Chapter 392: Chapter 110: True Body of Lawless Freedom
In the Underground Palace, a figure sat in a wheelchair, conversing with the large cauldron in front of him through the Qi mechanism, faint golden light flickering on his body.
At a certain moment, a sudden gentle breeze brushed by, causing the figure to slightly tremble and open his eyes.
"Huh—"
A breath of turbid air was exhaled, intermingled with several streaks of dark color, which were the blood Qi formed from congested blood.
"Having suffered my sword first and still managing to wound me, the Second Prince’s strength is indeed not bad."
After Jiang Li had expelled the blood Qi, he waved his hand to dissipate the turbid Qi and then took a couple of breaths. His injuries were then healed by the Innate Qi.
With the help of the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron, conversing through the Qi mechanism, he further clarified the transformation of the Primordial Qi and became more adept at converting the medicinal potency of the Hundred Herbs. Coupled with the robustness of the Three Elements and his knowledge of the creation from Wood Qi, healing such minor injuries was a matter of a few breaths.
This speed could already be considered healing as fast as breathing.
In contrast, the Second Prince was in a worse situation, having been struck by Jiang Li’s sword and infused with the Five Vile Qi. Even with timely removal, his foundation was damaged, and his injuries were more severe compared to those of the Eldest Prince. If one brother lay down, the other would join.
"Plus, I deliberately left faint traces leading straight to the Yuhua Palace. The Eldest Prince is definitely going to take the blame for this."
Thinking of this, Jiang Li revealed a subtle smile.
Since they are good brothers, why hide or conceal things? Just speak openly, open your hearts, and avoid any misunderstandings.
Out of kindness, Jiang Li decided to help the brothers establish communication, giving them a chance to openly share their thoughts.
While thinking this, Jiang Li suddenly narrowed his eyes, withdrew his True Qi, and paused the communication.
At his side, the small red dog Xiao Tian immediately leaped forward, its crimson eyes staring intently at the shadow ahead, baring its teeth, ready to pounce at any moment.
"Will you come out on your own, or do you want me to unleash the dog to invite you?" Jiang Li looked towards the shadow and said lightly.
As his words fell, the shadow slightly fluctuated, and a burly figure slowly emerged.
A pair of thick, black bull horns and a body pitch black in color, nearly ten feet tall, holding a black steel fork—it was the classic image of a Bull-headed figure.
Jiang Li looked at the bovine face, which even seemed somewhat familiar to him.
"I am the Soul Hooker from the Yin Law Department, tracking the lawless madman to this place. I inadvertently disturbed Young Master Jiang and hope for your forgiveness," the Bull-headed said in a deep voice, neither servile nor haughty.
Tracking the lawless madman?
Jiang Li’s hand rested on the wheelchair handle, his eyes drooped, concealing the flickering glimmers of Sword Intent.
If he hadn’t personally laid down the traces, he might have believed it.
After all, Jiang Li was the lawless madman.
But given the current clues, even if someone investigated, they could only trace it back to Yuhua Palace. If they could trace it to Jiang Li, either the other party had the capability to see through all deceptions or they specifically targeted Jiang Li.
From the current situation, it seemed to be the latter.
"It seems the Yin Law Department isn’t just sitting idle," Jiang Li thought to himself.
Elder Tianxuan and Ji Lingguang intended to push Jiang Li forward, first aiding him to obtain the Divine Farmer’s Cauldron and then promoting him to Minister of Works. This clearly touched the sensitive nerves of the Ji Family elders, and the other party was bound to take action.
Now, their intention appeared to be starting with the lawless freedom and the connection between Jiang Li and Tianxuan.
Having quickly sorted out the situation, Jiang Li was about to speak when he suddenly felt an impulse.
On the crown of his head, the Three Flowers emerged, the Three Elements stimulated into action. Subsequently, three invisible columns of Qi appeared in colors of red, blue, and yellow. Qi Shu fell like light, turning into mist-like Qi at the bottom of the columns, protecting Jiang Li’s life Qi.
"Is someone divining me?"
He furrowed his brows, instinctively wanting to use the Wind Queen’s Strange Gate to counter, but in the next instant, he changed his mind.
"No, they are divining the lawless one."
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Elsewhere in the Imperial City, atop a tall building, an Eight Trigrams Array was imprinted on the ground, and a middle-aged man wearing a high crown and robe was manipulating the Eight Trigrams, evolving various divination symbols in the air.
Outside the Array, Cui Jue, who had entered the Imperial City with the Bull-head, stood quietly.
This place was the Qintian Bureau, managed by the Divination Order under Feng Chang and also supervised by the Supervisor, specifically tasked with predicting natural and man-made disasters for the Great Zhou.
The responsibility of the Qintian Bureau was highly significant; thus, the Supervisor and the Divinator were usually members of the Ji Family. The current Supervisor, named Ji Yuan, appeared to be in his forties or fifties, yet he was actually nearly a hundred years old, a contemporary of the Emperor.
However, his cultivation Realm had not reached the fourth rank like his contemporaries Elder Tianxuan and Ji Lingguang but was instead at the fifth rank.
The practice of Yi Dao primarily valued perception and interaction, naturally making it easier for cultivators to converse with Heaven and Earth. However, in today’s era, interaction meant certain death, the higher the Realm, the stronger the interaction, thus most Yi Dao cultivators did not achieve very high Realms, with only a few managing to balance strength with Yi Dao.
Ji Yuan was certainly not one of those very few people.
