Chapter 598: The Hunt

Meng Qi moved his new arm to inspect it. The meridians, skin, muscles, and even Aperture acupoints were all the same as before. He did not need to cultivate them again, he just needed to get more familiar with the new arm before it was able to be used properly.

“What a Living Propagation of the Dharmakaya!” Meng Qi could not help being amazed in his heart when he saw the new pair of hands.

“Thank you very much for your help.”

He was humble and did not take himself too seriously, even being the “Juzi” of the School of Mo. He acted as if they simply had different jobs, rather than different social statuses.

The middle-aged man was first surprised by Juzi’s attitude. He found it a great privilege. Then, he soon realized that Juzi was simply acting according to the Love with Impartiality and Love with Impartiality principles. Juzi was really an example of integrating the harmony of knowledge and practice.

Qi Zhengyan returned a salute and asked his name. Since the member of the preacher team was in charge of various chores, apart from Meng Qi and Ruan Yushu, who were directly managing the followers of the School of Mo, the remaining three knew little about them.

However, of course, when there were secret followers of the School of Mo, all five of them would confirm altogether. Moreover, Bai Song and Zhao Bai were excluded from such events, lest they leak any information.

“I’m Yan Kuan,” the middle-aged man replied. “I’m developed by Juzi himself and Miss Ruan. It’s natural that you don’t know my name.”

That was to say, he would not be tracked down unless Meng Qi or Ruan Yushu was captured.

“Developed…” Qi Zhengyan frowned. “Meng Qi often says that word… it sounds weird though.”

Now, Meng Qi had recovered from his injuries as well. He stood up and asked, “Mr. Yan, will you see how the situation is outside for us, please?”

“My pleasure.” Yan Kuan withdrew from the kitchen and walked out as if nothing unusual had happened.

“He’s an aristocrat official, who’ll never be suspected. He’s read a lot of ancient manuscripts and learned about history. He’s disappointed at the aristocrat class and demands for a reform to end the mayhem of the world. Upon hearing our preaching, he felt that he agreed with us. Thus, he came to me and wanted to become a secret follower of the School of Mo to help us.”

While saying this, he sighed. “Though no class would betray itself, there are always people that betray their class.”

“What did you say?” Qi Zhengyan was puzzled. Since the start of the mission, he was always hearing Junior Brother say strange things and words, and he could only be left in wonder.

Meng Qi pursed his lips and answered smugly, “Nothing.”

“It’s difficult for people who don’t receive nine years of compulsory education to understand!”

Qi Zhengyan did not take it personally because he really did not care about it.

After a while of waiting, Yan Kuan sneaked back into the kitchen. He said in a low voice, “There are soldiers patrolling the streets to stop people from leaving their houses. They say that you and the king had disagreements and got into an argument, and then you killed him and hid in the city. They blocked the city with formations and are searching every house in the city.

“Even experts of the Exterior have been sent out of the city to hunt you down!”

To fit in with the formations and capture capable bandits, the requirements of soldiers in the Apotheosized World were high. They had to have at least enlightened their Apertures, which explained why they were in the minority. During this search, they had to block the main entrances first and search through every district. In every district, there was an Exterior expert hovering in the air, detecting any fighting incident.

“Well, they really did frame us like that,” Meng Qi snorted. His expression stayed the same, but his eyes became cold.

“It seems that the King of Chen must have been in great danger!

“He put his trust in us and ended up like this. Although I didn’t harm him, he was harmed because of me!

“I must take revenge someday!”

Fury rose up in his heart and he was determined.

Qi Zhengyan wore a blank face but squinted his eyes as his left hand, which was free from his sword, subconsciously clenched.

Yan Kuan sighed. “The king has been making great efforts to build a strong state, but… they’re really shameless to say something like that. You were protected by the king the whole time, your policies went smooth and were beneficial, why would you get into an argument and end up killing him?

“More importantly, you’re young and haven’t even passed the first Celestial Ladder. Even with secret treasures, you can’t kill a king who is a grandmaster.”

He paused, looking pained. “I heard that many followers of the School of Mo have been imprisoned. Mr. Bai, Mr. Zhao, and Mr. Wang made a narrow escape.”

“A lot of School of Mo followers have been captured?” Meng Qi exhaled, suppressing his anger.

“I won’t let this go easily. I’ll avenge them!

“Although we’re preaching to accomplish the task, we’ve changed their lives and were rewarded with their respect and trust. Moreover, they did follow our principles in daily lives. I can’t leave them there alone anyway!

“And if I really fail to rescue them, I’ll pay them back in the future!”

“At least Bai Song was quick to react, otherwise his list of the followers of the School of Mo would have been leaked.” Collecting his thoughts, Meng Qi felt relieved that the three of them had not been captured, otherwise the School of Mo would have been doomed. Now, most of the followers of the School of Mo would go incognito.

At that time, they heard a noise from the corner.

They exchanged glances and Yan Kuan said, using Secret-voice Sending, “I’ll see to it.”

The soldiers were currently away from the streets, thus the scholars were sending their families out to search.

When Yan Kuan had left, Meng Qi sighed. “It was our fault, we didn’t take precautions against the Golden Light Cave and didn’t protect the King of Chen well enough.”

He did not mean they had been negligent, he was only expressing his own annoyance.

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As for the grandmaster in the royal court that shot the golden arrows, Meng Qi could guess where he came from according to the fact that Gongyang Bao had returned home from the Golden Light Cave recently.

