Meng Qi forced himself to rise with a deep breath, preparing to fight for his life. He knew he was weak and his injuries were not yet stabilized, but An Guoxie, who had chased him down in such a state, must also be in no better condition!
However, just as he gathered his breath, a sharp pain shot through his dantian, leaving him weak and listless all over. Helplessly, he watched as An Guoxie approached, swung his left hand, and sealed several major acupoints on Meng Qi.
The aftereffects of the “Sacrificial Technique,” followed by being soaked in cold water, were worse than he had imagined!
Meng Qi did not despair, for he noticed that An Guoxie had not killed him outright. This meant he was still useful, and as long as he was alive, there was still hope!
Coughing violently, An Guoxie laughed wildly, “You are the most troublesome enemy I’ve encountered in the past five years, and the weakest opponent I’ve met during this time. I chased you without regard for my injuries, damaging my very foundation. But at least I didn’t let you escape, hahaha!”
Those he could kill with a flick of his fingers were never real opponents.
Although An Guoxie still retained six or seven tenths of his power, he had pursued Meng Qi nonstop after a brief recovery, which had further damaged his core essence.
However, as long as his essence wasn’t repeatedly injured, it could still recover with proper medicinal pills and cultivation techniques. But the miraculous technique that could open the third eye at the early stage of Qi Accumulation was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—there would be no second chance.
“Tell me the cultivation method that opened your third eye, and perhaps I’ll spare your life,” An Guoxie caught his breath and asked directly.
Meng Qi suddenly understood. This was the reason An Guoxie had pursued him so relentlessly!
If he had known this earlier, he could have handled things differently!
His biggest mistake this time was misjudging how desperately An Guoxie wanted to capture him. Normally, even if An Guoxie suffered punishment for failing Elder Ku’s task, he wouldn’t risk damaging his foundation, which might affect his future advancement. But a cultivation method capable of easily opening the third eye and helping him step into the Semi-Exterior Realm was worth the risk!
The reason Meng Qi misjudged this was because he knew the truth about the “Shape-Shifting Technique” and knew it wasn’t as miraculous as it seemed. Subconsciously, he had underestimated its value in the eyes of those unaware of its true nature. Otherwise, An Guoxie would still be recovering, and after regaining some strength, Meng Qi could have calmly returned eastward without being captured.
Briefly overwhelmed by regret and frustration, Meng Qi quickly suppressed these emotions. There was no use dwelling on the past now—he needed to focus, clear his mind, and find a way to escape.
“What reason do I have to believe your words?” Meng Qi asked calmly.
Frankly, he couldn’t reveal the Shape-Shifting Technique even if he wanted to. When he used it in the end, he had already exchanged it with the Master of the Six Paths of Reincarnation. If he passed it on secretly, he would be erased.
A sinister smile appeared on An Guoxie’s lips, “Little bald monk, you’re already in my hands, just meat on the chopping block. I won’t make a Yuan Shen Oath, and I don’t need you to believe me—because you have no choice but to believe.”
“If you have demands, you have weaknesses. Without an oath, I won’t speak even if you kill me,” Meng Qi tested An Guoxie’s limits. In truth, he didn’t even know what a Yuan Shen Oath was.
An Guoxie’s smile vanished, and he stared coldly at Meng Qi, “Little bald monk, dying won’t be that easy for you. Don’t worry, I’ll make you wish you were dead. Hmm, this place lacks proper tools for torture—I’ll take you back to ‘Hale’ and deal with you properly. Then, hehe, you’ll be begging me to kill you while telling me the technique.”
He glanced at the sky and muttered, “Chased for almost two days. I wonder how the Old Ancestor is doing. Since I’ve captured this little bald monk, I probably won’t be punished…”
He grabbed Meng Qi’s collar and quickly headed back to Liushaji.
…
Inside Liushaji, the streets were sparsely populated. The towering poplar trees still stood in various postures, but now they were covered in thick layers of sand, appearing dull and lifeless.
The distant hills had collapsed into piles of rubble, burying the surrounding area.
The battle between masters was truly terrifying!
An Guoxie had already sealed Meng Qi’s voice acupoint and upper body pressure points, tying his hands behind his back. Grasping the rope, he led Meng Qi toward “the first house of the瀚海.”
He had full confidence in the Old Ancestor, believing that even if the master-level Xuan Bei could survive, he would not be able to reverse his defeat. He was sure the Old Ancestor would be waiting for him to deliver Meng Qi at the inn.
If that were truly the case, with a master’s perception, he would have been detected long before entering the village!
As he entered the inn, the sparse crowd in the main hall turned their eyes toward him. Upon seeing An Guoxie’s signature white hair and youthful face, they quickly lowered their heads, silently eating their meals. The noise stopped abruptly.
Among them were the three bandits. They had just been relieved they hadn’t targeted Xuan Bei and his apprentice. From the battle two days ago, they realized that if they had attempted a robbery, they might not have died, but they could have been “converted” into monks, a fate worse than death.
Now, seeing Meng Qi captured by An Guoxie, they felt even more deeply the might of Elder Ku’s lineage.
“Jiuniang, did the Old Ancestor kill that monk?” An Guoxie asked the expressionless Qv Jiuniang, who looked as if everyone owed her thirty thousand taels of silver.
