Chapter 126: That’s Why I Came Myself

Meng Qi was merely imitating Duan Xiangfei’s old strategy, tracking the target using the Marvelous Transformation Technique.

Back then, although Duan Xiangfei had already mastered the Miraculous Transformation Technique while tracking him, Meng Qi still lagged behind. However, this time after returning to the world of Tianding City, he had learned many practical techniques from Duan. After killing Anguo Xie, the subsequent spiritual transformation greatly enhanced his proficiency in the Miraculous Transformation Technique. Moreover, his overall strength now surpassed Duan Xiangfei’s, and the black-faced man was weaker than his former self. Thus, Meng Qi could follow more closely without worrying about being detected.

The black-faced man continued his futile effort to shake off a pursuer, unaware of Meng Qi’s presence, and after circling around, finally entered the back door of a courtyard.

Only then did he let out a sigh of relief, his face showing delight as he approached a side room and knocked on the door—three sharp raps.

“Who is it?” came a clear male voice from inside.

“It’s me, the second lieutenant,” the black-faced man said, visibly relaxing.

The door creaked open, and a young man with a beard peeked out, glancing behind the black-faced man before smirking, “If you hadn’t come back soon, I would’ve had to inform the Big Lieutenant.”

The black-faced man was a “dead spy.” He hadn’t even dared to hope he would return alive, so hearing the young man’s voice, he felt a surge of alertness. Fortunately, nothing suspicious was detected.

Still unaware of his own compromised position, the black-faced man exhaled in relief, saying, “Thankfully I was quick-witted. That person was probably another monk, soft-hearted and hesitant to kill. Otherwise, I would’ve been dead by now. Thanks for your concern, second lieutenant, but my life and death aren’t worth troubling the Big Lieutenant.”

“I just wanted to inform the Big Lieutenant to prepare for welcoming our ‘guests,'” the young man said with a smile, stroking his newly grown beard. “Come in and talk.”

The window paper was thick and tightly sealed, making the room dim and shadowy. The young man seemed to prefer this kind of atmosphere and hadn’t even lit a candle.

After closing the door, he folded his hands behind his back and asked, “Did you tell them the truth?”

“Yes, second lieutenant,” the black-faced man replied with admiration. “I truly admire you. You knew they were cautious and wouldn’t easily trust outside information, nor would they fall for simple tricks. Unfortunately, no matter how clever they are, how could they possibly match your intelligence? How could they suspect that the one who seemingly followed them was actually the real ‘trap’?” Though he didn’t know the exact plan, when the second lieutenant had told him not to be too secretive, he had roughly guessed it was a trap.

A proud smile appeared on the second lieutenant’s face. “It’s just thorough preparation. For the less intelligent ones, the information spread outside would be enough to lure them into Chelie Gorge. As for the smarter ones, they’d go straight to Old Three’s trap. But for those who are both clever and cautious, that’s where you come in.”

“Second lieutenant’s planning is meticulous, beyond what we can achieve,” the black-faced man said in a refined tone, because the second lieutenant liked this kind of flattery.

The second lieutenant smiled and nodded. “Tell Old Three not to pretend to be an enemy of Zeluo anymore. He should return to Chelie Gorge immediately. Maybe he’ll arrive in time to see the little bald monk and his helper meet their end.”

Zeluo judged his enemies purely based on the corpses—whether there was one, two, or three opponents didn’t matter. As long as their strength fell within a certain range, he didn’t need to get personally involved. There was no need to investigate other enemies; capturing the little bald monk would clarify everything.

“Understood, I’ll go inform him right away,” the black-faced man said, his face beaming with pride, feeling he had just made a major contribution.

The second lieutenant waved his hand. “No rush. First, tell me in detail what happened earlier.”

If it weren’t for the man’s dullness and his willingness to risk his life for secrecy, he wouldn’t have given him such detailed instructions. He needed to check whether the man had made any mistakes.

