Chapter 430: Daning
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
There was no wind or thunder. Flashes of silver lightning continuously streaked from cloud to cloud like dancing demons. They transformed into continuous thunderclaps, creating an atmosphere of doomsday.
They were entangled with each other, making crackling sounds and gathering into five different figures.
The men in dark red had already been stunned. Although there were numerous Descendants of Divine Devils who could make use of their blood lineage to connect with the heaven and bring about all kinds of mysterious phenomena, only real Divine Devils could trigger Thunder Punishment of the doomsday.
The Silver Thunder Light gradually died down. The appearance of these five figures clearly seen. They were three men and two women whose charisma was all imposing and extraordinary. Some of them were even gorgeous.
“They, they are Masters!” The canny man called Sixth Brother suddenly recovered himself and exclaimed.
“Masters?” The head and the rest four persons looked at each other with incredulous astonishment and confusion.
“Were these Masters mentioned by the Dissimilated Man the divine men who serve the real divine devil? If not, why would the phenomenon caused by their appearance be so shocking?”
They had killed countless people with their blades for many years, so they were able to control their emotions quickly. On behalf of the five persons, the head respectfully gave their salute. “We’re all honored and grateful to invite the five masters to descend to earth.”
Since they began to carry out Samsara tasks, Meng Qi and they had usually been quietly sent into the Samsara World by the Dominator of the Six Realms. They had never had such a grand debut, so they were all surprised.
Fortunately, Meng Qi was “used to” posing before others. He immediately feigned seriousness without a smile, then asked in an authoritarian manner, “Why did you burn the symbol?”
He asked in accordance with the head’s words.
Seeing Meng Qi so accustomed to such a state, Jiang Zhiwei laughed while shaking her head. It was tough to change this small monk’s nature, but as long as he was not controlled by his “nature” which might affect his judgment and screw things up, she was okay with it.
The head who bowed his head and respectfully gave the salute quietly raised his eyes to glance at Meng Qi. He found that this young and handsome Master in white clothes with a long sword around his waist looked nothing like a devil. However, his gaze was as deep as the bottomless pool, and his eyes twinkled like stars, attracting people as they watched and made it difficult to extricate themselves.
“Masters, we’re the heads of Red Coat army. Our big brother Du Huaishang is trapped in Daning, and we could not think of any method, so we burned the Dissimilated Man Symbol to ask for your help.” The head respectfully answered.
Jiang Zhiwei, Zhao Heng, Qi Zhengyan, and Ruan Yushu stood two by two. Once there was an emergency, they could exert their respective strengths. Meng Qi carried the “Flowing Fire” and calmly asked, “‘Peacekeeping Heavenly King’ Du Huaishang?”
“Master, you know our big brother?” The head was both surprised and happy.
“Big Brother’s reputation has spread outside the Ninth Heaven, and he is known to the Masters who serve the divine devil?”
The canny man ran the strength of blood lineage. Then he said to the head in his thin and low voice like a thread, “Second Brother, our big brother saved the Dissimilated Man. Since the Dissimilated Man can ask Masters to descend to the earth for help, it is reasonable that he could report our brother’s name by using his connection with the heaven.”
“I see…” The head suddenly understood.
Meng Qi was unclear about the situation, so he did not answer him. Instead, he said, “Tell us the details of Du Huaishang’s entrapment in Daning.”
“Thank you, Masters!” The head could not control his joy.
“His question means that they are going to rescue our big brother!”
Then he organized his words and asked, “The emperor is futile, and people are suffering. Our big brother revolted in the southern part of Daning to salvage the people and wanted to create a peaceful world for the people, so he and his army would not give up until he wins.”
“Whenever we go for a war, we all wear red trenches, so we are called the Red Coat army. We’re the thorn in the eyes of the imperial court. Had it not been other revolutions in different places, the involvement of many strong masters of the Earth Order, and the tiredness of the imperial court, the emperor would have sent masters down south to kill us all.”
As a half adviser of the Red Coat army, in his opinion, these masters were all from Ninth Heaven who served the real divine devil. If he could get their support, the Red Coat army was likely to win. Hence, he added the origin and the belief of the Red Coat army.
After finis.h.i.+ng his words, he quietly looked up and saw Meng and his companions’ expressions were all unchanged. He suppressed his impulse and returned to the key point. “We got the news a few days ago that the ‘Jade Eye Flying Dragon’ Zuo Hanfeng who stayed to guard Daning recruited a group of the Dissimilated Men and prepared to attack the main force of the Red Army. We want to figure out this matter further.”
In this world, there were many Descendants of Divine Devil. The wars were much like single combat or a ma.s.s brawl where the winner led his soldiers to fight. As long as the chief generals end up killed, the Red Coat army was about to lose.
“Zuo Hanfeng was strong, and there were numerous masters in Daning. It was like a Dragon’s Pool and Tiger’s Den. Since we were not strong enough, if we followed our big brother, we probably would cause trouble to him. So our big brother went to Daning alone to contact the nark.” The head became serious and concerned. “But in the third day after our big brother entered the city, Zuo Hanfeng unexpectedly blocked the city and only allowed people to enter but not exit. Since then, our contact with our big brother was cut off. We sent our narks to collect some information, but we have not received any messages.”
“Had it not been for the fact that our appearance, figures, and skills were well-known in Daning it would have been possible for us to sneak in. We would have already fought alongside our big brother inside the city. Now we can only protect ourselves, but we could not find any a.s.sistance. Fortunately, the heavens have blessed us, and we could get your help.”
“As long as our big brother is rescued we will give you many rewards.”
Meng Qi remained silent. He quietly listened until the head finished his words. Then he said, “Since you have the symbol, we will help. We don’t need great rewards as long as your rewards are thoughtful.”
