Ambush

"A newly formed dragon vein?" Zhang Banshan and Zhang Yunfeng were both stunned, even though they suspected the man was talking nonsense. Yet when it came to a dragon vein, nothing was trivial. Though they harbored no grand ambitions of contending for dominion over the realm, gaining even the slightest benefit from a dragon vein would be enough to bring them boundless prosperity. The Chunan Zhang family was a millennium-old clan, but their Yunyang Zhang family was merely a collateral branch, barely able to maintain its footing in Yunyang. When their foremost expert, Zhang Shiheng, had been transferred away, the prestige of the Yunyang Zhang family instantly plummeted by more than half. They did not even dare to flatly refuse these people from the Yin-Yang Dao. If a dragon vein truly existed, Yunyang would become exceedingly vital, making this an extraordinarily precious opportunity. Soon, however, Zhang Yunfeng and Zhang Banshan composed themselves. A dragon vein was a matter of tremendous significance; who was a heterodox demon cultivator to spout wild claims about it? Grand Libationer Cui also knew they did not believe him. He said with utter conviction, "Yunyang has been plagued by trouble these past two years precisely because of an earth vein inversion, which has subtly unsettled the minds of men. "You gentlemen may wait and see. From here on, strange occurrences will inevitably trouble Yunyang without end." Zhang Yunfeng and Zhang Banshan said nothing. Grand Libationer Cui stood, cupped his hands, and said, "It is only natural that you harbor doubts upon our first meeting. "Before long, further anomalies will surely arise in Yunyang. When that time comes, we can speak again..." Without waiting for their reply, Grand Libationer Cui turned and left the room first. Only then did Zhou Wuji clearly see Grand Libationer Cui's appearance. The man had a slender build and regular features, with grizzled hair and beard and bright, spirited eyes. Dressed in a grey robe, he carried an air of distinction that resembled an eminent master. Grand Libationer Cui departed with Cui Ze. After a moment of thought, Zhou Wuji cut off the sensory link with Cui Ze; the time to strike had not yet arrived. Zhang Banshan and Zhang Yunfeng remained seated. A meeting with people of the Yin-Yang Dao was illicit in the first place, so there was no need to observe polite formalities. Once Grand Libationer Cui was gone, Zhang Yunfeng asked with a face full of doubt, "Third Uncle, that Cui Wancheng was talking as if possessed by spirits. Was there any truth to it?" "The Yin-Yang Dao is all about deceit and conjuring phantoms. How could one take it seriously?" Zhang Banshan possessed deep experience after all, and his insight far surpassed his nephew's. He said, "A dragon vein carries immense stakes. Even the many Celestial Masters of the Celestial Master Mansion might not be able to identify one, let alone a heterodox charlatan like him." After a brief pause, Zhang Banshan mused, "Still, the man spoke with great certainty. Perhaps something truly is hidden beneath Yunyang. "They must have caught wind of something, which is why they cling to Yunyang and refuse to leave at any cost." "Third Uncle is indeed far more discerning, seeing right through the old fellow's game at a glance." Zhang Yunfeng was filled with admiration. The older ginger was truly spicier; there was no denying it. Cui Wancheng had spoken with such apparent gravity earlier that he had actually believed a few parts of it. Looking back now, he still lacked sophistication, having been taken in by the standard patter of itinerant charlatans. He could only blame the staggering mention of a dragon vein; startled by the man's boast, he had unwittingly fallen under his spell. "We should still keep our distance from him. If the Lower Court gets hold of any leverage over us, we will find ourselves in a difficult spot," Zhang Banshan cautioned. Zhang Yunfeng said, "Zhou Wuji is sinister and ruthless, an enduring bane. If an opportunity presents itself, we can notify this fellow and have him step in to get rid of Zhou Wuji." Zhang Banshan thought it over and nodded. For now, they dared not move against Zhou Wuji openly, so borrowing the blade of the Yin-Yang Dao would always be advantageous. Hearing this, the two figures reflected in Zhou Wuji's Heart Mirror blurred and faded. He could no longer see the two men next door, nor could he hear their conversation. Fortunately, he had been close enough, within the reflecting range of the Heart Mirror, to overhear them; even so, it had depleted a substantial amount of true qi. Time was pressing. After brief consideration, Zhou Wuji decided to eliminate Cui Wancheng first. If things went smoothly, he would double back to deal with Zhang Banshan and Zhang Yunfeng. The reason was simple: Cui Wancheng would be wandering all over, whereas the two men of the Zhang family had nowhere to run. Zhou Wuji channeled the Rejuvenation Technique to replenish his true qi, changed into the white hemp garment he had obtained