Chapter 234: Chapter 229: Take a Knife for a Brother
Though Jiang Li couldn’t predict when the Dao Fruit of his senior brother would explode, who could say senior brother wouldn’t meet an untimely end one day?
After all, no one knew which would arrive first, an accident or tomorrow.
Jiang Li felt it necessary to confirm whether the Dao Fruit of the Wind Queen was indeed on him, and it also ignited his own motivation to be the first on the scene when Feng Manlou perished, to inherit his senior brother’s legacy... pah, to gather his senior brother’s bones.
Feng Manlou, looking unimposing and even a bit thin, suddenly erupted with vigorous power, a rough Nuo Mask already covering his face, with fierce evil Qi lingering around him.
But Jiang Li’s response was quick.
Red patterns emerged on his arms, followed by a light golden halo that sliced through, revealing the shape of Dragon Scales. His fingers made a sound that set one’s teeth on edge as they turned into claws, clutching at the pulse points of Feng Manlou.
Yinglong Transformation!
The physical change was even more domineering than Essence Qi becoming a dragon, his fingernails emitting a chilling light like five Sharp Swords clasping down.
"Junior brother, you’re so ruthless," Feng Manlou couldn’t help but scream as he immediately let go.
His face’s Nuo Mask rapidly switched from the rough visage to that of a pointy-nosed, skinny-faced man, looking somewhat sleazy. His hands were snake-like, soft and boneless, turning with ease, narrowly escaping from beneath Jiang Li’s claws.
"It’s not about being ruthless, it’s about being filial to our master. I’ve said it, I need to consult with our master."
Jiang Li casually retorted while countless components converged in his palm; the Mo Wu Sword instantly took shape and he launched a thrust that seemed perfectly plain, devoid of any frills. Yet, in Feng Manlou’s eyes, it resonated with the gentle breeze, reflecting back the sunlight.
This thrust filled the gaps left by the wind, the shadows not reached by light, as if adding the finishing touch to a dragon painting, completing perfection.
Dodge one of the escapee.
Jiang Li truly integrated the technique of "one of the escapee" into his own cultivation system.
The wind increased its speed, while the sunlight reflected back upon the sword, creating blinding Sword Light. An flawless thrust headed straight for Feng Manlou, symbolizing a perfect storm rushing towards him.
Without Sword Intent, yet it could shake the mind; this sword truly surprised and caught people off guard.
But it was not enough.
Feng Manlou’s presence suddenly vanished, as if he had slipped into the void and retreated, fast as lightning, making the sword tip fail to catch him, and the sword momentum even less effective on him.
And this, too, was one of the escapee.
If "one of the escapee" was personally gifted to Jiang Li by Feng Manlou himself, how could he not understand it?
Although their understanding of the technique differed, by analogy, Feng Manlou knew how to avoid this thrust.
However—
Behind Feng Manlou, a column of rock suddenly burst from the ground, squarely blocking his escape path.
True Qi formed veins, spreading out from beneath Jiang Li’s feet, creating an Array Plate that encompassed everything within a ten-zhang radius.
’Wind Queen’s Strange Gate!’
Feng Manlou realized in his heart, ’He wants to test me.’
Since the Wind Queen’s Strange Gate had been taught to Jiang Li, it was possible that Jiang Li also knew the origins of the Wind Queen. And Jiang Li was aware of Feng Manlou’s tricks; he must have connected Feng Manlou with the Wind Queen.
Almost in an instant, Feng Manlou guessed Jiang Li’s intention, and then the Nuo Mask on his face switched again, reverting to the rough visage, he swung his fist backward with a fierce punch, erupting with explosive Fist Power.
’Well then, let’s see how capable the junior brother is now.’
"Bang!"
Stones flew as the rock that had risen from the earth was shattered by a punch. Feng Manlou changed his mask’s appearance, shifted his figure, and instantly several afterimages flickered out. Stepping through the pivots of the Qimen changes, he took four steps and reappeared up close.
"Junior brother’s Qimen Dunjia is quite rough around the edges for a beginner."
Without displaying Qimen Dunjia yet stepping precisely on each critical point, exploiting the momentum of the Array Plate to close in, Feng Manlou stretched out his hand and his figure swelled suddenly, looming like a giant god, his fingers like mountains, pressing down like a mountainous descent.
But this didn’t seem to be a change of the Nuo Mask; no one would naturally have a face as strangely comical as that of a theatrical mask.
[Mountain God.]
Karma Collection automatically searched for related information, letting Jiang Li know what this face signified.
"Brother’s witchcraft is indeed divine; it can even achieve Divinity Transformation."
Jiang Li withdrew his sword and switched to a palm strike while responding verbally. He mobilized the Innate Mountain Qi in his palm, and with a change in the Qimen position, he instantly switched his location to the position of Gen, the mountain.
Gen is mountain, mountain against mountain.
However, the position Feng Manlou was in had been switched to the position of Dui, the marsh.
Marsh sinks mountain, mountain against mountain.
He was just a beginner, but his command of the Eight Trigrams was as seamless as his own limbs, considering that Jiang Li was already skilled in this area.
His palm turned into a Dragon Palm, filled with Mountain Qi, exhibiting rigidity. As Jiang Li’s palm collided with that mountain-like giant palm, immense strength coursed through, the ground shook, and sand and rocks on the ground were trembled into the air.
"Thud."
Jiang Li’s feet were rooted to the ground as his Essence Qi transformed and Qimen changed, completely integrating the surrounding forces into his own use.
