Chapter 553

Wu Tie sits on a large stone in the valley.

Four limbs shattered, also violently knocked unconscious by Wu Tie, the big leader lies sprawled in the grass, several mischievous grasshoppers happily darting in his messy hair.

Wu Tie squints, sitting quietly there, looking at the nearby forest.

Between three big trees, under a slightly raised mound of earth, a yellow-skinned rat's nest is faintly visible. Wu Tie calculates with his fingers, silently computing. In the shrubbery 120 zhang away, those five red honey fruit trees have been ripe for three days; in another quarter hour, the pair of yellow-skinned rats, one male one female, will leave the nest to go harvest red honey fruit in the shrubbery.

Of course, there is also a possibility: according to Wu Tie's observation, the female yellow-skinned rat may give birth today. If so, at dawn this morning, only the male yellow-skinned rat will leave the nest to gather food.

Then things become interesting.

In the grass eighty zhang away, the copper-patterned tiger snake has been lying in wait for three days and nine double-hours half an hour. It has been eyeing the small male yellow-skinned rat covetously, but because of the existence of the plump female yellow-skinned rat, this copper-patterned tiger snake has lacked the courage these past few days to rush out and hunt.

If today only the male yellow-skinned rat leaves the nest to gather red honey fruit, then this will be the copper-patterned tiger snake's best hunting opportunity.

The copper-patterned tiger snake will leave its burrow and deliver a fatal blow to this fatherly male yellow-skinned rat.

The interesting part lies right here.

In the pine forest over two hundred zhang away, on a tree branch twenty zhang above ground, in that large, abandoned crow's nest, a pair of owls have been keeping watch for seven days and seven nights.

Five days ago, this copper-patterned tiger snake slipped into the nest of that owl couple and ate their bird eggs. The incident was witnessed clearly by the owl couple, they have formed a deep blood feud, these days they take turns hunting and standing guard, having rested their spirits, waiting to avenge the copper-patterned tiger snake.

Wu Tie's fingers twitch slightly, the wind stirring grass and dust around him, all covered by his soul power; he is calculating the details of the operation of heaven and earth within a ten-li radius, preparing to predict what will happen soon in this mountain forest.

The divine fetus emits dazzling light; the yellow-skinned rat's racial traits, the female yellow-skinned rat's height, weight, plumpness/thinness, the details of its qi and blood flow that Wu Tie has observed these days, the minutest structure of its body that Wu Tie has detected, down to each grain of sand and stone's depression and protrusion in its nest...

Wu Tie finally precisely calculates that after fifteen breaths, the female yellow-skinned rat will give birth.

After the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, the male yellow-skinned rat will leave the nest alone to go pick the freshest red honey fruit to nourish his wife.

And the copper-patterned tiger snake will kill the male yellow-skinned rat at the fastest speed; to guard against reinforcement from the female yellow-skinned rat, Wu Tie has calculated the copper-patterned tiger snake's fastest, most convenient attack route.

Wu Tie looks toward a small blank area in the grass and shrubbery, where a patch has just been struck by lightning, the thunderfire having burned away the grass and shrubs; the copper-patterned tiger snake must necessarily pass through this small blank area.

The two owls will, after the time it takes to finish half a cup of tea, hunt down the copper-patterned tiger snake.

Wu Tie has calculated the flight trajectories of these two owls; according to their body size, according to the abundance of their qi and blood, according to the shape of their wings and bodies, he has calculated their flight speed, flight trajectory, how much time they need to swoop out from that crow's nest, and along what trajectory they will strike the copper-patterned tiger snake.

This copper-patterned tiger snake is three chi two cun two fen three li long; its length, its muscular strength, the effect of the two missing scales on its belly on its direction and speed of movement... all these elements have been entered into Wu Tie's calculation formula.

Thus, Wu Tie precisely calculates that when this copper-patterned tiger snake is killed, its head and tail will respectively be torn apart by the owl couple, it will be torn into five sections by three claws, a drop of its blood will fall on the male yellow-skinned rat's nose tip, frightening this somewhat timid male yellow-skinned rat to dash at top speed into the shrubbery.

It will, at top speed, carry three red honey fruits, hold two red honey fruits, then flee back to the nest with all its might.

This male yellow-skinned rat has a small body and small courage, but its mate has given birth to offspring, it will desperately try to gather as much fresh red honey fruit as possible to bring back...

Wu Tie breathes, taking deep breaths.

Then everything happens just as he calculated.

The two owls land joyfully on the branches, happily pecking at this copper-patterned tiger snake.

The male yellow-skinned rat stumbles back to the nest carrying five red honey fruits; the female yellow-skinned rat cries out urgently, asking what exactly happened.

In the nest, a litter of twelve yellow-skinned rat pups struggle to roll around, they are competing for their mother's **.

Everything unfolds just as Wu Tie calculated.

