Chapter 139: Trap
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
Having his mouth filled with a strong scent of wine, Wu Qi let out a loud laugh while waving his hand, bidding farewell to Haoying Fengying.
The feast had taken a whole four hours away from his time. Yet, for the sake of ten jugs of wine which had been seasoned for over one hundred years, it worthed every single moment of this four hours to give them a really good taste. They were ten jugs of 'Wine of Myriad Florals, Fruits and Honeys', which were brewed by Haoying Clan using a secret formula. Not only were they sweet and fragrant, but they also had the effect of strengthening the soul, bones, and tendons for cultivators. Traditionally, it was used as a Spirit Medicine which was offered seasonally to Yan Dan and various members of Imperial Clan, who held a high power in their hands.
After enjoying some of this wine, Wu Qi felt slightly tipsy. His head felt light while walking, and he could barely keep his keen and sharp mind. The taste of the wine was good, just that its age of over hundred years old had brought a strong after effect to him. Wu Qi did not want to force out the alcoholic strength with his energy, as that would be a complete waste of such a good wine. As Haoying Fengying had brought him the wine out of great hospitality, Wu Qi decided to just let it stay in his stomach and take its time to be digested.
By befriending Haoying Fengying, not only could he have an additional help in Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, but he also sort of established a connection with the Haoying Clan. It was a good thing, after all.
Riding on the single-horned deer and smiling pleasingly, Wu Qi went straight out from Mount White Sun. The sun had just climbed to the middle of the sky, and the time had reached to noon. If he rushed back to Ji City now, he could still join Lu Chengfeng for lunch. Besides from the discs of Minor Universal Teleportation Array, Wu Qi had also crafted a few hundred discs of various arrays, and he was going to give all of them to Lu Chengfeng. After all, Lu Chengfeng was studying on the Dao of arrays and formations, and these discs could be a great help for his study.
Being nearly seventy to eighty percent drunk, Wu Qi left Mount White Sun while singing and laughing along the way. Perhaps he wasn't fully satisfied with the drinking session just now, as he took out a wine jug the size of a human head from his storage ring, pouring wine into his mouth from time to time while riding down the road toward Ji City. The condition of the roads for Great Yan Dynasty was pretty excellent. Not only were they leveled and wide, great trees that reached over two hundred feet tall were planted on both sides as well. The crown of these great trees served as a large shade, preventing any sunlight from pouring down onto the road. It was cool and refreshing on the surface of the road, and one could not feel any heat coming from the sun.
Sitting on the deer and riding down the road while taking sip after sip of wine, Wu Qi loosened his shirt and exposed his chest, singing aloud along the way.
Usually, this road that led to Ji City was packed with an incessant stream of coaches and pedestrians. But for some unknown reasons, it was emptied today and occupied by Wu Qi alone. Peering straight to the front and back for a distance of several miles, not even a soul could be found. However, as the liquor had mounted to Wu Qi's head, he did not notice such an unusual situation. He just kept enjoying the refreshing breeze, singing, and drinking while he continued his journey back to Ji City.
Suddenly, from a thicket underneath a few great trees on the roadside came a nearly inaudible cry of help.
"Help! Somebody, please help me!"
The cry came from a girl with a gentle and soft voice. Together with the cries of help were a couple dozens of wind breaking noises that left the thicket in haste.
A breeze was blown out from the thicket, sending over a pungent smell of blood. Wu Qi threw away the wine jug casually, let out a wild laugh as he sprung and walked in midair. With just a few steps, he had arrived above the thicket. Then, he thrust his fist and punched forcefully down. A muffled boom rang out, and the thicket with a circumference of several dozens feet was instantly shattered into pieces by the powerful force. Countless debris of grasses soared and floated in the air, revealing two broken coaches hidden inside the thicket just now.
They were two extremely luxurious coaches decorated with golds and jades, and those who could ride with this kind of coaches either came from a wealthy or prestigious background. However, they looked like a pile of broken firewood right now, as a result of a violent attack. Six mighty looking beasts who used to pull these coaches were seen lying around, and beside these beasts lied over thirty men in a disordered manner. None of them were breathing now as their necks were nearly chopped off completely, and many of their internal organs were oozing out from many frightening-looking wounds on their bodies.
