He can lure them with holy weapons, holy pills and so on to infiltrate some spies into the ranks of Di Nai’s close subordinates, which subsequently will make it possible to eliminate Di Nai.
Xu Yuan says smilingly while waving his feather fan: “These are merely the 2 plans I came up with when not knowing what Di Nai is going to do. If Di Nai is too weak, they will be enough to finish him. If he’s got some brains, I’ll certainly think of other plans.”
Seeing Xu Yuan’s mysterious expression, Qin Yu cannot help giving a smile.
“Uncle Xu, what would you do if you were him?” He asks.
“I’d infiltrate into the Qian Long continent and use mortals to deal with mortals. Only this method can take advantage of the element of surprise. Moreover, it’s the most dangerous method.” Xu Yuan says indifferently. “There are various ways of putting this method into effect, which give different results as well. But any of them is better than attacking directly using Xiuyaoists.”
Xu Yuan gives an indifferent smile: “However, I’ve already taken those various ways into consideration. I want to see what moves Di Nai is going to make.”
Hou Fei blinks a couple of times.
He then says to Qin Yu: “Big brother, those Xiuyaoists are just fools compared to this old man.”
Having now become relaxed, Qin Yu says smilingly: “Fei Fei, you can’t imagine how formidable my Uncle Xu is. Plus, Xiuyaoists are not good enough at stratagem because personal power rules the Xiuyao world. What’s the use of tricks in the face of absolute power?”
“If I were extremely strong, I’d cover the entire Qian Long continent with my holy sense. Once Di Nai appears, I would simply kill him. Whatever plans would be rendered useless by this move of mine. Too bad I’m not so strong so I can only rely on Uncle Xu’s tactics.”
When personal power reaches a certain level, any schemes or tricks will become ineffective against it.
“Xiao Yu, I think Di Nai will most probably assassinate the Qin clan’s members. If he fails, perhaps he’ll target the Qin dynasty’s important officials … You should make some preparations for this because if those important officials get killed, the Qin dynasty’s stability will suffer a huge blow.” Xu Yuan advises.
……
1000 Xiuyaoists, these are Di Nai’s most loyal subordinates. Di Nai already left the Nine Demons Hall, bringing along these 1000. When he left, he also took all of its treasures away with him.
“3 of the Nine Demons Hall’s 4 majesties have died. Now the only one left is the 9th brother. The Azure Dragon Palace, the Blue Water Mansion and the Stellar Tower hereby jointly declare that from now on the Nine Demons Hall no longer exists. Whoever captures Di Nai shall be rewarded with a top-grade holy weapon by the Stellar Tower. Any Xiuyaoists following Di Nai are traitors to the entire underwater Xiuyao world and shall be killed!”
This order spread throughout the underwater Xiuyao world extremely fast.
Based on Xu Yuan’s suggestions, Qin Yu contacted Azure Dragon and Old Freak Three-Eyed then jointly determined to give this order.
When it spread, the Nine Demons Hall collapsed in the blink of an eye.
“Whoever runs will die!”
Di Nai turns into a huge Purple Demon aquatic dragon and rips ten something Xiuyaoists who want to flee apart directly with his dragon claws.
He expected his subordinates to possibly rebel therefore when he left that day, he only brought along the most important and loyal ones among the Nine Demons Hall’s several tens thousand subordinates. Too bad, even some among these 1000 most loyal subordinates run away when faced with that order.
Capturing Di Nai will be rewarded with a top-grade holy weapon!
Following Di Nai is the same as betraying the entire underwater Xiuyao world and will be punished with death!
These 2 clauses make the hearts of those loyal Xiuyaoists pound. They are betraying the entire underwater Xiuyao world, no less!
“All of you listen. From now on, whoever betrays me shall be killed. If you don’t betray me, I’ll ensure that you live.” Di Nai tells the more than 800 remaining subordinates.
Half of these over 800 subordinates are absolutely loyal to him. Even though the other half are loyal to him, they also fear for their lives.
Di Nai says indifferently: “Don’t worry. Now the Nine Demons Hall has fallen apart, who knows who I took with me when I left? Basically nobody can know who you are, let alone kill you.”
Those Xiuyaoists feel a bit more relaxed.
“Moreover, I won’t push you into the road to destruction.” Di Nai says smilingly. “I have with me all the treasures of the Nine Demons Hall. Originally several tens thousand members of the Nine Demons Hall were going to be supplied with them, but now only the several hundred of you can use them so there are a lot of holy weapons and holy pills for everybody.”
Those Xiuyaoists’ eyes glitter. They also know that Di Nai took all the Nine Demons Hall’s treasures with him when he fled.
“Yan Mou, Yan Xin, you secretly take 300 troops each to the northern extremity of the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave under the Stellar Tower and gather in the waters next to the Qian Long continent. I’ll take the remaining troops to meet up with you there. We’re going to go forwards in 3 directions.”
Di Nai has divided his forces into 3 groups and put his 2 most trustworthy subordinates in charge of 2 of them.
Yan Mou and Yan Xin have been following him since they were little and consider him their father. They take his order without delay.
