The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 504 Going to sea

Chapter 504 Going to sea
The giant was a little stunned.

On one hand, he was shocked by being crushed head-on by brute force; on the other hand, he was stunned by Li Miao's sophistry and self-righteous words. He felt as if a thousand words were stuck in his throat, but he could not organize his thoughts because he was not good at speaking the Central Plains dialect.

Just then, a scream suddenly came from not far away.

"what!"

It turned out to be a Dayan Hall disciple who had survived and was fortunate enough to retain his mobility. After waking up from the dizziness, he saw corpses all over the ground, screamed, and scrambled away to escape.

Before he could escape more than a few steps, Li Miao raised his hand and pointed.

Bang!
Blood burst from his vest, revealing a gaping hole. He lost his life while running, his legs carrying him a few steps before he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

After killing the man, Li Miao drew another line in the air towards the ground.

Wow.

A stream of true energy, its length unknown, swept across the ground at a height of half a foot, slicing through all the bodies lying on the ground. Like a wave suddenly rising from flat ground, it splashed out with a loud spray.

The screams and wails abruptly stopped.

Complete silence fell over the surroundings.

The giant remained silent for a moment as he witnessed the horrific scene.

When Li Miao arrived at the mountain gate, he had already noticed Li Miao, but since Li Miao acted as a bystander, he didn't pay any attention to him... When Li Miao blocked his blade, he thought that Li Miao was just observing his weaknesses and would only make a move when he was confident.

That's why he said Li Miao stood by and did nothing. His real intention was to accuse Li Miao of hypocrisy, saying that he had been watching him kill people all along, but now he was trying to stop him.

But now, he finally understands.

This man didn't come to save anyone.

He didn't mean "you shouldn't have been killed," but rather "you are not worthy of being killed."

If anyone should be killed, it should be him.

Perhaps it was because Lü Guhong was his prey, or perhaps he wanted to extract some information from Lü Guhong before killing him. In any case, Li Miao stopped him not to save anyone.

He had to bring Lü Guhong back to Japan.

"Thank you, Your Excellency."

The giant said in a hoarse voice.

"Oh?"

Li Miao raised an eyebrow.

"Thank you for what?"

The giant said in a choked voice.

"I couldn't control my moves just now, thank you for stopping me, sir."

"This is the first time I've ever used this method."

As he spoke, his breathing became increasingly heavy.

With each breath, the patterns formed by the folds of his skin became clearer and clearer, eventually connecting together like a relief sculpture.

At the same time, the giant's already enormous body, like an inflated balloon, swelled up another three-tenths of its original size, its upper body clothes were torn apart, exposing its entire upper body.

"Oh."

Li Miao narrowed his eyes with interest.

On the giant's exposed skin, the wrinkles outlined a vivid and lifelike human figure—eyes wide open in anger, fangs bared. Muscles bulged, right hand holding the sword of wisdom, left hand wielding the demon-binding rope. Flames surrounded him, and his curly hair danced like snakes.

It is clearly the image of Acala, the chief of the Eight Great Vidyarajas of Esoteric Buddhism, the king of all Vidyarajas, the principal deity of the Five Great Vidyarajas.

The air the giant exhaled grew increasingly hot, rising from his mouth and nose and lingering there.

He said.

“If we were to face each other head-on, I would be no match for you.”

"But I must bring this person back to Japan alive."

"So, thank you. But, I apologize for the inconvenience!"

Kerala -

As he spoke, the giant suddenly exerted his strength and swiftly raised his naginata!

Whoosh!
The naginata sliced through the air, pointing towards the sky.

He actually managed to lift the naginata right off Li Miao's feet!

Before Li Miao's feet could touch the ground, the giant did not hesitate for a moment and suddenly turned his naginata downwards!

boom!
The naginata fell to the ground, and the blade shattered instantly!
At the same time, the ground within a radius of several meters suddenly jumped up.

Amidst the flying bricks and stones, the giant's gaze swept across the surroundings.

After forcibly pushing this still-unskilled technique to its peak, he finally caught sight of Li Miao's figure—up there!

The giant looked up, and Li Miao descended from the sky, smashing a leg axe down on his head.

He suddenly raised the naginata, now only the hilt remained, and held it horizontally above his head.

clang!
With a loud bang, the steel-forged blade shattered.

But it also momentarily slowed down Li Miao's leg axe.

The giant tossed aside the two sections of the blade and threw a punch at Li Miao.

Punches and kicks were exchanged.

Another loud bang rang out, and the giant's lower leg was slammed into the ground, blood gushing from his mouth and nose.

But Li Miao's leg axe eventually stopped on his arm.

Lu Guhong, who was standing to the side, looked over in shock.

