Cha Po hurriedly says: “Please calm down a bit, brother Hou Fei. I know that you’re straightforward. My big brother hasn’t said anything, has he?”
Cha Hong slightly frowns and casts Qin Yu a look.
The 1st thing Qin Yu does is to look at Hou Fei, saying: “Fei Fei, there’s no need fret over this. Isn’t it just to go catch a black eagle? We’ve already become the Blood-red Cave’s guardians so we have to do something. If I am to do nothing as a guardian, I’ll feel terribly uneasy.”
After saying, he also gives Sang Mo a glance.
Sang Mo, however, looks at Qin Yu smilingly and says: “Guardian Liu Xing, you’re so eager to serve cave master. We’re going to have to emulate your loyalty as well.”
“Shut up. Nobody allows you to say. Screw you! You’re getting on my nerves.” Hou Fei’s fiery eyes glitter with ferocity. The black stick in his hands looks like it is going to be used to attack anytime. When Sang Mo hears Hou Fei’s words, his complexion slightly changes at once, but he does not dare to retort.
By contrast, Qin Yu looks at Cha Hong again, saying: “Cave master, let’s settle this matter this way. I’m definitely going to capture that black eagle for you.”
Hou Fei gives Sang Mo a stare but does not say anything again.
“Ha-ha … good, you’re so loyal, guardian Liu Xing. I’m really very happy about this. Bai Yin, Ran Lan, Mu Xu, Zhuang Zhong, and Liu Xing, the 5 of you listen.” Cha Hong’s voice suddenly becomes imposing and sonorous.
Qin Yu and the 4 guardians in Bai Yin’s group immediately bow to wait for the order.
“I order you 5 to set off in a half day. You must capture that black eagle. But if an urgent situation arises, do not hesitate to kill it.” Cha Hong says in a serious voice that contains killing intent. He has been furious since knowing about the deaths of 50 of his guards.
Qin Yu, Bai Yin, Ran Lan, Mu Xu and Zhuang Zhong bow and say in chorus: “Yes, cave master!”
Cha Hong told them to set off after a half day to give them time to make preparations. Qin Yu and Hou Fei then go back to their houses directly. The 4 guardians in Bai Yin’s group also return to their quarters, but they gather in Bai Yin’s courtyard house instead of going into their respective houses.
At all times, there are various beautiful ladies-in-waiting carrying all kinds of food walking along the walkways and corridors outside every courtyard house in the eastern area of the Blood-red Cave. A red-robed, frosty-faced Sang Mo does not go back to his own courtyard house. Instead, he heads for Bai Yin’s.
Seeing him, a green-clad lady-in-waiting hurriedly stands to one side of the corridor and says respectfully: “Guardian.”
“Humph.” Sang Mo gives a snort. Without looking at the lady-in-waiting at all, he walks straight towards Bai Yin’s courtyard house.
At the moment, Bai Yin and his 3 friends are in his courtyard house and discussing laughingly with each other. Seeing Sang Mo entering, Mu Xu immediately utters a cold humph. His expression seems unhappy.
“Greetings, everybody.” Sang Mo says to the 4 guardians with folded hands.
Bai Yin shows a smiling expression while Ran Lan’s and Zhuang Zhong’s faces are full of unconcern. But Mu Xu says with a cold laugh: “Patriarch Sang Mo, what great day is today that you’ve unexpectedly come to our place? You’ve really terrified me.”
Among the 13 original guardians, both Mu Xu and Sang Mo are octopuses. However, Sang Mo belongs to the Sang clan whereas Mu Xu is a member of the Mu clan. These 2 clans have been vying to become the no. 1 octopus clan so there is a long-lasting feud between them.
Anger surges in Sang Mo’s chest, but he tries hard to suppress it.
“Patriarch Mu Xu, I’ve come here because of the lives of you all. If you don’t care about your own life or the lives of the other 3 guardians, I’m going to leave immediately.” After saying, Sang Mo looks at the other guardians.
Mu Xu however says with a sinister smile: “Oh, our lives? It sounds as if you’ve come here today to benefit us and to save our little lives. Since when have you become so good-hearted? I’ve always been under the impression that you can’t wait for our deaths.”
