Chapter 331: Peach Blossom Miasma
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
3,000 Great Ways!
Those were the most unfathomable 3,000 ways for practice that were handed down since the Primordial Time!
As the legend had it, only by studying the secret method of those 3,000 ways could one upgrade his strength and Divine Sense to the highest level, as well as gather the three Taoism flowers and condense the five Qi.
The number 3,000 was a truly huge one. But from the beginning of the Primordial Time until now, thousands of years had flown by and numerous havocs had happened. Thus, few of those secret methods were successfully inherited by the current generation. Even among those that didn’t get lost through such a long time track, most of them were incomplete. For example, the Great Way of Stars was a secret cultivation method discovered by Zhou Bao when he was about to refine the Sky-measuring Star Ruler after snatching it up. Although it was incomplete, Green Spirit felt as if he had discovered some precious treasures. The whole package of the authentic 3,000 Great Ways was long gone, such as the Tian Long Taoism’s Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique. Previously, this technique also missed some part. But later, since Zhou Bao obtained that mysterious guy’s general principles of the Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique, the missing part was secured and the technique became a whole. At first, Zhou Bao wasn’t aware of the value of this technique’s general principles at all, but now he was totally clear that the Tian Long Taoism had owed him a huge favor simply for these general principles. Additionally, the martial art that Zhou Bao had practiced was the matching Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique and the nature of his Internal Qi was the extreme Fire Attribute—the innate Demonic Fire—so, when he chose to practice the Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique, it would bring out the best of both techniques.
Each of those 3,000 Great Ways had its own Dharma corresponding to the essence of the world. Though Zhou Bao knew that he had a great fate, he never thought he could ever learn many of those 3,000 Great Ways. Even if he had the opportunity, he could not learn them all. But as the saying went, a bird in the hand was worth more than a thousand in the bush. Now that he already had one secret cultivation method at hand, why would he need to pursue more?
Given that the mysterious Taiyuan Heaven was the most immense and vast place filled with infinite opportunities as well as boundless dangers, Zhou Bao could not bring two complete strangers there. Mo Yinyang was already a trouble, now adding another one called Sun Horse of Star, how could he set his mind at rest? Therefore, when he saw Wang She that was a little intrigued, Zhou Bao immediately chimed in, “Even if you don’t go, I won’t take this guy with me in there!”
“You!” Hearing this, Sun Horse of Star’s temper was totally up. He had already tried his best to place himself in a lower position, but who knew that Zhou Bao still put on a look as if nothing would make him change his mind.
His body leaned forward slightly, and a chilling fit of killing intent became intense at once.
Wang She furrowed his eyebrows and let out a cold snort. He also made one step forward and the light blue lightning started to sparkle on his body. “Since Zhou Bao doesn’t consent this, there is nothing I can do. Sun Horse of Star, if you want to enter Taiyuan Heaven, I suggest you find other approaches!”
“No, I’ve tried many ways and followed many approaches, but I still can’t find the door to it. This is my last chance!”
“Interesting! Seems that you think I’m the easier one to bully among those who have the Taiyuan Token, don’t you?” Zhou Bao snorted coldly, producing abundant Fierce Qi from his body. “Now that our conversation has reached this stage, let’s just quit bargaining and turn to combat to have a winner. I’m wondering what kind of ability you have on earth. Should you dare to behave in such an unbridled manner in my territory!”
At this point, Zhou Bao could no longer stifle down his Fierce Qi and colossal of pure Internal Qi rolled out like a magnificent river. Instantly, the entire underground hall was suffused with his boundless fierce intent.
On the sideway, Wang She also slightly narrowed his eyes and fixed them upon Sun Horse of Star without a blink, ready to attack at any moment.
“Stop!” Just when things were at swords’ points, a sudden snarl was sounded and Golden Rooster slipped in from outside. After seeing this tense situation, he got startled, and then with a flash, his figured quickly darted to the place between the two sides and stood shoulder to shoulder with Earth Bat of Girl.
“What’s happening? What are you going to do?!”
“What else can it be other than fighting with force?!” Zhou Bao displayed a half-hearted smile and said, “His Excellency Sun Horse of Star has cast his eyes on my Taiyuan Token and wants to pocket it as his own!”
“Nonsense! Who heard that I’ll pocket it as my own? I’m just saying that I only want to enter Taiyuan Heaven along with you!”