“Thoughtful?” The head frown. “We can’t be careless about this. What kind of rewards could be thoughtful?”
The more detached Meng Qi acted, the more cautious they should be!
“As we have descended on earth, our strength is greatly constrained. So we need your a.s.sistance to offer us more information. In this way, we will know our condition as well as the enemy’s.” Meng Qi made up a reason.
He did not explain the reason in detail. In this way, if the head had some questions, Meng Qi could answer him according to his puzzles.
The head did not find it strange. The reason why the divine devil no longer came to the world was that the pa.s.sage connecting the heaven and the earth was cut off by the predecessors. So he thought that the constraint of their strength was reasonable. “Masters, ask what you want to know. We’ll tell you everything.”
“The world has changed a lot. We have been in seclusion from the world for a long time; we do not know how the current masters are divided. What positions are Zuo Hanfeng and Du Huaishang in now?” Meng Qi was quite serious when he did something important.
The head hurried to answer, “They are respectively in the Ground Stairs and the Human Stairs. But in the recent generations, Erudition Hall have used two Stairs and 18 orders to rank all the masters, and his division was gradually accepted.” Although the Ninth Order of the Human Stairs was mysterious, it was not very strong. It still belonged to the Human Stairs. In contrast, the Ninth Order of the Ground Stairs could move the mountains, split the seas, destroy cities and cut rivers. It was incredibly horrible and extraordinary. In fact, Erudition Hall also named the Heaven Stairs, but n.o.body achieves those Stairs, so it was also called the G.o.d-devil Stairs.”
“We’re all on the First Order of Human-Level and our big brother, and Zuo Hanfeng are both on the Ninth Order of the Earth Rank. However, Zuo Hanfeng is violent, and he has special Heavenly Knowings, so our big brother is unable to defeat him. What’s more, in addition to many masters, he recently had recruited a group of the Dissimilated Men.”
Meng Qi and the others exchanged their gazes, but they did not use Secret Voice-sending to communicate with each other because the deputy of the Red Coat army just indicated an important message. Many Kung Fu masters with the divine devil blood lineage still owned the ability to connect with the heaven and the earth although they did not reach the Ground Stairs. That was why they could bring about strange phenomena. They were creepier and more difficult to defend than those experts of Enlightening the Apertures level in the main world, so Meng Qi and the others had to be careful. Maybe some of them had Heavenly Knowing skills like Wind-Accompanying Ear and could hear their talks even if Meng Qi and the others used Secret Voice-sending?
After the head of the Red Coat army described Zuo Hanfeng’s information in detail, Meng Qi gently nodded and seemed to be confident. “Which nark did Du Huaishang meet after he entered the city?”
“He is Guo Sheng, also known as Gimp Guo. He is a distant relative of my big brother. With the Red Coat army’s secret support, he became a respected billionaire in Daning…” The head continued to depict the details. When he finished the description, he added, “We ten brothers made an oath that although we were not born on the same day, we wished to die on the same day. If you rescue our big brother, you also save us. Please accept our kowtows.”
The rest of the Red Coat Army heads also kneeled know and kowtowed. Their faces were serious, and their gazes were sincere full of hope.
Meng Qi, Jiang Zhiwei and the other three calmly accepted their kowtows. They well understood the task, but they did not let down their guard because the Dissimilated Men Zuo Hanfeng had recently recruited were so mysterious that there was no information about them spread in Jianghu.
…
The city river was surrounded by purple patterns which made Daning a dreamlike place. The more beautiful a place was, the more dangerous it would be. Merely approaching it made people s.h.i.+ver.
Meng Qi and the others dressed up. Since they were strangers without known connections with the Red Coat Army, they were allowed to enter the city of Daning through the city gate.
“Prosperous, noisy, crowded…” Several words appeared in their minds. Daning was a large and famous city. With the information about the address and layout of streets the Red Coat Army had offered, they pretended to be people who planned to visit their relatives to ask about the location of the lane nearby the Gimp Guo’s mansion. They decided the indirect way was the best way to get there.
They arrived at the left of Guo’s Mansion soon. After they identified the direction, they bypa.s.sed two streets and saw the iconic red small building.
It was the middle of the day, and the door was tightly closed without any comings or goings. Inside the mansion, exuberant trees were surrounding the red building, lending to an air of eeriness.
“If nothing is happening in Guo’s Mansion, it makes it all the more alarming.” Zhao Heng nodded.
Meng Qi laughed. “But we should not be careless. We should…”
After Meng Qi finished his words, Jiang Zhiwei, Ruan Yushu and the rest all nodded and prepared to act as planned.
In a few minutes, Meng Qi changed his appearance into that of an ordinary idle person on the street. He “furtively” approached Guo’s Mansion, squatted under the nearby tree, bought a bowl of wonton and asked the stall vendor, “Why is Guo’s Mansion so quiet that I don’t see anyone about?”
The peddler in a straw hat looked up at Meng Qi and chuckled. “The rich are venal. A few days ago his property was confiscated by the government!”
“I see…” Meng Qi ate the wonton while asking.
After the inquiry, he looked around and slipped into the quiet lane nearby. After he turned several corners, he found the streets were more and more deserted without anyone in sight.
At the end of the lane, a man in dark black robes was pacing around with his hands behind his back. He looked very dignified.
Seeing Meng Qi return, he hurried to ask, “How did the inquiry go? As long as you get the information about those few things, the remaining silver taels are all yours!”
The man was Zhao Heng.
Suddenly, several people jumped out over the top walls on both sides of the lane and surrounded Meng Qi and Zhao Heng.
The head of the people had horrible breath and an ugly scar on his face. He sneered and said, “Silver taels? Why don’t you lightly let us off! Seize them!”