The black-faced man carefully repeated the entire conversation, then asked, “Second lieutenant, is everything okay?”

The second lieutenant pondered for a moment, then took out paper and brush, quickly writing a letter before nodding. “Everything’s fine.”

He took a strange bird with a white head and black feathers from the cage in the room, tied the letter to its leg, then opened the window and let it fly away.

As the bird flapped its wings, preparing to soar higher, suddenly, from the shadows, a slender yet powerful hand shot out and firmly grasped it.

The second lieutenant and the black-faced man watched in stunned disbelief as a young man with a handsome face, his head wrapped in black cloth, and a sword and knife hanging at his waist, stepped out from the shadows with a smile. “Go ahead, keep talking. I like listening.”

The two were terrified. How had he appeared without them noticing?

That shadow wasn’t deep and was right by the door—how could they have possibly missed him?

“Pity. I was originally planning to spare your life,” Meng Qi sighed, drawing his blade and slashing diagonally at the black-faced man.

The blade flashed brightly. The black-faced man snapped back to his senses and dove sideways to evade.

But the blade flashed again, and the black-faced man never got up again, blood pooling beneath his body.

Meng Qi struck with lightning speed. Before the second lieutenant could seize the opportunity to make his move, the precept blade had already been drawn and was now aimed directly at him.

“You should be the Fox-Faced Fox, Yu Lin, right?” Meng Qi smiled.

Yu Lin forced himself to stay calm. “That’s me.”

His mind raced, desperately seeking a way to escape this life-threatening situation.

Meng Qi said regretfully, “You’re quite clever, but unfortunately, your strength is too weak. You haven’t even fully opened your acupoints yet.”

Yu Lin managed a faint smile. “Isn’t that a good thing? My weakness makes me easier to control, and my intelligence makes communication convenient. Don’t you want to know where that little monk went?”

“You’re full of lies. I can’t trust you. Anyway, there are plenty of other fools waiting for me to question,” Meng Qi said with the same regretful expression.

Seeing that Meng Qi was impervious to persuasion, Yu Lin stammered, “With the Xie Dao Pursuit Decree, that little monk has likely already been captured by some bandit. To rescue him, brute strength alone won’t suffice—you’ll need wit and cunning. I can help you. I can submit to you.”

As long as he survived, everything else could be repaid in time!

Meng Qi smiled. “Sorry, you’re just a bad person.”

“Huh?” Before Yu Lin could comprehend, the dark-red ritual blade slashed toward him. No matter how he dodged, the blade unerringly advanced toward his throat.

I don’t want to die! I still have countless brilliant strategies! I can still understand people’s hearts!

Huahu—Yu Lin clutched his throat, blood spurting as he fell to the ground, convulsing a few times before going still.

“Chelie Gorge is only half a day’s journey away…” Meng Qi murmured thoughtfully. He dug a hole in the courtyard and buried the two bodies directly—lighting a fire would make too much noise and attract attention.

…

Half a day later, as the sun set and the sky darkened, the temperature in the Gobi Desert dropped sharply, and the wind carried a chill.

Chelie Gorge was a canyon as if sliced open by a celestial being’s long sword. Its smooth, unscalable cliffs on both sides and the frequent mists within made it a prime location for ambushes.

Gu Changqing and Meng Qi rode their horses, gazing at Chelie Gorge, and looking at the surrounding peaks, Gu frowned. “Why did you kill them so quickly? You didn’t even get the location of the Big Lieutenant’s camp. How are we supposed to find it now?”

He tried hard to forget the eerie way Meng Qi had tracked the black-faced man, repeatedly telling himself it was someone else’s supreme martial arts skill, not something to pry into.

Meng Qi forced a calm and peaceful smile. “Their camp is just another ambush. Shen Zui definitely isn’t there. Why bother going?”

“But we could pretend to launch a surprise attack on the camp, lure Shen Zui out of hiding, and then seize the opportunity to act,” Gu Changqing wasn’t stupid either.

