The atmosphere did not feel right. The sense of danger when facing a life-threatening situation that came from Wu Wang's memory made Wu Qi's hair stand on their ends.
In that briefest moment, Wu Qi cast a spirit incantation into the teleportation formation, attempting to activate it and select a random destination so he could make the escape. However, the teleportation formation, which was still functioning a moment ago, did not respond to the incantation. Not only that, all the several hundred teleportation formations near and far were having their once dazzling and flashing light dimmed completely. People stopped coming out from them.
A deep, muffled rolling of war drums rang out. Several hundred cultivators were seen flying up into the sky on clouds. "Fellow Daoists, please leave this place immediately!" They roared with a loud voice.
These cultivators were clad in the same uniform: a black long robe, a jade belt around their waist, and a two-feet tall, strange-looking crown on their heads. Each of them had a jade medallion hanging from their waist, different in colors and engraved with an incomplete lotus flower that represented their status. For Immortal Monarchs from the Heaven, such as Immortal Chuan, their medallion came in four different colors: purple, gold, green, and white, while the lotus flower engraved on the medallions was complete with nine petals. Contrary to that, the lotus flowers engraved on the colorful jade medallions carried by these cultivators had only four to six petals. It showed that they were only casual servants for the Heaven, and had yet to join the official ranking system of the Heaven.
In other words, they were similar to that of the auxiliary police force or urban enforcement found back on earth, and had yet to become the official public servants of the Heaven.
Nevertheless, for all itinerant cultivators, even if they were Heaven Immortals, they dared not to show any disrespect when facing these casual servants of the Heaven. Guided by the group of several hundred cultivators, nearly one hundred thousand cultivators with various levels of cultivation base quickly left the scene by walking. Yes, they left by walking, not riding on clouds or sword beams. Every single one of them, including a dozen Heaven Immortals who came from outer heavenly realms, left the scene on just their feet.
Wu Qi praised inwardly. This was the first time he witnessed the mightiness of the Heaven. Among all the casual servants, many of them were merely Gold Core cultivators!
Right after the scene was cleared by the people from the Heaven, the rolling of war drums became deeper and more threatening. Before long, a wild wind came blowing by from the distance, immediately followed by a troop of valiant and high spirited armored-soldiers, who were closing in on steeds that looked very much like tigers, and with blood red clouds hovering below them.
To Wu Qi's surprise, a team of twelve burly Long Bo men was charging at the forefront. They stood one hundred feet tall, and their naked upper bodies were fully covered with golden fiend runes. Wu Qi scanned them with his divine will and sensed a very strong force flowing within their bodies, so strong that their overall strength was almost comparable to peak-stage Nascent Divinity cultivators. In other words, relying only on their innate abilities and divine abilities, these Long Bo men could fight head-on against Heaven Immortals of Thirty-Sixth or even Thirty-Fifth Tier! And, that was on the premise that they did not form any Gold Cores, Nascent Souls, or Nascent Divinities, which were something only Immortal cultivators would have.
Wu Qi's eyes twitched violently when he thought of the ten thousand Long Bo people inside his Spirit Breeding Ring, who had formed their Gold Cores and were now working hard to break through the Nascent Soul realm. It seemed to him that these approaching Long Bo men were cultivating with the orthodox technique of the human warriors. Just like Yu Zong and Yu Hehuan, they did not practice the technique of cultivating immortality. It made Wu Qi wonder if those Long Bo people inside the ring were walking on a wrong path?
Each of the twelve Long Bo men was carrying a flagpole in his hand, measuring one thousand feet tall, and having a huge flag fluttering on top. These flags were black in color, and ten of them were embroidered with a huge, green character - 'Yu'. They were sending forth a vast aura of great antiquity, which cast a pressure on Wu Qi's chest.
Meanwhile, an additional row of big characters was embroidered on the two flags in the center - 'The Protector of The Holy Land, the Tribune of the People, the Marquis of Great Yu, Marquis Li, Yu Que'.
