Free Web NovelChapter 355: Chapter 355: An Old Friend Arrives
Xu Yunfan frowned and pressed down with a backhanded motion. His palm, like the gaping maw of a Taotie, yanked the escaping True Qi back into his body. A violent trail of light immediately streaked beneath his skin.
’I got a little greedy...’
He couldn’t help but grimace.
At that moment, his internal organs felt as if they had been stuffed into a searing Melting Furnace. The Penglai Weak Water True Qi and the Buddhist Pure Fire clashed violently within his flesh, the force of their struggle making his ribs tremble faintly.
The unrefined Exotic True Qi strains were using his very flesh as a battlefield, warring against each other so fiercely that even the circulation of his Ten Extremes Martial Arts Mixed Element True Seed temporarily ground to a halt.
But even so, his Ten Extremes True Qi was like the ocean accepting countless rivers. With every Great Celestial Cycle, it assimilated another layer of the Exotic True Qi in his body. At the same time, he exhaled useless Dirt Qi, leaving only the most refined and pure essence to be integrated into his Ten Extremes True Qi circulatory system.
System notifications flooded his vision, scrolling past in a constant stream to inform him that the total volume of his Ten Extremes True Qi was steadily rising.
’You continuously refine Exotic True Qi, absorbing it like an ocean swallowing rivers. The total volume of your Ten Extremes True Qi has increased.’
’You...’
Xu Yunfan suddenly looked up, his gaze shooting like a sharp arrow toward the depths of the Great Zhou Imperial Court.
The vermilion palace walls gleamed with a bloody light under the setting sun. There, an even more immense tide of Profound Yellow Qi was surging, like a chained dragon letting out a silent roar in his direction.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow, he would enter the Great Zhou Imperial Court for the final martial arts competition. When the time came, as was tradition, the Empress herself would enter the arena to test the finalists’ skills.
At that time...
’As much as I want to charge in there right now and see for myself, I need to refine this Exotic True Qi first. The steps of the Luotian Grand Sacrifice, as dictated by the Taoist Sect, must be followed precisely to completely drain the Profound Yellow Qi from the Great Zhou Dragon Vein.’
Just as Xu Yunfan was about to turn and leave, a sound like tearing silk ripped through the twilight air.
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t move an inch, allowing the figure to land on the bluestone slabs thirty feet away amidst a gust of wind. As stone fragments scattered, the newcomer’s Profound Daoist Robe whipped about, and the Bronze Identification hanging from his waist glinted in the sunset.
It was Li Haomiao, who was now staring at Xu Yunfan with an incredibly complex expression.
’To think,’ Li Haomiao thought, ’all those years ago, he was just a slave in the mines. Now, only a few short years later, he’s become a peerless master who slaughters Ninth Realm experts as if they were chickens.’
"Why didn’t you leave the city with Junior Martial Uncle Bi to seek safety?"
Xu Yunfan thumbed the handle of the Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer at his waist, looking somewhat surprised.
He looked at his close friend, who should have evacuated with the Taoist Sect. Li Haomiao’s face, usually as Mild and Smooth as Jade, was now pale as paper, his eyes churning with an indescribable mix of emotions.
Li Haomiao didn’t answer right away. His gaze swept across the Martial Arts Arena. The Dragon Tiger Sect Elder’s chest was caved in like rotten wood; the head of the Sword Pavilion’s Merak Sword Master was smashed like a rotten melon. There were even several desiccated corpses curled in on themselves, the despair of having their souls torn from their bodies frozen in their hollow eye sockets.
These were Ninth Realm Grandmasters, men who could shake the Six Paths with a stomp of their feet, yet now they were scattered across the ground like insects crushed by a careless child.
"So many Ninth Realm masters... too many have died. If word of this gets out..." Li Haomiao’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his voice so hoarse it barely sounded human.
Xu Yunfan seemed surprised. "The sects of this world are a plague clinging to the bone, a cancerous tumor feeding on the common folk," he retorted. "Shouldn’t their deaths be a cause for celebration? You used to despise these sects, gnashing your teeth and wishing you could devour their flesh and drink their blood. Why are you sighing now that I’ve killed them for you?"
