Chapter 251: The Commencement of the Plan
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
"Who is the a*shole who came up with this idea? Could they have been waiting for this moment all the time?"
In the midst of lofty mountains in Meng Mountains, Wu Qi and a few Xiantian soldiers, whose bodies were all covered with wounds, were fleeing in panic through the woods. The place was near the parting line between the territories controlled by scouts of Great Yan and Great Qin. Every now and then, the scouts from both dynasties would hunt and kill each other in the woods along the parting line, and in every patch of woods in this area lied ambushes of many elite killers from each side.
Wu Qi leaped and crossed over a valley with three hundred feet of opening, then staggeringly landed on the cliff on the other side. But those soldiers behind him did not have a cultivation base such as his. They halted abruptly on the cliff before the opening. From the woods behind them came shooting out a few strong arrows, hitting right into their backs and piercing through their bodies, while the powerful forces pushed them into the valley. As the valley was over one mile deep, these soldiers were smashed into meat paste when they finally landed at the bottom.
Clad in a heavy body armor, Qin Nihu shot out from the woods riding on a bright beam, with two cultivators following beside him, who flew in the air without using any magical items. Obviously, both of them were Earth Immortals with the cultivation base of Nascent Soul realm. Apart from them, there was also a group of twelve Human Immortals of Gold Core realm, each having a different strange sign behind their back. The group flew out with a vicious smile on their faces, while Qin Nihu cried out in a cold voice, "Where is your luck, Duke of Tianyun? Where is your good fortune? Hehe, I'm sure you never expected this, bumping into us in the wilderness, huh?"
About one thousand feet behind them, Qin Qingshui was seen panting and running quickly towards them, together with a group of several dozen scouting officers. There were shadows of beast souls flickering behind their back. Obviously, they had already exercised the power of beast souls, which gave them the overall strength of Xiantian realm. However, compared to cultivators who could fly, their speed was still very slow, and could barely keep up with them from behind.
In a blink of an eye, Qin Nihu and his company had crossed the valley, continuing their pursuit with a distance of fewer than one thousand feet from Wu Qi.
Running wildly with staggering steps Wu Qi gave vent to a loud torrent of abuses, cursing all of Qin Wuyang's ancestors. After that, he fished out a blood-red jade bottle from within his robe, poured out a blood-red pill and tucked it into his mouth. In the next moment, a dark and misty fog burst out from behind his back, in which, a tiny flying sword was darting back and forth like a little thief, and looked much clearer than earlier.
He took a deep breath, turned to look over his shoulder and shouted out furiously, "Qin Nihu, if I manage to survive today, I'll settle this score with your Qin clan!"
While flying at top speed towards Wu Qi, Qin Nihu sneered and said, "The score between us can only be settled with death, so what is the point of uttering such rubbish?" Then, he waved his hand. Immediately, the Human Immortals behind him pulled out the Immortal Slaughtering Crossbows, the secret weapons produced by Mo Sect, and released a round of bolts that shot whistling towards Wu Qi like a raging rainstorm.
Wu Qi gave a shocked cry. Without hesitation, his body swayed, as he turned himself into a sheet of yellow mist and squeezed into the ground. But, he was a little bit too slow, as before he transformed and plunged into the ground, his shoulder was already pierced through by a bolt, sending a jet of blood several hundred feet away. Wu Qi let out a painful howl and quickly plunged into the ground. In a blink of an eye, he had fled several miles away, only to bring himself up to the surface again.
A fist-sized, see-through hole was opened up on his left shoulder, with fresh blood bursting out from the wound. His body was covered with cuts and bruises, many of which were bleeding ceaselessly. After he consumed a blood-red pill a moment ago, although the strange sign behind his back looked livelier than before, after using the escape art of earth and fleeing for several miles, the strange sign had dimmed down again, and looked as if it were going to disintegrate at any time.
Then the loud cry of Qin Nihu was heard again, "Go, go! Kill him! We can't let him flee back to Meng Fortress! If not for him peeping on pretty girls taking a bath just now, we would have never found such a perfect opportunity to kill him! After we have killed him, we will return to that place and capture Xiang Yu's wife alive. It will be a great merit if we offer her to His Majesty!"
