Nascent Divinity realm as your cultivation vessel, it can save you at least three hundred years of hard work in cultivation!"
Wu Qi gave the man a glare. A virgin of early-stage Nascent Divinity realm was selling herself to a brothel? How many debts did she owe that brought her to such a miserable situation?
Meanwhile, a middle-aged man, who had a skinny face with prominent cheekbones, a yellowish complexion, and a pair of mustaches, was pulling Wu Qi's sleeve as he called out loudly, "Senior! You have to pay a visit to Xuan Zhen Pavilion! We carry a huge collection of rare treasures! Regardless of what you are looking for, be it magical items, spirit items, immortal items, we have them all! Hehe, are you interested in the Divine Thunder Pellets crafted by Gold Immortals? They are the ultimate weapons to defend yourself, kill someone, and rob their money!"
Wu Qi rolled his eyes skeptically. Without uttering a word, he grabbed the middle-aged man by the neck and pushed him away. Divine Thunder Pellets crafted by Gold Immortals? Would a Gold Immortal really put the items crafted by him on sale here in Yu Hua Heavenly Realm? It was not that Wu Qi looked down on the Immortals and cultivators here, but any items that came from the hand of a Gold Immortal, even if it were just a simple immortal talisman, perhaps none of them could afford the price.
Wu Qi shouted in a low voice as he sent out a slight pressure, "Shut up! Do you think that I'm an inexperienced man who just left his home? Trying to bluff me with these kinds of tactics? Scram now or I'll beat you up!" These people made Wu Qi recall those rascals who tried to pull customers to shops at the train station entrance back on earth. He glanced around, suspecting that there might be even a group of cultivators waiting somewhere nearby, waiting to hit him from the back and rob all his belongings.
Upon hearing Wu Qi's scolding and nearly falling to the ground from his pressure, the few idlers exchanged a look sulkily, before walking away lazily. A strong light burst out of the teleportation formation behind Wu Qi, as another group of cultivators had just arrived Yu Hua Immortal City.
It was at this moment Wu Qi heard Yu Hehuan's bellow and saw beams of bright light streak across the sky, along with the spear piercing through the air as it produced an ear-splitting whistle. A strong wind was brought up by the spear while it carried the blood of the cultivator who Yu Hehuan had just killed, thrusting towards Wu Qi's thigh.
'Instead of aiming at the other vital spots, he is aiming at my thigh. Is he trying to capture me alive?'
Wu Qi responded reflexively. With a slight movement of his left wrist, thirty-six scale-shaped golden beams shot out, transforming into a diamond-shaped shield and blocking before his thigh. The spear issued a long cry as it stabbed forcefully into the shield, causing an enormous backlash to break out from the point of collision. Yu Hehuan's muscles expanded abruptly as he sent all his strength through the spear and smashed head-on towards the backlash. The silver spear carved with an image of Qilin stepping on clouds bent into a crescent shape. While it was pressed by two powerful forces, the spear trembled incessantly and kept issuing dragon cries.
The earth element dragon scale shield had gone through another round of crafting before Wu Qi set out. He had fused the Snow-Armored Heaven-Devouring Python's scales into the shield, using them to replace the dragon scales from Wanying Dragon King's ancestors. As Snow-Armored Heaven-Devouring Python was a demon python of Twenty-Fifth Tier Heaven Immortal realm, his scales were at least ten times stronger than the original dragon scales. As a result, both the offensive and defensive strength of the shield were greatly improved.
Apart from the fact that its item spirit's sentience was still very weak, and yet to cultivate into a spirit immortal, the shield's offensive and defensive strength was no weaker than ordinary lower-grade immortal items.
As the spear continued to issue a long cry, Wu Qi channeled a stream of energy into the shield, improving its defensive strength. He gave Yu Hehuan a cold gaze and cried out, "Why did you kill an innocent man for no reason at all? And, why are you attacking me?"