“Mu Xu, I can’t wait for your death, but not for the other guardians’.” Sang Mo’s eyes flash with coldness. “If not the fact that you’re going to go with the 3 of them this time, why would I tell you about this great secret?”
“Great secret? Humph.”
Mu Xu laughs coldly.
But Bai Yin frowns at once. Hearing Sang Mo say ‘if not for the fact that you’re going to go with the 3 of them this time’, he concludes that Sang Mo should have come here because of the business of catching the black eagle. Objectively speaking, there is absolutely nobody who knows about that Xiuxianist and that black eagle as well as Sang Mo does.
“Maybe Sang Mo really knows some secret?” Bai Yin’s interest is aroused. He immediately says loudly: “Mu Xu, guardian Sang Mo came here willingly so we can’t be discourteous.”
As soon as Bai Yin says that, Mu Xu lets out a cold humph then stands aside and no longer talks to Sang Mo. Bai Yin is the leader of this gang of 4 and is also the strongest among them. Even his thinking is admired by the other 3 guardians.
In contrast, Bai Yin looks at Sang Mo and says smilingly: “Guardian Sang Mo, what’s the meaning of your words, I wonder? What is the secret? And why is it related to our lives?”
“Let’s go inside to talk.”
Sang Mo goes straight into a room. Bai Yin slightly stops then also enters that room. At the same time, he very sensibly sets up restrictive spells so that outsiders cannot spy on them.
“Sang Mo, what’s actually the secret? Just say it.”
Sang Mo is standing in the center of the room with his back facing Bai Yin.
Only when he feels that Bai Yin has set up restrictive spells does he turn around and looks at Bai Yin in satisfaction. Then he slowly says: “That guardian Liu Xing, even though I’m not totally sure, he’s most likely to be that Xiuxianist. Bai Yin, I think you understand the meaning of this.”
Bai Yin’s face immediately changes color.
His first reaction after hearing those words is to think that Sang Mo is trying to fool him, but then he thinks that it is totally useless for Sang Mo to do so. After pondering carefully again, and considering Liu Xing’s body does not give off any bits of aura, he believes that Liu Xing is indeed possibly the Xiuxianist.
If what Sang Mo said is true, then …!
Cold sweat even begins to trickle down his back. The Xiuxianist and the black eagle are on one side. If, when the 5 guardians are ganging up on the black eagle, Qin Yu suddenly attacked them, catching them totally off guard, perhaps 2 of them would be incapacitated in an instant.
Given the black eagle’s and Qin Yu’s power, there is a real possibility that all the 4 of them would die afterwards.
“Guardian Bai Yin, this is just a word of warning from me. I’m not very sure either, but I believe you’ll have your own plan.” Sang Mo says with a smile then removes the restrictive spells directly and walks past Bai Yin on one side to go out of the room.
He knows Bai Yin’s character very well. If there is a little doubt or a little danger, Bai Yin will definitely work out a perfect plan to eliminate them.
Bai Yin’s face has darkened. In an instant, his expression changes several times. Afterwards, he turns around and looks at Sang Mo, who is disappearing at the gate of the courtyard house. A faint smile appears on the corners of his mouth. He has already come to a decision.
……
There are various surging undercurrents at the bottom of the ocean. Qin Yu, robed in black, is rushing extremely fast on his black flying sword. The other 4, Bai Yin, Ran Lan, Mu Xu and Zhuang Zhong, are also using their own techniques to go extremely fast at the bottom of the ocean. The 5 experts are going side by side. Seeing them, all ordinary Xiuyaoists quickly sheer off.
This time, the Blood-red Cave has ordered the green-eyed fish clan members
to help them monitor the black eagle’s movements. The Blood-red Cave is not Sang Mo. In the past Sang Mo had to pay to get the help of 30 members of this clan, but the Blood-red Cave has been able to make several hundred members of this clan work for it together with just a command.
When several hundred green-eyed fish clan members monitor together, they can cover an area of a million li in radius.
