Two strong beams of light, one golden and one green, flew across the void in hot haste. They were Lord Jade and Mister Gold, whose bodies were covered in blood and had an expression that looked too deep for tears.
"It is all your fault!" While fleeing in desperation, both men kept cursing each other with the most vicious words they could come up with. Their faces were filled with a similar sulky expression. The death of Lady Qiao had put a deep sorrow in their hearts, and they were thinking it was the other's fault, blaming each other for not properly protecting such an understanding and beautiful lady, resulting in her being killed by those bald donkeys.
On the contrary, both of them were not very interested in the energy essence left behind by that Ganoderma Immortal. Lord Jade and Mister Gold were typical prodigal sons. It took them hard labor to cultivate to Thirty-third Tier Heaven Immortal, and since they had accumulated significant wealth, they had placed all their interests on women and extravagant enjoyments. That was also the reason why they kept following Lady Qiao wherever she went, and eventually became two of the most famous Lady Qiao's bedmates among countless others.
After Lady Qiao was killed today, they felt as if part of their hearts was dug out by someone, and it pained them terribly. Seething with anger, they launched a desperate attack against those monks from Golden Pavilion Temple. But to their surprise, the defense put up by those monks was unbelievably strong. Although both of them had joined hands to attack, they just could not break through the enemy's impregnable barrier.
And, while they were fighting desperately, the cultivators who tried to fish in the troubled water appeared suddenly. Five Heaven Immortals, several dozens of Nascent Divinity cultivators, as well as several hundred Nascent Soul and Gold Core cultivators, launched their attacks together. Worst of all, they struck at the moment when the battle situation was the most intense between both men and the monks, at the time when both parties had their energy at the lowest level. As a result, both men were severely wounded and forced to flee in a hurry, while one of the monks from Golden Pavilion Temple was killed on the spot.
"It is all your fault!" Both men cursed once again. As they had become Lady Qiao's bedmates for quite a long while, and both men had a long history of friendship. They knew very well about those nasty deeds each other had done in the past. Now, as the lubricant between them, Lady Qiao, was dead, it made them shed all pretenses of cordiality and keep cursing at each other with foul words.
Exercising innate earth element escape art, Wu Qi had arrived further in front of their path and waited for them. Fortunately, he could not hear any of those foul and nasty curses.
Seven celestial fiend puppets transformed into huge, bronze celestials fiend who stood ninety feet tall, soaring up into the sky with a very strong fiend aura as they leaped straight towards both men. As these celestial fiend puppets were practicing Celestial Fiend Battle the Heaven Script, which was a unique body tempering technique of Fiend Dao, it made these puppets the experts in melee combats. Basically, they could be used as human-shaped magical treasures. In a twinkle, seven celestial fiends arrived next to both men, thrusting fourteen fists down like a raging thunderstorm.
Each of the punches came with a very strong fiend energy filled with all sorts of negative powers, such as corrosive power and devouring power. They smashed onto the unprepared Lord Jade and Mister Gold viciously, knocking both of them backward with large sheets of golden light radiating from them. The wealthiness of both men was very well-known in An He City and the surrounding regions, and everybody knew that each of them had at least three to four defensive immortal items. Although they were caught off guard by the ambush, their defensive immortal items were activated automatically and protected them, barely blocking off the attacks from the puppets.
However, as both of them had lived in leisure for over several tens of thousands of years, and did not fight with anybody for a very long period of time, they had long forgotten how to fight properly. When they were ambushed by the celestial fiend puppets, it was their immortal items who automatically triggered that saved their lives. After that, they did not think of how to handle the enemies. Instead, they both assumed a look as if they were some great masters and shouted, "How dare you? Little fellow, do you know who we are?"
Wu Qi sprung out from underground. He was not moved at all by the wealth or prestigious status which both men were hinting at. Looking at the layers of dazzling glows emitting from them, Wu Qi patted the top of his own head. Immediately, a grayish smoke soared up into the sky, coupled with an ear-splitting ghost howl. Amidst the smoke, the Jadebones Soul-Searching Flag slowly revealed itself.
