Chapter 462: Breaking Through the Tight Encirclement
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
"Hahaha!" A burly man raised his spear up, its spearhead inside Wu Qi's shoulder. Even as he did that, an axe was approaching from one side, leaving a bright green trail in the air as it chopped towards Wu Qi's neck. The burly man with the spear shouted, "Put some force in your attack, brothers! This fellow has also practiced a body cultivation technique. His fleshly body is tougher than normal!"
In fact, without being reminded by the burly man, the rest of them had concluded just from the grinding sounds produced as the spearhead pierced Wu Qi's shoulder that the strength of his fleshly body was at least one hundred times stronger than ordinary cultivators. The man who had the axe in his hand clenched his jaws tightly and his eyes went wide as he exerted all his strength to thrust the axe. "No matter how tough is, there is no way he can withstand my mighty axe!" He said with a roar of laughter.
A severe pain made Wu Qi's body twitch convulsively while his eyes were shot with blood. A long, maniacal, and desperate howl spewed out of his mouth as he watched the axe approach his neck menacingly. "Damn you, it hurts!"
Suddenly, his body transformed into a clump of dark mist and dispersed into all directions. He had exercised the mist escape art found in the Inferno Hell Fiend Scripture, turning himself into a column of hazy mist. A wild wind blew across and brought the dark mist several miles away. Then, it compressed abruptly, revealing Wu Qi once again.
The cultivation techniques of Fiend Dao were ruthless, savage, bizarre, and unpredictable. They had all kinds of magical effects which looked mysterious to the others. Wu Qi had escaped from being killed by transforming himself into a mist, and when he transformed back to his true form, the wound on his right shoulder was fully healed. Apart from the slightly pale complexion, he looked perfectly fine.
It did appear to be rather easy for him to transform into a mist and escape, then remold his fleshly body with a mystic technique of Fiend Dao and heal his wound. However, only he himself knew what price he had paid. In that short moment, he had lost thirty percent of his blood essence. His vision was dimmed, and he felt no strength in his body. With a thought in his mind, the black dragon spirit ring spat out three blood crystals and a huge amount of drunken dragon incense powder.
Wu Qi attached the blood crystals on his skin so he could absorb the enormous blood and energy essence in them, while a raging fiend flame darted out from all over his body. The flame was black in color and sending forth an immense coldness, together with a pungent and strange stench that made all the Generals of Minor Allheaven frown. One of them, a burly bald man, said with a cold grin, "What cultivation technique of Fiend Dao has this fellow practiced? He smells just like rotten meat, as if we are at an unmarked burial ground!"
In just a blink of an eye, Wu Qi was completely shrouded in the fiend flame. A black fiend aura rolled and rocked around him, and his bloodshot eyes shimmered with a bright gleam. Through the dark flame and black mist, only his bloodshot eyes could be seen by the others. The Inferno Hell Fiend Scripture was fully triggered, and it had also changed Wu Qi's voice, turning it sharp and unpleasant like some grinding sound. "An unmarked burial ground? You are right, this place will turn into an unmarked burial ground today!"
He gave a few strange laughs, pointing his finger at the golden-robed youth and snapped, "I've never killed a nameless person! Tell me your name!"
The youth stared at Wu Qi with amazement. At last, he laughed and said, "You've never killed a nameless person? Do you think you can really kill me today?" He paused for a brief moment, then continued in a rather reserved manner, "Fine, I'll tell you before killing you. I'm Feng Jiupan, the Prefecture Overseer of the Pang Province, conferred as the Marquis of Mang by the current Human Emperor."
As their Master was announcing his identity, all the Generals of Minor Allheaven halted their actions. They surrounded Wu Qi, lowered their arms respectfully, and listened attentively to their Master. Feng Jiupan stuck out his chest and said coolly, "My father is Feng Lingling, the Prefecture Overseer of the Zhong Province, the man in charge of all the affairs in 900 provinces around Zhong Province, and has the power of life and death over all the hundreds of millions of people in these 900 provinces!"
Wu Qi's gaze turned icy. Yu Hehuan did mention the structure of Great Yu's authority in his testimonials. Of course, as he was just a prodigal son who had never visited Pangu Continent, he did not know too much of it, but it was more than enough for Wu Qi to learn some secrets.
