Chapter 538 - Future Leader of the Fate-defying Sect (2)
Chapter 538 Future Leader of the Fate-defying Sect (2)
When Li Mu returned to the Desktop Peak, he felt that the atmosphere in the West Sea Sword Sect was different.
The tension before the war had pervaded the air.
The floating fighting ring had been set up, which meant that the 10 duels between the Devil Cult on Mount Shu and the nine major forces of the Decent Alliance were about to take place.
The West Sea Sword Sect was preparing itself for the duels.
As for Li Mu and the other handymen, they were more strictly watched and were not allowed to walk around on the Desktop Peak. Without West Sea Sword Sect’s summons or orders, they must stay in their own rooms. This was almost equivalent to being quarantined.
On the afternoon of that day, some martial arts cultivators and small sects who had come here to watch the show chickened out and left before the battle began. The harshness of the nine major forces made these people feel insulted, so this was also their way of protesting.
“Xiao Duan, you should leave as well.” Ding Yi secretly advised Li Mu.
Li Mu, however, sported a look of enthusiasm and said, “Nah, Brother Ding, it’s the battle between the devil and the decent! After such a long time of foreshadowing, the big play is finally about to be staged, and the climax is around the corner. I have waited so long for this, so I must watch the show till the last moment.”
Ding Yi said earnestly, “But it’s very dangerous. Do you think those people really chose to leave just because they have been treated badly? No, these people in Jianghu are like birds who can foresee the good weather in advance. They’ve smelled the danger and so they left early.”
“Danger?” Li Mu asked, “Is it the danger of being treated as cannon fodder?”
Ding Yi shot a glance at Li Mu, then said, “It’s good that you can think of this, but there may be more dangers other than this…Forget it. Let’s get to the point. I’ve already reserved a seat on the flying shuttle for you. You can leave tonight.”
Li Mu shook his head, saying, “I want to stay and enjoy the fun.”
Then, he asked Ding Yi in return, “Brother Ding, why aren’t you leaving then?”
“As a famous hero in Jianghu, the show here can’t go on without me.” Ding Yi habitually boasted. Then, he looked at Li Mu as if he was going to say something. Yet, he gave it up on second thoughts, and eventually went away, shaking his head.
Li Mu gazed at Ding Yi’s back and felt warm in his heart.
This friend of his, who he had met by chance in the restaurant, liked to brag and had no real skills. He was just a low-level figure in the martial art society on the Bitter Star but was warm-hearted, and many times more righteous and faithful than those so-called nine major forces of Decent Alliance Side that always thought the others were beneath themselves.
Many deemed good-for-nothings were righteous, while most of the well-educated were treacherous.
Before the sun had set, more people had left as expected.
Night fell.
Li Mu was sitting cross-legged in the stone chamber, cultivating the primitive natural qi.
Suddenly, there came the sound of muffled footsteps and breathing from outside.
Li Mu stayed calm as if he didn’t notice.
The door of the stone chamber suddenly banged open, and a figure, as fast as lightning, landed in front of Li Mu in an instant. With a flash of broadsword light, the back of a broadsword swatted on the back of Li Mu’s head.
Li Mu gave a shudder and slumped to the floor.
“Xiao Duan, Xiao Duan?” The figure gently rocked Li Mu back and forth.
The moonlight poured in through the window and lit his face. It was Ding Yi who had doubled back.
Seeing that Li Mu did not respond as though he had completely fallen into a coma, Ding Yi was thoroughly relieved. He took out a thick rope and tied Li Mu up firmly. After that, Ding Yi hoisted him up and walked out of the stone chamber.
Along the way, Ding Yi was very careful, as if he was averting something or someone.
In the moonlight, carrying Li Mu on his shoulder, Ding Yi made his way to a small dock that had been built up recently in the west of the Desktop Peak. There was a small flying shuttle with a cabin, and several people had already boarded the shuttle.
Seeing Ding Yi coming over, one of them asked, “You’ve brought him here?”
