Chapter 389: Gathering Before the Qianzhu Hall

Seeing the heavenly thunder about to descend, Long Qi was at his wit's end; if he were struck by the heavenly thunder, he would surely meet his end here.

Could it be that he, Long Qi, would only make it this far? But he still had family grudges unavenged, and Lingxiang yet to be saved; how could he die in a place like this?

Long Qi's eyes were split with rage, filled with unwillingness, yet he could only watch helplessly as the thunder gathered above his head, unable to do a single thing.

Just as the lightning was about to fall, two rays of light flew out from Long Qi's bosom, one orange and one blue, spinning like Yin and Yang.

It was the Fire Spirit Bead and the Water Spirit Pearl.

The two spirit beads hovered above Long Qi's head, blocking all of the descending heavenly thunder, and because of this, the heavenly thunder scattered in all directions.

After the lightning and thunder passed, raging fires ignited all around, the fierce flames burning as if they intended to swallow everything on the mountain whole.

Long Qi looked at all this in astonishment, momentarily not knowing how to react.

When the Old Ancestor taught him this move, he never said it was this powerful! Well, this is a fine mess; how is he supposed to clean it up?

Perhaps in response to Long Qi's thoughts, the Fire Spirit Bead flashed with spiritual light, and the surrounding flames seemed to be summoned, the fire gathering toward the Fire Spirit Bead in unison; in just a moment, the surrounding flames were sucked dry.

Once the dust settled, the two spirit beads slowly landed before Long Qi; the dumbfounded Long Qi blankly reached out to gather the two beads, his bewildered expression looking just like a fool envious of another child's candy.

While lost in thought, he saw a mound of dirt nearby bulge up, gravel rolling and emitting a series of "clatter" sounds. Before long, a figure burst out from the earth, dusted off the dirt on his body, and looked coldly at Long Qi.

"Oh~ so it was Earth Escape!"

Long Qi suddenly realized; no wonder he hadn't seen this person's figure just now, it turned out he had been hiding in the dirt.

Thinking of this, Long Qi's face showed three parts disdain and seven parts unwillingness, and he curled his lip, secretly snorting: Coward!

He was unwilling to admit his own panic from just a moment ago, otherwise, it would be too embarrassing.

Although Long Qi could now perform some Witchcraft, he only knew the Fire Formula and the Thunder Formula; as for a technique like Earth Escape, he didn't know it at all.

Just these two techniques had taken all his strength to learn, so how could he have any energy left to practice others?

That's right, he was jealous! Jealous to the point of being unrecognizable, jealous to the point of no return.

But the situation did not allow Long Qi to rest; in the blink of an eye, the man drew the straight blade from his back and charged at Long Qi, the blade's cold light bone-chilling and shimmering with a purplish hue.

It was actually a Demon Blade!

Long Qi was greatly alarmed and hurriedly drew his sword to parry; blade and sword collided, sparking a burst of fire.

It was the Demon Race!

Long Qi held his breath, not daring to slacken, and taking advantage of the opponent's lack of preparation, he shifted his body and punched him in the ribs.

This punch was delivered with full force; the man felt the pain and clutched his ribs, gasping for air, but Long Qi did not give him a chance to catch his breath, turning and slashing his blade down toward the top of his head.

Long Qi's killing intent was fully revealed; the man in black was momentarily stunned and forgot to dodge. Seeing the blade about to fall, at that very moment, a loud shout instantly brought him back to his senses.

"Stop!"

Though the voice was childish, it was very high-pitched; Long Qi felt as if he had heard it somewhere before, but couldn't recall it for the moment.

It was precisely this sound that distracted Long Qi, giving the man in black a chance to dodge; he rolled away, avoiding the falling sword edge.

With a sharp "clang," the sword struck beside the man. Looking over, the distance between the sword and him was less than a foot, yet it had pierced deeply into the ground, and the rock he had been under just now had been smashed to pieces.

The man in black frowned: Long Qi really had the intent to kill! If he hadn't dodged just now, he would have already been soul-scattered!

Looking back at Long Qi, he was holding his sword in one hand and scratching his head with the other, peering toward the source of the voice, completely devoid of the killing intent from before.

The man in black pondered: Perhaps he really can save Master...

And this man in black was none other than the disciple Lingxiang had taken in the Demon Realm: Zhanli.

The person who arrived was also no stranger; it was Adao, who had come searching up the mountain, followed by Xin Yi and Zhao Wuyang.

Perhaps because Adao was too short, Long Qi hadn't noticed him at first, seeing only Xin Yi and Zhao Wuyang.

"Why did you two come? Where is Liu Yao?"

Liu Yao was the nickname Long Qi used for Liu Xia, because Liu Xia was the youngest in his family, so Long Qi always teased him about it, even though he himself was clearly the youngest in his own family.

"We went to the village to find Senior Chiyanzi and the others," Zhao Wuyang replied.

"What are you looking for that old man for?" Long Qi was very puzzled; he was almost finished here, why go to all that extra trouble?

Right! He was in the middle of a fight!

Long Qi was just about to look down at Zhanli when, unexpectedly, Adao kicked him hard in the calf. Long Qi jumped up clutching his leg in pain, and only then did he see the dissatisfied-looking Adao.

"You little brat, why are you kicking me!" Long Qi shouted subconsciously, but once he saw clearly that it was Adao, he widened his eyes, forgetting even the pain in his leg.

"Ah! Why is it you!" After reacting for a moment, Long Qi exclaimed.