Wu Qi kept running wildly, panting for breath. He looked very miserable, and it seemed like he had overconsumed his energy, and had no more to even fly on a flying sword or flee with escape art.
In the woods not far away, underneath a bush of tall grasses, a few Qin scouts were looking out through some openings between the grasses. As there were two Earth Immortals and twelve Human Immortals following Qin Nihu, none of these scouts dared to make a sound. The scout leader was holding a fist-sized crystal ball, pointing it right towards Wu Qi. There was a bright gleam that shone from the center of the crystal ball. It looked deep like the pupil of a stray cat.
A few thousand miles away, on a flat platform hewed out on the mountainside of a lofty mountain, Ying Zheng was sitting aloof on a dragon throne, looking coldly at a light screen before him. The crystal ball in the hand of the scout leader was actually a special magical item made by Guigu'zi using the eyeball of a strange beast - the 'Blue-eyed Cloud Cat'. Through a unique spell, one could receive everything that the crystal ball saw and heard within a distance of one million miles.
On the light screen, Wu Qi was in the middle of running in confusion. His blood splashed and stained the ground. There were a few serious cuts on his body, through which, his internal organs could be seen. If not for him having the cultivation base of Gold Core realm, which gave him a stronger life force than ordinary people, those wounds would be enough to get him killed. The Gold Core strange sign behind his back was flickering. It was obvious that his energy had come to a critically low point. He could no longer flee with the escape art, and although he had consumed a pill just now to exercise the escape art of earth, he was forced to resurface after merely traveling a few miles of distance. Clearly, his meridians had also suffered serious damage. Thus, even though he had consumed a brutal pill that stimulated his potential, it was still insufficient to support him to escape smoothly.
Looking at the miserable look of Wu Qi through the light screen, Ying Zheng could not help but break out into a loud laughter, "This little fellow is the thief who stole my Black Dragon Spirit Ring! Can anyone tell me why this little guy is hunted by his own people of Great Yan?"
Xu Fu took a step forward, sneered and said, "Your Majesty, according to the spies we planted in the territory of Great Yan Dynasty, it is purely out of luck that this Wu Qi was conferred with his title. Yet, he was bloated with pride because of that, and got dragged into the conflicts between two internal powers of Great Yan Dynasty. Among the people hunting him now, the guy riding on a light wheel is Qin Nihu, the youngest son of Qin Wuyang. He has deep enmity with Wu Qi as both of them are fighting for Princess Zhang Le's love, the youngest daughter of Great Yan's Crown Prince."
Then, he pointed his finger at Qin Qingshui, who was seen panting and chasing closely behind Qin Nihu with a group of several dozens of beast warriors, sneered and said, "This is Qin Qingshui, an offspring of Qin Wuyang. He is a greedy and incapable guy, but was once the Chief Supervisor of Center Wind Guards of Great Yan's Scouting Office, a very prestigious position with high power. But because of a conflict with Wu Qi, and some affairs he was involved with, his official position was taken away from him. Both Qin Nihu and Qin Qingshui have deep enmity with Wu Qi."
Xu Fu glared at Wu Qi in the light screen, and said in a cold voice, "Obviously, Wu Qi brought some men with him to inspect the military situation in the woods, but not knowing how, he bumped into his opponents, Qin Nihu and Qin Qingshui, and both decided to kill him in this place. Wu Qi rises from the common people, and thus, he does not have any foundation in the imperial court. On the other hand, Qin Nihu is aided by two Earth Immortals. How could this Wu Qi be their match?"
While Xu Fu was explaining the conflicts between Wu Qi, Qin Nihu, and Qin Qingshui, on the other side, Qin Nihu had almost caught up with Wu Qi.
Stepping on a light wheel, Qin Nihu was now at a distance less than five hundred feet behind Wu Qi. He was so happy that he cried out aloud, "Capture him alive! I want to torture him slowly. I want to teach him a lesson, to let him know the consequence of fighting for Princess Zhang Le's love with me! He is a b*stard worse than pigs and dogs. How dare him to crave for what he is not worthy of?"
