Chapter 191 : Effective Abacus
Qi Mei froze at first, but then smiled mockingly and lifted her hand. She pointed and said, “You thought I would be scared by something like that? Mixed-Vitality Heavenly Sphere, ram it to pieces!”
However, as she finished her command, the ball instead flew instantly backward. Not only was it not chasing and attacking her opponent, it was actually returning to block her way forward.
Then, she and the magical object appeared to converse.
Qi Mei then roared. “I don’t believe it! You are a magical object created by my master. Why don’t you fight for me? What a big, useless staff. Don’t make me use the Blood Vessel Curse. I must have my revenge!”
While fighting close quarters, her opponent had escaped from her, and she just managed to save her dignity by using the Heavenly Ball. If she retreated now, her dignity would be gone!
The ball swayed briefly when it heard this, and everyone could almost feel its helplessness. It then hurtled straight towards the staff.
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The blue dragon shook his head at this. “I’ve already given you one last chance, but you dare attempt another attack. You brought this upon yourself, and you shall not live!”
As his speech ended, the Mixed-Vitality Heavenly Sphere, extraordinarily swift and quiet, had already crashed into the enormous Gemstone Staff!
As everyone watched, two large, blurry silhouettes appeared in the instant the collision occurred. One was of a proud, unattainable aura, with the impression that it saw all mortals as mere ants and bugs; the other looked sacred and dignified, with the energy of someone who was the most powerful in the universe.
All in all, they could only admire those great beings…
The two silhouettes appeared in the blink of an eye, then disappeared again in another. No one knew how they fought, but only that the collision did not result in the expected thunder-like boom, but an eerie silence. No breeze could be heard, as though all sound in the world has been muted.
After a while, there was eventually a slight cracking sound, so soft, that if the attention of every person present had not already been fully tuned to the fight, it could not be heard.
Everyone concentrated and took a look. The Heavenly Ball was cracked down the middle, still as it hovered in mid-air, no longer possessing its initial sentiency.
As for the Gemstone Staff however, it was still unbelievably large, with not even a slight crack on its surface. The mighty Heavenly Ball, in colliding with it, had damaged itself instead.
Horror finally crept up Qi Mei’s expression. She hadn’t anticipated that the outside world had such powerful magical treasures that even her Grand Master’s own creation, the Mixed-Vitality Heavenly Sphere, was rendered useless!
At this, she turned to flee.
The Gemstone Staff at the beginning, had just hovered in the skies, showing its might. But after its collision with the Heavenly Ball, it appeared to be provoked into anger, making the Ball crack and then, probably sentient, had zoomed towards her of its own accord. That instant was as if Mount Tai itself had wanted to crush her beneath its weight. (TN: Chinese idiom; meaning very strong and powerful.)It was unstoppable.
“Leave her. Recall the Staff!”
The other bangle on Qi Mei’s wrist had suddenly projected a spirit-generated, holographic figure. It was the apparent image of Gu Buwei.
He lifted his hand and pointed. An enormous,, white-jade hand appeared out of nowhere from under the skies to block the Staff.
The Staff took no notice, however. It shot through the middle and continued its assault.
“Pu, pu, pu…”
Many layers of shields appeared one by one on Qi Mei’s body, each one glittering. Every shield had been able to block the innumerable attacks of the blue dragon, but now collapsed with each touch of the Staff!
The figure, watching this, only had time to shake its head. It then phased into her body and, bringing with it a female soul, shot for the skies.
The staff dive toward the earth and crashed with a heavy blow. In that instant, her physical body vaporized in the sacred atmosphere around it, turning into virtually nothing — not even a piece of flesh was left.
What was left, however, were the many treasures she had on her; bangles, necklaces, rings, jade pendants, all floating unharmed.
The people saw the blue dragon first zoom towards the cracked Heavenly Ball. When that disappeared, it zoomed again towards where Qi Mei had formerly lain. The large staff and the rest of the scattered treasures disappeared simultaneously, and transformed into a bolt of lightning, shooting towards where Gu Buwei had gone with a thunderous boom…
The audience watched with amazement. Elder Gui Da exchanged looks with Gui Er. Qiao Zijiang looked at Zhu Hongying silently.
