Seeking the Flying Sword Path

"To deal with Elder Yellowbeard, it is imperative to get Hou Yi"s help." Qin Yun came to the front of a secluded wooden hut. At a glance, he saw the fis.h.i.+ng Hou Yi.

"Haha, Brother Qin Yun, you only have a few decades left to your tribulation; yet, you still remember to visit an old friend." Hou Yi lowered his fis.h.i.+ng rod and got up to welcome him. Although Hou Yi was quite a loner, he had gone through thick and thin with Qin Yun.

Qin Yun smiled and said, "I have no other option, so I came to seek your help."

"Seek my help?" Hou Yi smiled. "What help do you need? Feel free to tell me; I"ll do my best."

The duo sat down and Hou Yi rushed to pour some tea for him. "Drink some tea. These were personally plucked by me."

Qin Yun raised the teacup to his mouth and said, "Seeing as we"ve safely returned from our foray into the spatial tide, the Three Realms guesses that we have reaped tremendous rewards."

"Haha, they guessed right! Furthermore, the rewards we reaped are far greater than they can imagine," Hou Yi said rather happily.

"Yeah."

Qin Yun nodded. "However, treasures are a temptation. Many old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are eyeing my treasures. None of them dare to do a thing with me alive and are probably waiting for my death to start with their monkey business. But I never expected that one old b.a.s.t.a.r.d would cause trouble even before I"m dead."

"Who is it?" Hou Yi inquired.

"Elder Yellowbeard," said Qin Yun.

"That old loach?" Hou Yi was enlightened. "That old loach is extremely greedy. He has cooperated with the Fiend Ancestor numerous times. It"s only because of his impressive life preservation methods that the Daoists and Buddhists have not been able to do much to him."

Qin Yun nodded. "This time, he is using the excuse of me killing Chaos G.o.dfiend Yuci to demand compensation from me. He wants a Connate Cardinal treasure."

"What an exorbitant price." Hou Yi scoffed.

"If I do not agree to it, he promises to exterminate my Qin family if I were to perish from the tribulation," Qin Yun said calmly, but his eyes were filled with a ferocity. "In fact, a Connate Cardinal treasure is nothing to me. However, if I were to really agree to it, perhaps even more old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds will appear and there will be no peace left for my Qin family. Before my tribulation, I must settle everything for my family! After all, I"ve offended numerous experts. It"s fine as long as I"m alive, but I would only implicate my family if I perish."

"What do you plan on doing?" Hou Yi looked at Qin Yun.

"My first step is to make an example out of Yellowbeard! He is well known for his life-preservation abilities and he likes to make himself appear front and center, so I"ll kill him first! I"ll let the old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds in the Three Realms see… that even Elder Yellowbeard can be killed. If that"s true, how many of them can withstand my vengeance?"

"Kill Elder Yellowbeard?" Hou Yi frowned. "If we were to fight him in a frontal a.s.sault, his body is inferior even to Daoist Wen"s! However, he was born in the river of time and can slip away by hiding into the river of time. There… no one in the Three Realms can pursue him, much less his nine other avatars. Including his main body, he has a total of ten.

"The nine avatars are of varying strength. It"s said the strongest matches his actual body," said Hou Yi. "Once you take action, his other avatars will definitely hide away into the Tenebrous Fiend Abyss.

"Taking all these aspects in mind, it"s indeed difficult to kill him," Hou Yi said.

"Brother Hou Yi, can you kill his other avatars through karma by killing one body?" Qin Yun inquired.

Hou Yi frowned slightly. "The might delivered through karma will be greatly reduced. To kill his nine avatars… I will have to burn my Essence Soul and release my nine successive arrows. I"m confident only with the sixth or seventh arrow."

When burning his Essence Soul, his first arrow already had the might of the Heavenly Dao realm.

The ninth arrow…

That was strong enough to kill one of Bohan Island Lord"s strongest avatars.

Comparing Elder Yellowbeard to Bohan Island Lord, be it realm or protective means, he was much weaker. However, Qin Yun needed to ensure that all of Yellowbeard"s avatars were killed.

"You are confident, right?" Qin Yun"s eyes lit up.

"Of course, even if his life-preservation abilities exceeds my expectations, the ninth Essence Soul-burning arrow will definitely kill him through karma," said Hou Yi with a smile. "But in that case, I will have to consume a Soul Heart Fruit or enter a slumber."

Qin Yun nodded and said, "If you are really forced to use a Soul Heart Fruit, I"ll make it up to you."

"I estimate the seventh or eighth arrow should be sufficient. The damage can be slowly restored, so there"s no need for a Soul Heart Fruit," said Hou Yi. Although it would take him a long while to recover from his injuries, he could be restored to his peak at any time with the Soul Heart Fruits in his possession; therefore, he was filled with confidence! In the past, Hou Yi would not allow himself to be in a heavily damaged state for a prolonged period of time because he lacked the Soul Heart Fruits.

Qin Yun said, "Brother Hou Yi, I"m willing to pay one Soul Heart Fruit in exchange for your help."