The Long Bo people were closing in quickly like a gust of wild wind. With every step they took, they would travel across a distance of several dozen feet. Behind them, the army of several thousand armored-soldiers followed closely, emanating a murderous aura as they moved even closer. When they were about one mile away from Wu Qi, they split and formed a huge circle around him, trapping him tightly within. Finally, amidst the loud, sonorous calling of clarions, an old man clad in a black burlap cloth, looking skinny and weak as if he were at his last gasp, walked over slowly with an escort of several dozens of armored-soldiers.
Yu Hehuan suddenly burst out into a loud laughter. "Release me, you nasty Daoist! You are now facing Marquis Li, Master Yu Que, my distant great granduncle! He rules a land one hundred million miles in circumference with the Formidable Tiger Army, which consists of one million bold warriors! Not only that, he has an overall strength of a Gold Immortal! You are a dead meat now! Release me, and I will plead on your behalf and ask them to kill you only after a cruel torture, while sparing you a broken soul so you can reincarnate. What say you?"
Wu Qi gave him a powerful slap and pulled off one of his ears, throwing it onto the ground. Yu Hehuan shrieked miserable with intense pain and dared not to utter another word. However, a look of deep hatred filled his eyes. It was so strong, as if it could transform into the nether flame found in the abyss at any time, and then spray out to kill someone.
Panting heavily, Yu Que walked slowly to a spot less than one thousand feet from Wu Qi, then stopped his pace cautiously. He briefly glanced at the ear which Wu Qi threw on the ground, and he dared not to step even one step further.
Yu Que, who was at the gate of death, coughed violently and spat out a few thick, dark blobs of phlegm. His body trembled slightly as he pointed his finger at Wu Qi and said, "Little Daoist, give me Hehuan, then tell me who asked you to do this. I'll spare you a quick death."
Wu Qi was sizing up Yu Que curiously, and paid no heed to his request. Instead, he asked, "Why do you look like this, even when you have an overall strength of a Gold Immortal? I reckon you don't have many more years to live, am I right?"
Yu Que smiled faintly and began to cough violently again. "For the human race, dying is as natural as living, and this is the rule set by the Heavenly Dao," he said while shaking head, "You, and many other Immortal cultivators, can live for eternity, but you are no longer part of the human race. Since young, I've fused my soul with Hu's soul, sharing life and death with him. Relying on his power of beast soul, I've lived through a time of two Periods."
Even as he said that, a stream of white mist sprayed out of the top of his head, amidst which came flying out a soul of a white tiger, who looked exactly like a living being. The white tiger soul had the same old and weak appearance. His whiskers, nails, and teeth were missing, and he lied lazily on the ground. However, although he looked extremely old and weak, he was emanating a frightening aura that nearly suffocated Wu Qi. He was a beast soul with a cultivation base very close to Gold Immortal realm!
Yu Que sighed lightly, then with a very relaxed, satisfied, and carefree smile he said, "Compared to those clan members of mine who had returned to the transmigration and were reincarnated in less than one hundred years, I have nothing to regret! If not because that little kid, Yu Zong, announced that he will use all his net worth to exchange for you, and the rescue of Hehuan, his trouble-making son, and it happened that I am running short of time to save more money for my descendants, how would I waste my time over the last three years, waiting for you here with my army?"
Wu Qi was startled as he asked with astonishment, "All the teleportation formations connecting outer heavenly realms with Pangu Continent, every single one of them is surrounded by your people?"
With a smile on his face, Yu Que nodded and said seriously, "Wealth is a very powerful driving force. As Yu Zong is taking charge of outer heavenly realms, compared to us, his poor seniors who live on Pangu Continent, he is more skillful in looting a significant wealth for himself. With the time it takes us to earn a copper coin, he has already earned an energy stone! So, how could I not be aroused, when he promised to exchange the safety of his only son with all his wealth?"
Wu Qi gasped. There were more than a few hundred million teleportation formations connecting Pangu Continent with outer heavenly realms. Among them, sixty percent belonged to various powers, and forty percent were public teleportation formations. For safety sake, Wu Qi had his destination set to one of the random public teleportation formations, and there were over one hundred million of them. With the handsome reward promised by Yu Zong, these Marquises from Yu Dynasty had surrounded all the public teleportation formations. Evidently, Yu Dynasty's overall strength had reached a very frightening level.
