Chapter 253: A Counterattack
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
The people of Scouting Office had their own set of standards when it came to dealing with the dead bodies of their comrades. Leading all his subordinates, Qin Qingshui gathered all the broken bodies of three beast warriors who were killed after self-explosion. After that, they sprinkled some specially made phosphorus powder on the carcasses. A green flame burst out and soundlessly burned all the carcasses into ashes.
A few beast warriors took out small black clay pots, cupping up the ashes and placing them in the pots, then strapping the pots on their back with ropes.
Standing before the three burn marks on the ground, Qin Qingshui murmured with a deep voice, "Rest in peace, my brothers, as Wu Qi is dead now. His soul has disintegrated and turned into the nutrients for my beast soul. May your souls rest in peace, my brothers. I will take good care of your families." Then, he casually tossed the Black Dragon Spirit Ring up in the air. The ring tumbled and landed back in his palm. "With this ring alone, I can guarantee riches and honor for your clan members." He said with a sneer.
Qin Nihu walked with staggering steps towards them from a few miles away, with one hand hugging the arm which was barely joined back on his shoulder using medicinal paste. The two Earth Immortals and twelve Human Immortals were following him, they too walking with many difficulties. While still far away, Qin Nihu shouted at the top of his voice, "Qingshui, what are you doing there? We need to go right now! All of us are severely wounded. If we bump into any experts from Qin army, we'll be dead!"
Qin Qingshui took a deep breath, as a look of panic jumped on his face. He waved his hands and cried out, "Retreat! Retreat now! Damn it. For the sake of killing Wu Qi, we've actually come into Qin army's territory! Run now, my brothers!"
A ringing of weapons being drawn was heard. A Qin scout suddenly darted out from a bush of tall grasses behind them, swung his blade and cut through the waist of a beast warrior, hacking him into two halves. In the next moment, several dozens of Qin scouts sprung out from the surrounding bushes. A leader of them snapped, "By the military order of Great Qin, kill them all!" Then, all the Qin scouts drew their blades and leaped towards their enemies aggressively like a pack of fierce tigers. Caught unprepared, five beast warriors were killed instantly.
More Qin scouts were rushing out from dense woods behind them, each holding a strong crossbow in their hands. A rain of several hundred bolts came pouring out, each bolt attached with various talismans and energy stones, carrying explosive powers that could compare to the attacks of Gold Core cultivators. Qin Qingshui and his company were thrown into a great confusion, while tens of beast warriors were hit by the bolts. The talismans attached to these bolts exploded, blasting them with raging flame, ice, lightning bolts, all kinds of Dharmic magics of five elements. They ripped and tore the bodies of these beast warriors, killing them on the spot.
Qin Qingshui let out a furious cry. Behind him, the Dark Nether Python, who had just gained two new heads, threw all its heads back and issued a loud, long hiss. It opened all five mouths widely, shooting out countless pitch-black air jets, precisely hitting onto all the Qin scouts around them. The air jets then exploded, producing loud booms that sounded like thunderclaps, while spreading the deadly poisonous gases throughout the area. Attacked by the poisonous gases, the Qin scouts who just rushed out from the woods howled and cried while collapsing to the ground. The poisonous gases corroded their skins, creating large patches of holes, melting and rotting their flesh and bones. Very soon, their bodies had turned into puddles of pus.
While walking towards Qin Qingshui, Qin Nihu was stunned by the sudden commotion. He howled in a near hysterical manner, "You b*stards! How audacious are you to attack us? Kill them all!" He waved the normal arm in the air, as a tiger-shaped air blast was unleashed from his palm. Amidst a jarring rumbling, the air blast plowed out a straight trench several feet deep on the ground, and smashed violently into the battle formation of Qin scouts, whose hands were holding the crossbows.
Immediately, a roaring of tiger towered into the sky. The tiger-shaped air blast unleashed by Qin Nihu suddenly exploded, sending out countless air blasts that looked like shooting stars, hitting and piercing into the bodies of surrounding Qin scouts. Their bodies bloated up rapidly, then exploded into shreds of blood and gore that flew in all directions. Qin Nihu let out a ferocious laugh, threw his head back and howled again, "You tiny worms, how dare you to attack us? Are you looking to die?"
All of a sudden, an invisible, tremendous force pressed down from above, pushing Qin Nihu several hundred feet into the ground while producing deep, muffled rumbles. Qin Nihu gave a miserable shriek, as at least forty percent of his bones were cracked and broken. The tremendous force restricted his movement. All his muscles and blood vessels were compressed, pressing tightly against his bones. A huge amount of blood kept bursting from his body, and in just a blink of an eye, he was completely covered in blood.