“Guardian Liu Xing, if we run into that black eagle, how do you think should we attack? After all, there are 5 of us so we should plan ahead a bit.” Bai Yin says smilingly to Qin Yu while approaching him.
Ran Lan, Mu Xu and Zhuang Zhong also come slightly closer to Qin Yu to listen to what he is going to say.
Qin Yu gives Bai Yin a look, seemingly wanting to see through his soul. Bai Yin’s heart skips a beat. He cannot help secretly getting even more alert against this Liu Xing.
Bai Yin does not know that thanks to practicing Xiumo secret techniques, in terms of using spiritual energy, Qin Yu has already far surpassed ordinary Xiuzhenists, who can only use it in the most basic ways. Among those spiritual-energy-related Xiumo techniques, there are some that must be performed through the eyes.
In an instant, Qin Yu withdraws his eyes from Bai Yin and says indifferently: “Guardian Bai Yin, since you already got a plan, why bothered asking me? You’re the strongest in the 5 of us so you’re the leader in this hunting mission. You only need to give orders, I’ll just follow them.”
Bai Yin says smilingly: “If so, I’ll speak up.”
Qin Yu looks at Bai Yin, wanting to know how he is going to deal with Xiao Hei.
“Once we detect the black eagle, guardian Liu Xing, Ran Lan and Mu Xu will attack together. With your combined force, you’ll most probably be able to fight it evenly. I’m the strongest so I’ll seize any chance to use sneak attacks and deliver the finishing blow. We’ll capture it if possible, but if not, we’ll just kill it directly. As for Zhuang Zhong, you will have to be ready for any complications at all times.”
Bai Yin gives the others a look and says smilingly: “If anybody doesn’t agree with my plan, feel free to tell me.”
Mu Xu and Ran Lan exchange a look then nod their heads. They have heard Cha Po talk about the black eagle’s power before so they know that it will not be easy for the black eagle to kill just the 2 of them, much less when they and Liu Xing join forces.
Zhuang Zhong does not have an opinion. He is of course very happy that he will not have to fight.
“Guardian Liu Xing, how about you?” Bai Yin looks at Qin Yu.
Qin Yu also nods his head.
Now the plan has been approved.
At this moment, Zhuang Zhong, who is slightly behind the others, takes a look at Qin Yu then takes a look at Bai Yin. His eyes suddenly flash with cunningness and coldness, but it goes back to normal in an instant and he seems like a nice old man again.
......
Not long after Qin Yu and the other 4 left the Blood-red Cave, Sang Mo also leaves the cave alone and rushes straight in their direction.
“Liu Xing, let’s see what your real face is. You got such a strange technique but nobody has ever heard about you before. It’s very unusual that the Xiuxianist has disappeared since you appeared.” Sang Mo will never give up before a thorough investigation has been carried out.
“Bai Yin, if you can expose Liu Xing’s real identity, you have to give me a chance to hit him when he’s down.” Sang Mo gives a sinister smile then speeds up his chase, looking like a red beam of light.
He has given the green-eyed fish clan some benefits so when this clan’s members tell Bai Yin’s group about the black eagle’s movements, they also conveniently tell Sang Mo.
……
Qin Yu is going nonstop. He can feel that he and the others are getting closer and closer to Xiao Hei.
“This green-eyed fish clan is really nasty. Xiao Hei can’t morph into a human. If he could, he’d be very similar to the other Xiuyaoists and it’d be hard for those green-eyed fish to find him. But his black eagle appearance is too distinguishable. It’s very hard to find another black eagle at the bottom of the ocean.”
Qin Yu is very frustrated in his heart. This time, the entire green-eyed fish clan is keeping watch so Xiao Hei basically cannot escape those fish’s detection.
Suddenly, Qin Yu’s face slightly changes color.
“No good, Xiao Hei is unexpectedly rushing towards me.” Qin Yu can feel clearly that Xiao Hei is going extremely fast in his direction. Xiao Hei should be doing this because he has sensed Qin Yu’s existence. He thinks that Qin Yu is coming to find him so he is also heading for Qin Yu.
