Chapter 2548: Heavenly Punishment

Zu An had only promised the old chieftain he'd impersonate Yi to learn about Yi’s murderer. But not only had he failed to uncover the identity of the murderer, the Chang clan had even been massacred. He hadn't thought there was a need for him to continue this act.

Little had he expected Lady Houtu to call the shots and decide that he would continue being Yi. She'd even bestowed him with a droplet of shaman blood essence so his act would be more convincing. That blood essence was none other than the aura he'd felt, and he could feel the tremendous power contained within it as it fused with his body. Fully assimilating it could bring his prowess up another level.

Judging from Xingtian and Kuafu’s envious looks, he could tell how valuable the blood essence was, but he still had doubts about this development. He looked at the blurry figure in the sky and asked, “Lady Houtu, why do you want me to impersonate Yi?”

Houtu’s ethereal voice rang out, “It is fate’s arrangement. You’ll know in the future.”

Zu An was mystified.

Riddle after riddle.

He wanted to ask more, but Xingtian interjected, “Milady, do you know the culprit behind the Chang clan’s massacre?”

“Too much is involved in this matter. It is beyond your jurisdiction.”

Zu An’s heart skipped a beat.

What's involved here for her to answer in such a manner?

“As for Bao Jiang’s murder, inform the Goddess of Wu Mountain of the matter. It is most apt for someone of her lofty standing to deal with it,” Houtu said before the portrait in the sky faded.

“Yes!” Despite Houtu’s disappearance, Xingtian and Kuafu didn’t drop their etiquette. Their respect for Houtu came from the bottom of their hearts.

Then, they bowed to Zu An and asked, “Will you accompany us to Wu Mountain to explain things to the Goddess of Wu Mountain? You are, after all, a witness to Bao Jiang’s murder.”

Zu An had been planning to make a trip back to Wu Mountain anyway, so he accepted the offer.

Xingtian and Kuafu were overjoyed. They slit their fingers to draw runes resembling ancient characters with their blood. Soon, the surrounding spatial ki began to congregate into a unique formation.

Xingtian explained, “This is our Shaman races’ secret art. We can use our bloodline to perform long-distance teleportations to locations where we have established teleportation coordinates. Now that you have shaman blood running through your veins, you should be able to use this secret art too.”

Zu An made sure to remember those ancient characters. All of a sudden, he asked, “Can this secret art teleport those without shaman blood too?”

“This...” Xingtian and Kuafu glanced at Yumen Beiqing. “We can definitely bring Chang’e along, but this lady...”

The future Houtu was likely the one who had transmigrated the Mermaid Queen into this world. Houtu would have granted her the shaman bloodline while she was at it, or else the Mermaid Queen would have been exposed as a fake right away.

Yumen Beiqing suddenly spoke up. “You can go on ahead. I won’t be following you.”

Her mind was in chaos. This was an opportunity for her to separate from Zu An to do what she wanted. Zu An and the Mermaid Queen’s marriage was the perfect excuse for her to do so.

And yet, Zu An grabbed her hand and said, “How can I leave you behind?”

Yumen Beiqing didn’t protest, knowing she could give herself away if she said too much. She figured that Zu An would have to give up, since they wouldn’t slow their journey to Wu Mountain because of her.

But Zu An turned to Xingtian and asked, “What are the teleportation coordinates of Wu Mountain?”

Even though he had been to Wu Mountain, each world had its own unique considerations when determining the coordinates. Without a deep understanding of the world, it was easy for one to get such a thing wrong.

Stunned, Xingtian reflexively told Zu An the coordinates. He didn’t know what Zu An was going to do with them since there was no way he could bring that woman along using their Shaman races’ secret art.

Zu An closed his eyes and began overloading his mind with calculations. Being well-versed in spatial transformations, he had a bold idea in mind. He said, “Give me a moment. I’ll try it out first.”

He morphed into a seven-colored light, forming a massive rainbow across the sky.

