603 The Old Taois

Jiang Zhiwei frowned with uncertainty. "I am afraid we are not able to decide on this matter in his stead."

The old Taoist spoke through their minds with a laugh. "Please be at ease, Donors. I only require you to help me deliver a message. The matter itself would be for Master Su to decide on his own. There will be at least two days before the reinforcements from the Golden Light Cave arrive. We are hardly out of time."

"He knows quite a lot..." The thought flashed instantly in Jiang Zhiwei's and her companions' minds. Tian Kuo was especially astounded. The old Taoist was not merely giving him a reminder earlier when he was telling him of his fate. The Taoist had been "informing" him intentionally!

"What is he up to?"

Flabbergasted, the three were still dazed as the old Taoist continued speaking. "The help that I request of Master Su is simple and easy. Pray, bring this item to him. I trust that he will agree to help me once he sees it."

Immediately, in Tian Kuo's hands, a silk pouch materialized out of thin air. The pouch was light, seemingly weightless in his hand. The item it contained was strange in that he could not perceive anything from its seemingly non-existential aura.

Considering the harmless nature of the request, Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu both looked at the silk pouch and agreed to the request of the old Taoist. Still, the message could only be delivered by Tian Kuo. With the present alarmed state of their watchful enemies, Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu could easily escape from prison, but they were certain that their flight would hardly be unnoticed when the wary eyes of sentinels of the levels of grandmasters were upon the prison. They would never be able to infiltrate unseen once more.

In a cloistered and quiet study in the Tian family manor.

Meng Qi, Qi Zhengyan, and Zhao Heng were easing themselves, taking respite in the residence of the Minister of Justice. The mood in the study was a huge contrast to the atmosphere of fear and panic that gripped all other households of the aristocracy and their heedful sentries in the city of Shangying.

They had slipped back into the city and into the Tian family manor undetected with the help of Tian Kuo!

Tian Kuo had hidden them in the study to prevent his father from noticing his actions. Upon his return from the prison, he slipped into the study during his patrol of the grounds. He swiftly relayed the tale of the old Taoist to Meng Qi and then handed him a silk pouch.

An old Taoist... But nothing could be sensed from his aura... Meng Qi frowned as he dug through his mind for any clue about the old Taoist. There was a familiar impression to his identity. Zhao Heng also told the tale of Tian Kuo's first encounter with the old Taoist. The debate on the old Taoist continued as the three discussed at length. Yet, nothing malicious could be noticed nor traced from the old Taoist. His emergence now could have not been more disquieting!

Knowing full well that the Dominator of the Six Samsara was watching, Meng Qi opened the silk pouch.

Instantaneously, he understood what it was that the pouch contained, and why he had felt a sense of closeness!

Meng Qi tilted the pouch and out slipped the item, falling onto his palm. It was black and about the size of his palm. Words were inscribed in gold upon it:

"The Line of the Jade Virtual Palace!"

Indeed!

Meng Qi remembered that he had a similar item in the form of a waist plate. It allowed its bearer to block prying spiritual senses without any other apparent function!

However, coming from the old Taoist, this item had a completely different significance. His was received due to the legacy of the persona that he had inherited from The Immortals guild. He himself had little to no relations with the Jade Virtual Palace, whereas the old Taoist could very well be a true heir to its line!

Is he one of those that the enemies have labeled as the remnants of the Jade Virtual Palace?

"Did he offer his help because he recognized the Eight Nine Mysteries technique that I had used?"

"The line of the Jade Virtual Palace?" Zhao Heng, Qi Zhengyan, and Tian Kuo cried in awe. The legendary name of the Heavenly Primogenitor was known to all. He was the leader of the Most Divine Taoist Trinity and the greatest of the Nine Primogenitors of Taoism. The greatness of his name and legend traveled far and wide in the realms and worlds of Meng Qi and his companions, especially in the Apotheosized World where the events of the War of the Apotheosis was just five hundred years ago. Legends were not mere tales and fables that were passed along orally in this realm. Thus, the barely contained astonishment when they saw the waist plate of the Virtual Purity Palace with their own eyes.

Tian Kuo sighed heavily. "Who would have known that the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace still endures..."

Hearing this, Zhao Heng and Qi Zhengyan looked at each other. They had once heard Meng Qi mentioning the "remnants of the Jade Virtual Palace." Meng Qi feigned ignorance about the matter and asked, "Were there no other known heirs to the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace?"