Having mastered the Wind Queen’s Strange Gate, the last piece of the puzzle for his Physics School’s Heavenly Union was complete, allowing him to change his surroundings according to his thoughts without having to move to the corresponding position, achieving Unity.
At the moment, two unequal hands collided, and the smaller Dragon Palm proved superior, with Vigorous Power striking and the hand that Feng Manlou transformed into showing signs of cracking.
As the Dragon King himself, Feng Manlou had an extraordinary Realm, able to converse with Buddhist Zhen Ru as equals, at least a Fourth Grade Perfection, but he had sealed his power to hide his identity and was now only Seventh Rank, on par with Jiang Li.
Thus, he was at a disadvantage in terms of strength.
But given that Feng Manlou’s realm was higher than Jiang Li’s, when he found himself at a disadvantage in the clash of palm force, he sidestepped, moving from the swamp position to step towards the heaven position.
His form began to tranform, switching Nuo Masks, almost turning into a Daoist with fluttering whiskers.
Jiang Li immediately changed the Array Plate’s positions while also moving, stepping into the earth position.
The Emperor’s Qi Observation Skill detected that the Daoist’s Qi Mechanism was that of a gentle breeze, and Jiang Li quickly turned Innate Qi into Earth Qi, stepping on the earth position as he struck with his palm.
Beneath Feng Manlou’s feet, however, was not the heaven position.
"Boom!"
Their palms struck again, the figure of the whiskered Daoist trembled, ready to move again, switching Nuo Masks.
The Array Plate changes with the heart, but the sequence of changes still needs to follow the order of the Eight Trigrams and cannot be replaced at will. Feng Manlou did not display Qimen Dunjia but showed extreme understanding of it, still concealing something, but it was clear he was related to Fuxi of the Feng family.
As he moved, Jiang Li followed suit.
The two figures circled and stepped around, the Array Plate spinning rapidly, the Qi Mechanism changing in an instant, the surrounding environment whirling as if in a dizzying spin, making it unclear whether it was the people or the world itself that was moving.
Feng Manlou’s form constantly shifted—old and young, divine and common. Each change was a complete replacement of Qi Mechanism and moves. Despite being at a slight disadvantage with such intricate changes and deep understanding of Qimen Dunjia, he showed no sign of defeat.
Without Jiang Li giving his full strength and using real Slaughter Skill, he wouldn’t have been able to force Feng Manlou to use Qimen Skill.
But just then—
"Master is here."
Gongsun Qingyue’s voice transmitted into his ear, and Feng Manlou also sensed something at the same time.
At this moment, his transformation had a split-second gap.
"Circulation of Six Emptiness."
Jiang Li’s five fingers spread wide, with the Innate Eight Qi converging in his palm, ever transforming, a vast and profound True Qi suddenly appearing.
’Not good, Tianxuan is here.’
Feng Manlou, however, was unwilling to continue revealing his strength, as it could attract Elder Tianxuan’s attention to his true foundation.
At that moment, Jiang Li’s palm aimed at the big brother’s face, with the Innate Eight Qi reaching there, the Nuo Mask instantly shattered to bits, ’Let me see how many faces you truly have!’
Feng Manlou changed form, neither dodging nor retreating, but flicking his right finger and shooting out a red thread only he could see.
Amidst a series of shattering sounds, Feng Manlou’s face was torn apart, but his body faintly turned ethereal, leaving behind a mere shell.
His witchcraft was so inscrutable, capable of shape-shifting with Nuo Masks and, at crucial moments, substituting himself with a mask, decieving in the vein of a locust escaping its shell.
For this reason, Jiang Li did not hold back with his final strike.
In that instant, Jiang Li’s eyes shone with Divine Light, keenly detecting another mask appearing on Feng Manlou’s face.
’He has been wearing a mask all along...’
At the same time—
[A red line silently twisted around Jiang Li’s left foot, his karma was stirred, the marriage line pulled taut...]
Jiang Li: "!"
The Karma Collection revealed all changes in Jiang Li, just as it indicated the integration level of his Dao Fruit, but what the heck was this marriage line?
The next instant, a chill ran through Jiang Li as a pair of illusory eyes opened in front of Lie Mountain Hall, looking down from above.
It was Tianxuan, her gaze upon him.
Elder Tianxuan did not wish to enter the Jiang’s Ancestral Land, but this gaze projected her attention. Under her watch, the escaping Feng Manlou immediately withdrew, pretending to be uninvolved.
[But he seemed to be covertly observing Tianxuan...]
No matter how peerless Feng Manlou’s acting was, not revealing any flaws, the Karma Collection could record everything around it, even the subtlest fluctuations in the eyes, naturally including Feng Manlou’s secret observation.
’So...’
Jiang Li glanced at the illusory eyes and then imperceptibly at his own left foot, as a conjecture arose in his mind.
’Could it be, that the Princess intends to make a move against the master? This is really...’
’Fantastic!’
Dear big brother and sister-in-law.
If you wanted to do this, why didn’t you say so earlier? I would have cooperated directly, avoiding this unpleasantness.
Though it was a guess, Jiang Li had an intuition that this was the Princess’s idea. Because he, too, was such a petty person; if someone had the upper hand on him, of course, he’d want revenge, preferably by returning the gesture in kind.
Enough said, a brother should be ready to take a stab for his siblings, putting loyalty first. For the tranquility of the big brother and sister-in-law’s home, for their marital harmony, Jiang Li decided to sacrifice himself and shine brightly.