Chapter 432: The Benefits of Successfully Blending in

In the time it took to say those few sentences, Meng Qi had transformed himself into Ji Tao, drenched in blood and his face marred by savage scars. The scars worked to conceal any discrepancies in their appearance. Apart from someone who shared Ji Tao’s marriage bed, or knew the intimacies of his breath, hardly anyone would be able to see through the disguise.

“You all each disguise yourselves as them, and these people…” Meng Qi pointed at the four corpses on the ground. His voice was hoarse like he had severely injured. He even sounded like Ji Tao.

When he had “grilled” Ji Tao for information earlier on, Meng Qi already had the vague notion to pose as him. It would be a simple matter since he possessed the Eight Nine Mysteries technique, which made changing appearances easy. Therefore, Meng Qi tried to fully grasp Ji Tao’s situation and had asked him about his subordinates and bodyguards, as well as the general situation of the Jianghu people. The four corpses he was pointing to had all lived by themselves. They were loafers whose absence would not invite questions from their families even if they disappeared for ten days to a half month. Even if Jiang Zhiwei and the others were mediocre at the disguising technique, they would not raise any suspicions.

–Since they were not bodyguards at the compound, it was only natural that they would not bump into any acquaintances there. Should the head of the senior official bodyguards, Jiang Shenghong, and Left Governor Yin Lenghui question them, they would not be too condescending either. Either way, it was unlikely that they would be able to recognize the faces of small fry like them.

“Alright.” Jiang Zhiwei nodded. She picked the skinnier-looking male out of the four and left the only female corpse to Ruan Yushu.

It was a world where demons’ blood lineage continued in their descendants and as such, there was no noticeable difference between men and women in terms of strength, just as there were loafers in Jianghu who were female as well. Moreover, it was much harder for Ruan Yushu to disguise herself as a male compared to Jiang Zhiwei, given the former’s more delicate nature.

While his companions changed into their disguises and altered their appearances, Meng Qi drew out Flowing Fire again and stabbed Ji Tao with it, igniting the corpse. The flames greedily swallowed Ji Tao’s entire body. When it died, all that was left of the man was a pile of ashes. Meng Qi waved his tunic sleeves and the ashes scattered with the breeze, drifting over the wall on the left and landing on the soil inside the compound.

In no time, Qi Zhengyan and the others had completed their disguises and disposed of of all trace of the corpses. The thin man with two strips of mustache and carried a sword was Jiang Zhiwei, who gave off the faint air of a swordsman. Zhao Heng was now a man of average stature and a round, moony face. The cowering young male servant with a slightly bent back was Qi Zhengyan. The plain-looking young girl in a green jacket was Ruan Yushu, who had already safely kept her zither in the Space Ring.

Meng Qi performed a careful check, ascertaining that they had not overlooked anything, before launching the distress signal. There was a blur of red as the signal shot into the sky and exploded into bright red, eye-catching flowers.

Soon after, a middle-aged man garbed in beautiful robes and a jade belt appeared, carried by the wind. He whistled as he hurried over, a menacing air surrounding him. He was a commanding presence.

“Where are the troops?” He asked, looking around even before his feet had touched the ground. However, he only saw the five of them.

A pale blue wind circled around him. His every movement and gesture seemed to be one with his surroundings.

Based on Ji Tao’s description, Meng Qi was able to identify the man before him– the head of the senior bodyguards, Jiang Shenghong. Although he was only of the Human Class First Order, his blood lineage was powerful. He was almost on the level of Ground Class in certain aspects, able to use the wind to aid in his motions, able to interfere with astronomical phenomena. This made him many times stronger than the leaders of Red Coat army. Before Yin Lenghui had appeared, he had been the top general under Zuo Hanfeng.

“Heaven-man Connection…” Meng Qi, Jiang Zhiwei and the others exchanged secret glances. They were roughly able to judge how powerful Jiang Shenghong was based on his fame. He was almost at the level of someone who had achieved Heaven-man Connection, and on top of that, he could fly. He would definitely not an easy opponent to deal with!

Of course, it was merely a feeling. Once they actually engaged in battle, other difference might emergedue to the uniqueness of his demon blood lineage. He could be even stronger, or possibly slightly weaker.

Meng Qi clutched his chest and stumbled a few steps forward as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. With much difficulty, he replied, “Your…Your Highness, they…they fled in a hurry after seeing us re…requesting for backup.”

Meng Qi was panting heavily, disrupting his speech inflection. Blood dripped down his front and scars ripped across his face; his image was particularly horrifying.

