True Monarch Mengtian had never expected to lose so quickly. In his eyes, he possessed an array of esoteric secret arts. Beyond Ten Suns Traversing the Sky, he had other spells, though Ten Suns Traversing the Sky was by far the most destructive.
Yet before he could unleash any of them, the three scorching suns were swept away by Qiu Jin'an's Five-Colored Divine Light, vanishing without a trace. The canyon once again returned to its cool, gloomy chill.
Qiu Jin'an wasted no breath on pleasantries. He reached a massive hand toward True Monarch Mengtian's skull, intending to search his soul directly and discover what they were plotting.
Seeing that disaster was imminent, True Monarch Mengtian disregarded the toll on himself, gritted his teeth, and activated a life-saving secret technique.
*Thump, thump, thump—*
His heart pounded violently, robust and powerful, entirely unlike someone who had just suffered defeat.
The temperature around his chest spiked abruptly. The Dharma robe over his breast—capable of deflecting even certain attacks from the Body Integration stage—melted away, exposing his chest.
Only then did Qiu Jin'an realize that what rested inside his chest was not a heart at all, but a dead Golden Crow!
A piercing arrow wound ran straight through the Golden Crow—a fatal strike. Qiu Jin'an suspected that this was none other than the very Golden Crow shot down by an ancient divine being in antiquity!
No wonder True Monarch Mengtian had been able to comprehend Ten Suns Traversing the Sky!
He had surely discovered the Golden Crow's corpse somewhere and transplanted it into his own chest in place of his heart!
Suddenly, the Golden Crow opened its eyes. Golden feathers rapidly spread outward, covering True Monarch Mengtian from head to toe.
"Not good—he's trying to flee!"
Qiu Jin'an slammed his foot down with tremendous force, aiming to pin True Monarch Mengtian dead in place. But as his strength came down, he found that Mengtian's entire body had dissolved into Golden Crow feathers, and his foot struck empty air.
*Bang!*
True Monarch Mengtian burst apart, sending Golden Crow feathers fluttering in every direction. Qiu Jin'an silently recited an incantation, whipping up a whirlwind that blew the feathers aside, but by then True Monarch Mengtian and Huang Ming had vanished without a trace. All that remained on the ground was a solitary branch of the Fusang Tree.
"They got away!"
Qiu Jin'an had never encountered the escape technique True Monarch Mengtian used, leaving his reaction a beat too slow.
...
*Pant, pant—*
Heavily injured, True Monarch Mengtian and Huang Ming disguised themselves as ordinary mortals, slipping into Hanshui City to blend among the bustling crowds.
"Damn it, how could that Qiu Jin'an be so ridiculously strong?!"
True Monarch Mengtian felt a lingering chill of surviving a disaster. A moment later, and Qiu Jin'an would have ripped open his soul, leaving him dead at his hands.
Though he had lost the branch of the Fusang Tree—meaning he could never again cast Ten Suns Traversing the Sky—and his cultivation foundation had been severely shaken to the point of needing a Tribulation Transcendence sacred relic to mend, none of that was significant compared to staying alive.
"That was a main bough of the Fusang Tree! Once this ordeal is over, you will compensate me for it!" True Monarch Mengtian glared viciously at Huang Ming.
Had the boy not known the locations of several treasure caches, Mengtian never would have bothered to save him.
"I'll tell you about two more treasure caches. That's more than enough to cover your loss!" Huang Ming forced himself to reply, biting the bullet. He possessed four secret treasure caches in total, meant to fuel his rapid rise in the future. Promising one previously hadn't been a major blow, but promising three meant he would have to go to extraordinary lengths to find cultivation treasures in his future journey!
How much time would that waste!
Yet he had no choice but to yield. He was merely at the Golden Core stage; even when gravely wounded, True Monarch Mengtian was not someone he could hope to oppose.
"What now? Where are we going?" Huang Ming asked with a dark, sullen expression, thoroughly displeased.
"In our current state, we cannot take part in the remaining plans for Hanshui City. Do you see that residence over there? Its master worships a wooden statuette for blessings, but in truth, that is a sacrificial ghost I placed. The sacrificial ghost has completely dominated that household. No one will notice a thing. We will lie low there first."
"Fine."
The two suppressed the urge to sprint toward the nearby manor, moderating their pace and doing their utmost not to betray the slightest suspicious sign.
"Are you two leaving so soon?"
