Chapter 508

Chapter 508: The Chase for the Taoist Lord

Inside the teahouse, Qiao Mu stood up to leave, no longer wanting to listen to the storyteller. He planned to continue downriver and see the Kuafu Mountain in Western Province.

Just as he reached the door, someone followed him from behind:

"Brave man, please wait!"

Qiao Mu turned around and saw that the visitor was a plain-looking middle-aged martial artist, wearing a strong outfit and carrying a long knife. His steps were powerful, showing he was clearly a seasoned martial artist.

Behind him were several other martial artists carrying knives as well.

"I am Gu Shan, a centurion of the Immortal Slaying Army," the middle-aged martial artist said, cupping his hands in greeting.

"I see that Your Excellency’s martial skills are deep and unfathomable. If that is the case, why not use your talents in the right place to serve the great cause of the Immortal Slaying in Jiu Province?"

Hearing this, Qiao Mu was momentarily lost in thought.

This sounded like an invitation to recruit talent.

Thinking back to those years, the title ‘Immortal Slaying Army’ was something he had made up while deceiving the old people in the solitary city in the desert. He never expected that one day he would be recruited by the Immortal Slaying Army…

In the next moment, he saw the centurion reach into his sleeve and pull out a document.

This document was similar to a royal capture warrant, featuring a picture of an old man with white eyebrows, but the figure in the image seemed alive, subtly shifting.

Below the image, there was a brief introduction of the old man:

"Shaoyin Taoist Lord."

"One of the Taoist Lords of the Soul Predicting Path Immortal Gate, overseeing the incense affairs of the Northwest Prefecture, has reached the Soul Changing Stage, and fled south after being injured."

"Provide clues and help the investigators, and you will earn a thousand points of merit."

"Is this really the assassination order from the Immortal Slaying Army? It seems he truly is from the Immortal Slaying Army." People in the teahouse also saw the commotion here and gasped in surprise.

"With that thousand points of merit, I can go find Li Gongde and exchange for some healing holy medicine, the Spiritual Meat Pill. It could save a life in a critical moment!"

"Even if I do not exchange for the Spiritual Meat Pill, I can still go to the Peach Blossom Villa and hear about the latest martial arts from Jiu Province."

"Indeed. Although the martial arts at Peach Blossom Villa are open to the public, true mastery of martial arts cannot be achieved just by studying one book."

Qiao Mu glanced at the crowd buzzing with discussion and reached out to take the assassination order from the hand of the middle-aged centurion.

"You want to assassinate a Soul Changing Taoist Lord? Are you serious?" Qiao Mu asked, puzzled.

Before he left Jiu Province, there were a total of nine Soul Changing Taoist Lords in the human realm, all were leaders of the Immortal Sect and held high status.

With the founder not present, each Soul Changing Stage sect leader was the strongest in the Jiu Province cultivation world.

"The Shaoyin Daoist Lord has been injured," the middle-aged centurion explained.

"Besides, how could we pressure you to go to your doom?"

"We do not want you to hunt down the Shaoyin Daoist Lord; we only ask for your help in the chase."

Saying this, the middle-aged centurion took out an object from his robe once again.

It was a small wooden statue, about the size of half a hand. Though it was tiny and not very detailed, it carried a mysterious charm that was quite similar to the Immortal Statue Qiao Mu had seen before in the temple.

"This is the wooden statue of the Shaoyin Daoist Lord. If you get within ten miles of the Shaoyin Daoist Lord, you will sense it," the middle-aged centurion explained.

"If you have any clues about the Shaoyin Daoist Lord, do not act rashly. Even an injured Daoist Lord is one of the powerful cultivators within the Immortal Gate."

"You can use the ‘Spiritual Sound Conducting Technique’ to inform any member of the Immortal Slaying Army."

Qiao Mu understood immediately.

This is not to put the heavy responsibility of dealing with the Soul Changing Taoist Lord on him, but rather to use a strategy of casting a wide net to slowly find the elusive Shaoyin Taoist Lord.

However, it must be said that there were no special items capable of sensing the Soul Changing Taoist Lord’s presence within a radius of ten miles, not even fifty years ago.

Even though he knew fifty years had passed, Qiao Mu still found it hard to believe.

However, Qiao Mu’s brief silence led the centurion to misunderstand.

"If you have not yet mastered the Spiritual Sound Conducting Technique…" The centurion surprisingly took out a scroll from his arms, which contained the key points of the Spiritual Sound Conducting Technique.

Qiao Mu couldn’t help but laugh silently.

Being taught the Spiritual Sound Conducting Technique by the Immortal Slaying Army gave him a strange feeling.

"No need."

Qiao Mu casually took the pursuit document and the wooden statue, and in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared from the centurion’s sight.

…………………

The Sky Piercing River flowed fiercely to the south, carrying a glowing Sky Boat on its surface.

