Chapter 597 Too Fierce
The disciples of the Tianyi Palace searched about but did not find any trace of Guo Yuqing, Zuo Qingqing, and Younger Liu. Reluctantly, they returned empty-handed, which disappointed Feng Zhen very much.
“Master, don’t worry. Those three can’t get out of Star Wind City. Even if I have to search the whole city from top to bottom, I will find them for you.” Mu Shun was very eager to please his master, so he decided to continue the search with his men.
Feng Zhen nodded.
In the previous pursuit, Guo Yuqing and the other two were already spent forces. Now, without Li Mu to protect them, they would not be able to be safe.
“Bring him back.”
Feng Zhen ordered his men to bring Li Mu, who had been captured, back to Tianyi Palace’s branch in Star Wind City.
The day completely broke.
A new day had arrived, but the sky was still overcast.
The air was fresh after the heavy rain, but it was a little cold.
Li Mu was escorted onto the flying shuttle.
The Star Wind City was one of Tianyi Palace’s territories, which they had been governing for thousands of years. The local branch was naturally located in the most important place in the city. It was a complex of palaces floating in the sky. The palaces were as majestic as mountains, which looked spectacular. Below the palaces was a forest and a herb garden, where many kinds of herbs could be found. It was the herb garden of Tianyi Palace, as well as the gathering place of Earthveins. The Spiritual Qi was surging and flowing under the guidance of the special tactical deployment placed on the buildings. It could be said to be the best blessed place in the whole Star Wind City.
The flying shuttle tore through the clouds.
“Take him to the Iron-blood Prison,” Feng Zhen said.
Four cultivators at the peak of the Mortal Realm of the Tianyi Palace escorted Li Mu through many checkpoints and tactical deployments. At last, Li Mu was brought into an underground castle in the branch and locked in a gloomy and dark cell.
Since Feng Zhen had sealed Li Mu’s natural qi cultivation in person and Li Mu was in the shackles specially designed to imprison cultivators in the Soldier Realm, the disciples of the Tianyi Palace were not at all worried that Li Mu might escape. So, after locking Li Mu up, they left without looking back.
The prison was filled with dense Yin energy, and a dark wind was swirling around it.
The walls around Li Mu had been fortified by a special deployment, which made the entire Iron-blooded Prison indestructible.
A mix of a strong rotten odor and the smell of blood was circulating throughout the whole prison, which was extremely pungent.
Li Mu sat quietly on the wet floor of the cell and looked around.
Although his natural qi had been sealed, his eyesight was still sharp and he could see everything in the darkness clearly. This cell was surrounded by stone walls with rough patterns. On one side of the wall, there were black iron railings, which could only allow one person to pa.s.s. Like the walls, every railing contained a certain tactic deployment that was extremely difficult to break. There were white bones on the ground, some of which were still stained with blood, while some were displaying traces of time. Obviously, many creatures had died in the cell over the years.
Through the gaps of the railings, Li Mu could vaguely hear faint screams and wails mixed with the howl of the harsh, bitter wind that were continuously being carried to the stone cell.
That should be the blood-curdling screams of the prisoners being tortured.
Li Mu stood up and tried to move about. With a slight struggle, a tiny crack appeared in the shackles that claimed to be able to trap a strong cultivator in the Soldier Realm.
Li Mu smiled.
The terrifying cultivation of the cultivators in the Soldier Realm was all contained in the natural qi. Once the natural qi was sealed, with the physical strength alone, one would indeed not be able to break free from the shackles. But Li Mu was different. The natural qi cultivation was just part of his combat capability, which could be said to be a small part. His real powerful trump card was in the tough body and physical strength. Both of the natural qi he cultivated first and the primitive natural qi he newly cultivated were means to nourish his body. To drive combat skills was only the secondary function of the qi.
Therefore, to Li Mu, this kind of shackles was as fragile as a piece of paper.
Yet, Li Mu was not in a hurry to get rid of the shackles for escape.
He wanted to observe more.
Because being captured alive was within his expectations. He had even deliberately let himself be caught.
After confirming that the Sword Qi of Feng Zhen could not harm him, Li Mu decided to sneak into the branch of the Tianyi Palace and do something impressive.
Hence, he needed to wait patiently for the right timing.
Li Mu sat cross-legged on the spot and tried to activate the Xiantian Skill. However, as his natural qi was stagnant, he couldn’t run the skill. It could be seen that the method of sealing meridians and cultivation those in the Soldier Realm used was really something. Even so, Li Mu was not discouraged. He continued to try to break through the barrier in the cell again and again. The uniqueness of the Xiantian Skill was slowly demonstrated. Gradually, he could control wisps of natural qi.
At this pace, Li Mu would be able to completely break the seal upon his natural qi in about ten days at most.
So, he was no longer worried.
In the previous battle, he hid all his treasures and storage devices into his Sea of Consciousness. The disciples of the Tianyi Palace all thought that his belongings had been lost after he was bombarded by the attacks launched by Feng Zhen the Bloodless Sword without Blood, so they didn’t give him a meticulous body search.
At most, in another three days, Li Mu would recover some of his natural. Then, he could use the Net Card to log into the Immortal Net and even activate the message token to contact Ding Yi and the pig spirit.
Thus, Li Mu began to close his eyes to rest while contemplating what he should do next to give the Tianyi Palace a spiteful payback.
About an hour later.
The sound of footsteps came in.
“That’s him. He’s killed many of my disciples.”
“We shall not let this madman have much peaceful time.”
Some voices could be heard.
The railings of the cell were opened.
Several figures walked in. The person in the lead was none other than Mu Shun.
