642 The Fight over the Divine Weapon (1/2)
Seawater poured into the deep trench, filling the dint on the seabed. Huang Taichong and the Elders of the Ruan clan were plundering the remnants of the Blue-blooded People. On the other hand, He Qi was searching for any items that contained the breath of Gao Qianyuan of the Formless Sword Vermin lineage in preparation for future pursuit.
Old Master Ruan tucked his hands inside his sleeves again. Sorrow and indescribable conflict were evident in his eyes as he stared at the calm and composed Master of the Wang family. He relayed his voice to the latter telepathically, asking, ”What did you tell him?”
Old Master Ruan had pondered much after discovering traces of the Blue-blooded People. Only then did he decide to seek help from the Wang family. He revealed every detail of how their family came to lose the Zither of Limbo. That was because only the Book of Luo could help him find the Blue-blooded People as soon as possible and recover the Zither of Limbo. Even if he had no shortage of auguring methods, it was impossible for him to solve this problem alone so efficiently. If this dragged on, the Blue-blooded People may very well flee the way their High Priest disappeared alongside the great tower into the vast starry sky. When that happened, pursuit would be difficult.
The Master of the Wang family finally agreed to help after Old Master Ruan paid the great price of injuring his family's Vital Qi. The former confirmed that the Zither of Limbo was indeed in the hands of the Blue-blooded People through auguring. This convinced him of the steely determination of Old Master Ruan to go all out against the Blue-blooded People.
Even so, Old Master Ruan never expected to see the Blue-blooded People residing in the outside world of Green and Darkness, their emergence from the depths of the starry sky, and them triggering the great tower at a crucial point of the battle to escape without a trace. He himself had thought he could rely on luck and assumed the Zither of Limbo was inside this trench. Thus, he failed to enter the great tower, suppress the High Priest, and disappear along with the tower. He could only watch helplessly as Third Childe of the Ruan clan threw himself into danger.
With his wisdom and sight, it was not difficult for him to guess what the Master of the Wang family told his son, so much so that the latter did not even hesitate and threw himself straight to his burial ground.
Moreover, the Master of the Wang family obviously held back in the final moments of the battle. He did not demonstrate the true powers of the Book of Luo.
”This is the only chance to recover the Zither of Limbo.” The Master of the Wang family was firm in his conviction.
If the likes of Old Master Ruan entered the great tower and headed for that place, that certain someone might awaken in advance!
He was a few years shy of his fifties yet to this day, he had yet to achieve the Half-step to Dharmakaya realm. Death seemed to be set in stone for him, which was why he viewed life and death with such indifference.
Old Master Ruan was momentarily stunned. He looked as if he had suddenly aged many years. He then sang a verse from a song.
”Thou azure Heaven there! Thou art destroying our good men. Could he have been redeemed, we should have given a hundred lives for him!”
He sang the verse with a meaning that differed from the original. He wanted to give up a hundred lives all so Ruan Chengde could be revived.
”Given a hundred lives for him...” He Qi glanced over at the two old men. ”The Ruan clan sure is mad and willful about their emotions. They spare their reputation no thought at all.”
With the end of the song, Old Master Ruan became calm again. He solemnly said,
”We shall return to Langya!”
Since the Third Childe did not have the ability to leave the Green and Darkness, the likeliest place for the Zither of Limbo to appear would be the vicinity of Langya.
The Master of the Wang family nodded gently in agreement. This boosted the confidence of Old Master Ruan even more.
...
”Zither of Limbo!”
Inside the Ruan family manor, simultaneous verbal and mental cries came from the Exterior experts. They could finally sense that familiar breath.
”Zither of Limbo!”
Quiet cries came from the concealed Exterior masters inside and outside the city of Langya as well. Some of them were Heterodox Demons hiding in the city—those with ulterior motives hoping to benefit from the battle between the Ruan clan and the Blue-blooded People, as well as a considerable number of masters ranked on the Black List.
Most of them did not know how the family lost their divine weapon but they were certain the breath coming from a distance belonged to the weapon.
The grandmaster holding down the fort, Ruan Bogao, abruptly rose to his feet and was about to trigger the family's final trick—the mausoleum of the Immortal Venerable of Snow Mountain Sect, the final trick of the boundless Abyss Sea of Infinity of Jin Gang Temple!
