Many years ago, a trade route was opened between He Le City, the county city of An Yi County, and the tea and silk-producing regions were situated in the mountains. It was called the Ancient Tea Silk Road now. At the moment, three carriages were riding fast along this road, and Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le were in the first carriage.
Wu Qi had created an interspatial space in his sleeve, which he used to temporarily keep the thousands of little demons who served Qianzhang Dragon King. Once again, he felt the pain of having his energy leaking away from his body. He began to miss his Spirit Breeding Ring, the one with an enormous space in it. If he still had the ring, he would not have to spend his own energy to bring those little demons along.
Princess Zhang Le was sitting cross-legged beside him, while Gold Horn and Silver Horn had coiled up their bodies next to them. Their eyes flickered with a murderous gleam and their jaws were clenched tight. With both hands locked into an incantation gesture, Wu Qi kept gathering stream after stream of pure star force, using it to conjure numerous profound runes which he sprinkled on them.
Every now and then, these silvery runes would tremble, as if some great invisible force was striking at them. Whenever such impact arose, Wu Qi's body would twitch for a moment, and his guts would cramp.
After escaping from Reverend Yao Yue and the other Heaven Immortals, Wu Qi went back to An Yi County with Princess Zhang Le and the others without a single halt. But, just as he was about to bring them to Mount Picking Star and return to the base of Underhand Sect, some powerful Immortals had struck at Princess Zhang Le and the python brothers.
Invisible forces swept in from every direction, trying to locate the exact position of Princess Zhang Le, Gold Horn, and Silver Horn. Those Immortals had only focused their attention on the three, ignoring Catfish, Lord Xiansheng, Angelica, and Peppermint. Wu Qi and his company could have arrived at Mount Picking Star faster; however, he had no other choice but to continue the rest of the journey in carriages, for he had to use all his power in concealing their aura.
Another sheet of silver light was sprinkled on Princess Zhang Le, Gold Horn and Silver Horn. But, when the silvery runes had just taken their shapes, a dull noise suddenly rang out, and in the next instance, dozens of them shattered into pieces with a crack. Wu Qi's body trembled and nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood, and then he saw a vision - an old man in a white robe was standing on a huge altar, dancing and gesturing with a peach wood sword in his hand while spraying flame to burn a few turtle shells floating before him. He was using a divination art to trace the three.
Wu Qi snorted coldly. Once again, he conjured a handful of silvery runes and sprinkled them on Princess Zhang Le and the two brothers. After that, he contemplated a divine art in his spiritual ocean, the Void Shattering and Body Ripping Curse, which came from the Dao of Ghost and Deity Princess Zhang Le had taught him. Transforming his chaotic energy into a thread of gloomy and obscure divine energy, he used it to conjure seven runes that emanated an immense evil aura in his spiritual ocean. Finally, he threw the seven runes out and made them followed the invisible connection that came from the vision.
A ball of green light suddenly burst out in the carriage. In it, Wu Qi could clearly see that the old man in white was letting out a miserable howl, and the turtle shells before him had exploded into pieces. A red line ran straight down from his forehead to his chest, while blood kept spraying out from it. As that happened, the old man waved the wooden sword in his hand to sketch dozens of mysterious runes in the air, and then threw out a handful of talismans that wrapped him within.
A sharp whistle came out from the green light, and it was immediately followed by the old man's rather ghostly voice, "Fellow Immortal, please forgive me for having offended you. Please spare my life, and I promise that I'll no longer meddle in this matter!"
Wu Qi grunted coldly, bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of black blood onto the green light.
The altar which was as large as a hill exploded with a boom, and the explosion ripped the old man apart while destroying all the magical instruments around him, leaving only a bloody immortal soul who shot up into the sky while shouting vicious curses. But, just as he was up in the air, Princess Zhang Le reached out her little hand and pressed on the ball of green light. A divine ray of five-colors radiated out of her palm, and suddenly, a gust of dark wind and a sheet of green flame emerged next to the immortal soul. They spun so rapidly that they sucked the old man's immortal soul and burned him into nothingness.
"Zi Xuan, are you getting better?" asked Wu Qi, his voice glad.
Princess Zhang Le nodded with a smile as a faint divine ray of five colors drifted out of her hands and enveloped Gold Horn and Silver Horn. "Not fully healed, but at least I can protect myself now. So Long as the divine ray of five-colors does not vanish, those Immortals will never find me. It is Gold Horn and Silver Horn giving us the trouble now. Their auras are too strong, making them an easy target."
Wu Qi shattered the ball of green light with a shake of his hand. He did not seem to be bothered by the fact that he and Princess Zhang Le had just joined forces to kill a formidable Immortal. He gave the brothers a few taps in the heads with his finger, then smiled and said, "Don't worry, we will have defensive formations concealing their aura when we get back to Mount Picking Star. No matter how strong those Immortals are in the art of divination, they won't be able to find the brothers."
Waving his hand, Wu Qi covered Gold Horn and Silver Horn with a chaotic energy. "No one can find them unless it is a Primordial Immortal, who can search the entire Pangu Continent in a flash. Yet, I don't believe that the Myriad Immortal Alliance has the ability to ask one to do that."