“The Venerable Dragon God has always tried to stop evil as wholly as possible. Oh yes, I also forgot, he still has something impor…” Qiao Zijiang, her words on the tip of her tongue, swallowed them down. She was immediately alert, and spread the word to Leader Ren via the Nets Above Snares Below system.
“This venerable person came from a big tribe in the Upper Realm. Its magical objects are so much stronger than Tian Qing Shan’s.” Elder Gui Da pretended not to have heard, and nodded while saying so. He then became anxious again. “The mind-generated illusory figure which appeared just now was powerful in a way we have never seen. Let’s hope this venerable person’s next moves will work well.”
…….
“Brother, you must avenge me! “Qi Mei’s soul was solid, probably due to her powerful treasure which had protected it. Although her physical body was gone, it looked almost human.
Gu Buwei shook his head and reassured her. “Not another word. I saw everything. You had at least three chances at saving yourself, which you wasted. I thought of trying to advise you to stop, but since the spirit of the Ball cannot, I decided to save my breath and stay fully alert to save your soul from the Celestial Aura. I will not avenge you, but send you back to home base in the mountain and let our teacher decide on any actions.”
Qi Mei was surprised and angry. “The dragon provoked me first. He wanted to chase me away, and prevented me from taking any students!”
Gu Buwei was not moved, but instead gave her advice. “There is no benefit to futile argument. Everything has its constants. Three years ago, it was someone else who had lost. You killed a foreign beast, yet the other side had six people seriously injured, destroying the foundation of Daoism; you gained your dignity, and were happy to return for the punishment of isolation. But this time, you lost, losing all your magical objects, physical body and dignity. You should calm down and return to the mountain to practice hard. Remember this lesson and be careful next time. Just because you lost in something, it doesn’t mean it isn’t a blessing. You may be able to escape any worse incidents in the future.”
Qi Mei’s sadness and anger were hard to placate, her discontent not easily expressed, and she became rude to her own fellow brother. “Blessing?! If you don’t help me, then my sister and her husband will place the blame on you!”
Gu Buwei shook his head, saying, “This time, they’re not the opponents you’ve met before. This man descended from the true dragons of the Upper Realm, with plenty of cards to play. Struggling with him will only tire me out from all the multitasking. The doors of the mountain do not open easily, and I cannot ignore any official engagements for your own personal one. Teacher and his wife probably know not blame me.”
Qi Mei’s tongue was tied for just a moment, and she held her breath. All of a sudden, her soul was shaken, and she turned to fly in another direction. “If you don’t avenge me, I will find someone else! If I am not avenged, I will not return!”
Gu Buwei’s illusory figure raised his hand and pointed, and a large white wall descended to block her way. She broke through it and disappeared into a rainbow beam.
Gu Buwei did not follow. He watched from afar, and when he saw a faint bolt of purple lightning go after her, pinched his fingers together as though to send a message somewhere.
……..
Fang Ning and Anderson looked at the large-screen live display. The purple lightning eventually caught up with the rainbow and swallowed it.
Fang Ning sighed. “It is my first time seeing someone putting his opponent down like this…”
Anderson: “It does not seem surprising given your knowledge in all kinds of souls. It’s just that not everyone does have the power and ability to do so, and thus can only suppress their anger.”
The System told Fang Ning, “Big Billionaire Host, don’t just stand there and make post-viewing comments. I have sent the woman’s soul into solitary confinement, together with all her magical objects. What next?”
Fang Ning said, “Leave her for now. It depends on the development of the situation. Go and finish the Legendary interspatial Equipment, and I’ll have a look at the system notifications. There are some things in the fight just now that I don’t really understand, and Anderson doesn’t know your abilities.”
The System: “Oh, right. I shall use up a million Experience Points. It should be ready in another half day.”
Fang Ning, relieved, went to have a look at the system notifications.
He skipped through the details from the fight which he has already known, and just had a closer look at the important points.
[The System has used up 5 Aggro Bars to use “The Dragon’s Roar through The Nine Heavens”.]
