Chapter 170: Catfish Flood Dragon
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
Inside the cave, a bright gleam flashed in Wu Qi's eyes as he slowly exhaled a long breath.
Seven days had gone since he sent Xu Fu back. For the past seven days, the Qin army behaved like a swarm of hornets who had their nest burned, storming out everywhere in searching for the enemies. They wreaked a great havoc on the forest within a circumference of several thousands of miles. An unknown number of barbarian villages were discovered by them, whose wrath filled the sky. All the barbarians were cruelly slaughtered, and their possessions were looted. The skies were blotted with dark smoke that came from the burning of barbarian villages and nearby forests.
During these seven days, Wu Qi had once again concocted some Drunken Dragon Incenses a few times, having the intention of causing some deep troubles to the leaders of Qin army. If the conditions permitted, he even wished to take some advantages over Ying Zheng. But it was too bad that the top men in Qin army did not provide any opportunity for him, as all of them had strengthened their vigilance. Ying Zheng and all the other top men were now carrying all sorts of dust and poison repelling pearls with them at all times, so the smoke produced from Drunken Dragon Incense could never get close to them. It had become useless for now.
Then, Wu Qi tried to mixed poisons and ecstasies in their wine, drinking water and even meals. But, as Ying Zheng and his comrades possessed the cultivation base of Nascent Soul realm or above, no matter what kind of strange methods Wu Qi tried to use on them, he just could not do anything to them at all. There was one time, Wu Qi managed to sneak into Li Si's bedroom and added an ecstasy in his tea, but he almost got captured alive by the army personally led by Ying Zheng himself. Fortunately, Wu Qi realized the situation had gone out of his control and quickly plunged into the underground, and was able to escape the great calamity.
Since that incident, Wu Qi did not have the courage to sneak into Qin army's field headquarter again. He could only keep prowling around the campsite, seeking for the possible opportunity to strike. Eventually, he did assault a few small troops of Qin army and looted some energy stones robbed by Qin army. However, that had made the Qin army shut their gateway and never come out again, putting up a tight security on their campsite. It was a rather shameless tactic, and it left Wu Qi with no other means. Now, what he could do was keep staring at the field headquarter with a wry smile on his face.
The night was brightly lit with moonlight, as the moon was now perfectly round and hanging high up in the sky. Tonight's moonlight was extra dazzling, the pale-green moonlight pouring down from the sky like streams of water. It sprinkled the essence of moonlight onto everyone's body with a comfortable coolness.
Wu Qi came out from the cave where he had been hiding and took a deep breath. A wisp of dense and pungent smoke, a huge amount of dust, together with cool moonlight essence were all inhaled into his lungs, making him cough suddenly. Standing on the peak of a mountain, he ran his eyes around, and saw many fires burning ragingly in both near and far distance. The mountain forests were burning, casting a fearsome red glow and making the moonlight in the sky look a bit dim compared to it. For the past few days, the Qin army had been wreaking havoc everywhere, setting fires so wild that their great flames were reflected in the sky. The entire place was filled with an air of doomsday, as if a great calamity was about to arrive.
Wu Qi shook his head, then spun and transformed into a stream of yellow light, plunging underground. As many forests were burned off in these days, without the trees, grasses, and flowers using as his cover, he could not travel around using escape art of Wood. Thus, the escape art of Earth became the only option for Wu Qi when going out.
With utmost caution, he poked half of his head up near the edge of the campsite. Wu Qi immediately saw a chariot being pulled by eight dark horses from the main gateway of the field headquarter. Ying Zheng was seen standing on the chariot. Three mighty soldiers, their upper bodies naked, each standing nearly ten feet tall, were driving the chariot at the front. Their skin looked like it was made from bronze metal, gleaming brightly under the reflection of the moonlight. On the left side of Ying Zheng stood Li Si, who was wearing a pale-green face, while on the right stood Xu Fu, whose face was withered and looked weak.
While disturbing the field headquarter in the past few days, Wu Qi kept shouting that he was seeking revenge from Li Si. Because of that, Ying Zheng broke into a furious rage. A few times, he even gave Li Si a fierce scolding before all the ministers, and Bai Qitian, who provoked Wu Qi first, had also received a stern scolding. As Li Si was so sure that he had killed Wu Qi, it would be strange if he could still maintain a good expression on his face.