A strong wind blew from the front, sending over the delicate cries of the girl. She was still crying for help, but very soon, it sounded like her mouth was covered by someone or something, as it went dimmed and eventually no more voice could be heard. The inaudible noises of wind breaking were fading into a far distance quickly. In just a very short moment, they had reached to a distance of several miles away.
Wu Qi's ears twitched a few times, and his divine sense locked down on the fading noises. Suddenly, he let out a strange laugh and said with an indifferent voice, "What an old trick! So, you're trying to lure the enemy in deep, drawing a snake out of its hole, enticing me into an ambush. Besides from calling it an old trick, what else could I comment? However, for a young hero who has a sense of justice, isn't it that I am born just for a scene like this?"
He forcefully patted on the head of the deer, causing it to let out a loud and excited cry and begin sprinting like a wind towards the direction where the wind breaking noises were fading into. While gulping down mouthfuls of wine, Wu Qi let out a loud shout into the sky, "Young miss, don't worry, Marquis is here for you, and no one can touch even a strand of your hair! Hey, you filthy bad guys, why are you abducting an innocent girl in broad daylight? Are there still any heavenly principles and imperial laws in your eyes!?"
Along the way, Wu Qi kept shouting out all sorts of nonsense. After riding fast for several miles of distance, he came to a large field of grass and saw a couple of men clad in fitted black shirt, sprinting and leaping amidst the dense grass field, kicking on the tips of grasses while fleeing further away at top speed. All these men had the cultivation base of peak Houtian realm, and that allowed them to step on top of the grasses and dash through the air. Nevertheless, as they could not hold their breath for too long, after sprinting on top of the grasses for some short distance, they had to fall back to the ground to catch their breath. That was why Wu Qi could catch up with them so easily.
On the shoulder of a man in black who ran in the front was carried a young girl. She was clad in a long white dress, and her mouth was clamped with a piece of white cloth. She was struggling violently, and during one struggle she tiled her head up and saw Wu Qi, who was catching up from several hundred feet away. A great joy was seen flickering in her eyes. Quickly she turned her gaze over at Wu Qi, while making some noises, calling for help.
Once again, Wu Qi cried out with a stern voice, "You filthy bad guys, it is broad daylight now, and you are running in the territory of Great Yan Dynasty. How could I allow you to perform such a mischief? Quickly surrender yourself and return to the city with me, and I can still request His Majesty to forgive your crime. You've abducted a young girl right outside Ji City, which is an act of not giving the face to our Emperor. Your behavior is no different from giving a slap on His Majesty's face!"
With a loud voice, Wu Qi cried out again, "If the state affairs were still overseen by the Eight Princes, I’d have nothing to say if you gave them a slap on the face. Yet, for these two months, His Majesty has come out from his secluded cultivation and been personally overseeing the state affairs. How dare you to commit such unlawful act when His Majesty is personally running the empire? You're not giving face to His Majesty at all! You, all of you, shall have your nine generations slaughtered!"
Suddenly, the group of men in black halted. A bright gleam flashed through, as several long blades with strange designs streaked through the air and cut out an empty field that was several hundred feet in circumference within the grass field. Then, these men in black actually formed a standard formation which could only be found in the army, turned back and sprinting towards Wu Qi in an offensive formation. The leading man in black then snapped, "What a troublesome fellow! Let's kill him before we press on our journey."
All the men in black raised their left hand together. A slight movement was seen inside their sleeve, then a large curtain of bright beams suddenly shot out. They were countless tiny needles being shot out by some machines, together with a faint smell of fish as they thrust towards Wu Qi. These tiny needles were smaller than the cow's hairs, each having a dark red hue. Together with the strange fishy smell, it proved that they had been smeared with a deadly poison.
Wu Qi let out a loud laugh. He forcefully shook and swung the wine jug in his hand, pouring out the wine and turning them into countless dazzling droplets, thrusting towards the incoming attack. Each droplet of wine precisely hit onto over a few thousand tiny needles. They were knocked back by the wine, and instantly pierced into the bodies of every single man in black. Miserable shrieks and cries echoed out in the air, as each of these men in black had their bodies bursting out with white smoke. Within a blink of an eye, all of them had turned into a large puddle of blood and pus.