“Are you alright?” Jiang Shenghong cast his gaze far into the distance, looking Meng Qi up and down from the corner of his eye. He had not noticed that his trusted subordinate had been replaced by an imposter. Even their breaths were almost exactly the same!

“I…I can still hold on…” Meng Qi ran his genuine Qi in the opposite direction, conjuring up a mouthful of blood. It sprayed onto the upper front of his own clothes, staining it red.

Jiang Shenghong still did not detect anything amiss. He furrowed his brows, producing a force from his finger that landed on Meng Qi’s body and entered his meridians, helping to stabilize his condition. “Where is the enemy? In which direction did they run off to? What happened?”

“They went that way.” Meng Qi instantly began speaking more evenly. “I was guarding the Guo mansion when I discovered a suspicious person asking about Gimp Guo’s whereabouts. So I secretly followed that person to this place but ended up falling into their trap. Many of my subordinates perished, and I was almost unable to request for backup.”

“How many enemies were there?” Jiang Shenghong asked gravely. He had not found any other clues in the distance, and refocused his attention on the corpses strewn all over the ground and his relatively powerful subordinate.

Ji Tao was from the Human Class Second Order. He had the blood of the Thunder God flowing within him and was most certainly not an easy opponent. He had strength in numbers as could be seen from the numerous idlers under him, including a few skilled experts. The enemy’s strength could not be underestimated if they were able to slaughter them without much fuss!

“Could it be that Red Coat army’s main force had already snuck into Daning? Were they sick of living?”

Meng Qi took a deep breath before answering, “Two men and one woman.”

His heart had been in his throat the whole time. Eight Nine Mysteries made it near impossible for others to see through his facade, but it would be easy for a master like Jiang Shenghong to notice that Qi Zhengyan and the others had altered their appearances.

“Three people?” Jiang Shenghong’s eyes widened dramatically. He was astounded at Meng Qi’s reply. Killing Ji Tao and his men himself was a simple task, but he would have had to poison them beforehand in order to avoid a commotion and prevent them from getting help.

“Could those three people be as powerful as him?”

He stared at the bodies on the ground again and realized that many of them had their throats slit while a few others had their bones completely smashed.

There were also differences among the ones who had been killed by a sword. Some of them sported burn marks along the sword wound without any trace of blood around them.

“It really was three people…” Jiang Shenghong carelessly sized Jiang Zhiwei and the others up. He could sense that they had changed their apearances a lot, but as they were secret agents, they disguised themselves daily and he did not think much of it.

“They are…?” He asked Meng Qi.

Upon hearing that, Meng Qi finally relaxed. Jiang Shenghong’s question meant that they had already passed his check. “Your Highness, they are secret agents who serve under me. They were previously in charge of guarding the periphery and were spared from the attack. They rushed over after seeing the distress signal, but did not manage to catch sight of the enemy.”

Jiang Shenghong nodded and returned to the topic at hand. “Those three escaped really quickly. Describe their facial features and their kung fu traits to the portrait artist later. It will help facilitate a city-wide search. Oh, Doctor Sun will soon arrive. Wait here and don’t move around lest you worsen your injuries.”

After obtaining the rough characteristics of the “three enemies”, the blue wind whisked him away in the utterly random direction that Meng Qi had pointed him toward.

A short while later, the portrait artist and doctor arrived, flanked by a large troop of bodyguards.

“Give me your hand.” Doctor Sun was a pale-faced, beardless man. He seemed like a man who gave instructions to others by his facial expressions instead of words.

Meng Qi calmly extended his left hand, combining the thunderbolt mark, “Divine Nine-Annihilation” and Purple Thunder Force to imitate Ji Tao’s genuine Qi.

Doctor Sun placed two fingers on Meng Qi’s wrist to feel his pulse. He carefully measured its rhythm before gasping softly, his brows furrowed. “Your liver has taken so much damage. How are you still alive?”

He stared at Meng Qi with widened eyes, as if looking at a monster.

“Ah!” Meng Qi’s heart pounded as he realized his mistake — he had modeled the injuries with his own physical body. However, even Descendants of Divine Devil were a far cry from the power of Eight Nine Mysteries on the nine Apertures level!

Meng Qi immediately calmed himself down. Without responding to Doctor Sun’s question, he continued adjusting his pulse.

“Why is the pulse so fast all of a sudden… Oh, now it’s suddenly weak and slipping downwards!” Doctor Sun cried out in surprise.

Based on his pulse, the Vice-commander of the bodyguards before him should have died seven or eight times over, and then revived seven or eight times again…

“How is this possible…” He had been practicing medicine for years and it was his first time encountering such symptoms. Large drops of sweat rolled down his forehead. He was at a loss on what to do.

