Inside the empyrean treasury, Wind, Xiao and Saiyu were facing an old female cultivator named Misa. She cocked her head in a scary manner as she heard Wind call her name.
"Hmm? You know me? Are you a traitor of the empire?" Misa asked.
Wind chuckled in response. "Come on granny. Me, a traitor? Traitor is the new emperor whom you serve."
"…" There was a momentary silence. "Who are you?" Misa asked as she stared towards Wind. Her eyes were completely white. She was blind and used to perceive her surroundings through a technique. So even though she couldn't exactly see Wind, she still stared towards him as she was still able to perceive his presence and movements. In her mind everyone seemed to be in form of glowing shapes of different colors. Through these colors, Misa could make out the cultivation levels of others.
"I asked, who are you?" Misa growled hearing no reply from Wind.
"I'm the one who is going to avenge Emperor Mizu and Prince Lu's deaths." Wind said, ambiguously. He skipped giving his information and instead revealed his intention.
"Humph! The dead won't come back to life even if you avenge them." Misa said coldly. "Go back where you came from and I will spare your life this once." This was her best and very generous offer.
"You've been holed up in this cave for too long, granny." Wind said and sighed. "You've been protecting this treasury for almost a century now. You were the concubine of Emperor Mizu's father, but not a favorite one. Yet, you always cared of Emperor Mizu as if you were his real mother. Then after your husband's death in a battle where you lost your eyesight, you secluded yourself in this treasury to guard it while cultivating in solitude. You were kind to Emperor Mizu and his son Prince Lu and you'd gift them with your nails whenever they visited the treasury. Your nails are filled with yin chi that you've accumulated over decades and are a good cultivation resource. But it seems that your love and care was nothing but pretense. You didn't even grieve Emperor and Prince's deaths. You continued to stay here and now you serve their murderer."
"Enough!" Misa shouted and clawed towards Wind. Her nails elongated rapidly and struck Wind, scratching him and ripping his clothes. Wind didn't dodge at all. Looking at him, Misa snorted. She could sense that no damage was dealt to Wind, even though this attack could easily cut through rocks. Apparently, Wind wasn't all bark.
"You're young." Misa growled as she continued to hover in the air. "You don't understand. This is the world of cultivation. Individual power can best the force of masses. Had I gone and attacked Jiao, I'd have died the same way Mizu and Lu did. Thus, I stayed here and cultivated in hope of breaking through to Emperor realm someday. The day I do so, would be the last day of Jiao's life!"
"…" Wind fell silent. He had known granny Misa to be an honest person. She never lied in her whole life. Her point of view was also believable. She wasn't some young person full of anger and hormones. She was old and wise. She waited for the right opportunity instead of going against Jiao prematurely. But considering her age, there was very little hope of her reaching Emperor realm. Even for young talented cultivators, Emperor realm was unfathomably far away.
"Leave now, while I still allow it." Misa snarled.
"I have an ever-youth pill for you." Wind suddenly said, astonishing Misa.
"Ever-youth!?" She exclaimed, not expecting to hear this out of nowhere.
"Yes. Join me, granny Misa & I'll give you this pill. Let's be realistic, the chances of you breaking through to Emperor realm are low. You're already too old. Although I'll give you Ian technique with which you can try levelling up to emperor realm, but even if you fail, you can still obtain your youth and at your prime you'll still be far stronger than you currently are! & then…we'll kill Jiao together!" Wind offered.
"…Who…really are you?" Misa was alert. "How do you know Ian technique? Little Lu never truly taught his infamous technique to anyone. & how can you have ever-youth pill when no one in history has ever succeeded in concocting it? Are you telling me lies?"
Wind shook his head and brought out an ever-youth pill before tossing it towards Misa who sensed it and caught it.
"With your methods, you can certainly inspect the authenticity of that pill." Wind said. "That pill shows my potential and sincerity. The rest is up to you to decide."
"…" Misa fell silent and pondered deeply.
"We also want only one thing from this treasury." Wind added. "An emperor realm ginseng to heal my father. I'm sure Jiao wouldn't care about it so you'd be fine even if you decided to stay here and bide more time for yourself."
"…" Misa didn't say anything. She had scrutinized the ever-youth pill several times by now and found no flaws in it. It was the real thing! She thought hard and fast. Wind's words earlier were true. She was too old. Her strength had declined already. She couldn't fully utilize the power of her cultivation base. At the same time, breaking through to Emperor realm wasn't a joke. If she couldn't do it until now, the chances of doing it later were also very slim. As for using Ian technique to dual cultivate heheh. Who would want to have sex with a ghastly old woman who looks like a bony corpse? Misa stopped hesitating and quickly consumed the ever youth pill! Then rotating her chi in her dantian, she quickly dissolved the pill and felt its unique coolness flowing through her meridian, spreading throughout her body. At the same time she was visibly getting younger!
Misa's skin got younger and her wrinkles started to fade. Her body got healthy too. Her white hair turned gray and then black. Her eyes remained the same but she was no longer a scrawny old woman. Instead, she was now a healthy woman in her forties. She had fairly big breasts and round hips. Her face was chiseled and glamorous. She looked great and herself felt incredible! Her dried up meridians inflated, allowing easier flow of chi. Her dantian felt full of chi.