"Since the end of the Apotheosis War, the faction of the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace suffered tremendous losses. Only a handful of rulers of states aside from the royal family shared ties with them. With the withdrawal of the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace from this realm, even Yun Zhongzi who had not been one of the Twelve retreated into hiding. Thus the Line fell into desolation."

"At present, the Qi State, which had once produced one of the greatest of the Six Hegemons, has been ousted from the ranks of the strongest nations of the land, barely able to hold on to the name as heir and successor to the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace.

A waist plate of such elaborateness could not easily be replicated without the powers and skills of the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace!

"I see... So the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace is only considered remnants of insurgents only in certain countries and the areas of their dominion..." Meng Qi let loose a breath of relief. He fiddled with the waist plate, feeling a bond with the aura it contained. It was the greatest difference from the waist plate that he already owned.

"There are differences in the two waist plates?" Meng Qi wondered. Without being able to examine closely without raising suspicion, Meng Qi spoke,

"Please inform the old Taoist tomorrow that I have agreed to his request."

The mere proof that he was of the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace was enough to convince Meng Qi to agree, let alone the prospect that a great many followers of the School of Mo could be rescued from captivity!

The following day, Tian Kuo related Meng Qi's response to the old Taoist, Jiang Zhiwei, and Ruan Yushu.

With elation, the old Taoist said, "How goes it? I have been correct, am I not?"

With no more desire to continue joking, the expression of the old Taoist became serious. "I have been bound by certain restrictions which forbid my direct interference," he said, "But I can help you slip by without raising the notice of the grandmasters who are watching outside. Are you are confident to defeat the strong guards outside?"

Restrictions? The word sounded odd to Jiang Zhiwei. She could only feel there was more than meets the eyes with the mysticisms of the Apotheosized World, so she reflected some more on the word that the old Taoist had mentioned.

Tian Kuo hastily reported his study of the situation in the dungeons, "There is a guard of the level of the Exterior on the Fifth and the Sixth Levels. Both are of the Second- or the Third-fold Heavens. The rest of the guards are of the Eighth or the Ninth Aperture and are chiefly scattered around the six levels."

Jiang Zhiwei weighed their options and shared a glance with Ruan Yushu who gave her a nod of approval,

"Very well!" she answered.

They would be able to fend for themselves even if their foes were in possession of any secret treasures which are potent in abilities and powers. Her sword would be able to handle the rest of the others with brute force and sheer will!

Without further prattle, the old Taoist stomped his right foot. Tremors pulsed through the prison, followed by a deafening silence as if the entirety of the prison had been torn and removed into a separate dimension!

Jiang Zhiwei produced the Space Ring that she had hidden earlier. She drew her sword, the Sword of the Sun-penetrating Rainbow. With a slight exertion of her strength, the shackles that bound her foot and hands broke into pieces and clattered helplessly onto the floor.

There was another sharp and cold glint of her sword. Shackles and chains fell to the floor from Ruan Yushu's hands and they released themselves from their cell.

The rest of the prisoners could hardly believe the events that unfolded before their very eyes. With gaping looks of astonishment, they saw Jiang Zhiwei hit Tian Kuo unconscious and leave him in a corner.

"Do not act rashly before we are truly out of here! Anyone who defies my orders will share the fate of this chain!"

There was no clang of steel on steel, yet the chains on the ground were suddenly pulverized! Not by blows of fists, but by slashes of blades that were too quick to be seen or heard!

The terrifying force of Jiang Zhiwei's blade struck fear into all the prisoners, causing them to tremble in horror as their strength left their limbs.

Jiang Zhiwei strode forward and headed for the gates of the Second Level of the dungeons. With a whisk of her sword, she sent a wave of aura that swung the huge and heavy gates open.

She continued without stopping, not even once. She flung bolts of auric energy with her sword at every foe she encountered. The guards crumbled to the ground, unconscious. They were incapacitated by Jiang Zhiwei's blows that hit them directly on their vital meridian points.

The patter of their footsteps echoed ceaselessly through the passages of the dungeons with Zhiwei dismantling the defenses of the dungeons with ease. At length, they reached the entrance to the Fifth Level.

A swinging blade curved in the air like a rainbow. The sword hacked at the huge metal door decorated with various engravings. The force of the blow was so great that the door, which had held no protective enchantments, cracked in just a single stroke!