Meng Qi coughed gently and replied, “Doctor Sun, how are my injuries, truly?”

He was trying to confuse the already baffled doctor even more.

Doctor Sun wiped away his cold sweat and asked, “Could you give me a detailed description of how you got injured?”

“I was caught in an ambush. Someone managed to hit me in the back with a palm stroke and I was sent flying forward. After that, a swordsman slashed my face. If I had not dodged that attack, and if she had not been so wary of my thunder force, I would already be in the Netherworld now!” Meng Qi sighed heavily as he recounted.

Without waiting for Doctor Sun’s response, he rambled on, “It sounds strange, but my bones didn’t break although I took a blow to my back. It seems like it was more of a tender palm force that seeped into my body…”

“Yes, this palm energy is very strange and it is difficult to remove it directly. Take two ‘Yellow Elixirs’ to stabilize your pulse first, then try to run your own genuine Qi to slowly force it out.” Doctor Sun wiped his cold sweat again, going along with Meng Qi’s words so that the man might first treat his own wounds. Meanwhile, he would go flip through ancient medical manuscripts to determine the true cause of this man’s condition.

“If Ji Tao died because of these injuries, his death would be on him!”

Meng Qi did not dare to consume anything carelessly, so he ground the Yellow Elixir into a fine powder and pretended to consume it. Once Doctor Sun had finished dressing his wounds and went to inspect the corpses, he secretly spat them out onto his palm.

At the same time, the bodyguards were questioning Jiang Zhiwei and the others. They all emphatically insisted that they had been in charge of the periphery and had not seen the enemy. The bodyguards could not discern any flaw in their statements.

“Vice-commander Ji, has your condition stabilized?” A bodyguard asked as he led the portrait artist over.

He was another Vice-commander called Wen Cheng. He had never gotten along with Ji Tao, and being on official business, he took advantage of that to disturb him.

“Hmph. If you’re gonna ask, just do it.” Meng Qi mimicked Ji Tao’s frosty humph based on what he could recall from the memory fragments he had seen.

Because of the fierce scars on his face, Ji Tao was hated by the madam and young lady from the government office. Wen Cheng often used that to embarrass him, leaving Ji Tao with painful memories.

Wen Cheng made a face and instructed the portrait artist, “Carefully listen to Vice-commander Ji’s description later, lest there are any discrepancies.”

“Vice-commander Ji, the enemies must have been very powerful to nearly take your life and your entire army.” Wen Cheng turned to speak to Meng Qi, his teasing tone both mocking and regretful. It was as if he were saying, “Are you not known as the man with Thunder God blood lineage, the first in line after our leader? Why are you in such an embarrassing state now? What a pity that your army was ‘almost’ completely wiped out…”

Meng Qi clenched his fists tight and ground his teeth hard, acting as if he was trying in vain to control his rage from bursting out.

Upon seeing that, Wen Cheng was satisfied and returned to the topic at hand. He asked, “How many enemies were there?”

“There were three people. Two men and one woman.” Meng Qi conjured a faint look of fear, as if the events had actually taken place.

“Describe their appearances and kung fu traits one by one.” Wen Cheng again pulled a face.

“One of the men was around 30 years old, had broom-shaped eyebrows, a large mouth, and seemed to have suffered from facial paralysis… When he attacked, a purple Milky Way circled around him, but the palm stroke he used to strike me was soundless…” Meng Qi answered in all seriousness, “The other man was young, but his sword art was outstanding. He had upward-slanting eyebrows and large, bright eyes, and was extremely handsome and carefree… The sword he used had fire circling around it. It didn’t seem like an ordinary weapon.”

Qi Zhengyan just finished being questioned when the corners of his mouth suddenly twitched. Jiang Zhiwei and the others stared at the ground desperately trying to control their laughter.

“The woman was tall and slender, wore blue robes, and had a very bright countenance. Her sword art was unfathomable…” Since they were the real “criminals” themselves, Meng Qi added a few false descriptions to the “criminals” appearances.

The portrait artist worked swiftly and soon produced three drawings for Meng Qi to verify.

“That’s them!” Meng Qi quickly scanned the images and exclaimed bitterly.

The three sketches were all lacking in their depiction of their actual faces, especially the one with the purple Milky Way.

After completing all those trivial matters, Meng Qi brought his sworn companions with him back to the government office to recover. Other bodyguards took the portrait sketches and put out a city-wide search for them.

…

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After entering the compound, Meng Qi returned to Ji Tao’s house after referring to his memories.

He was never married and both his parents lived outside the government office. Thus, he was not afraid of being discovered.