Hou Yi was somewhat enticed.

To Hou Yi, one Soul Heart Fruit implied that he could burn his Essence Soul to deliver nine successive arrows! Therefore, the allure that the Soul Heart Fruits gave him was of a value far greater than what the other perfected Great Dao existences felt.

"A Soul Heart Fruit is more valuable than a Connate Cardinal treasure. Furthermore, I doubt that old loach would need my ninth arrow. I will not take advantage of you," Hou Yi said with a shake of his head.

"Hear me out. I won"t be able to hand you the Soul Heart Fruit for now."

Qin Yun said, "I"m in desperate need of these Soul Heart Fruits before my tribulation. Therefore, I"ll first be using the spatial s.h.i.+elds as a pledge."

With a flip of his hand, the eighteen s.h.i.+elds floated in front of him.

Hou Yi"s eyes lit up. "This is Bohan Island Lord"s defensive treasure."

"If I were to transcend successfully, I"ll naturally use the remaining Soul Heart Fruits to exchange for the spatial s.h.i.+elds," said Qin Yun. "But if I were to perish during the tribulation, I would naturally have expended them all. This s.h.i.+eld will then be yours. Be it the future Qin family or the future Green Touring Palace, they might not be able to hold on to it."

With his master leaving the Three Realms and him failing to transcend the tribulation, all Green Touring Palace would have to support it would be his Eldest Senior Sister.

Her strength…

It was only considered average among the perfected Great Dao existences. Just supporting Green Touring Palace was tough since it had many treasures. Having the additional s.h.i.+elds would only increase her pressure. However, no one would dare have any thoughts about the s.h.i.+elds if they were in Hou Yi"s hands.

"I"ll receive either a Soul Heart Fruit or a defensive cardinal treasure by helping?" Hou Yi shook his head. He was a proud man and was unwilling to take advantage of Qin Yun.

"Apart from helping, I still have another request," said Qin Yun. "If I were to perish from the tribulation, I hope you could do your best to protect my Qin family."

Hou Yi looked at Qin Yun.

He could tell how pleaful Qin Yun"s eyes were.

There was no other way about it.

The thing he could not let go of the most was his family—Xiaoxiao, Yiyi, Meng Huan, Yuluo, and company.

"Qin Yun is such a proud person; yet, he would plead for help on this matter." Hou Yi sighed.

"Brother Qin Yun, I"ll take this defensive cardinal treasure," said Hou Yi. "If you were to fail transcending the tribulation, I"ll definitely do my best to protect your Qin family. Also… after dealing with Elder Yellowbeard, your Qin family has a Fairy Yuluo. She"s likely the most outstanding person among your Qin family"s juniors."

"Yes, she"s my granddaughter," said Qin Yun.

"Let her be my disciple," Hou Yi said. "I will also invite my friends to bear witness!"

Qin Yun"s eyes lit up.

Yuluo would become Hou Yi"s disciple? And he would invite friends to bear witness? If this was done after Yellowbeard was killed, anyone who thought to deal with the Qin family would have to consider again.

"Thanks," said Qin Yun.

"It"s nothing to me." Hou Yi said wistfully. "What I wish for the most is that you successfully transcend the tribulation. After all, there are few in the Three Realms… that I consider a friend."

Qin Yun nodded with a smile. "Right, you haven"t used the Spirit Enlightening Fruit yet, right?"

Hou Yi"s heart stirred and immediately asked, "Not yet. How did it feel when you took it?"

"It immersed me into a state of enlightenment for five hundred years," Qin Yun said. "Indeed, my realm improved tremendously. However, I have to remind you that… you will only gain insight into the acc.u.mulated experience you had in the past during the epiphany. For example, I had been studying the Dao of Yin and Yang previously. Therefore, I managed to figure out the Dao of Supreme Yang and Dao of Supreme Yin after the epiphany! I had also been focused on the Misty Rain Array, so I improved tremendously there as well.

"Without any acc.u.mulated experience, you would not gain any new insights from ingesting the fruit.

"Therefore, the more your acc.u.mulated experience is, the more you reap from the epiphany," said Qin Yun.

Hou Yi"s eyes suffused a glint when he heard that.

Spirit Enlightening Fruits were legends in the spatial tide; therefore, the purported benefits gained from consuming them were vague as described by Palatial Lord Myriad Flower. All they knew was that they would enter a state of epiphany.

Having consumed it, Qin Yun could allow Hou Yi to prepare himself.

"From the looks of it, I should push back my consumption of the Spirit Enlightening Fruit." Hou Yi appeared in thought before saying solemnly, "What you said to me is far more valuable than a Spirit Enlightening Fruit."

"Then when can you take action against Elder Yellowbeard?" asked Qin Yun.

"Anytime." Hou Yi smiled. "I"ll just wait for your plans. However, I won"t be able to find him if he were to hide in the river of time."

"Killing him is the hardest part. The others are nothing," said Qin Yun with a smile. Killing Yellowbeard required a few key elements, and Hou Yi was the most important element.