Wayfarer

Chapter 202: Ku Jiang Strikes

Two months later, by the front of the Vault of Scriptures, Xiao Nanfeng's main body was giving advice to a few disciples about their fist techniques as a group of other disciples watched on. They were chatting about the news that they had learned.

"Senior Brother Xiao, thank goodness we listened to you and didn't head to the draconic palace! Otherwise, we would really have suffered."

"I heard that lots of sects sent delegations into the palace, but only a scant few were able to escape."

"Over these last few months, at least tens of thousands have entered, haven't they?"

The disciples shuddered as they conversed.

Xiao Nanfeng frowned. He was about to enter the draconic palace himself. Was it still so dangerous?

Just then, a deep, resonant toll came from the island.

"This is... the bell of the Ascended division? It only rings when something big has happened. All Ascended disciples have to gather at once!" one disciple exclaimed.

Ku Jiang, hearing the bell, walked out from the hall in which he had been undergoing secluded cultivation.

"Crane, to me!" Ku Jiang commanded.

A crane flew over to serve as Ku Jiang's mount.

"Master!" Xiao Nanfeng rushed over.

"Head to the Ascended peaks at once!"

"Yes, Master!" Xiao Nanfeng replied.

Ku Jiang summoned another crane to serve as Xiao Nanfeng's mount. The master and disciple flew into the air toward the main peak of the Ascended mountain range, where a hall was located. On the plaza before the hall was a giant bell that was tolling loudly. More and more Ascended disciples arrived.

Zhao Yuanjiao and a group of other elders were the first to make it there. Elders from the other three divisions also showed up, curious about the commotion, and countless disciples did as well. The plaza quickly filled up.

Xiao Nanfeng and Ku Jiang walked up to the front of the plaza, where a male cultivator was tolling on the bell at full strength. He was wounded all over and vomiting blood even as he struck the bell. On his shoulders was a sash radiating rainbow light, but it had clearly seen better days. It was pitted with countless holes.

"What's the matter, Elder Chen?" Zhao Yuanjiao asked the cultivator.

"The division leader has been trapped within the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace. He used this Immortal relic that he had just obtained to send me out of the palace to seek assistance. Elders, I beseech you to rescue the division leader at once," Elder Chen shouted.

"An Immortal relic?" The elders' eyes lit up as they looked toward the rainbow sash.

"Assistance? Just what sort of trouble did you encounter? How could the division leader be trapped?" Zhao Yuanjiao gasped.

"Monsters. There are so many monsters within the palace, but Immortal relics as well! All the cultivators have gone crazy for them. Because we obtained one such relic, the monsters started to chase us. Many of us were killed or wounded," Elder Chen replied, shuddering.

"Monsters? Immortal relics?" the elders gasped. Their eyes, however, were expectant.

"Elder Ku, the division leader has been trapped by a group of monsters. He's using his authority as division leader to summon aid. Please help!" Elder Chen held out a token.

Everyone could recognize the token as Zhao Tianheng's personal token that symbolized his authority as division leader.

"Master, the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace is a trap. You can't enter!" Xiao Nanfeng pleaded.

He didn't want his master to take the risk. No one could guarantee their safety within the palace; Immortal relics were well and good, but they meant nothing if you were to lose your life in the process.

Ku Jiang shook his head. "This is the token of the division leader himself, and all disciples of the Ascended division are honorbound to provide assistance. Very well. All Ascended elders who are within the sect and not in secluded cultivation, accompany me to the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace!"

"Understood!" all the elders in the plaza replied.

"Please be careful, Master," Xiao Nanfeng stressed.

Ku Jiang laughed. "You really have been patient, haven't you? Not even stepping outside Taiqing Island once. Those eyeing you from afar must be suffering by now.

"Master, you know about my enemies too?"

"Before I leave, allow me to help you deal with them."

Ku Jiang walked over to a platform by the side of the plaza, retrieved a guqin, and began to play.

Dozens of ghostly blue dragons manifested in the air from the spiritual power of Ku Jiang's guqin. Each was sixty meters long. They keened, releasing a frightening aura like that of a storm.

"What tremendous spiritual power!" the cultivators exclaimed.

As Ku Jiang continued to play, the dragons divided into three groups and shot toward the distant sea.

They smashed into three rocky outcroppings by the horizon, destroying them completely and forming giant, tsunami-like waves.

Dozens of cultivators were sent flying into the air from those islands, many vomiting blood as they clutched their chests. The dragons continued attacking relentlessly, forcing them back.

"Ku Jiang, we've not stepped into Taiqing territory. How dare you launch a sneak attack on us! Are you trying to challenge the Jingang temple?!" a radiant monk in gold thundered.

The roar, accompanied by a titanic wave, hurtled toward Taiqing Island.

"He's a Wingform-realm cultivator!" Zhao Yuanjiao gasped.

"This is Taiqing Island. Do you think I'll allow you to lay an ambush right outside of it? Curb your arrogance!" Ku Jiang commanded.

He began to play more and more quickly. Two ghostly-blue dragons shot toward the radiant monk, sending him flying into the sea. A huge wave formed as he landed.