As Princess Zhang Le nodded slowly, the silvery gleam covering their bodies was trembling once again - another Immortal who was proficient in the art of divination was tracking their position. She had already lost count to how many times the same distraction had happened in the past few days. A frightening killing intent emerged on her face.
"Myriad Immortal Alliance… Li Qinghua!" She unleashed a divine ray of five-colors to protect everyone, then clenched her jaw and said, "They are pushing us too far! How have I offended them? I swear I will pay them back a hundred times for this enmity!"
Wu Qi grabbed Gold Horn and Silver Horn, who were under the double protection of chaotic energy and divine ray of five-colors, and threw them out of the window. The brothers flew up in the air grumpily and went into the second carriage, where they huddled together with Lord Xiansheng and Qianzhang Dragon King.
After getting rid of the two nuisances, Wu Qi embraced Princess Zhang Le tenderly. "I was really worried about you when Patriarch Yuan Hua was plotting against us. Fortunately, you escaped unharmed." He whispered in her ears.
Princess Zhang Le smiled, and she fell softly into Wu Qi's arms. She took a strand of his long hair and twist it around her finger, her eyes half-closed as she pushed herself closer to Wu Qi like a lazy cat seeking for a cuddle. But, her eyes soon flicked open, inside which, a startling killing intent could be seen. "I've decided to wipe out Yuan Hua Sect. Once my cultivation base has surpassed Patriarch Yuan Hua, I'll immediately slaughter every man and woman in his clan. What do you think?"
At the thought of the despair that washed through him when Daoist Chi and Daoist Min were trying to kill him with a Primordial Gold Talisman, Wu Qi's eyes shone with a frightful killing intent as well. He ground his teeth and said, "It shall be done! Once we are ready and have the situation on Pangu Continent stabilized, we will find an opportunity to attack Yuan Hua Sect. Patriarch Yuan Hua... hmph! Not only has he nearly killed me, he had caused the loss of all my energy stones, immortal stones, and countless rare and precious treasures!"
Wu Qi felt like he wanted to eat someone now. Just because of one Primordial Gold Talisman, his Black Dragon Spirit Ring with a huge storage space, where he had stored numerous rare and precious treasures, was completely destroyed, turning him from a rich man to a worthless poor people. The feeling of falling from heaven to hell was driving him crazy.
Still, there was wave after wave of mysterious forces came sweeping across them. The Immortals of Myriad Immortal Alliance had not given up searching for Princess Zhang Le, Gold Horn, and Silver Horn. But, with Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le working hand in hand, both of whom had mastered the Dao of Ghost and Deity, as well as various divination techniques and divine abilities, there was no way those Immortals could have locked down their position.
Soon, the three carriages had made their way into Mount Picking Star. As Princess Zhang Le had been able to use some of her divine energy, Wu Qi exercised a divine ability and brought everyone to the main peak of the mountains.
A cloud landed on the platform situated halfway up the main peak of Mount Picking Star. At the sight of it, the disciples of Underhand Sect, who were working hard to decorate the platform by planting exotic flowers and grasses, dropped to their knees and cheered. Wu Qi waved his hand and responded tersely. Then, he flicked his sleeve and threw the one thousand little demons he had brought from Qianzhang Lake onto the ground.
The disciples of Underhand Sect were startled, and when these little demons saw the beautiful scenery around them, they were stunned as well. Mount Picking Star was indeed a beautiful place, a completely different place when compared to where they used to live, the harsh land filled with nothing but ponds of stinking water. These little demons had never seen such a splendid scenery before, and never went to a blessed land with such a copious amount of natural energy. Some of them were petrified, with saliva dripping from their mouths.
Wu Qi clapped his hands and shouted, "Alright, stop acting like fools! From now on, the members of Qianzhang Lake will be merged into the Underhand Sect, and Qianzhang Dragon King will be one of the Elders. This is Princess Zhang Le, the deputy Sect Leader of Underhand Sect. She will be in charge of everything when I am away."
After thinking for a moment, he said again with a smile, "Even when I am here, you will obey everything she says! Haha! Brother Three Flame, You Jin, Bajie, Xue Mei, come over here and get acquainted with each other!"
As Wu Qi's voice echoed out, Supremacy Three Flame, You Jin, and the others came out from the cave abode. They were taken aback when they saw so many little demons running wildly on the platform. And when they saw the beautiful Princess Zhang Le, the handsome and gallant Lord Xiansheng, the ugly and fat Catfish, as well as the fierce Gold Horn and Silver Horn, they felt their heads reeling.
Afterward, Wu Qi introduced them all, and then determined their positions in the sect. It went without saying that Princess Zhang Le was the deputy Sect Leader, while Lord Xiansheng, Catfish, Qianzhang Dragon King, Gold Horn, and Silver Horn were made Elders.
Wu Qi was quick to give them dozens of blueprints of defensive formations. With Princess Zhang Le taking charge of everything, the construction of defensive formations was not a problem to be worried about. Since Underhand Sect had suddenly taken in one thousand little demons, the affairs in the sect had increased a lot, so Wu Qi had to clarify everyone's authority.
Right after he had settled everything, a communication talisman came falling into his hand; it was from Yan Bugui. The Great Oracle of An He City's Directorate of Celestial, Yu He, had something urgent to talk to Wu Qi about.