One-eyed Dragon was full of confidence and the pride of his was unintentionally shown in his speech and manner. Even his eyes when he looked at Tang Xiu contained some contempt and ridicule.
"Are you sure of it?" said Tang Xiu with a faint smile.
"This old man is certainly sure that those who can stop me in this world are very few, and youāre absolutely not one of them," said One-eyed Dragon proudly. "Itās useless spitting out nonsensical things, kid. If you really have the means to keep this old man in check, how can you wait for me to appear then?"
Tang Xiu gently raised his hand and eight array disks appeared in his hands out of the blue. His body flickered, leaving afterimages behind in succession while he threw the eight array disks out in a flash. His hands danced in the air to inscribe the array diagram in the air as the Eight-Division Dragon Trap Array was successfully arranged in just over a second and completely activated, along with the injection of magical power.
Tang Xiu then returned to his original spot and gently stroked his chin with his finger as he smilingly said, "Now, I wanna see how will you escape. If you can break this array within ten minutes, Iāll spare your life, old blind man, but donāt blame me for being merciless when I erase your soul to never be able to be reincarnated again if you canāt do so."
Array formation?
One-eyed Dragon and the badly scarred Dao Master Poison glanced at each other as they sweat out every pore. They were all cultivators, yet they knew utterly nothing about the array.
Even in regards to alchemy, they only had a rough knowledge of it and were only able to refine very ordinary medicinal pills.
They were literally ignorant about the two skills cultivators should usually excel withāalchemy and pill refining. Among the cultivators they were acquainted with, they knew none that were able to refine medicinal pills or weapons, let alone arrays which possessed mystical and magical effects.
"You... who exactly are you?" Trapped inside the array, One-eyed Dragonās voice penetrated the golden-colored energy shield of the array as he asked aloud with a faint, pale complexion.
"If you want to know who I am, try to break through the array I just temporarily arranged if you have the ability," replied Tang Xiu indifferently. "Of course, there will be more interesting things coming soon even if break through it, though. Shortly put, you can expect to end up very miserable today. And I promise you that it will be very tragic!"
With that said, he straightly ignored them and turned to look at Electrolady and Aquababe who were spacing out. He spoke to them with a smile, "Two ladies, have you been well since our last meeting?"
Aquababeās lips twitched a few times and she replied with a wry smile, "If we knew that you were here, we wouldnāt have been required to come over, Mr. Tang. Besides, we didnāt know that these people were cultivators before we were sent here, and definitely didnāt know about their strength being this terrifying. It can be said that youāve saved us yet again this time."
"Speaking as a matter of fact, we can be said to be colleagues, so itās proper to help each other in the first place." Tang Xiu slightly smiled and said, "If anything, let me do the work here! You can take your leave first if you two have other things to tend to."
"We canāt go back immediately without solving this first, Mr. Tang." Aquababe looked hesitant when she replied, "Besides, I know that you donāt like troublesome matters, so we can wait for you to deal with them and weāll take care of the aftermath."
"Fine then!" Tang Xiu nodded.
From the moment Tang Xiu came here, Electrolady was completely lightheaded. She never thought that Tang Xiu would appear in this place, nor did she expect that he was in a group with that super-handsome guy who made her heartbeat beat faster without endāthe very cause of her being in a complete mess.
As she came back to her senses, Electrolady pointed to Light and asked, "Mr. Tang, is he... your Grand Disciple?"
Tang Xiu glanced at the handsome and spirited, yet elegant and unconventional, Light in his white attire. Then he smiled and replied, "Yeah, heās indeed my Grand Disciple according to the seniority of the generations. Whatās up? Are you interested in my Grand Disciple now?"
Electrolady blushed and her pretty face reddened ear to ear. But she was still able to reply with all seriousness, "Youāre teasing me, Mr. Tang. But heās indeed really good, much to my liking. If you could help me match with him, you would be my benefactor in the future."
"Hahaha..." Tang Xiuās laughter burst aloud, while Light kept shaking his head and was at a loss to either laugh or cry.
"You see, everyone does have a heart for beauty and I know that my Grand Disciple is really satisfactory," said Tang Xiu with a smile. "Itās just, you still need to resolve your male and female issues between you and him, so I wonāt meddle with you guys. Hey, Light! You make this belleās heart a mess, so you must comfort her well, but do remember not to hurt her, alright? Hahaha..."
"Hehehe..."
The air a few meters from Tang Xiu swayed and rippled as Dark, clad in a black robe with elegant flowing black hair, appeared and approached Tang Xiu in a gentle manner. She pulled Tang Xiuās hand and said with a pretty smile, "Youāre right, Grand Master. Itās time for my brother to get a wife and have children. Iām sure he wonāt dare to disobey you taking the role of a matchmaker for him."
"Hey, Dark!" Light angrily shouted.
Tang Xiu glanced at Darkās mask in surprise before he shook his head and couldnāt help but laugh, "Hahaha... you see, Iād like to be a matchmaker for him, but I donāt know what kind of woman he likes. But you, you canāt always live hiding in the dark all the time, Dark. A man should get married upon coming of age and so should a woman. You can tell me secretly if you have someone you like, though."
Darkās eyes spaced out and she angrily retorted, "What are you talking about, Grand Master? I wonāt marry any man unless heās as great as you."
