Chapter 752 - The Uncanny Sensation
Chapter 752: The Uncanny Sensation
Meng Qi’s very own the “Trio Combination of Yin and Yang” technique had been greatly refined since he had briefly mastered the Yin-Yang Seal. Even with a few uncertainties in his understanding of the Seal, he had begun to incorporate the essence of the Seal: the manipulation of external energies around him to his advantage, into the technique of his own creation.
The saber trembled as its blade pierced into the domain of the magnetic force field. Meng Qi instantly felt an orgasmic sensation as he could clearly sense and perceive all minute elements of the chaotic pressure and pull of the force field. The magnetic forces would be able to distort and throw Meng Qi’s blow off its intended course and miss its target.
Only this time, Meng Qi’s blade grazed the edges of the force field and distorted their properties, turning Yin into Yang and vice versa. The pressure and pull of the force fields were instantly reversed, repelling Meng Qi’s saber not away from its path; but instead accelerating its motion that it cleaved cleanly through the magnetic force fields and reached before Taoist Chixia in an instant!
Taoist Chixia was not able to react to Meng Qi’s attack. As if astounded by Meng Qi’s blow, he made no move to evade to safety!
The aura of Meng Qi’s blade was nearing him when he suddenly broke into an insidious smile. His body burst into millions of glittering shards and fragments like a broken mirror as Meng Qi felt his saber had missed his quarry, hitting nothing but air!
“A feint! Damn!” Meng Qi was briefly confused but he immediately understood.
The magnetic force fields had not only thrown off the angle of his attack but also affected his sight, hearing and spiritual senses, resulting in his mistaken perception of Taoist Chixia’s actual position. What stood earlier before him was but a mere mirage that perfectly resembled his foe whilst the real body was still invisible!
The Golden Light Arrow that Taoist Chixia fired earlier had also arced before it entered its course to strike at him. This had caused his blunder in divining the position of Taoist Chixia.
The two miscalculations have resulted in this terrible error!
Without time to reconsider his options as the premonitions of his perils swirled turbulently about, the Saber of the Shattered Jade and the Sword of the Mystic Turtle rallied their powers, each forming the silhouette of a golden lotus.
The golden lotus bloomed, spewing a jet of auric blades from the Precious Weapons. With the apertures on his foot released, Meng Qi attuned himself with the energies of the Earth.
However, the golden lotus had yet to completely blossom when another Golden Light Arrow whizzed through the air with blinding speed towards his flank!
Far away in the direction where the arrow had come from, Meng Qi saw the figure of Taoist Chixia, whose face wore the same wicked grin as before.
“Clang!”
The keen arrow of light pierced through the air as it flew with blurring intensity, scattering countless sparkles of flashes as it came. The electricity of the auric arrow arced into the ground, creating a sea of lightning that spread wider and wider.
The arrow obliterated the shields before they fully came into form without losing any of its speed. It deflected the Saber of the Shattered Jade and struck upon the Sword of the Mystic Turtle with two thunderous clanks!
But it was due to the two impacts upon the projectile that Meng Qi found an immensely tricky opening that he could use to shift sideways.
“Boom!” The Arrow hit Meng Qi’s left shoulder squarely, the lightning bolts snapping angrily against the faint golden glow before a huge explosion erupted and a gigantic mushroom cloud with flashes of furious, arcing lightning dancing in its midst.
In the midst of the strong winds, a sword engraved with the hexagonal motifs of a tortoise’s shell, plummeted straight down, sinking its blade deep into a rock.
Meng Qi’s newly-formed left arm had been completely severed with residual charges of electricity crackling faintly at his mangled wound, burning its thews into complete blackness. Anyone else would have been critically wounded by such destructive damage, but Meng Qi had managed to survive the terrifying strike with the help of his Eight Nine Mysteries disciplines.
Suppressing his anxiety, Meng Qi kicked and took to the air, hoping to flee to safety. But a hail of Golden Light Arrows came straight at him, whistling through the air. The salvo of auric arrows did not have the strength of the prior bursts of arrows, but they were unleashed by Taoist Chixia with increased speed and ferocity who had hoped to seal the fate of Meng Qi.
“Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!” Meng Qi tried his best to deflect and evade the hail of arrows raining on him. Despite the dreary jitters, he had maintained his composure the best he could and absorbed all minute details of his surroundings, searching through the storm of death as he finally slithered out with success!
He threw another look at Taoist Chixia, who was still at his prior position, nocking three more Golden Light Arrows on his bow. The smile on his face had faded as he regarded Meng Qi with a chilly glare.
Meng Qi was finally able to reflect on his flight to safety, for he had been merely inches away from Death itself!
Moreover, Taoist Chixia had proved to be a most cunning foe. Most warriors of lesser strength and guile would have unleashed their strongest strike or most potent Secret Treasure when provoked by him. They might have squandered their one and only chance to win or survive the combat against him!
Hardly a fool, Taoist Chixia had expected that Meng Qi would surely have hidden tricks up his sleeves since he dared to openly challenge him when he was of lesser strength and yet had no reinforcements waiting in hiding. By his calculations and the common dispositions of warriors in the World of the Apotheosis, Meng Qi would most likely have a Secret Treasure waiting to be used against him!
“Fortunately, I had earlier expected that this would be a fight to the death!”
Meng Qi extended his limbs and stretched to avoid the arrows as he frantically unleashed a flurry of his prized techniques with his weapons: the Destruction of Stars, the Cleansing Radiance and many others, reducing the rugged terrain around them into flat, barren lands. Fires burned at fallen and broken trees everywhere for tens of miles around them. With his attacks, Meng Qi had intentionally struck at his surroundings while he searched for the origin of the magnetic force fields causing the distortions, hoping it might show him the actual position of Taoist Chixia.
But true warriors of the Grandmaster Realm were hardly easy to handle and Taoist Chixia himself wielded powers greater than that of Meng Qi. Even though the forces of his magnetic force fields were being dispelled, he was able to regenerate the force fields when the tides of white, searing heat waves and the storms of destruction with ferocious lightning bolts swept pass, diverting them off-course. Meng Qi had barely been able to trace any inklings, only to find that the Big Bang and the Trio Combination of Yin and Yang techniques had failed miserably.
Arrow after arrow, Taoist Chixia’s relentless attacks sapped at Meng Qi’s hopes to parry and avoid the sleet of auric arrows falling on him. He began to suffer more and more wounds and bloody gashes for even the golden protection layer had begun failing as parts of his flesh sizzled and burned painfully while some were terribly maimed and grisly. But most distressingly, the Law Phenomenon enchantment was reaching its limit!
Without the Law Phenomenon to help him defeat his foe, Meng Qi would only have the Nature-involving Knack as his single means of fleeing to safety, assuming that Taoist Chixia had no ways of preventing him from using any teleportation devices!
Meng Qi looked grim in the face of his dismal outcome, swinging his saber into the air and unleashed the Chaos Vortex.
Everything around Meng Qi, including the magnetic force fields, began to be drawn towards the blade of his saber. In the midst of the rushing turbulent, the true figure of Taoist Chixia came into Meng Qi’s view. But he could not immediately attack his foe as even his own weapons were affected by the devouring inhalation of the Chaos Vortex he had summoned.
But just when he felt the magnetic forces had been fully drawn into the bottomless abyss of the Vortex, Taoist Chixia once again reconstructed the force fields, restoring the distortions that blinded Meng Qi’s senses as the Taoist once again disappeared!
Moreover, Meng Qi noticed that the ranged offenses of Taoist Chixia were now aimed at containing him and preventing his escape. He, too, had detected that Meng Qi’s Law Phenomenon enchantment was nearing its end!
“There can be no more delays!”
Scenes of what happened earlier replayed swiftly in his mind. He relived through the moments he released the Chaos Vortex and the other techniques upon the areas around him. The skills he used earlier had been able to reveal the actual figure of Taoist Chixia for him to pinpoint his attacks on. But it was also the Chaos Vortex and the other techniques he used that hindered him from exploiting the opportunities that had opened up to him. It would also be futile to continuously bombard an area for that would do little to turn the tide of the battle and the force field of magnetic pressure would be restored when he finished. Everything would still be in a standstill.