Yu Hehuan sneered as he glared at Wu Qi. An even stronger force rushed out of his body, pushing the tip of the spear to violently grind the surface of the golden shield, producing numerous dazzling sparks. "That fellow deserved to be killed as he was blocking my way! As for you, do you still remember Yu Hede? I'm his brother from the same father, Yu Hehuan!" he bellowed.
Wu Qi pondered for a brief moment as he stared at Yu Hehuan, who had a twisted expression. Suddenly, he produced the golden ingot which he looted from Wei Xiaoxiao, threw it out, and made it smash brutally towards Yu Hehuan. As he was focusing most of his attention fighting against the earth element dragon scale shield, Yu Hehuan did not expect Wu Qi would initiate an attack at this point in time. The golden ingot thrust forward along with a strong wind, then viciously smashed and broke his nose, leaving a fist-sized indentation on his twisting face.
A stream of blood sprayed more than two feet away. Yu Hehuan howled tragically as he suffered a brutal attack on his vital spot, and reflexively, he threw away the spear to cover his nose with both hands. However, as he was exerting all his strength to counter the backlash from the shield, the spear had already bent into a crescent shape. Even as he let loose his grip, the spear sprung back abruptly, and the sharp end of the spear handle stabbed right into his chest, penetrating as deep as the length of a fist, while a tremendous force knocked him back over for one thousand feet.
Not far behind, a group of soldiers from the Flying Leopard Army tried to catch him. But, as the backlash from the spear was overly strong, which combined both the forces from Yu Hehuan and the earth element dragon scale shield, not only did they fail to stop him, they were knocked away as well, several dozens of soldiers as well as the leopards they were riding. They were barely stopped by the defensive spells deployed at the edge of the square.
When the people near and far saw that a fight was breaking out, those mortals who were pulling customers nearby immediately fled in a flurry, while Nascent Soul cultivators dared not to get any closer, and simply left the place on sword beams. Only some Nascent Divinity cultivators with formidable cultivation bases dared to gather around the square as onlookers. At the same time, the void was filled with numerous divine wills that came sweeping across the scene. Those were the divine wills from Heaven Immortals of various powers stationed in Yu Hua Immortal City.
However, when those Heaven Immortals noticed that one of the parties was actually the Flying Leopard Army led by Yu Hehuan, they retracted their divine will instantly. In the next moment, voice transmissions sent using divine will quickly spread across the entire Yu Hua Immortal City. One after another, those cultivators trying to be onlookers left without hesitation. In just a blink of an eye, the square that measured over one hundred miles in both length and width, densely filled with nearly one hundred teleportation formations of different sizes that led to various heavenly realms, was left with just Wu Qi and Yu Hehuan, as well as the Flying Leopard Army.
The well-trained Flying Leopard Army dispatched a team of over one hundred soldiers to inspect the injured Yu Hehuan, while the rest of them quickly surrounded Wu Qi from all directions. The leopards they were riding looked fierce and ferocious, and were sending forth a wild and intractable aura. Wu Qi scanned them with his divine will and noticed no trace of cultivation on them. However, somebody should have tempered them with herbs and mystic techniques, as all of the leopards had very strong fleshly bodies, even comparable to Nascent Soul cultivators who focused on practicing body tempering technique.
The soldiers were even stronger than the leopards they were riding. They also showed no traces of cultivating the Dao. Their auras were very much similar to that of beast warriors of Great Yan Dynasty. Vaguely, the aura of beast souls could be sensed exuding from their bodies. The strongest soldiers among them were two skinny men who were clad in a colorful soft armor. Wu Qi reckoned that the strength of their fleshly bodies was at par with Nascent Divinity cultivators.
Wu Qi was amazed as he stared at these armored-soldiers. He did not find any cultivation techniques relating to body tempering in the Scroll of Stealing.
