"For the benevolence of the Buddha!" Wu Qi put his palms together as he bowed to the monk who sat cross-legged outside the east entrance of An He City. After that, he threw two pork heads, three pork livers, and four pork knuckles into the water tank placed next to the monk.
The monk opened his eyes, his lips twitching unnaturally as he nodded at Wu Qi and said, "Benefactor... for the benevolence of the Buddha! Sādhu! Sādhu!"
While the monk was mentally troubled by the pork heads and other things which Wu Qi threw into the water tank, Wu Qi suddenly cupped up an old prostitute standing right next to him, who was in her fifties and gorgeously dressed, throwing her right into the water tank as well. The monk trembled with his mouth wide-opened, staring blankly at Wu Qi as he was rendered speechless.
Once again, Wu Qi put his palms together, then bowed and said devotedly, "Grandmaster, I had spent a generous amount of money to redeem this lady from a brothel, with the intention of having her as my concubine. But, right at the moment I met you today, I suddenly gained enlightenment that lewdness is the worst of all sins. I've decided to turn over a new leaf and no longer associate myself with those dirty activities. There is a fate between this lady and Buddhism. Please accept her, Grandmaster!"
After nodding at the monk with a leisurely manner, Wu Qi dragged Liu Yi, who stood off to a side holding back his laughter with a twisted face, and walked slowly out of the golden barrier, towards a patch of mountain forest located several hundred miles eastward of An He City.
The monk called out suddenly, "Benefactor! Please wait!"
However, the old prostitute, who was handsomely paid by Wu Qi with gold leaves and silver ingots, hastily climbed out of the water tank and threw herself into the monk's arms. She then began to weep and cry like there was no tomorrow, "Grandmaster, you can't just abandon me like this! There is a fate between you and me! In my previous life, the life before the previous life, and all several thousand transmigrations which I've gone through, I've broken several tens of thousands of wooden fishes before the Buddha. Only then did I get myself a chance to be intimate with you in this life! Grandmaster, you can't just ditch me behind like this!"
All several thousand cultivators who were watching the event within the city roared with laughter instantly. Some with weaker cultivation bases laughed until holding their stomachs, rolling and twitching on the floor. Lao Ai, also watching how Wu Qi handled the situation from atop the gate of the wall, pulled a long face and grumbled under his breath, "This fellow's tricks are still so mean! Tsk, anyway, even I've suffered some losses and been humiliated a few times by him! I wonder what stage of cultivation base he has attained…"
Madman Xue said dryly, "Master, it is not Wu Qi's cultivation base that makes him so scary, but his unscrupulously decisive tactics, and his shameless approaches when he punishes someone! You see, he could have left the city without stirring up any troubles, but he just purposely made fun of that monk. Tsk, lucky we are on his side now!"
Lao Ai's face twitched a few times. Finally, he breathed out a heavy sigh and nodded his head.
Liu Yi and Wu Qi walked along the road with hurried steps. When they were about tens of miles away from An He City, Wu Qi dragged Liu Yi up and flew eastward amidst a gust of strong wind towards a mountain range. Liu Yi stared blankly at Wu Qi for a while, then suddenly shook his head and said, "Fellow Daoist Greed, you really didn't need to use such method to deal with that monk from Golden Pavilion Temple."
Wu Qi gave him a cold gaze and laughed, "Of course, I do have my own reasons for doing that!"
Shaking his head, Wu Qi said, "Reverend San Le is a mighty hero, and his leadership in An He City is well received by the people. I feel very lucky to be able to follow him. However, the few bald donkeys are deliberately making things difficult for him. If I don't teach them a lesson, it will make them look down on us! I've just used a small trick. It is not worth mentioning at all!"
Laughing complacently, Wu Qi gave Liu Yi a provocative look and said, "I've already help Reverend briefly vent his pent-up anger. Now, it is your turn to show us your grand scheme!"
Liu Yi's expression changed drastically. Now, he stared at Wu Qi with an indifferent look, grinning coldly as he said, "I see. So fellow Daoist Greed feels that I, Liu Yi, have brought a threat to your position in An He City?" While unfolding the fan and waving it a few times elegantly, he tilted his head up and said, "Unless fellow Daoist Greed is bold enough to kill me right now, I will definitely become a high and mighty person in An He City sooner or later, with only one over me and millions under me!"
