The Rare Treasures Conference had come to a tragic ending. In all thirteen Immortal Dao Sects, except for the Heaven Breaking Sword Sect and Green Spirit Sect, funerals were being held in all the other eleven of them.
Zhang Yi had brought Li Xin, or maybe some other experts who did not show themselves earlier, and brazenly a.s.saulted the event, slapping hard on the face of Great Yan Dynasty and simply swaggering off. If not for Su Qin and Fan Yuqi joining hands and severely wounding Zhang Yi, it would be a total shame to Great Yan Dynasty. However, although Zhang Yi was forced to flee after being wounded, Su Qin too was hurt by Li Xin"s arrow, and suffered an injury well-matched with Zhang Yi. No one had gained the upper hand in this event.
How the Great Yan Dynasty was going to deal with Great Qin Dynasty, the threat that was hanging over their head, had nothing to do with Wu Qi. He was only a Duke of Tianyun who did not own any real power in his hand. Thus, he was focusing all his attention on how he could improve his overall strength and power, and how he could survive through the full-fledged war that was almost certain to happen in the near future.
Zhang Yi and Li Xin had traveled tens of thousands of miles to Ji City, looking for Wu Qi and saying that they wanted to capture him alive, bringing him back to Ying Zheng. It was thus clear that all the people from Great Qin Dynasty were gnas.h.i.+ng their teeth with hatred because of Wu Qi. If he did not prepare some life-saving measures as soon as possible, even those secret caves he built in Meng Mountains could not bring him too much sense of security.
It seemed to him that having all his secret caves built in one single location was far from enough. Wu Qi spent a very long time in pondering, and at last, he decided that he should continue constructing secret caves where he could use to escape from a potential calamity. They should not be built only in Meng Mountains in the west, but also in the mountain ranges in the south, the great ocean in the east, and the snow land in the north, all the remote and desolate places where n.o.body wanted to live.
After sending Princess Zhang Le, who was reluctant to part from him, back to the Imperial Palace, Wu Qi made haste back to Duke Yan Le"s Mansion, then plunged straight into his own abode.
For the sake of that Black Dragon Spirit Ring, Ying Zheng actually sent Zhang Yi, a very important and loyal minister of his, to hunt Wu Qi down in Ji City. Wu Qi could not wait to find out the contents residing in this ring. When he was in Meng Mountains, Wu Qi was too busy to inspect the objects stored in the ring. Thus, he had totally no idea what kind of precious and rare treasures were in it, which made Ying Zheng attach so much of importance to it. In order to seize back this ring, Zhang Yi had traveled over tens of thousands of miles and risked his life sneaking into a very dangerous place, a place where dragons and tigers made their habitat, the Ji City. If there were nothing really precious and important in this ring, Wu Qi would be very disappointed.
The Black Dragon Spirit Ring was fas.h.i.+oned in a very appealing design. Its entire body was a tiny black flood dragon that coiled up its body, and the face of the ring was the head of the dragon. On the body of the magnificent looking flood dragon were a total of 360 scales, matched perfectly with the number in a circulatory cycle. Countless tiny runes were engraved on these scales. Using the Mystic Eyes of Universe Wu Qi tried reading the runes, and to his shock, he found out that they actually formed a formation that had an awe-inspiring defensive strength.
It was not a mere defensive formation, but a formation that required no control, no supply of energy stones, and could absorb the natural energies by itself to resupply its own energy. It activated by itself to protect its owner when there was a danger. This was the function that only an upper-grade Spirit Item could have! Just by the discovery of this formation, Wu Qi was struck with great joy and hardly could keep his mouth closed. It was an upper-grade Spirit Item that could protect the owner automatically, and its value needed no mention at all!
If not because Ying Zheng was nearly defeated by Wanying Dragon King that day, which made the Black Dragon Spirit Ring be activated by itself to protect him and cause the energies stored in the ring to be depleted completely, Wu Qi would not be able to steal it so easily from Ying Zheng"s hand.
Wu Qi proudly wore the ring on his middle finger; it was a perfect fit. He nodded satisfyingly, then sent out his divine sense into the ring. Right at the very moment when the divine sense penetrated into the ring, Wu Qi"s vision instantly went black. It was as if he had arrived above a boundless ocean, and there was an enormous black divine dragon hovering before him, its body stretching hundreds of thousands of mile long. The divine dragon then opened its mouth widely, roaring and cursing arrogantly at him, "Who is this little kid? How dare you invade my territory? Get the h.e.l.l out of here! Get out!"