When Mu Shun saw Li Mu, he went all furious in front of his foe. Tonight, he could have captured Guo Yuqing and Zuo Qingqing alive and handed them to his master, Feng Zhen the Bloodless Sword, as a huge gift. That way, his master would favor him again, and his status would be consolidated. However, unexpectedly, all that had been ruined by this freak who jumped out from nowhere. Until now, Mu Shun had not found any clues on Guo Yuqing and the other two. All his plans had failed. How could he not bear a grudge?
“Get him whacked.” Mu Shun sneered.
He came to the cell just to vent his spleen on Li Mu. He wanted to maul and humiliate Li Mu right now.
Behind him, several disciples of the Tianyi Palace, holding sticks and iron whips in their hands, directly came over to beat Li Mu with a grim smile.
Li Mu raised his foot.
“Bang!”
The disciple of the Tianyi Palace who rushed to the front was directly knocked to the air and crashed against the stone wall. With a loud bang, he was smashed by the force of the crash and was as dead as a doornail.
“Buddha Mountain’s Shadowless Kicks.”
Li Mu performed a series of kicks. His legs moved as fast as bolts of lightning.
That skill was not something he made up. When he was back on Earth, he studied some martial arts secret books, some of which really recorded the Buddha Mountain’s Shadowless Kicks. Although Li Mu’s natural qi had been sealed, his physical strength and speed still should not be underestimated. Even the simple leg kicks originated from Earth, when being performed by him, were powerful enough to knock out those ordinary disciples of the Tianyi Palace.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
With a series of m.u.f.fled whams, seven disciples of the Tianyi Palace were one by one pummeled into the stone wall and turned into mud-like liquid.
“What?”
Mu Shun and the rest of the disciples were dumbstruck.
Hadn’t his natural qi been sealed?
How could he still be so brutally powerful?
At once, Mu Shun and his men turned tail, dashed out of the cell, and locked the iron railings.
Affectedly, Li Mu rushed over after them, grabbed the railings, started shaking them savagely, and bellowed, “Let me out, let me out…”
However—
“Crack!”
The railings were broken.
“Holy c.r.a.p!”
Li Mu was taken aback. He had overdone the acting. How could he have let himself break the railings?
At this moment, it seemed that he had no choice but to continue to act.
He snapped the railings one by one with bare hands and jumped out of the cell. Then, he marched toward Mu Shun and the others like a Tiger Beast from ancient times.
Mu Shun and the others were so shocked that they couldn’t even speak. They felt that they were about to have a heart attack. He had even shaken the railings of the cell to pieces. This man was too fierce. This cell was specially constructed. It had locked up by many fierce devils, but none of them had been able to break out of this cell… Good lord, what kind of monster had they captured today?
“Eh? He broke out of the cell?”
Having heard the report, Feng Zhen looked at Mu Shun’s bleeding nose and swollen face. He was also somewhat speechless.
Feng Zhen had long noticed that the man’s physical cultivation was so profound that he seemed to have a nearly immortal body. However, he had not expected that the man could be strong enough to break out of the cell by himself.
It seemed that the man had been holding back because of Feng Zhen’s presence before. After Feng Zhen threw him into prison and left, he immediately took the opportunity to break out.
Mu Shun said, “However, we’ve already taken him in custody again. It’s just that there’s no other room in the Iron Blood Prison that can contain this man.” He also felt wronged. Recently, it was as if he been cursed. Nothing went well. Even when he went to the cell to vent his anger, he again got himself in trouble and was almost beaten to death.
Feng Zhen said, “I initially decided to wait and make some preparations. But given the current circ.u.mstances… you can take some men and send him to my Elixir Room.”
Mu Shun was taken aback. He asked, “Elixir Room?”
Why did his master want that man in his elixir room?
Feng Zhen continued, “The undying body is a wonderful gift that only exists in remote legends. But if one refines it with a secret elixir-refining method, one can get the legendary Immortal Elixir… So, get him there as soon as possible.”
Mu Shun quickly replied, “Yes, sir.” Then, He turned around to carry out his task.
A smile out of a pleasant surprise appeared on Feng Zhen’s face.
He was getting more and more interested in this captive who was caught by chance.
This time, the captive actually broke out of the cell. That gave him another pleasant surprise.
He summoned a trusted disciple and handed him a list of hundreds of kinds of precious herbs. Then, Feng Zhen said, “Go to the herb garden to collect those herbs. If there are some that you can’t find in the herb garden, go to the major drug dealers in the city or look for them on the Immortal Net. No matter what, you must collect all the herbs on this list at all costs within three days.”
This disciple, who knew a little about herbal medicine and elixir refining, looked at the list and gasped.
To collect all the herbs on this list, all the divine herbs cultivated in the herb garden of the Tianyi Palace in Star Wind City over the years would need to be harvested, and that would not be enough. The rest would have to be purchased, which would at least cost more than 100 gold-colored fairy crystals. That was equivalent to the sum of the annual tax revenue and other income the Tianyi Palace could get in Star Wind City.
That would definitely cost a lot.
Nonetheless, the disciple didn’t dare to slight his duty and quickly went to do the job.
“What’s going on? What is Sect Master doing? Why can’t I get in touch with him?”
Ding Yi was anxiously pacing back and forth in his room like a cat on a hot tin roof. It had been several hours. He tried to contact Li Mu with the message token, but he received no response. That made him a little worried because he knew what Li Mu was doing tonight.
By his side, the pig spirit was enjoying all kinds of delicious food he had ordered.
“Everything will be fine. You can rest a.s.sured. Hehe, a good person doesn’t live long, while a bad guy tends to have a long life. Considering the disposition of your Sect Master, he can definitely outlive a turtle that is ten thousand years old. He won’t die…” The pig spirit said as he stuffed all the food into his greasy mouth and washed it down with a mouthful of wine.