Chapter 758 - Matriarch
Chapter 758: Matriarch
The Immortal-slaying Whip Truncheon was more than a meter long, with each section distinctly marked. Its wooden shell split open along with Meng Qi’s movement to reveal its golden yellow whip body. 84 Tao seals emerged and emanated innumerable hair-like lights, paralyzing Yang Xizhi in place.
Yang Xizhi had her Fan of Flames and Aves pointing at Meng Qi’s doppelganger and was about to fan it when this happened. Right then, she was completely defenseless. The seals weighed on her as the whip was about to land on the top of her skull.
Just then, the radiance of a fiery beast soared from within her and ignited the seal. Her eyes became a little clearer as white awns burst forth.
The white awns had barely emerged when Meng Qi had a feeling that his Vital Spirit was bound. It was as if all his transformations and flight would be frozen and Yang Xizhi would then use her sword to easily cut off his head.
With such a constraint on his Vital Spirit, Meng Qi could feel his Immortal-slaying Whip Truncheon falling at a much lower speed. It was precisely this drop in speed that allowed Yang Xizhi to forcefully pull her fan away and recklessly fan it without fearing the consequences on herself.
Flames of red, orange, yellow, white, green, and blue hues burst forth from the fan and ignited the Vital Qi in the air. The blaze burned and scorched the void.
“Clatter!”
The Immortal-slaying Whip Truncheon came down and once again extinguished the flames. It struck squarely on the fan before wrapping Yang Xizhi and flinging her away. The white awns disappeared as well.
“Thump!” Yang Xizhi knocked into the roof beam above and sounds of bones cracking and snapping resounded endlessly. It was uncertain just how many bones she had broken.
Most astonishing was the fact that the roof beams, pillars, and ground were intact without the slightest hint of damage!
On the other side, Meng Qi’s doppelganger finally managed to touch the purple bell containing the “Yuan-xin Seal” impartation. He discovered no trap but Gu Heng’s right hand was already falling on him. With a cracking sound, Gu Heng crushed Meng Qi’s doppelganger into smithereens.
Gu Heng had no time to snatch the bell for it was already firmly in Meng Qi’s hands. Meng Qi was about to swing the saber in his right hand at Yang Xizhi, who was badly hurt while her Vital Spirit was in a state of vertigo!
Impatience crossed Gu Heng’s eyes and his body began to expand. His mouth opened to emit a bellow,
“Go to hell!”
The entire Yuan-xin Hall seemed to be contorted amid the roaring noises. Meng Qi felt the weight of several mountains on him and his feet firmly seized the ground. Every movement he made was arduous and his saber traveled at an incredibly sluggish pace, allowing Yang Xizhi to forcefully dodge his attack.
“Thump, thump, thump!” Meng Qi did not try to fight back against a Gu Heng who was so large that he obscured half the sky. He followed suit in expanding in size. His muscles swelled, helping him break free from the binds. Sounds of ropes snapping reverberated in the air.
“Thump!” The palace shook and the ground quaked. Gu Heng took a step forward, lifting his right hand while lowering his left hand. He positioned his palms so they stood parallel to each other before he abruptly turned them, causing the void between the palms to form a dark vortex. The void frantically absorbed the airflow around it, including all sorts of forces and rules. Meng Qi felt the burden on his body lifting and he began to soar toward the vortex uncontrollably.
The blood, flesh, and bones all over his body showed signs of collapsing, resulting in unbearable pain. He could clearly hear sounds of them breaking and snapping.
He opened his Aperture acupoints and the Grand Sun, Golden Crow, Chaotic Hole, Milky Way, and the like materialized in his Interior. Coupled with the Force of Heaven and Earth, they condensed at the tip of Meng Qi’s saber and a dark object in the size of a pinhole took shape. Like Gu Heng’s palms, it also emanated a terrifying suction force. It sucked and tore apart everything in its surroundings.
“Take that!” Meng Qi roared as he thrust Heaven Inflicted Pain at an unimaginable speed and plunged the hall into darkness. It was as if everything in life would soon return to nothingness.
Meng Qi and Gu Heng were helplessly drawn to each other’s suction forces. Soon they collided with one another. Meng Qi’s saber cut straight into the dark vortex!