"Hahaha." Tang Xiu couldnāt help but burst into laughter again and said, "There are not many men like me. Even in the Immortal World, a man like me is very rare, you know. Youāre too demanding with that request, you should... slightly lower... the criteria. Hahaha..."
"Pfft... hehe..." Dark was similarly unable to hold her laughter and her body flashed and disappeared into the air.
****
Northward, Qinglin County.
Atop the roof of a more than ten-story high building, Li Gangde and Zhu Hongguo were standing side by side while using their binoculars to observe the sky above Qingcheng Mountain in the distance. They could clearly see the golden energy shield over there, as well as Tang Xiu and the other people above the mountain.
"You know, Captain Li, I used to never believe in the existence of supernatural beings, but now I believe that there are celestial immortals in this world!" Zhu Hongguo sighed and produced a wry smile.
"Yeah. I used to know that there were ability users like Elementalists in the world. These people are already very terrifying, and they are under the jurisdiction of a special department, specializing in dealing with extraordinary special cases in the country. But little did I think that there would also be a kind of people who are even more powerful than them. If Iām not mistaken, these people should be the so-called cultivators in the legendsāthose who walk the path in pursuit of the imaginary and mysterious immortal realm."
"Isnāt that just hearsay?" Zhu Hongguo was surprised. "How on Earth can there be..."
Li Gangde put down his binoculars and pointed northward toward the mountain and argued, "Words alone are no proof, but seeing is believing. You donāt mean that you are not convinced by those people, right?"
Zhu Hongguoās mouth opened before he assented with a nod and forced a wry smile, "Thatās right. I believe it."
"We always missed apprehending the murderer before, but it turns out that heās not an ordinary human at all, but a cultivator who has magical means. But we can be completely relieved with Divine Doctor Tang now handling this problem. I believe our superiors wonāt blame us anymore."
"Yeah! With so many homicides in Qinglin County, I have long realized that I cannot cover it much longer. But who would have thought that thereās a glimmer of hope at our darkest hour. Things took a new turn when our murderer turned out to be that kind of a person, right? If the higher-ups knew about this matter, in all likelihood, they are unlikely to put the crown of neglecting my job on my head and kick me out of my job."
"I think you donāt need to worry about that!" Li Gangde nodded.
"Anyways, Iām actually very grateful toward Divine Doctor Tang, you know," said Zhu Hongguo. "He has saved my life before, and now he acts to catch the villain. If our country can have more celestial immortals like him, weāll probably have a much more peaceful situation."
"You sound like you admire him a lot?" said Li Gangde with a smile.
"You bet it. Itās not only admiration, but worship plus gratitude added with respect," said Zhu Hongguo.
"Hahaha..." Li Gangde laughed loudly for some time and then picked up his telescope again.
****
Above the mountain peak.
The Eight Division Dragon Trap Array was able to continuously absorb the energy from all directions to keep itself operating steadily. It only had a single roleāto trap the enemy inside. At present, Dao Master Poison and One-eyed Dragon had fallen into a frenzy as they launched a barrage of attacks to the energy shield formed by the array. Still, they were unable to break it.
"This is meaningless and wonāt do, One-eyed Dragon. This array can isolate the Heaven and Earth energy, while we are constantly consuming our energy with no way to replenish it. Weāll definitely be spent here if we keep attacking it." Though Dao Master Poisonās injuries were no longer bleeding out, the severe injuries he had gotten made him extremely violent and irascible.
"I know what you said, but I canāt think of any other means except that particular method to break this array," replied One-eyed Dragon bitterly.
"You mean... that Soul Slaying Spike of yours?" Dao Master Poison was shocked.
"Yeah! Itās that cursed item," answered One-eyed Dragon helplessly, "Iāve been sealing it inside my body for years as I try to subdue it; yet, it still refuses me to use it. Supposing that I barely manage to use it once this array is broken, it will no longer be under my control and Iāll lose the chance from then on."
Dao Master Poison was silent for half a minute and said bitterly, "Use it! Even if we lose a treasure, itās better than us being trapped here. If we can escape and get back, Iāll give you my poison dragon."
"That Golden Thread Snake?" asked One-eyed Dragon, surprised.
"This old man spent 180 years breeding and raising this Golden Thread Snake. Although itās hopeless to transform into a Flood Dragon in this life, it has really grown up and I think its strength is not much different with that aquatic dragon."
"Are you serious about this?" asked One-eyed Dragon in a deep voice while narrowing his eyes.
"I mean it, but all the debts I owe you from the past will be written off," said Dao Master Poison.
"No problem."
One-eyed Dragon was definitely happy with the reply. Then, he sat directly in the air with hands placed on his chest. At the moment they were separated and moved upwards, a dense blob of qi slowly took shape above his head as a half-foot-long jet-black spike with countless bizarre runes engraved on it appeared inside the dense blob of qi.
"BREAK!"
One-eyed Dragon floated upward and fiercely waved his hands while controlling the Soul Slaying Spike to blast the golden energy shield. Cracking and explosion sounds were heard as a crack appeared on the golden energy shield before it spread to the surroundings like a spider web. In just a few seconds, the array was thoroughly broken while the eight array disks also exploded.
Buzz...
An aura of energy suddenly surged up from the jet-black Soul Slaying Spike and instantly broke away from the control of One-eyed Dragon.