“Yes, here he is.” Throwing Li Mu into the shuttle, Ding Yi added, “Just send him to Fengming City.”
“Take off.” That man caught Li Mu, tossed him on the deck, and then urged his assistant to start the flying shuttle.
An arc tore through the sea of clouds as the flying ship sped toward the outskirts of Mount Shu.
Looking at the disappearing flying shuttle, Ding Yi sighed and muttered, “Sorry, bro.”
Then he leaped and flew directly to the foot of the Desktop Peak.
At this moment, Ding Yi, who was at the peak of the Great Master Realm, showed high speed and a wondrous moving method that were completely inconsistent with his cultivation realm. He was peerlessly fast, like a lonely crane. In a flash, he was thousands of meters away. Clearly, he was casting a secret art of flight.
He moved like a bolt of lightning. In the blink of an eye, he had arrived at the foot of the Desktop Peak.
The steep peaks of Mount Shu were inserted into the ground. From a high altitude, they looked like a forest made up of towering trees. The bottom of the peaks were narrow, rugged, dark, and damp. Many parts were never bathed in sunlight and were covered with moss and stinky mud. Looking up, one would only see a fine strip of the sky.
At night, those places were even darker. One couldn’t see his hand in front of him in the hell-like ravine.
Ding Yi came with ease to a small stone forest at the bottom of the Desktop Peak.
This small stone forest seemed to be a product of nature. Or it seemed to be formed after the trees were petrified. The forest appeared to have nothing unusual. Ding Yi entered the forest and strode to a stone column in the middle. He sat cross-legged on it before conjuring a few hand seals. Then, the space elements began to circulate.
All of a sudden, the entire stone forest seemed to have disappeared.
A moment later, rumbling sounds could be heard, and rocks rolled down like rain.
Within a quarter of an hour, the large Desktop Peak was pulled up by more than 100 meters before the growth slowly came to a halt.
Ding Yi was soaked in sweat from head to toe.
A bizarre yet powerful energy was circulating around him, causing him to emit a dark red splendor.
The force of the Great Sage Realm was swirled around Ding Yi, surging.
Needless to say, this was his real power.
After a long while, he slowly let out a sigh of relief.
“Finally I pulled it a little higher. I have to be quick, otherwise, it will be too late. I can’t fall behind others,” Ding Yi said to himself.
As he produced more hand seals, they shot into the surrounding stone pillars of the stone forest. The sound of the rocks moving was heard, as the stone pillars returned to normal, and the entire stone forest slowly reappeared as well.
Ding Yi got up and walked out of the stone forest.
He looked up at the sky and found that the moon was shining.
On the other side, the West Sea Sword Sect on the Desktop Peak must have been thrown into a panic again.
Ding Yi laughed. But just as he was about to leave, his face fell.
When he abruptly looked back, he saw that behind him, in front of the small stone forest, a figure appeared. He was in a scarlet swordsman robe, looking like a flame burning in the darkness. In his eyes, there seemed to be sword light swirling, and bolts of lightning flashing.
“Tan Rushuang, the Top Sword of West Sea?”
Ding Yi’s expression changed dramatically.
The figure that had appeared out of the blue was Tan Rushuang, Head of the West Sea Sword Sect, one of the Three Grand Sword Sects. He was standing quietly in front of the stone forest, blocking Ding Yi’s way back.
“The little mice that have been hiding in our place for so many days turns out to be you?”
Another voice came.
It was Qu Yi, Lord of Cold River City, and Qu Xuening, his son, as well as the disciples of Cold River City.
At the same time, many people hiding in the surrounding shade stepped into the light one after another.
They were experts from the West Sea Sword Sect and Cold River City, who had already laid an ambush in the surroundings.
Ding Yi’s face darkened.
He knew that he had been caught red-handed.
And he must have been spotted a long time ago.
The other party had already set up the trap. The position where Tan Rushuang was standing accurately barred his path of returning to the stone forest. It was clear that they had done so on purpose. The people around him obviously would not give him a chance to escape.