Opportunities wait for no man. The fleeting moment passed. Just as he was about to move, he noticed a dark blue water radiance soaring into midair and charge straight for the Zither of Limbo.
”It's the Blue-blooded People! He has nine fingers!” He saw red when he recognized the enemy.
There seemed to be something off with the Zither of Limbo as if it was resisting or wearing down something. If the Blue-blooded Person got his hands on the zither, he could escape far away with it without a trace.
There was no time to use the family's final trick at all!
Making a lightning-fast decision, he sent the sound of zither rising into the air. Binding the radiance, it flew straight into the firmament.
The multi-colored phoenix flew in spirals, frightening the Vital Spirit of the nine-fingered blue-blooded man. His movement staggered as he watched the purple flames ignite half of the sky.
Nearly at the same time, the Exterior experts of the Ruan clan took over the grand formation and activated it to cover the entire manor. This was to prevent other people from taking advantage of the situation and attacking.
The activation of the city formation of Langya was slower as it was under the control of Six Fan School. Rays of light rushed out of the city, all of them surly and unreasoning as they tried to get their hands on the treasure.
The Ruan clan feared nothing. Even if a majority of their Peerless Master Pros and ordinary Exterior experts were stationed in ”important estates in the city” and ”locations of exotic minerals and produce” respectively, there were at least five Peerless Master Pros and more than a dozen ordinary Exterior experts at home. They were one of the most influential families, after all. They had more than enough masters to suppress these little pests.
The multi-colored phoenix flew toward the nine-fingered Blue-blooded man. While strumming his zither with both hands, Ruan Bogao was biting the tip of his tongue so hard that it bled.
Blood Essence burned and turned into a red mist, spreading toward the Zither of Limbo, in an attempt to give it a helping hand.
The experienced Ruan Bogao rarely participated in Jianghu in recent years. Even so, at this moment it was apparent to him that he was evenly-matched with this nine-fingered Blue-blooded man. Moreover, he was at a disadvantage because he was forced to divide his attention in order to resist the man's water-manipulating ability. If he instantly reached for the Zither of Limbo, the man would most certainly try and stop him. Thus, he decided to focus on stopping the man instead. Using the Blood Essence as a guide, he helped the Zither of Limbo to wear down the unusual breath as quickly as possible.
Once the zither recovered its spiritual nature and might as a divine weapon, the nine-fingered man would have essentially no chance of success. None of those masters harboring ulterior motives would dare to make an appearance either.
As expected, a peculiar token appeared in the hand of the nine-fingered man. The token resembled a dirk yet was not a dirk. Its surface was carved with numerous strange insect-like patterns.
Sword Qi surged, cutting through the sea of fire. The nine-fingered man's Vital Spirit recovered from the effects of the zither tune, allowing him to unleash his Dharma Form which was a large insect.
Then his body and Dharma Form shattered simultaneously to turn into droplet-like tiny blue Gu Poison Bugs. With the aid of the token, the countless bugs disappeared into the sea of Vital Qi.
Unlike the old man surnamed Gao, the nine-fingered man could only achieve a complete cohesion with the sea of Vital Qi and prevent others from discovering the bugs. He left behind some tracks, which Ruan Bogao's sharp consciousness detected instantly.
”He can merge into the sea of Vital Qi and enter someone else's body through engulfing and expelling Vital Qi?” Ruan Bogao's eyes froze and his zither tune took a sharp turn. The firmament turned a different color and the sea of Vital Qi ripped apart. The Vital Qi that was rushing toward him were forced to undulate away from him.
”This isn't a long-term countermeasure!” His absorption and exhalation of Vital Qi were already at its lowest. His zither tune continued to change, shaking the void around him and affecting both the enemy and his own people. He tried to directly influence the nine-fingered man's Vital Spirit.
The specks of dark blue in the air became apparent. The nine-fingered man relied on the token to forcefully endure the zither tune. The Sword Vermin, hovering between manifestation and concealment, came attacking in an unimaginable manner.
For a moment, the two of them were deadlocked.
Suddenly, a decayed figure with a black robe draped over his shoulders made an appearance near the Zither of Limbo. He was brimming with the dust accumulated with the passage of time.
He laughed hoarsely.