He was already incredulous that the giant could defeat him so easily, but as someone from the Ming Cult with a broad perspective, he could accept that someone could defeat him.

But now, the giant has actually withstood one of Li Miao's attacks!
This is no stranger, it's Li Miao!

No one understood Ji Tianrui's terrifying power better than him, a member of the Ming Cult, yet even Ji Tianrui had to carefully plan and avoid Li Miao's sharp edge. And now, Li Miao's attack had actually been blocked!
"Could it be that I can actually survive today?"

Lü Guhong's mind raced.

He certainly didn't want to die, but he feared Li Miao's methods more than death itself. Since he couldn't escape Li Miao's grasp anyway, he might as well just offer his neck and be executed; that way, he could die a quicker death.

But now, the giant's blocking of Li Miao's attack has given him some different ideas.

He had heard the giant's words clearly. The giant didn't want to kill him, but only wanted to take him to Japan. If the giant really won, wouldn't he be able to survive?

Survive Li Miao!
This is something that no one in the entire world, except for Ji Tianrui, has ever accomplished!
Lü Guhong clenched his teeth.

"Want to bet?"

"No, I have to gamble! Otherwise, once Li Miao kills this giant, I'll be doomed!"

In a head-on confrontation, he would be killed by Li Miao in a single encounter; there is no doubt about that.

But he had already mastered the Xuanlan cultivation.

Although he had not yet mastered a path of life cultivation and had not yet connected with his own Xuanlan divine ability, the moment he mastered Xuanlan, he already knew what divine ability he was about to cultivate, and he was already able to barely unleash some of its effects.

Lu Guhong did not move. He placed his palms on the ground and released an invisible stream of true energy from his body. Like a wisp of green smoke, the energy drifted along the ground towards Li Miao and the giant, who were locked in a stalemate.

"Quick! Quick!"

Lu Guhong silently and desperately urged his true energy to flow, and finally, after a breath, he sent the true energy to Li Miao's side.

His face lit up with ecstasy, and he leaped up!

He stretched out his hand into a claw and pointed it at Li Miao from a distance.

"Certainly!"

The smoky true energy instantly materialized, like several shackles, and suddenly locked Li Miao's body!

This is Lü Guhong's Xuanlan Shenyi.

He called it a "smoking yoke"!
Even a celestial being who has cultivated two paths of life-force would find it difficult to break free in a short time!
He knew that this divine power could not possibly lock Li Miao in place, but all he wanted was a moment of delay!

As long as the giant can take advantage of this moment to injure Li Miao, that's enough!

As long as you can injure someone, you might win!
If we can win, we can survive!

"Do it!"

Lu Guhong suddenly shouted.

Although the giant's moves were crude, he was clearly no stranger to life-or-death battles and could not possibly have failed to perceive this fleeting opportunity! In life-or-death struggles, especially those between gods and men, the outcome is always decided in an instant!
He looked at the giant and Li Miao with immense hope.

But the giant did not move.

He didn't even move a finger.

On the contrary, Li Miao, who was locked up, glanced at Lü Guhong with a smile in mid-air.

Lu Guhong's hair stood on end instantly, and he roared angrily.

"Do it!"

The roar echoed continuously; even a deaf person should have heard it. But the giant still didn't make a move.

"Do it?"

Li Miao said with amusement.

With a casual wave of his hand, Lü Guhong's [smoke shackles] shattered like glass with a crash.

Li Miao pulled his leg back and landed in front of the giant, smiling as he looked at Lü Guhong.

"Who do you want to do it?"

He raised a finger and touched the giant's chest.

"It can't be him, right?"

Push your finger forward.

The giant, like a stone statue, maintained his posture of glaring overhead and holding his fist horizontally, before being pushed backward and crashing to the ground with a thud.

Even at this point, he didn't move.

Lü Guhong shuddered violently.

He then noticed that the "Acala" image on the giant's body was gradually disappearing. The misty ribbons that had been swirling around his mouth and nose had also vanished.

Clinging to a sliver of hope, he strained his ears and listened carefully.

puff.

Lu Guhong suddenly sat back and fell to the ground.

He did not hear the giant's heartbeat.

The giant is long dead.

Now lying on the ground, although the position remained unchanged, blood suddenly gushed out from the seven orifices and lower body, as if a container full of liquid had been overturned and the liquid was overflowing from the opening.

There was no longer any formed flesh and blood in his body.

He was already dead when he took Li Miao's kick.

Li Miao clapped his hands and looked over with a smile.

"I'm asking you a question, what do you mean by taking action?"

Lü Guhong smiled in despair.

It’s over.

He lost his bet.

With a sense of dejection and resignation, he jokingly said to Li Miao, who was walking slowly towards him.

"Sir, it's cold, my hands are cold."

"Frozen hands."

Li Miao walked up to him and sneered.