Together with a group of several dozens of cultivators, Zhang Yi came flying down from the sky. The invisible magnetic force was wheeling and flying around his body, producing deep rumbling that sounded like thunderclaps. All the natural energies in the surrounding mountains and underground energy veins were extracted and absorbed into his bodies. After being transformed by his Magnetic Grand Magic, they turned into a vast force that blanketed the land with about one-mile circumference.
Like a mighty God who could decide the fate of all living beings, Zhang Yi hovered midair, looking down at Qin Nihu and his company. He shook his head, sighed and said, "A bunch of juniors... Bullying you makes me feel... marvelous!" He laughed, then stretched his right arm towards Qin Qingshui, who stood still like the dead, with his mouth gaping. "Young lad, hand over the Spirit Ring of Black Dragon and all five Acquired Spirit Pearls of Five Elements. In other words, give me all the things left behind by Wu Qi, and I can let you die with your corpse intact!"
Suddenly, Qin Qingshui let out a wild cry, then pulled out a huge talisman, that measured about three feet tall and was carved out of yellow spirit jade. He bit his tongue and sprayed out a mouthful of blood onto the yellow jade, then smashed the talisman onto the ground. A stream of yellow mist towered from the ground, wrapping around Qin Qingshui, Qin Nihu, and all their company, then squeezed into the ground in an instant. In just a blink of an eye, they had fled to a distance of few miles away. This was a talisman produced by Earth Immortals of Heavenly Spirit Sect - the 'One Thousand Miles Earth Traveling Talisman', a talisman they produced specially for the juniors in their sect who could use it to escape from deadly calamity.
Zhang Yi's magnetic force was produced from the force of the earth. It was capable of restricting all metals and controlling the natural energies of the ground. However, it could do nothing to an advanced earth element talisman such as this. In just a brief moment Qin Qingshui and his company had fled to a distance of few miles away. Zhang Yi was struck dumb, and only reacted a short while after that. He cursed under his breath, brought all his subordinates and pursued after Qin Qingshui and his company.
A massive amount of magnetic force was unleashed and divided into very tiny threads. Aided by Zhang Yi's enormous divine will, they scanned through the underground inch by inch. With that, any changes to the underground energies became visible in his mind. Pursuing behind the energy ripple emitting from the One Thousand Miles Earth Traveling Talisman, Zhang Yi and his subordinates had quickly traveled a distance of over two thousand miles.
Before him was a great river with waves roaring and billowing violently. Right at the shore of the great river, a clump of yellow mist surged out from underground, then Qin Qingshui and his company were spat out from the yellow mist in a very sorry state, rolling everywhere on the ground. As the One Thousand Miles Earth Traveling Talisman was an advanced talisman, it traveled at an incredible speed underground, and thus, generated a huge pressure. With the overall strength of Qin Qingshui and his company, they also could not endure the sudden change in the speed. They were now lying on the ground as if they were drunk with alcohol, throwing up and unable to get up to their feet.
Zhang Yi laughed aloud. He waved his arm complacently, transforming the magnetic force into an invisible giant hand, viciously grabbing towards Qin Qingshui.
"Black Spirit Ring! Spirit Pearls of Five Elements! Innate Earth Element Energy Essence!" Upon thinking about these treasures owned by Wu Qi, Zhang Yi became so excited that his body was shivering from head to toe. The Black Dragon Spirit Ring belonged to Ying Zheng, and by seizing it back and offering to Ying Zheng, it would be a great merit for him. As for the Spirit Pearls of Five Element, he could give them to the juniors in his clan, as they were good treasures that could strengthen the overall strength of his own clan. As a matter of fact, in the entire national treasury of Great Qin Dynasty, there were only about thirty to fifty Acquired Spirit Pearls, and had long been shared by many important ministers.
As for the Innate Earth Element Energy Essence, Zhang Yi did not currently have the overall strength to refine it. Nevertheless, he could still place it in his dantian, slowly absorbing the energy essence to nourish his fleshly body. The Magnetic Grand Magic cultivated by him could turn natural energies into magnetic force, giving him unfathomable divine abilities. If he could turn his fleshly body into a Dharma Body of Innate Earth Element, then he would be able to produce innate magnetic forces. With that, the power of his divine abilities would be increased by at least one hundred times!
"They are all precious treasures!" Even with the two thousand years of experience in practicing cultivation, Zhang Yi still felt it difficult to hold down the excitement in his heart. He controlled the huge hand impatiently, moving it to grab Qin Qingshui, while he himself transformed into a dark beam and flew towards Qin Qingshui and his company at top speed.