"...If there are no masters to hold the line in the provinces, the Daqian Iron Cavalry from Yanbei Dao will seize the chance to ride south and plunder. The Demon Cultivators of the Profound Nether Desert will swarm out of their nests, and even the overseas Three Immortal Islands will..."
He suddenly clenched his fists, his face paling. Meeting Xu Yunfan’s deep gaze, he said, "Yunfan, from the very beginning, the Great Zhou has wanted to topple the sects. But do you know why the Six Great Sects have stood for so long? It’s because of these Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmasters. They are the bulwark against foreign invaders."
The night wind, carrying the stench of blood, swept between them, raising an invisible rift.
It was no wonder Li Haomiao had rushed back. He didn’t care how many of these masters died. He didn’t even care if the decrepit Empress, that old crone who refused to die, was killed deep within the Great Zhou Imperial Court. But if the Great Zhou were to collapse, the entire world would be instantly plunged into the flames of war.
And the number of dead would be far greater than thirty-six million commoners.
Xu Yunfan suddenly let out a soft laugh. The snakes of light moving beneath his skin flared violently, shredding and refining the last wisp of the Mituo Temple’s Purifying Flame True Qi.
"Oh, Haomiao..."
He adjusted the Sky-Sundering Cloud-Piercing Bow on his shoulder and spoke slowly. "You came back, risking assassination by the Empress’s Hidden Guard. Are you worried about the members of the Royal Family imprisoned in the Cold Palace? Or..."
Xu Yunfan stepped closer, his voice tinged with mockery as he placed a hand on Li Haomiao’s shoulder. "Are you afraid that when I storm the Imperial City tomorrow, I’ll happen to slaughter that usurper aunt of yours?"
"It’s the people of this city!"
Li Haomiao slapped Xu Yunfan’s hand off his shoulder.
Three hundred paces away, in the ruins of a half-collapsed teahouse, a woman with disheveled hair knelt on the bluestone slabs.
In her arms, she cradled a little girl in an apricot-red jacket. The child’s hair was still tied in cute double buns, but her neck was twisted at an unnatural angle.
Dried tear tracks had carved two white lines on her dust-caked face, and a whimper like that of a wounded cub escaped her throat.
Xu Yunfan fell silent for a moment before explaining, "It was the three monks of suffering from Mituo Temple. They attacked me with their Vajra True Qi at full power. This was the result. I blocked as much of the impact as I could."
Li Haomiao’s face was etched with grief.
"The shockwaves from a clash between Ninth Realm masters can shatter an ordinary person’s heart from a thousand feet away! A while ago, when Dugu Jiu and the Empress dueled above Jade Capital City, the stray Sword Qi flattened half a residential block in the poor district..."
Xu Yunfan was silent. ’I was fighting nine Nine Realms Qi Cultivation Supreme Grandmasters by myself. How could I have had the luxury of worrying about the surroundings?’
"Tomorrow, I’m heading straight for the heart of the Imperial City to face that old witch," Xu Yunfan said.
Xu Yunfan’s fingertips tapped lightly on the handle of his Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer. The Earth Vein Power resonated with the Ten Extremes True Qi within him, harmonizing with the energy that was now gradually approaching Perfection.
The Exotic True Qi strains that had been rampaging through his flesh were now strangely docile. They were being tamed and converted into clear True Qi, with all their exotic impurities—like the Dragon Tiger Gang Qi, the Sword Spirit’s Sharpness, and the Buddhist Pure Fire—being refined away.
’There’s no way I’m giving up on the final Ritual of the Luotian Grand Sacrifice.’
Li Haomiao understood, of course. This was the most critical moment for the Taoist Sect, and the final step that would determine whether Xu Yunfan’s grand endeavor would succeed.
It wasn’t a matter of misplaced compassion; the scenes he had witnessed on his way here were simply too horrific.
Suddenly, Xu Yunfan raised a hand and pointed northwest, toward the iron-gray silhouette of the Profound Armor Army’s camp, faintly visible in the twilight. "Ten miles outside Jade Capital City, three hundred thousand soldiers of the Profound Armor Army are holding their position. The Empress has sent out twelve summons with the Tiger Talisman, yet they haven’t moved. That must be your doing."