“But when I disagreed on this, you wanted to start up a fight. How can this not count as pocketing it as your own? We’re members of the 28 constellations. According to the rules of Immortal Palace, internal conflicts are not allowed. Obviously, you dude just breached this rule. Golden Rooster, Elder Qing has told me that you were the one responsible for dealing with this kind of stuff, so what’s your opinion?” As Zhou Bao determinedly stuck to the claim that Sun Horse of Star was going to rob his possession, and referred the rules of Immortal Palace to impose pressure on Golden Rooster, Golden Rooster’s look suddenly went nasty. He turned to look at Sun Horse of Star and inquired. “Is Zhou Bao telling the truth? You really wanted to take his things away by force?”
“I didn’t!” Indignant as Sun Horse of Star was, he was not stupid. Otherwise, he would not be able to be one of the 28 constellations of Immortal Palace. When hearing Zhou Bao’s claim which aimed to make him the one to blame, he would surely not let Zhou Bao have his wish. He simply said in a cold tone, “At such a young age, this boy overestimates his ability and thus becomes incredulously arrogant. I just want him to learn a lesson and teach him to have some respect for seniors! ”
“Is it true?” Golden Rooster craned his neck over his shoulder and asked Zhou Bao again.
“I’m not a worm living in his stomach, how could I know what he was thinking? These are merely empty words, and who knows whether they are true or not! But now that he wants to teach me a lesson, it won’t hurt if you just let him achieve his goal for one time. Anyway, competing with each other is not banned among us, the 28 constellations. Just take it as a competition, what do you think?”
“Ugh…” At the sight of Zhou Bao’s sullen look, Golden Rooster hesitated in giving a reply. In terms of the close and distant degree of relationship, of course, he was closer to Zhou Bao. However, Sun Horse of Star was no one to mess with either. Elder Qing had warned him this just when he was about to go here. But to everyone’s surprise, Sun Horse of Star went antagonistic to Zhou Bao the second he arrived here. If he really let things develop in the way as they liked, they might truly make some huge troubles. But if not, this conflict would still exist. As long as they were at the same place, they could stir up much larger trouble in the future. Thus, Golden Rooster felt his head aching and cast a pleading look upon Earth Bat of Girl.
“If they want to get close and know each other better, there is no need for us to forbid them doing so, and we may not be able to forbid them anyway!” Earth Bat of Girl laughed bitterly, feeling that he was truly unlucky today. How come he had to handle these two funny fellows? But he did not fancy Sun Horse of Star either. This guy’s background was not revealed, and he had an overbearing and debauchery temper, never acted scrupulously but always assuming an air of self-importance. Hence, it would be good for him if he got a lesson here.
“Such being the case, you two may compete with each other. But I want to set the rules in advance. Since we are all members of Immortal Palace, this competition shall stop where it should—just when we have a winner of this game. You’d better not injure each other, let alone taking one’s life. Otherwise, even if I can forgive you, Immortal Palace will not!” Saying this, he shot an alarming look to Zhou Bao, apparently warning him that he shall not go beyond the limit.
“No problem!” Zhou Bao shrugged his shoulders and gave a smile, “I guarantee you, we won’t make trouble out of this. Alright, Sun Horse of Star, are you ready? If so, you can strike first, and I won’t fight back in your first three movements!”
Sun Horse of Star’s look went chilling and he replied, “First three movements? That depends on your ability!” Saying so, his figure gave a shake and a wisp of extremely cold spirit charged downright at Zhou Bao.
“Interesting!” Sensing this raw wind coming for him, Zhou Bao didn’t move at all. While his Gang Qi, which had completely turned black, swept around his body and worn this cold wind down. “That’s all you’ve got? Eh, oh no, that’s poisonous!”
“Hump! Realizing it now? But too late!” Seeing Zhou Bao’s expression changed a bit, Sun Horse of Star knew that his attack was effective. Then, he raised his hands, crooked his fingers like hooks, and flung his hands at Zhou Bao. Zhou Bao’s face went stiff subtly. Sun Horse of Star’s skinny fingertips all had pointed nails as sharp as a blade, which was stunningly black. When he stretched out his hands to attack, they diffused a vague but sweet odor, apparently fed with strong venom.
“This bloke should be proficient in using poison!” That was indeed little beyond Zhou Bao’s expectation, but the Poison Cold Shield inside his body was already in operation. The green mist rose up and absorbed all the poison that invaded Zhou Bao’s body, and then, Zhou Bao darted sideways and escaped his grab.