“Have no fear, everybody. Just throw away your jade identity cards and go to the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave to get the new ones. From now on, you’re members of the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave under the Stellar Tower outwardly but you’re secretly my subordinates.” Di Nai says with a smile.
Those Xiuyaoists calm down a lot.
“This way, nobody will know that you’re my subordinates so there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.” Di Nai says confidently. “After reaching the Black Aquatic Dragon Cave’s territory, we’ll first choose a place in the waters next to the Qian Long continent to set up our base.”
Di Nai looks at those slightly calm Xiuyaoists, saying: “Trust me, if you follow me, you’ll have more treasures than any other Xiuyaoists do. Besides, nobody will know your real identities …”
“Remember one thing. Nobody is allowed to rat. From now on, transmitters will be distributed strictly. Only the special ones can have transmitters. The others are not allowed to contact outsiders. 10 troops form a squad. Whoever runs away will be killed and the other members of his squad will be collectively punished with death.” Di Nai says in a cold voice.
Those Xiuyaoists’ hearts tremble.
Di Nai smiles again and says comfortingly: “Don’t worry. As long as you don’t betray me, you’ll live very well. But if any member of a squad runs away, the other members of the squad should blame that runaway instead of me. It’s he who does you harm.”
The use of collective punishment makes the members of a squad monitor each other. After all, their lives are on the line here.
Afterwards, the squads are formed and the transmitters are distributed.
“All right, let’s get going in 3 directions.” Di Nai orders.
Under the command of Di Nai, Yan Xin and Yan Mou, Di Nai’s subordinates split up into 3 groups, which follow different paths to rush to the Stellar Tower’s Black Aquatic Dragon Cave.
“Qin Yu, even if I can’t kill you, I’ll kill all of your relatives … Right, your clan is the royal clan of the Qin dynasty, isn’t it? I heard a dynasty’s high-ranking officials are very important. Killing some of them will most probably give you a headache too.” Di Nai gives a faint cold smile.
Chapter 6: Mutated Heavenly Tribulation
Qin Yu and Li’er are standing side by side on the shore of a blue lake, looking at a silhouette in the distance.
At the moment, the sky is gloom, the ground is dark and storm clouds are raging. The whole
sky has a strange dark red color, looking as if it has become a huge furnace. A purple tribulation cloud is floating in the sky while a myriad of serpentine electric sparks are flashing.
Boom!
A purple thunderbolt strikes down at that proudly standing figure with a boom, carrying a seemingly irresistible force. That figure below the cloud is none other than Xiao Hei, who is going through his 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation. Xiao Hei raises his head to stare at the tribulation cloud with his sharp eagle eyes.
As the thunderbolt is striking down, he suddenly utters an eagle cry.
A swirl appears with Xiao Hei’s Xiao HeiingXiao Heiter. That purple thunderbolt is unexpectedly sucked in by the swirl then goes into Xiao Hei’s stomach. Swallowing thunderbolts is the move Xiao Hei is best at.
“Li’er, this is the 3rd thunderbolt. When taking on tribulations, other people all defend themselves with formations and restrictive spells first then withstand the thunderbolts with holy weapons, but Xiao Hei mostly swallows the thunderbolts. To him, the thunderbolts are even powering-up treasures.” Qin Yu says happily with a smile.
Li’er looks at Xiao Hei in the distance with a note of praise in her eyes, saying: “Big brother Qin Yu, Xiao Hei is a special divine beast. Even divine beasts are divided into high, middle and low classes. Xiao Hei is definitely not inferior to Fei Fei.”
Qin Yu smiles to the point where his eyes begin to narrow.
This is not because he is happy for Xiao Hei, but because Li’er called him ‘big brother Qin Yu’.
Her calling him so was brought about by a plan he and Hou Fei came up with a month ago. With Hou Fei getting into action and him acting the fool, they put on a good play and eventually succeeded in forcing Li’er to call him big brother Qin Yu. Even now he still revels in this very much.
Of course, he cannot let her know what he feels.
Boom!
The 4th thunderbolt strikes down with a boom. Dust and stones quickly fly up as if there is an ongoing storm. The pressure given off by the thunderbolt is frighteningly great, but Xiao Hei spreads his wings and opens his mouth, creating a swirl again. Part of the thunderbolt’s energy is absorbed directly while the remainder bombards Xiao Hei’s body.
“Awesome, it feels awesome bathing in this thunderbolt.”
Xiao Hei’s voice resounds through the sky. He even stretches his wings wantonly. When the lightning comes into contact with his wings, most of it is absorbed directly and only a small part of it actually hits the wings with very negligible damage.
“Perhaps no other divine beasts can bathe in thunderbolts like this.” Qin Yu is very happy.
Li’er also says with an indifferent smile: “Last time Fei Fei went through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation very easily. But judging by Xiao Hei’s situation, perhaps he’s going to overcome this tribulation even more easily than Fei Fei did. Look, this is already the 5th thunderbolt.”
When she has just finished talking, the 5th thunderbolt strikes down at Xiao Hei’s body.