Meng Qi smiled leisurely. “Why go through all that trouble? We can just go straight to them.”

“How?” Gu Changqing felt like punching the guy for speaking in riddles.

Of course, that was also Meng Qi’s old way of thinking. But things were different now—he could enjoy this feeling.

He smiled without answering, then turned and asked, “How many horse bandits with opened eye acupoints can you handle?”

Gu Changqing knew better than to lie about this—doing so would only endanger himself. Frowning, he replied, “The horse bandits are fierce and skilled in killing, fearless in battle. One-on-one, relying on my family’s sword techniques, I should be fine. But against two, it would be quite dangerous.”

He had only ventured into the martial world after opening his eye acupoints. The Gu family’s sword techniques were well-known, with “Guantian Divine Sword” and “Gu Family Sword” being quite formidable. In comparison, their internal martial art, “Yanhuo Mantra,” was relatively ordinary.

“Then we’ll go together,” Meng Qi said lightly.

Gu Changqing was almost furious. “How?”

Meng Qi chuckled. “We have a little friend to guide us.”

As he spoke, he loosened the cloth bag in his left hand, and the strange bird with a white head and black feathers flew out, circling in the sky before heading toward a valley near Chelie Gorge.

“Let’s go,” Meng Qi urged his horse forward, closely following the white-headed bird.

Gu Changqing glared at the bird, his teeth grinding in irritation. If you had shown me this earlier, how could I have looked so foolish?

…

In a hidden valley, three tents stood. The central one was Shen Zui’s residence, with the other four acupoint-opened experts occupying the two on either side—two with four acupoints opened, and two with only the eye acupoints opened.

He was aware that the intruders had killed Xie Anguo, so he didn’t dare to underestimate them. He had laid traps and gathered all the reinforcements he could—even if the enemy had only narrowly prevailed through various means, Xie Anguo was still a Nine-Aperture expert and a name on the Human List. Thus, the enemy couldn’t be far below that level.

Just as he was meditating inside his tent, the sound of flapping wings reached his ears. He opened his eyes and saw his white-headed bird returning.

He removed the note, read it carefully, and a delighted expression appeared on his face. He stepped outside the tent and summoned his four subordinates, ordering them to prepare themselves and regulate their breathing. They would enter the ambush formation in an hour.

The four subordinates split into two teams of two, taking turns resting and maintaining vigilance.

Then he himself returned to his tent to rest and recover energy.

From a nearby tree, Meng Qi and Gu Changqing observed the camp. After confirming there were no ambushes, they leapt from the tree and charged directly into the camp.

Before the two patrolling acupoint-opening experts could react, Meng Qi had already closed in with his Wind God’s Leg technique, swinging his Precept Blade horizontally.

In this life-or-death moment, their horse sabers flashed like lightning, aiming for Meng Qi’s body.

When the blades struck, the sound of metal meeting metal rang out twice. One acupoint expert died instantly, while the other was wounded. The one who died had only the eye acupoints opened, while the four-acupoint expert had a horizontal slash across his chest, the wound hot and searing.

Jin Zhong Zhao (Golden Bell Shield)?

He was shocked, but had no time to cry for help. The opponent’s blade technique was relentless, exquisitely refined. Within just a few moves, the severely wounded opponent collapsed and died.

Gu Changqing had just caught up when he saw the two acupoint experts lying dead. His heart trembled, gaining a new understanding of Meng Qi’s strength.

So even without using secret techniques, hidden weapons, or poison, relying solely on blade skills and the Golden Bell Shield, Meng Qi was still a full level above ordinary four-acupoint experts!

Meng Qi’s clothes had two cuts—one was merely a white mark, while the other was shallow, barely bleeding, and already beginning to heal.

The commotion had awakened Shen Zui. He rushed out sword in hand, shouting, “Who’s there?”

In the dim light, Meng Qi smiled, revealing his white teeth.

“I heard the Big Lieutenant was looking for me, so I came myself.”