“That’s the first movement!” Zhou Bao said with a smile.
“The Poison Cold Shield?” Sun Horse of Star was an expert in poison, so when he saw that his poisonous strike went in vain plus Zhou Bao was surrounded by green mist, he immediately realized what was happening. However, he was still thunderstruck. “You even have the Poison Cold Shield!”
“What’s up, can’t I?” Zhou Bao sneered. “Two more movements to go. Let me see how great on earth you’ve achieved in poison technique and whether you can beat my Poison Cold Shield or not!”
“You’re mistaken in believing that you can resist any toxins with only a Poison Cold Shield!” Hearing Zhou Bao’s tone full of confidence, Sun Horse of Star’s body slightly shivered, and a puff of pink fog spread from his body. “Now that you’ve got the Poison Cold Shield, I’ll just go all out. Have a taste of my Peach Blossom Miasma!”
“Peach Blossom Miasma?” Besides Zhou Bao, Wang She and Earth Bat of Girl as well as Golden Rooster all changed their looks and dashed more than a hundred feet backward to distance themselves.
“Sun Horse of Star, don’t go too far! You should resort to such an insidious means during a sect competition. I’ll certainly report this to Elder Qing and seek punishment upon you!” Golden Rooster was infuriated because he knew too well about how powerful the Peach Blossom Miasma was. Sighting that Sun Horse of Star launched this movement when the competition had just begun, his expression was surely not too pleasant. Obviously, Sun Horse of Star had already put his pre-competition swear behind himself.
“Humph, I’m competing against him, not you! He’s got the Poison Cold Shield for protection. Thus, even if I break down his Poison Cold Shield with stronger poison, he won’t suffer much. For the best, I’ll reserve a bit strength then!”
“Is this your second movement?” Eyeing the pink fog permeating in the surrounding, Zhou Bao smiled faintly as if having a well-prepared plan in his mind. The area between his eyebrows screwed and a jet of cyan light shot out, floating above his head and swirling swiftly. It turned out that this was a pigeon egg-sized cyan bead, which was emitting fits of green mist to shroud around Zhou Bao.
The green mist and the pink Peach Blossom Miasma entangled with each other at one point, but no matter how hard the Miasma rolled and surged, it could not penetrate the mist even an inch.
“This is…the Poison-absorbing Green Bead? How could you have it? Where did you get it? How come you refined the Poison-absorbing Green Bead into the Poison Cold Shield?” After catching a clear view of that green bead, Sun Horse of Star’s look changed thoroughly, and he pointed at Zhou Bao while screeching.
“Why can’t I have the Poison-absorbing Green Bead? And why can’t I use the Poison-absorbing Green Bead to refine the Poison Cold Shield?” Zhou Bao sneered. Then, he pointed at the Poison-absorbing Green Bead, and the green light that was sending off instantly got brilliant. Soon afterward, the green mist gently curled up and even formed a cyan vortex.
This cyan vortex was swiveling around slowly, and unexpectedly whirled in the Peach Blossom Miasma that made Golden Rooster, Wang She and Earth Bat of Girl frightened at sensing it and only too willing to avoid it. In the vortex, the Peach Blossom Miasma was differentiated and assimilated. Meanwhile, the cyan bead that was hanging over Zhou Bao’s head was emitting faint cyan light, and as the green mist swirled, it began to absorb the Peach Blossom Miasma.
“Damn!” Sun Horse of Star cursed in his undertone, ready to withdraw his Peach Blossom Miasma. It cost him a total of 30 years to refine this Peach Blossom Miasma! During those years, he traveled to various dark and remote places across the world for the purpose of collecting this highly toxic Miasma. Then, by combining 49 strong poisonous materials into it, the Peach Blossom Miasma was finally made. If spilled out, it could corrode any Gang Qi and fuse any Internal Qi, so it was the nemesis of Gang Qi. Even when a Level Nine expert came across it, he would choose to escape from it. However, to everyone’s surprise, it was so coincident that the Peach Blossom Miasma just met its own nemesis.
The Poison-absorbing Green Bead!
This magical object was the nemesis of almost all the poisons in the world, including his Peach Blossom Miasma. But this object was so precious that it merely appeared for a few times throughout the entire history of the world. Accordingly, it never occurred to him that someone in this present world should possess a Poison-absorbing Green Bead and even produced the Poison Cold Shield by refining it. If Zhou Bao had displayed this Poison-absorbing Green Bead in the first place, he would never make such a silly movement by sending out his own Peach Blossom Miasma.