Were there really no other ways for him?
But humans have always been creatures of habits, acting according to the most effective and most frequently used methods they are accustomed to. As a practitioner in the skills of martial combat, Meng Qi had trained extensively in the harnessing of his mental faculties to remain calm and think critically even with the rush of adrenaline and anxiety.
And having contemplated his options, Meng Qi realized that there was still a certain degree of possibility for success!
Success by using the methods he was most acquainted with!
He shifted and evaded the Golden Light Arrows, his spirit burning with renewed fervor despite his best efforts to remain calm. He swung the Heaven Inflicted Pain down, conjuring the Chaos Vortex while the Flowing Fire shone with an unstoppable tide of glaring brightness before it collided with his saber, producing a white, searing heatwave that surged forward.
The Destruction of Stars technique yet again!
Centered upon a fixed point, the rays of light were oddly distorted. The tide of searing heat rushed with the force of a raging sea, but it was held between the very point and Meng Qi himself.
“Found you!” Meng Qi exclaimed within himself as he leaped into action with the Saber of the Shattered Jade readied, lunging into the torrents of the Destruction of Stars!
Meng Qi had actually thrown himself into the raging torrent of the Destruction of Stars’ searing heat!
“Boom!”
The roar of the erupting heatwave had only come now as the intense heat singed at Meng Qi’s hair and ripped at his body, the golden protection of the Eight Nine Mysteries dulled even further. Even his Kunlun Taoist Robe could not stand the fierce and powerful flames as it began to fail.
He felt stabs of pain in his eyes and Vital Spirit, impairing his sight whilst he almost fainted from the sheer agony in his mind.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
Meng Qi sped through the air, racing towards his quarry although the mirage of Taoist Chixia was still at the spot he stood before!
With his body mangled grotesquely, Meng Qi now looked hardly like a human. But the torrential heatwave had grown weaker for it was now being driven off-course by the distortion!
Taoist Chixia was just ahead!
Like a depiction of an immortal from the fables, Taoist Chixia stood in the midst of the piercing shafts of light and swirling winds. His bow was ready with a Golden Light Arrow nocked as he glared at Meng Qi with malice yet hemmed with a speck of admiration.
“You might have found me through the tumultuous pandemonium, but still, I have you in my sights as well!”
“Farewell! No, DIE!”
Taoist Chixia eased his fingers and released the Golden Light Arrow. The auric arrow flew through the eddy of churning air like a huge dragon of lightning bolts, disintegrating everything in its path as it rushed towards Meng Qi in a rapid blitz.
However, at this moment, Meng Qi’s body suddenly transformed. A huge, burning orb ascended from where he stood with piercing radiance, its boiling flames cloaked the entire surroundings with a tense atmosphere that even the magnetic fields trembled with fear!
The Golden Light Arrow whistled dangerously as it came. But the heat from Meng Qi’s Dharmic Form distorted the magnetic force fields, throwing the arrow off its course.
“Boom!”
Edges of the Form of the Grand Sun was cleaved away, but still, it burned ferociously.
The Contrivance of the Grand Sun!
With it, Meng Qi reversed the bothersome effects of the magnetic force fields back on to his enemy!
Meng Qi reappeared again, floating in the air as he towered over Taoist Chixia. Meng Qi had lost half of his torso, including the arm that held the Heaven Inflicted Pain. The blade fell from the air towards the ground.
With a cold stare upon his foe, Meng Qi raised the Saber of the Shattered Jade and the Flowing Fire.
Taoist Chixia now turned bitter. A five-colored pebble shot from the folds of his robes, speeding at Meng Qi without being affected by the magnetic forces around them and struck him squarely in the face.
“Bang!” Meng Qi’s head exploded into a burst of flesh and viscera, but a new head swiftly regrew. With the Saber of the Shattered Jade and his Flowing Fire, Meng Qi cast two more techniques, the Big Bang and the Trio Combination of Yin and Yang techniques.
“Meet your maker!”