Countless lightning bolts streaked whistling down from above, smiting and shattering Wu Qi"s divine sense into pieces. A jet of hot blood sprayed out from his nostrils, as he retracted his divine sense clumsily, panting and lying back on his soft bed. "d.a.m.n it! Why is the Item Spirit of this thing so strong? This ring is just an upper-grade Spirit Item, yet the grade of its Item Spirit is far greater than the ring itself! Could that mean the original grade of this ring was far greater than upper-grade Spirit Item, but was downgraded after being wounded by someone?"
He hefted the Black Dragon Spirit Ring in his hand. Without hesitation, Wu Qi shot out the silver lotus and tossed the ring into its stamen. Immediately, the thumb-sized, one foot and two inches long Divine Flame of Order rolled right up to the ring, began burning it and made the ring produce hissing noises. Suddenly, a lively tiny black flood dragon emerged from the face of the ring, turning into a one-foot long dragon shadow that kept howling and crying amidst the Divine Flame of Order.
"Go on, keep howling and yelling! n.o.body will come to your rescue even if you lost your voice!" Wu Qi placed both arms on his chest, casting a cold vision at the black flood dragon who kept struggling and twisting madly, while letting out miserable howls ceaselessly. He sneered and said, "Your original master is not here to save you. If you wish to live, be obedient enough to offer me your Prime Nascent Divinity, and let me, master Wu Qi, brand a small token in your Nascent Divinity!"
The black flood dragon kept howling crazily, but did not respond to what Wu Qi said.
Wu Qi frowned, and a flame of anger blazed in his mind. He opened his mouth and sprayed out a stream of Innate Wood energy into the Divine Flame of Order, which immediately made the purple-green flame burn even more ragingly. He looked at the black flood dragon, laughed ferociously and said, "You refuse to obey me? Then I"ll refine you alive! Hehe, I wonder, how much stronger will my soul become once I completely refine the soul of a flood dragon? I bet that will make my cultivation in the Dao of Primordial Talismans take a big step forward. Hehe, once I have you refined, I"ll find the soul of a wild boar and fuse it into this ring. Then, I"ll be able to control the ring!"
Trembling with anger, the black flood dragon roared furiously, "This Spirit Ring of Black Dragon is crafted using my true form, and yet you"re going to replace my Prime Soul, the soul of a divine dragon, with a wild boar"s soul? You, you b*stard!"
"Either you obey me, or I"ll refine and absorb your soul. It is up to you! Oh right, I happen to own a body strengthening technique that was given to me by a flood dragon. Since you claim yourself as a divine soul, can you help me have a look if it is a complete technique?" Wu Qi roared grumpily at the black flood dragon, then casually waved his hand in the air, unleas.h.i.+ng a light screen beside him. On the light screen were countless twisting characters of Ancient Dragon Clan, the complete body strengthening technique that Wanying Dragon King gave to catfish-flood-dragon, and then was given to Wu Qi by her.
The black flood dragon briefly glanced through the technique, could not help but sneer and said, "Ridiculous! What kind of a dragon clan body strengthening technique is this? This is just a body strengthening technique that is used by mixed-blood flood dragons who haven"t stepped into the realm of Heaven Immortals! Let me tell you, the technique that is cultivated by me is the real body strengthening technique used by the clan of Divine Dragons! But, don"t you wish that I"ll hand you the technique. Even the emperor of Qin Dynasty, Ying Zheng, failed to control me. I am just borrowing his Dragon Energies of Heavenly Child to nourish and recover my innate abilities! Don"t try to make me surrender to you!"
"You will not surrender? Well, then you can face your death now!" Seeing that the black flood dragon was so firm on his decision, Wu Qi simply sprayed out even more Innate Wood energies, stimulated the Divine Flame of Order and made it burn stronger and more violently. In just a blink of an eye, seventy percent of the black flood dragon"s body was refined, making it shrink into a three inches long, tiny black flood dragon, twisting and struggling amidst the flame. An enormous amount of pure soul particles splashed out from the flame, shooting in all directions. Without hesitation, Wu Qi exerted the utmost strength and inhaled all the particles into his body.
To Wu Qi"s surprise, the soul of this black flood dragon was at least ten times stronger than Xu Fu"s soul. After absorbing and digesting the power contained in the soul, the strength of his soul skyrocketed again. He had a feeling that his Spiritual Ocean could hardly contain his soul now, and was gradually expanding under the pressure from the stronger soul. The speed of expanding was increasing with every second pa.s.sed, while his divine sense had become stronger at the same time. Vaguely, it showed the trend of taking a physical form.
