Li Weiyi wanted a fast and decisive battle, so he gave it his all. After chasing down the ape-like deformed human, he struck with both palms at the same time. The sound of rushing wind filled the air, as if he intended to overpower his foe with sheer force.
It had only been barely a spring opening… He pushed his enemy aside forcefully, determined to quell his threat immediately. The ape-like deformed human dared not try to fight Li Weiyi head-on.
Instead, he swung his spine-like bow to try to block the attack. In his mind, he reckoned that the kid before him might have opened not just three springs but probably as many as four. With his silver-thread gloves supporting his magical weapon, it was likely that he could even contend with martial practitioners who had opened five springs.
At the realm of four springs, a weapon could be activated to shine with silver light—most likely not a low-level magical instrument. So having a spring realm could grant one such a weapon? Who exactly was this kid?
The ape-like deformed human could not understand, even after counting several blows; after taking so many strikes his spine-like bow kept breaking bit by bit, his hands bled profusely, and his internal organs ached as if they were shattering. Deciding he could not survive much longer, he turned and fled without hesitation.
But Li Weiyi wasn’t about to let him escape. He had to silence the enemy. After catching up, he turned his hand into a knife and unleashed the TaYi KaiHai technique.
A streak of silver palm energy, like a knife, slashed into the deformed human’s back, severing his spine. The huge body then crashed onto the ground with a booming thud.
“Bang!”
With another palm strike, Li Weiyi shattered his enemy’s skull. Only after confirming that the foe was dead did Li Weiyi quickly step back and retrieve the Yellow Dragon Sword. He wrapped it carefully in cloth.
Zhao Meng rushed forward to express his thanks.
“May I ask the honorable young master’s high surname and full name? Zhao Meng of the Cang Li Tribe will remember your great grace for all eternity.”
“Old sir, you must hurry and go get reinforcements. This is the most urgent matter,” Li Weiyi replied.
Zhao Meng’s face grew pale, his eyes filled with anxious worry as he fought through the pain from his wounds.
“I have a favor to ask… Honorable young master, could you please see this through to the end? With my current condition, if I travel alone, I fear I might collapse just a few dozen li away from my mount.”
That iron arrow had such destructive force that it tore through large patches of flesh and created grievous injuries to bone. Li Weiyi was reluctant to get involved in the matter, fearing that he might later be held accountable by Stone Nine Chamber.
But then he thought that once everyone from the Bronze Ship disembarked, they would need a place to settle down. Without a safe haven, how could they survive? If he could use this chance to settle the issue, perhaps he might be able to take a risk.
Li Weiyi was mounted on a horse, though he wouldn’t call himself skilled in equestrian arts. However, once he opened the two spring orifices on the soles of his feet, his body became extraordinary, and controlling a horse was still an easy matter. The three of them rode together on one mount.
Zhao Meng sat upfront, crouching low, while Gao Huan, firmly holding Li Weiyi’s waist, rode behind. Fortunately, the sturdy horse was unusually robust. After drinking the blood of the jiao-wu beast, its bones were solid, muscles taut, and its body was emblazoned with tiger stripes.
Much larger and mightier than ordinary mounts, even carrying three people at once, it charged like a bolt and could travel a thousand li in a day. …
Yao Pass City lay about three hundred li from Burial Immortal Town and had a population of over 200,000. Lacking city walls, gates, or moats, it was more like a large open market town with free access.
The whole city sprawled like a gigantic pancake over the fertile plains along the west bank of the Sui River, with the Mang Mountains rising in the west in a line of towering peaks. Night had already fallen. Bone lamps along the streets were lit, emitting a ghostly glow like eerie fire.
Li Weiyi and Gao Huan stayed in Yao Pass City at the third largest tavern in town, the Remote Hua Hall. After a hot-water bath, they not only had a bowl of noodle soup but feasted on a dozen delicious dishes.
That afternoon, once they entered the city, Zhao Meng immediately went off to the City Lord’s mansion to seek help. Soon after, a deafening roar echoed from the Mang Mountains — the collective howls of hundreds of beasts.
Some martial practitioners riding winged birds with spans of several dozen meters, others on strange giant beasts resembling tigers, elephants, or rhinoceroses, all were hurrying toward Burial Immortal Town. The scene was grand indeed. Lizhous was the land of the Nine Li Tribe—a place which had enjoyed several hundred years of peace.
Never before had such a terrible event occurred. Though rivalries and competition existed among the various branches of the Nine Li, when true danger struck, every branch would certainly rush to help. For generations, the Nine Li had maintained marital unions and even broken bones and tendons to support one another.
At last, Zhao Meng reached the Remote Hua Hall. Once again he expressed his deep gratitude to Li Weiyi. He was so moved he almost knelt, but Li Weiyi steadied him firmly so that he could not.
Zhao Meng wore coarse gray-white cloth attire; one would guess he was in his sixties or seventies, his temples frosted with gray. Yet his muscles were still powerful, evidence of a youthful vigor in his past days.
“Had it not been for your righteous help, my Cang Li Tribe would have suffered devastating losses today. Tomorrow, our Young Clan Leader will surely come in person to express his thanks. At that time, whatever you may need, do not hesitate to ask.”
Zhao Meng’s shoulder had already been cleaned and bandaged, treated with special secret medicine.
