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“Mu Yi?” Qian Butong said.
He had never heard of him which was shocking. Yet as soon as he saw Mu Yi"s real face, he looked even more surprised. When he saw Mu Yi"s hair and the Bamboo Tree of Life, he came to a realization.
“Mu Yi, Mu Yi the evil Taoist priest?” said Qian Butong slowly.
Mu Yi was neither the strongest nor the most famous cultivator in the world. He was just starting to gain fame in Henan. Not everybody cared about the Yellow River"s ancient road. Many people didn"t even believe in such legends.
Some people were more focused on national or even international affairs. Mu Yi had done small things when compared to other people. People would definitely forget about small things after some time had pa.s.sed. Mu Yi only needed a few people to pay attention to him though.
Qian Butong was one of those few people it seemed. He knew about the evil Taoist priest who had a key to the Yellow River"s ancient road. He knew he had arrived in Cangzhou and was young, less than twenty years old.
He was so young but he was already a cultivator. Even though he wasn"t a first-cla.s.s cultivator, his accomplishments were still incredible. It was just a guess but Qian Butong felt he was right. Qian Buyong hadn"t guessed who Mu Yi was because he was just an ordinary man. He didn"t have access to such information.
“Evil Taoist priest? I don"t really like that name,” said Mu Yi smiling.
Qian Butong looked startled. He wasn"t worried about Mu Yi being young or having underestimated him. He was surprised the legends were true. Mu Yi was really young and he didn"t look domineering at all.
“It"s just a name. If you don"t like it, you can change it. However, a lost life cannot be replaced,” said Qian Butong as a warning.
Unfortunately, Mu Yi couldn"t leave just because of that. He didn"t really care about the secret of the imperial jade seal. The key to the Yellow River"s ancient road was already a source of trouble for him. He didn"t need more troublesome items.
He hadn"t forgotten his reason for coming to Cangzhou. He needed to go to the Tingyu Building to search for answers. He had to hurry and bring the imperial jade seal back to save Mister Mo first.
“How can we know if we don"t try?” said Mu Yi.
“Alright, before we fight, I have a question. I don"t know if you"re willing to tell answer me, Master Mu?” Qian Butong said.
“You want to ask how I knew that you had the imperial jade seal?” said Mu Yi straightforwardly.
“Indeed. I was extremely discreet. I left no clues. You just arrived in Cangzhou. How do you know I have it?” asked Qian Butong.
“Someone told me,” said Mu Yi.
“Who?” asked Qian Butong.
“If I told you, would you believe me?” said Mu Yi. Even though he really wanted to know who the mysterious man was, he hadn"t been able to find out anything. Maybe it was a good opportunity to learn something about him.
“I would believe you,” said Qian Butong nodding. “But…”
He raised his hand and black smoke appeared. It was an attack aimed at Mu Yi. They were talking civilly but Mu Yi hadn"t relaxed at all during the conversation. He thought about Mister Mo and the evil Qi in his body. It wasn"t something that was easy to get rid of.
Mu Yi was now sure that the one who had stolen the imperial jade seal from Mister Mo and injured him was Qian Butong. It seemed his attacks used evil Qi.
Inner strength wasn"t the only factor that needed to be considered. Someone who controlled a pure and righteous Qi couldn"t be someone who killed innocent and kind people. Just like someone whose Qi was evil couldn"t be a gentleman.
Mu Yi wasn"t surprised that Qian Butong had attacked so suddenly. It would have been surprising if he hadn"t! The black smoke hadn"t even gotten close to Mu Yi but his flesh was already crawling. He raised the Bamboo Tree of Life and pulled out a few evil spirit slaying charms.
White lights collided with the black smoke. The black smoke just dispersed and condensed again. It didn"t stop moving towards Mu Yi. The Bamboo Tree of Life started to s.h.i.+ne. Mu Yi positioned it to block the smoke.
It was as if the black smoke was alive. The bamboo stick held the black smoke back while Mu Yi looked at it. He recognized it as the same evil Qi that had injured Mister Mo. He needed to be careful.
“No matter who sent you here, you"re going to die,” said Qian Butong.