Wu Tie begins to calculate the future fate of this litter of yellow-skinned rats... among the twelve pups, two have exceptionally strong strength; in the struggle with their siblings they have gained a strategic advantage, they will grow exceptionally strong.

Especially, in their mother's bloodline, a trace of ancestral wind-mouse bloodline has been inherited in one of the male pups, and moreover enhanced by this much half a point. If this male pup can survive one year, its wind-mouse bloodline power will gradually awaken, it will run faster and faster, become stronger and stronger; after three years, it should be able to open its spiritual intelligence!

Once spiritual intelligence is opened, even if it is the weakest spiritual intelligence, it is no longer an ordinary yellow-skinned rat, but a rat demon!

However, Wu Tie's current calculable range is only this ten-li mountain forest.

Within this ten-li mountain forest, the only beings capable of threatening the life of this yellow-skinned rat pup are that owl couple. Yet this owl couple prefers to hunt field mice, having little interest in yellow-skinned rats.

Therefore, this yellow-skinned rat pup has a great possibility of growing into a rat demon.

The only problem is, if beings from outside the ten-li mountain forest intrude into this mountain forest, Wu Tie cannot effectively control the results he calculated, cannot ensure whether this result is valid.

Wu Tie's expression becomes very solemn.

Ao Chi and the two youths died cleanly and swiftly, without any dragging, leaving behind a will that is just these few simple words; really he didn't even have time to ask a few more questions.

Wu Tie's heart is extremely shocked.

The so-called pretended refinement of Ao Chi, his self-proclaimed grand strategist, in the distant primordial mythic era, could already calculate what happens today... he could calculate that, after who-knows-how-many hundreds of thousands of years later, in the northern border of the Divine Jin State's barbarian mountains, Ao Chi and eighteen companions could encounter a hostile group of divine beings.

These descending divine beings will be struck a heavy blow by Ao Chi and company.

And Ao Chi and company will be able to exert their last bit of residual heat; indeed, just as that grand strategist's divination predicted, they killed twenty-three enemies in a short time, heavily wounded all other enemies, and then indeed only Ao Chi and two youths withdrew from the battlefield, the other sixteen companions all fell on the spot.

They, indeed just as the grand strategist's divination predicted, they sent all their armor, weapons, etc., together with all the resources on the bodies of the twenty-three slain extraterritorial demons, to Wu Tie's presence.

The most important of these is one hundred and eight Canghai Divine Pearls.

Apart from the one hundred and eight Canghai Divine Pearls, those other divine weapons, rare resources, etc., are not mentioned; what most attracts Wu Tie is a volume of 《Qi Men Dun Jia》!

The self-proclaimed "Zhuge Liang reborn" pretended refinement grand strategist, the self-proclaimed "Long Dragon talent" who likes to fan himself in deep winter, Zhu Ge Dongming, he entrusted Ao Chi to deliver to Wu Tie his second great treasure, namely the 《Qi Men Dun Jia》 he accumulated throughout his life.

Zhu Ge Dongming, this utterly unhumble fellow.

He says, "Zhu Ge Kongming," his merit is merely a "kong," a tiny hole.

Therefore, he says his style name is "Zhu Ge Dongming," his merit is a mountain cave, a mountain cave naturally being much larger than a tiny "kong."

He bluntly boasts to Ao Chi and them, saying, "Zhu Ge Kongming" can only shine for a thousand ages, while he Zhu Ge Dongming, even if extraterritorial demons order to erase all records about him, wipe out all texts related to them, his "Dongming" title will surely shine eternally.

In the future human holy temple, his statue of Zhu Ge Dongming will certainly be able to rank among the top thousand, enjoying the incense worship of countless descendants.

"Smug fellow... but truly amazing!"

Wu Tie spent seven days and seven nights calculating what will happen in this ten-li mountain forest. The situation unfolded exactly as he divined: the fate of the yellow-skinned rat family, the owls' revenge, the results were completely correct.

However, when calculating the copper-patterned tiger snake, this guy, while crawling through a clump of tall grass, its tail tip twitched, a grain of sand was flicked off, its trajectory deviated slightly from Wu Tie's calculation.

Seven days time, calculating events within a ten-li radius mountain forest, targeting only a few beasts with no cultivation at all, Wu Tie already has such an error.

And what about Zhu Ge Dongming's calculations?

After who-knows-how-many hundreds of thousands of years, spanning a region of billions of li, targeting existences whose cultivation has reached the divine realm and are extremely powerful within that realm... such a staggering calculation, merely the timing of the gods' descent was delayed by half a double-hour.

"Amazing, amazing... half a double-hour!"

Wu Tie laughed "haha" and stood up, solemnly making a clasped-hand salute toward the sky: "Senior, alas, I cannot ask you in person... but this 'Qimen Dunjia' is extremely interesting; I will study it diligently myself, and I will find the most suitable person to pass it on."

