Hearing the magnetic voice from outside, Yang Qingxi could not tell whether it was genuine or an act, but a maiden's vernal delight surfaced in her calm eyes. Smiling, she said, "The old fellows all departed the city last night. Young Master Long is the inheritor of a ten-million estate, bold enough to venture alone into Lizhou to plot grand designs. How could Qingxi ever match such courage?"
Before a ten-million estate, no matter how cold and haughty Yang Qingxi might be, and even as the foremost figure among the Yang clan's younger generation, she had no choice but to flatter and fawn.
The man surnamed Long stood on the deck. Beneath the upturned eaves of the deckhouse behind him hung a lantern painted with court beauties.
Yet the light radiating from the lantern was completely distorted by the invisible field surrounding him, unable to fall upon his body and leaving him looking as though he were forever standing in shadow.
It was a mysterious and formidable force of aura.
His gaze was likewise fixed in the distance, watching the fierce pursuit along the riverbank.
On the other side of the Sui River, bordering the Mount Mang Range, the forest grew dense and deep. There were no lights, only the soaring silhouette of mountains rising to touch the clouds.
Shi Jiuzhai and a plump youth of fifteen or sixteen emerged from the thick woods, looking out toward the giant warship moored in the middle of the river, bearing a flag emblazoned with the character "Sui."
"Yang Qingxi really has lost her mind, mooring her ship right here. Does she have zero regard for the Prefectural Governor's Mansion and the Jiuli Clan? All these years, the Yang clan and the Sui Sect have truly taken themselves for the masters of Lizhou—even wilder than our Earth Wolf King's Army," Shi Jiuzhai could not help cursing.
The plump youth chuckled. "Brother Jiu, Yang Qingxi possesses a Pure Immortal Physique, and they say she's an absolute beauty. If she were willing to let you sleep with her for a night, I swear you wouldn't utter another word against her."
"Cursing while sleeping with her—wouldn't that add even more spice?" Shi Jiuzhai laughed.
"While beating her too?"
"Haha! How old are you? Don't go learning bad habits from Liu Se and the others!"
Shi Jiuzhai chuckled and narrowed his eyes. In the distance, he saw an awning boat emerging from the city, drawing toward the giant warship in the river, rowed by a burly monk with a curly beard wearing a red kasaya.
"They've arrived! Come, let's head over as well."
A gray cloud of dharmic qi materialized beneath Shi Jiuzhai's feet. He strode across the river's surface, crossing dozens of paces with every step.
The plump youth followed close behind.
Shi Jiuzhai and the plump youth leaped aboard the giant warship. Casting a glance at the noble figure standing on the bow deck, they proceeded directly into the main hall.
The smile on Yang Qingxi's face vanished entirely, and she gave a cold snort. "Shi Jiuzhai, your Earth Wolf King's Army can't handle the simplest matter. Failing to seize the coffin and kill them is one thing, but you went and exposed your identities. You completely ruined our plan to ignite conflict between the Fodu Bandits and the Jiuli Clan. How do you still have the gall to show your face in Lizhou?"
Yang Qingxi was naturally a participant in the plan.
Her earlier presence with Yang Yun at Yao Pass had been to await news and handle the aftermath.
Otherwise, how could meeting Li Ling have been a mere coincidence?
Exposing the Snow Wolf King's tooth was indeed a major blunder, but fortunately Shi Jiuzhai had brought back news of the Immortal Dharma Star, making up for the failure with new merit.
Shi Jiuzhai naturally would not bring up that embarrassment before Yang Qingxi. With an indifferent smile, he said, "That rotten plan was fundamentally flawed from the start. Look at how cowardly the Jiuli Clan has become. Even if we had slaughtered every single coffin-bearer of the Cangling Tribe at Immortal Burial Town a month ago, they would never have dared wage war against Xu Fodu. Unless... we wiped out the entire Cangling Tribe. Maybe that would have stirred up their blood..."
"What's the use of saying this now? The same trick won't work twice. Your Earth Wolf King's Army owes us an explanation," Yang Qingxi said.
Shi Jiuzhai sat down beside Yang Qingxi, where he could look straight out at the shimmering river and the ferocious slaughter unfolding on the distant bank. "Of course we have an explanation. Allow me to introduce a new friend who wants to join the fray."
Sensing something, Yang Qingxi turned toward the opposite bulkhead. Peering through a slit in the window, she saw several figures who had boarded the ship at some point, walking along the corridor toward the main entrance.
