Meanwhile, in An Yi County of Zhong Province...
The governor of An Yi County had fled with all his kinsmen. He was a loyal servant of Feng Lingling, and his entire clan was a tributary of the Feng Clan for many years. After learning that Zhong Ning City was slaughtered, Feng Lingling was deprived of the rank of Marquis and expelled from the position of Prefecture Overseer, the governor naturally thought about his own life and the safety of his clan. Therefore, he fled with all his people and possessions.
As a result, there was a great vacuum of power in An Yi County, and the whole county was in a mess, as no one worried about all kinds of government affairs anymore.
With such a wonderful opportunity, Wu Qi, with his many apprentices of Underhand Sect came to the nameless mountain in the southwest corner of An Yi County. The once-nameless mountain was now named by Wu Qi as the Mount Picking Star, and along with a nearby mountain range, Wu Qi named it the Picking Star Mountains.
The main peak of Picking Star Mountains was one hundred and twenty-seven miles high, and the entire mountain range stretched for over seventy thousand miles. It occupied most of the territory of An Yi County.
On the mountainside of the main peak of the Picking Star Mountains was a precipice with a height of one hundred miles. In the middle of it, Wu Qi had created a one-hundred acres wide platform. A few green pines, cypresses, and exotic flowers were transplanted on the platform, while a few pools were dug, using the snow water drew from the mountaintop as the water source. At the end of the platform was an arch that was about thirty feet high and twenty feet wide. A plaque was set on the lintel, and 'Underhand Sect' was neatly carved on its surface.
From this arch, a hundred miles into the belly of the mountain was the immortal energy vein which Wu Qi had discovered in the copy of Pangu's Map. Rich immortal energy surged from under the ground and opened up a naturally blessed cave with an area of one hundred square miles in the belly of the mountain. The cave had a circumference of one hundred and eight miles, and was divided into eighteen levels. Each level was as bright as day, full of countless strange flowers and grasses. With some houses and pavilions built, it became the most suitable place for cultivating.
After providing some formation designs and giving the various precious treasures he had looted from the Prefecture Overseer Mansion to Supremacy Three Flame and You Jin, Wu Qi left the tasks of constructing the base to the others, while he himself went all the way down to the bottom of the blessed cave. There, he found the eye of the spirit cave where the immortal energy was the richest, and sat cross-legged down to meditate.
He had swallowed six young Gods, and the enormous energy in their bodies had enabled him to step into the realm of twenty-first tier Heaven Immortal. But he had brought himself a neither too big nor too little problem by swallowing Mu Bai. It was true that he had wiped out Mu Bai's true spirit, and all Mu Bai's understanding of the Laws of the Wind had become his understanding of the Heavenly Dao, yet the immense divine energy had given him a hard time.
Mu Bai was a God who had been given birth by the Heaven and Earth tens of Aeons ago, and he had accumulated an immense amount of divine energy over the long years he had lived, which was at least hundreds of times more powerful than what Wu Qi had now. Wu Qi was like a little garden snake who had swallowed an elephant. He was lucky to stay alive because of the magical chaotic energy, but he had to digest Mu Bai's divine energy as quickly as he could, or he would be just carrying a bomb in his body at any moment, not knowing when it would detonate.
And that was the reason why he hurried back to An He City, hurriedly brought all the disciples of Underhand Sect to Picking Star Mountains, and made Supremacy Three Flame and You Jin handle everything while he shut himself up in a secluded cultivation, so he could focus all his attention to digest Mu Bai's divine energy.
He longed to find out what cultivation base he could obtain once he had digested all of Mu Bai's divine energy and transformed them into chaotic energy. Would he be a higher-tier Heaven Immortal? Or, could the energy propel him into the realm of a top-tier Heaven Immortal?
One thousand miles below the ground, in the eighteenth level of the blessed cave, the immortal energy was so rich that it had condensed and compressed into a purple-gold liquid, and formed a pool in the eye of the spirit cave. Wu Qi was sitting cross-legged in the pool as he kept absorbing the immortal energy around him, while trying his best to digest the immense divine energy that he had seized from Mu Bai.
Mu Bai's divine energy hovered within his body like a dazzling star, while his chaotic energy had materialized into a grinding wheel that constantly ground down bits and pieces of the divine energy, constantly crushing them and turning them into a chaotic mess. At the same time, Wu Qi was exercising the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture and the Seven Foundation Elevating Technique, as well as the other divine abilities and mystic techniques. All kinds of spirit lights flashed and blinked around him as he turned Mu Bai's divine energy his own, wisp after wisp.
The various enlightenments of the Heavenly Dao found in the Song of Gale, the Dark Yin Water Scripture, the Inferno Hell Fiend Scripture, and many others were integrating into his soul at a steady pace. He had entered the mysterious and unfathomable state of enlightenment, and was studying the various secrets quietly. The realm of his cultivation base was gradually improving, and his energy was becoming more and more powerful. But, the fastest progress had been his cultivation base of the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture. The strength of his fleshly body was advancing at a terrifying speed.
It seemed that the Chaotic Spirit Body was especially suitable for the cultivation of the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture. Even without the need of Wu Qi actively absorbing them, the strange purple energy released by Pangu Continent within a million miles around the Star Picking Mountains was voluntarily flowing into his body, causing his fleshly body to strengthen rapidly. If Qiong Chan, the old man who had taught Wu Qi the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture, was here, he would have been frightened by Wu Qi's incredible speed of cultivation.