Yumen Beiqing was shocked. The last time he employed this skill, Zu An’s mastery of Rainbow Morph had been severely lacking, so how had he improved so quickly? She could sense that the rainbow stretched to a very faraway place, so much so that she had no idea where the endpoint was.

Thinking about Zu An’s earlier question, she couldn’t help but wonder.

Could it be...

The rainbow flickered out of existence, and Zu An reappeared before the crowd. “There was a small discrepancy earlier, but there should be no problem now.”

He grabbed Yumen Beiqing and the Mermaid Queen’s hands and dashed away as a rainbow. Before he disappeared, a distant voice echoed, “I’ll see you at Wu Mountain!”

Xingtian and Kuafu exchanged confused looks, but they decided to go through with it. They tapped their fingers on the floating blood character, causing the surrounding space to ripple. One after another, they and their shaman companions vanished into thin air.

When they reappeared, they were at Wu Mountain. But much to their shock, Zu An’s group was already waiting for them with smiles.

“How did you do it?” Kuafu was certain that Zu An had utilized the energy of the Shaman races’ secret art, but how could that secret art work on a non-shaman?

Zu An chuckled. He had used his shaman blood as the foundation and roughly deciphered those ancient characters using his understanding of spatial transformations. He'd combined those with his recently-learned Rainbow Morph and experimented several times.

It had worked out perfectly. This was much better than arduously constructing teleportation formations between two locations, since the enemy wouldn’t give one the chance to construct teleportation formations beforehand. He could now freely use his Rainbow Morph to travel anywhere he had the teleportation coordinates for. He no longer had to worry about his enemies catching up to him.

That being said, it was easier said than done. Many key factors had to be in place. Had he not acquired all these abilities by coincidence, Zu An wouldn’t have been able to pull this feat off either.

Just then, those who were gathered heard the sound of jade pendants clanging. A majestic mountain peak in the distance transformed into a beautiful figure, who gracefully descended next to the group.

The Goddess of Wu Mountain looked at Zu An and asked, “You’re looking for me?”

Somehow, she felt something inexplicable toward this man who had embraced her in their first meeting, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

Zu An had to suppress his urge to rush forward to embrace the woman who looked identical to Pei Mianman. “Bao Jiang has been murdered...” He roughly explained the situation to her.

The Goddess of Wu Mountain was taken aback. “Gu dared to kill Bao Jiang!?”

Bao Jiang was one of her few friends. This terrible news introduced a tinge of rage to her usually composed state of mind. She took a deep breath and asked, “Do you have evidence?”

This was a huge matter. She couldn’t just take Zu An’s word for it.

Zu An spent a moment in thought before taking out the Brilliant Pinflower and the Divine Dragon Immortal Medicine’s seed. “Before his death, Bao Jiang handed these two things to me.”

Upon seeing the two items, the others widened their eyes, especially after seeing the Divine Dragon Immortal Medicine’s seed.

With a wave of her sleeves, the Goddess of Wu Mountain cast a spell on the two items. Soon, a portrait appeared in midair. It was the sight of Bao Jiang right before his death.

Only now did Zu An believe that the other party wasn’t Pei Mianman. The power to trace an object’s origin was indeed a formidable ability.

By the time the Goddess of Wu Mountain was done watching the projections, her beautiful face was clouded with frost. She waved her hand, and the projected images swirled into the air as if they had become tangible. A cloud drifted over and carried the projected images into the sky.

Zu An stared at the sky.

Is the Celestial Court in the sky? But why didn’t I see it while I was flying through the sky earlier? Ah, come to think of it, there was a faint spatial pulsation right before the images vanished. Could it be concealed by a special formation?

Soon, the sky lit up with a five-colored auspicious light. A beam of light descended upon a distant mountain. An authoritative voice boomed across the lands. “Gu coveted an immortal medicine and killed Celestial Bao Jiang! His crime warrants death!”