“The King of Chen is a grandmaster, a king of a state. He has treasures and is more capable than us. It’s only natural that he would protect us, rather than we protect him.” Qi Zhengyan comforted him. “The Golden Light Cave is acting weird. According to the records, they have never meddled in trivial things like this. Who would have known that they would send masters to kill people?

“Even if they wanted to stop us, they could have sent an emissary to warn the King of Chen. They’re so capable and influential that the King of Chen must have compromised. We worried about that at first. However, they acted like we’re mortal enemies and wanted all of us dead!”

Meng Qi nodded. “The Golden Light Cave is indeed acting weird. They must have some unknown motives…”

Then, his countenance became solemn. “No matter how strong they are, we’ll avenge the King of Chen someday!”

“The captured followers of the School of Mo, if we can’t save them…” Qi Zhengyan lowered his voice.

“Let’s not give up now, we’ll look for opportunities.” Meng Qi waved his hands. “But we have to survive this citywide search.”

With the Eight Nine Mysteries, Meng Qi could easily transform. He could hide perfectly in a populous city like Shangying, even if 10 grandmasters were hunting him down. They would need to destroy the city or have some weird treasures if they really wanted to capture him. However, he was concerned about Qi Zhengyan, Jiang Zhiwei, and the others. Indeed, they could face-change and hide their breaths, but they were not able to transform. If the soldiers locked the city and searched every house, they would most likely be found sooner or later.

“However, there are many merchants who have powerful connections. It’s impossible to lock the city for a long time…” Meng Qi felt a little bit relieved.

Then, Yan Kuan returned to the kitchen, worried. “They’re nearly here!”

“So soon and so directly?” Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan were surprised at first. Then, they realized that they had arrived here through the Fire Elemental Conveyance, injured. It was natural for them to leave some kind of traces or breath.

Yan Kuan inhaled and added, “The Minister of Works, Gongyang Zeng, also ordered that everyone in each house had to gather together to prevent them from harboring any fugitives. If they’re masters and servants, the masters must show their documents; if they’re families, their registrations must be verified.”

“So careful!” Meng Qi started to revise his opinion of Gongyang Zeng. That order would stop them from being passed off as Yan Kuan’s servants.

Yan Kuan was worried, while Meng Qi chuckled. “I have ways. You don’t have to worry, just do as they say.”

His confidence put Yan Kuan at ease. Yan Kuan pulled himself together and gathered the family and servants, waiting for the soldiers.

Qi Zhengyan knew the Eight Nine Mysteries was powerful and stayed calm.

Soon afterward, an officer led a pack of soldiers inside. They adopted a cordial attitude since Yan Kuan was an aristocrat. Some went into the hall, verifying their registrations, and others separated to search the house.

In a tree opposite the hall, a bird was watching them, especially the search teams.

When they had left, the bird fluttered into the kitchen and transformed back into Meng Qi.

“Let’s go, we’ll hide in that house,” Meng Qi said using Secret-voice Sending. They sneaked into the chosen house before the soldiers arrived, hiding their breaths from the Exterior experts in the sky.

After a few minutes, a search team was around the house. Just when they were entering, “a teammate they knew” walked out and sighed. “Not here.”

“Alright.” They nodded and dispersed to different search areas.

Meng Qi smiled and pretended to talk with other teammates, waiting for them to leave.

After another while, a team arrived from a different direction. They also saw a familiar teammate walking out and sighing before they were near the house.

Seeing the familiar colleague, they did not suspect anything and then diverged.

After half an hour, peace was restored in the Yan family. Yan Kuan wondered how Juzi managed to hide from the soldiers.

“With the chaotic situation just now, they probably won’t be able to find anything suspicious later”. Meng Qi shot a glance at Qi Zhengyan. “Now we have to try to get out of the city.”

“Get out of the city?” Qi Zhengyan was puzzled. “The formation is covering the entire city, how can we get out?”

Meng Qi inhaled. “As long as they find ‘us’ outside the city, the search inside the city will stop. Everyone will be safe, and we can probably rescue the imprisoned followers of the School of Mo.”

“Lure the tiger out of the mountains!”

“As for the formation that locks the city,” Meng Qi chuckled but his expression was cold, “those experts of the Exterior who try to capture us have to return, don’t they?”

…

In the mansion of the Minister of Justice, Zhao Heng was hiding in Tian Kuo’s room and did not worry at all about the extensive search.

According to the plan, he initially was protected by a follower of the School of Mo in the Tian family’s manor, and when Tian Kuo returned home, he was transferred here.

“Are you alright?” Zhao Heng stared at Tian Kuo and worried that he might be suspected.

Tian Kuo smiled. “It’s fine, they don’t know I’m related to the School of Mo. My father only has me, and he doesn’t know I’m involved.”

“How can you get into the guarding team without his consent?” Zhao Heng was amazed. “How can an officer not know his soldiers?”

Tian Kuo frowned. “I didn’t know this, but a Taoist in the prison warned me. I went back home to check and discovered that the conspiracy was real. Then, I asked my uncles to let me join in the team, giving them the impression that my father had consented to it.”

He was a warden in charge of the affairs in the prison.

“An old Taoist?” Zhao Heng found it odd.

Tian Kuo pursed his lips. “A nagging old Taoist. He can tell fortunes and used to make a living at it. Recently, he was put into jail because he’d offended someone. I was idle and had my fortune told.”