Days passed, and in the blink of an eye, seven days and nights had passed since Wu Qi had devoured Mu Bai and the other Gods.
About ten percent of Mu Bai's divine energy had been transformed by Wu Qi. However, instead of using them to make the breakthrough, all he did was strengthen his foundation. No matter if it was the amount or the quality, the chaotic energy in his body had taken a big leap when compared to seven days ago.
The mysteries of heaven and earth contained in the Song of Gale and the other mystic techniques swirled in Wu Qi's soul. He pondered over the endless mysteries as two streams of tear trickled from the corners of his eyes. The knowledge was extremely profound, and the more enlightenment he gained out of them, he felt like his heart was cleansed once again. Thus, the tears flowed down involuntarily.
While Wu Qi's secluded cultivation was going on extremely well, Supremacy Three Flame came to him in a hurry.
Watching at Wu Qi, who was sitting cross-legged in the pool of gold-and-purple energy that rolled around him and formed the shape of a Taiji diagram, Supremacy Three Flame clicked his tongue with envy. He gave Wu Qi a punch and said, "You should stop meditating now. Something big is happening!"
Wu Qi flicked open his eyes and gulped down a mouthful of fluid condensed from the immortal energy. He burped satisfyingly and looked at Supremacy Three Flame confusedly, "What is happening? Feng Lingling is caught and torn to pieces? Or is there a new Prefecture Overseer for Zhong Province? Has someone taken the throne of Prefecture Overseer and began a great purge in Zhong Province?"
Supremacy Three Flame shook his head as he took out his medallion from the Myriad Immortal Alliance, and with a point of his finger, a curtain of light sprang out of it. "The mess in Zhong Province is none of my business. Tsk, something big is happening in Myriad Immortal Alliance! The Divine Hall has issued an arrest warrant, and the rewards are three requests!"
"Three requests," Supremacy Three Flame said, "three requests which will be fulfilled by the Elders of Divine Hall! Tsk, if we can catch those people, I'll ask them to help me achieve the cultivation base of Gold Immortal, then ask for a few Gold Immortal items and a good base. With that, Underhand Sect will certainly thrive in no time!"
Wu Qi was struck dumb, and he quickly turned to look at the curtain of light, in which Princess Zhang Le and her company were visible.
Supremacy Three Flame gave Wu Qi a garrulous account of the arrest warrant. The Elders of Divine Hall, the supreme council of Myriad Immortal Alliance, had jointly approved the arrest warrant, that so long as anyone could capture the people in the curtain of light, they could get the three requests promised by the Divine Hall, no matter what the requests were. And for those who were too weak to capture those people, so long as they could provide any information, they would be rewarded as well.
In the end, Supremacy Three Flame told Wu Qi that he had learned through the internal intelligence system of Myriad Immortal Alliance that all the allies of Wandering Immortal Hall on Pangu Continent had gone into action. A vast invisible net had been spread across the entire continent. Therefore, there was no way these people could have escaped the pursuit of the countless allies.
Wu Qi stared blankly at the curtain of light, at Princess Zhang Le and her company.
'Why is she here with all the others? She looks fine though... She must have escaped from that vicious Patriarch Yuan Hua! But, doesn't she know how dangerous the journey to Pangu Continent is? Why didn't she stay with Yan Dan? Why does she have to come here?'
Shaking his head, Wu Qi asked in an odd voice, "Did the Myriad Immortal Alliance mention why these people are wanted?"
Supremacy Three Flame did not notice Wu Qi's unsightly expression. He smiled and said, "Remember those spirit herbs which Myriad Immortal Alliance had requested a few years ago? More than two dozen of them have not been found up to now. But surprisingly, the medicinal paste concocted with the internal organs of Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice can actually replace them. The two pythons will be used to concoct the paste. As for this beautiful girl..."
He laughed strangely, smacked his lips and said with a sigh, "The Young Master of Myriad Immortal Alliance wants her, and he is going to make her his serving girl in the palace!"
Even as Supremacy Three Flame was laughing, Wu Qi let out a long, mournful cry and thrust his fist in Supremacy Three Flame's face.
When the fist was still a few feet away from Supremacy Three Flame, the terrible force had frozen all of the immortal energy in his body, making him unable to move. He gave a despairing roar, his eyes wide open as he stared at the blow that was enough to completely destroy his immortal body and immortal soul. He could not understand why Wu Qi had suddenly become so powerful!
The fist was three inches from Supremacy Three Flame when it suddenly stopped. Wu Qi slowly retracted his fist and rose to his feet.
He stared at the curtain of light with a cold grin on his face, "That girl is called Zi Xuan, and she is my lover!"
Supremacy Three Flame's mouth fell open, and he could not come to his senses for a long time.
As he looked at the others that appeared on the curtain of light, he said coolly, "Among the rest are my brother, my friend, my Junior... the Young Master of Myriad Immortal Alliance? Oh, I say I'm going to destroy Myriad Immortal Alliance. What do you think?"
For a moment, Supremacy Three Flame scratched his head distressingly. "Well, I'll bring you the knife then!" He said finally, but with a long sigh.
Wu Qi threw his head back and laughed. All of a sudden, he leaped into the air, transformed into a cloud of Fiend energy, and shot out of the Star Picking Mountains, his eyes bloodshot.