[The System’s prison has prisoners with far stronger powers than the host, and all are producing extremely high levels of Aggro. All reserves Aggro Bars are fully replenished…]
[The restraints on the sentience of the Green Jade Vase have been shaken to pieces.]
[The System has obtained a piece of treasure.]
[The System has used up 1 Morality Bar and 1 Aggro Bar to use the Thunder-affinity Dragon-series martial art tactic “Possession by Thunder and Lightning”. Effect: Extreme increase in speed.]
[The System has dodged Qi Mei’s attack.]
[The System has attacked Qi Mei.]
[…]
[The System has controlled the “Staff of Divine Punishment”.]
[The “Staff of Divine Punishment” is attacked by the magical item “Mixed-Vitality Heavenly Sphere.” of its own accord.]
[“The Head of Tian Qing Shan”, Shang Qingshan’s soul has been destroyed after fighting with the soul of Brahma.]
[The Mixed-Vitality Heavenly Sphere is severely damaged.]
[The soul of Brahma has received serious trauma and is angered, sending the Staff to voluntarily attack Qi Mei.]
[…]
[The System has controlled the power of the Staff, and Qi Mei’s physical body has been destroyed, her soul having escaped and her treasures scattered.]
[The System has obtained 43 treasure items…]
[The System has captured the “Mixed-Vitality Heavenly Sphere”.]
[The System retracts the “Staff of Divine Punishment”.]
[…]
[The System has used up the remaining 31 Morality Bars, 18 Aggro Bars, to use the Thunder-attribute Dragon Series martial art tactic “The Sudden Appearance of Thunder and Lightning”, added advantageous effect: attaining the speed of thunder and lightning. This effect will last for 10 minutes.]
[The System is pursuing Qi Mei’s soul with attacks.]
[The System has captured Qi Mei’s soul and confined it in in the isolation cells.]
…
The Truth Department Headquarters.
Ren Ruofeng and Gu Buwei, having fixed the prices for almost every material, were about to discuss the price of the magical items. Ren, However, noticed the shaken look on the other’s face, and chose to remain silent for some time.
Puzzled, he stealthily used his own mind to access the Nets Above Snares Below system, and soon got a responding message; He was using a very thin mind wave beam to remotely control some sort of magical object.
This is the Truth Department Headquarters, where the central point of the Nets Above Snares Below system was located. If they weren’t in this building already, it would be undiscoverable.
It was then that Ren Ruofeng realized that the other was much more practiced than he was. The age stated in his file was not even forty, and it was true, no more false than he himself.
Azure Mountain really blessed is a land of milk and honey. (TN: Original text: Blessed with the land and the sky. Literal meaning; means that it was blessed with good luck and fortune) He compared it to his own inherited place, which seemed devoid of prosperity all of a sudden.
After a while, Gu Buwei, expression heavy, looked at Ren Ruofeng without speaking for a while.
By then, Ren Ruofeng had received the message from Qiao Zijiang and had an inkling as to what was going on, so he understood the man’s expression.
He feigned ignorance and asked, “What happened? Is your fellow sister causing trouble again? Sigh, I don’t mean to be nosy, but it’s just that with her character, she causes a lot of trouble. She shouldn’t have been allowed away from the mountain. Thank God no one was harmed in the incident 3 years ago. It was hard for us to keep everything hushed up. This time, I don’t think we can help.”
Gu Buwei shook his head, saying lightly, “One favor for another is quite fair. I have spread the news back to Azure Mountain and Teacher said that her leaving the mountain would inevitably result in incidents, but her soul is free. I don’t have to be mixed up in this anymore, so I can concentrate on any official assignments.”
Ren Ruofeng nodded, even though he thought that according to Qiao Zijiang, Qi Mei had definitely, like Maram before, been confined into the Draconic Penitentiary. Had her Teacher already predicted this? If so, that was almost too terrifying to contemplate, since someone could actually have the skill of Divination.
Well, the master probably wanted to let his student go through a hard challenge in order to change her temper and attitude before rescuing her. He himself could never do this; to use another’s actions to train his own students. This abacus was calculated well, but it being effective was another matter.