"Fifty years ago in Jiu Province, it was impossible to have a death warrant against the Soul Changing Taoist Lord, even if he was injured, even if it was just to ask someone for clues."

"It seems that the past fifty years in this world have changed more than I expected."

Qiao Mu played with the wooden carving of the Shaoyin Taoist Lord in his hand, then casually tossed it to the nearby Immortal Diyuan.

"This is a creation of the immortal method of refining tools." Immortal Diyuan made a quick judgment after a brief look.

Although she no longer had the body of a True Immortal, her knowledge and experiences remained, as she had ascended to the immortal realm thirty thousand years ago.

"There is a connection of faith and willpower between the Immortal Statue in the incense temple of Jiu Province and the corresponding immortal cultivator behind it," Immortal Diyuan explained.

"When believers kneel and pray in the temple, the immortal cultivator will also feel something."

"The person who made this wooden statue tried to use the connection between the Immortal Statue and the cultivator to find the trace of the hidden cultivator."

The many Immortal Gate masters who died at Qiao Mu’s hands were between the Tao Achieving Stage and the Mahayana Stage, and there was a huge gap between them and the True Immortal who ascended thirty thousand years ago.

From the perspective of a True Immortal, the magical arts of the cultivators in Jiu Province are very simple.

Even the incense path discovered by the Qingxuan Road Immortal Gate is not a big secret for Immortal Diyuan.

"Indeed, it is a product of the immortal path," Qiao Mu nodded.

The martial arts of Jiu Province do not have the many methods of the immortal path; even after fifty years, they wouldn’t create strange objects that Qiao Mu cannot understand.

"Indeed, the maker of this wooden sculpture is quite remarkable," Immortal Diyuan continued.

"But his cultivation level is still a bit shallow; although his ideas are correct, this statue can only probe a range of ten miles."

"The invisible lines of incense wish power can extend more than ten miles."

Immortal Diyuan thought for a moment, then pointed a finger at the wooden carving’s forehead.

The entire wooden carving shook, and a clear crack appeared on its forehead, nearly broken by that one finger.

At the same moment, Qiao Mu felt a stir in his heart, then exchanged a knowing glance with Immortal Diyuan, both smiling gently.

Just as the wooden carving was being damaged, he felt a faint gaze from afar watching him.

"It’s Shaoyin Taoist Lord," Qiao Mu said with certainty.

Immortal Diyuan nodded.

Her earlier finger point was a remote attack using the invisible connection between the Immortal Statue and the cultivator behind it, targeting the distant Shaoyin Taoist Lord.

Immortal Diyuan’s powers were no more, so this remote attack had little strength, being just a simple test.

However, the Shaoyin Taoist Lord was unaware of the danger and briefly "appeared" through the Immortal Statue in Qiao Mu’s hand, looking over from a distance.

It was fine not to look, but as soon as he moved, even if it was just a distant gaze from miles away, it would reveal him before Qiao Mu and Immortal Diyuan.

Immortal Diyuan said, "The Shaoyin Taoist Lord is in a place further south… I guess he is at least a few hundred miles from here."

As a former True Immortal, dealing with a human Soul Changing cultivator was naturally easy.

"A few hundred miles to the south… is that already in the Western Province? Then it works perfectly; I can take care of this person along the way," Qiao Mu said.

At the same time, he focused his mind, and his intuition turned into an invisible giant net, sending a message to the Immortal Slaying Army centurion in Northwest Prefecture city.

"I have found the location of the Shaoyin Taoist Lord…"

…………

Meanwhile, in the city of Daliang in Northwest Prefecture, centurion Gu Shan was still thinking about the earlier events.

"That white-haired martial artist with amazing skills was too impatient. I didn’t even have time to ask his name…"

Centurion Gu Shan felt a bit regretful.

Spirit Refining martial artists have a very strong intuition; although they can make mistakes, he indeed sensed that the person he saw earlier was much stronger than him.

Just then, a soldier behind him interjected:

"Boss, do you think that person we just saw looks a bit like the Qiao family member from back in the day?"

"So what if he looks similar?" Centurion Gu Shan didn’t think much of it.

The Qiao family member from back then was only renowned for three years, but their fame was immense, especially in the stories of older martial artists.

Fifty years have passed, and Jiu Province has seen a new generation. It’s completely normal for the new generation of martial artists to be tired of the old ones’ bragging.

However, for someone like him, a martial artist in his sixties who experienced the Qiao family member sweeping through Jiu Province as a child, it was clear that the legends of martial arts were not false.

"The legend of martial arts from back then has already been dispelled by Senior Qiao Xin himself; a similar face means nothing," Centurion Gu Shan stated deeply.

"In these years, there have been bold impersonators, but what does just one face really mean?"