"As far as the accomplishments in Yi Dao are concerned, I, an old man, have studied for many years, surpassing ninety-nine percent of my peers in the world, but if compared to Tianxuan, I am nowhere near," Ji Yuan operated the Eight Trigrams while speaking, "It’s not just the gap in talent, but also a gap in Dao Fruit and Realm that separates us. If Tianxuan intervenes, there’s no way I could successfully perform the divination."
The Taiyin star holds an extremely crucial position in both astronomy and Yi Dao. Tianxuan, harboring the Dao Fruit of the Deity of the Moon, greatly enhances her Yi Dao accomplishments. Ji Yuan admitted that even a hundred years more would not suffice to catch up to her.
To surpass Tianxuan in this realm would require a third-grade strong individual whose Yi Dao accomplishments are not less than Tianxuan’s.
"If Elder Tianxuan gets involved, it indicates her connection with Lawless Freedom," Cui Jue replied, "Regardless of success or failure, having this result is sufficient. May I ask, Divinator, if Elder Tianxuan intervenes, can you detect any trace of it?"
The Divinator, Ji Yuan’s, brows twitched, and he said without hesitation, "Of course, that’s not a problem."
It’s one thing to not be able to surpass Tianxuan, but if he couldn’t even detect her involvement, that would be too embarrassing.
As he spoke, the divination symbols evolved, and subtle Qi mechanisms emerged, drawn out to form images.
As the saying goes, everything leaves a trace. As people move between heaven and earth, various traces are left behind, which are essentially a form of Qi mechanism. Yi Dao interpretation, in a way, is about capturing these special Qi mechanisms, organizing them, and then further evolving and calculating them.
At the caliber of Divinator Ji Yuan, he could further evolve these into various scenes for observation.
At this moment, Ji Yuan was deriving conclusions step by step based on the traces left by Lawless Freedom. The divination guided the Qi mechanisms, gradually forming an image.
A hazy figure flickered, transitioning from dark to bright, becoming clearer, with slight turbid Qi emerging around him, and then—
A Daoist sitting cross-legged appeared. He seemed to be sitting on a mountaintop, inhaling and exhaling the Qi of heaven and earth. The faint turbid Qi entered his nose and mouth, transforming into pure spiritual mechanism, evolving into the form of Yin Yang Tai Chi.
"Zhang Daoyi?" Cui Jue’s facial expression almost lost control, "Lawless Freedom is Zhang Daoyi?"
"If this old man is not wrong······"
The Divinator carefully recalculated, shaking his head, "There’s no mistake."
That is to say, the result is Zhang Daoyi.
And from the clues, Zhang Daoyi really was the most likely suspect.
His cultivation of the Nine Heavens Demon Clearing True Technique is the only technique in the world today capable of refining the Five Vile Qi. Unless someone else in the Daode Sect also practiced this technique or the Daoist Lord, as the supreme being, idly chose to act as a lawless madman, then Zhang Daoyi was the sole suspect.
Up to this point in the divination, it was already possible to pin the Lawless Freedom label on Zhang Daoyi. But the problem is, Cui Jue’s interest is not merely in wine, he was also concerned about Jiang Li.
He, along with King You, valued Lawless Freedom so much only to implicate Jiang Li, having issued orders to investigate even before the stabbing of the Second Prince. But now that the divination result pointed out Zhang Daoyi, how could it be linked to Jiang Li?
It should be noted that these two had enmities; Jiang Li himself killed Yuan Zhen of the Daode Sect. They certainly do not share a blood feud, but absolutely could not pee into the same pot.
"How could it possibly be Zhang Daoyi?" Cui Jue still disbelieved.
What he did not know was that even though Jiang had immense Demon Suppressing True Qi, not a bit of it was cultivated by himself; it was all fed from the Origin Qi that was directly stolen, nourished by Innate Qi.
Essentially, Jiang Li’s Demon Suppressing True Qi was exactly Zhang Daoyi’s Qi. He himself had never cultivated the Nine Heavens Demon Suppressing True Technique nor understood its profound meanings.
And when Jiang Li acted under the identity of Lawless Freedom, he almost always used the Five Vile Qi to disguise himself, needing to constantly operate the Demon Suppressing True Qi to protect his body. The traces he left, naturally, were identical to those of Zhang Daoyi.
At that moment, the divination figure of Zhang Daoyi subtly changed, and in an instant, purple Qi emerged, causing the divination symbol to drastically change with the invasion of the purple Qi.
"Daoist Lord’s moral purple Qi!"
Ji Yuan quickly pressed down with his hand, dispelling the divination symbols and shattering the scene, causing numerous symbols to dance chaotically in the air.
"How terrifying, just the moral purple Qi left on Zhang Daoyi has such power, able to trace back through connections. If it were the Daoist Lord himself······"
Ji Yuan could not help but shake his head repeatedly, "The supreme is truly fearsome."
He then looked at Cui Jue, saying, "Since even the moral purple Qi has appeared, this person is undoubtedly Zhang Daoyi, no chance of someone else pretending."
So, Lawless Freedom is Zhang Daoyi?
Cui Jue felt the situation was somewhat out of control.
He took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Please conduct the divination again."
"We can’t continue divining Lawless Freedom."
"Not Lawless Freedom, divine Jiang Li."
Ji Yuan immediately frowned.
Jiang Li carried the fortune of both the Ji Family and the Jiang Family. Even though he was also a member of the Ji Clan, divining Jiang Li was not easy, let alone with Tianxuan intervening.
But Cui Jue had brought an order from King You, and Ji Yuan had to provide his utmost assistance.
"Very well."
With a light sigh, the symbols evolved again and the Qi mechanisms shifted, now outlining a certain scene.