To say the least, Tan Rushuang, the Top Sword of West Sea, and Qu Yi, the Lord of Cold River City, who were both in the Void-breaking Realm, were as strong as thousands of troops.
“How did you find out?” Ding Yi asked, looking at the two experts in the Void-breaking Realm.
He had already been extremely careful with this. And what he used was a secret technique. Logically speaking, he shouldn’t have been noticed, let alone exposed.
“Hehe, the speed at which you absorbed the Precious Qi of Cyan Lotus that day was much faster than others, so I kept an eye on you. Sure enough, I found out that you were secretly plotting something.” Qu Xuening, Young Lord of Cold River City, sneered. “You’ve concealed yourself very well, but unfortunately, you still can’t escape from my eyes.”
Ding Yi heaved a sigh.
He knew that Qu Xuening was a mad dog. Whoever he targeted, he would definitely hunt them down. Nonetheless, Ding Yi never knew that this mad dog actually targeted a small potato like him just because of that little episode…And by accident, he frustrated Ding Yi’s scheme.
Ding Yi felt he was really out of luck.
“Tell me, who on earth are you?” Demanded Tan Rushuang, the Top Sword of West Sea. His voice was like the ringing of a sword, which was hair-raising. Every word he uttered pierced people’s hearts like a sword light.
Ding Yi chuckled a little and then answered, “Me? Ding Yi from Fengming City. Haha. I’m just a nobody in Jianghu.”
“As things have gone to this point, why do you still try to hide your true identity?” Remarked Qu Xuening, Young Lord of Cold River City. “You know the secret of the Desktop Peak, and can control the peak, as well a pull it up. Even if you don’t tell me, I already have a rough idea about who you are.”
“Oh?” Ding Yi said with a sneer, “Then, tell me.”
“Haha. The masses believe that out of the seven main branches of the Devil Cult, three are missing, and there are only four branches left. But is it the case in reality? The ones who have appeared in White Emperor City are the Dragon King Ridge, the Moon Dao Sect, the Sky-overlooking Pavilion, the Water and Moon Sect, the Fairy Tang Sect, and the Li Shan Sect. Two of the three branches which were rumored to be extinct have showed up. The remaining members of the Devil Cult are like flames of vile and are not so easy to be extinguished. Now, the only one who has not turned up is the Fate-defying Sect, which was known as the most mysterious and elusive one back then. Since you’ve racked your brains to make a fuss at the Desktop Peak, who else could you be other than the future leader of the Fate-defying Sect?”
Qu Xuening smiled faintly, a trace of mockery whirling in his eyes.
Ding Yi clapped his hands and exclaimed, “Good point! Correct point! Yes, I am the future leader of the Fate-defying Sect. And I was unlucky to be caught by you. However, if you want to keep me here, I’m afraid that you also have to pay some price. Don’t forget that here is Mount Shu, and we’re at the foot of the Desktop Peak. For hundreds of years, this Desktop Peak has been the base of our Fate-defying Sect.”
He did not look too nervous.
Qu Yi, Lord of Cold River City, who had remained silent, slowly opened his mouth and uttered, “At the foot of the Desktop Peak? Hehe, even if we are in White Emperor City, what can you do to us? Can you really overturn the sky? If the former head of the Fate-defying Sect were to appear here, he would also be doomed, let alone a junior like you.”
This was the charisma of a supreme expert.
Ding Yi was surrounded by a burningly powerful aura. The light as dark as an abyss was swirling around him, making him look like a ghost killer in the dark night. A potent power that he had never shown before was displayed. Ding Yi then stated, “Let’s give it a try.”
He was fearless.
At this time, Qu Xuening suddenly opened his mouth to speak. With a playful attitude, he said, “Since I can find your furtive moves, will you guess whether your friend who has just been sent away can really leave Mount Shu?”
Ding Yi suddenly froze on the spot.
“You sent people to catch Xiao Duan?” He realized that Li Mu, who had been forcibly thrown onto the flying shuttle by him, might be in danger.