"What sets the Qiao family members apart from other martial artists is not just one face or one name…"

Before Centurion Gu Shan finished speaking, he suddenly felt a strange intuition and sensed a message coming from afar.

"The location of Shaoyin Taoist Lord has been found…."

"He is no longer in the Northwest Prefecture; his hiding place is in the Western Province? Around Kuafu Mountain?"

Centurion Gu Shan frowned deeply; his first reaction was not surprise, but doubt.

The wooden statue he gave to Qiao Mu can only sense the direction of Shaoyin Taoist Lord within a ten-mile range.

Why did Qiao Mu just leave, and yet he received a message saying that Shaoyin Taoist Lord is in the Western Province around Kuafu Mountain?

"Is this for real? How could it be so fast, and it’s too far, far beyond the sensing range of the wooden statue," Centurion Gu Shan frowned.

"Leader, we might as well give it a try," a soldier suggested.

"Isn’t there one of the five great wonders of today in the area of Kuafu Mountain in the Western Province…"

…………………………..

The Sky Piercing River rushed southward, while the Sky Boat moved through the air like lightning.

Kuafu Mountain is not located on the banks of the Sky Piercing River; instead, there is a large city in the Western Province called Lone Goose City.

"Lone Goose City? I once stayed here briefly when I visited the Western Province."

"Back then, a storyteller from the Tide Listening Building guided me, and later I bumped into a pilgrimage group heading to the Blood Lotus Immortal Kingdom, where Martial Saint was hidden."

Qiao Mu stepped down from the Sky Boat and looked at the distant Lone Goose City.

After arriving in Lone Goose City, Kuafu Mountain was not far away… Fifty years ago, on a clear day without sandstorms, you could see the so-called ‘Valley Between Humans and Gods,’ Baojian Valley, from afar while standing in Lone Goose City.

Today, the weather in the Western Province plains is nice, with clear skies and no yellow sand blowing around.

In the distance, you can see the other side of the plains, where a tall valley looks like it was cut by an axe.

However, beside the valley, the Baojian Peak, shaped like a giant sword, has completely vanished.

"Does the phrase ‘the blood meat giant uses the peak as a sword’ mean what it says?" Qiao Mu remembered that giant sword-shaped mountain.

He had once tried to grow larger using the Blood Meat Oven and pull out the sword. To his surprise, that strange mountain peak grew quickly with his movement, reaching thousands of meters high into the clouds.

"Kuafu Mountain is close, but before that, I’ll just take care of that Shaoyin Taoist Lord…"

Qiao Mu looked at the small wooden carving of the Shaoyin Taoist Lord in his hand, which was slightly shaking.

Even without help from Immortal Diyuan, he knew that the real Shaoyin Taoist Lord was hiding in this ordinary city.

But questions and confusion soon followed.

"A Soul Changing Taoist Lord, who could clearly fly to the heavens and dive into the earth, is now hiding in a city of mortals instead of turning into a beam of light and escaping far away."

"What is he hiding from?"

Beneath his feet, true strength became clouds, and in an instant, Qiao Mu vanished from his spot, transformed into a wind rushing through the city and into Lone Goose City.

The wooden carved statue trembled more intensely, and an invisible connection grew stronger.

When Qiao Mu stopped, he saw the noise of people all around, with mortals coming and going, finding himself in the busiest market of Lone Goose City.

A large, middle-aged man approached a watermelon stall with a serious expression.

The watermelon vendor was a thin man, with sunken eyes and high cheekbones, weakly fanning himself under a tree while watching over the stall.

"The great Shaoyin Taoist Lord of the Soul Predicting Path, one of the most powerful cultivators in all of Jiu Province, is hiding in the busiest market of Lone Goose City, selling watermelons."

Claiming to be a Taoist Lord, worshipped in the temple, yet in the face of life and death, his methods have truly sunk so low…

The melon vendor, upon hearing this, was left in shock, raising his head with a completely confused expression.

"Still pretending?"

The sturdy middle-aged man simply sneered; without saying a word, he raised his fist, as large as a pot, and slammed it down.

"Aotian Divine Fist!"

His punch was incredibly decisive, with power like a giant wave crashing through, filled with an unstoppable force.

At the same time he struck, more than ten martial artists leaped from all directions in the crowd, drawing their swords and knives, with flashes of blades rushing toward him.

However, Qiao Mu’s gaze was fixed on the middle-aged man who had used the "Aotian Divine Fist."

"With divine intent connected, the power of the punch combined with the heart’s will, could it have reached superb skill in the past?"

Wu Aotian’s Aotian Divine Fist, Founding Emperor Yan’s Po Yue Long Yin Gong, and Qiao Mu’s inspired True Strength Heavenly Demon Disintegration Method all belong in this category.

This is the true strength martial skill at the forefront of Jiu Province’s martial arts fifty years ago, where the spirit is more important than the techniques.