Chapter 432: Taking Advantage of the Situation |
Du Changsheng was actually slightly surprised that this person knew Mr. Ji. This man had probably mistaken him for a martial arts master, since the surname Ji, although rare, was not entirely unique.
Regardless, Du Changsheng’s face remained expressionless. He simply nodded slightly and smiled.
“This Heavenly Master lives in a secluded alley in Chunhui Prefecture. Your entry into my courtyard constitutes trespassing. Considering that you were unaware of this and are merely a mortal, you may leave on your own.”
Du Changsheng’s words were polite, but he secretly made a couple of preparations. He had already pinched a talisman in his sleeve; his spiritual energy was much denser than before, and his body had grown stronger, but the quantity of his spiritual energy was still too weak.
After all, forging an alchemy furnace to build a golden bridge between the heaven and earth within the body’s inner world was no simple task. Even though he obtained the true method from Mr. Ji back then, Du Changsheng was not entirely confident that he could succeed before he died of old age.
Therefore, let alone one Du Changsheng, even ten Du Changshengs probably couldn’t defeat a skilled martial arts practitioner who excelled in combat, especially one with such skill in qinggong that they could appear silently right behind him.
With Du Changsheng’s current abilities, although he had some supernatural powers and techniques, they were still far from being effective means of combat. Fortunately, he was quite skilled in creating talismans, which he could use to assist him. In addition, most martial arts masters had limited knowledge of mystical arts, so he still had a good chance of winning in a real fight.
Du Changsheng was well-versed in the principle of underestimating his opponent strategically while taking him seriously tactically.
However, after his initial surprise, the martial artist in front of him did not immediately retreat. Instead, he scrutinized him with a strange look, a gaze that made even the worldly-wise Du Changsheng feel slightly uneasy.
‘Could someone like this be Mr. Ji’s apprentice? Hu Yun is more reliable than him; at least he doesn’t seem so jaded.’
Suppressing his unease, Du Changsheng walked slowly to the small table, sat down on the futon, took a sip of tea, and then squinted at Bai Qi.
“What, not leaving? Well, you came here quietly, you must have a purpose. Judging from the timing of your arrival and your lie about being the God of Chunmu River, it seems you are related to that Li Jinlai. Should I have him tell me about it?”
Avoiding conflict whenever possible was Du Changsheng’s philosophy of self-preservation. Since the visitor was not leaving, it was best to find out his purpose. Whether it was for money or business, it was all negotiable; fighting was the last resort.
“Haha, it does seem plausible, but the more I look at you, the less I believe you could be Mr. Ji’s apprentice.”
Bai Qi smiled calmly and spoke, stepping into the room instead of retreating. However, he did not leap or walk slowly, but rather moved into the room as if he were not subject to gravity, landing silently.
Then Bai Qi reached out and beckoned, and Du Changsheng felt a numbness in his left arm inside his sleeve. The talisman in his hand had flown out on its own and landed in Bai Qi’s hand.
‘A master of innate cultivation retrieving objects from afar? No! This is the supernatural technique of manipulating objects!’1
“Gulp…”
Du Changsheng swallowed a mouthful of tea, his body already stiffening considerably. His eyes were fixed on the teacup, not daring to look at Bai Qi.
“The talisman looks exquisite, but unfortunately it’s not very powerful, and your cultivation is still so shallow…”
At this point, Bai Qi suddenly changed the subject and spoke with a smile.
“The Hermit Immortal Ji Yuan? I’m surprised you came up with that title. Mr. Ji wouldn’t be so high-profile, but since you can name him, you must have met him before.”
“Who…who are you?”
Du Changsheng could no longer maintain his composure and appeared somewhat flustered. Even a fool would realize that the person in front of him was no wandering martial arts practitioner, but an individual with profound skills, the nature of which he simply couldn’t discern.
“Who am I? I already said it when I arrived. I am Bai, the River God of Chunmu River.”
Du Changsheng trembled slightly, quickly put down his teacup, stood up from the futon, and respectfully bowed with his hands clasped.
“I, Du Changsheng, pay my respects to the Lord River God!”
Regardless of whether or not he was the real River God, his cultivation was unfathomable to Du Changsheng, and he did not dare act arrogant again.
Just then, the boy who had seen Li Jinlai out returned and saw Du Changsheng respectfully bowing to a stranger who had somehow entered in the intervening moments.
“Master… what’s wrong?”
“Disciple, this is the River God of Chunmu River. Hurry up and pay your respects to the River God!”
Du Changsheng scolded him, and the boy quickly bowed and greeted.
“Wang Xiao pays his respects to the Lord River God!”
Bai Qi clearly didn’t care whether the two bowed or not. He just glanced at the boy, then waved his hand, and a layer of mist enveloped the entire courtyard.
Then a feeling of weightlessness rose around Du Changsheng and Wang Xiao. Their bodies twisted a few times, and they almost fell. After regaining their balance, they realized that they had been lifted off the ground.