His expression was malicious. He didn"t look like a well-educated scholar anymore. He controlled the black smoke maneuvering it around the Bamboo Tree of Life so it could continue moving towards Mu Yi. Mu Yi didn"t look alarmed. He had other ways of blocking the black smoke.
When Mu Yi saw that Qian Butong was already using his full strength to fight him, he took out the copper lamp and pushed mind strength inside. The copper lamp started to glow. Light surrounded Mu Yi and corroded the black smoke that was approaching him.
The black smoke didn"t disperse completely when the copper lamp light reached it, but a portion of it did.
Qian Butong was stunned. The copper lamp could stop his black smoke. When he saw one tenth of it disappear, he felt sad. He had spent years working on it and creating it. Even though his black smoke couldn"t kill G.o.ds, it was enough to kill ordinary people.
Once people inhaled it, it was difficult to get it out of the body. Then, it slowly absorbed the person"s life force. He usually feed people to the black smoke.
“Strangling Black Dragon!” shouted Qian Butong while executing hand seals.
The black smoke turned into a black dragon that was baring its fangs and brandis.h.i.+ng its claws as it moved towards Mu Yi. When the black smoke turned into a dragon, Mu Yi could feel that it had gotten more powerful. The change reminded him of something.
Xie Zheng had told him about Ten Li Palace"s legend. In the legend, a black dragon had caused trouble and absorbed people. A lion had defeated him and made him leave.
People thought they were saved because a blacksmith had put a gigantic lion statue at the seaport. They also thought that the members of Ten Li Palace were the descendants of the blacksmiths who had created the lion.
Black dragon, iron lion statue, descendants… Even though the legend wasn"t necessarily true, there had to be reasons why it existed.
Maybe Qian Butong was really one of the blacksmith"s descendants. Many years had pa.s.sed since then. Had the lion statue really kept the black dragon away? Couldn"t there be another reason why the black dragon had disappeared?
The black dragon was more powerful than the black smoke. It chomped at the light of the copper lamp bit by bit.
Mu Yi could clearly sense the strength of the black dragon. The light of the copper lamp became unstable. The five thunders charms wasn"t as effective when used inside a room. If it was, Mu Yi would have wanted to see which one was stronger, the black dragon or the lightning dragon.
“Little boy, surrender now. Acknowledge allegiance to me and I won"t kill you,” said Qian Butong.
The black dragon became even more powerful as he spoke.
“You"re the only one who has a big secret in the Qian family. That"s why you don"t want anyone to know who you really are, right?” said Mu Yi.
“Sharp-tongued, are you?” said Qian Butong icily.
Mu Yi just smiled. If Qian Butong was avoiding his question, it meant he had stumbled onto something.
“If I"m not mistaken, you must have studied the evil skills of your ancestor, right? The black dragon and iron lion. Aren"t you afraid that your ancestor will come out of his grave to settle accounts with you?” said Mu Yi straightforwardly.
“Hmph! You know nothing,” said Qian Butong disdainfully.
“Are you the descendant of that evil cultivator?” said Mu Yi provokingly.
“Little boy, it"s useless no matter what you say. The Black Dragon Taoist priest did all kinds of evil deeds in the past. In the end, people joined together to get rid of him. The iron lion was indeed used to suppress the Black Dragon Taoist priest. The Black Dragon Taoist priest died at that time. My ancestor was the Black Dragon Taoist priest"s boy. He hid during the battle and obtained the skills of the Black Dragon Taoist priest. Are you happy now?” said Qian Butong when he finished.
“The story can"t be as simple as that,” said Mu Yi shaking his head.
He only believed parts of Qian Butong"s story. The story about the Black Dragon Taoist priest was probably true, and maybe the iron lion had really suppressed the Black Dragon Taoist priest.
The fact that the ancestor of the Qian family was the Black Dragon Taoist priest"s son probably wasn"t true. So many years had pa.s.sed but the Qian family had the Black Dragon Taoist priest"s skill. That couldn"t be a coincidence but why was Qian Butong the only one in the Qian family who had studied the skill?
He was definitely lying.