Chapter 443: An Insincere Compliance
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
Wu Qi's vision was filled with countless illusions. Cities and towns, mountains and rivers, birds and fishes, flowers and trees, all sorts of conceivable fantasies… There were even golden mountains and silver oceans, and an ocean of blood with exceedingly beautiful girls dancing gracefully on top. Once his heart was moved, his soul would be extracted from his body by this boundless environment, and some heavenly thunders and earthly fire would come and smash it to shreds.
With just a casual wave of his hand, Daoist Yun Zang had created an illusion realm that could directly attack one's soul. Evidently, he had attained a profound cultivation in both his magical power and divine ability. If any Immortals who were used to fighting with flying swords and talismans were to face Daoist Yun Zang, it was very easy for them to unknowingly fall into his control and have their souls perished. Green City's legacy of Dao technique was indeed extraordinary, at least a few times stronger than the approaches used by ordinary Immortals.
Wu Qi glanced around with the Mystic Eyes of Universe, nodding and praising inwardly. At present, he was able to peer several hundreds of miles into the ground with his Mystic Eyes of Universe. He could see every rock, sand, and soil, as vivid as if he were looking through a clear water. However, despite the fact that before him was just a thin layer of illusion realm, and he had exerted all his magical power and divine ability to try looking through it, all he could see was just layers of mist and smoke. Everything was obscure and fuzzy, existing between reality and fantasy. He just could not see things as clearly and detailedly as he could normally.
'What a good tactic, a good divine ability, and a good magical power!' Wu Qi praised inwardly again. Then, he raised both hands up and cried out, "Are you the Senior Immortal from Green City in Xuan Yang Heavenly Realm? This is a misunderstanding! I'm the new Outer Sect Chief Supervisor for Euphoria Heavenly Palace! All of this is just a misunderstanding!"
Daoist Yun Zang snorted coldly and pointed his finger out again, increasing the magical power of the illusion realm that trapped Wu Qi within. "A mere misunderstanding has made you destroy my sect entrance. If this is not a misunderstanding, wouldn't that mean you have already brought someone here and attacked me? With your puny cultivation base of peak-stage Nascent Soul realm, and the few little Gold Core cultivators next to you, how daring are you to ask me to come out and face my death?" mocked Daoist Yun Zang in a low voice.
Wu Qi roared and yelled a few times in a panic, then screamed at the top of his voice, "Of course it is a misunderstanding! Senior Immortal, since you are going to establish a Daoist rite temple here in the region near An He City, Euphoria Heavenly Palace can provide you with all the help! We have the manpower and resources. Isn't this better than working laboriously alone? And, with the Daoist rite temple built, Senior Immortal is definitely going to recruit some disciples and apprentices. I can help Senior Immortal find several hundred disciples with spirit roots and make them take you as their Master!"
The transformation of the illusion realm halted abruptly, and the layers of mist and smoke, as well as all the illusions, shattered to pieces, revealing Daoist Yun Zang, who had his head tilted up arrogantly and pointing his nostrils at Wu Qi. "If that is what you can offer me, I do like it... Well, follow me then. Tell me how exactly are you going to help me build this Daoist rite temple. But, let me make this clear in advance. If you are just bluffing me, hehe, you should know what to expect!"
With a flick of his sleeve, a column of green smoke rushed out of Daoist Yun Zang as it wrapped around Wu Qi and flew into the depth of Greenwood Mountain.
The once Green Pill Sect base was nothing but a few rows of fairly small, woods mixed with bamboo buildings that were scattered across a valley. As Daoist Yun Zang had just arrived, although he had picked Greenwood Mountain as the location to build a new Daoist rite temple, he had not had the time to modify and decorate the place. Hence, the place still had the same look as when it was Green Pill Sect's base.
Eight young Daoists were deploying defensive spells around the valley with various array flags and array discs in their hands. The original defensive formations constructed by Green Pill Sect were absurdly inferior, and obviously, did not meet Daoist Yun Zang's eyes. Apart from this group of disciples who were loyal to Daoist Yun Zang, there were also four junior Daoists who looked about twelve to thirteen years old, two boys and two girls. This was all the manpower Daoist Yun Zang brought here.