A hostile look emerged within Wu Qi's eyes as he fiercely glared at Liu Yi, crying out loud with a stern voice, "Do you really think that I am not bold enough? Take warning from that monk and better not let me find anything unusual from you!"
Liu Yi laughed it off and turned to look elsewhere. However, Wu Qi managed to catch a glimpse of the disapproving look that flashed in Liu Yi's eyes, which made him breathe out a sigh of relief. Laughing dryly, he asked out of the blue, "Brother Liu Yi, I somehow admired your courage to talk like that to Reverend San Le. Are you not afraid that Reverend San Le might be loyal to Euphoria Heavenly Palace and expose your scheme, then hand you over to Euphoria Heavenly Palace, asking for a reward?"
Liu Yi turned to give Wu Qi a gaze. A mocking smile surfaced as he waved the fan elegantly without answering the question. There was a look of scorn mixed with disdain in his eyes. He assumed a reserved and proud bearing, as if he totally exceeded Wu Qi in term of intelligence, so much so that he was looking at Wu Qi like looking at an idiot.
Wu Qi laughed. He had already gotten the answer which he was seeking.
The celestial fiend puppet had devoured all of Reverend San Le's memory. From that, Wu Qi knew he was out of favor in Euphoria Heavenly Palace, an unlucky fellow who had always been the target of bullies and exploits. In fact, becoming the City Lord of An He City was a task where the risk was greater than the reward. He could be assassinated at any time, yet his task was to collect the taxes from the people of An He City and submit them to Euphoria Heavenly Palace. Worst of all, out of the taxes collected, not even a single dime would go to Reverend San Le.
Because of all that, a great grievance against Euphoria Heavenly Palace had been brewing inside Reverend San Le's heart. Apart from that, he had been holding a secret admiration for the Master of Euphoria Heavenly Palace, Lady Qiao, which he had never revealed to anyone before. One could only imagine that when Liu Yi presented a seemingly flawless scheme before Reverend San Le, the latter would definitely accept the 'exceptional scheme' with an open heart, dragging Euphoria Heavenly Palace and Golden Pavilion Temple into a full war, so that he could make the utmost profit from it.
This was the conclusion which Wu Qi derived after the celestial fiend puppet devouring all of Reverend San Le's memories. But to his surprise, this Liu Yi actually came straight to Reverend San Le and proposed a scheme like that. Presumably, Liu Yi's understand towards Reverend San Le was not weaker than Reverend San Le himself. With his background, an orphan and the disciple of a holy hermit, how was it possible for him to know so many things when he had just arrived at An He City not long ago?
For that reason, Wu Qi knew there must be someone else working behind Liu Yi! They must have spent a very long time investigating and observing Reverend San Le, and eventually came out with a comprehensive plan against him!
Wu Qi was very interested in the people who worked behind Liu Yi!
Meanwhile, Wu Qi, Lao Ai, Madman Xue, and even Hidden Heart, all of them were the strange cultivators who suddenly appeared next to Reverend San Le. Unintentionally, they had become the variables in the plan which Liu Yi and the people behind him had come up with!
A variable was always dangerous. Wu Qi did not wish to be dragged into a dangerous situation for no apparent reasons. Therefore, he took the opportunity to show Liu Yi that he was a man who employed mean tactics, who liked to fight for power, and haggled over every ounce. He pretended that he was an early-stage Gold Core itinerant cultivator who had just clung himself to Reverend San Le, getting ready to rely on the City Lord so he could accumulate some wealth or build some other nasty businesses.
And obviously, he had played the role perfectly with the mean tactic he used previously. Liu Yi had dropped his guard against Wu Qi. As for how those people behind Liu Yi would think, Wu Qi did not worry now, as he still had time to slowly come out with solutions to handle them. In any case, Wu Qi felt that this was a fun game, and he wished to play along with it, finding out exactly what those people would do.