Wu Qi could not help himself and gasp. "It is indeed a world where Immortals are flying in the air and traveling underground! This is such a frightening poison, at least many times stronger than the poison on the prickles which I brought out from Meng Mountains! Tsk, even if it is acid, how long would it take to melt down a man into a puddle of water?"
Shaking his head and sighing, Wu Qi jumped off from his mount, staggered a few steps and walked slowly towards the young girl, who was thrown on the emptied field by the leading man in black. Wu Qi burped a few times, then shouted from afar, "Young miss, are you alright? Aye, judging from how neat your dress is, I suppose the most important thing for a girl is still with you… I'm sure you're perfectly alright."
He staggeringly came to a few feet away from the young girl. She had already taken away the white cloth tucked in her mouth. She was a beautiful girl. Panic-stricken, she rushed towards Wu Qi, rolling and climbing on the ground and trying to hug onto Wu Qi's leg while crying out loud, "Benefactor, please save me, please save my life! I've been struck with a great calamity, please have pity on me, benefactor!"
"Kakaka!" While letting out a loud and weird laugh, Wu Qi raised his leg and kicked forcefully into the face of the girl, knocking her several hundred feet away. The girl had her hands and legs swinging violently while flying back through the air. A large amount of blood burst out from her mouth, together with many bright and white teeth of hers.
Crying awfully, the young girl slammed heavily onto the ground, and it took quite some while before she could finally rise to her feet, trembling and shivering. On the center of her face was a large, dark mark of the shoe. While having blood bursting and oozing out from her mouth, the young girl cried out sternly with a rather vague words, "Wu Qi, how do you find out the flaw in my disguise?!"
With a flip of her left hand, a strange looking dagger, hilt-less, shorter than a finger and as thin as the wings of cicada, emerged on her hand. It was a pitch-black dagger, as if it was coated with a thick layer of black paint. With just one look, one could easily tell that it was smeared with a deadly poison. If she was able to get close enough to Wu Qi just now, and with just a light stroke of this dagger on Wu Qi's skin, perhaps Wu Qi would have died now.
With a 'dumbfounded' and 'unbelievable' look on his face, Wu Qi stared at the poisonous dagger in the young girl's hand. He threw away the wine jug, then gave out an answer that made the young girl not know whether to cry or laugh, "You, you, are you in the same gang as this group of bandits? Oh heaven, fortunately, I am a lucky man. When I am drunk, I have a habit of kicking people’s face. So, when I saw you jumping towards me just now, your head looked like a round ball to me!"
The young girl was petrified. Blood was dripping off from her chin, smearing her dress into a dirty look.
Only after a full three breaths of time did the young girl fly into rage and screamed out into the sky, "Wu Qi, how dare you make fun of me? I don't care whether it is because of your habit, or you have really found out the truth. You're going to die today! Come out right now, everyone! Kill this fellow for me!"
Suddenly, the ringing of sharp swords being drawn out from sheath filled the air, as the shimmering of dazzling swords could be seen in all directions. At least over thirty warriors of Physique Strengthening tier brought a sharp longsword in their hands, pressing slowly towards Wu Qi's direction. Yet, behind these warriors of Xiantian realms came dulled trampling of feet. Wu Qi had his ears moved slightly and listened attentively to the noises: he was encircled by at least three thousand well-trained soldiers.
Regardless it was an army of thousand soldiers or ten thousand horses, or a siege of warriors of same level warriors, it was extremely difficult to truly kill a genuine warrior of Xiantian realm. Only by occupying an absolute advantage of encircling him with a group of Xiantian realm warriors, then supported by a heavy army outside such siege could one have the absolute certainty in killing a warrior of Xiantian realm.
The enemy had deployed a total of thirty-two warriors of Physique Strengthening tier, and an army of over three thousand elite soldiers. It was a sign that they would not give up until Wu Qi was killed.
Wu Qi sighed lightly. With a weary look on his face, he threw a glance over at the group of thirty-two warriors who came pressing toward him. "Are these all of your men? Do you have any more in ambush? Get all of them out now! It looks like I'm going to die here today. So, just show me all of your force and let me die in peace."
After a long moment of silence, a strong wind suddenly coiled up on the field. On a little earth mound three miles away, two cultivators of Gold Core realm suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Upon their appearance, one of them let out a deep shout, "Wu Qi, you will have to die here today!"