Chapter 293: Chapter 16 Three Corpses Worm
The suppression of True Qi by the Five Vile Qi had been demonstrated during the contention at Five Finger Mountain, where Feng Yunjie using his Sword Gang to counter the Five Vile Qi was like using an egg to strike a rock.
Almost at the moment of contact, dense cracks appeared on the Sword Gang, tiny strings of black Qi spread like a spiderweb, biting into its core, and immediately Sword Light pressed down, crushing the Sword Gang and striking onto the long sword with an extremely ferocious force like Mount Tai pressing down, pushing Feng Yunjie from mid-air back to the surface of the lake.
The gap was too vast, even though they were both Sixth Rank, even though Jiang Li had only used Demon Cleansing True Qi, Feng Yunjie was no match for him.
Just the suppression of all sorts of Essence Qi and True Qi by the Five Vile Qi was enough to render most techniques ineffective, not to mention Jiang Li was wielding the Great Circle Sword, a divine weapon.
In its prime, the Great Circle Sword was at least a Fourth Grade Magic Artifact, and even though it had not fully recovered, it was enough to greatly enhance Jiang Li’s strength, especially since the sword had already been refined into his Lifebound Flying Sword.
The fierce sword momentum leaked out, carrying Evil Qi and slashing streaks on Feng Yunjie, burning his internal organs as the Five Vile Qi began infiltrating his body.
He plummeted from the sky like a bird with broken wings, sword light sweeping the sky above him, while beneath him surged the still turbulent tides of Evil Qi.
Feng Yunjie was terrified, with fear initially suppressed now sweeping over him under the threat of death, while his physical injuries plunged him into despair.
Death had never been so clear...
"Uh ah—"
A swell suddenly spread from between Feng Yunjie’s eyebrows, black Qi protruding from the spot, forming vaguely discernible facial features, almost like a tiny head.
"Divine Eight Steps."
As the critically injured body seemed to be injected with another force, Feng Yunjie abandoned his sword, retreating and moving laterally in the air like a phantom, miraculously breaking free from the lock of the sword momentum, tracing a dark arc through the air and striking suddenly.
The Divine Travel Grand Protector’s Dao Fruit Ability "As Easy As Walking on Flat Ground" allowed him to maintain speed in any complex terrain, coupled with "Divine Eight Steps" specially created for this and the Sixth Rank Feiyun Envoy’s ability, gave Feng Yunjie the power to ride the winds and clouds, moving horizontally across the sky in a short time.
An afterimage flashed, as Feng Yunjie swept through the air, his palm descending like dark clouds over the sky, releasing a dark red turbid light from the center of his palm, causing slight distortions in all of Jiang Li’s five senses, and his mental consciousness began to boil like boiling water.
"Directly affecting consciousness...truly sinister."
Using mental powers rather than True Qi to harm, making it difficult for the Five Vile Qi to exert its effect, earning Jiang Li’s admiration.
Yet, it was still in vain.
The abnormality in mental consciousness merely lasted a moment before being evened out by the Pure Yang Dao Heart, Jiang Li swung his sword in a mighty horizontal blow, the swordlight sweeping across the heavens freely, unhindered, slashing through and a dark lightning bolt carrying a wailing shadow struck horizontally at Feng Yunjie’s waist.
"Clatter—"
In the flash of lightning flint, Feng Yunjie suddenly fluttered his palm, pivoting his entire body in mid-air, contorting into a twisted form with his head down, and feet up, skimming past the sword light, his posture grotesque, hardly human, more like a demon.
From inside his eyebrows, that tiny head screamed, Feng Yunjie’s palm carrying an evil light, pushed directly towards Jiang Li’s forehead.
Before the palm could get close, invisible Sword Qi began to slice, cutting through flesh and bones, brutally splitting the flesh and severing half a palm. But Feng Yunjie seemed already mad, pressing forward with his palm, the evil light escaping from his grasp, seeming to roll inside, and in Jiang Li’s eyes, appeared like countless wriggling worms.
"Clang—"
The Great Circle Sword flew from his hand, the horizontal sword light suddenly making a turn, maneuvering behind Jiang Li, sweeping out by the side of his face to meet the evil light.
Heavenly Escape Sword Technique!
Sinister secret techniques that confuse the spirit, Heavenly Escape Sword Technique cuts down delusions, the sword light like a white rainbow piercing the sun cutting through the evil light, thrusting into the broken arm, piercing out from the shoulder, unstoppable.
Moreover, invisible Sword Qi burst out from within Feng Yunjie’s body, the body below the head directly exploded into a mist of blood by the Sword Qi, leaving only a head spinning down, caught by one hand by Jiang Li.
Victory and defeat were decided in an instant.
Jiang Li’s gaze fell, and a snake shadow flew out from his eyes, aiming to strike directly at the brow center of Feng Yunjie’s head, planning to dig out that bizarre black Qi, even to scour Feng Yunjie’s residual soul.
But before Jiang Li’s Divine Sense could reach, that tiny head suddenly burst into black fog.
Following that, a sound akin to worms chewing leaves echoed.
Jiang Li’s eyes sharpened, his Three Corpse Gods clearly discerning in his gaze the dispersal of Feng Yunjie’s residual soul, the snake shadow passing through the head, missing its target.
"Three Corpse Gods," he said in a low voice.
Now, it was certain, his enemy was the one who had attacked the Jiang family branch in Yun County, seizing the Three Corpses God Dao Fruit, and had successfully accommodated the Three Corpses God, now likely being of fifth-rank.
