Chapter 460: Caught in a Trap
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
As the Gale's three tail feathers smashed down, Feng Qingwu's face turned pale with fear.
Meanwhile, after a very brief moment of daze, Wu Qi spun and fled to a random direction. With just a blink of his body, he was already tens of miles away, barely avoiding the direct impact from the feathers. In the next moment, the tail feathers fell gently to the ground. Shrouded by gusts of strong, dark-green winds, they gently enveloped Feng Qingwu, as well as several hundred cavalries around her. Wu Qi felt his body become lighter abruptly, and a couple dozens of whirlwinds appeared below his feet, spinning, carrying him up into the sky.
The winds came with a shocking force, and they contained a power of principle that pointed straight to the Essence of wind. Wu Qi's body spun rapidly with the wind, as a wind force kept invading his body, trying to assimilate him into a gust of wind, a puff of air.
He struggled to look over his shoulder at Feng Qingwu and her subordinates. He saw a double-horned, fist-sized, and pale golden beast skull hovering above her head. Seven beams of golden light shot out of its seven apertures, blocking off the invasion from the surrounding winds and forming a very narrow, less than ten feet wide, protective space around her. However, the group of nearly one thousand cavalries following her here were not so lucky, as none of them owned a good defensive treasure. Similar to Wu Qi, they were carried up into the sky by the wind, and were turned into gusts of wind after being invaded by the wind force.
The bodies of nearly one thousand men disintegrated in the sky. Everything inside them was turned into gusts of wind, puffs of air, being messily blown into all directions with just a light shake of the Gale's tail feathers. Their bodies, their armors and clothes, weapons and adornments, everything was invaded and dissolved by the force of wind, transforming into gusts of invisible wind that swirled and swept across the sky.
'What an amazing power!' Wu Qi's eyes glittered as strong fiend energy gushed out of his body, turning into a black energy barrier that had him protected within. Gusts of dark green winds kept blowing wildly around him, persistent in attacking the fiend energy barrier. However, as these fiend energies had a stronger corrosive and devouring force, the force of wind was gradually dissolved, then devoured.
Riding on the wild winds, Wu Qi flew straight towards the Gale.
Feng Qingwu struggled to raise her head up. She was surprised to see that Wu Qi was able to maintain in one piece and not be killed by the Gale's attack. She could not help but cry out happily, "Hey you, nasty Daoist! Quickly capture that Gale and I'll reward you handsomely! Gold, silver, gemstones, and beautiful girls… I can give you anything you want!"
Wu Qi ignored her; this lady felt too good about herself. Her arrogance and unruly manners ran deep in her marrows, and they were just disgusting. He drew the Sword of Greedy Wolf, flying swiftly past the Gale's mouth as he thrust the sword, cutting all of the iron chains with one strike. Then, with a kick on the Gale's mouth, he pushed himself backward.
"Go on! Do not stay on the ground anymore!" Wu Qi said as he threw his head back and laughed, "A divine beast like you should be flying freely in the high altitude. Why are you so greedy for those foods? Go back to your home now, and let your Seniors give you a few slaps on your buttock! Hahaha, go on!"
When the iron chains were cut, the Gale swallowed a few times happily, downing those iron hooks as well as part of the chains left in its mouth. Bits of blood immediately oozed out from the corner of its mouth. The hooks and chains had hurt its mouth and throat, and since they were now swallowed, the wounds were exposed and the blood began to rush out. The Gale gave Wu Qi a deep look, then threw its head back and gave a joyous screech as it flapped its wings. A deafening swooshing sound filled the atmosphere as numerous black twisters sprung up within a radius of one thousand miles, spinning as they rushed towards the sky.
The Gale let out a sonorous cry, soaring up into the sky with the powerful wind, breaking through layers upon layers of clouds like a thunderbolt. In a flash, it had vanished without a trace into the high altitude.
Wu Qi hovered in the sky like a feather amidst the wild winds, getting ready to flee with his sword beam. He turned to Feng Qingwu, who was struggling to fight against the aggressive winds around her, then laughed wildly, "Lady, do not think that all the people under the heaven must do whatever you ask them to! Who do you think you are?"
Beams of dark fiend light began to radiate from all over his body. As Wu Qi was about to make the escape with the 'Heavenly Dance Illusion Fiends Escape Art' found in the Inferno Hell Fiend Scripture, a deep, muffled beating of drums was heard coming from the surroundings. The first drumbeat shook the mountains, vanishing the dark twisters that were wrecking a havoc to the place. The second drumbeat cracked the ground, further shaking the mountains as countless rocks and boulders rolled off from their tops. The third drumbeat shook the heart of those who heard it, including Wu Qi. All his blood suddenly rushed to his head, gathering on his face and cracking the blood vessels, which dotted his face with blood.
As the third drumbeat ceased, a total of 360 huge bone talismans soared up into the sky from all directions. Each of them measured one thousand feet long, eighty feet wide, and was pieced up by countless white bones of unknown animals. They emitted a grayish-white spirit light, filling the void and making one's eyes hurt. Abruptly, Wu Qi felt the air around him freeze, and any teleportation spells were rendered useless, including the escape art he had just exercised. It had also thrown the fiend energies he gathered into a messy state, causing them to rock and even explode inside him, severely hurting his meridians.
There was an old man under every bone talisman. They sat cross-legged in the middle of the sky, barefoot and clad in black burlap clothes. They had a burlap belt around their waist and a tall jade crown above their heads. A vast spirit light rushed out from within their bodies, blanketing them with a layer of white light that was as thick as a thumb. The dazzling white light moved ceaselessly, covering their body like a layer of glass emitting a blinding light, and giving a strange false impression as if these old men were completely cut off from this world, no longer bound by the rules and principles of this world.
