The one who emerged from behind Wu Qi was a small fellow. He was very short and skinny, and looked like a shriveled mouse who was overexposed to the sunlight. In his grip was a short sword, about one-foot and two inches long, as wide as a leek leaf, and as thin as a gust of breeze. Behind him swirled a clump of pale-dark mist, amidst which, a beast soul with the shape of a six-legged mouse could be vaguely seen.
Without stirring up any wind or emanating any aura, the small fellow just emerged out of the thin air behind Wu Qi, and thrust the sword forward. The sword tip approached the back of Wu Qi's head at an incredible speed, looking as if it were going to pierce through his head with one swift strike. Faintly, there was a layer of tricolored gleam glinting on its surface, an obvious sign that it was poisonous.
Heavenly Lord San Yu saw how the small fellow emerged from behind Wu Qi, but he shut his mouth and said nothing.
'I've already greatly provoked Yu Zong today, as well as dug out a significant benefit from his hand. It would be better to just let his assassin kills this guy, so that he can vent his pent-up anger and save me trouble of facing his flame of anger at a later time," thought Heavenly Lord San Yu. He knew that Yu Zong was a fierce and tyrannical man, full of conceit, and had a very strong backing in Great Yu Dynasty. If it were not necessary, he preferred not to offend Yu Zong to a stage where things could no longer be resolved.
With the lids of his eyes drooped slightly, Heavenly Lord San Yu looked at Wu Qi as his lips curved into a sympathetic smile.
Wu Qi had all his attention focused on Yu Zong and Heavenly Lord San Yu. Both of the men possessed dreadful powers that could easily turn him into nothingness. Despite the fact that it seemed he had already secured a certain degree of advantage now, he dared not to have his vigilance slacked off. Comparing to Yu Zong, whose expertise was not in divine ability and magical power, Wu Qi had a greater fear of Heavenly Lord San Yu. As a mighty Eighteenth Tier Heaven Immortal, if he suddenly cast a Petrifying Spell or something similar on Wu Qi, it would be a huge problem to deal with.
Very carefully, he communicated with Hassock using his divine will, who was sleeping in his spiritual ocean now, and had mentally prepared to sign an unfair agreement with Hassock so the latter could help him get out of here. Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, Wu Qi noticed the weird smile on Heavenly Lord San Yu's face.
His heart shrunk abruptly as a great terror seized him. Without hesitation, he unleashed his innate divine will and immediately saw the short and skinny black-clothed man behind his back. He leaped forward with Yu Hehuan still in his grip and moved three feet forward in an instant. Even as he did that, Wu Qi exerted all his strength and thrust his right foot backward.
The foot viciously kicked at the short fellow's abdomen, and quietly was thrust about two to three feet back, tumbling in the air but not producing any noise. Before his short and shriveled body could touch the ground, it exploded into very fine powder of blood and gore, splattering everywhere and smearing the ground.
After obtaining innate Yin energy, the power that Wu Qi could muster now, regardless it was from the innate five elements energy, the Dark Yin Water Scripture, or the Asamskrta Energy Unity Scripture, all of them contained a very deep force of softness. It was true that innate Yin energy was incredibly powerful, but at the same time, it was extremely soft, silent, and untraceable. Therefore, when Wu Qi thrust his foot with the technique of Three Transformations of Flood Dragon, it did not produce any noise at all.
A tremendous force with the extremely soft characteristic of pure Yin smashed into the short fellow's body. It was as if several millions of millstones were grinding his body, as the innate Yin energy silently invaded all his cells and broke them apart at the atomic level. Even his soul was turned into the smallest particles of soul essence in just a twinkle.
Although he managed to kill the black-clothed man who sneak attacked him, cold sweat was breaking out from Wu Qi's back.
He gave Yu Zong a fierce gaze, who was still bellowing a moment ago, then turned to look at Heavenly Lord San Yu and said with a smile, "Thank you for the hint, Heavenly Lord. You've saved me from getting killed today. It is all because of your great kindness that I managed to survive. I'll definitely express my gratitude if there is a chance in the future!"
'This damn fellow is spoiling my plan again!' Yu Zong glared coldly at Heavenly Lord San Yu with his fists tightly clenched. He knew very well about the overall strength of that short, black-clothed man, who was the most capable leader of the scouts working for him. Although the man did not have a strong cultivation base, he was very skillful in hiding his traces, and had a track record of killing seven Heaven Immortals with the sword applied with the 'Soul-dispersing Triflower Snake Paste'!
Seven Heaven Immortals! And yet, he failed his mission on a little kid who was merely a peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivator! At that moment, Yu Zong's hate for Heavenly Lord San Yu had gone deep into his marrow.
Meanwhile, Heavenly Lord San Yu's heart sunk, because what Wu Qi just said had made him take all the blame!
'Well, he is just one little peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivator!' Heavenly Lord San Yu shook his head as he laughed it off, then left the scene together with all the Heaven Immortals behind him. Elegantly, he stretched out one finger and waved it behind his back, "Little friend, I've set you up once today, and you've set me up as well. The karma is served, so we don't owe each other anything!"
Wu Qi gave him a look and said deeply, "Indeed. We don't owe each other anything now. However, as long as Heavenly Lord does not help the man in my hand, I'll consider that I owe you a favor. I'll repay this favor when we meet again in the future!"
Heavenly Lord San Yu was taken aback, then he shook his head indifferently, and did not give Wu Qi a second look. He was just one little peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivator after all!