The glimmers of the auras from his strokes danced brilliantly into a huge dazzling display of lights, piercing through the shields of magnetic forces enveloping Taoist Chixia, threatening to strike upon his true self.
“Boom!” With a huge explosion, Taoist Chixia dispelled the aurae of Meng Qi’s blows charging at him and reappeared in mid-air. There were numerous wounds around his body and his hair was flailing with the swirling winds. The explosion was triggered by detonating his magnetic force fields, injuring himself whilst deflecting the aurae of Meng Qi’s attacks. It was the only way he could survive Meng Qi’s onslaught.
Taoist Chixia now intended to wait for a suitable chance to activate his Secret Treasure so that he could flee to safety. He would wait for Meng Qi’s Law Phenomenon to reach its limit before returning to finish the deed!
Just then, something rose from him, transforming into a flash of light that shot into his nostrils, suffocating him momentarily as his movements paused for a beat.
From the undulations of dazzling lights, a bladed aura shot upwards, splitting the gloom that shrouded Taoist Chixia as he was cleaved into halves.
Taoist Chixia slumped in mid-air, his consciousness fading from him.
The hair on his head lashed with the blowing winds.
A gash appeared on Taoist Chixia’s forehead, extending slowly downwards as his body split into halves and fell from the sky. His remains crash on the rocks of the collapsed mountain, his eyes still open with disbelief and defiance.
The bladed aura slowly faded as Meng Qi descended, his body almost completely crippled with an arm missing and his mind fatigued by the strain and weariness of battle.
“Crack!” His feet sank in the gravel as he landed. He crumbled to his feet and laid down spread-eagle to recover himself, feeling the long-awaited peace and solace like a scholar who had finally discovered enlightenment and inspiration.
“I have won, finally! But it was only due to the schemes I devised that I was able to defeat Taoist Chixia lest I would never be able to kill him! A true grandmaster is really strong indeed!”
Normally, he would have already used the Oceanic Dominion Pearl or the Fiery Core of the Grand Sun to perform the Chaos Vortex technique to draw the magnetic force fields and Taoist Chixia closer to him and overpower him in a melee combat to save himself the hassle. But he had intentionally refrained from using any materials for Divine Weapons in this skirmish to train himself.
In a joyous mood, Meng Qi jeered at himself in jest,
“Victory does not come without its cost indeed. This win was finally attained only when I nearly died myself…”
“I am indeed a frenetic fireball!”
Meng Qi had increased his finesse in using the Immortal Primogenitor Form and his other skills in this battle. Although the control of his skills has yet to reach the levels of a true grandmaster, he had gained a lot in this aspect.
Calm and serene, Meng Qi felt his spiritual senses extraordinarily keen and perceptive.
Suddenly, an uncanny, tingling sensation came to him from afar. Far and high in a domain that no one knows, he could feel the intimidating presence of a large palace.
Its spiritual presence was reaching out to him!
“The Jade Virtual Palace?”
Swiftly as it had come, the sensation instantly disappeared, leaving no trace of its earlier existence. The flesh and sinews of Meng Qi’s body squirmed and shook and another new arm grew. He thought back to the visions he had just experienced with a frown. “Did the vision come due to my use of the Immortal Primogenitor Form, or was it because I was near the brink of death?”
Meng Qi studied his surroundings, eager to first retrieve the belongings of the late Taoist Chixia.
He had not profited from the coup nor had he desired any benefits from the followers of the Mohism that he had delivered. The boon from the revolution would be best left in their hands for the good of the State of Chen. The items of Taoist Chixia would suffice!
An aura of rage and wrath thundered in the caverns of the Golden Light Cave that bordered on substance.
One of their grandmasters had fallen!
King Zhuang of Chu’s fingers wiggled as he tried to divine the identity of the perpetrator, finding nothing but an obscured gloom of darkness!
With the Space Ring in his hands, Meng Qi retrieved the longbow Taoist Chixia used. Grinning widely at his bounty despite being badly wounded, Meng Qi turned and left briskly.
The “Charm of Inversing Mysteries” that Master Chonghe had given him was still a year away from its expiration!