These old men's hairs were gray, their eyes sunk deep, and there was an eerie green gleam flashing in those eyes. Across the distance of a couple dozens to over one hundred miles, a total of 720 eyes were fixed straight on Wu Qi's face, projecting a tremendous, nearly corporeal pressure onto his body. Like a poor tiny bug trapped in amber, he felt the air around him turn extremely dense and sticky. He could not even move his fingers.
The wild winds raised by the Gale's tail feathers vanished. Feng Qingwu, who could barely move under the restriction of the strong winds previously, rose to her feet with a blue face. Then, she turned northward, dropped to her knees, and bowed her head respectfully. Those people from Long Bo Kingdom had also dropped to their knees reverently, touching their foreheads to the ground.
Nine jade bell rings echoed out, followed by the deep, muffled boom of a bronze bell. A patch of dark cloud was seen slowly drifting over from the north, on top of which flew an eight miles long Heaven Dragon. He was a black dragon who had a cultivation base of Twenty-eighth Tier Heaven Immortal. Between his two dragon horns, there stood a square-shared palace. It had a solemn and ancient design, and was constructed with large black rocks. Eighteen black rock pillars loomed before the palace's entrance, each having an indentation on top that was filled with fuel. A pale green flame rose several tens of feet up from them, casting a green hue to the black dragon.
The black dragon halted the cloud when he was about two to three miles away from Wu Qi. He landed heavily down, four claws clutching tightly onto a large mountain, and rested his body on it with his head held high. Before long, from the palace on top of his head came walking out a young man. He was clad in a golden robe fully embroidered with Qilin patterns using purple and silver threads, wearing no armor but a wolf-head helm.
Feng Qingwu shivered lightly, raising her head and putting on a fawning smile. At that moment, Wu Qi thought what he saw was just an illusion. He had bumped into Feng Qingwu twice, and she had always looked so arrogant, cruel, and unruly. However, a person like her could actually put on a fawning smile?
At that moment, Feng Qingwu had transformed herself from a mighty General into a Pekingese who wagged her tail, begging for the master's love.
"What makes you come here personally, Young Master?" Her voice had also turned extremely sweet, as if she were having some honey in her throat. It made Wu Qi's flesh creep. Also, her tone was full of flattery and fawning. Wu Qi reckoned that if she had a tail, she would definitely wag it rapidly like a spinning fan.
Standing on top of the dragon's head, the youth gave those Long Bo men a cold glance, then fiercely gazed at the broken iron chains. A cold laugh rushed out of his mouth as he asked, "Where is the Gale? Feng Qingwu, where is the Gale you had promised me?"
All the Long Bo men trembled violently, nobody daring to raise their head.
Meanwhile, Feng Qingwu pressed her forehead tightly on the ground and answered stammeringly, "Al..most... I almost capture it. But... but this nasty Daoist has spoiled our efforts. He cut the iron chains and set the Gale free."
The youth turned slightly to look coldly at Wu Qi. He spent some while to size Wu Qi up, then sneered suddenly, "Feng Qingwu, are you trying to shirk from responsibility and shift the blame onto others? He is just a peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. How is it possible that he can cut the 'Dragonhook' forged with ten different metals and quenched with the dragon blood? Could a small Daoist like him have an immortal item? Could he control an immortal item? Mm? Do you think that I am an idiot?"
Feng Qingwu's body began to tremble violently. Wu Qi could even hear the grinding of her bones. "Young Master, although he is just a peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, he can actually teleport! He... his overall strength is comparable to a Heaven Immortal!" She said with a hoarse voice.
The black dragon's eyes glittered slightly as he gave Wu Qi a glance. In the next moment, his huge mouth curved into a weird smile.
Wu Qi gazed back at the black dragon. Obviously, this big fellow could tell that Wu Qi was practicing the Dragon Transformation Script. In fact, any living beings who possessed the dragon bloodline or practiced the Dragon Transformation Script would emanate an aura that only a pure dragon could sense. As Wu Qi did not conceal this aura, the black dragon was able to discover Wu Qi's secret.
But clearly, this black dragon had no intention to expose the secret to that Young Master. He opened his mouth and yawned, then simply closed his eyes.
The Young Master spent a few more moments sizing up Wu Qi. Finally, he said with a cold grin, "Able to exercise teleportation ability at the Nascent Soul realm? This is possible... Fellow Daoist, who is your Master? Under which Primordial Immortal are you seeking the Dao?"
Wu Qi did not answer him. Instead, he quickly digested and analyzed the information contained in this youth's words: the disciples of Primordial Immortals could exercise teleportation divine ability at the Nascent Soul realm. Judging from this, the cultivation techniques practiced by the disciples of Primordial Immortals were much stronger than ordinary cultivators. But this was reasonable, as they were, after all, the disciples of Primordial Immortals!
As Wu Qi was pondering whether should he just make up a random background, the youth tilted his head slightly and moved his lips. Vaguely, the movement of his lips read 'capture him'.
*Clang!*
From among the group of nearly one hundred golden-armored soldiers standing behind the back of the black dragon, a burly soldier with a spear in hand came before Wu Qi with just a blink of his body. He spun the spear, thrusting it straight towards his thigh.
The spear measured sixteen feet long, as thick as a bowl, and just its tip alone measured three feet inches. The strike brought up a strong wind that roared like a fierce tiger, piercing through the air amidst a large sheet of golden light. Although it was still seventy to eighty feet away from Wu Qi, the killing intent had already ripped his Daoist robe to shreds, exposing large patches of his skin.