area51novel Page 537
Page 537
Xu Qi'an gave a low shout, and Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng dared not delay and immediately subdued the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper looked panicked, and a hint of ruthlessness even flashed across his face, but he didn't say anything more.
“Ning Yan, he doesn’t have any magical artifacts to conceal his aura,” Zhu Guangxiao said definitively after searching him.
“He must be lying!” Li Yuchun walked over, her tone firm.
He shared Xu Qi'an's view; he had seen this kind of behavior from the shopkeeper many times during interrogations.
"Someone is covering his breath!" Xu Qi'an exclaimed in surprise, cold sweat breaking out on his back.
A sorcerer who can conceal one's aura must be at least a fourth-rank or higher; this is not something they can handle.
Xu Qi'an glanced at Li Yuchun's expression. Li Yuchun remained calm, which put Xu Qi'an at ease.
Just then, a dazzling array of patterns flashed on the ground in front of the two, and then a man in white stood with his hands behind his back.
"Who dares to be so arrogant as to try their hand at this master's teachings? Break this!"
Yang Qianhuan made a few hand seals, and the array patterns under her feet expanded to the shopkeeper's body. The shopkeeper was only an eighth-rank martial artist, and he was instantly enveloped by the powerful array patterns.
Xu Qi'an and the others were pleasantly surprised. Although this show-off couldn't speak human language, he was, after all, a fourth-rank sorcerer, so his skills should be reliable.
The shopkeeper's aura fluctuated in strength, clearly indicating that Yang Qianhuan's power was breaking through the force that concealed the aura-observing technique.
Xu Qi'an's expression grew increasingly solemn, because the shop owner's aura was stable, and Yang Qianhuan's power, when it struck, was like a clay ox sinking into the sea.
Yang Qianhuan was a hundred times more shocked than Xu Qi'an at this moment.
"Unrivaled since my debut, only now do I realize the true extent of my power..."
Someone is helping the shop owner conceal the secrets of heaven, so the Qi Observation Technique cannot see through it, and even he, a fourth-grade array master, cannot break it!
"Be on guard! The opponent is a supernatural sorcerer!"
Upon hearing Yang Qianhuan's words, even Li Yuchun drew his sword, for the opponent was an extraordinary expert!
Regardless of the cultivation system, once they reach the Transcendent Realm, which is the Upper Three Ranks, killing those four night watchmen is as easy as crushing ants.
Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng were both drenched in sweat.
The shopkeeper's expression was extremely complicated; clearly, he didn't know who was secretly helping him.
Just as the two sides were locked in a stalemate, a leisurely voice suddenly came from the sky.
"Heavenly secrets are unpredictable and cannot be concealed!"
As soon as he spoke, the shopkeeper's aura surged again, and the seemingly indestructible invisible barrier actually showed signs of loosening!
“Master!” Xu Qi’an blurted out. It was Li Chang’an’s voice.
Yang Qianhuan secretly swallowed, carefully observing the invisible battle between words and the obscuring of heavenly secrets.
A confrontation between an extraordinary sorcerer and an extraordinary Confucian scholar—this is a once-in-a-lifetime event!
One uses the power of heaven and earth to conceal the secrets of heaven, while the other changes the rules to break through the concealment!
It's hard to say whether Li Chang'an can break through the shield or the enemy sorcerer can do it better.
"Heh... young man, how does it feel to suffer the backlash of words becoming law?"
A clear and melodious voice came from the air, a voice that seemed like a dream, even unlike a real person's voice.
Clearly, Li Chang'an's words had encountered obstacles; the shop owner's cover was loosening, but not being completely removed.
However, Li Chang'an's voice remained calm and composed, as if he had not suffered any backlash.
"You cowardly coward, do you dare to step forward and fight?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the shop owner's aura suddenly began to fluctuate, no longer the calm and still state he had been in.
Yang Qianhuan trembled all over and roared excitedly, "The method of concealing the secrets of heaven has actually been broken!"
The ethereal voice was clearly surprised as well, "Li Chang'an! What rank are you exactly?!"
Li Chang'an replied with a smile, "Xu Pingfeng, are you scared?"
The ethereal voice was terrified; the sound of air being torn apart could even be heard. "You! You! You're courting death!"
Xu Qi'an, looking puzzled, asked from inside the room, "Boss, did you hear Master call that person's name just now?"
Li Yuchun looked completely confused. "I think I heard it, but I don't remember it at all."
Xu Qi'an frowned. "That's strange. I thought I was just out of energy and didn't hear clearly. Did you guys hear it?"
Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao exchanged a glance, then shook their heads. "We clearly heard it, but for some reason, we don't remember it at all in such a short time."
At this time, only Yang Qianhuan knew the truth.
“We all heard it, but it was erased in an instant… Extraordinary sorcerers, terrifying indeed!”
Xu Qi'an heard the tremor in Yang Qianhuan's voice and the cold sweat on the back of his neck.
The mighty King of Cool was actually afraid!
Chapter 327 Extraordinary Battle! Hunting Down a Second-Rank Sorcerer!
"boom!"
While Xu Qi'an and his companions were filled with fear and confusion, a violent explosion of energy erupted from the roof, completely blasting open the roof of the dog meat shop.