Qv Jiuniang lifted her head and slapped the table with her slender hand, “Who do you think you are, calling me Jiuniang?”
An Guoxie snorted, “Others may fear you, but I do not. Just answer my question honestly.”
A sandstorm seemed to swirl in Qv Jiuniang’s eyes, “I told you to get lost. Did you hear me? Get lost!”
An Guoxie flared up, but upon meeting Qv Jiuniang’s icy gaze, he calmed down. It was the Old Ancestor who could intimidate her, not him. If he provoked her and suffered a beating, as long as no one was killed, the Old Ancestor would not intervene. After all, the Old Ancestor had many important matters to attend to, and Qv Jiuniang’s background was mysterious—no one knew what trouble might arise from harming her.
The wise man avoids immediate danger. An Guoxie lowered his head and said, “Please, Madam Manager, tell me what happened in the previous battle.”
Qv Jiuniang’s lips moved slightly, her face filled with disdain, and she spat out one word sharply:
“Get lost!”
An Guoxie took a deep breath, pulled Meng Qi into the main hall, and loudly asked, “Who can tell me the outcome of the Old Ancestor’s battle with that monk?”
The bandit leader, a man with a sword at his waist, fawned, “Boss An Guoxie, the Old Ancestor fought with that monk all the way into the vast desert, and we don’t know what happened afterward.”
An Guoxie’s eyelid twitched. That monk was actually this strong?
At that moment, a waiter brought dishes and cheerfully said, “I heard from the manager that they were evenly matched and fought deep into the vast sea. No one has returned yet.”
An Guoxie pondered for a moment and decided to leave Liushaji immediately with the little bald monk and return to Hale, to avoid being ambushed by the monk if the Old Ancestor failed to kill him.
During the journey, once he extracted the cultivation method, he would kill the little bald monk immediately!
He paused and asked again, “What about the young monk?”
Had his three apprentices completed their task?
The waiter replied without hesitation, “When the two masters entered the vast desert, the young monk rushed out of the inn, saying he was going to find his master and senior brother. Later, it seemed he also entered the desert and vanished.”
Zhen Hui had come to find him? For some reason, Meng Qi suddenly felt a warmth in his heart. However, Zhen Hui’s Qi Accumulation had not yet fully matured, and the Boundless Sea was vast and treacherous. Would he end up lost forever?
This worry soon vanished as Meng Qi thought of his own situation, which seemed far worse. He needed to find a way to escape from the “White-Headed Vulture” first!
An Guoxie muttered curses, “Three good-for-nothings who can’t even accomplish simple tasks! They couldn’t even capture a young monk at the early stage of Qi Accumulation! Wait until I return and let the Old Ancestor deal with them!”
He assumed that the three apprentices had been frightened away by the Maha Fumo Fist, which explored the mysteries of life and death, hiding far away.
After carefully inquiring about the “details” of the battle, An Guoxie grabbed Meng Qi by the collar and headed straight for the Vast Sea.
Qv Jiuniang raised her head, gazing at the direction they disappeared, her eyes deep and unfathomable, as if lost in thought.
Then she took out a blank piece of paper, picked up her brush, and wrote:
“Elder Ku and Shaolin’s Xuan Bei fought to a draw, battling deep into the vast desert. Xuan Bei is likely severely injured, while Elder Ku fled in defeat, having underestimated his opponent and lacking the resolve to fight to the death.”
“Xuan Bei has two disciples—one is missing, and the other is captured by An Guoxie. In the future, traps may be set to lure Xuan Bei into a deadly situation.”
“Both are potential candidates for recruitment.”
…
Her tongue lightly flicked out, moistening her lips, suddenly radiating an extraordinary allure. Then she let out a soft sigh and murmured with a tone of bewilderment and sorrow, “Since ancient times, the will of heaven has been lofty and beyond questioning…”
She rolled up the note, tucked it into her robe, and did not sign her name.
…
In the vast desert, An Guoxie dared not delay, eager to return to Hale as soon as possible. Holding Meng Qi, he rushed forward tirelessly.
However, he had ultimately damaged his core essence, and his injuries had only recovered five or six tenths. Continuous travel exhausted him. By evening, he had to find a spot among some weathered rocks, build a fire, roast meat, and sit in meditation to recover.
After eating some antelope meat and drinking water, Meng Qi’s fatigue eased somewhat, though his forehead still burned, and he felt drowsy, as if seriously ill.
To his pleasant surprise, after cultivating the “Muscle and Bone Tempering Chapter,” his innate talent and meridians had improved, and his recovery ability was stronger than expected. Combined with the endless liver energy generated after opening the acupoints, the sealed acupoints had already loosened slightly, and thin threads of internal energy began to gather in his body.
Carefully and slowly, he began circulating his energy, attempting to break through the sealed acupoints—although this method was part of the Golden Bell Armor technique, which focused on acupoint sealing and breaking, it was relatively shallow. Still, it was better than nothing.
Throughout this process, Meng Qi kept a close watch on An Guoxie’s actions, noticing that he had been focused solely on recovering from his injuries after taking healing pills, paying no attention to anything else.
Half a day had passed since the acupoints were sealed, and they had already loosened significantly. Thus, Meng Qi’s efforts caused them to become increasingly unstable.
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