A voice suddenly chimed in, startling both of them.
They snapped their heads up to find a man wearing a white paper hat standing right in front of them. Pedestrians flowed to and fro around them, yet not a single bystander seemed to notice him.
"Who are you?!"
The man in the white paper hat gave a chilling laugh.
"You Great Yu cultivators ran around capturing ghosts and dumping them all into Hanshui City, pinning the entire blame onto our Nine Nether Cult. Even the Heavenly Court Cult suspects we were behind it, driving a wedge into the friendship between our two cults! And now you dare ask who I am?"
"The Nine Nether Cult! Run!"
"Run? Where do you think you're going?"
Three more men in white paper hats materialized out of thin air, surrounding the pair on all sides.
For the Four Great Demonic Cults to have survived through the ages, their methods for survival and evasion were peerless in the contemporary world.
"You Great Yu cultivators also disrupted our shop business, and Vice Cult Master Shi has quite a few bones to pick with you over that. Let's settle both old and new scores together."
The men in white paper hats seized the two and vanished from the street in the blink of an eye.
...
"What a pity. Both of them slipped away," Qiu Jin'an sighed. If he had managed to capture either one, he could have extracted a wealth of valuable intelligence.
"Sect Master Qiu, what brings you here?" Lu Yang asked with utmost deference.
"Well, well, isn't it the Acting Sect Master? Long time no see," Qiu Jin'an greeted Lu Yang with a superficial grin. "Is Acting Sect Master Lu still serving as the Dao Seeking Sect's acting master these days?"
Back when the Five Elements Sect had paid a visit to the Dao Seeking Sect for an exchange, they had suffered a humiliating rout. It had coincided precisely with the three days the Immortal Fairy served as Acting Sect Master.
When the two sides were negotiating the terms of the bouts, Qiu Jin'an had assumed Yun Zhi was the Acting Sect Master, so he had boldly and arrogantly proposed that his eldest disciple should fight the strongest disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect.
Then Yun Zhi stepped forward and stated that she was not the Acting Sect Master at that moment.
In Qiu Jin'an's eyes, the real Acting Sect Master back then had been Lu Yang.
Zhao Po was inwardly shocked. Sect Master Qiu's words hinted at earth-shattering information: Brother Lu had actually been the Acting Sect Master of the Dao Seeking Sect?!
If so, Brother Lu was not only the undisputed number one in combat prowess among the younger generation, but also held the highest status of them all!
They were all peers of the exact same generation, yet the gulf between them was staggering.
"I stepped down to make way for someone more capable, passing the seat to Eldest Senior Sister," Lu Yang answered with an honest, earnest demeanor, leaving Qiu Jin'an thoroughly choked off.
"All right, enough banter. I came here to tell the Meng family kid that I've found a solution to the curse." Qiu Jin'an presented a seed of hope.
Meng Jingzhou's eyes lit up instantly. "Really?"
"Would I ever lie to you? I verified it through numerous channels; it's rock-solid."
"Have any of you heard of the power of national destiny?" Qiu Jin'an asked, lowering his voice conspiratorially.
Meng Jingzhou blurted out, "The power of national destiny that belongs to immortal methods?"
Qiu Jin'an was momentarily stunned. He had been planning to lecture at length and flaunt his vast knowledge before the juniors—after all, they would forget it after hearing it anyway. He had never expected Meng Jingzhou to know about it already.
In truth, even someone like Qiu Jin'an shouldn't have remembered the power of national destiny. But as the master of an immortal sect, he frequently discussed affairs of national destiny in top-level deliberations, so the Imperial Court had bestowed a specialized treasure upon every immortal sect master, granting them the ability to retain memories of its existence.
"Yes, precisely that power of national destiny. Did you know that every provincial governor and Commandery Governor in Great Xia enjoys the protection of national destiny, rendering them completely impervious to harm from anyone? Do you understand what that implies?"
Lu Yang caught on instantly, swiftly following Qiu Jin'an's logic. "It means national destiny can neutralize karmic backlash!"
"Exactly! It can wash away karmic backlash! It is an immortal dao method—as long as you cleanse yourself with the power of national destiny, every problem will vanish!"
Meng Jingzhou was overjoyed. This approach was leagues more dependable than waiting for the Sect Master of the Corpse Driving Sect to break through to the Tribulation Transcendence stage before taking action!
Chapter 431