On the other side of the door, a sentry who was an expert of the Exterior was caught by surprise by the sudden clamor outside. One hand swiftly reached for his sword while the other tightly grasped a secret treasure.

Just then, music rang through the air like the song of a sacred bird from the Nine Heavens! Ruan Yushu's hands danced swiftly with grace on the Phoenix-perching Zither. Behind her, the silhouette of her Dharmic Form, a huge, majestic Phoenix that bore the Feather of Five Virtues, took form. It flew into the sky and circled around them before it lunged at the sentry, attacking his Vital Spirit!

The sentry froze momentarily. The power of Ruan Yushu's music had paralyzed him. The stroke of the Anatta Sword gleamed mercilessly without losing sight of its opportunity!

The radiance of the stroke shone brightly. Without any hesitation, the flash of the blade passed swiftly. The sentry collapsed to the floor with no visible injuries save for a small and thin wound on his forehead. The corpse's peaceful expression belied the fact that the aura from Jiang Zhiwei's stroke had drained all life away from the body, leaving on an empty husk of flesh and blood.

Without stopping to retrieve any loot, Jiang Zhiwei's strode ahead until they reached the entrance of the Sixth Level. On the other side of the door, the sentry, another warrior of the Exterior sensed that something was wrong! Without a moment to lose, the sentry decided to rush to alert the command chamber of the Formation!

Yet, little did he expect that Jiang Zhiwei was already at the entrance of the Sixth Level! Jiang Zhiwei swung her sword at him, its tip and edge bared ravenously at her foe as he sought to evade her stroke. Not even the followers of the School of Mo who possessed powers of the Nine Apertures and had followed close behind their heels could clearly see through the blur of swinging steel and piercing blades save for the glint of the blades that came later!

Overwhelmed by the sheer speed of Jiang Zhiwei's skill, the sentry felt as if his adversary was in a frenzy. The strokes of her sword grew swifter with each blow like a surge of waves that pounded on his defenses endlessly.

Jiang Zhiwei's tempest of steel continued. Not even the stone formation that was used for conjuring Formations was spared by her relentless flurry of blows. The stones were hewed into gravel and pebble that littered the site of the combat. Under intense pressure, the sentry defended himself with desperation but he was kept from using his secret treasures.

Ruan Yushu was coming to the aid of Jiang Zhiwei when she felt a tingling sense warning her of danger. She looked and saw a sinister figure slipping out of the prison cells amongst the followers of the School of Mo. Swiftly, like a lunging predator, the figure threw himself at Ruan Yushu.

"A spy in hiding!"

The cool and collected Ruan Yushu plucked the strings of her zither, summoning the Form of the Phoenix once again. It cried wonderfully into the air. The song of the Phoenix resounded with strength that could even penetrate the strata of the Heavens above.

The surreptitious spy felt his Vital Spirit shudder. He slumped as the silhouette of the Phoenix flew into his ears.

Immediately, a fire erupted in his heart! With no wind, the fire grew and devoured him whole, leaving only a heap of dust and cinders in its wake!

Clang, clang, clang!

The sounds of clashing steel continued. Beads of nervous sweat formed on the brows of the sentry as he frantically parried Jiang Zhiwei's blows. He would have long fallen if Jiang Zhiwei had not restrained her force for fear of causing damage to the disciples around her.

In his panic, he instinctively raised his saber to parry incoming blows only to find none!

Noticing that her quarry was at his wit's end, Jiang Zhiwei had intentionally changed the pace of her attacks and created an opening!

With the cadence and momentum of his defense faltering, the sentry was not able to react to Jiang Zhiwei's sudden thrust. Time seemed to slow down around him as he watched the blade drive straight into his forehead!

Jiang Zhiwei wiped the blood off her sword and returned it to its scabbard. Merrily she said to Ruan Yushu, "Identify all the followers."

Ruan Yushu looked at the faces of the disciples that they had freed. She identified each and every one of them. Amongst the freed captives, they found two other spies, both of whom were then promptly executed by Jiang Zhiwei.

At length, Jiang Zhiwei looked at the old Taoist. Sincerely, she asked, "Senior, is there any way we can slip the followers out of this prison unnoticed?"