Three years ago, during the strange phenomenon at Qingwei Peak, Long Qi had thought this little yellow weasel had died on the mountain; he hadn't expected him to be alive and well.

Little Adao crossed his arms in a grown-up manner, looked at Long Qi with disdain, and provocatively challenged him: "Tsk! Didn't expect that, did you? Did you think I was dead? Heh! That must be a disappointment for you. I went to the Demon Realm with Master, unlike you..." As he spoke, he looked Long Qi up and down, smacking his lips in disdain, looking down on him.

Long Qi, having his thoughts guessed, just rubbed his nose sheepishly, trying to cover up his embarrassment, but when he realized what was said, he asked in surprise:

"What? You said Lingxiang took you to the Demon Realm?"

Long Qi opened his mouth in shock; he couldn't accept this reality for a moment—Lingxiang could take Adao with her, but left him behind!

Adao boastfully recounted everything from the past three years and formally introduced Zhanli, but after hearing it all, Long Qi felt even more bitter inside.

Long Qi frowned and pouted, staying silent as if sulking, and just pulled out his sword to wipe away the non-existent dust on the blade. Seeing this, Xin Yi just shook his head helplessly—Long Qi really was something, getting jealous even of a little milk-drinking brat, as if he'd fallen into a vat of vinegar.

"So, the so-called 'guide' is the two of you?" Xin Yi still remembered Bai Wuchang's words before he vanished, so he asked.

Long Qi pricked up his ears upon hearing this, but remained seated, pretending to wipe his sword, appearing indifferent, though his sidelong glance was almost flying out of his eye socket.

Adao saw all of this. He didn't know who Xin Yi had heard the term "guide" from, but when Lingxiang sent them out of the Demon Realm, she had indeed given instructions about this matter, but...

"Hmph! Just because you say you're the guide, I have to follow? Wouldn't I lose face?"

He was, after all, a disciple of Fucang Elder of the Qingwei Peak, and could be considered to have been through life and death with Lingxiang; plus, with a "junior brother" like Zhanli here, he had to put on some airs, didn't he?

But Long Qi couldn't sit still when he heard this.

"You little brat, your face isn't even the size of a palm, what face do you have?"

Hearing this, Adao was not happy.

"Shut up! You faithless man!"

Going back on your word?

Long Qi looked stunned.

This...

Where does this come from?

Seeing that Long Qi was confused, Adao gave a cold snort: "Last time you said that as long as I kept a proper distance between men and women from my master, you would handle finding me a wife in the future. But what was the result? Where is the wife?"

Although Adao had already become a demon, he was still a wild beast by nature, and the instinct to continue his lineage was carved into his bones; the matter he spoke of was what Long Qi had whispered into his ear back in the cave in Yunmeng Marsh.

"Uh..."

Long Qi was momentarily unable to refute this; after all, he really had said those words, but upon second thought, that wasn't right!

"You little brat, you're only this big, yet you're already thinking about such nonsense!"

Adao curled his lips and glanced sideways at Long Qi: "I knew it, a man's mouth is a deceptive ghost; not a single word a man says can be trusted!"

This...

What kind of logic is that?

"Aren't you a male too? If you put it that way, doesn't that mean your words can't be trusted either?" After a long while, Long Qi finally found a point of contention.

"I am not a human, so naturally, I would not tell lies."

Adao's sincere remark choked Long Qi so hard he nearly strangled on his own saliva; he coughed for a long time, unable to say anything, as Adao was not wrong after all.

He really was not a human!

Just as the two were bickering, Zhanli, who was standing to the side, pulled off his face mask; the youth's delicate appearance made Long Qi feel somewhat uneasy—he had actually harbored the intent to kill a child just moments ago.

"Master is in great danger right now." Zhanli, who had been silent all this time, spoke up.

The Demon Lord of the Demon Realm was mentally unstable, and there was also Guihua watching like a tiger eyeing its prey; although Lingxiang appeared relaxed all day, Zhanli knew that she was walking on thin ice every day, counting the days and calculating. So many days had passed, and he was truly worried about Lingxiang's safety.

Hearing these words, Adao stopped talking, and Long Qi's face also turned grave.

Long Qi had witnessed the power of the Demon Lord, not to mention the crazed Guihua; although he believed that Lingxiang would certainly be safe and sound, he still felt very worried.

The group fell into a silence, and just at this moment, Liu Xia arrived at this location with Chiyanzi and the others.

After a round of formal greetings, Chiyanzi, having learned the reason for the situation, stroked his long beard, pondered for a moment, and asked a key question:

"According to what this humble Daoist knows, although the Ghost Gate has a portal in the Netherworld, it is not immovable in the human world; it only appears when the Ghost Immortal descends into the world. It is easy for the two of you to descend, but do you have any way to re-enter the Netherworld?"

Regarding matters of the Netherworld, Chiyanzi had heard them when he was a child from a member of the Demon Race who often visited Tumi Xianzi, but he did not know much; every time that person came, Tumi Xianzi would send him away, and he could only overhear a word or two.

Adao and Zhanli exchanged a glance and both stepped back a pace; only then did everyone see the temple in the distance, which was none other than Ganzhu Hall.

And before the hall stood a white figure, though no one knew how long they had been standing there.

"Hiss!" Zhao Wuyang shuddered at the sight.

It was actually Bai Wuchang!

The group suddenly understood; it turned out that all of this had been in Lingxiang's plan.

"Lingxiang..." Long Qi muttered to himself: "You must be safe and sound!"