Chapter 1016: The Shepherd
Chapter 1016: The Shepherd
Ever since meeting Archmonk Dharma Treasury, Yang Qi had been treated with kindness and grace. The Archmonk was immensely powerful and had an exquisite mastery of buddhist magic. Merely conversing with him provided immense benefit. In only a few hours of conversation, Yang Qi found that his psychic power advanced another step, and many of his divine abilities felt freer and easier to use. In fact, his entire being had entered a unique and improved state.
In the middle of their conversation, a beam of sword light suddenly appeared, slashing through the wall and heading toward them like a writhing snake. Then it shattered into a rain of sword energy that, in the blink of an eye, bore down on their acupoints with deadly force.
"How dare you, ruffians!" Archmonk Dharma Treasury scolded, and his fingers spread out in the manner of a lotus flower, sending eruptions of power out to each of the countless raindrops of sword energy that blocked their path. Then he leaped to his feet and casually reached out, grabbing something out of midair. Instantly, a sound rang out like that of metal striking metal.
Gong!
A sword appeared, clasped between his forefinger and middle finger. Whoever was holding the sword grunted, then twisted the sword, causing the blade to snap and allowing them to blur backward and disappear.
Meanwhile, some of the sword energy managed to reach Yang Qi. Although it stung when it hit his skin, it did little more than scratch him.
"Quite a powerful sword," said Archmonk Dharma Treasury. "If I'm not mistaken, that was one of the most powerful fiend-devils from the Ancient Road to the Gods, Dugu Space-Maimer, also known as the Fanged Sword-Devil. He was born as a book-devil in the Hell of Sutra Conservation. He shook the ancient road for many years, always evading the executors. Clearly, his cultivation base has reached a very high level."
"The Hell of Sutra Conservation...?"
This was Yang Qi’s first time hearing of the place, which was obviously a formidable hell. Although he didn’t know it, the Hell of Sutra Conservation was filled with repositories of sutras, ancient records, historical annals, and the like. The book-devils from there were immensely powerful and could innately master any daoist technique or devil art they encountered. They also had such profound cultivation bases that they were always capable of fighting enemies above their own level.
"It seems to me this isn’t a very safe location," Yang Qi said. "Our best course of action is probably to find the league-lord’s command medallion, then get out of here."
"I agree. I’ve already used my Buddha’s Eye God Dao to determine the general location of the command medallion. Unfortunately, the capital city is under the direct control of the ruler of the Hell of Sages and Mahātmās, the same Shepherd I mentioned earlier. If he notices us, we’ll both die, so we can’t afford to act rashly."
Archmonk Dharma Treasury extended his finger and began tracing a line on the table in front of him. The line quickly turned into a map of the city magistrate’s mansion.
"According to my calculations, the league-lord’s command medallion is located in this mansion. Right here." He pointed to the location on the map. "It seems to me I need to use my Buddha Comes to a Strange World Grand Magic to enter the mansion and steal the medallion. But it’ll be a very dangerous undertaking. Furthermore, I’ll need your help in two regards, young friend. First of all, using my grand magic will cause my fleshly body to enter a state of collapse, so I’ll need your true energy to keep my fleshly body in one piece. Second, there's a warding magic protecting the medallion, something called the Nine-Heavens Ten-Earths Devil-King Herculean-Ability. The best way to break it will be to use your Unspoiled Body. If you succeed, we’ll be able to take the medallion. If not, we won’t be able to budge it an inch."