But now, since the weapon was already sent out, trying to retrieve it would not be such an easy thing to do.
The Poison-absorbing Green Bead was the nemesis of all poisons around the globe, while the Poison Cold Shield was a celestial device that could absorb every poison and made use of them. If the Poison Cold Shield had been refined out of other materials, Sun Horse of Star would still be confident to burst it with the strong poisoning power of his Peach Blossom Miasma. However, when he bumped into the Poison-absorbing Green Bead, the only thing he could do was to back off, as far as possible.
Unfortunately, Zhou Bao didn’t want to give him any chance to retreat. The Poison-absorbing Green Bead spun faster and faster, creating immense suction that had firmly hold down the Peach Blossom Miasma, which consequently formed a wide road. Although Sun Horse of Star was eager to pull back his Peach Blossom Miasma, his ability already fell short of his wish.
After absorbing the Peach Blossom Miasma, the Poison-absorbing Green Bead turned increasingly brighter, even the green mist that swirled around Zhou Bao at first began to gradually take on the color of faint pink.
This was exactly the effect produced after it had absorbed the Peach Blossom Miasma and refined it into the Poison Cold Shield. Suddenly, the power of the Poison Cold Shield augmented significantly, while under the principle of wane and wax, the Peach Blossom Miasma paled a lot.
Cold sweat dripped down from Sun Horse of Star’s forehead. At this point, no matter what kind of method he employed to urge the Peach Blossom Miasma to come back, his effort could only bring little effect. The green mist and pink fog forcefully blended into each other like a cheating couple acting passionately in their love affairs. They surged up and down, even appeared to have the tendency of integrating into one.
“Quickly let go of my Peach Blossom Miasma! I throw in the sponge!” Sun Horse of Star started yelling. Considering that this time he had lost all the advantages, if the competition went on, he might even lose his last stakes.
“What did you say? I didn’t catch it clearly, say it again!” Zhou Bao was grinning, looking like a rascal. He even put a hand near his ear as if trying to listen to something.
“You!” Sun Horse of Star gnashed his teeth in anger, desperately wishing to give Zhou Bao a fatal punch. However, for the sake of his own Peach Blossom Miasma, he finally stifled his rage and admitted, “I said I throw in the sponge! Hurry up and withdraw your Poison-absorbing Green Bead. Do you truly intend to take away my Peach Blossom Miasma?” Sun Horse of Star barked balefully, anxious to wolf down Zhou Bao alive.
“What? You throw in the sponge?” As if just heard it clearly, Zhou Bao pulled back his Poison-absorbing Green Bead and Poison Cold Shield without haste. Up in the air, the green mist contracted and then vanished to nowhere, leaving a cluster of pink fog there alone.
“It’s…” Sun Horse of Star’s face went livid, for the remaining pink fog was just one-third of the original Peach Blossom Miasma he had cast out. In other words, during such a short time, Zhou Bao’s Poison-absorbing Green Bead should absorb two-thirds of the Peach Blossom Miasma which he had put lots of effort to obtain and practice, so how could he hold his rage in leash?
“What? You still want to fight me?” Looking at his exasperated face, Zhou Bao was in a good mood. This time, it could be said that he had taken a considerable advantage—the power of his Poison Cold Shield was boosted to a great extent. With the Peach Blossom Miasma’s function, now his Poison Cold Shield was already able to corrode experts’ Gang Qi. Furthermore, it could be said that this Shield had become the nemesis of most Gang Qi, which was much powerful than the simple poison it had been before.
At the sight of Zhou Bao’s gleeful smile, Sun Horse of Star fought back his fury and said, “This time I admit my failure. I will not stay at this place. Everybody, I’ll take my leave!” After saying this, he cupped his hands toward Golden Rooster and the other two, dashed out of the underground hall and disappeared without a trace.
“Come on, this dude is really keen on face-saving. Just fell for one time, why take it so seriously?” Seeing Sun Horse of Star leaving, Zhou Bao curled his lips and said.
“Stop taking your undeserved gain for granted. Sun Horse of Star does have some background, and his backer is quite powerful. You’ve offended him this time, so you must take care from now on!”
“It never occurred to me that members of the Immortal Palace do have discords and rifts as well. And there is such a presumptuous funny fellow!” Zhou Bao sneered, saying his complaints out loud.