“Have they been saved already?”
Li Weiyi asked, clearly concerned whether the battle at Burial Immortal Town had ended. He wished to return to the Bronze Ship as soon as possible. Zhao Meng nodded and said, “The Young Clan Leader and his people have not yet arrived in Yao Pass, but word has reached us that the Buddhas of Thievery have retreated.”
“Buddhas of Thievery?”
Li Weiyi was puzzled. Weren’t those people led by Stone Nine Chamber actually from the Earth Wolf King Army? Zhao Meng already knew that the two men before him were not from the Buddhas of Thievery at all but had been refugees who had fled to Lizhou.
They had mistakenly donned monk robes similar to those of the Buddhas of Thievery, which led to the misunderstanding. This was something Li Weiyi had explained to him while riding on horseback. Now that the world was in chaos and refugees were everywhere seeking shelter in Lizhou, Zhao Meng, who owed his life to Li Weiyi, trusted him completely.
Zhao Meng’s eyes hardened with resentment and anger; his chest heaved sharply as an old ailment flared up.
In a breathy tone he said, “Southern barbarians, northern savages, eastern tribes, western warriors—we in the southern regions have long been tormented by the three great barbarian bandits: from ‘Coffin Mountain – Xu Fotu’, ‘Night City – Yuwen Yan’, and ‘Earth Wolf King – Shi Naren.’”
“They say that Lizhou is under the complete control of the Nine Li, keeping peace for hundreds of years.”
“But who knows that for the sake of that peace, the Nine Li have been swallowing their pride all along, having to send huge tributes and riches to Coffin Mountain every year. Because of that, Xu Fotu’s army of a hundred thousand Buddhas of Thievery has only ever carried out small-scale extortion in Lizhou, and large-scale conflict has never erupted.”
“But this time, the Buddhas of Thievery are unusually vicious and bloody. It is abnormal, and none can tell what they intend.”
In that moment, many thoughts flooded Li Weiyi’s mind, and he asked, “What about the Earth Wolf King Army?” Zhao Meng replied, “The Earth Wolf King’s force is not based in Lizhou, and has nothing to do with us.”
“Old Zhao, have you heard of Stone Nine Chamber?”
Li Weiyi inquired. Zhao Meng’s face darkened.
“Stone Nine Chamber is no ordinary figure. He is the adopted son of Shi Naren, one of the ten great kings of the Earth Wolf King Army. In the past twenty years his reputation has soared, and he is now recorded in the Book of Great Eras. Honorable young master, what do you want from him?”
Li Weiyi got the feeling that Zhao Meng was very fearful of the three great barbarian bandits, almost as if even the Nine Li had to pay them tribute. He dared not press further. If he did, it might put his own head in the spotlight—and the Cang Li Tribe might not be able to protect him.
Perhaps in the end he would even become a sacrifice in the struggle among the great powers. It was best to remain low-key.
“I have long heard his name—it resounds like thunder,” Li Weiyi quickly changed the subject and asked, “Old Zhao, would you help answer some of my cultivation questions? I have been training blindly, and there are many things I do not understand.”
“Training blindly and still being able to open three springs, even four springs?”
Zhao Meng looked at the silver-threaded fist gloves on Li Weiyi’s hands. He thought for a moment and then carefully warned, “Honorable young master, I dare not ask where you obtained that magical weapon. But please, under no circumstances should you casually activate it in front of others.
One who carries a treasure brings trouble on himself.” Li Weiyi could see the genuine sincerity in Zhao Meng’s words. Moved in his heart, he asked, “Is that magical weapon really that valuable?”
At last, Zhao Meng, convinced that the young man had indeed been training on his own without truly understanding the martial path, said, “Let me put it this way: if I were any younger and full of ambition, when I saw your weapon I might have been tempted. It is not a matter of repaying kindness with ingratitude.
It is simply that the temptation is too great; human nature is like that.”
“In other words, if a celestial beauty stripped down and walked out into the open streets without any means of self-protection, then any danger that befell her would be of her own making. No wonder anyone in that position would suffer.”
“Understood!”
Li Weiyi said, removing the silver-thread gloves and carefully hiding them.
“Old Zhao, please keep this secret.”
Zhao Meng quickly promised so, adding, “Honorable young master, please do not be offended. I speak so plainly because of my age and the many years I have seen. In this world, there are not many people who are absolutely good or absolutely evil; most are those who dare neither be too good nor too bad.”
“Rest assured, even if I had encountered such temptation when I was young, I would never repay kindness with ingratitude. It is only that after decades of living and seeing so much that I cannot help but give extra warnings.”
“Thank you very much!”
Afterward, Li Weiyi asked Zhao Meng several more questions about cultivation. Outside, suddenly, a commotion began. The quiet night was shattered by the sound of wind breaking over and the howls of a hundred beasts.
It turned out that the people and horses of the Beast Li Tribe had returned! Zhao Meng immediately excused himself, saying he must go greet the Young Clan Leader. As he was leaving, he asked Li Weiyi if he wanted to accompany him.
Li Weiyi naturally shook his head; tonight the important figures of the Cang Li Tribe would surely be busy, and it was not the proper time for a meeting. Besides, such a meeting might bring endless troubles later on.
(End of Chapter)