Book 4: Chapter 99: This Sect Master
Book 4: Chapter 99: This Sect Master
“Alright. Let’s begin!”
When Gu Hai spoke, Mo Yike waved. Cultivators in the distance shot light signals into the sky. Then, countless soldiers immediately activated the ritual array, according to Gu Hai’s request.
Boom!
Suddenly, surging fog appeared in the city.
After eight days of hard work, nearly everyone in the city knew what Gu Hai wanted to do. On this day, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards Gu Hai on the floating island.
Imperial Emperor Xi Yu, the Bat Ancestor, Mister Dongfang, Archduke Xi Kang, Chang Sheng, Chang Ming, Qin Zibai, and the others all stared at Gu Hai.
Gu Hai held a golden Go stone as he looked at the surrounding fog.
The surging fog soared, increasing in volume and quickly covering the entire city.
At Gu Hai’s location, it seemed to form a faintly shining, illusory Go board.
Gu Hai suddenly pressed the golden Go stone on the Go board’s tengen position.
Clack!
A crisp sound seemed to resound.
Then, the entire Major Metropolitan City shook intensely. Gusts instantly kicked up, blowing all the fog in Gu Hai’s direction.
Whoosh!
When the surging fog rushed over, it submerged Gu Hai’s floating island.
Clack!
Just as everyone at the Great Sigh Palace Hall frowned, the sound of a Go stone being placed rang out again.
The thick fog suddenly split into three, moving outwards and forming three towering pillars. The bottom connected to the ground, and the top supported the sky.
Boom!
All the fog in the city gathered into the three towering pillars. The ground beneath the pillars sank while the fog pillars shot up towards the Slaughter Nation’s imperial palace.
At this moment, Imperial Emperor Xi Yu narrowed his eyes, anticipation flashing in them.
The Bat Ancestor, Chang Sheng, and Qin Zibai all appeared excited.
Li Shenji frowned heavily. However, he kept his gaze on the three palaces.
Gongyang Sheng and Long Shenwu narrowed their eyes.
“Will it succeed?” Gongyang Sheng’s tone was full of anticipation.
With anxious eyes, Archduke Xi Kang and Xi Yong continuously cursed Gu Hai to fail in their hearts.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud sound came from the sky.
The image of the Slaughter Nation’s imperial palace suddenly shook.
The Divine Palace did not get affected, but the withered bones in the Civil Palace and the Military Palace jolted. Many even bounced up.
“He succeeded!” Qin Zibai cried out in joy.
Previously, no one could touch that independent world at all.
No one could touch it, much less affect it. Now, the three fog pillars soaring into the sky each charged at one palace. The Civil Palace and the Military Palace shook. Clearly, the fog pillars touched them.
“Connecting the illusory to the material?” Imperial Emperor Xi Yu showed a somewhat warm look on his face with a faint gleam in his eyes.
“Mister Dongfang, did you lie to me?” Archduke Xi Kang’s expression suddenly changed as he looked at Mister Dongfang.
“How could it succeed? The Thirty Line-Pair World Ritual Array? Given Gu Hai’s knowledge, that is impossible!” Mister Dongfang protested with a sullen expression.
“What’s wrong, Mister Dongfang? Don’t you hope that we can get the things in there as early as possible?” Imperial Emperor Xi Yu looked at Mister Dongfang coldly.
“Naturally, I do. I just did not expect this.” Mister Dongfang shook his head.
The Bat Ancestor stared at Gu Hai and revealed a faint, cold smile.
Far in the distance, Li Shenji’s, Long Shenwu’s, and Gongyang Sheng’s breaths suddenly sped up.
Did it succeed? The three of them each looked towards the respective palaces that they were interested in.
“How can it be possible?! How did it succeed?! No! No! No!” Xi Yong suddenly showed a terrified expression.
“Young Archduke, what should we do?” the one-armed guard at the side exclaimed.
“Again!” Gu Hai shouted. Then, he played the Go stone in his hand again.
Clack!