It appeared to be very shabby for Daoist Yun Zang, who was a Twenty-seventh Tier Heaven Immortal, to bring just eight disciples and four junior Daoists with him. Furthermore, Wu Qi gave the group of eight disciples a quick glance when he went past them, and saw that the array flags and array discs they used were not of excellent quality. They were mainly forged with one hundred years old Dark Irons, which made them the low-lower quality array flags and array discs. Although the grade of their formation map was fairly advanced, with such poor quality materials, the formation would only have the power to barely defend against Heaven Immortals of Thirty-fourth Tier and below.
Apparent, he was just an unlucky fellow who was poor and did not have enough manpower, and was sent to Pangu Continent by Green City to open up new territory.
Through the information Wu Qi gathered during the past days, he knew that it was not a favorable task to be sent to Pangu Continent and establish a Daoist rite temple. If anyone tried to establish a Daoist rite temple in a place where no other immortal sects were found, they would have to face a great obstruction coming from the Yu Dynasty's authority. And, if it were a place such as An He City, where various immortal sects had already claimed their respective territories and set their footholds, the struggle would be extra intensive.
If not for what Liu Yi had done, and Wu Qi poking his nose into the matter by scheming Patriarch Muji and Arhat Wrath, resulting in the death of the leader of Righteous League, as well as severely wounding the leader of Evil League and forcing him to heal himself in a seclusion, Daoist Yun Zang would have faced a joint suppression coming from both of them.
Patriarch Muji represented the League of Evil Immortals, and Arhat Wrath was a Buddhist disciple. On the other hand, Green City was an existence walking on the path of orthodox Daoist School. Originally, An He City was in a rather balanced situation, that the evil and the good were opposing each other. So, when someone from the orthodox Daoist School such as Daoist Yun Zang wished to take a share of the loot here, he would definitely be seriously attacked.
However, as the situation had changed now, the arrival of Daoist Yun Zang at this right moment and the right place made Wu Qi believe that it was not just a coincidence. Most probably, some bigshot in Green City had ordered this fellow to come to An He City and test the water. If Daoist Yun Zang were able to set his foot in An He City, it was highly possible that Green City would follow that with a massive invasion. Conversely, once Daoist Yun Zang suffered a heavy blow here, Green City would immediately retract their limbs and put things to a rest, never to touch the place again.
And that was the reason why Daoist Yun Zang mercilessly killed Hidden Heart and Guarding Heart right after the arrival.
Wu Qi felt a twitching pain in his heart when he thought about the bloody corpses of Hidden Heart and Guarding Heart. But, he could not do anything to Daoist Yun Zang right now. Firstly, Daoist Yun Zang had a formidable cultivation base, and Wu Qi did not have a sufficient cultivation base to defeat him. Secondly, if Wu Qi really killed Daoist Yun Zang now, how was he going to lure out the people behind Daoist Yun Zang?
Daoist Yun Zang's Master was none other than Reverend Li Yang from Green City, that Reverend Li Yang who schemed against Lady Dark Gold Water and caused her to be trapped on Xue Yuan Planet for several hundreds of thousands of years! From emotion to reason, Wu Qi had to settle the scores with Reverend Li Yang, finding a way to con him.
With his head held high, Daoist Yun Zang brought Wu Qi and his company into the valley, and came under a huge Banyan tree. The tree stood about one thousand feet tall, with a crown stretched several miles wide. It was an ancient tree, and judging by its look and size, it had been growing for at least several hundreds of thousands of years. Usually, a huge and old tree such as this would have formed its demon core, and as long as it managed to transcend the heavenly fire and thunder tribulation, it would be able to transform into a human form and become a Demon Immortal.
However, someone had deeply buried seven Demon Suppressing Nails made using purple gold at the center of its trunk, completely eliminating the possibility of becoming a Demon Immortal for this huge Banyan tree. A crimson stamp was clearly branded on the caps of these nails- 'On a certain day, in a certain month of a certain year, this tree is suppressed and killed by so-and-so Great Oracle of Great Yu's Celestial Directorate!'
Clearly, it was an official work done by Yu Dynasty. A Great Oracle from Yu Dynasty's Celestial Directorate had personally suppressed the Banyan tree, wiping out its innate sentience. Since then, this huge tree could only be a tree forever, and could never cultivate into a demon. In fact, this was one of the main responsibilities for Yu Dynasty's Celestial Directorate. They had to remove the roots of anything that could potentially become Demon Immortals, Ghost Immortals, and Evil Immortals on Yu Dynasty's territory, eliminating them when they were in the embryonic stage.