It was a type of cultivation technique totally different from Qi cultivators. Could it be a unique body tempering for the human race? Nevertheless, Wu Qi could clearly sense that the nature of these armored-soldiers' souls was no different from that of mortals, and they also had a limited life-span. If they did not fuse with beast souls, at maximum, they could live up to slightly over one hundred years. Comparing to the long years that a cultivator could live for, and those Heaven Immortals who had escaped from the suffering of transmigration, the life-span of these armored-soldiers was simply pathetic.
In any case, since the two strongest armored-soldiers were merely as strong as early-stage Nascent Divinity cultivators, and Yu Hehuan was even weaker than both of them, Wu Qi did not fear them at all. He gazed at them coldly and asked with a sneer, "Now tell me, why are you attacking me for no reason?"
Yu Hetian rose to his feet totteringly. With one hand covering his nose, the other pointing at Wu Qi, he bellowed, "Didn't you hear what I've said just now? You are related to the death of Yu Hede, Yu Hetian, and Yu Heling! If you don't wish to be chopped into meat paste and be fed to leopards, cripple your cultivation base now and let me take you away! If you can hand me the persons who killed them, I can spare you a soul so that you can enter transmigration!"
"How did you find out my whereabouts?" asked Wu Qi coldly.
Yu Hehuan sneered complacently. He grabbed the spear stabbing in his chest and slowly pulled it out, using it to point at Wu Qi as he cried, "Haven't you heard of the incredible ability of the Great Oracle from the human race? He can communicate with deities and ghosts, and he can see the fate of all mortals under the heaven, so how tough would it be for him to just find out your whereabouts?"
Not waiting for Wu Qi to answer, Yu Hehuan roared, "Somebody, capture him alive and cripple his cultivation base! Bring him back and make him speaks with cruel torture!"
The army of several hundred soldiers gave a battle cry together as they began to tighten the encirclement, while a few armored-soldiers spread their arms to black Wu Qi. There were too many soldiers here, and if all of them charged up together, it would just hinder each other's movement. With only a few of them launching the attacks, it was just nice to block off all the angles which Wu Qi could use to dodge.
But little did they know that Wu Qi had no intention to dodge. With a sway of his body, his height reduced by three inches, his shoulders became broader, and his facial muscles twisted and adjusted a little. Now, although his visage looked similar to before, he had changed into another person. As there were too many people bustling around, none of them actually noticed the slight transformation to his appearance. With a cold snort, he leaped forward and brutally knocked away the few armored-soldiers who came to capture him, thrusting his fist and punching them away.
When facing Wu Qi's incredibly powerful muscle strength, the little strength of those armored-soldiers counted for nothing. With an easy leap, he came before Yu Hehuan and clutched the latter's neck. Then, he brought his slightly modified face before Yu Hehuan's eyes, smiled ferociously, and said, "All three brothers of yours are dead now, so why don't you go and join them?"
He tightened the grip, causing loud cracking noises to ring out of Yu Hehuan's neck bone, nearly breaking it.
Yu Hehuan's eyes went wide as the pain was getting stronger, and he fixed his gaze on Wu Qi's face right before his eyes, imprinting it deep in his heart. This was the primary reason why Wu Qi wanted to modify his stature and visage during the chaotic moment. He did not want to be hunted by the entire universe after Marquis Jian issued an order of arrest, and did not want to let Marquis Jian trace him back to Yuan Hua Sect with his true visage.
With Yu Hehuan in his grip, Wu Qi stepped backward and came to the teleportation formation which he used to reach here a moment ago. Grinning coldly, he said, "Back off, or I will kill him right now!"
Panic-stricken, Yu Hehuan cried out in great terror, "Back off! Everybody, back off! Or..."
Even as he was yelling, a gust of strong wind came thrusting towards them from off in a distance, collapsing numerous building along the way with an awe-inspiring pressure.
"Who dares to touch my beloved son?!" Yu Zong's tyrannical voice rung out.
*Swoosh!* A butterfly-shaped, jade-colored beam of light was unleashed, shooting straight towards Wu Qi.