Chapter 548: Using Malevolent qi as Fuel! Dragon of Fate! Bronze-Faced Beast! Strange Father and Son!

Just like that, a massive rebellion had come to an unexpectedly abrupt end. And it concluded with the entire Prince Qing’s Mansion army surrendering.

This left everyone feeling that something was strangely off.

“Could it be that Prince Qing’s Mansion realized they couldn’t resist the court, and that’s why they fled?” Master Wuse speculated.

They had lost two Yang Spirit experts at Qingfeng Ridge. Across the world, Yang Spirit-level cultivators were incredibly rare, capable of wielding Day-Wandering Telekinetic Command or levitating freely. The deaths of two Yang Spirit experts might have shattered Prince Qing’s Mansion’s morale and exhausted all their hidden resources.

Xu Tiannan turned to Celestial Master Zhao.

“Celestial Master, can you divinely foresee the whereabouts of Prince Qing’s Mansion?”

Celestial Master Zhao of Mount Longhu specialized in divining and calculating divine secrets. A gleam of spiritual light flashed in Celestial Master Zhao’s eyes as he shook his head.

“Prince Qing’s Mansion conceals its divine secrets; someone has blocked it. Their whereabouts cannot be discerned.”

Xu Tiannan mused, “Before I arrived, Minister Wang told me that Prince Qing’s heir, Chen Ze, had fate like a dragon and liked to associate with extraordinary people. He warned me not to underestimate him... and yet, this guy pulled a move like this.”

The Minister Wang he referred to was Wang Lao'er, the head of the Court of Judicial Review in the Kingdom of Qian.

The group then split tasks. Xu Tiannan would deal with the surrendered troops, while Celestial Master Zhao and Master Baoshu would search Liang County for any traces.

Master Baoshu, a Buddhist Yang Spirit expert, possessed the Heart-Questioning Method; no one could lie in his presence.

Xu Tiannan also possessed similar abilities. Deceiving these Yang Spirit experts, capable of traversing heaven and earth, would be nearly impossible.

Then, Li Yanchu stepped into the plaza, his eyes glowing with Daoist light, and activated his Qi Sight to survey the area.

Dense blood-malevolent qi filled the area, sending a chill straight through one’s bones. It was impossible to imagine how many people must have been killed to produce such an overwhelming concentration of murderous aura. If corpses were present here, powerful

jiangshi

would easily be born.

Soon after, Li Yanchu tried circulating the Primordial Chaos Technique. His talent in martial cultivation was extremely high, and now, with a physical body comparable to the third realm and surging blood qi, cultivating the enhanced Primordial Chaos Technique posed almost no obstacles at all.

In the blink of an eye, a qi shield appeared around him. This supremely firm and yang qi shield was like raging flames, refining the surrounding malevolent qi.

Using malevolent qi as fuel, Li Yanchu’s qi shield continued to grow stronger, like a blazing fire.

“Truly, he’s cut out for slaying demons and eradicating evil.” Xu Tiannan had not approached the plaza, yet he could clearly sense the changes occurring to Li Yanchu.

Although Xu Tiannan was muscular and powerfully built, looking like a body-refining martial warrior, in truth, what he specialized in were primordial-spirit techniques, such as mental and telekinetic attacks. As a result, his divine sense was far stronger than that of Yang Spirit experts at the same realm.

Though Xu Tiannan, Master Baoshu, Celestial Master Zhao, and Master Wuse were all at the rudimentary third realm, Xu Tiannan alone had a detection range equal to two of them combined. One had to admit, his appearance was extremely deceptive. Anyone unfamiliar with him would assume he excelled in close combat, never imagining that from ten li away he could already injure you with primordial-spirit force.

The blazing qi shield around Li Yanchu burned fiercely, transforming all the blood-malevolent qi here into pure astral qi and refining it.

Before long, all the malevolent qi on the plaza had been completely refined away.

Crack!

A crisp sound rang out, as though something had shattered. Hearing this, Li Yanchu frowned slightly and looked over, but saw nothing unusual.