The few of them had barely stepped into the winding corridor when they heard screams from in front of them. A beautiful young girl in a pale grey dress stumbled backward in shock and panic. The maids beside her averted their eyes from Meng Qi’s face.

“What are you staring at? Don’t you know that face of yours will terrify the young miss? Hurry up and get lost!” The older woman next to the young girl scolded him angrily.

The young girl was none other than Zuo Yiqian, Zuo Hanfeng’s granddaughter. She had been frightened by Meng Qi’s face wrapped in white bandages, believing that she bumped into a ghost in broad daylight.

“Alright! Alright! I’ll leave now!” Meng Qi imitated Ji Tao’s typical subservient answer. Then he hobbled into the corridor, hiding his face from the young miss.

“Miss, seems like the ghost of the ugly Ji Tao.”

“It’s him… He seems to have hurt his face again…”

“When his wounds heal, it’ll probably be even uglier…”

Despite the hurtful remarks, Meng Qi remained unmoved. He hastened his pace and arrived at his own house along with Jiang Zhiwei and the others.

Before opening the door to his compound, a man and a woman approached them from another winding corridor.

“Vice-commander Ji, just what kind of enemy did you encounter?” The man asked.

He had upright and prominent features and his skin had a dark grey tinge making him look like a stone statue. This bizarre character was none other than Yin Lenghui’s subordinate, Mu An the Dissimilated Man. Apparently, he was said to possess unusual powers and was hard to guard against.

The woman beside him was also Yin Lenghui’s subordinate, Lan Die the Dissimilated Man. She had gorgeous albeit messy hair, and her lips were an even more unnatural shade of red.

Meng Qi icily described the flow of events to them in brief. Ji Tao had never been on good terms with the three Dissimilated Men.

After listening to him, a smile suddenly spread across Lan Die’s lips. “Vice-commander Ji, could you describe their kung fu again? They seem somewhat familiar to me.”

She seemed to have taken an interest in the “two men and one woman” who had launched a surprise attack on Ji Tao.

“I hope you will be able to help share the government office’s burden and resolve this problem…” Meng Qi responded with a taunt before describing them in detail once more.

“Purple Milky Way…” Lan Die chewed on her lower lip, deep in thought.

The other two opponents’ kung fu did not have striking enough characteristics, making them harder to identify.

“Were there any other clues left behind?” Mu An asked stonily.

Meng Qi shook his head and responded, “I was almost killed by them. How force them to leave other clues behind?”

Mu An turned away wordlessly, but intentionally muttered under his breath,

“Worthless trash.”

Meng Qi’s hands balled into fists again, performing a realistic display of his “anger”. Then he took a deep breath and pushed the door open and entered the wing room.

His compound had a few towering trees that provided welcome shade from the scorching sun. They blocked out the heat, leaving it nice and cool inside.

Meng Qi was about to talk when Jiang Zhiwei put her finger to her lips. She darted forward with her sword piercing the corner of a pillow.

A faint green light flashed at the tip of the sword. Meng Qi and the others went over to look and discovered that it was a tiny Gu Poison Bug with the size of a rice grain. It wriggled back and forth, but could not escape from the area Jiang Zhiwei’s Sword Qi had enveloped.

“Gu Poison Bug? Ji Tao wasn’t on good terms with Yin Lenghui and the others, so they secretly placed a Gu Poison Bug here to spy on him?” Meng Qi deduced.

Ji Tao had had the opportunity to meet Zuo Hanfeng frequently. If they had placed the bug on his person, it would be easy for the latter to notice it.

At the same time, Meng Qi sighed inwardly. In terms of sensing, he was still quite far behind Zhiwei.

In the past, he had relied on provoking his Primal Aperture in advance and combining the Immortal Pressing Art and Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth to outperform Jiang Zhiwei in similar areas. However, she had been formally practicing her Primal Aperture at Mid-brows for several months and was close to the stage of Oneness of Heaven and Men, at once, surpassing him again

The five of them exchanged glances before Meng Qi suddenly spoke up, “Those scumbags! If I ever bump into them again, I’ll grind them into dust.”

“General Ji, please calm down. In time, we will see them in the dungeons.” Zhao Heng instantly understood Meng Qi’s intentions and responded appropriately.

They would leave the Gu Poison Bug alone to convey misleading information to Yin Lenghui. That way, no one would doubt their identities.

After “performing” for a while, Meng Qi and the others left the wing room and entered the courtyard, discussing the issue in low voices.

“We don’t know how strong Yin Lenghui is. If we try to test his capabilities without a plan, it’ll be easy for us to slip up and put ourselves in danger.” Zhao Heng said, concerned.