In truth, Jiang Zhiwei had already thought of an alternative: the Map of Mountains and Rivers that could still be used one last time! It would be simple and effortless for the three of them to escape without being detected while the followers of the School of Mo kept within the dimension of the Map.

However, Jiang Zhiwei was curious to see if the old Taoist had any tricks up his sleeve.

The old Taoist laughed cheerfully in response. "Watch."

He swung his arms forward and flailed the sleeves of his tunic. In a flash, the opening of his sleeve enlarged like the huge mouth of a cave. Darkness reigned within his sleeve like a dimension of its own.

From nowhere, a huge gale of wind blew and swept all the disciples that Ruan Yushu had identified into the sleeve of the old Taoist!

"The Sleeve Cosmos technique?" Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu gasped with astonishment.

A mystic art of the most ancient! But the legacy of this skill was believed to have been lost since the passing of the era of the Nine Primogenitors of Taoism!

The old Taoist withdrew his sleeves with a chuckle. "It was by chance that I came upon the legacy of this technique," he admitted. "But I knew naught of what it was called."

He walked outward as he spoke. He moved Tian Kuo to a safer location to prevent him from being slain by other escaping prisoners. The three of them then altered their appearance and assumed the disguises of the prison guards before they left the prison.

Once outside the city, Meng Qi cupped his hands and bowed with appreciation to the old Taoist. Jiang Zhiwei and the others moved elsewhere to arrange the future livelihood of the followers of the School of Mo who had just been rescued.

"Don't stand on ceremony. We are fellow students of the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace." The old Taoist waved nonchalantly. "Have them delivered away from here as far as you can. Those who were yet to be exposed would do well to not stand out in the face of the present turmoil lest all hell break loose when the King of Chu arrives."

"The King of Chu? How in the world does this concern the State of Chu?" Meng Qi asked in surprise, "So the Golden Light Cave is not the only faction involved here?"

The King of Chu should not be interested to intrude in this affair when he has already reaped enormous dividends!

"Hehe, you have it wrong. This is not the King of Chu who rules the State of his namesake," said the old Taoist while he shook his head, "But King Zhuang of Chu who has long retreated into seclusion into the Golden Light Cave."

"King Zhuang of Chu? One of the Six Hegemons? He still lives to this day?" Meng Qi blurted with shock.

"Of course. And has been well for so long indeed. But he is hardly the only one. Duke Han of Wu, Duke Tang of Wen, Duke Ming of Lie and Duke Qin of Mu still live."

"But I do not have any grudge with His Majesty King Zhuang of Chu. Why would he be hostile to us?" Meng Qi asked, puzzled.

"It is true that a great many practitioners who possess powers of the Dharmakaya still live in the World of the Apotheosis... but it is still not known why they retreated into hiding..."

The old Taoist giggled briefly. "Since the passing of the great woe that befell upon the lands, there have been strange signs. We have traveled far and wide to seek answers to the bizarre phenomenon and yet we have found none, until the day that the Jade Virtual Palace reappeared. There was a great fight for the control of the Palace that ensued. Sill, none of us, save for King Zhuang of Chu, left with any harvest."

"The Jade Virtual Palace?" Meng Qi's eyes widened with disbelief and his breath grew heavy.

The Jade Virtual Palace still exists?

And what was the item that King Zhuang of Chu has taken from within?

"Long have I tried to observe and study the item that he took. Thence I have been wandering in the lands of the States of Chu, Tang and Chen. Days ago, the item released a gleaming brilliance that shone even to the Nine Heavens. Based on the results of my calculation using divination, the anomaly seemed to have been caused by you. I am sure that King Zhuang of Chu would also come to the same conclusion. That was why he ordered for you, dead or alive. He would have long came to meet you if not for the restrictions that he is now bound to," said the old Taoist candidly without any mask on his interest.

"That would explain the change of attitude of the Golden Light Cave!" Meng Qi had opened his mouth to speak more in detail when he grimaced with a frown, "this Taoist has been addressing himself and the rest of the Hegemons as "we"? Who is he?"

"May I know your name, Senior?" Meng Qi asked suddenly.

The old Taoist broke into laughter, saying, "I was born with the surname Jiang of the Lineage of Lü, with the given name Xiaobai."

"Lü Xiaobai? Qi Xiaobai?"

"Duke Huan of Qi!"

"The true heir to the Line of the Jade Virtual Palace indeed!" Meng Qi thought to himself with trembling astonishment.