Chapter 234 - Eight Demons Heavenly Lock Array
Edited by RED
The newly-arrived person was wearing a set of luxurious clothes, and had a strange, evil smile on his face. Xu Qi kept trying to recall the familiar face before him, but he just couldn't remember where they had met before.
Tiger-headed Tan and bear-headed Chi had their weapons at the ready. These two were truly part of the sinister ten elite beasts: they would turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble, and show themselves to beat on the underdogs whenever they were holding the advantage. It was truly baffling how thick-skinned they were.
Even so, Xu Qi didn't have the mind to care about them. His eyes were on the luxuriously-clothed man all the time.
In the end, this person's face finally matched up with a smile associated with the moment he didn't wish to recall the most.
Three years ago, wasn't this person, along with Mo Ling, the one who struck him unprepared on the mountain summit outside of the capital!?
Lian Tianwei! The only son of Lian Chengwei, the one who was supposedly destined to inherit the position of the ruler of Mirrorlink, but had a falling out with his father over a woman. Why would he show up here after having gone missing for so long!?
Xu Qi was as silent as the grave as he looked at Lian Tianwei. This person wasn't supposed to appear before him under such circumstances no matter what.
Xuanwu couldn't help but be shocked as he felt the murderous intent from Xu Qi becoming increasingly suffocating, his gaze toward Lian Tianwei tightened.
"Why, are you surprised to see me here, Xu Qi? Haha! I'm really fond of the look on you right now! This feeling is really thrilling," Lian Tianwei said as a fan suddenly appeared in his hand, accentuating the mood. He flipped it out elegantly, slowly fanning himself.
Xu Qi brought out a steel sword as he kept his eyes on Lian Tianwei with a grave expression. He didn't ask, or even dare to ask Lian Tianwei anything. His appearance here seemed to have already given him an answer.
"Why are you wasting your breath here? Quickly finish our business here and return! A so-called prodigy seen less than once in a thousand years is only at this level!" tiger-headed Tan broke in as it looked at Xu Qi with contempt, fiddling with its daggers.
"Tan, are you sure you can bring the both of us down?" Xuanwu asked evenly.
The tiger-headed Tan stopped spinning its daggers after hearing this, and its expression became a little uneasy.
This person speaking before it was a true-blue divine beast, the Black Tortoise. Putting its current weakened state aside, just the Black Tortoise's title alone was able to intimidate many ancient experts.
Going against him in an all-out fight? Tiger-headed Tan felt that they didn't have much chance of winning against Xuanwu if they had truly forced him into such a confrontation.
"Deity Xuanwu must be kidding. I would never dare to 'bring you down'. All I wanted was to invite you to our place as a guest. We only brought out such forces because we were afraid that you'd be unwilling to come. Please forgive us if weve offended you," tiger-headed Tan said, its tone obviously softer.
"Tan, where is Luan now?" Xu Qi suddenly asked coldly.
"I don't know," Tan immediately replied.
Lian Tianwei couldn't help but closed his fan and spoke out with a hypocritical smile seeing as Xu Qi had no intentions of paying any attention to him, "You're a rare prodigy, too, Xu Qi. If you had aligned yourself with the heaven's will and cooperated with us, I'm sure I could only look on your achievements from the sidelines with envy."
Hmm? He's speaking business now?
After hearing this, Xu Qi finally replied to Lian Tianwei, "Let's hear it. Perhaps I will be interested."
Lian Tianwei looked Xu Qi straight in the eyes and revealed an earth-shattering piece of news, "Lan Shu'er and her daughter are doing great right now!"
As expected, it felt like his mind was struck by lightning after hearing this. Lan Shu'er and our daughter?!
This was the first piece of news he'd heard about them ever since they went missing!
Xu Qi couldn't hide his anxiety and lost his composure, yelling out, "Where are they?!"
Lian Tianwei felt extremely satisfied looking at the expression on Xu Qi. He opened his fan once more and shifted his gaze to Tan at his side.
Tiger-headed Tan seemed to love spinning its daggers between its fingers. After fiddling with them for a little, it said to Xu Qi thoughtfully, "Come with us peacefully. You'll get what you want, and even obtain what you'd never expect."
Was that a threat? Or a temptation? Tan's words were too much for Xu Qi to handle. If the Xu Clan's members were as important as his life, then Lan Shu'er and his daughter were existences who held even greater importance than his life!
He'd finally gotten news of them after such a long time! Never would he have expected to hear about them from Lian Tianwei's mouth. This temptation, or perhaps threat, could even make Xu Qi forfeit his life.
Xuanwu cursed inwardly when he noticed Xu Qi wasn't being himself and called out in an attempt to snap him back to reality. "Don't fall for it, damn brat!"
However, Xu Qi seemed to not hear Xuanwu's voice. Lan Shu'er and their daughter was all that was in his mind.
Xuanwu turned anxious at the sight of this. He struck out palm-strikes at Tan, Chi, and Lian Tianwei, then attempted to grab Xu Qi and make a run for it before deciding their next move.
However, he was caught up in the moment and forgot all about the seven saber-wielding inhuman puppets.
The seven stationary figures reacted to Xuanwu even as he moved. They turned blurry and came right at Xuanwu and Xu Qi.
The seven blue figures flew past Xu Qi and Xuanwu in the blink of an eye.