Great Yu Dynasty had classified all the provinces under the heaven into nine grades. The sizes of their land were roughly the same, but according to the type of local products, the population, the tax revenue, and some other objective conditions, they were ranked from ninth grade to first grade, and the same ranking applied to their Prefecture Overseers. A first-grade Prefecture Overseer had the power to promote or demote, and even confiscate the property and exterminate an entire clan of those officials in the nearby second, third, down to the ninth grade provinces.
Pang Province was just a seventh-grade province, while Zhong Province was the only first-grade province among 900 provinces surrounding it. Feng Lingling, the Prefecture Overseer of Zhong Province, was in fact, the overlord who ruled the vast land consisting of 900 provinces!
Noticing how Wu Qi was gasping, Feng Jiupan kept grinning coldly and said, "Are you afraid? Regretting it now? Realizing that you should not have poked your nose into my business? Hmph! It took us much effort to attract the Gale, and it would have been the gift for my father's birthday. Yet, you've set it free! Daoist, you deserve death. You should be cut into pieces!"
He raised a finger up before his face and lightly streaked it across his neck as he said, "I'll extract your soul after killing you, hand it to the Great Oracles of Directorate of Celestial, and let them carry out a thorough interrogation. I'll find out where your sect is, and..." his voice trailed off, and was followed by a bizarre smile as he continued in a low voice, "…and all the men in your sect will go through the cruelest torture before they are killed, while the girls... Once I've finished enjoying them, hehe, they will be greeted with the most miserable fate under the heaven!"
As Feng Jiupan was about to mention what kind of cruel approaches he would use to torture the people in Wu Qi's sect, fifty-nine Generals of Minor Allheaven suddenly collapsed to the ground one after another. Their faces were red as if they were drunk. Feng Jiupan was taken aback as he stared blankly at his beloved Generals and asked with a hoarse voice, "What happened? What are you doing? Ah? What are you doing?"
Underneath Feng Jiupan, the black dragon twitched his lips slightly. Without attracting any attention, he quietly shut his huge nostrils, tightly blocking off his breathing tube. The black dragon narrowed his eyes as a faint smile lingered near the corner of his mouth. 'Drunken Dragon Incense, it must be that vicious thing!' All the members of Dragon clan had a deep-seated hatred for drunken dragon incense. Hence, they knew all its characteristics like the palm of their own. 'Just look at those fainted people, the drunken dragon incense must have taken effect.'
Naturally, when facing a cultivator who was practicing the orthodox Dragon Transformation Script, as well as the owner of the drunken dragon incense, the black dragon was too lazy to provide Feng Jiupan any hint. He stuck out his tongue to moisten his lips, narrowed his eyes, and gave Wu Qi a meaningful glance- 'I'm just doing a job to earn some money. Do not come near me when you kill people later!'
Wu Qi was able to understand the meaning expressed by the black dragon's eyes and brows, and it nearly made him fall down. 'He was just doing a job to earn some money? Is that what he wants to tell me?'
As he clicked his tongue to express the amazement, Wu Qi had completely absorbed all the enormous blood and energy essence contained in three blood crystals, fully replenishing the blood and energy essence which he had used to exercise the mist escape art previously. In the next moment, the Flaming Magpie sword thrust out with a sharp and sonorous cry. A huge, bright red bird flashed in the sky as the immortal sword swept across the necks of all the Generals of Minor Allheaven, cutting their heads off.
These Generals of Minor Allheaven had very strong fleshly bodies, as well as a vast amount of blood. When their heads were cut, their powerful hearts continued to pump, spraying the blood out of their necks like water spraying out of a high-pressure water tap, splattering over several hundred feet away. As their blood was copious, it flowed endlessly like streams. The total volume of their blood was at least ten times more than an ordinary mortal.
The ground was smeared with blood. Wu Qi gave a few wicked laughs, before suddenly transforming into a clump of dark mist and speeding away. Previously, in just the time of a few breaths, he had burned off several hundred kilograms of drunken dragon incense powder with the fiend flame. As the fragrance was covered by the stench of rotting corpses emitted from the fiend energy, those Generals of Minor Allheaven had unknowingly inhaled a great amount of it, and hence all collapsed to the ground.
Drunken dragon incense acted directly on a cultivator's soul. Therefore, when a cultivator's soul was overly strong, it would be rendered useless. The strongest cultivator who Wu Qi could knock out with the drunken dragon incense he concocted was a Thirty-sixth Tier Heaven Immortal. As for those Thirty-fifth Tier Heaven Immortals and above, he could only numb their immortal souls and weaken their overall strength.