from Xue Gui, masked his face, put on a bamboo hat, and slipped out the window. Guided by his sense of the Heavenly Puppet, he swiftly gave chase. Judging from the Heavenly Puppet's bearing, Cui Ze was taking the same path as yesterday. Evidently, the Yin-Yang Dao had a fixed foothold within the city. Zhou Wuji had not followed them to the end the previous night, but he knew the general area. Donning the Five Yin Pouch and executing the Flowing Cloud Movement Technique, he swiftly arrived ahead of them along the path they had to take. This was a shantytown where the dwellings consisted of crude wooden frames, their exterior walls mostly woven bamboo plastered with mud. The houses leaned right up against one another, their warped outer walls adjoining in an uneven sprawl, while the dirt path between them was less than three feet wide, pitted and rugged. In hot weather, dust billowed along the lane; when it rained, it turned into an impassable morass. What was worse, the road was strewn with refuse and excrement. Under the deep night, only the bright moon hung high in the sky. Not a single lamp was lit in the surrounding houses, where only the rising and falling snores of sleeping adults could be heard, interspersed with the occasional whimpering of a child... Zhou Wuji chose a corner of the alley, a spot that maintained a certain distance from the rooms on either side so that an outbreak of violence would not endanger innocent bystanders. Sensing the Heavenly Puppet drawing nearer, he grew increasingly certain that his chosen position was correct. As the Heavenly Puppet approached, Zhou Wuji quietly engaged the Heavenly Puppet core on his arm, forging a connection and synchronizing with all of Cui Ze's senses. The Rank Seven cultivator Cui Ze was entirely oblivious. He followed carefully behind Grand Libationer Cui Wancheng, maintaining a distance of about five paces. With dust billowing from the dirt road and squalid tenements pressing in all around, Cui Wancheng had no desire to speak, and Cui Ze did not dare to. As Cui Ze walked, he suddenly felt something amiss. From somewhere within his body, an exceedingly dense and potent surge of true qi welled forth. As a Rank Seven cultivator, Cui Ze had already unblocked the seven apertures, yet the Yin-Yang True Qi he had gathered shattered and dissipated under the impact of this vast, ocean-like true qi. His spirit aperture and seven apertures were completely overtaken by the alien true qi, and even his body fell under the control of an invisible force. "What is this?!" Cui Ze was terrified. His thoughts instantly went to the previous night, when he had been knocked unconscious for no apparent reason. Grand Libationer Cui Wancheng had even examined him and found nothing abnormal, merely saying he had likely crossed paths with an expert of the Heavenly Ghost Sect who, out of regard for a fellow heterodox order, had spared his life... Now Cui Ze realized that the person had not spared him at all, but had planted an extraordinarily sinister mechanism inside him—one that even the Grand Libationer had failed to detect. He wanted to cry out for help, yet from his toes to the crown of his head, every muscle and sinew was locked tight by an invisible force. It was as though tens of millions of invisible threads had pierced through his entire body, governing his every minute movement and expression. Those countless threads were also channeling vast, rolling true qi into him, circulating and gathering within his body of their own accord. Cui Ze did not know who was controlling him or what they intended, but he knew the situation was dire. Cui Wancheng was merely paces ahead of him, yet Cui Ze could not produce the slightest sound or movement on his own. Zhou Wuji cared nothing for what Cui Ze was thinking. Through the Heavenly Puppet core on his arm, he used his spiritual sense to drive the Thread-Guiding Art, controlling Cui Ze's every action. In essence, the Heavenly Puppet was a magic treasure that could be operated from afar. Through it, Zhou Wuji could release true qi and cast spells at a distance. Cui Ze was merely a puppet of flesh and blood housing the Heavenly Puppet. So long as Cui Ze could not resist the puppet's control, his own capabilities were irrelevant. The last time Zhou Wuji had deployed the Heavenly Puppet was to control Small Banner Officer Jin Chuan; later, he had also tested it on animals. Owing to his fortified foundation and vastly heightened cultivation, he was able to command the puppet with effortless skill, even though his mastery of the Heavenly Puppet Technique itself had not advanced. With a slight adjustment, he channeled the circulating true qi within his own body into Cui Ze via the Thread-Guiding Art. Guided by the myriad invisible threads, Cui Ze took two swift strides forward, raising both palms to strike straight at Cui Wancheng's back. Empowered by the Heavenly Puppet, Cui Ze's palms took on a bronze-gold sheen, imbued with seventy percent of the Tianshu true qi unleashed by Zhou Wuji. As the palms