In term of the strength of his divine sense, Wu Qi was currently comparable to those Earth Immortals at the peak-stage of Nascent Soul realm.
The black flood dragon let out a painful and miserable howl, as he did not expect that Wu Qi was so cruel and mean what he said. He had been working laboriously for over several thousand years, and only then was able to recover a portion of his soul. Yet, seventy percent of it was now absorbed and digested by Wu Qi. He kept howling endlessly, glaring at Wu Qi with hatred and roared, "Little kid, what right of virtue or ability makes you have the guts to control me? I am the divine dragon, the descendant of the Ancient Divine Dragon"s clan. When I was alive, my cultivation base was ranked at the thirty-third tier of Heaven Immortal! You!"
Wu Qi stared at the black flood dragon cruelly and emotionlessly, then sprayed out another mouthful of Innate Wood energy.
Once again, the Divine Flame of Order rose and leaped higher, refining more than half of the remaining soul. At this point in time, the length of the black flood dragon"s soul was just slightly over one inch, and had turned into a nearly transparent black flood dragon, panting and hovering in the Divine Flame of Order while struggling desperately.
Wu Qi grinned hideously and said, "You know what? I hate a fool like you the most, who doesn’t know the difference between life and death, and still wants to so stubborn and reluctant to admit defeat. I"ll give you one last chance: either you will surrender to me with all your heart and soul, let me control your soul and serve me as your master, offering me all your cultivation techniques, or you will become part of my soul, after which I"ll use a soul-searching method on you. That will give me half the chance to find out what I need from your soul!"
The black flood dragon stared at Wu Qi in a daze, then suddenly burst into loud sobs. "Why are you fiercer than Ying Zheng? At least he did show some temperament of an emperor, but you"re just a shameless rascal! You, you..." Finally, the weeping black flood dragon opened up his soul and exposed his Nascent Divinity before Wu Qi.
Wu Qi brutally sent out a thread of divine sense and branded a deep mark on the black dragon"s soul. With that being done, he now had the complete control over the flood dragon"s life. After that, he scolded the dragon and said, "You"re the rascal who needs to be lectured!" He sneered and continued in an indifferent voice, "Ying Zheng was never a kind person, and I, your new master, am not a cruel man as you"ve been thinking. If Ying Zheng had an Innate Divine Flame that can deal with souls, he would also refine you without thinking twice!"
He scornfully gazed at the barely breathing black dragon, shook his head and said, "Temperament of an emperor? That"s a complete bulls.h.i.+t!"
After giving the black dragon a fierce lecture, Wu Qi was too lazy to even ask his name, and had already sent his divine sense into the Black Dragon Spirit Ring.
A ma.s.sive storage s.p.a.ce was revealed before Wu Qi"s eyes. He took a deep breath and was struck dumb in an instant. The storage s.p.a.ce in the ring was incredibly huge. It was so huge that he could hardly breathe properly. The s.p.a.ce measured more than ten miles in its width, length, and height, and according to what he read from Scroll of Stealing, it was a ring that could be cla.s.sified as a lower-grade Immortal Item.
The huge storage s.p.a.ce was fully packed with many things. All sorts of rare and precious herbs, blood essence of demon beasts, Demon Cores, skins, bones, tendons that piled up into small hills, everything was the best in quality.
Among them, the most precious item was placed right in the center of this storage s.p.a.ce. There were three large gold water urns, containing approximately over ten thousands kilogram of flood dragon"s blood essence. They were the ingredient for Ying Zheng to cultivate his Nine Dragons Cauldron Grand Magic. But, as his corporeal body was not strong enough to absorb all the blood essence, they were temporarily stored in this s.p.a.ce. The amount of this blood essence was at least a few times more than what he extorted from catfish-flood-dragon.
He also found various energy stones, but they came in small quant.i.ties. However, seeing all the other precious and rare items he found in the ring, it made Wu Qi feel like a very hungry mouse who had just plunged into a huge granary.
The black dragon murmured under his breath, "Here are all the rare and precious herbs and materials that Ying Zheng and his army found after spending three hundred years in Meng Mountains."
Wu Qi"s hands were s.h.i.+vering. All the precious herbs and materials that Ying Zheng gathered after spending three hundred years in Meng Mountains were all here... That was the fruit of three hundred years hard labor! No wonder they would send Zhang Yi to hunt him down in Ji City!
He was rich! Suddenly, Wu Qi burst out into a loud and hearty laughter!