Miao Yin fixed her eyes on Ji Hao sharply and viciously, like a wild wolf.
Priest Hua was an immeasurably powerful being; his look only changed slightly then soon turned back to normal, his symbolic inanimate and lifeless face. He gave a short sigh, slightly wielded the bamboo staff held in his hand and said blandly, "Magics of our sect are powerful, mysterious and occult… how could simple spells possibly break our magics?"
"We can try." With Yu Yu and Po standing by his side, Ji Hao didn't feel much of dread from this deadly-looking Priest Hua. Especially the fact that Priest Hua disregarded his own position and launched a fatal attack on Ji Hao just now had raised the fire of anger burning in Ji Hao's heart.
Therefore, he gave a simple, honest and frank grin, which was supposed to be shown by a teenage boy. With the grin on his face that was as fresh and warm as a spring breeze, he said, "Dear Priest, why don't we give it a try? Let this old appa, Miao Yin stand right here, and I will invite around a hundred most powerful elders of the Magi Palace, who are mastered in magic spells, to curse her together. Then we can if she can live or die!"
Priest Hua's mouth corners twitched. A hundred, super powerful Magi Palace elders mastered in magic spells? Was this a joke?
Miao Yin's face went blue because of the rage. Her pair of straight eyebrows had even nearly stood up on her forehead vertically while she glared at Ji Hao. However, she dared not to interpose when Priest Hua and Yu Yu were talking, and could only gnash her teeth tight, ceaselessly cursing Ji Hao in her head.
Ji Hao bet that she dared not to accept the challenge of being cursed by a hundred Magi Palace elders together; indeed, she dared not and therefore wasn't mad because of this.
Nevertheless, when Ji Hao called her 'old appa', Miao Yin engraved Ji Hao along with a bone-deep hatred in her mind. What was 'old appa'? In Southern Wasteland clans, those elderly women who were the oldest and ugliest and were almost standing on their graves were called 'old appa' by their clansmen.
'Old,' this one simple word was more than enough for Miao Yin to hate Ji Hao for the rest of her life.
Priest Hua gave another slight sigh, and said in a deep voice, "Give Miao Lian back to us, then we can call an end to this. What do you think?"
Yu Yu sneered. He looked at Priest Hua and said in a bland and cold tone. "You said it quite easily. Miao Lian, Miao Yin, Ku Quan and Qing Mei, the four of them broke into my sword formation, for what? What were they trying to do to my disciple?"
Priest Hua lowered his eyelids, responding blandly, "What could they do? Do they possibly even dare to snatch that representative piece of the treasure of yours, my friend? My disciples had no evil intent and were just curious. They wanted nothing more than witnessing the great abilities possessing by this talented young disciple under your guidance."
Before Yu Yu said anything, Priest Hua hurriedly continued, "That was nothing but a small play among our disciples, who are all kids, no big deal that is. Miao Lian was gravely injured and has already sealed his own primordial spirit. If I don't help him as soon as possible, bad effects might be caused to his future cultivation. My friend, you won't like to watch Miao Lian become a wasted man, would you?"
Yu Yu gave no response but kept sneering. Not to mention watching Miao Lian become a wasted man, even watching him die wouldn't make Yu Yu feel anything. Yu Yu raised his head, looking at the sky and slightly pointed his finger at Ji Hao.
After received the sign giving by Yu Yu, Ji Hao took a step forwards and growled coldly, "It is definitely impossible for us to give Miao Lian back to you. He has a lot to do with the Ten Sun Country army's betrayal that happened when the battle was beginning. We have even been suspecting him for colluding with the non-humankind and intentionally breaking the defensive line of our humankind in Evil Dragon Bay.
Ji Hao took a deep breath, stared at Priest Hua, whose eyes looked cold and deep like two bottomless deep pools. He only sensed a fierce, frigid aura pressing down right towards his face, directly drilling into his bones. This Priest Hua was truly a terrifyingly powerful being, who was able to perish countless Magi at the same level as the current Ji Hao all at once, and that too only with a simple and convenient move!
Ji Hao forced himself to face this faintly discernible frosty aura released by Priest Hua. He straightened his neck and waist, maintained that cold and bland tone and said, "Miao Lian is an important witness. Emperor Shun will dig out all useful information from him and uncover all truth regarding the Evil Dragon Bay battle. Therefore, he cannot be released."