Du Changsheng’s expression changed slightly, and he inwardly panicked, but he at least maintained a calm demeanor. The boy Wang Xiao, on the other hand, grew panicked both in appearance and in his heart.
“Master!”
“Calm down!”
Du Changsheng comforted his disciple, in a way also comforting himself. Then, he carefully tried to stabilize himself, and turned to Bai Qi, who had also lifted himself into the mist with a wave of his sleeve.
“I hope the Lord River God will forgive me. I, Du Changsheng, have not done anything immoral. I gave Li Jinlai the talisman, but it would never have harmed the aquatic creatures in the river. Lord River God, please understand! By the way, does the Lord River God know Mr. Ji? I do know Mr. Ji. The fundamental techniques I learned were taught by him!”
A thin wisp of mist, like a hazy breeze, swept the three of them into the air in an instant, soaring hundreds of feet into the sky. Even though the fog obscured their vision, it only intensified Du Changsheng and Wang Xiao’s fear; if they fell, they would be smashed to pieces.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m taking you to see your master now.”
Bai Qi even had the leisure to make a joke, which made Du Changsheng pause for a moment in surprise.
“My master?”
Wang Xiao also asked in a daze, “Grandmaster?”
Du Changsheng immediately realized what was going on, and, connecting it with Bai Qi’s earlier reaction, an answer became obvious.
‘Is Mr. Ji here?’
The fog-filled wind flew over the capital of Chunhui Prefecture for a a long stretch of distance, then slowly floated over the Chunmu River. It drifted diagonally into the winding, mountain-side section of the river, far from the city, before finally beginning to descend.
As they descended, the fog gradually dissipated, rapidly clearing the visibility around Du Changsheng and Wang Xiao, especially the ground under their feet. They were flying steadily at high altitude when they suddenly began to plummet rapidly.
“Aaaaah…”
“Master!”
The instinctive fear of heights caused both of them to scream in fright.
With two loud thuds, the two landed one after the other on a small painted boat on the river.
Ji Yuan was sitting at the bow of the boat. The two people who had fallen onto the deck were clinging to the gunwale, their heads down. Ji Yuan could easily guess that they had their eyes tightly closed.
“What is going on, River God Bai?”
Ji Yuan asked Bai Qi, slightly puzzled. The latter had just landed lightly and stood at the bow of the small boat.
Bai Qi first bowed to Ji Yuan, then pointed at Du Changsheng and smiled.
“Sir, this is the individual who gave Li Jinlai the talisman, but he didn’t use it for anything nefarious. However, that’s not the point. The point is that he claims to be your disciple.”
“Hmm?”
Ji Yuan exclaimed in surprise.
“My disciple?”
If he truly were to tally up all of his experiences, only Lu Shan Jun could be considered Ji Yuan’s true disciple. The Old Turtle could barely be considered a half-disciple, and Bai Ruo, the White Deer Girl, even less so. Hu Yun didn’t qualify at all. The Taoists from Cloud Mountain Temple could be considered to have inherited his Taoist lineage, but the man before him was definitely not one of them.
“Hmm, this man seems kind of familiar…”
Ji Yuan looked at Du Changsheng more carefully. The his supernatural eyes revealed the man’s aura; he did indeed look somewhat familiar.
Du Changsheng, who had been feeling like he was about to be thrown to his death, was startled by Ji Yuan’s words, and looked up in the direction of the voice.
In front of Bai Qi, he saw a small table set at the bow of the small boat set with pastries and tea. Opposite the table, at the tip of the bow, a man in a long white robe with a jade hairpin in his hair was calmly looking in their direction. His pale eyes were like the moon reflected in an ancient well.
Du Changsheng turned around and knelt down as if performing acrobatics for the circus, and bowed his head deeply in worship.
“Sir! Mr. Ji! Master~!”
“Thump thump thump…”
His head slammed against the deck, making a series of loud sounds.
What the hell was he doing?!
Even Ji Yuan was stunned by Du Changsheng’s shameless actions and immediately issued an Edict to Du Changsheng.
“Freeze!”
In an instant, Du Changsheng’s face, which was full of surprise and wrinkled with joy, froze in place. After all, Du Changsheng also possessed spiritual energy and supernatural power, but it was only at this moment that Ji Yuan’s eyes truly recognized who this person was.
“You are… the Heavenly Master Du, appointed by Emperor Yuan De?”
Hu Yun jumped over from the bow of the ship, looking at Du Changsheng with amazement. Du Changsheng’s face was all scrunched up with wrinkles but he didn’t move at all. Hu Yun stretched out his paw and pressed Du Changsheng’s face with his paw pad. He found that it did not resemble human flesh at all. Instead, it was like stacked layers of old cowhide, hard and unyielding.
“Mr. Ji, how did you do that? Why can’t he move?”
Bai Qi, standing beside him, was equally astonished; like Hu Yun, this was the first time he had ever seen a technique that could completely immobilize someone.
- I considered translating this as “telekinesis,” but that seems really out of place
Like Loading…