However, this wax pellet of yours…… Could it be that you calculated my existence, and you can also calculate what I will do next? Hey, hehe, interesting, interesting, I… I really don't believe it!

Wu Tie took out a wax pellet sealed by magical power, pressed it slightly with his fingers, crushed it, and a small slip of paper jumped out from inside. The slip was written with extremely neat yet powerful brushstrokes in a dragon‑soaring, phoenix‑dancing style, forming the character meaning 'go'.

"Run? You got it wrong!" Wu Tie laughed 'crack crack', snatched up the unconscious big leader on the ground, and, stepping on a gust of wind, hurried to the gathering point previously agreed upon with Old Master Hu.

Without exerting his full strength, Wu Tie employed ordinary wind-escape techniques to ride clouds and mist all the way, spending over half a month before reaching the northern border of the Da Jin Divine Kingdom, in a troop garrison fort at the northernmost point of the Divine Might Army.

He brought back the big leader of a fugitive, plus the fact that Wu Tie had mentioned in front of Linghu Qingqing that Ao Chi was 'delaying time'; furthermore, during the previous treasure‑hunt operation, Wu Tie's performance was remarkably impressive; especially, he actually managed to escape from that heaven‑shaking, terrifying divine‑battle battlefield.

So, Wu Tie was quickly brought before Old Master Hu.

Having just succeeded in taking over a body, Old Master Hu, using his divine powers, made this possessed flesh look exactly like his former appearance and build in just a few days.

Like a mountain of meat seated in a big chair, Old Master Hu happily smiled at Wu Tie: "Being able to return is good; I said before, you are a person of great fortune, one with great destiny."

Lightly patting his round belly, with waves of white flesh rolling over his whole body, Old Master Hu said in a deep voice: "Very well, this time… although our losses are heavy, precisely because our losses are heavy, the gods' losses are even… terrifying… so we have gained the gods' attention and received more of their support."

"We will reorganize a great army, with the gods personally acting, to help us seize the innate supreme treasure of the level of a state‑protector divine artifact."

"At most one year, we will have sufficient foundation; the day our Linghu clan completely overwhelms the Sima clan is right before our eyes. When the time comes to award merits and rewards, your glory and wealth, I, Linghu Gu, promise you!"

Old Master Hu bluntly spoke his real name; not knowing what happened these days, but Wu Tie could see that Old Master Hu and the five Hu Tu brothers present had undergone a heaven‑shaking change in their vital energy and spirit.

That was an absolute confidence that everything is under control, that everything can definitely be achieved and will never encounter any mishap.

Wu Tie laughed loudly, bowed to Old Master Hu, then suddenly a three‑pointed two‑bladed blade appeared in his hand; with a swish he beheaded Old Master Hu at close range, then another slash split his divine fetus into two pieces.

Before the Hu Tu brothers could react, Wu Tie's three‑pointed two‑bladed blade, emanating a terrifying chill, swept horizontally; five large heads flew high, blood spraying, as Wu Tie turned the long blade and in one stroke split the five fleeing divine fetuses into two pieces each.

"Senior, leaving? Hehe, you got it wrong… I didn't leave; I came, to kill!"

Wu Tie laughed especially brightly.

As he chuckled while holding six heads, placing six divine fetuses into the Black Heaven Cauldron, leisurely preparing to leave, a slip of paper left by Zhuge Dongming slowly flew out of his sleeve.

'Puff', a wisp of green smoke sprayed out, and densely packed fine small characters appeared all over the paper slip.

"Young friend, when you see these words, I may have already dissipated between heaven and earth."

"However, my divination way is absolutely never wrong."

"So, when your tail flicks up, I can roughly calculate that you intend to cause trouble deliberately."

"So, you went back and killed people?"

"Hmm, how many did you kill? Let me calculate… but I have figured it out, I just won't tell you how many… how many heads did you chop off? This number, you guess whether I calculated it or not."

"Heh heh, I won't tell you, aren't you feeling suffocated?"

"Feeling suffocated is just right… back then, which of Ao Chi and his gang wasn't made to smoke from all seven orifices by my suppression, yet helpless? I just like to see you all fuming with rage, yet unable to do anything to me."

"Hahaha, hurry up, hurry up, if you don't leave now, even with a Sea‑Abyss Divine Pearl protecting you, you'll be beaten into meat paste, hey!"

"Hurry up, hurry up… when you have the time and the heart, set up a memorial tablet for me, and on festivals offer several bowls of good wine."

"Ah, while writing this nonsense, I am genuinely curious… after a person dies, what exactly do they become?"

"After the soul and spirit scatter, does it truly come to a complete end, alas?"

"Ah, perhaps it really is a complete end, alas… um, Zhuge Dongming, Zhuge Dongming, you're talking nonsense again."