The two Earth Immortals issued a weird laugh together. Casually they performed an incantation gesture each, pointed at Wu Qi and cast a restrictive spell. Immediately, the rocks and dirt around Wu Qi exploded. An invisible force pulled these rocks and dirt tightly together, then quickly wrapped toward Wu Qi's body.
"Do you guys really want a desperate fight?" Wu Qi shouted at the top of his voice.
After letting out a loud shout that came with double meanings, a stack of tens of glittering talismans suddenly appeared in Wu Qi's hand. He casually threw all the talismans over his shoulder, then sprung and leaped forward, throwing himself to the ground. In the next moment, all the talismans exploded, producing massive sheets of raging flame that spread nearly a mile away. Large fireballs fell whistling down from the sky which smashed and cracked the ground and scorched the earth. In addition to that, there were also countless lightning bolts with the diameter of a water bucket that streaked down from the sky with loud rumbles, striking straight onto Qin Nihu and all his followers.
In the light screen before Ying Zheng, the two Earth Immortals had their bodies charred by the lightning bolts and raging flame, and were forced to fall back several thousand feet of distance while coughing blood. Those were very powerful talismans produced by Heavenly Spirit Sect, and their power could be compared to a full force strike unleashed by a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator!
All twelve Human Immortals had collapsed to the ground, severely wounded. Their defensive magical treasures were torn into shreds by the lightning bolts, and their charred bodies were twitching and struggling violently.
Qin Nihu's light wheel was also smashed into pieces, and countless cracks could be found on his body armor. He was hit by the tremendous force of the impact, and was now standing straight on the ground, showing only the whites of his eyes. The lightning bolts had made his body numb, and he could hardly lift even a tiny finger up.
Wu Qi let out a furious roar. The Sword of Greedy Wolf shot out in a dimmed dark light, flying straight towards Qin Nihu's neck.
Qin Nihu cried out in alarm. In the most critical moment, he staggered and barely dodged the kill strike unleashed by Wu Qi. Yet, the sword sliced past his left shoulder, cutting through his tattered body armor and separating his left arm from his shoulder. A painful shriek burst out from Qin Nihu's mouth as blood shoot and splashed from his shoulder, while he staggered a few steps back and fell to the ground.
In an instant, the two Earth Immortals roared hoarsely, "How dare you, little rascal! Die now!"
They did not consume any pill to heal their serious wound. Instead, like fierce tigers that had gone berserk, they fused themselves into their flying swords and thrust aggressively towards Wu Qi's chest!
Wu Qi clenched his jaws tightly as he fixed his eyes at the two approaching sword beams. Suddenly he let out a stern voice, "Qin Wuyang, I want to f*ck all your ancestors!"
After giving Qin Wuyang the sincerest greeting, Wu Qi pulled out a thick stack of explosive talismans and flung them towards the two incoming sword beams!
For Earth Immortals of Nascent Soul realm, these explosive talismans were totally useless. The two sword beams were merely pushed slightly off their course by the explosion, and immediately streaked through Wu Qi's body with an immense cold breeze. Wu Qi let out a miserable shriek, took out a handful of pills and shoved them into his mouth, then transformed into a stream of yellow mist and plunged into the ground.
But from the light screen, Ying Zheng and the people around him could clearly see that one of the sword beams had pierced through Wu Qi's chest, while the other one sliced past his waist, nearly cutting him into two parts.
Ying Zheng laughed, clapping hands and stamping feet as he said, "Excellent! It feels so wonderful to witness an internal fight between Great Yan's ministers! Quickly record down all the scenes, then send those scenes to Duke Yan Le's Mansion in Ji City! Let the people behind Wu Qi deal with Qin Wuyang!"
After letting out a few loud laughs, Ying Zheng's pupils suddenly constricted. In a cold voice, he said, "What did that Qin Nihu said just now? Wu Qi was peeping on Yuji taking a bath, and that's why they... Hmm, if Yuji is there, I wonder... ah, hahaha!"
He turned his head, looking at Yuyao sitting right next to him.
Yuyao smiled coolly and said, "If Yuji is taking a bath there, then most probably Li Yueyan is there too."
A bright gleam immediately shone from Ying Zheng's eyes.