Under the great Banyan tree there stood a round table carved out of a large old root, and a few round stools placed around it next to the erecting roots of the Banyan tree. Daoist Yun Zang threw himself onto one of the round stools, then pointed at the stool next to him and said lightly, "Have a seat. Mind telling me your name, little friend?"
Wu Qi gave the timid and overcautious You Jin a look. Smilingly, he cupped his fist and bowed to Daoist Yun Zang, then sat on the stool.
After briefly licking his lips, Wu Qi chuckled and said, "I am Greed, currently working as the Outer Sect Chief Supervisor for Reverend San Le, in charge of all the outer sect's affairs. I was being rude today, as I had no idea that a Senior Immortal from Green City was establishing a Daoist rite temple here. Please forgive my rudeness, Senior Immortal!"
Daoist Yun Zang snorted coldly as he spent some while to seize Wu Qi up. After that, he gestured and said arrogantly, "Ignorance can be forgiven. Mm, I was too quick to attack. Who are those two monks to you?" Obviously, Daoist Yun Zang had seen how Wu Qi flew into a rage and destroyed Green Pill Sect's entrance with a sword strike. He was curious to why Wu Qi would do that.
Wu Qi laughed dryly and answered, "They are two sinecures who had recently joined Euphoria Heavenly Palace. As you might have learned, Euphoria Heavenly Palace's overall strength has greatly suffered, and as that Hidden Heart had an overall strength of Heaven Immortal, although his magical power and cultivation base was slightly weak, but we did hope he could bring us more benefits!"
Not waiting for Daoist Yun Zang to speak, Wu Qi immediately followed that with a flattering, "But, now that we have you, Senior Immortal, to station here in Greenwood Mountain, with you as our backing, we can just throw the death of Hidden Heart into the wind! He is just one dead bald donkey now. Hehe, it's not a big deal. Most importantly, Euphoria Heavenly Palace will greatly appreciate your help in the future. Senior Immortal, you don't have to be courteous with us. If there is anything you need our help with, you can just let me know!"
Four junior Daoists came next to the table and served tea to both Daoist Yun Zang and Wu Qi. However, it seemed that Daoist Yun Zang's disciples and apprentices were as arrogant as their Master. They served Daoist Yun Zang a teacup of excellent quality made with fine ceramic, azure in color with pale blue streaks, while the one that placed before Wu Qi was just a fist-sized black cup made with dirt.
After serving the tea, four junior Daoists split and stood on each side behind Daoist Yun Zang, tilting their heads up and pointing eight nostrils towards Wu Qi.
Daoist Yun Zang picked up his teacup and took a sip out of it. Then, he said in a flat tone, "But from what I know... Euphoria Heavenly Palace is backed by Patriarch Muji! Although this old evil doesn't have a profound cultivation base, his Ancestral Master is a very famous figure!"
Wu Qi smiled and bent his body slightly forward, "Isn't Patriarch Xuan Yi from Dark Palace in Hui Ming Heavenly Realm the man behind Patriarch Muji? Does Green City really regard Dark Palace as a threat? To be honest, I'm not originally from Euphoria Heavenly Palace. Hehe, so what does that Dark Palace has anything to do with me?"
Clapping his hand, Daoist Yun Zang stared at Wu Qi as he praised, "Excellent! It is nice for you to think like that! Patriarch Xuan Yi is just a Sixteen Tier Gold Immortal, but my Master, Reverend Li Yang, is a Seventh Tier Gold Immortal!"
Wu Qi clapped his hands too and said, "Yes, that's the reason! I'll now use all available resources on hand to build Senior a grand and magnificent Daoist rite temple, then recruit several hundred apprentices with excellent spirit roots for Senior. This is just a little contribution from me! Haha!" Wu Qi threw his head and laughed.
Daoist Yun Zang nodded vigorously and said with a bright smile, "I'll remember your contribution! When my Daoist rite temple is officially open, I'll invite my Master for a visit! If he appreciates your contribution, he might take you as an in-name disciple!"
Wu Qi exchanged a glance with Daoist Yun Zang, then both of them roared with laughter.