If they wanted to kill Zuo Hanfeng, they had to be certain of Yin Lenghui’s strength. Otherwise, they could fail just when success was within reach.

Meng Qi nodded. “The other two just now were also Dissimilated Men. They share a close relationship with Yin Lenghui, so it would be easier to start with them.”

“We need to wait for an opportunity to arrive,” agreed Jiang Zhiwei. She was not one without patience.

Ruan Yushu and Qi Zhengyan also nodded without any objection.

…

Three days later, they found themselves in the bodyguards’ hall.

Jiang Shenghong paced back and forth in front of Meng Qi. His usual unity with his surroundings disrupted by his franticness.

“How can there be no clues?” He exclaimed through gritted teeth. “Those three people vanished into thin air! We could not find a trace them even after searching the entire city!”

“Of course you can’t find them, ‘they’ are hiding in the government office, right under your noses…” Meng Qi thought to himself, while responding, “Maybe this is the same case as Du Huaishang.”

“In other words, there are powers in the city of Daning that we have no knowledge of?” Jiang Shenghong narrowed his eyes.

Meng Qi knew that if they continued on their current course, Jiang Shenghong would eventually find out he was lying. He pretended to give it some thought before replyinh, “If they don’t mix with other people and hide in a remotely located compound, stealing their food and water supplies, t would be difficult to find them using normal means…”

“That makes sense.” Jiang Shenghong nodded a little, acknowledging what Meng Qi said possible explanation

Meng Qi continued, “Your Excellency, most of my injuries have healed. I would like to assist the search with my men.”

“Very good. I’ll commend you for your loyalty in front of the government office.” Jiang Shenghong said gratefully.

…

In a tavern where the good and the bad mingled, the tavernkeeper enjoyed drinks with his friends of bad repute. He was a nearby Turf Lord who was well-informed and sharp-witted.

All of a sudden, something caught his eye. A young girl in a blue top and a plain skirt walked through the door. Although she was in disguise, those with sharp eyes easily picked out her unrivaled bright countenance.

The young girl walked over slowly with her long sword in hand. Dropping her voice to a whisper, she said, “There’s something I need to ask you.”

The tavernkeeper shivered as he felt Sword Qi surround his body. Hurriedly, he got to his feet and led the young girl to a corner. He asked, “Young lady, what would you like to know?”

“Do you know about Du Huaishang’s whereabouts?” The young girl was none other than Jiang Zhiwei.

The tavernkeeper gave a bitter laugh and replied, “If I knew, I would’ve gone to the government office myself and claimed that huge reward.”

Jiang Zhiwei nodded, and then turned to leave. Not long after exiting the tavern, she suddenly quickened her pace and ducked into a small alley. She had to throw off the people stalking her. She then flipped over a wall into a compound to dress in her disguise, sticking two strips of mustache above her upper lip. After that, she made a huge detour before arriving at a place nearby.

In the tavern, the tavernkeeper told his friends, wearing a grave expression, “Hurry, find the government office’s secret agents and tell them that the person they’re looking for has appeared!”

In no time, news of the “enemy’s” appearance had traveled to the government office through many different routes. Among those who had reported, one was Jiang Zhiwei herself!

Jiang Shenghong and Lan Die rushed to the area near the tavern at almost the same time, but it was too late. They had lost all trace of the the enemy again.

…

On the second day, Turf Lords in both the East and the North of the city encountered the wanted criminals. One of them was the girl in blue robes from the day before, and the other, a flat-nosed man who seemed to have purple Milky Ways flowing in his eyes.

News travelled quickly the government office, to the two men who were on duty that day– Mu An and “Ji Tao”.

“Those treacherous fools! How dare they show themselves again!” Mu An’s stone statue-like face finally betrayed a trace of irritation. He took several large strides forward as he instructed, “Find Leader Jiang. We’ll split up so the enemy can’t escape this time.”

“If this matter gets out of hand and the head of the office and the Left Governor have to intervene, we’ll never be able to show our faces again!”

He viewed “Ji Tao” as his subordinate.

Meng Qi laughed without amusement, “I’m just afraid that you’ll get killed by the enemy.”

It was indeed strange how they had been in the government office for so many days, but still had not caught a glimpse of Zuo Hanfeng or Yin Lenghui!

‘Hmph, I’m not worthless trash like you.” Mu An quickly left the hall.

When he reached the east market, he could find no trace of the enemy as well, resorting to asking secret agents and informants for help.

After questioning several of them in a row, his face finally brightened because there was a clue at long last!

“I saw a young girl in blue slipping into that alley.” A skinny man with two strips of mustache said.