Chapter 86: Signs of a Hidden Truth
“You mean the Azure Dragon lineage has only the two of you, then? You have never been to the Heavenly Dao Sect?”
Li Tagu’s temper vanished at once. His face darkened as he stared at Zhang Shouzheng.
“I don’t even know where the sect is. If I did, why would I have ended up out here? I’m not lying to you. This Azure Dragon ring is the relic my master left me when he died. I can’t lose it. If I did, I’d truly be letting my master down.”
Zhang Shouzheng looked at Li Tagu imploringly. Li Tagu tossed the ring back to him, closed his eyes to rest, and refused to speak any further. Zhang Shouzheng, delighted to have the ring back, hurriedly put it on again. Then he leaned out of the car window, carefully studying the road outside, thinking to seize a chance to slip away and find his way back by retracing the route. But after watching for a while, he was utterly discouraged. Not only were the towering buildings around him dazzling and bewildering, the vehicle kept turning left and right until he was completely disoriented.
“Little brat, don’t disturb my master’s rest, or I’ll twist your head off and use it as a ball!”
Tie Niu warned Zhang Shouzheng coldly.
About half an hour later, the off-road vehicle entered a residential compound filled entirely with villas. Zhang Shouzheng stared in dumb amazement; it was like living inside a castle. It was exceedingly quiet, and the landscaping was immaculate.
“Get out.”
Once the car stopped, Tie Niu spoke flatly. Zhang Shouzheng pushed at the door with all his strength, but it would not open. Panic broke out in a sweat on his forehead. Beside him, Li Tagu let out a soft sigh, reached over with a hand, and pulled. The door opened. Zhang Shouzheng stepped out awkwardly and looked at the enormous castle-like villa before him.
The ground beneath his feet was covered in lush green grass, and not far away was a huge swimming pool. Zhang Shouzheng swallowed and looked toward Li Tagu, who was slowly stepping out of the car.
Li Tagu wore a robe of coarse linen with a fine texture, styled in an ancient fashion. Even the buttons were cloth knots. The garment was spotless, even carrying a faint fragrance of fresh grass. No matter how Zhang Shouzheng looked at him, he could not imagine that this man was a great demon, a master who refined corpse slaves.
“How is it? Satisfied? If you are willing to work for me, you may use anything here as you please.”
Li Tagu came to Zhang Shouzheng’s side and smiled with airy indifference. Such an immense fortune meant little in his eyes.
Zhang Shouzheng stared at him, his brows faintly knitting. Seeing the off-road vehicle drive off in another direction, he finally relaxed. At once, he formed a sword-finger and said to Li Tagu, “If you want me to work under you, then I’ll have to see whether you’re really capable.”
Having passed through the netherworld and fused the Primordial Origin Pearl with his own spirit, he had already attained the cultivation of the daytime realm, and thus possessed far more confidence than before.
“Little brat, still not taught enough of a lesson?”
Li Tagu did not anger. He clasped his hands behind his back and silently watched the poised Zhang Shouzheng, paying him no heed at all.
“Heh. In terms of fleshly strength, I really am no match for you. But we can duel with our spirits!”
Zhang Shouzheng smiled slyly. Now that his spirit had been imbued with pure yang power, it could leave the body even in broad daylight. Ordinary cultivators could not do the same, for the spirit was of the soul and akin to a yin ghost. Even if one’s spirit were powerful enough to appear in daylight, it would still suffer damage to varying degrees, and its strength would be suppressed.
“Now? It’s daytime. Aren’t you afraid your spirit will be reduced to ashes? By then, even if the Dao Ancestor himself descended, he could not save your soul from vanishing into nothing.”
Li Tagu frowned slightly and stared coldly at Zhang Shouzheng. This boy was either foolish beyond measure or too clever for his own good, to have actually devised such a method to force his hand.
“If you’re too afraid, then I have nothing else to say.”
Zhang Shouzheng shrugged and looked at him with exaggerated helplessness.
As long as his spirit left his body, he would immediately be able to sense Kong Kong. No matter where he went, Kong Kong maintained a trace of connection with him. If he were to leave his body and summon Kong Kong with the Azure Dragon secret art, Kong Kong would rush over at once. Thinking of how Kong Kong’s spirit had once crushed that ghost-demon with a single hand, Zhang Shouzheng’s smile grew even brighter. If he could use this chance to help his senior brother eliminate such a formidable enemy, that would be for the best.
“That was your own proposal. Don’t regret it!”
Li Tagu glanced up at the sky. Though it was already past two in the afternoon, the sun blazed fiercely overhead, and fine beads of sweat had already gathered on Zhang Shouzheng’s forehead.
“Of course I won’t regret it!”
Zhang Shouzheng stepped back from Li Tagu, sat cross-legged, and slowly closed his eyes. In but a moment, a shadowy form emerged from his fleshly body. The silhouette gradually sharpened until it became almost tangible. Most striking of all, a faint golden radiance had settled over Zhang Shouzheng’s spirit, emanating the power of the Primordial Origin Pearl.
Li Tagu also sat down, and a shadowy form rose from him as well. Yet when his spirit emerged from his body, his appearance was rather different from before.
He had long hair draped over his shoulders and wore a cyan robe. His features were refined without being eerie, and there was even a scholarly air between his brows. In fact, his countenance bore some resemblance to Zhang Shouzheng’s, though it was more restrained. He looked with clear eyes at Zhang Shouzheng’s spirit, and astonishment spread across his calm face. Then he cried out in shock, “The Primordial Origin Pearl! That’s the aura of the Primordial Origin Pearl! How do you possess a treasure of my Li family? No wonder you dare to leave your body in broad daylight.”
But Zhang Shouzheng ignored him. With both hands forming a seal, he abruptly lifted his head and shouted at the top of his lungs:
“Kong Kong!”
His voice rolled like thunder, sweeping in all directions. Only beings of spirit could hear it; ordinary mortals could not.
Li Tagu did not attack, nor did he care what Zhang Shouzheng was calling for. He merely looked at Zhang Shouzheng with a complicated expression. A fragment flickered through his mind, and he recalled how, back at the Azure Dragon Temple, the spirit-repelling monkey had appeared there and attacked him. Clearly, the spirit-repelling monkey had already acknowledged a master. Now the Li family’s Primordial Origin Pearl had appeared here as well, and the other party was a person from the Azure Dragon Temple. This also meant that the monkey and this youth were inseparable. If there truly was no second person in the Azure Dragon Temple, then this boy was very likely of Li blood, a descendant of the Li family. Otherwise, how could he have fused the Primordial Origin Pearl into his own spirit?
The Primordial Origin Pearl was a treasure from antiquity, and it had originally been forged using the pure yang bloodline of the Li family’s ancestor. That was why only those of the Li family could truly wield it.
That boy Jiang Litian certainly was not a descendant of the Li family. This boy, however, might well be. For when Li Tagu first laid eyes on him, he had felt an emotion he could not put into words, a kinship that could only be sensed from the depths of the soul.
But in the next instant, a roar came from afar. At some point, a mass of black clouds had gathered in the sky. A shaggy giant hand burst from within the clouds and fiercely reached for Li Tagu. Seeing the golden markings upon that hairy immense hand, Li Tagu stood there dumbstruck, while Zhang Shouzheng across from him smiled with extraordinary brilliance.
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