Heavenly Dao Engine

Chapter 117: Chapter 0127: Hunting and Counter-Hunting

Chapter 117 -0127: Hunting and Counter-Hunting

Li Xue and the others had already prepared breakfast. When Qi Tian went over to eat, he saw that everyone was looking at him with admiration.

Like Qi Tian, Wang Haiyan, Li Xue and the others had all had to unblock one meridian after another during the Qi Cultivation Period to increase their strength. They were well aware of the pain involved in unblocking the meridians. Compared to the pain Qi Tian endured, what they experienced was no more than a mild breeze or a light rain on their faces, hardly worth mentioning.

They believed that people who work hard deserve praise, and for people like Qi Tian who had strength and yet didn’t give up on hard work, no amount of praise would be excessive.

Not only them, even Zhao Qian and Huang Liuyan, who had witnessed how Qi Tian reopened his meridians the night before, thought that Qi Tian was rather impressive. The pain of unblocking a meridian was something no person could bear. Even they had to rest for a long time after unblocking each meridian, from a few days to several months. It was only when they were no longer so afraid and had prepared to set out again, that they would attempt to unblock the next meridian. Qi Tian, however, had unblocked one meridian the day before, and then tried to unblock the next one the following night, such perseverance was unheard-of.

Qi Tian didn’t care about the others’ attention. He had his own future plans. For his future, he was willing to exert his utmost effort. As for what others thought, he didn’t really mind.

After everyone had finished eating, Zhao Qian specifically asked them to rest for another hour. Then, seeing that Qi Tian looked calm and had fully recovered, she allowed everyone to set out.

After having traveled over a dozen miles, Qi Tian and the others started running into cultivators frequently. There were both indigenous cultivators at the Lianying Realm and cultivators from the Imperial Master Mansion. Each group was made up of a number of people, few in number of three or five and many in tens. They crisscrossed and interwove with each other, and upon encountering each other, they would be on guard, but no one initiated a fight.

Seeing this, Qi Tian frowned. The situation was not good. Normally, this situation should not happen, but it was happening. This could only mean that the indigenous cultivators had great ambitions, and the situation was quite unfavorable for the cultivators from the Imperial Master Mansion.

If the situation were advantageous for the cultivators from the Imperial Master Mansion, those who were eager to return to their safe house would certainly not allow the indigenous cultivators to gather together. Upon encountering each group of indigenous cultivators, they would try to exterminate them.

On the other hand, the presence of indigenous cultivators with the cultivators from the Imperial Master Mansion indicated that, on the one hand, they were on their home ground, and on the other hand, they must have gained an overwhelming, or at least leading, advantage here. That was why they were fearless. They did not take action at present, probably because they intended to wipe out all the cultivators from the Imperial Master Mansion who were in the Lianying Realm.

Qi Tian returned to the group and shared his judgment with Zhao Qian and Huang Liuyan. Huang Liuyan didn’t react at all, while Zhao Qian looked particularly serious. She asked, “I’ve been thinking the same. Qi Tian, do you have any good solutions?”

Qi Tian shook his head and said, “If it were one on one, I might think of a solution. But when it comes to a fight that involves Great Zhao cultivators and the Lianying Realm, what can I, a cultivator in the Qi Cultivation Period, do?”

Even the most ingenious wife can’t cook without rice. If this were happening in Great Zhao, in a situation like this, they could ask the master of the Imperial Master Mansion, Xiao Xiaowu, a Gold Core Stage powerhouse, for help. With his power alone, he could completely wipe out the Lianying Realm. However, the situation here was special. Not to mention Xiao Xiaowu, even those at Foundation Establishment Stage couldn’t come.

Without high-end combat power and numerical advantage, no matter how smart Qi Tian was, it would be useless.

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Huang Liuyan spoke, “Now, we can only take one step at a time. However, I believe Brother Xiao won’t give up on you easily. He must be doing something.”

“That’s the only way. Qi Tian, please ask Wang Haiyan to come back. Given the current situation, there’s no point in splitting up. We are better off staying together. In this way, we can cover each other and avoid being singled out and secretly attacked.” Zhao Qian said.

Qi Tian nodded, then rode the Golden Flur Tiger to the front of the group to find Wang Haiyan. As expected, just like Zhao Qian had predicted, Wang Haiyan was surrounded by several indigenous cultivators. Unlike the peaceful scene where the indigenous cultivators and the Imperial Master Mansion cultivators mingled without incident, the indigenous cultivators surrounding Wang Haiyan were quite aggressive. Even though there was a small team from the Imperial Master Mansion nearby, they showed no intention of letting Wang Haiyan go. They held spirit military with activated runes in their hands, grinning maliciously at Wang Haiyan as if she was a helpless lamb.