The Black Tortoise was famed for his defense and strength, and yet, they managed to draw blood from him, leaving a scratch on his face in a single exchange of moves.
Xuanwu had used the Black Tortoise Secret Arts previously and exhausted himself. Although he had said that he had recovered from his exhaustion, there was no way he was in complete shape. At present, his strength was only on par with Xu Qi at best!
After hearing a loud roar, Xu Qi gradually snapped out of his distraction.
He saw Xuanwu trying his best to maintain a layer of blue energy surrounding them. On the other side of the energy, an endless stream of blurry figures kept ramming against it, in addition to slashing it with their sabers. Seeing the blood on Xuanwu's face brought Xu Qi back to reality.
"Uncle!" Xu Qi cried out as he slashed at one of the approaching figures with his steel sword.
"Damn brat, the both of us would be dead if you remained distracted any longer!" Xuanwu said, squeezing out a smile on his face.
After scanning his surroundings, Xu Qi realized that he had truly fell into a desperate situation this time. Not to mention Tan, Chi, and Lian Tianwei all had their eyes on him from a distance away, he would have a hard time dealing with just these seven saber-wielding warriors around them.
Perhaps I can get Xuanwu to transform into his true form and fight as if our lives depended on it? No, it truly seemed like he would pay with his life.
As Xu Qi watched the seven figures flying around them with their sabers using their movement techniques, he finally linked them to the man melded into the stone wall.
They all belonged to the cultivation school that kept a low profile, the one who had always compromised to avoid conflict with others, the Monarchy Pavilion!
Could Lan Shu'er and our daughter be held in the Monarchy Pavilion?
The man who abducted them had told Granny to pass on a message to Xu Qi: Xu Qi had to find him among the seven top cultivation schools! Is the Monarchy Pavilion where I should go?!
But why would they be lying in wait for me at Mt Fengwen?!
Xu Qi summoned the All-Tempering Flame as he was on the verge of understanding something, enveloping Xuanwu and himself in tongues of flame.
The seven agile and fearless warriors suddenly stopped moving to attacking Xu Qi after the All-Tempering Flame appeared, surrounding him with their sabers in hand.
Xu Qi rejoiced inwardly at seeing this. Was the All-Tempering Flame able to restrain them?
Before Xu Qi could make his next move, the seven warriors suddenly crossed paths with each other, standing in a formation.
Xuanwu recognized the principles of their formation at a glance and immediately cried out anxiously, "This is bad! They are standing in the Eight Demons Heavenly Lock Array!"
Eight Demons Heavenly Lock Array? This was the first time Xu Qi had heard of it, but judging from the anxiety in Xuanwu's voice, he knew this wasn't something he could withstand.
The seven figures seemed to have found their spots. After standing in position, they stabbed their transparent sabers into the ground directly in front of their feet.
They were originally bodies without any hint of aura in them, but when they started moving uniformly, mysterious talismanic runes started appearing on their hands! A barrier of energy like a layer of white fog appeared around Xu Qi. He immediately slashed at it, but to his surprise, his steel sword was the thing shattered instead!
Xu Qi couldn't suppress his curiosity and asked Xuanwu, "Uncle, what exactly is this Eight Demons Heavenly Lock Array?!"
"I don't have the time to explain it to you now. All you need to know is that it's very powerful!" Xuanwu replied anxiously.
After hearing this, Xu Qi went and shot his mouth off, "But there are only seven of them now. How do they form an eight demon array? Perhaps this array only needed seven people?"
Hmm? That's right! The Eight Demons Heavenly Lock Array was created by an ancient devil. It could be used to kill, trap, torment, or bind those caught in the array. Its most horrifying feature was that it could suck out the victim's cultivation until they withered away.
Xuanwu had witnessed the Eight Demons Heavenly Lock Array in the past while he was still at the peak of his strength. He had estimated then that he was unable to escape from the array.
However, after Xu Qi had pointed it out that there were only seven of them, Xuanwu suddenly came to a realization. As its name suggested, when the ancient devil created this array, it was meant for the eight demon generals under it. The array would obviously be incomplete with one of them missing!
Xuanwu observed the positions the seven figures stood at. He realized that there should have been someone standing at Xu Qi's side that was currently empty.
"Damn brat, do a combined attack with me!" Xuanwu said as he pointed at the array's loophole.
Xu Qi glanced there and understood immediately. Rainbow energy rapidly gathered in his hands. He didn't dare to muster all his energy for this one strike, as he had to prepare for what was next.
In contrast, the deep blue palm gathering before Xuanwu proved that this was all the energy he could muster.
Two palms, one blue and the other rainbow, struck at an empty space at the same time.
Fissures formed on the layer of mysterious white fog energy wall upon contact with the two palm-strikes, and the cracks began spreading.
The white layer of energy slowly broke down and crumbled, before completely vanishing. The seven seemingly invincible warriors acted like they were dealt a severe blow and were blown backwards, falling to the ground unmoving.
"Let's go!" Xu Qi formed a rainbow seal in his hands, and the exhausted Xuanwu disappeared from sight.
Just as Xu Qi was summoning the Five Elements Wings to make his escape, Chi swung down its huge hammers at Xu Qi, exclaiming, "Hmph! Thinking of leaving? We're still here!"