"Ever-youth…" Misa uttered & sighed. "It's real after all."
"Of course, it is." Wind smiled. "You still don't have to join forces with me if you don't want to though. We'll just take the ginseng and leave."
Swoosh! Misa suddenly flew towards Wind and attacked! Her nails morphed and receded, going backwards onto her hands, taking form of thin gauntlets.
Bam! She struck at Wind with all her power. Wind dodged at the last moment.
Boom! A crater formed on the spot Wind was standing moments ago.
Crackle! Lighting sparked around Wind as he summoned his golden spear. A smile rolled on his lips.
Swoosh! Misa turned and cupped her hands together. Yin chi accumulated in between her hands rapidly and took form of a ball. This yin was very visible and emitted a powerful vibe.
"Yin cannonball!" Misa shouted as she opened her cupped hands slightly and the yin chi shot towards Wind like a cannonball with speed of light.
Boom!! Misa was flung several feet backwards. She had a shocked expression. She fell on her hips and rolled backwards on the floor before stopping.
"Deflect." Wind said smilingly. This was the trump card move of Spear of Chieftain technique. Wind had activated it in advance. He was familiar with granny Misa's techniques. But Misa was in shock. This was her fastest attack and it was deflected back at her!
"Are you done testing me, granny Misa?" Wind asked with a smirk.
Misa stood up and snorted. "Humph! Call me Misa."
"Of course; you're young now & so beautiful too, Misa." Wind said and wink.
"Skip the flattery." Misa crossed her arms. "You need to tell me who exactly you are. I can't blindly trust you."
"Of course." Wind smiled. "I'm Wind of Carny. This is my mother Xiao and my friend Saiyu. We are allies with the revolutionary army and a few states who have all joined forces to launch a revolution. As we speak, Ji Empire is enduring the full brunt of revolution and the freedom is merely one Jiao's death away."
"…Take what you want and then let's head out." Misa said, turning around. She had agreed to join Wind!
Then with a swish of his hand, the entire treasure was swept into Wind's strategy ring. He then looked at Xiao and whispered inaudibly using the Whispering Travelers technique.
"Get in the strategy. Find the ginseng in the treasure. Take help of Hyun Jung to feed it to Deodomus." Wind said. Xiao nodded and was swept into the ring right away. Then Wind, Saiyu and Misa walked out from the cave. Saiyu used her Illusion technique, surprising Misa as the many beasts were fooled easily and Wind's ground walked out casually. As for the acid beast, it was slain by Misa easily. She was after all a powerful cultivator at level 9 Sage realm.
Suddenly Wind and Misa jumped in shock. Their faces turned pale.
"Why is he here!?" Wind shouted. "We aren't ready yet! What is Wu Shang doing!?"
"Who's here?" Saiyu asked curiously. She had never seen Wind so shocked before.
"Hehehe! Don't chicken out now, Wind." Misa said as she licked her lips, preparing for battle.
"Of course not!" Wind frowned. "Saiyu go in the strategy and help Xiao. You are not strong enough to face this enemy."
"Which enemy? Who's coming!?" Saiyu felt uneasy.
"Jiao. He's here!" Wind said gazing into a distance. He could clearly see Jiao storming towards the treasury.
Boom!! The entire cave shook strongly and rocks fell down from the roof. Jiao had landed on the ground. He then took a step ahead and reached inside the cave using some technique.
"Thieves! You dare…!" Jiao roared angrily and scouted the entire cave boldly with his technique, finding no one other than Wind and Misa.
Jiao looked roughed up. He no longer had a crown on his head. He had a battle armor on him and it was scratched badly all over. His hair were dirty and messed up. His eyes were bloodshot and there was an injury on his right cheek. It was already rotten and painting a hideous look on Jiao's face. Needless to say, Wu Shang had struck Jiao with some trump card move. Wu Shang was an empyrean level dark doctor. Jiao had no medical techniques up his sleeve. Apparently, the pills and medicines he must have on him were not able to heal his injury either. He'd need to summon his empyrean doctors to heal him later. But it wasn't a lethal injury. Jiao was still full of energy and was furious.
"Misa…you dare betray the Empire?" Jiao snarled as he stared at the young Misa. Though he was surprised at her young appearance, he could still recognize her through his methods and her standing beside an apparent thief declared he a traitor.
"…" Misa didn't utter a word. Instead, she revved up her chi and gathered two chi balls in her both palms, preparing to launch an attack.
Behind her, Wind was palpitating. He wasn't scared but he was still afraid. Facing Jiao this early was not in his plan. He wanted to lure Jiao into a strategy later on and with collective powers of his allies, he wanted to weaken him and then only fight him. But right now, Wind was taken off guard. Inside his ring, he only had Xiao, Hyun Jung, Karisa and other nuns along with Calen. Only Xiao had enough battle prowess to fight against Jiao but she'd still lose in the end. Wind didn't want to risk Xiao's life but he was lacking other solutions to the current problem.