"Oh, that's how it is."

"Frozen hands? No problem, I can cure it."

Swish!
Without him making any move, Lü Guhong's hands were severed at the wrists, and the severed hands fell to the ground with a thud.

He gritted his teeth and used his two severed arms to block the bleeding in his stomach, barely managing to stop the bleeding.

"Without hands, your hands won't get cold, isn't that great?"

He heard Li Miao ask with a smile.

"Alright, alright, sir."

Lu Guhong replied reluctantly.

"That's it."

Li Miao reached out and grabbed his head, lifted him up, and turned to walk towards a side hall that had not yet collapsed.

"Now that you're all better, let's have a chat."

"Regarding the Ming Cult, regarding witchcraft, why you, a direct descendant of the Ming Cult, are allowed to remain alive in the Central Plains, where did your Xuanlan Manual come from, and why did that big guy from Japan want to take you back to Japan?"

"Also, regarding the leader of the Ji sect."

--------

"My name is Lan Qinyu."

"My father is Lan Lechuan."

Lü Guhong... no, it should be Lan Qinyu who was nailed to the wall, her whole body covered in blood and gore. Inside her open abdomen, the flesh twitched in waves of pain, but strangely, no blood flowed out.

Li Miao leaned against the table, took a sip of tea, and smiled when he heard Lan Qinyu's words.

"Left Envoy Lan?"

"You are the son of the Left Envoy of the Blue Palace, a second-generation Ming dynasty official, right?"

"That's certainly a distinguished lineage. Apart from the Yang family and Leader Ji, probably no one in the entire Ming Cult has a more illustrious background than you."

He put down his teacup, propped his chin on his hand, and looked at Lan Qinyu.

"Are you Ji Tianrui's person?"

Lan Qinyu nodded weakly.

"Yes."

"Back then, the leader of the Ming Cult planned the matter of the imperial tombs in Shuntian Prefecture. After it was accomplished, she abandoned the entire Ming Cult and left with only a few close confidants... I was one of them."

"The witchcraft was bestowed upon us by the cult leader."

Li Miao nodded.

"Oh I got it."

"Then why did you, a confidant of Master Ji, become the head of this Great Wild Goose Hall? Did Master Ji arrange for you to do it?"

Lan Qinyu shook her head.

"No... not."

“I ran away. I betrayed that witch and left her.”

“Using the disguise technique passed down from the Ming Cult, the Xuanlan martial arts technique obtained by the demoness in a trade with Yingzhou, and my own martial arts skills, I lured Lü Guhong out of the Dayan Hall. After killing him, I took his identity.”

"I passed on the art of witchcraft to my disciples so that they could easily capture martial arts practitioners. As for me, I want to use the life force of martial arts practitioners to cultivate my martial arts... just like Emperor Jianwen and the emperor."

Li Miao frowned.

"You betrayed her?"

"Not dead, and even took a copy of the Xuanlan Manual, and is living quite comfortably?"

"Didn't the cult leader discover this?"

Lan Qinyu shook her head.

"She probably found out later that she also wanted to kill me."

"That's why I'm risking being discovered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard by using witchcraft to practice martial arts... because I don't know when she'll send someone to kill me. I must at least reach the realms of one aspect of nature and one aspect of life before she finds me, in order to have any hope of saving my life."

"But I didn't expect that the Embroidered Uniform Guards wouldn't come, nor would she, but you would come... Perhaps, this is fate..."

Li Miao twirled his fingers in thought.

It's not surprising that some people would betray Ji Tianrui. Given Ji Tianrui's attitude of treating her subordinates like dirt, it's bound to cause some people to become disloyal to her.

But wouldn't she know?
Given Ji Tianrui's almost prophetic planning ability and her cunning to manipulate almost everyone, how could she not sense Lan Qinyu's intention to betray her?

Even if she didn't realize it at the time, why didn't she kill him to cover it up afterwards?
With her martial arts skills, if she were to personally take action, killing Lan Qinyu would only require one move, without any preparation or planning whatsoever.

Unless... she can't free her hands.

The reason why you can't free your hands is either because you don't have enough time or because you are too far away.

"Therefore, the leader of the Ji sect is not currently in the Central Plains."

"That's why you dared to use witchcraft to practice martial arts, and you were so sure she wouldn't come in person."

"As for where she is... she should be in Japan, right?"

Li Miao said with certainty.

He recalled the memories he had seen of An Qisheng when he was debating the concept of mind with An Qisheng.

A thousand years ago, he bid farewell to a man in Langya.

He called the man "senior brother," and their master was the River Elder.

The reason for the farewell was that the man was leaving the Central Plains to go to sea in search of the whereabouts of the old man on the river.

That man's name was Xu Fu.

The direction he was heading was east.