At this rate, Qin Yu and the other guardians are going to encounter Xiao Hei soon.
After a while, Bai Yin bursts out laughing and says: “According to the message the green-eyed fish clan just sent me, that black eagle is unexpectedly rushing towards us. Ha-ha, he is seeking his own death. Get ready, everybody. This black eagle is not very easy to slaughter.”
“Since he can’t even wait for us to kill him, there’s no need to show any mercy.” Ran Lan, whose face is half black half blue, says with a malicious smile.
Bai Yin, Zhuang Zhong and Mu Xu also laugh out loud. They seem not worried about whether they will be able to kill Xiao Hei at all. Bai Yin casts a sidelong glance at Qin Yu then immediately looks at his 3 brothers again.
Chapter 24: Revolt
As the 5 guardians keep going, the distance between them and the black eagle grows shorter and shorter. The 4 in Bai Yin’s group can only estimate this distance based on messages sent by the green-eyed fish clan. They are simply unable to know exactly what it is.
But Qin Yu can feel Xiao Hei’s location clearly.
“My holy sense has a longer range than theirs. Now I can only rely on it to tell Xiao Hei in advance.” Qin Yu expands his holy sense. After 3 years of practice in the ravine, during which time his soul was nourished continuously by the Meteoric Tear, by now his soul has reached peak of the late Yuanying stage.
Strangely enough, when he was staying in the ravine, the heat current sent out by the Meteoric Tear was 2 to 3 times larger than when he had been outside. Now that Qin Yu has left the ravine, the speed at which the Meteoric Tear releases the heat current has also slowed down. No matter how he has tried, he has been unable to figure out the cause of this.
At the bottom of the ocean, there are various fast flowing currents and shoals of fish. The 5 guardians are piercing through them extremely fast like 5 light beams of different colors.
“According to the green-eyed fish clan’s messages, that black eagle is only 2000 li away from us. We can run into it anytime from now on. Everybody, let’s stop. We’re going to wait at ease here and get ready to strike that black eagle a crushing blow.”
Bai Yin’s voice rises. In an instant, the other 4 guardians stop.
They are currently in a vast area of nothing but water. There are no obstacles in this area. One should know that the distances from the surface to the bottom of this boundless ocean are normally greater than 10 km. Xiuyaoists generally build their palaces on some underwater mountain ranges because constructing at extreme depths is difficult.
However, a depth of 10 km is nothing.
In this ocean, the depths of some abysses even reach several tens km, or maybe more. The water pressures at those depths are terrifying. Qin Yu is still not strong enough to go down to such depths.
Of course, there are also many treasures at those depths, but one must be very powerful to be able to gather them.
“Guardian Liu Xing, Ran Lan and Mu Xu, the 3 of you should be well prepared. You three are going to fight the black eagle head-on. I’m going to be ready to use sneak attacks and deal the finishing blow.” Bai Yin tells Qin Yu and the others directly.
Qin Yu however is pondering his own sneak attacks in his mind.
“Bai Yin is the strongest among these 4 guys so it’s best to kill him first. Ran Lan is cruel and cunning. Mu Xu is arrogant, but there�
�s no need to worry about him. As for Zhuang Zhong …” Qin Yu takes a look at Zhuang Zhong. In fact he has been on alert for this seemingly gullible guardian all along.
Zhuang Zhong has only reached the late Jindan stage in power but he was able to become a guardian. In terms of offense, Ran Lan and Mu Xu are not necessarily superior to him.
“Bai Yin is middle Yuanying while Ran Lan and Mu Xu are only early Yuanying. I must sneakily attack Bai Yin, the stronger. After eliminating this formidable fella, it’ll be a bit easier to join forces with Xiao Hei.” Qin Yu gives Bai Yin a look then goes straight towards him.
Seeing Qin Yu coming, Bai Yin immediately becomes alert in his mind.
A light flashes and a shiny silvery suit of armor appears on his body. At the same time, various streams of demonic elemental energy start to move around him. He says loudly: “Even though it’s going to be 5 against 1, we’ve got to be cautious. Protect yourself carefully first, everybody.”
Stellar Transformations Page 97