moved, the true qi erupted, producing a low, vibrating rumble. Taken off guard, even a Rank Five cultivator's physical body could not withstand such a blow. Yet Cui Wancheng was an experienced veteran. The moment Cui Ze suddenly quickened his pace behind him, he sensed something was wrong, and immediately afterward, he detected the sneak attack from the rear. What shocked him most was that Cui Ze's palms seemed to carry the weight of a thousand jin. Such immense true qi was not inferior to his own—when had Cui Ze attained such cultivation? With no time to ponder, he instantly triggered the Scarlet Yang Flame Shield stored within his apertures. The Yin-Yang Dao was generally divided into the two paths of Yin and Yang, and cultivators chose their arts according to their natural talents and dispositions. Cui Wancheng possessed great talent in the Scarlet Yang Method. Cultivating all the way to Rank Five, he had already tempered three apertures—the heart aperture, kidney aperture, and liver aperture—visualizing the Luminous Dharma King within all three, which made his scarlet yang power exceptionally blazing. Driven by his true qi, the Scarlet Yang Flame Shield materialized into hundreds of scarlet flares, enveloping him like a colossal bell. Although the scarlet yang flame was not real fire, its scarlet yang power was sufficient to melt metal and dissolve stone, and the canopy formed by the blazing light was dense and heavy, far surpassing heavy plate armor. Lunging forward with his palms, Cui Ze knew well the terrifying power of the Scarlet Yang Flame Shield. His eyes filled with despair, yet he could only watch helplessly as his hands struck directly toward the dense wall of flames. With a thunderous crash, the outer layer of the Scarlet Yang Flame Shield ruptured into hundreds of fiery streaks, while the steady, netting-like firelight of the inner layer rippled with wave after wave, holding Cui Ze's palms at bay outside the shield. The sputtering sparks of flying flame rained down upon Cui Ze, bursting into blazing fire that instantly turned him into a human torch. Though Cui Ze had no control over his body, he could feel the excruciating agony of burning flesh. His face twisted in horrific torment, his eyes brimming with despair and terror. Seizing this opening, Cui Wancheng turned around. He saw the torment and terror on Cui Ze's face, and he saw the despair in Cui Ze's eyes. Cui Wancheng realized at once that something was wrong: Cui Ze was being manipulated by someone using an esoteric art. There were many methods for controlling a person, but an art that could manipulate someone while simultaneously elevating their magical cultivation was something he had never heard of. To Cui Wancheng's surprise, Cui Ze raised his palms to strike once more. Naturally callous, Cui Wancheng had no intention of caring about Cui Ze's survival. Unable to find the enemy, he would destroy Cui Ze first! Cui Wancheng's hand inside his sleeve already gripped the Scarlet Yang Mirror. Unsure where the enemy was lurking, he activated the mirror, unleashing the Scarlet Yang Great Hand Seal. This colossal scarlet palm stood taller than Cui Ze himself. Crashing down from the front, it felt like a blazing volcano crushing forward. Though Cui Ze's twin palms blasted a gaping hole through the crimson hand, the giant palm still clutched him tight. The ruthless scarlet yang power enveloped Cui Ze, charring his clothes and flesh in an instant. With his head shielded by the Heavenly Puppet, Cui Ze was not yet dead, but the searing agony wracking his body made him wish for death... Seeing Cui Ze nearly reduced to a torch, his flesh and blood burning away, the threads and strands of the bronze-gold Heavenly Puppet concealed deep within his tissues began to show. Cui Wancheng did not know what it was, but he instinctively stepped back to put some distance between them. The Heavenly Puppet, barely holding a humanoid shape, thrust its palms forward again, this time delivering a strike even more immense and fierce. The two were simply too close. Cui Wancheng could not dodge in time; fearing that some sinister spell lay hidden within the blow, he summoned another layer of the Scarlet Yang Flame Shield over himself. Cui Ze had already been reduced to a blackened skeleton, yet his lunging palms flashed with water-like lightning, plunging deep into the Scarlet Yang Flame Shield. With a deep, resonant rumble, the Northern Dipper Tianshu Yin Thunder struck Cui Wancheng. The overflowing lightning blasted his robes to shreds. More terrifying still was the Yin Thunder's divine thunder might, which annihilated all living things, piercing directly into Cui Wancheng's sea of consciousness. Potent as heterodox secret arts might be, they were ultimately countered by orthodox Daoist thunder methods. Even with Cui Wancheng's cultivation, his mind was shaken beyond control, and the true qi circulating within him ground to a halt. He was utterly appalled: how could such a sinister bronze puppet unleash the Arctic Sect's Yin Thunder method...?