But Xu Fu had given Wu Qi a surprise. Wu Qi had seized all the spirit energies in his Dharma Eyes and taken away seventy percent of his soul power. But now, not only was there a green gleam shining out from Xu Fu's eyes, his face looked beaming with blood and energy. Judging from the way he looked, he had recovered a small portion of his cultivation base. A greedy look emerged in Wu Qi's eyes, and he gazed ferociously at Xu Fu. Obviously, Ying Zheng had spent a lot on Xu Fu, and used some unknown rare and precious treasures to help Xu Fu recover his energy essence, strengthening his foundation. That was the only explanation why Xu Fu could recover within seven days.
Ying Zheng must be carrying some good treasures with him. Wu Qi frowned, pondering on how he could get those treasures into his own hands.
Apart from Ying Zheng and his loyal right-hand men who were riding on the chariot, they were also followed by four hundred black-robed practitioners, each possessing the cultivation base of Gold Core realm. There was also a troop of eight hundred Yulin Army and eight hundred Huben Army men, all being Human Immortals as well. Among those black-robed practitioners, a group of several dozens of men was giving off an aura that brought fear to Wu Qi. They ought to be Earth Immortals of Nascent Soul realm. Meanwhile, marching at the foremost of the Yulin Army and Huben Army were a group of nearly one hundred mighty captains with huge stature, each shrouded in a formidable air that made Wu Qi's flesh creep.
A general was seen riding on a white two-horned Qilin, very close to Ying Zheng's chariot. According to what Wu Qi heard and saw during the days when he sneaked into the campsite, he was the Chief General of Great Qin Dynasty, Prince of Wu'an, Bai Qi. He stood over nine feet tall, his skin was rather tanned, and he had a square and dignified face. He was clad in three layers of heavy armor, the quality of which was an extremely rare middle-grade magical treasure level, providing him a shocking defensive strength. Riding beside Bai Qi was his son, the Captain of Yulin Calvary, Bai Qitian, and the Captain of Huben Calvary, Bai Qiming.
"What a strong and formidable army!" Wu Qi shook his head. He did not know if Great Yan Dynasty had a trump card of their own or not, but by looking at the military strength showed by Great Qin Dynasty today, with just these several hundred Earth Immortals alone, they were more than enough to wipe out the entire Great Yan Dynasty. Unless Great Yan Dynasty had a powerful enough trump card, the dynasty would be in imminent danger if Ying Zheng was able to leave Meng Mountains and arrive at the territory of Great Yan Dynasty.
"Aye, I shall never worry for the ancients. Yan Dan was killed by Great Qin once, so most probably he would not mind getting kill one more time. I just have to protect those who I care the most about." Suddenly, the faces of Meng Xiaobai, Lu Chengfeng, and Princess Zhang Le leaped into his mind. Wu Qi twitched his lips, exercised the escape art and followed closely behind Ying Zheng and his company, who left the camp in the middle of the night.
The great parade traveled as quickly and swiftly as night breeze in the mountain forest. With the help from those practitioners, a thin layer of cloud shrouded the entire army, allowing them to move without making any noise. No matter it was a lofty cliff or deep valley, the army went straight on, without being hindered by any obstacles.
In just slightly over two hours, when the time almost reached midnight, Ying Zheng and his company arrived at the bank of the great river. They continued their march along the great river over six thousand miles eastward. Finally, they arrived at a place where three river branches converged into the great river. From nearly the same spot, three branches rushed into the great river, forming into a very wide body of water, and creating an enormous lake with the circumference of over three thousand miles surrounded by the mountains.
Wu Qi was standing on the peak of a great mountain, overlooking the enormous lake underneath. Like a mighty dragon, the main stream of the great river rushed gurgling from east to west, while the three smaller branches were like three large serpents coming from the horizon, plunging their heads right into the body of the mighty dragon. Because of the impact from the fierce river water of the four rivers, the water rocked and rolled aggressively in the lake. Although there was no wind blowing, waves were seen rising several feet high and sweeping across the surface, while there were rapid spinning vortexes vaguely visible underneath the surface. Noises of splashing kept echoing out in the air.
The moon had raised nearly to the center of the sky, and the time was almost midnight. Suddenly, there were gleams emerging on the surface of the lake, as countless fishes, prawns, crabs and other aquatic demon beasts poked their heads out and floated on the surface of the water. They opened their mouths and pointed right at the sky, waiting patiently to absorb the moonlight essence that sprinkled down when the moon reached to its highest altitude. It was an essence that could make demon beasts change their form and improve their cultivation base.
A night with a full moon was the most important time for any demon beasts, and none of them would miss this day.