Her gaze turned thoroughly cold and grim. "How could you bring outsiders here without permission?"
The curly-bearded monk in the red kasaya had already stepped up to the doorway, his deep, resonant voice echoing through the hall: "This scheme of yours to sow discord is nothing more than petty trickery. Do you truly take everyone under heaven for fools? If you want to seize the world, you must fight for it with real blades and spears in the end. Mount Coffin wants a share of the spoils in Lizhou as well. Martial Uncle, please come inside!"
"No need. I'll stay out here in the breeze to get some fresh air."
...
Li Weiyi hacked and slashed his way to the bank of the Sui River. His clothes were already soaked through with blood—some his own, but far more from his foes.
His most severe injury was from an arrow shot by Murong Xiao that had grazed his shoulder blade. The bone felt dislocated, the pain unbearable. Had he not been wearing the corpse-garment soft armor underneath, it would not have merely grazed him—it would have driven straight through.
Just as he leaped up, intending to plunge into the Sui River—
*Whoosh!*
A metal whip nearly a hundred feet long shot out like a swimming serpent from a pitch-black, unlit fishing boat, wrapping around his left leg. It yanked hard, dragging him uncontrollably down toward the boat.
Two figures wielding fish gigs burst out from within.
They were certainly no ordinary fishermen, but gang leaders who operated around the Sui River docks. Both were seven-spring martial cultivators who had lain in wait here, hoping to reap easy rewards.
Li Weiyi exerted every ounce of strength to regain control of his body, severing the metal whip around his leg with a single slash. At the same time, he somersaulted in midair to evade the two thrusting gigs.
*Swish!*
At this critical juncture of life and death, he brought his sword down from above like a true god cleaving through mountains.
Taiyi Cleaves the Sea reached the realm of Heavenly Dao Dharma Convergence, slicing through the metal gigs in their hands and severing one of the men's arms. That single slash scared the souls right out of both men, leaving them paralyzed in terror.
Li Weiyi landed in the shallows beside the boat, already feeling utterly exhausted.
The moment he climbed to his feet, a gale roared behind him.
Yao Zhengsheng brought down a thousand-jin iron staff, his body leaping through the air like a silver-backed giant ape.
*Boom!*
The strike shattered the fishing boat's prow into kindling, sending splinters flying and water churning violently.
Li Weiyi barely dodged the blow.
Lu Can, another of the Top Hundred Martial Artists ranked even higher than Yao Zhengsheng, leaped from the silver-horned elk carriage. Covering dozens of paces in a single bound, he brought a tiger claw as broad as a palm-leaf fan slamming down toward Li Weiyi's crown.
He was of the tiger-like mutant race.
There were only so many types of ancient immortal behemoths, so mutant lineages tended to concentrate within specific regions. In Lizhou, for instance, tiger-like and ape-like mutants accounted for a very high proportion.
Lu Can's Subduing Demon Tiger Claws had already reached Heavenly Dao Dharma Convergence; even at his peak, Li Weiyi could never have hoped to evade it.
However reluctant, he had no choice but to meet it head-on.
*Bang!*
A clash of palms.
Li Weiyi spat blood and flew backward, crashing through the hull of the wooden boat behind him until his body was nearly wedged into the wood.
*Whoosh!*
Seizing the opportunity from within the silver-horned elk carriage, Yang Yun released the gleaming three-inch flying knife from his hand. It whistled past Li Weiyi's neck and tore cleanly through the entire seven-to-eight-meter length of the wooden vessel.
Its sharpness was truly terrifying.
The strike had originally been aimed at Li Weiyi's throat, but he had managed to dodge it.
Blood poured freely from the right side of Li Weiyi's neck, but he had no time to attend to it. His gaze remained locked onto Lu Can's three-meter-tall tiger-like frame as the mutant lunged forward, filling his entire field of vision.
*Fwip!*
He tore off the ghost banner draped over his shoulders and whirled it through the air, sending plumes of black nether mist rising instantly.
With his vision obscured, Lu Can felt the bone-chilling cold of the nether mist and sensed extreme danger. Yet suspended in midair, he could neither advance nor retreat, so he gritted his teeth and pressed his claw downward against the ghost banner.
Beneath the cloth, the Yellow Dragon Sword thrust out like lightning.
No matter how tough his tiger claw's defenses might be, how could it withstand a dharma artifact?
The claw was pierced clean through.
