Chapter 71: Azure Pearl Illuminates the Tribulation
Gale winds, carrying shattered jade-like ice shards, swept across the cliff top, and the half-broken Jade Slip in Lu Qingyang’s fingertips suddenly cracked.
In the distance, the bronze ram of the Taiyi Pavilion Sky Patrol Boat tore through the clouds, and twelve god-slaying crossbows, engraved with the character “Slay,” gleamed coldly in the sunlight.
He backhanded the stolen Profound Yin Kui Water onto the stone wall behind him, scoffing as he shouted to his pursuers, “If you Elders are willing to sell this broken ship at a discount, Mr. Lu might just grace you by being a middleman.”
“How dare you, brat!” A purple-robed Elder’s sleeve shot out nine Thunderfire Pearls, but they instantly froze into ice sculptures upon touching the Kui Water.
Lu Qingyang seized the Opportunity to activate a Magic Art, and the Spirit-Devouring Vines dormant within the qingmu spirit pearl burst forth from the ground, draining every last drop of Spiritual Qi within three zhang.
The leading enforcement Disciple’s spiritual power abruptly cut off, his Sky-controlling Talisman losing its luster, and he plummeted with a scream into the hundred-zhang deep gorge.
Su Li’s transmission Jade Slip vibrated at this moment: “The Sword Qi of the Burial Dragon Abyss can no longer be suppressed!”
Lu Qingyang glanced at the illusory Dragon scale appearing on his palm, then suddenly turned and crashed into the side of the Sky Patrol Boat.
The Spirit Stones piled in the cabin were all swallowed by the Taotie Bag hidden in his sleeve, and the gray-robed attendant on guard was about to raise an alarm when his throat was already tightly entwined by the Ghost-Faced Vine, spurred by the spirit pearl.
“Borrowing your esteemed place to refine some pills,” he said with a playful grin, kicking over a Pill Furnace.
The bone-corroding powder hidden at the bottom of the furnace, mixed with crushed Spirit Stones, ignited explosively.
In the thick smoke, the Taiyi Pavilion Disciples fell into chaos, and a female cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage accidentally inhaled the poisonous smoke, her cheeks rapidly festering and oozing pus.
Lu Qingyang took the Opportunity to snatch the Ice Silkworm Pouch from her waist, not forgetting to tidy his sideburns in a bronze mirror: “Fairy, this shade of rouge really makes your wound look even more charming.”
The Sky Patrol Boat suddenly tilted violently, and the Eight Trigrams Formation appearing at the bow was torn open by Sword Qi.
The qingmu spirit pearl in Lu Qingyang’s embrace hummed like a Dragon’s roar, and the hourglass illusion suspended above the medicine field within the pearl reversed three times.
Taking advantage of the time flow difference, he swallowed the twelve foundation establishment pills he had just stolen whole, and his Meridians immediately burned with a searing pain like oil in a raging fire.
“The Formation incantations for three steps at Kan position and five steps at Xun position are long outdated,” he scoffed, flinging out three Exploding Flame Talismans, but the talismans transformed into azure butterflies in mid-air.
The purple-robed Elder’s Soul Suppressing Bell descended, but from the young man’s crown, a Seven-Leaf Soul Returning Grass shot out, and as its leaves trembled, the bell’s sound transformed into a gentle spring rain.
While the Taiyi Pavilion Everyone were astonished, Lu Qingyang had already stepped onto the top of the mast using the Spirit-Devouring Vine.
The tattered Medicine Cauldron hidden in his sleeve suddenly expanded tenfold, and the boiling Profound Yin Kui Water within the cauldron, mixed with the stolen Spirit Stones, actually refined seven black-smoking poisonous pills.
“This pill is named ‘Tit for Tat,’ please accept it with a smile!”
In the poisonous mist that erupted from the pills, thirty-six illusions of Lu Qingyang simultaneously performed different Magic Arts; some used Wood Evasion to merge into the ship’s planks, while others transformed into green smoke and rushed straight into the ship’s secret chambers.
The purple-robed Elder, enraged, laughed instead, summoning his Lifebound Treasure, the “Nine Heavens Thunder Seal.”
Clouds within a hundred-mile radius were stained crimson by the lightning, and nine electric pythons tore open the Sky Patrol Boat’s deck.
Lu Qingyang’s true body was hidden beneath the Thunder Seal’s projection, taking the Opportunity to stuff the stolen Taiyi Pavilion secret scrolls into his Taotie Bag.
When the seventh heavenly thunderbolt struck, he suddenly bit his tongue, spraying his vital blood onto the surface of the qingmu spirit pearl.
The medicine field within the pearl instantly withered, and its immense vitality fed back into his body.
A phantom Azure Dragon appeared around Lu Qingyang, and he grabbed the electric python striking towards his face with his bare hands.
The lightning solidified in his palm, and was actually crushed into a sky full of stardust.
“Elder, this thunder Magic…” He licked his charred fingertips, “Its force is even weaker than a massage from a girl at Cuihong Tower.”
A heaven-shaking Sword Qi suddenly came from the direction of the Burial Dragon Abyss, and the Sky Patrol Boat’s protective Formation shattered in response.
Lu Qingyang was sent flying backward by the recoil, his Taotie Bag bulging as if about to burst.
He performed seven consecutive Shadow Shifts among the clouds, finally landing by a waterfall pool on an unnamed desolate mountain.
The newly born spiritual spring within the qingmu spirit pearl suddenly boiled, reflecting Su Li’s perilous situation, trapped by Sword Qi.
“Too much to chew on…” He weighed the stolen Storage Pouches, pouring all of Taiyi Pavilion’s Soul-Chasing Incense into the pond water.
Several silver-scaled fish floated to the surface belly-up, and he skewered them on a branch, roasting them until they sizzled with oil.
When the pursuers arrived, following the scent, they only saw a mocking poem spelled out in fish bones on the rock wall: “No Taiyi in Taiyi Pavilion, a boat full of fools delivering Opportunities.”
Inside the cave behind the waterfall, Lu Qingyang was tallying his spoils.
He suddenly caught sight of a page within the stolen “Taiyi Secret Records” that depicted the qingmu spirit pearl in its complete form—nine Dragon heads encircling the Jianmu tree, its canopy supporting the sun, moon, and stars.
He caressed the remaining indentation on the pearl’s body, then suddenly heard children playing outside the cave.
Three toddlers with topknot braids were fishing for Dragon whisker shrimp by the pool, and the Jade Pendants on their waists were clearly engraved with the emblem of Taiyi Pavilion’s first Ancestral Master.