“Buzz, buzz, buzz…” A drone that made one feel jittery resounded followed by a loud explosion. The aftershock waves swept everything away and flung Yang Xizhi away. Once again, the sounds of bones snapping reverberated.
Meng Qi felt sore all over. There were certain areas where his flesh was ripped apart and where his flesh was reduced into a bloody mess. Gu Heng suffered the same fate. Even so, the Jade Virtual Palace remained unscathed by their battle as if it would not take any damage from their mortal force.
Suddenly, Meng Qi pushed his saber downward and made a semi-arc using the remaining force. His saber left a residual shadow as it dashed past Gu Heng who failed to react in time and Yang Xizhi who had just barely stood firm toward the altar. There, he took in the purple bell.
Without slowing down his footsteps, he knocked the side door open and attempted to fly toward the next hall.
It was what Yang Xizhi saw as soon as she had barely gained a firm footing. Fire blazed in her pupils. Paying no mind to her severe injuries, she bit the tip of her tongue and transformed into a fiery light of rainbow hue. In a flash, she appeared behind Meng Qi. She brandished her sword, which subsequently invoked a rain of specks of fiery stars.
Though Meng Qi was in a much better condition now than he had been in their first encounter, he had nonetheless used a divine weapon and invoked the Chaos Vortex one after the other. He knew he could not last for long. Worried that Gu Heng could catch up with them, Meng Qi continued to flee at a maddening pace. He made a little shift as he simultaneously merged the Yin-Yang Seal and the Immortal Pressing Art.
“Clang, clang, clang!” Yang Xizhi dealt a piercing blow on Meng Qi’s back but she felt like she had struck a block of Chinese Astrology Jin. Her attack nearly failed to go any further after penetrating his Magical Robe of the Diametric Charge.
“Pfft!” Blood sprayed from Meng Qi’s mouth as his body blazed and the flames soared.
His body abruptly increased in speed. In a flash, he managed to shake off Yang Xizhi, rushing into the cloister and disappearing after turning a corner.
Even now, the void in the place where their battle had happened was still warped. Gu Heng’s domain was still extending to reach Meng Qi.
“We let him escape again,” Gu Heng muttered in dismay.
Yang Xizhi answered with a fit of violent coughing that nearly caused her to faint. She immediately fished out an elixir that her Master bestowed on her and consumed it. Several minutes later, her condition was finally stable.
“How many pellets of the Restoration Elixir of Vehemence do we have left?” Gu Heng asked with concern.
“Two. He’s really a piece of work,” Yang Xizhi said, spitting out the words. Even so, she did not appear to be dejected. The corners of her mouth lifted to form a faint smile as she stared at the blood burning at the tip of her sword as well as the bloody flesh spilled on the ground. “We almost succeeded. Even if we can’t kill him the next time we see him, he won’t be able to leave this place alive either.”
Her injuries were now mostly healed. She immediately picked up Meng Qi’s bloody flesh and took out a straw doll. She then smeared the doll with his blood and flesh.
There was a lamp on the straw doll’s head and another one under its feet. The words “Su Ziyuan” were written in blood on the lamp—not “Su Meng” or “Su Mo”. Yang Xizhi had just smeared the blood and flesh on the doll when it rapidly absorbed everything. The doll began to emit a ray of bloody light as it absorbed more and more blood and flesh.
Gu Heng took the straw doll from her and used his left hand to deduce Meng Qi’s whereabouts. Then, he picked up Yang Xizhi as he chased after Meng Qi, giving his Junior Sister time to recover.
They had flown for some time when Yang Xizhi finally recognized the topography of the palace. She muttered, “If this continues, he will arrive in the Dao-yi Hall sooner or later… Let’s find a shortcut and wait for him there.”
Without replying, Gu Heng immediately altered their route. He seemed exceptionally familiar with the Jade Virtual Palace.
…
Meng Qi only had the time to examine his injuries after flying for a long while. He determined them to be mild injuries. In meeting Gu Heng head-on, he had merely suffered reversed quakes and aftershock. Yang Xizhi could not even exert half of her strength due to her severe injuries in her previous ambush. Thus, the other healing elixirs were enough for Meng Qi’s condition in a short time. It was not a good idea to use up or waste the Golden Elixir of Yuxu.