Perhaps, this was a chance for him to officially blend into Pangu Continent…
Wearing a roguish smile which he was rather familiar with, Wu Qi brought Liu Yi in a wild wind as they flew straight towards a lofty mountain located several hundred miles eastward. With the guidance from Liu Yi, Wu Qi wormed through the forest that grew on a gentle upward slope. After traveling for about three hundred miles, they entered the real mountain ridges. They were surrounded by towering peaks and bottomless abysses, while the natural energy in the atmosphere was many times stronger than the outside.
Pangu Continent had proven itself to be the origin of all things in the universe, as the natural energy here was nearly one hundred times denser than that of Myriad Immortals Planet. As far as Wu Qi's glance could reach, the place was fully covered with various exotic flowers and peculiar plants, many of which were rare species which could be used to concoct immortal pills and spirit medicines.
But, from what was told by Yu Hehuan, both the Heaven and Yu Dynasty exercised a very strict vigilance against all the cultivators who were visiting and leaving Pangu Continent from outer heavenly realms. Apart from the Heaven, which could wantonly loot all sorts of rare and precious resources from Pangu Continent, and Yu Dynasty, which could purchase various spirit medicines and precious products with a high price from cultivators through official channels, any visiting cultivators who dared to harvest spirit herbs and mining minerals on a large scale on Pangu Continent would be severely punished by the joint forces of the Heaven and Yu Dynasty.
The spirit herbs and other similar resources that were once found in the vicinity of those native immortal sects had mostly been harvested. The situation was very much the same with outer heavenly realms. On the other hand, spirit items were thriving within the territories controlled by the Yu Dynasty. However, as they were under the official control of Yu Dynasty, who dared to touch them?
Although after those immortal sects invaded the regions around An He City and drove the official power of Yu Dynasty out of here, the various interdicts imposed by Yu Dynasty were still having a very powerful deterring force for the people in the region. As a result, although the mountains were abundant with spirit items, not many people dared to harvest them wantonly, as they feared that would bring them an army from Yu Dynasty, who would eventually bring a total annihilation to them or even their own sects.
After venturing over one thousand miles deep through a path of clouds amongst the mountains, Liu Yi cried out suddenly, "Stop! Stop! It is somewhere nearby here!"
Grabbing Liu Yi with him, Wu Qi controlled the gust of wind and landed on a slanting peak. The peak was actually a ridge which stretched out from a huge mountain, that stood over one hundred thousand feet tall. It measured about one hundred feet in width, and nearly ten thousand feet in length, hanging mid-air like a Ruyi scepter.
The entire ridge took a bright green hue, with its up-facing side full of black fungus, and numerous wisterias that preferred a shady environment hanging on the down-facing side. A roughly one hundred feet wide rock shaped like a Ganoderma was seen stretching out at a spot where the ridge and the main peak was connecting. Liu Yi jumped about joyfully as he pointed at the rock and said, "That is it! That is it! Go and get it quickly! With this thing in my hand, Euphoria Heavenly Palace and Golden Pavilion Temple will definitely fight against each other to death!"
Wu Qi threw Liu Yi on the top of the slanting peak, then slid all his way towards the rock.
He pulled out a lower-grade flying sword which he robbed from someone previously, using it to cut away some wisterias and grasses that grew near the rock, slowly revealing its complete shape. It was indeed a spirit Ganoderma measuring about one hundred feet wide, its color deep purple, and almost fully crystallizing. A spirit Ganoderma like this had lost all its vitality, and no longer had any medicinal effect. However, through the transparent body of this huge, crystallized spirit Ganoderma, Wu Qi saw a three feet wide, sphere-shaped space right at its core.
A purple fluid filled the sphere-shaped space, amidst which hovered a palm-sized, tiny and cute-looking white horse, who seemed to be sleeping soundly.
"This is!" Wu Qi took a deep breath!
Liu Yi gave Wu Qi a quick, scornful glance and said indifferently,
"This is nothing more than a Ganoderma Horse formed from the energy essence of a Ganoderma Immortal who had failed its tribulation. It is just something that will allow a mortal to step onto the path of Immortality with one single bound once consumed!"