"This place is dangerous! Leave quickly!" Yang Qianhuan warned, then used the array patterns to quickly evacuate the people from the Black Dog Shop.
Just as Xu Qi'an and his group, along with the screaming women, left the shop, the dog meat shop was suddenly blown apart.
Dozens of flying swords sped through the air, rushing towards a white-clad figure, their blinding light illuminating the entire White Emperor City.
A white-clad figure stood on empty ground, yet it felt as if it were on the ground. Powerful array patterns emanated from the air, and the white figure seemed to teleport to different locations almost instantaneously.
The flying sword came whistling through the air, crushing the houses on the ground several feet away, but the white figure immediately changed position again, making it seem as if it came and went without a trace!
The power of Li Chang'an's Qingyuan Sword Technique was dispersed by the white-robed man's formation and transferred to the ground, instantly shattering black market shops and causing countless deaths and injuries.
The night sky was filled with deafening roars, mixed with screams and shouts from the crowd. Chaos had begun to break out in Baidi City.
Yang Qianhuan stared intently at the sky. A third-grade Celestial Master could fuse the two great array manuals, Tiangang and Disha, and could be said to have applied the power of heaven and earth to the extreme, thereby evolving all arrays in the world!
Li Chang'an's Taoist sword formation was incredibly powerful; even a second-rank martial artist wouldn't dare to directly confront it. However, the man in white easily countered it by shifting the formation's power, and even diverted all the attacks.
"That man in white is incredibly powerful; he's at least a peak third-grade sorcerer!"
"He has mastered the application of the power of heaven and earth to its fullest extent, and even more so, the application of array techniques! He is incredibly powerful!"
Yang Qianhuan stood atop a large tree, her eyes fixed on the chase between the two figures in the air. Fearing that the damage might be diverted and harm innocent bystanders, Li Chang'an had already dispelled the sword formation.
Li Chang'an used the "Travel" technique to teleport almost instantly in the air, but whenever he approached the man in white and was about to make a move, array patterns would suddenly appear under his feet, teleporting him to another location.
Such a chase occurred dozens of times in an instant. Those with insufficient cultivation could only see the blue and white light flashing rapidly in the air, completely unable to understand what was happening.
When Xu Qi'an and his men escorted the shop owner to the street, they found that the area was littered with corpses.
The entire Huangbo Street was filled with deafening shouts of battle and incessant cries of agony; it was as if an army was engaged in a fierce fight!
Li Miaozhen, leading her Golden Eagle Army, was fighting against an endless stream of soldiers who shouted slogans of quelling the rebellion and suppressing bandits as they clashed with Li Miaozhen's troops.
Xu Qi'an was dumbfounded. Wasn't Li Miaozhen supposed to be assisting Yang Chuannan in suppressing bandits? How did she end up fighting with the government troops?
To his even greater shock, the soldiers, far from being afraid of the night watchman, charged at them like madmen.
The night watchmen were instantly surrounded by the chaotic army and began fighting each other without any regard for right or wrong.
"Bandits have entered the city! Kill them without mercy!"
"The bandits have destroyed the city! Kill them!"
"Thieves disguised as night watchmen, kill them without mercy!"
"Yang Chuannan has rebelled?!" This was Xu Qi'an's first judgment.
From his perspective, he found out that the owner of the dog meat shop was involved in key evidence of Yang Chuannan smuggling military equipment, so Yang Chuannan wanted to take advantage of the chaos to kill him and silence him.
"Are you blind? You dare to attack even the night watchman! Are you trying to rebel?!" Song Tingfeng shouted at the rioting troops while resisting.
But the soldiers paid no heed and charged forward as if their lives depended on it, ignoring the watchman's threats.
Li Yuchun quickly concluded, "These seem to be the troops of the Five Cities Garrison, not Yang Chuannan's Guard."
The Wucheng Military Command's superiors in principle were the Yunzhou Provincial Administration Commissioner and the Prefect, not Yang Chuannan.
Xu Qi'an was immediately at his wit's end. He never imagined that the black dog shop he had investigated would actually cause a rebellion, and it wasn't even one of Yang Chuannan's men. What on earth was going on?
"Boss, could it be that someone else is colluding with the Witch God Cult, and they're now desperate, all because of this dog meat seller?"
Li Yuchun cleaved two more soldiers in two with a single stroke, then said in a deep voice, "I was just following orders."
Just then, Li Miaozhen's voice came over, "Many of the Witch God Cult's spies in Yunzhou have been removed, so they rebelled ahead of schedule. The Golden Eagle Army is here, so there should be no problem. I'm going to support the Guard Command."
Before she could finish speaking, Li Miaozhen had already stepped onto the golden eagle and left the black market in the blink of an eye.
Xu Qi'an was very puzzled as to why Li Miaozhen wanted to go and support the Guard Command, since the Guard Command was Yang Chuannan's army...
"I wonder how Governor Zhang and the others are doing..." Song Tingfeng suddenly said.
Although Governor Zhang had Jiang Jinluo by his side, including the night watchmen and the Tiger Guards, there were only a little over a hundred men. If the rebel army attacked the post station, they would indeed be in great danger.
Xu Qi'an said, "Yunzhou City is in chaos now, our priority is to protect ourselves!"