Among all the other immortal items which Wu Qi carried currently, none of them had the ability to break through both men's defense. The Hassock did possess an incredible power, but too bad it did not obey Wu Qi's order at this moment. Therefore, he could only rely on the power of Jadebones Soul-Searching Flag! After unleashing it, he grabbed its handle and sprayed out a mouthful of blood essence onto the flag. Then, he raised the flag up and waved it forcefully.
A strange howling echoed out. Abruptly, the dazzling glow emitting from both Lord Jade and Mister Gold faded, their eyes lost focus and began to roll disorderly, as they lost their consciousness due to the power of Jadebones Soul-Searching Flag. Without the slightest hesitation, seven celestial fiend puppets flew up into the sky, thrusting fourteen fists and giving both men a round of messy beating. The brutal and vicious beating dimmed the immortal items protecting both men. Finally, the puppets pinched both men's necks and broke them with one clean move.
It was a miserable ending. Although both of them were grand and mighty Thirty-third Tier Heaven Immortals, whose overall strength was marginally stronger than Wu Qi even when they were seriously injured, they were easily killed by Wu Qi like killing two chickens.
"Such an excellent treasure! Fortunately, I had your help today!" Wu Qi gladly stroke the Jadebones Soul-Searching Flag, thinking even higher for the power of this immortal item. It was a pity that its item spirit was still recovering in a deep slumber, or else he would have learned what grade was this incredible immortal item.
He sprayed out a stream of Divine Flame of Order, burning Lord Jade and Mister Gold through their seven apertures. In just a blink of an eye, both men were burned into a big pile of blood and soul crystals. Suddenly, a series of whistling rang out, as over thirty streams of strange light rushed out and fled in all directions. Wu Qi snorted coldly, and with a casual pointing of his finger, a thread of faint innate aura rushed out from his fingertip.
Over thirty streams of light which had fled several thousand feet away halted abruptly, then spun and flew back quickly to wheel around Wu Qi. They gave the faint innate aura which Wu Qi released a brief scan, cautiously moving closer to him. Wu Qi nodded and said in a low voice, "If you submit to me wholeheartedly, all of you will have a chance to remove the shackles of being an item spirit and reforge your fleshly body in the future!"
A joyous whistle echoed out from the swirling lights. One after another, they flew into Wu Qi's body and opened up the core to their item spirit, allowing him to leave his divine will seal in them. For these middle to lower grade immortal items, the innate aura was very attractive.
But, Wu Qi was worried at the same time. When he sensed the many weapons now dwelling in the area between his brows, such as blades, spears, halberds, axes, and many others, he could not help but sigh silently, wondering how he was going to take care of so many immortal items at the same time. He had no choice but to send them a very clear message through divine will: At some time in the future, he would give them to other people. But, if they were obedient enough and obeyed his orders before that, carrying out the tasks which an immortal item was supposed to do, he would reward them with some innate aura.
"Do you have any idea how precious the innate aura is? If you contribute nothing, why should I give you such a great benefit?" Those were the words Wu Qi used to calm those immortal items down.
Luckily, those immortal items were rather reasonable, and they agreed to Wu Qi's condition. Wu Qi finally breathed out a sigh of relief. Although he currently had an overall strength that could fight against a Heaven Immortal, if these over thirty immortal items tried to revolt against him, even a formidable Immortal such as Heavenly Lord San Yu would feel a headache, much less Wu Qi.
After killing Lord Jade and Mister Gold, as well as subduing over thirty immortal items, Wu Qi put away all the blood and soul crystals, then quickly plunged back into the ground and rushed towards the battlefield.
Lao Ai was hiding somewhere far away as he watched the battlefield with Madman Xue, Hidden Heart, and the unconscious Liu Yi. When Wu Qi regrouped with them, Lao Ai did not ask him where he went and what had he done, but instead, he said, "That old monk and the old man look ridiculously strong."
During the time when Wu Qi went out to hunt down Lord Jade and Mister Gold, a dramatic change had occurred on the battlefield.