Suddenly, the beast warriors around Qin Qingshui threw their heads back and issued a shrill cry, while they sprung back up one after another, brimming with energy. They stepped on their sword beams and thrust towards Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi was thrown into a great confusion by the sudden change, and could not understand what was going on. In just a blink of an eye, as Zhang Yi was focusing all his attention on Qin Qingshui, those beast warriors managed to come right next to him.
Immediately, the bodies of these beast warriors bloated up at the same time, then exploded like a bomb. Dark blood splashed and sprayed into all directions, while sending forth a pungent smell. Then, from the body of each beast warrior came a sword energy that had the power equal to a full force strike unleashed by a peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, which shot whistling out and smashed viciously towards Zhang Yi.
"Men of sacrifice! A trap!"
The two terms suddenly leaped into Zhang Yi's mind. Without hesitation, he gave a shrill cry, and all the mountain ridges in the circumference of one hundred miles shook and crumbled, as a massive amount of underground energies rushed crazily into his body, transforming into an enormous magnetic force that provided a tight protection around him. The sword energies burst out from the bodies of self-exploded beast warriors were then pulled and pushed by the magnetic force, causing their direction to be skewed, thrusting toward those cultivators behind Zhang Yi.
None of these cultivators of Qin army were expecting that Qin Qingshui and his company, who moments ago were hunted by them like a herd of little sheep, would suddenly transform into a pack of hungry wolves. They did not even have the time to take out any defensive magical treasures as they were sliced by the sword energies, having their bodies chopped into pieces. In a great panic, over twenty Nascent Souls rushed out from their badly mutilated bodies, sprung up into the sky and were about to flee towards Qin army's campsite.
Suddenly, from the great river behind Qin Qingshui and his company came a deep, muffled roar, "Those are Nascent Souls of the human beings! A great tonic! My children, don't let them run away!"
The river water began to roll and bubbling, as Wanying Dragon King, clad in a golden body armor and holding a great hammer in each hand, broke the surface of the water and emerged before everyone. He brought together with him Lord Xiansheng, the three great demons - Le Hai, Tan Xue, and Han Zhu, and an army of several thousand large aquatic demons, each enshrouded in boiling water vapor, valiantly and spiritedly.
The raging white water quickly surged and gathered, trapping Zhang Yi, over twenty Nascent Souls, and tens of cultivators from Qin army tightly within.
Wanying Dragon King complacently waved the huge hammers in his hands, pointed his finger at Zhang Yi, laughed and said, "Hand me your Nascent Souls now, and I will spare one single thread of your prime soul, so that you can be reincarnated again. I, the Old Dragon, understand the Heaven, understand Heaven's care for every living thing. Thus I will spare your soul. Hahaha, just to let you know, the clan of Dragon Mansion in Longyuan River always does good to the people!"
Hovering above Qin Qingshui, the Dark Nether Python slowly opened its five large mouths. From them, the five Acquired Spirit Pearls flew out slowly, shining brilliantly.
Then a fierce coughing echoed out, as Wu Qi crawled and jumped out from the large mouth of the central snake head, his body stinking. When he landed on the sandy shore, he took a few spins and nearly dropped to his knees. He grumpily pointed at Qin Qingshui with his finger and gave vent to a torrent of abuse, "Is your beast soul growing up in a shit hole? Why does it stink so much in its stomach? Pooh!"
Wu Qi coughed, then called back the Black Dragon Spirit Ring and Acquired Spirit Pearls of Five Element. After that, he raised his head and gave Zhang Yi a smile, whose eyes and mouth were both fixed. "Old mister Zhang, if you want, the position of Great Yan's Imperial Advisor is vacant and waiting for you! Tsk… Just to let you know, our emperor has already taken Lu Buwei as his teacher. Currently, Lu Buwei is the Prince of Wenxin, Left Prime Minister, and the Imperial Advisor of Great Yan Dynasty. If you surrender to us, the Great Yan, you will be conferred with the title of Prince, given the position of Right Prime Minister, and the Imperial Advisor as well! On top of that, if you like, you are free to choose any princess or princesses of Great Yan!"
Zhang Yi's fingers trembled. Suddenly, he transformed into a dark beam, bringing with him all his subordinates and the Nascent Souls of his subordinates. He shot through the air and was about to break through the white water and make his escape.
Wanying Dragon King let out a ferocious laugh. Immediately he teleported himself above Zhang Yi's head, wielded the two golden hammers and smashed them down forcefully.