Suddenly, the Clearheart Jade Pendant on his body lit up with divine radiance. This magical artifact already had the ability to enhance Daoist arts. Now, after being enhanced into a hundred-thousand-merit-points treasure, its upper limit for augmenting Daoist arts had increased tremendously.

Daoist light flickered in Li Yanchu’s eyes, and he quickly saw through the mystery here. He reached out as a powerful qi surged from his palm, and a stone slab on the ground shattered with a

boom

!

Then, a bronze human-faced beast was pulled out by him. The bronze beast had a bizarre shape, exuding an air of absurdity and eerie strangeness. Its eyes seemed alive, making one feel as though it were sneakily spying on them.

The next moment, qi shield burst forth from Li Yanchu’s palm, instantly refining the bronze human-faced beast into ashes.

“A curse technique.” Li Yanchu sneered coldly, not taking it to heart at all.

In a place as large as Liang County, it would actually be abnormal if there were

no

heterodox tricks at work. What puzzled him was why such an inconspicuous little method had been deliberately set up here.

***

At Mount Jiuchong, a stretch of deep wilderness in Donglin Prefecture...

Poisonous insects, ferocious beasts, and miasma filled the mountains year-round. Here, human footprints were rarely seen.

Outside a hidden cave abode, an old man and a younger man slowly walked away. The older one was over fifty, dignified in bearing. Though somewhat portly, he clearly carried the air of someone long accustomed to high authority, commanding without anger.

The younger one, a little over twenty, wore white robes. Handsome and robust, he bore a confident, self-satisfied smile on his face.

Though they were walking through dense jungle, it was as if they were strolling through the halls of an imperial palace, an innate nobility flowing naturally from them.

“Is that Immortal Jin Yu reliable?” the older, wealthy middle-aged man asked, his tone carrying clear respect.

The young man smiled. “Father, don’t worry. My sworn brother, Daoist Wuhou, was a disciple of Immortal Jin Yu. That lineage specializes in insect-control and beast-taming arts. Every successor is extremely precious.

“But Daoist Wuhou died at the hands of the court. Coupled with the Witch God’s instructions, Immortal Jin Yu will certainly emerge to avenge my sworn brother.”

These two were none other than the missing Prince Qing and Prince Qing’s heir.

Yet the way this father and son interacted was peculiar; it was the father who seemed more humble, more respectful.

“When you handle matters, I’m naturally at ease,” Prince Qing said. “But the court has sent Xu Tiannan, Master Baoshu of the Great Xiangguo Temple, and Celestial Master Zhao of Mount Longhu. They’re all Yang Spirit experts! And there’s also Master Wuse from Jinguang Temple in Donglin Prefecture, and that young Daoist who slew Yin Xuansheng at Qingfeng Ridge.”

“That’s at least five Yang Spirit experts! Can Immortal Jin Yu handle them?” Prince Qing asked anxiously.

“Father, there’s no need to worry. Immortal Jin Yu is in the intermediate third realm. At the Yang Spirit level, even a single minor realm difference is worlds apart.”

“Besides, what Immortal Jin Yu commands are insect-control and beast-taming arts. He doesn’t need to personally act to overturn the court’s armies.” Prince Qing’s heir smiled.

“Alas, we’ve already handed the army over to the court. Even if the court’s forces collapse, what then?” Prince Qing sighed.

“If we stayed in the open and left evidence for our enemies, once Yang Spirit experts went to war, armies would easily perish in the crossfire. Both sides would be constrained, which would be troublesome instead.”

“Now that we father and son are light and unburdened, without troops, I can invite more Yang Spirit experts to emerge and slaughter all the court’s experts.”

“With the support of such great cultivators, our position will be secure. When the time comes to found a new dynasty, the tide may yet turn.” Prince Qing’s heir smiled confidently.

Then he gave a mysterious smile and said, “Besides, I’ve left a backup plan... I’ve sent these Yang Spirit experts a little gift.”