Priest Hua clenched his fingers and gripped the bamboo staff, remaining completely silent.
Ji Hao started at Priest Hua coldly and continued in a deep voice, "If we find out that Miao Lian is the chief culprit behind all these, we…"
Prest Hua abruptly growled out and said in a deep voice, "If you do find that out, what would happen? Yu Yu, my friend, can this be decided by a kid?"
Yu Yu rubbed his own hands, and faint fire sparkles spurted out from in between his fingers. He grinningly looked at Priest Hua and said in a gentle and mild tone, "Every single one of my disciples is truly precious, so each of them can more or less make some decisions for me. Not like those disciples of someone…ah, those poor kids had been toiling like beasts of burden. If they died by the roadside, their Shifu would just bury them by the roadside. Ah, poor, poor kids!"
Followed by a puffing noise, tens of new branches grew out from the bamboo staff held in Priest Hua's hand. Yet, those new branches immediately withered after growing out, turning into puffs of ashes, dissipating in the air. Priest Hua looked at Yu Yu in a malicious way and said, "Just say it, what do you want so you can release Miao Lian?"
Yu Yu smilingly looked at Priest Hua while he grabbed the small bronze clock and broken streamer over from Ji Hao's hands. Next, he threw that broken streamer back to Miao Yin, grinned and said while shaking that exquisite, triangle-shaped bronze clock, "This disciple of mine has made a solid contribution this time. Therefore, according to the rule of the humankind, he might be granted a fief that will belong to him and him only."
The faces of Priest Hua and Miao Yin twitched simultaneously.
As for Yu Yu, he gave an even bigger and warmer grin, which made him look like a completely harmless nice man, and continued, "Haven't you understood, my dear friend? This good disciple of mine is going to have his very own fief. Based on the habit of cultivators like us, he should at least have a large-scale realm-protecting magic formation."
Ji Hao and Po laughed instantly.
For large-scale realm-protecting magic formations, all preparation works and constructing processes were quite easy; the hardest part of setting up a large-scale realm-protecting formation was finding a suitable magic treasure to stabilize the core of the formation and reconcile the nature powers. This core-stabilizing treasure was the most essential part of a realm-protecting formation; the more powerful this treasure was, the greater power and stronger defense this formation could have.
Now, Yu Yu had given out the words, intending to extort Priest Hua on behalf of Ji Hao by himself. If Priest Hua refused to swallow this bait, it would be fine for him, but if he did fall into the trick, he could never get over it without giving some solid treasure to Yu Yu. After all, Yu Yu was a mysterious, powerful and legendary being. How could anyone dare to present a crappy piece to his disciple right in front of him?
Priest Hua's face turned darker and darker, more and more bitter as if he had just swallowed three kilograms of the bitterest pill.
"If I agree, can we forget all that happened between us in the past? As for what will happen in the future, that shall depend on the abilities of our disciples, what do you think?" He glanced at Ji Hao, then turned to Yu Yu and said. His words seemed to contain some particular meaning.
'Forget all that happened in the past? Even including the death of the few people I killed back in Southern Wasteland?' thought Ji Hao.
Ji Hao then gave a faint smile, cupped his hands and bowed to Yu Yu and said, "Dear Shifu, this is all up to you."
Yu Yu gave a loud and resonant laugh, then reached his hand to before Priest Hua's face and said, "Hand out a good piece, then all that happened in the past will be written off."
Priest Hua's eyebrows twitched for a short while as he remaining silent. After that, he reached his hand into his own sleeve, slowly taking out a six-inch square stamper, shaped like a mountain and entirely wrapped in glowing and coiling mist streams.
"This mountain and river stamper is an excellent protective treasure, it will allow you to control the landform, and can serve greatly in a magic formation." While speaking, Priest Hua clapped this stamper hard on Yu Yu's hand, then shouted out harshly, "Hand Miao Lian over, and we can call an end to this."
Soon, Priest Hua took Miao Lian and Miao Yin, transformed into a gust of wind and left, leaving Ji Hao holding that small bronze clock, which was called 'soul-shaking clock,' and that yellow-colored big stamper named 'mountain and river stamper' in his hands. Ji Hao was laughing so delightfully that he couldn't even close his mouth.