Those cultivators, who previously attacked Lord Jade, Mister Gold, as well as the monks from Golden Pavilion Temple in order to seize the Ganoderma Immortal, had been completely slaughtered. What was left on the battlefield now was a skinny old man, who stood about three feet tall and had a gloomy expression, and a tall, fat monk, who looked wrathful and cruel. They were staring at each other with a distance between them.
After a few exchanges of voice transmission with Lao Ai, Wu Qi finally understood what had happened during the time he was away.
The skinny old man was Patriarch Muji, and the fat monk was Arhat Wrath. Patriarch Muji was Lady Qiao's nominal adopted-father. But in reality, she was his disciple, his lover, as well as his representative who he used to remotely control An He City and the surrounding regions. On the other side, Arhat Wrath was a Grandmaster from the Minor Serene Buddhist Land. Even the Abbot of Golden Pavilion Temple was one of the disciples who listened to his teaching.
Both men possessed a similar cultivation base, Twenty-fourth Tier Heaven Immortal realm. They were the representative figures for the various immortal sects who invaded An He City.
Over the past many years, they only controlled some powers to fight against each other on the surface level, and for the sake of preserving their prestigious status, they rarely got into action themselves. But now, with the finding of a Ganoderma Immortal, no matter how they wanted to preserve their status, they had to tend the matter personally.
Upon their arrival, they immediately killed all the cultivators who came to mess up the situation. Patriarch Muji only killed those Heaven Immortals and cultivators from the righteous path, while Arhat Wrath showed no mercy to those cultivators from the evil path. In just the time of a few breaths, both men murdered every single cultivator who dared to show themselves within a radius of thirty miles. What was left now was a few people from Euphoria Heavenly Palace and a few monks from Golden Pavilion Temple, who managed to survive the massacre.
Before Wu Qi came back, both mighty existences were staring at each other without uttering a single word. When Wu Qi came next to Lao Ai and intentionally unleashed a little bit of his aura, only then both men turned to give Wu Qi a brief look. Then, Patriarch Muji spoke suddenly, "Bald donkey, if you can make a concession today, I'll definitely pay you handsomely in the future. We've just killed so many people, and there are many juniors looking at us now. Do we really have to fight against each other here and let those juniors laugh at us?"
Arhat Wrath laughed. Nodding his fat head, he said seriously, "There is a fate between this item and Buddha, so I can't let you take it away. Patriarch Muji, if you can make a concession today and form a good karma with the Buddha, I can spare your life three times in the future!"
Patriarch Muji snorted coldly. He pointed his finger at Arhat Wrath and said with a cold grin, "If that is the case, let's fight then! Bald donkey, you are already dead!"
Even as Patriarch Muji's words echoed out, some black, stinking sweat suddenly broke out from underneath Arhat Wrath's skin. His body became shriveled abruptly, as the relic and the lotus thrones hovering above his head were withering as well. He was showing a sign of decay.
Arhat Wrath was taken aback, and he immediately cried out with a deep voice, "The power of Buddha is boundless. How can evils and heretics withstand even a single blow?"
A blinding golden light radiated from all over his body, while the fleshly body quickly returned to normal. Meanwhile, Patriarch Muji's body expanded suddenly with a golden gleam being emitted from his once dark skin, making him look like a golden statue. Shockingly, a ring of Buddhist light also emerged behind his head.
Patriarch Muji cried out in shock. Then, putting up a solemn expression, he said with a long sigh, "Good can never prevail over evil. The Buddha will become evil eventually!"
Amidst the long sigh, Patriarch Muji transformed into a beam of dark light as he thrust towards Arhat Wrath.
Arhat Wrath's expression turned stately as he opened his mouth, allowing the beam of dark light to plunge into it.
A calling of Buddha's name was heard. A few old monks from Golden Pavilion Temple sat cross-legged around Arhat Wrath and began to recite a scripture of subduing evils.
All of a sudden, dark mists sprayed out from all over Arhat Wrath's body. The left half of his body suddenly turned into a skeleton.
Wu Qi gasped. It seemed that both mighty existences were fighting against each other with their lives!