Chapter 388: Exchange

The yard of the farmhouse was large, but it looked like a ruin. Standing in it, Zheng Tianliang turned and sighed. “I’m sorry, doctor, but there’s nothing in here. I lied to you. However, the fact that you know that you’ve been deceived but still dared to follow me into this trap means that we’re indeed looking for the right person.”

While Zheng Tianliang was speaking, the heavy wooden door of the farmhouse automatically shut by itself bit by bit although there was no wind around. Then, a young bright-eyed woman with dashing eyebrows walked in from the space beside the wooden door together with a porcelain-like boy.

“It’s indeed the two of you…” When Zhang Lisheng heard the faint footsteps behind him, he turned his head and asked with a shrug, “Who are you looking for?”

“We are looking for a little wizard who has intruded Qingyang Palace several years ago and was suppressed by the single-horned copper goat in front of the Jade Emperor Hall.” Li Xiangzhou was the first person to reply at the young man’s questions.

This stunned Zhang Lisheng. After studying her carefully, a haughty face pointing at him, snarling, “Little gringo, this is not your territory. If you’re wandering in China, people like you should be smart and don’t wander around as you wish!” suddenly appeared in his mind. In a daze, he said, “Oh, so it’s you…”

“Well, isn’t it?” Li Xiangzhou raised her hand and produced a talisman filled with complicated patterns with faint luster on it and asked with eagerness.

“Junior Sister Xiangzhou, we have not yet made clear of the cause and effect, so why did you take the talisman out? Why are you so hasty?” Zheng Tianliang looked at the girl’s rashness and hastily stopped her. Then, he bowed deeply at Zhang Lisheng in an apologetic manner. “Dr. Zhang, even though you’re cultivating the Way of Witchcraft, you didn’t do any evil and you’re not a Chinese descendant. It’s indeed our fault for tricking you to come here. I’d like to give you my sincere apologies, but there’s a question that we must ask of you.”

Perplexed by Zheng Tianliang’s unexpectedly good attitude, Zhang Lisheng asked in confusion, “What’s the question?”

“A few years ago, when Junior Sister Li came across you at the Qingyang Palace, she saw you covered in wizard power through her Divine Eyes, but today when she met you again, your wizard power has disappeared without a trace. I wonder what power have you used to conceal your wizard power?” Zheng Tianliang asked in a deep voice.

“Conceal my wizard power?” Zhang Lisheng looked stunned for a while. As his train of thought changed its course, he finally understood, so he answered honestly, “Oh, I’ve bought a strange item called the ‘Mask of the Comedy King’ from a strange vendor on the streets of Boston in the US. It can conceal the ferocity on me, and I guess it must have also concealed my wizard power.”

“Dr. Zhang, in that case, it means that you’re relying on a treasure instead of your innate witchcraft ability or a witchcraft method that you acquired later on to conceal your wizard power, right?” Zheng Tianliang’s expression became relaxed as he breathed a long sigh of relief. “Then, can you show us your treasure please?”

“I’m afraid we won’t be able to talk so amiably anymore if I showed you my Mask of the Comedy King.” Zhang Lisheng smiled peculiarly. “Besides, why should I show it to you?”

Upon seeing this young man, who had already fallen into their trap but still talked so rudely to them, Duan Lianbao could not help but feel the rage rising in his heart. Twisting his fingers, he cast a spell and used both of his hands to tap eight different points on the air in a dazzling manner. Loudly, he shouted, “Heaven and Earth’s Eight Formations—Rest, Life, Harm, Delusion, Scenery, Death, Fear, Open!”

Every time the teenager’s finger tapped a point, the walls and tiles of the houses on all four sides of the farmhouse’s yard would suddenly lose a piece, revealing a field that stretched out as far as the eyes could see. After all the eight fingers had finished tapping, Zhang Lisheng was astonished to find that he had seemingly traveled through time and space and came to a vast wilderness.

“Spatial art? I-Is this teleportation?” The young man’s eyes widened in shock. He took a few steps diagonally and judging the distance, he should have already reached the wall long ago but there was still nothing at all around him. At once, he could not help but blurt out.

“Dr. Zhang, please don’t be nervous. This is not teleportation, but it’s also the effect of a relic which is also a ‘strange item’ as you mentioned. In truth, we’re still standing at the same spot,” Zheng Tianliang explained to Zhang Lisheng and glared at Duan Lianbao with slight anger. “Lianbao, you’re really too insensible! Hurry and retract the Eight Formation Diagram!”

“Senior Brother Tianliang, the reason I casted this Eight Formation Diagram is all because this gringo looks down on you, and I just wanted to help vent your anger out!” Duan Lianbao stuck out his neck and replied. “He said he used a relic to conceal his wizard power, but he refused to show it to us. Who knows if he’s lying? I think it’s better for us to show him some colors first…”

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When the teenager was about to say some more tough words, Zheng Tianliang’s Secret Voice Transmission suddenly resonated in his ears. “Lianbao, you should also know that the Gate of Witchcraft is seeking for the Oasis World right now, and it’s a special time for our Gate of Dao to stop them. Dr. Zhang is a well-known expert invited by the Ministry of Education for academic exchange in China. Many people have witnessed me leaving the university with him today, so if something happened to him, do you know what kind of situation it would kick off? If the famous foreign scholar that our country invited is lured out to be killed by the Gate of Dao’s disciple for no reason just because he has cultivated witchcraft abroad, then do you know just how unruly this would be? Have you ever thought of how wary this will cause the government to be? If Dr. Zhang had concealed his wizard power using a witchcraft method that can be cultivated, then you don’t need to make your move at all, for I’d have made sure I’d do everything in my power to shoulder this matter to break the rule and kill him to prevent future trouble. However, since he’s using a relic to conceal his wizard power…”

“I don’t want to hear this, Senior Brother Zheng! If you’re so scared of so many things, why do you still want to cultivate the Dao?” After listening for a while, Duan Lianbao ignored him and shouted out directly to interrupt Zheng Tianliang’s voice. “In short, I’ve already casted the Eight Formation Diagram, and if he doesn’t show us the treasure he uses to conceal his wizard power, then I’ll never retrieve the diagram at all!”