Energy from the ritual array covering the entire city surged over, gathering in the three fog pillars.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three loud reports rang out, and the ground below the fog pillars shuddered. The three fog pillars suddenly created many cracks in the air around the Civil Palace and the Military Palace.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Cracks appeared in the space around the Civil Palace and the Military Palace, as though the walls of the independent world started breaking. Only the Divine Palace remained as firm as before.
“Mister Gu did it!”
“Mister Gu is truly incredible!”
Countless citizens looked towards Gu Hai in shock.
“Mister Gu, will we completely break it if we try again?” Mo Yike said excitedly.
Gu Hai did not continue. Instead, he turned his head to look at Archduke Xi Kang’s residence.
Whoosh!
A flying ship had taken this chance to rush out of the city.
Right now, Major Metropolitan City’s defensive ritual arrays were offline because of the Thirty Line-Pair World Ritual Array. The flying ship had already reached the city walls.
“Oh no! It’s Xi Yong and that one-armed guard. Are they fleeing?” Mo Yike’s expression changed.
Gu Hai’s eyes turned cold. Then, he gently squeezed the golden Go stone in his hand.
Buzz!
A gale blew in the surroundings, and a three-hundred-thirty-meter-tall cloud beast manifested.
“Huh?”
The experts in the surroundings frowned. Why are you manifesting a cloud beast at this moment?
However, no one stopped Gu Hai.
“My son! Run quickly! Hurry!” Archduke Xi Kang roared in a fluster.
Archduke Xi Kang understood that Gu Hai manifested the cloud beast to kill Xi Yong.
On the flying ship, Xi Yong showed a horrified expression as the one-armed guard frantically piloted the flying ship.
The cloud beast slowly took form, eventually becoming a woman in magnificent robes. This woman had a loom before her.
[TL Note: An ancient Chinese hand loom might look like this: https://www.chinasilkmuseum.com/uploadfiles/2018/06/20180621133402163.jpg. Naturally, there are other versions. My guess is that the one in this chapter looks much nicer.]
“This woman cloud beast uses a loom?” In the distance, Long Shenwu felt slightly startled.
Mo Yike appeared confused as well. He had expected Gu Hai to manifest Dugu Qiubai or Zhang Sanfeng. Why did Gu Hai manifest a new person?
Furthermore, this new person is a woman, a gentle woman weaving cloth? What is up with the loom? Is the loom a weapon? What is the situation? What kind of joke is this?
“How charming!” Countless citizens looked at the woman cloud beast in shock.
This woman appeared incredibly charming; everyone found her extraordinary. However, she seemed to be using the loom as a weapon. Was that a joke? Was she going to pick it up and swing it at someone?
Imperial Emperor Xi Yu did not interfere, apparently letting Gu Hai do as he pleased.
Gu Hai understood what Imperial Emperor Xi Yu meant by this. If you are capable enough, do it yourself. If you are not sufficiently capable, then don’t blame others for your failure.
“Oh? Mister Gu does not have to merge with the cloud beast this time?” Qin Zibai felt slightly startled.
When using the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Ritual Array, Gu Hai had to stand on the cloud beast’s head. However, he did not do so this time.
“What a soft and delicate woman!” the Bat Ancestor said with a frown.
“Oh no! Mister Gu, Xi Yong already flew out of the ritual array’s boundaries. He has left the city!” Mo Yike’s expression changed.
In the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Ritual Array, a cloud beast’s actions were constrained to the ritual array. Xi Yong had already escaped. What were they to do?
“Hahaha! Hurry! We already managed to escape! Quickly leave!” the distant Xi Yong cried out excitedly, letting out his bated breath.
Whoosh!
The flying ship sped away from the city.
“Trying to run? Humph!” Gu Hai let out a cold snort. Then, he moved his hand, and that woman cloud beast suddenly pulled a bunch of needles from the loom.
Whoosh!
The woman cloud beast flicked her wrist, and ten slender needles flew out. Each needle had a fine, red thread connected to it.
Whoosh!