Finally, Heavenly Lord San Yu left together with his men, after poking his nose into the event and scraping away a layer of golden paint from Yu Zong. While holding Yu Hehuan in his hand, Wu Qi carefully moved backward towards the cluster of eighteen major teleportation formations located at the center of the square, which could take him to the Pangu Continent. He looked at Yu Zong, whose face was unsightly, and said with a cold grin, "Marquis Jian, that assassin was your man? Well, I've nothing to repay that save for another arm! I hope Marquis Jian does have sufficient spirit pills and medicines to join back your son's broken limbs!"
Yu Zong raised his right arm and stopped all the assassins who were lying in ambush across the place. As even the leader of scouts with the strongest ability in concealing his aura was killed by Wu Qi, Yu Zong did not have any hope for the rest of them. Although he did have some other powerful measures which could easily kill Wu Qi, they might also kill Yu Hehuan in the process. Yu Zong just did not have the courage to try those methods.
He breathed out a long sigh through his tightly clenched teeth and said, "I admit defeat. What do you want now?"
Wu Qi extended his left hand, hold up a finger as he said, "Marquis Jian is a wealthy man, and that's a fact told by Heavenly Lord San Yu. Mm, I can forget that your assassin was trying to stab me with a sword if you can pay me one hundred more pieces of immortal stones. Also, I want ten cartloads of rare and precious materials! Do not use the cheap stuff to bluff me. As the man overseeing Yu Hua Heavenly Realm, I believe that Marquis Jian is receiving numerous offers from people on daily basis. I'll not accept materials with inferior quality!"
Another one hundred pieces of immortal stones? Yu Zong felt like he was suffocating, and nearly coughed blood. But, when he saw the terrified and despair expression on Yu Hehuan's face, he realized that he had only one last son now, and at the thought of the decree of downgrading the title of nobility issued by the Human Emperor, for the sake of his own clan, he had no other choice but to swallow the resentment.
"Somebody, bring another one hundred pieces of immortal stones here, and ten cartloads of rare and precious things which we've prepared as offerings!" Yu Zong gave the order loudly, his voice filled with a very strong smell of blood.
The soldiers serving Yu Zong were very efficient. Before long, various precious materials were brought over according to Wu Qi's request. They dazzled his eyes as he praised in his mind. Sure enough, one hundred pieces of immortal stones were of great value, but among these rare and precious materials, some of them were listed as upper-grade immortal materials by the Scroll of Stealing. Yu Zong had proven himself to be an important minister of the human race, who was overseeing the Yu Hua Heavenly Realm.
Above all things, there were three fist-sized metal ingots, pitch-black in color and looking weightless, which made the eighteen celestial fiend puppets residing within Wu Qi's body struggle and roar restlessly. The metal ingots were 'Absolute Yang Nether Fiend Gold', produced from the core of a meteorite which was corroded by the aura of Heavenly Fiend for ten thousand years, and then washed day and night by the Nether Water found in the Abyss. This rare metal was an excellent material for the crafting of various magical items of Fiend Dao. If the eighteen celestial fiend puppets could devour the metal ingots, their strength would be increased by at least ten times. With that, even lower-grade immortal items would not be able to hurt them anymore.
And, if they were nourished by the enormous fiend energy found in these metal ingots, the level of their Celestial Fiend Battle the Heaven Script would be increased by a few times as well. Depending on the volume and quality of the fiend energy, they might be able to reach the same level as a peak-stage Nascent Divinity cultivator. There was even a possibility that they could break through the ceiling of peak-stage Nascent Divinity realm, becoming eighteen Celestial Fiend Immortals.
Wu Qi put away all the materials hastily. After that, with one hand clutching Yu Hehuan's neck, he cried out sternly, "I'm not an insatiably avaricious man. Once I have arrived at a safe place on Pangu Continent, I'll release your son. Yu Zhong, you better don't play any tricks on me, or I'll perish together with your son! It is not a situation you want to face!"
He cautiously activated a teleportation formation, then from a thread of divine will sent out from it, he picked Pangu Continent as the destination.
At that moment, several hundred million coordinates of different teleportation formations rushed into Wu Qi's spiritual ocean. He randomly picked a public teleportation formation as his final destination and activated it. A blinding light burst out from within the formation, and in just a blink of an eye, Wu Qi and Yu Hehuan vanished without a trace.
Upon seeing Wu Qi and Yu Hehuan vanish together before his eyes, Yu Zong threw his head back and let out a furious roar.
He spun and bellowed, "Find out his destination, spread the news, and request the clan to dispatch experts. Find an opportunity to rescue Young Master and capture that nasty Daoist alive! Remember, I want him alive! I'll let him know what consequence he has to face by offending me!"
An armored-soldier bowed and answered.
A cold smile emerged on Yu Zong's face. "You nasty Daoist! No matter how fast the teleportation formation is, it will take three years to travel from Yu Hua Heavenly Realm to Pangu Continent! I've all the time I need to gather enough help and trap you when you arrive!"
Feeling proud of himself, Yu Zong strode into the teleportation formation, reaching out his hand and touching the jade slip used to record the usage of the formation. However, he immediately jumped up and down while letting loose a torrent of abuse. A moment ago, after activating the teleportation formation, Wu Qi had already removed all the data in the jade slip with his divine will. Now, with an empty jade slip, how could Yu Zong find out which teleportation formation on Pangu Continent did Wu Qi choose as his destination?
"San Yu, is it you who did this?! How is it even possible that an outsider can remove all the records of a teleportation formation? Y-yo-you... you evil Daoist!" Yu Zong roared furiously, and he was so angry that his mouth kept twitching violently.
"Somebody, inform the clan. Tell them that... tell them that I am willing to spend all my wealth for any help sent by the clan, and I want a complete lockdown on all public teleportation formations on Pangu Continent connected to the outer heavenly realms!"
Yu Zong howled hysterically.