The Eight Formation Diagram is one of the top relics in the Gate of Dao and they only gave it to Duan Lianbao because of his special status. They originally gave it to him so it could save his life but now that he unleashed it to trap an enemy, even Zheng Tianliang could do nothing about it.

Seeing that his words had created an opposite effect and roused the teenager’s hard-headed temper, Zheng Tianliang could only sigh and said to Zhang Lisheng with a wry smile, “I’m sorry, Dr. Zhang. My Junior Brother is just too young, and he’s still not good in propriety. Please forgive him. It’s like this, your relic that can conceal your wizard power is equivalent to the coating that can allow a stealth fighter to evade radar detection completely. If it’s obtained by some devilish powerhouse who cultivates witchcraft, then it may cause a lot of problems to us. Similarly, it would bring a considerable amount of danger to you as well if you keep it beside you. For this reason, we hope to see that treasure and then use something of equal value to exchange it…”

“Exchange it with me? Oh, I’ve spent quite a hefty amount in purchasing this Mask of the Comedy King. Besides, even though its effect seems insignificant, I realized that it’s actually very useful after carrying out several experiments. To be honest, I’m not too sure you’ll have something of equal value that you can exchange with it,” Zhang Lisheng smiled and studied Zheng Tianliang, Li Xiangzhou, and Duan Lianbao before speaking with a shrug.

“You’re only an overseas boorish wizard who doesn’t even have an orthodox inheritance, so how dare you look down on Philosophy Taoist descendants like us?” Having been swept across by the young man’s slightly scornful gaze, Li Xiangzhou’s dashing eyebrows raised and Duan Lianbao even snarled loudly. “I heard Senior Sister Li said that the Gate of Witchcraft that you cultivate is the Gate of Death. Today, I’ll open your eyes and broaden your outlook…”

While he was speaking, the teenager ripped open his collar and grabbed a red rope while tying a round black stone from his neck. Opening his palm to show it, he asked flauntingly, “Do you know what this is?”

“I don’t know.” Zhang Lisheng looked at the stone and replied. “But it looks very ordinary to me.”

“Ordinary? Ha, what poor taste! This is the stone egg of the Manifestation Gu. If you have it on your body when you’re cultivating, you can convert all external forces into your own use. In other words, if you have this with you, as long as you don’t die after being injured, then you will slowly absorb the technique and power the enemy leaves on you, turning harm into benefits…”

“Oh, so it’s actually for rapid recovery. It doesn’t sound useful. It kinda has the same effect as me eating a few pieces of steak.”

“As I expected, you’re indeed a boorish person who doesn’t have any inheritance. A boorish man like you doesn’t have eyes for real treasure at all!” Upon hearing the young man’s deliberate provocation, Duan Lianbao smiled mockingly. “Even though this Manifestation Gu’s stone egg is age-old, do you know that if it’s immersed in the flesh and blood of a ferocious beast, then there’s a small chance for it to hatch a Manifestation Gu. Similar to the Shape-shifting Gu from the same family, the biggest characteristic of Manifestation Gu is that a Gate of Death’s wizard can transform it with a 100% success rate with no danger at all. Just think about it, you can absorb the full power of an ancient strange insect 100% safely. Do you still think it is ordinary? ”

“Oh, I see. It’s indeed very precious to a wizard who cultivates the Gate of Death then,” Zhang Lisheng said with a look of amazement on his face.

“If you want this, Dr. Zhang, then we can use this stone egg in exchange for the treasure that can conceal wizard power.” Upon seeing the brilliance in the eyes of the young man, Zheng Tianliang, who had remained his silence for a long time, finally chimed in.

“This Manifestation Gu stone is a treasure my mother gave me as protection. I don’t have the wish to exchange with him…” Duan Lianbao looked stunned and quickly replied.

However, before he could finish his sentence, Zheng Tianliang had already cut him off with a blank expression. “Junior Brother Duan, you’re an orthodox lineal disciple of the Gate of Dao, so if you can’t even sacrifice this thing for the sake of the Gate, then please don’t be so shameless as to give a long lecture on those principles anymore.”

It had never crossed Duan Lianbao’s mind that Zheng Tianliang, who had no temper and was sometimes very comical, and also seemed to treat everyone in a laid-back manner, would act out of his character and treat himself like this. At once, his fair pink face flushed red, but he said nothing in reply.

“Senior Brother Zheng, why do you have to be so stern?” Li Xiangzhou looked at Zheng Tianliang with a strange look and chimed in indignantly.

“Xiangzhou, you’re the closest to Senior Sister Lu, and you usually listen to her the most. Let’s put aside everything else and think about it carefully. What would Senior Sister Lu say and do if she was here?”

Li Xiangzhou contemplated in silence for a while and the indignant expression on his face gradually disappeared. Without warning, she sighed and turned to look at Duan Lianbao. “Junior Brother Duan, just think of yourself as having a stroke of bad luck. Rest assured, the seniors and masters will definitely make it up to you once they find out about the details of what happened today.”