Although these Generals of Minor Allheaven had exceedingly powerful fleshly bodies, their souls were no different from ordinary humans. With just a little bit of drunken dragon incense, it would be more than enough to knock out a powerful human warrior. As Wu Qi feared that he could not knock them down, he had burned off several hundred kilograms of drunken dragon incense at once!
Wu Qi threw his head back and gave a wild laugh, transforming into a dark shadow as he sped away towards An He City's direction at an incredible speed.
Fuming with rage, Feng Jiupan pointed his finger at those old men, who sat cross-legged below the huge bone talismans with both eyes and mouths fixed, and scolded furiously, "You bunch of useless fools! Are you idiots? You are the most experienced Oracles from Pang Province's Directorate of Celestial! You can communicate with Ghosts and Deities. You claimed that there is nothing under the Heaven that you do not know! So, where are your magical spells of Ghosts and Deities? Where is your mighty magics? Why can't you even protect my beloved Generals?"
All the Oracles were rendered speechless.
After Wu Qi killed thirteen Generals, including Storm, with the Jadebones Soul-Searching Flag, when the rest of the Generals were charging towards him, these Oracles had reflexively cast the spells that could protect their souls from any attacks. However, little did they expect that Wu Qi would attack his opponents with an ecstasy! In fact, they had never cast the spell of repelling poisons on these Generals. As a result, Wu Qi was able to achieve a significant result with his drunken dragon incense, killing fifty-nine formidable Generals in just a twinkle, and nearly making Feng Jiupan cough blood with anger!
As these Oracles were pulling themselves out from the shock, they raised their right arms and performed a finger incantation gesture, pointing it at the huge bone talisman hovering above their head. Immediately, dark clouds began to gather in the sky. Thunderbolts darted back and forth violently within the dark clouds, illuminating the dark clouds every now and then.
Abruptly, several thousand thunderbolts smashed down from the sky, smiting Wu Qi's body almost at the same time.
Amidst a loud chirping of cicadas, the Green Cicada Wing transformed into a large sheet of green light, rushing out to protect Wu Qi. But, the power of the thunderbolts was unexpectedly strong. The Green Cicada Wing gave a sharp cry and exploded into countless beams of green light abruptly, dispersing into all directions while the thunderbolts smashed heavily onto Wu Qi's body, shattering his black defensive fiend energy and smiting his skin.
*Crackle!*
Half of his body was charred, with dark smoke rising up. The electricity rushed through his body and began to wreak a havoc inside him.
Wu Qi let out a miserable howl in pain. Then he gave a long screech, shooting himself straight towards three bone talismans and three Oracles blocking ahead of him.
The three old Oracles raised their hands up to perform hand incantation gestures at the same time. Their eyes flashed with a bright gleam as they snapped, "The path is blocked, go back now!"
A tremendous pressure came caressing his face, slapping down like an iron wall.
Wu Qi was terrified. Several dozens of old Oracles were approaching from behind with their huge bone talismans, vaguely forming a complex and bizarre formation in the sky. They were reciting some mystic spells to attack Wu Qi. If he were slightly hindered by three old Oracles before him, perhaps he would really get himself killed here.
He opened his mouth, shooting out all five acquired five elements spirit pearls at the same time. Ignoring the fact that he might damage the source of the five acquired spirit pearls, Wu Qi detonated all their energies. In a flash, the enormous amount of energy which the five acquired spirit pearls had accumulated through countless Periods of time detonated. A five-colored strong light flashed as a mushroom cloud rose from the ground. Amidst the blinding light, three old Oracles and their bone talismans vanished into nothingness.
Five dimmed acquired spirit pearls flew back into Wu Qi's body. They could no longer move even a little.
Suddenly, a vast stream of blood gushed out of Wu Qi's body. Using the blood escape art in Scroll of Stealing and coupled with the blood escape art in Inferno Hell Fiend Scripture, he had transformed into a beam of bloody light and sped away. But, before he transformed into the beam of bloody light, a huge skeleton shadow smashed brutally on him.
He gave a muffled snort and fled without a trace, leaving only blood on the ground which turned into sticky, rotting fluid in just a blink of an eye.