Xiao Hei spreads his wings wantonly. An indistinct blood-red light moves along the surface of the wings. At the same time, various electric sparks flicker around his body unceasingly. This time Xiao Hei does not swallow the lightning with his mouth because he feels that this thunderbolt is somewhat oppressive.
The 5th thunderbolt hits Xiao Hei’s body with a boom. The blood-red light moves extremely fast at once.
Whizz!
Like cotton sucking up water, the blood-red light unexpectedly absorbs more than half of the thunderbolt right away. The remaining lightning cannot even hurt Xiao Hei in the least. The 5th thunderbolt thus has been defeated in such an incredible manner.
“Xiao Hei, don’t be too careless. We’ll return after the 6th thunderbolt.” Qin Yu says with loud laughter.
Even though he warned Xiao Hei not to be too careless, his last sentence shows that he does not pay too much attention to the 6th thunderbolt either. After all, he saw Hou Fei go through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation so naturally he knows that the 6th thunderbolt is only a bit more powerful than the 5th.
“Don’t worry, big …”
Xiao Hei’s voice is stifled. Qin Yu’s face changes color greatly while Li’er takes 2 steps forwards all of a sudden staring at that tribulation cloud.
Boom ~~~
The whole world seems to start to rumble. Meanwhile, countless serpentine electric sparks are generated from all over the dark red sky again then gather towards the tribulation cloud like a controlled pit of snakes.
“What’s going on? Doesn’t a tribulation generally end when the energy of its tribulation cloud has been spent completely in the bombardment? Why does this tribulation cloud gather lightning again as it did in the beginning when it had just formed?” Qin Yu immediately has a bad feeling.
Since antiquity, every heavenly tribulation has struck down one thunderbolt after another until the energy of the original tribulation cloud is used up.
Only in the beginning can lightning be gathered to form a tribulation cloud. Nobody has ever seen a 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation that unexpectedly gathers electricity again to power up the tribulation cloud when the 6th thunderbolt is about to strike down.
Li’er looks coldly into the sky with an unprecedented serious expression in her eyes.
“Big brother Qin Yu, I’ll use the method of my clan to check it out a bit.” She tells Qin Yu.
Immediately, she sits down with legs crossed and her hands seem to turn into thousands of hands. Multiple green beams of light shoot out from her body, enfolding her in them. At the same time, she closes her eyes.
Li’er’s mouth then slightly moves. Various golden rays of light radiate from the edge of her mouth. She opens her eyes in a moment and shouts to Xiao Hei: “Xiao Hei, do your best. Don’t even think about fooling around. If you’re careless, both your body and soul will be destroyed completely.”
Xiao Hei gently nods, but his eyes shines with an indistinct red light.
Even now Qin Yu still does not know what Li’er’s race is. But he knows that despite her very slow progress in practice, she has many magic powers and is simply unfathomable. According to what she said, these are some special secret techniques of her clan.
When she already said so, it is obvious that … Xiao Hei is very likely to be struck dead by this 6th thunderbolt.
Whizz!
A noise that seems like the sound of the breathing of nature is heard. The electricity absorption speed increases a hundredfold in the blink of an eye. When that noise disappears, the lightning in nature has been absorbed completely. Right afterwards, the tribulation cloud begins to shake.
Boom!
Speed, an extremely terrifying speed,
A dark purple thunderbolt that is as thick as an arm strikes down. In terms of thunderbolts, one with the thickness of an arm is exceptionally small. As this thunderbolt is formed from the entire energy of a tribulation cloud which has absorbed electricity twice, it is easy to imagine how frighteningly powerful it is.
Xiao Hei has gone mad. His eyes are glistening with a red light. He spreads his wings to the utmost. The red light on his body surges forth completely, occupying an area of 2 to 3 m in radius. He yells again and that swirl is created once more, but this time the swirl spins even faster and also has a larger range.
That blackish purple thunderbolt as thick as an arm shoots at the swirl.
The swirl is shattered immediately. That thunderbolt is really too powerful for Xiao Hei’s swirl to withstand. It then pierces through 2 to 3 m of the red light easily like a small needle penetrating a thick layer of snow.
The red light only absorbs a very small part of the lightning in the process so there is still a great amount of electricity left.
Screeching!
Screeching like crazy!
Qin Yu cannot help starting to tremble because he can feel that Xiao Hei is currently on the border between life and death.
The extremely hard feathers are smashed. Blood scatters.
Not even Xiao Hei’s tough feathers can withstand the power of the thunderbolt. His flesh is immediately blackened and scorched by the lightning. Qin Yu goes mad as soon as he sees this scene.
All of a sudden --
Xiao Hei’s entire body gives off an extremely black type of darkness. This darkness is very pure, so pure that it even swallows the rays of light around it. At the same time, Xiao Hei’s body disappears completely, leaving behind only the darkness. That thunderbolt eventually hits the darkness with a boom.
“So that’s what he is!”
Li’er murmurs in a low voice with brightening eyes. But Qin Yu does not pay attention to what she says. His mind is being focused completely on Xiao Hei.
Stellar Transformations Page 158