But, it was understandable. Pangu Continent was huge, and the human race had occupied nearly the entirety of it. As Yu Dynasty was the sovereign of the human race, it was only natural that they possessed such an incredible power. Even those officials from the Heaven in charge of controlling teleportation formations had to work with Yu Que's cooperation, so it was clear that the human race had a significant influence when they were dealing with the Heaven.
Wu Qi laughed bitterly. Staring at Yu Que, he shook his head and said with a sigh, "It seems like I am a dead meat today?"
Yu Que took a step forward carefully and said in a gentle voice, "If nothing unexpected happens, you are going to die today. Mm, as I can't properly control my power when I strike, I might kill Hehuan together if I attack. So, release him and let me interrogate you before I kill you. Isn't this the easiest way for all of us?"
Wu Qi looked around. He saw some casual servants of the Heaven flying in the sky near and far. They had already activated all the restrictive formations that encompassed the entire square, and the power of these formations was so strong that even Wu Qi felt it tricky to handle.
After a brief moment of pondering, Wu Qi broke Yu Hehuan's neck and smashed the back of his head with a powerful punch, shattering his brain and turning his soul into a wisp of smoke. After that, with a thought in his head, all eighteen celestial fiend puppets hiding within his body stopped exercising the mystic technique that concealed their aura, and released their aura of Fiend Immortals together.
Yu Que roared furiously. With a blink, he thrust forward with one hand grabbing towards Wu Qi.
His speed was incredibly fast, at least one hundred times faster than the speed of ordinary Immortals using teleportation divine ability. Wu Qi could not see any of his movement even with Mystic Eyes of Universe, and his palm had already clutched on Wu Qi's throat. At this critical moment, a dark smoke rushed out of Wu Qi's body and towered into the sky, amidst which, one could vaguely see countless twisting faces of fiends.
When the celestial fiend puppets released their aura of Fiend Immortals, their heavenly tribulation immediately appeared in the sky. As eighteen Fiend Immortals were transcending their tribulations together, the power of the thunder tribulation increased exponentially. Even more deadly was the fact that within the boundary of the thunder tribulation, there was a man with an overall strength comparable to that of a Thirty-Sixth Tier Heaven Immortal - Wu Qi, a man with an overall strength comparable to that of a Gold Immortal - Yu Que, several dozen Generals of the Formidable Tiger Army, whose overall strength was comparable to that of Heaven Immortals, several thousand elite armored-soldiers, and twelve Long Bo men who were as strong as Heaven Immortals. Not far from them stood two Heaven Immortals from the Heaven, who were in charge of the teleportation formations, and a group of several hundred casual servants who were watching the incident.
With all of these people around, the thunder tribulation which originally focused only on eighteen fiendcelestial puppets had its characteristic changed immediately. It was now a chain of tribulations that focused on everybody present on the scene!
The principles of the Heavenly Dao were senseless, and they only judged based on the power of principles. As there were many people here, the simple-minded Heavenly Dao identified them as the helpers who were here to assist the eighteen Fiend Immortals! As a result, the sky within one hundred thousand miles took on a blood red color, while large clumps of pitch-black tribulation clouds that looked like bloodstains emerged right above Wu Qi's head. Slowly but surely, a heavenly eye of thunder tribulation, about one thousand feet in diameter, opened up above everyone.
In just a blink of an eye, the once ordinary thunder tribulation for eighteen Fiend Immortals transformed into 'The Holy Fiend Chain Tribulations of the Ninth Sky', the tribulation that usually targeted Fiend Immortals of Gold Immortal realm!
Stream after stream of dreadful pressure smashed down from above. Wu Qi and Yu Que uttered a heartrending cry together as blood sprayed out of their bodies.
The power of Holy Fiend Chain Tribulations of the Ninth Sky sent by the Heavenly Dao was more than enough to kill an Eighteenth Tier Gold Immortal.
Yu Que's face turned deadly pale with fear. Without the slightest hesitation, he spun and fled.
Wu Qi threw his head back and issue a long screech complacently, "I will be the first man under the heaven who killed a Gold Immortal with only a cultivation base of peak-stage Nascent Soul realm!"
Before Yu Que could reach ten feet mark into his escape, the heavenly eye of thunder tribulation moved. A loud crackling echoed out as a thunderbolt, incorporeal and invisible to naked eyes, brutally smashed down.