“Now we’re in special circumstances. General principles of the Immortal Palace remain intact, but each supervisor has his own idea. They may as well indulge some valuable members as long as it’s not against these general principles, just like how Elder Qing treats you. He also significantly indulges you, doesn’t he? Sun Horse of Star is a senior general subordinate to White Tiger. He was transferred to a post here on account of the issue concerning the Azure Secret Area. But surprisingly, once he arrived here, he was sent off by you in anger even before he could have a sit. Moreover, you’ve taught a lesson to Ye Qingtian, who has been admired by White Tiger, so, there may be enough drama in the future!”
“White Tiger?” Zhou Bao asked and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. “I always live up to the principle of never attacking unless attacked. This time, they all came and attacked me. If I didn’t give them a lesson, they would really take me as someone weak and easy to bully!”
“Zhou Bao has a point. Don’t attack unless being attacked. If White Tiger truly comes after Zhou Bao for these two matters, Elder Qing won’t just sit there and keep his eyes shut. Neither will White Tiger make such a rookie mistake!” Wang She said in a cold voice. “At most, White Tiger will track Zhou Bao in the dark and wait for the moment he makes some mistakes. Then, with that proper excuse, he will pick on him afterward!”
“That’s also my greatest concern. Zhou Bao, you always behave unscrupulously. One day, White Tiger will certainly have something on you. From now on, you should really act in discreetness!”
“I don’t fear that damn White Tiger!” Zhou Bao replied dismissively. “I’d like to see him trying that!”
“Surely you don’t fear him, and I don’t either. Nobody is afraid of him. But messing up with this guy always is a trouble!” Earth Bat of Girl added, shaking his head. “Anyway, even if he detects some of your errors, all he can do is merely give you a hard time. With Elder Qing being here to take command, he won’t be able to harm you. Furthermore, the entrance to the Azure Secret Area is in your territory, and it is you who have discovered it. Simply with this contribution, you have the capital to point fingers at him and call him names!”
“Really? Then, when it’s time, I shall have a try!” Zhou Bao started laughing. Later, he fumbled out the Taiyuan Token and said, “Well, just now I was annoyed beyond myself by that Sun Horse of Star. But now, let’s talk about business. This Taiyuan Token is in my hand, but I’m not familiar with it, so I want to ask you guys!”
“Taiyuan Heaven only opens for one time in 1,000 years. Though we’re old, we’re far from being 1,000 years old, aren’t we? Even if we are that old, we won’t have such a luck like you to get the Taiyuan Token. Thus, none of us has ever been to Taiyuan Heaven. But Elder Qing may have some files about this Taiyuan Heaven. If you want to know about it, just go to Immortal Palace. I guess you must have some questions. You may as well go for Elder Qing and figure this thing out before determining your later agenda. What do you say?” Golden Rooster suggested.
“Take another trip to Immortal Palace?” Zhou Bao thought for a minute and said, “That’s okay. Anyway, I have something to consult Elder Qing!”
“If you decide to go there, take off as soon as possible!”
“Yeah!” Zhou Bao looked up at Wang She and said, “Well, Chief, will you accompany me to Taiyuan Heaven?”
“No problem. But you’ve said that you already decided on the other candidate to go with you, and you don’t know much about him. What’s happening on earth?”
“It’s nothing!” Zhou Bao gave a hollow smile and repeated the whole story about Mo Yinyang’s tipping off.
“You said Mo Yinyang is from the Dark Sect, which belongs to the Jade Toad Sect?” Wang She slightly squinted at him and asked.
“He told me so!” Zhou Bao answered. “And I also interrogated those captives and confirmed his identity!”
“The Li Dynasty’s Jade Toad Sect…haha…interesting!” Golden Rooster tilted his head and busied himself in pondering. “This guy did have a well-calculated plan. Only by delivering a message, he has gained the qualification to enter Taiyuan Heaven. Why things like such never happen to me?”
“Seems he had planned this for a long time. Ye Qingtian also has a Taiyuan Token and a fairy weapon which he can’t operate. But in the end, he tore off the hollowness and went away!” As if thinking of something critical, Earth Bat of Girl muttered to himself. “Are you sure that Ye Qingtian does have a Taiyuan Token?”
“Mo Yinyang told me so. But I can’t guarantee whether it’s true or not!”
“Seems that I have to go back to Immortal Palace with you!” Earth Bat of Girl said.