Lu Can groaned in pain, clenched his teeth, and retreated in disarray.
Enduring his battered body's agony, Li Weiyi leaped onto the wooden boat and charged with sword in hand toward the deep waters of the Sui River beyond the cluster of boats.
Shi Chuanyu had already anticipated him, waiting ahead with his back to the Sui River. His long beard fluttered in the breeze, exuding an air of leisurely readiness as he chuckled, "Do you really think jumping into the river will save your life? If a powerful mind master is present, they can pinpoint your approximate location even at the bottom of the riverbed."
Li Weiyi came to a halt thirty feet from Shi Chuanyu, standing atop the awning of a fishing boat as his gaze swept the surroundings. He quickly spotted Master Qi, the insect tamer, concealed inside one of the fishing boats.
In addition, several seven-spring martial cultivators clutching weapons lay hidden across different cabins.
Li Weiyi's earlier explosive ferocity in cutting down seven-spring martial cultivators had terrified them, which was why they had not dared make a reckless move, waiting instead for a better opportunity.
Behind him, Yao Zhengsheng and Lu Can closed in from the left and right.
Murong Xiao descended from the sky, folding her black wings as she landed atop a mast, with only one arrow remaining in her quiver.
"The Wuhai Pill is mine."
Yao Zhengsheng strode forward, unleashing his Mountain-Cleaving Staff Technique at the level of Heavenly Dao Dharma Convergence. The thousand-jin iron staff seemed to transform into a towering pillar of a mountain, descending with crushing force that left Li Weiyi no room to evade.
Li Weiyi had no choice but to parry with his sword.
*Clang!*
Staff and blade collided, and a titanic force came rolling in like toppling mountains and surging seas.
Li Weiyi's right hand could not hold the Yellow Dragon Sword; the blade was knocked from his grip and flew away, and the dharmic force contained within the thousand-jin iron staff blasted him back dozens of paces, causing him to vomit a huge mouthful of blood once more.
With a resounding crash, Li Weiyi slammed down hard, smashing through the canopy of a fishing boat.
Lying on his back, he felt as though every bone in his body had shattered.
*Fine!*
*Since you refuse to show yourself, I can only rely on myself...*
Li Weiyi had been waiting for his so-called dao-protecting wife to appear. Since she had not, he would hesitate no longer.
No matter how perilous it was, he had no other way out!
As several Top Hundred Martial Artists rushed in, the gaze of the battered Li Weiyi lying on the boat turned razor-sharp. Like lightning, he retrieved the spring-piercing needle he had prepared long ago, pinched it between two fingers, and drove it directly into the Danzhong point on his chest.
Instantly, all five springs within him erupted in unison. Dharmic power surged through sixty trace veins, all pouring toward his chest.
It was Master Jar's brutal secret technique—Merging Springs to Break the Barrier.
Unless driven to the absolute brink, Li Weiyi would never have dared use this technique. The Danzhong point was a vital gate of the human body; under normal circumstances, breaking through the sixth spring was fraught with danger.
Using a spring-piercing needle and Merging Springs to Break the Barrier at the same time was virtually indistinguishable from courting death.
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
Yao Zhengsheng, Lu Can, and Shi Chuanyu were the fastest among the Top Hundred Martial Artists, leading everyone else as they leaped together toward the boat to claim Li Weiyi's head.
*Rumble!*
The next instant, a silver radiance briefly illuminated the night.
The three charging Top Hundred Martial Artists were struck by three palm prints launched by Li Weiyi from his back on the boat. Blasted backward, they flew through the air like three scarecrows hurled in different directions.
One crashed onto a boat, one fell into the water, and one snapped a mast in two.
Having just retrieved the Yellow Dragon Sword, Yang Yun turned his head in astonishment.
There, before their eyes...
Li Weiyi, who had seemingly lost all strength to resist, flipped back onto his feet, standing atop the splintered, sinking fishing boat. The silver-thread gloves on his hands shone with brilliant silver light.
The spring-piercing needle plunged into his Danzhong point had completely dissolved, and a boundless, surging flood of dharmic power continuously erupted from the sixth spring in his chest like an exploding volcano.
"What are you standing there for? Come on! Let's see whose blood stains the Sui River first today!" Li Weiyi glared fiercely at Yang Yun and the throng of pursuers, his posture straightening ever taller, every trace of exhaustion and agony eclipsed by the roaring fighting spirit within him.
Chapter 59