Ying Zheng's faint voice was heard coming from a dense forest halfway up a lofty mountain, "Last month, because of the disappearance of Xu Fu, our field headquarter was in a messy situation, and as a result, we could not come here to capture that flood dragon. Tonight, we cannot afford to fail again. Once I make that flood dragon surrender before me, successfully cultivate the first-stage of my Nine Dragons Cauldron Grand Magic and step into the realm of Heaven Immortal, all of you will be greatly rewarded. As for that young lad who disturbed our field headquarter, once I have made the breakthrough, I'll definitely grind his bones and scatter his ashes everywhere, then slaughter every single one of his clan members!"
The mountain breeze blew over the great lake and came caressing Wu Qi's face, bringing a pleasantly cool sensation to his entire body. His hearing and vision were extremely sensitive now. Thus, he could hear Ying Zheng loud and clear. He suddenly recalled what Xu Fu said on the night before he abducted him, mentioning that Li Si had discovered another flood dragon. As Ying Zheng's cultivation technique required the aid from the blood essence and soul of a flood dragon, and they had apparently suffered a great loss last time when trying to capture the demon dragon of Heaven Immortal realm, it looked like they were about to cause some trouble to the second flood dragon tonight.
So, Ying Zheng was trying to make the breakthrough with the help of a flood dragon? Wu Qi shook his head. How could he allow such a thing to happen before his eyes? But, what should he do in order to ruin Ying Zheng's great plan? He saw Bai Qi giving out instructions to numerous soldiers halfway up the mountain, as they were constructing a formation that looked menacing and murderous. Then he saw many black-robed practitioners deploying numerous vicious and evil defensive mechanisms around the formation. Wu Qi could not help but frown.
Bit by bit, the moon slowly moved towards the highest altitude, as more and more demon beasts gathered on the surface of the great lake.
The more powerful a demon beast, the later it appeared in the lake, and the bigger its body was. Therefore, those demon beasts who arrived now were like large mountains that ascended from the bottom of the river, causing the water to surge and roll even more violently than before. One after another, tall waves slapped onto the large rocks near the bank of the lake, producing loud roaring and booming that echoed over one thousand miles away.
Right at the moment before the moon hit the highest altitude, an enormous catfish that was over three thousand feet long, suddenly leaped out from under the water. With a sway of its large tail, it crushed a pair of crabs into a mess. These were two large crabs, roughly one hundred feet in diameter, and apparently were Demon Immortals who had a pretty decent cultivation base. But when they were slapped by the large tail of the catfish, their strong bodies were immediately crushed into pieces like some tofus.
All the catfish had a slippery body as they were covered in a layer of mucus, and they did not have scales. But this aggressive catfish who leaped out from the water had a layer of densely arranged black scales on its skin, each as large as a water bucket, and their shapes were completely different than ordinary fish scales; they were pentagons. There was a fine golden line on the edge of the scales, and it was indeed a very beautiful looking fish. Near its mouth where usually the whiskers of a catfish were found were six dragon whiskers, each one thousand feet long and shining brightly as if they were made out of pure silver. There was also a dragon horn mounted on the top of its head, a pitch-black horn that looked like the horn of a deer, glittering and translucent with eight forks.
Right after the great catfish thrust out from the water, chilly winds immediately blew and swept across the surrounding. A thick layer of watery cloud shrouded its body. There were thunderbolts vaguely flashing inside the cloud. The catfish was lying with its stomach down on the dark cloud, as it erected its upper body lazily and faced the moon. It opened its giant mouth and began sucking the moonlight essence.
With just one ingestion, half of the moonlight essence sprinkling down onto the great lake was sucked dry by the catfish. All the other demon beasts roared crazily, cursing angrily in the direction of the catfish, then moved far away from it in a frustrated mood. They could not absorb even a single thread of moonlight essence if they kept staying close to the catfish, and that would be a waste of the night.
The catfish paid no attention to the objections from all other demon beasts, and kept absorbing the moonlight essence coming down from the sky comfortably. Its body began glinting and flashing, as four dragon claws suddenly poked right out from underneath its body, swinging and grabbing around while producing some loud, wind breaking noises.
Two large, over one hundred feet long water snakes were grabbed by its claws, which it threw into its mouth and swallowed into its stomach.
Wu Qi's eyes brightened. This was a fierce and powerful flood dragon. However, it was rare to see a flood dragon transformed from a catfish, and its appearance was rather strange. With his mind filled with malicious thoughts, Wu Qi threw his glance over at Ying Zheng far away in the distance. A flood dragon transformed from catfish, would Ying Zheng still want to capture it?