Feng Yunjie’s body had been implanted with the Divine Skills of the Three Corpses God, which could invisibly affect Jiang Li’s mind, and in the end, it activated Feng Yunjie’s potential, commandeering his body to counterattack.
’Just, does the person who set this Divine Skill know of Feng Yunjie’s experiences...that should be unlikely.’
Jiang Li remembered Feng Yunjie’s frantic True Qi and emotions, feeling that this tactic likely only stimulated his malice and potential, without communicating with the Three Corpses God.
This was probably the other party’s method to prevent his subordinates from rebellion.
’Quite meticulous and precise, but you still can’t completely cover your tracks, able to recruit people from the Southern Heavenly Department without being detected, such a person, even in Divine Capital, should be few.’
’Moreover, I have a point to start with.’
Zong Hai!
Just now, Jiang Li truly hadn’t realized that Zong Hai had a connection with the Southern Heavenly Department, he had thought that Zong Hai and the Fourth Prince...’
Suddenly, Jiang Li furrowed his brows.
"Fourth Prince..."
He felt something was wrong.
Whenever Jiang Li sensed something off, he would definitely trace it to its source.
He recalled as he flipped through the Karma Collection to check the records.
Firstly, there was a minor and negligible progress in the fusion of Dao Fruit, which further supported the conjecture that evil could be used to demonstrate Dao Fruit.
Then, he kept flipping through the Karma Collection and finally stopped on the page where he eavesdropped on Tong Yuanzi the night before.
"Tong Yuanzi is rather astute, and he believes that Zong Hai might be related to the Fourth Prince, so it can’t be baseless. And normally, the Taoists in the temple hardly get many chances to go out, so it shouldn’t be Zong Hai who actively reached out to the Southern Heavenly Department."
That raised a doubt.
The only outsider he could contact was the Fourth Prince, who often stayed here, but Zong Hai wasn’t with the Fourth Prince but intriguingly connected with the unreachable Southern Heavenly Department.
But Zong Hai monitoring the Fourth Prince should mean they are unrelated...
The situation was entangled and complex, and after some thought, Jiang Li decided to let Lawless Freedom try something with the Fourth Prince.
"At least, the Fourth Prince being my enemy is true. In that case, even if people get killed, it wouldn’t matter."
It might as well be said that the reason Jiang Li created such an alias was to kill and shift the blame.
"Anyway, trying will reveal the truth."
He lightly flicked his sleeve, and with a swirl of Sword Light around his body, he disappeared into the fading black mist.
Simultaneously, inside the Iron Pillar Temple, someone had a notion and put down the book in hand.
In an elegant retreat room, Tianxuan looked at the Round Light showing the scene again, her eyes swirling.
"To have blocked my observation, the Five Vile Qi..."
She bit her lip lightly and murmured in a low voice, "This crafty apprentice of mine has indeed hidden his depths well."
After Jiang Li gathered the Five Vile Qi into shape, the Round Light suddenly blacked out, completely obscuring the view around Jiang Li.
Tianxuan had her suspicions at that moment.
This kid Jiang Li, how could he possibly use Innate Qi to transform into Five Vile Qi? He clearly had a way to convert evil Qi for his use.
It’s known that once Innate Qi is transformed into Five Vile Qi, Jiang Li cannot absorb it back into his body, nor can he refine the Five Vile Qi back into Innate Qi. That would mean losing that part of his power.
If the previously gathered tide-like evil Qi was really transformed from Innate Qi, Jiang Li would probably be entirely powerless by now.
Thus, there was only one possibility, that this kid had already stolen Zhang Daoyi’s Origin Qi, then split it using the theory of Da Yan’s Number, gaining some insights.
"First, it was the Great Circle Sword, and now the Nine Heavens Demon Clearing True Technique, my apprentice always seems to create something new to surprise me."
Tianxuan spoke slowly, traces of resentment in her tone yet an expression of delight surfaced on her face.
It was all because of the sincerity Jiang Li had shown before.
Sincerity is a potent weapon in relationships, and it seems its effects haven’t worn off yet.
The Old Demon was now overjoyed, feeling that her apprentice was sincere and filial. If it hadn’t been for some scheming plots that left her sprawled on the Jade Couch unable to get up for half a day, it would have been even better.
Thinking of this, Tianxuan’s expression showed a sign of changing from sunny to cloudy.
What a grave insult!
It was just the fear of being exposed; otherwise, she would have given Jiang Li a dose—or no, scores of acupoint-sealing hand strikes, rendering him unconscious.
In her entire life, Tianxuan had never felt so humiliated.
Thinking this way, Tianxuan’s face showed anger. "Once this matter is dealt with, I must..."
Just as she was speaking, a Qi mechanism appeared outside the retreat room.
Tianxuan immediately put away the Round Light and regained her composed and graceful demeanor, gently waving her sleeve, and the retreat room door opened by itself.
Outside, an expressionless middle-aged man, Elder Tianji of the Dinghu Sect, one of the six elders, retracted his Qi.
"There’s news," Elder Tianji said in a deep voice, "After Zhang Zhixuan entered the Divine Capital, he met the Emperor three times, and they spoke for one hour, one and a half hours, and three hours respectively."
"Each meeting lasted longer than the last..." Tianxuan also had a hint of seriousness, "The situation is not good."
Each meeting getting longer implied that they found common ground in some area; it’s not like they would just stand and do nothing during their meetings.
Zhang Zhixuan entering the Divine Capital, meeting the Emperor, the Taiping Sect was already doomed to not pose a threat, but from the current situation, it seems... there might be a turning point?