The thrown needles turned into ten beams of light shooting out of the city and out of the ritual array.
“What incredible speed!” The expressions of the experts in the city suddenly changed.
“No!” Xi Yong’s expression suddenly changed dramatically.
Both Xi Yong and the one-armed guard took out enchanted treasures and shields to protect themselves.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
The slender needles pierced through all the enchanted treasures and shields and continued towards the two.
“Argh!”
The threads on the needles suddenly went taut.
All at once, the flying ship plunged into a valley, but the needles had stabbed into the two distant people, holding them suspended.
The woman cloud beast gently pulled on the threads.
Whoosh!
Two huge forces instantly yanked the two back, bringing them before Gu Hai in mere moments.
Whoosh!
The two moved so fast that fire from the air friction appeared around them.
Now, everyone saw that the needles pierced through the two’s arms and legs.
Even the one-armed Heavenly Palace Realm guard could not resist these needles at all.
“Gu Hai, don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!” Xi Yong cried out.
“Mister Gu, it was all Xi Yong’s instructions. He was the one who instructed us that day. It has nothing to do with me! Nothing at all!” the one-armed guard yelled in fear.
“I—Gu Hai—never kill the innocent. The two of you tried to assassinate me, and I even let you off, then. However, you refused to learn from your mistakes and tried to assassinate me again. You killed my wife. For that, I refuse to share the same world with you; there is no need to beg anymore,” Gu Hai said.
Everyone in the entire city startled at Gu Hai’s words.
“So, Xi Yong killed Mister Gu’s wife?”
“It serves them right. Mister Gu already spared them once, yet they refused to learn from their mistake.”
“Mister Gu, well done!”
The citizens immediately cheered Gu Hai on.
Archduke Xi Kang shouted in horror, “Gu Hai, what conditions do you have? I agree to anything! Let my son go! Since you pulled him back, it means that there is room for negotiation. Just say it!”
However, Gu Hai took a deep breath and said, “I did not pull him back to negotiate. I want to see them clearly to make sure that I do not kill the wrong person.”
As Gu Hai spoke, the woman cloud beast twirled her finger in a circle.
Bang!
The two people connected to the threads exploded, and a blood mist spread out.
Xi Yong and the one-arm guard exploded, just like that?
The citizens cheered.
Only a few people inhaled sharply. Who is this woman cloud beast? With just her finger? She only moved her finger to manipulate the threads, yet she managed to kill that one-armed Heavenly Palace Realm guard?
“Gu Hai! I’ll have your life for killing my son!” Archduke Xi Kang seemed to have gone crazy, wanting to charge over.
The woman cloud beast looked at Archduke Xi Kang coldly and twitched her finger.
Suddenly, a threaded needle shot towards Archduke Xi Kang. The needle moved extremely fast, arriving in front of his forehead in nearly an instant, then stopped just short of stabbing in.
The crazed Archduke Xi Kang shivered and immediately came to his senses. His hair stood on end as the needle buzzed near his forehead. If not for the woman cloud beast stopping this needle, it would have already killed him.
Gu Hai and the woman cloud beast showed cold gazes, which seemed to say that as long as Archduke Xi Kang charged over again, they would kill him.
“Xi Kang, how audacious!” Imperial Emperor Xi Yu shouted coldly.
Archduke Xi Kang’s expression changed as he withdrew with some lingering fear. However, as he looked at the blood mist in the sky, his eyes filled with boundless hatred.
“What a powerful weaver! Who is she?” Imperial Emperor Xi Yu looked at Gu Hai.
The woman cloud beast appeared slightly upset as she looked at Imperial Emperor Xi Yu coldly. Then, a man’s voice rang out, “This sect master is Dongfang Bubai.”
[TL Note: Dongfang Bubai is another famous character from the Jin Yong novel universe. He is famous for castrating himself to learn a powerful martial art, resulting in him turning feminine. The name Dongfang Bubai means “Dongfang (the east) is invincible.” Here is a Wikipedia entry on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongfang_Bubai.]