The only problem was that the five sword wounds on Meng Qi’s back were still imbued with remnants of purple-green flames. The fire could ignite anything, including his Vital Spirit and mind!
Fortunately, the fire was just a remnant force. Meng Qi was able to cleanly eliminate the fire after turning into the Grand Sun and Blue-blooded People.
Just then, another hall appeared in front of Meng Qi. The board said “Xu-kong Hall”.
“Where the Xu-kong Seal of the Nine Primeval Seals resides…” Instead of hastily entering the hall, Meng Qi stopped in his tracks and waited for his strength to recover so he could prepare for any danger that awaited behind the doors.
He looked around him and found another path that led to this hall. The path looked as if it was extending from the side door.
Once Meng Qi returned to nearly seventy percent of his usual strength, he pulled a strand of hair from his head and created a doppelganger out of it. Then, he hid the main entity of his body from the world.
His doppelganger opened the doors to the Xu-kong Hall and found indescribable darkness inside. The hall gave an impression that it had layers upon layers of void inside.
He was staring fixedly at the interior of the hall when he uttered an astonished cry. He found the altar to be completely empty; there was no token imbued with “Xu-kong Seal” impartation hovering above it.
“Did someone else get it first?” Meng Qi was not entirely surprised. If King Zhuang of Chu managed to get the Ruyi Sceptre as he pleased, surely there would have been other people who stumbled upon these halls by coincidence in the past “several hundred years”.
“It’s fine as long as the First Three Prints and Dharmakaya-level Primary Instruction are still around!” Meng Qi did not have the luxury of basking in disappointment. He withdrew the doppelganger that was not as quick he was and dashed through the “Xu-kong Hall”. He headed straight for the next hall, once again habitually choosing to turn left.
He flew for a while and safely made his way through several protective spells thanks to his Heavenly Golden Scripture and Eight Nine Mysteries techniques. Then, he finally saw a dreary hall without a concrete shape. The only things that looked clear were its doors and an inscribed board.
“Wu’Ji Hall!”
“The first of the nine seals, the Wu’Ji Seal !” Meng Qi did not allow greed to blind his eyes. Following the proper procedure, he created a doppelganger and sent it to check if anyone was there to ambush him.
“Creak!” His doppelganger pushed the doors that were of black and yellow hues. It was so dark inside that it felt like time had frozen—there seemed to be neither past nor future, not even present.
When his doppelganger stepped into the hall, he immediately flew forward and arrived in front of the altar in just seconds.
“It’s empty!”
“It’s also empty!”
Meng Qi took a deep breath. He could basically imagine what had happened. Someone was likely to have entered from the side door and arrived in the Xu-kong Hall after coming from the Wu’Ji Hall. Perhaps the person had been in such a great rush, or perhaps there was some other reason as to why he did not turn around to take away the “Yuan Xin Seal” as well.
He took two steps forward before rapidly increasing his pace. He did not allow dejection to cloud his judgment and was optimistic that the other seals would still be left!
Just when he was about to jump over the altar, he heard a weak, indistinct sound resounding from within the darkness of the hall. The sound penetrated through years and years of solitude,
“Leave all that had happened in the past; today is yet another new day.”
“From today onward, I’m the Ajati Matriarch!”
Meng Qi was stupefied. Various memories coursed through his mind uncontrollably. “The name Ajati Matriarch implies her birth from “nothingness”. Known as one of the Gods and Buddhas, Immortals and Saints, she’s the mother of all things. She’s the place where all living beings return to and their ultimate destination. Such an endpoint is often “nothingness”. Meanwhile, the “Wu’Ji Seal is the manifestation of “nothingness”… Luo Denomination’s Dharma King and Gu Xiaosang are all experts in the void skill…”
“Which one of the great powers entered the Jade Virtual Palace and obtained ‘Xu-kong Seal’ and ‘Wu-ji Seal’,gaining insight and slashed into the past?”
Knowing he had no time to ponder over it, Meng Qi immediately memorized all these details and then charged out of the side door of the Wu’Ji Hall. He changed his direction and turned toward the Dao-yi Hall. Judging by the fact that the Yuan-xin Seal was untouched, it was likely that the Dao-yi Seal was still around!
“The Seed of All Karma!”