"Ku Jiang, don't go overboard. Do you think that I, Xu Kong, am an easy target? Draconic Submission!" Golden light exploded from the monk as his palms seemed to magnify by a tremendous amount.

Each of his palms caught a ghostly-blue dragon as he smiled in conceit.

"Explode!" Ku Jiang commanded.

The two dragons exploded right by the monk's side, causing Monk Xu Kong to let out a chilling scream.

Giant waves formed in the sea as Monk Xu Kong was sent flying out, his robes tattered. He spat out a mouthful of blood.

Ku Jiang continued to play, commanding the dragons in the vicinity to attack him.

"Are all of you here to watch the show? Get rid of these dragons! Ku Jiang's doing this on behalf of Xiao Nanfeng. Xiao Nanfeng killed my disciples, as well as yours! Are none of you going to strike but me?" Monk Xu Kong thundered.

Of the dozens of other figures present, two more stepped in. They each forced back a group of dragons before them.

"The rest of you, leave!" one cultivator said.

They held back the dragons long enough for their Spiritsong-realm disciples to escape.

The fight continued in full force. Monk Xu Kong and the other two cultivators continued to suppress the dragons, but they would explode and deal the cultivators a serious injury.

"The other two cultivators are Wingform-realm, too..." Zhao Yuanjiao gasped,

"Three Wingform-realm cultivators, laying an ambush for Xiao Nanfeng? Surely this isn't proportionate!" the elders gasped.

"They're all enemies of Elder Xiao Hongye, and they can sense Xiao Nanfeng's latent potential. They're worried that he'll grow into a threat, so they laid an ambush for him despite the disparity," Zhao Yuanjiao analyzed.

The elders nodded in comprehension.

"Enough is enough," Ku Jiang stated. "Swords, arise!"

Three swords of spiritual power manifested around Ku Jiang's guqin, each a brilliant blue and sixty meters long. They shot toward the three Wingform-realm cultivators, who were busy holding off the ghostly-blue dragons. The swords caught them unaware; they hastily shielded themselves.

However, the swords smashed through their defense and cut off one of their arms each in a spray of blood.

"What? How could your cultivation be so strong?!" Monk Xu Kong gasped.

The three cultivators caught their lopped-off arms and stared in shock at Ku Jiang from afar.

Ku Jiang had won against them one-on-three! Just how strong did he have to be?

"We'd better leave," one of the Wingform-realm cultivators cried out.

"What? We can't. We've been here for months. Are we going to go back with nothing? Even if I can't take down Xiao Nanfeng, I'm going to destroy his Isle of Xiao. We can't let him grow any stronger!" Monk Xu Kong stated.

"Right, destroy his Isle of Xiao first!" another of the cultivators agreed.

The three cultivators shot toward the Isle of Xiao.

"Stubborn fools. Swords, arise!" Ku Jiang commanded again.

The ghostly-blue dragons combined into nine shining swords that chased after the three cultivators, but the three cultivators flew to the Isle of Xiao in no time at all.

"No! All those people on the Isle of Xiao!" Zhao Yuanjiao gasped.

"Break!" the three Wingform-realm cultivators shouted, launching their attacks simultaneously at the Isle of Xiao.

The thick fog surrounding the Isle of Xiao was wholly unequipped to stop three simultaneous Wingform-realm blows. It dissipated in an instant.

The three gigantic palms, each the size of a mountain, smashed into the infrastructure on the Isle of Xiao.

The buildings and houses on the island were crushed. The entire island shook from the force of impact. Rocks and boulders rose into the air, and a windstorm ravaged the island.

"All the people on the Isle of Xiao—!" the Taiqing disciples cried out.

The elders, however, gasped in disbelief. Their eyesight was good enough to see details of the island proper.

"Impossible. There's no one on the island!"

"Aren't there supposed to be a few tens of thousands of people there? Where have they gone?"

The elders cried out in surprise, as did the three Wingform-realm cultivators.

"Where are they?" Monk Xu Kong yelled.

Just then, the nine ghostly swords caught up to them, broke through their defenses, and chopped limbs off their body. Their arms and legs burst into bloody mist.

The three cultivators protected their head and organs as they flew away.

"Xiao Nanfeng, where are your people?!"

"Tens of thousands—how could they all be gone?!" the three cultivators howled as they fled.

All the elders looked toward Xiao Nanfeng in amazement. How had he orchestrated this disappearance? It was almost more impressive than Ku Jiang's three-on-one fight.

"Master, what is the extent of their injuries?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"It'll take months for them to recover. You won't have to worry about them for the time being. Better that I not kill them in plain sight; otherwise, the sects to which they belong might seek revenge on Taiqing Island while I'm gone."

"Thank you, Master." Xiao Nanfeng nodded in gratitude.

"As for you, I'm more surprised that you managed to move away everyone on the island ahead of time," Ku Jiang remarked.

Xiao Nanfeng explained, "The Isle of Xiao isn't a suitable place for them to live any longer, so I've been slowly sending them off in batches."