“What are you up to? Back off now.” Qi Tian urged Hu Niu to leap. Hu Niu jumped effortlessly from the head top of an indigenous cultivator who was surrounding Wang Haiyan into the circle. Then, Qi Tian stood shoulder to shoulder with Wang Haiyan, scolding the indigenous cultivators angrily.

“Heh heh, another one here for the death. Brothers, let’s get to work. This newcomer is only at Qi Cultivating Stage 4, we don’t necessarily need to kill him, but that Golden Flur Tiger under him is just too appealing, we can’t let him go. Everyone move quickly, otherwise, if others snatch him away, we’ll end up with nothing.” A native cultivator shouted.

Qi Tian knew that there was no point in reasoning with these native cultivators at this time, he sternly said: “Wang, take action.”

There were five native cultivators encircling them, all of whom were cultivators at Qi Cultivation 7th or 8th Level. Their strength was not low, and their division of labor was very clear. Two of them held spiritual whips and aimed at Hu Niu and the Red-eyed Magic Wolf’s legs. As long as they whipped the legs of the mounts, they could entangle and knock them down, forcing the riders off, and then they could deal with them at will.

Qi Tian held the Demon-Banishing Stick and struck at the native cultivator who was aiming a whip at Hu Niu. Another cultivator rushed up, his weapon was also a stick, shorter than the Demon-Banishing Stick but thicker, and its grade was roughly the same as the Demon-Banishing Stick, both were top-grade earth-tier spiritual tools.

Qi Tian’s Demon-Banishing Stick fell down from top to bottom, and the man’s spiritual stick was held above his head. According to his idea, he should have easily blocked the Demon-Banishing Stick, but when the Demon-Banishing Stick fell and hit his spiritual stick, he felt as though a ten-thousand-pound force was pressing down on him, like the momentum of Mount Tai. With a crack, his arms holding the spiritual stick were directly broken, a heat in his chest, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

There were many native cultivators everywhere, but Qi Tian didn’t take the man’s life. Instead, he used the Demon-Banishing Stick to fling the impaired native cultivator away, then Qi Tian struck the third stick once again at the native cultivator who was whipping at Hu Niu.

Another native cultivator came charging. He held a shield etched with a dozen runes in his hand. When the runes were activated, they formed a big turtle that moved around the surface of the shield. At the same time, another native cultivator stepped forward to attack Qi Tian. As for the native cultivator who was whipping, he changed his direction of attack and teamed up with another whip-wielding comrade to attack Wang Haiyan.

Qi Tian’s eyes flashed. He feinted a strike at the native cultivator holding the shield with the Demon-Banishing Stick, then suddenly changed direction midway, sweeping towards the native cultivator who was closing in to attack him. The latter was charging too close, and it was too late to retreat. He hurriedly activated the defense runes on his inner armor and changed the direction of his Spirit Saber to hack at the incoming Demon-Banishing Stick.

With a bang, the force on the Demon-Banishing Stick sent the native cultivator flying with his sword.

Qi Tian didn’t stop there as he hit the native cultivator who was holding the shield with the Demon-Banishing Stick. The Demon-Banishing Stick, carrying the weight of ten thousand pounds, heavily fell on the shield and instantly shattered the turtle formed by the runes into pieces. The native cultivator was also forced out a mouthful of blood and quickly backed away in fear.

“Retreat, everybody retreat.” The native cultivator holding the shield, who was the leader of the group, barked the order to retreat after realizing they had seriously underestimated Qi Tian’s fighting power.

The two who were skilled with the whip had already pushed Wang Haiyan into a desperate situation. With a little more time, they could finish her off. Hearing the boss ordering them to retreat, they were somewhat unwilling, yet they dared not defy the boss’s orders. They resentfully glanced at Wang Haiyan and reluctantly retreated.

Qi Tian didn’t take the opportunity to chase them down. Now, there was a delicate balance between the native cultivators and the Imperial Master Mansion Cultivators. A small-scale commotion was nothing, but if they really killed someone and attracted more native cultivators, it would be troublesome. How many nails could Qi Tian drive even if he were made of iron?

“Brother Wang, let’s go,” Qi Tian said.

Wang Haiyan was still in shock. If it weren’t for Qi Tian’s timely arrival and rescue, he might already be dead. These native cultivators were too cunning. They specifically targeted the late-stage Qi Cultivation practitioners who were alone. They knew very well that if they killed more Imperial Master Mansion Cultivators at stages 7, 8, and 9 of Qi Cultivation, then none of them would be able to leave their Lianying Realm.

Not far from where they had retreated, Qi Tian and the others met up with their reinforcements of Zhao Qian, Huang Liuyan, and others.

“Qi Tian, what just happened?” Zhao Qian asked.

Wang Haiyan briefly explained the situation. Upon hearing this, Zhao Qian and the others’ expressions became extremely grave. The situation was more serious than they originally thought. It seemed that the native cultivators really intended to wipe them all out. It was just that there might be some factors restraining them, so they had not launched a full-scale attack yet.