Chapter 233 - Utter Confusion
Li Qingshan immediately felt his body tighten. He tried to wriggle, but the chains refused to budge. He knew that he could not break free from a high quality spiritual artifact with his current strength. He would only have a chance if he daemonified.
In the blink of an eye, nine flying swords attacked him from different directions.
Time seemed to slow down. The flying blades spun slowly. Their ear-piercing screeches were stretched into a long, deep note. The sharp blade reflected in his clear eyes, only half an inch away.
Li Qingshan threw himself onto the ground, and the flying blades brushed past his face.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! With great splendor, the flying blades produced a series of flashes above his head.
If they were just hidden weapons, Li Qingshan would have dodged the attack successfully. Unfortunately, they were spiritual artifacts controlled by sixth layer Qi Pract.i.tioners.
The flying blades stopped above Li Qingshan’s head at the same time. The blades swiveled and fell downwards.
Li Qingshan rolled along the ground. Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Flying swords stabbed into the ground where he had just rolled past one after another, throwing him into even greater danger.
He remained extremely calm, while the confusion in his eyes seemed to deepen. Was this the danger that he sensed? Why was she here? And why was he encircled by these people?
He had been sold out, hunted down, coerced, and encircled. All of this should have been very clear, but it seemed to become complicated, like a real mess!
He thought hard, but he never stopped moving. He had already aimed the Whale’s Ingestion of Water at the chains behind him, spurting out Ice Condensate water. With the final bit of Gui Water true qi within the spiritual artifact, he covered the chains in a thick layer of ice.
Li Qingshan drew in his body. By the time the chains had ripped through the ice, he had already broken free. His true qi immediately returned to normal. He forcefully twisted his body and dodged the flying blades by a hair’s breadth again, backing into the hut in a flash.
The hut was not made of regular wood. Although the formation had been destroyed, it was still as tough as steel, offering him temporary shelter.
The Whale’s Ingestion of Water produced a crystal blade. Li Qingshan frowned and yelled out, “Just because you’re Hawkwolf guards, doesn’t mean you can treat other people’s life like they’re worth nothing!”
The man in the scarlet uniform, Wu Gen, was surprised. He never thought there would be a person who could escape from his Python Constrictor chains. He saw the spiritual artifact in Li Qingshan’s hand, and a thought flashed through his head. He raised his hand. “Stop the attacks! Surround him!”
The Hawkwolf guards immediately obeyed the order. They rose up into the air and surrounded the hut.
Only then did Wu Gen say, “We’ve come to capture a surviving member of the White Lotus cult, Qiu Ruiliu. I think you’re one of the surviving members of the White Lotus cult, so how dare you resist capture? You’re just looking to die!”
Li Qingshan had never imagined that priest Qiu would possess a background like that. Now that he thought about it, his speech really did seem like an evil cult luring their followers around.
“Qiu Ruiliu? Are you talking about a skinny daoist priest? He has already been killed by me. Do you have any evidence to say that I’m a follower of the White Lotus cult?”
The Hawkwolf guards all shuddered. Their target was already dead. Was this true?
“You managed to kill the follower of the White Lotus cult just by yourself? I don’t believe it. As for the evidence, we’ll know once we go back and investigate you. Surrender yourself right now, and we’ll keep you alive. Our Hawkwolf Guard will never convict an innocent man. After we investigate you properly, we will obviously let you go!”
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Wu Gen claimed he was not convinced, but he was already slightly convinced inside. He managed to break free from their encirclement. Just that alone was not something a regular Qi Pract.i.tioner could do. If he could take down an enemy like that with wit, then it would be for the best. He wanted to use the authority of the Hawkwolf Guard to frighten him, and once he was captured, he would be at their whim. Wu Gen had already done this plenty of times in the past.
Li Qingshan said, “What a joke. We’re all Qi Pract.i.tioners. Why would we ever place our lives in the hands of others?”
Wu Gen smiled viciously. “Then there’s nothing more to say. Get him!” He refused to believe he could not capture a single person with so many people on his side.
“Wait!”
Wu Gen frowned, and only when he saw it was Qian Rongzhi did he ease up slightly. “Rongzhi, what do you want to say?”
“Sir, don’t we have a Nighthawk nearby? We can just get him to take a look and check. It won’t be good if we get the wrong person,” Qian Rongzhi said with some worry.
Wu Gen frowned heavily. Women would always be women. They were just too soft-hearted. This person was clearly well-off. If he could capture him first and ask about his origins, then he could die as a casualty of the Truth-seeking society if he did not have a particularly powerful background. Wouldn’t that be better? However, he obviously could not say that in front of so many commanders, so he sank into his thoughts.
“Senior brother, Rongzhi is right. We should get to the bottom of this. We have to be sure we don’t capture someone innocent!” said a square-faced young man from beside Qian Rongzhi.
Only then did Wu Gen finally nod. “Alright. Send the signal and summon him here!”
The square-faced young man was the new Black Hawk commander of Jiaping city. He also originated from the Academy of the Hundred Schools, just like Wu Gen, which was why he called him “senior brother”. Compared to the other Black Hawk commanders, he was much younger, so he possessed quite the talent. It would not be too difficult for his cultivation to increase by a few more layers. He would be naturally recalled to the Clear River city after a few years of toughening up outside, promoted to scarlet bronze.
Because of their many years of friendship, Wu Gen obviously respected his opinion much more. Normally, he would not scold him unless there was good reason to.
Before long, a Black Wolf guard emerged from the forest and bowed constantly. “I’m Zhou Pei. Greetings, sirs.”
The square-faced young man asked, “Zhou Pei, do you know this person? Hey big man, come out and see if he knows you!”
Li Qingshan found the voice to be somewhat familiar, but he was unable to recall where he had heard it from. He arrived at the entrance in a flash and looked at the Black Wolf guard. Both of them called out at the same time,
“Zhou Wei!” “Niu Juxia!”
This Zhou Pei happened to be the Qi Pract.i.tioner who did not really like talking beside Han Xiong when he saw him the other day, Zhou Wei. He never thought he was actually a Nighthawk.
A Nighthawk was a hawk that never saw the light of day. It was a special position within the Hawkwolf Guard. They used various different ident.i.ties to infiltrate various organisations so that they could collect information and undergo investigations.
It was possible to construct an information network by bribing people of the jianghu among the world of regular people, but only cultivators could achieve something like constructing a similar network in the cultivation world.
Because this line of work was very tiresome, not only forced to remain undercover but also under constant threat to their lives, everyone was known as “hawks” regardless of their cultivation.
Li Qingshan had only heard a rough introduction regarding it when he joined the Hawkwolf Guard. This was the first time he had seen someone like this.
Zhou Wei, or Zhou Pei, immediately reported everything that had happened in the bookstore and restaurant the other day, proving that Li Qingshan had indeed been fooled here and was not a part of the Truth-seeking society. After saying that, he stood to one side with his head lowered. All he did was glance at Li Qingshan in surprise. He had never thought he would actually be able to destroy the entire Truth-seeking society alone. Priest Qiu had basically fallen to his own sword.
Only then did everyone understand the entire story. They looked at one another, waiting for Wu Gen to make a decision.
The square-faced young man sighed. “Fortunately, Rongzhi warned us, or we would’ve killed the wrong person.”
Qian Rongzhi replied politely and cautiously, “You’re far too kind, commander.”