"Should I run away?" Wind thought. "Can I run away? Should I fight? What methods should I use?" Wind's mind was sprinting. "He's worn out due to battle. With granny by my side, I still have hope.
Boom! An explosion occurred as Misa attacked Jiao right away. Her yin balls struck Jiao and engulfed him in destructive yin chi.
Swoosh! Jiao flew forward, and in his hand a scythe emerged. He swung it at Misa but she retreated. For a while the two of them played tag. Misa was rather a long-range fighter so Jiao was using mid-range and close-range attacks to subdue her. He however hadn't forgotten about Wind.
"Lightning strike!" Wind yelled as he summoned his golden spear and shot a thunderous lightning bolt towards Jiao.
"Duplicate!"
"Empyrean slash!"
An arc of energy intercepted the lightning bolt as Jiao struck towards it in the split second.
Wind's eyes widened in shock. He wasn't shocked at the fact that his powerful move got cancelled but that it was a second Jiao who did it. There were currently two Jiaos inside the cave. One of them kept fighting Misa while the other charged towards Wind.
"Empyrean rush!" The duplicate Jiao flew towards Wind rapidly.
"Lightning meteor!" Wind leapt backwards and maintained his distance with Jiao. Seemingly Jiao was most comfortable with close to mid-range attacks. Wind thus didn't want to let him get closer.
"Stop running, you measly punk!" Jiao snarled and created several more duplicates! Within a few seconds, Wind was surrounded by multiple Jiaos.
"No wonder Wu Shang obviously lost the fight." Wind thought. "Jiao has a technique that allows him to duplicate himself. He could easily ward off the demon army and reach Wu Shang easily. His cultivation is higher than anyone so Wu Shang didn't stand a chance. He still bought us almost a full day, so that's still commendable but, with this technique of Jiao's, we're screwed! How can I deal with this technique?" Wind thought while the multiple Jiaos attacked him in unison.
"Wheel of death!" Jiao duplicates shouted and aimed their scythes towards Wind, shooting powerful continuous energy beams at him. From above, this moment looked like spokes of a wheel.
Boom!! The beams collided and caused a big explosion that destroyed a part of the cave, bringing down the roof and opening up a wide hole in it. Large stones and debris fell down and dust flew everywhere but Jiao's perception was clean. He could observe clearly. Wind was nowhere on the surface. He had used the Earthworm technique to dig a hole and hid in it.
With a grunt in unison, Jiaos went on a rampage as they drilled holes in the ground to force Wind out but Wind dug even deeper and…escaped! He didn't hesitate to leave Misa behind! Wind's own life mattered more to him than others'.
He also had no knowledge about Jiao's duplicate technique. Even though Wind was Prince Lu in the past life and had frequent meetings with Jiao, he knew very little about Jiao's techniques. With him being the emperor now, basically every empyrean technique was available to Jiao and he had the time and potential to learn them all. That fact made him the strongest adversary! Wind dared not fight Jiao.
"Misa will buy me some time; I should retreat while I can." Wind thought and moved speedily as a tunnel kept lengthening in front of him and kept closing behind him to leave no tracks.
Meanwhile outside, Misa was fighting bravely. She was surrounded by many Jiaos and she was using every trick she knew to fight. She had already killed a few Jiao duplicates as their cultivation levels were at Sage realm only. But the real Jiao was also among them, playing with his prey as he injured Misa every now and then and cornered her with his clones.
Wind was observing this clearly through his 10000 li sight. But he didn't stop, as in his perception several Jiaos were drilling into the ground and chasing behind him relentlessly. They weren't using earthworm technique but a different one, which allowed them to have the same effect with albeit extra consumption of energy. But Jiao was at Emperor realm. He had ample energy saved up so he had granted large amounts of it to all his clones.
"This is troublesome." Wind sighed as he stopped after building up some distance. With Jiaos' speed, it'd take them only a minute to catch up with Wind.
"Calen. Aid me." Wind said as he summoned his daughter Calen.
"Are we setting up the hundred infusion array?" Calen asked as she emerged from the ring. Wind had already created a big cave around him under the ground. It was pitch dark but Calen knew an elf spell for observation. She could see everything clearly just like Wind.
"Yes, we are. Get on with it. Wind said while controlling his breathing. Next, he pressed several pressure points on his body to alter the flow of energy through his meridians, making himself stronger, tougher and faster for a short while. He was preparing for a fight since he could not ditch Jiao duplicates at this rate.
Calen was setting up an intricate array of strategies. It used a hundred strategies of varying effects. Most of them were defense and support types while few were attack types. They all finally set up as a circular formation of thousand-meter diameter.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Multiple Jiao entered the dark cave. They could see the formation clearly and scrutinized it. If they didn't enter the hundred infusion array; then Wind would simply get a move on. The array was movable! Calen had the ability to move it along. They'll only be somewhat slower. Eventually either Jiao would move in or simply give up but keep an eye on Wind. At this point, Wind actually wished that the Jiao clones would come and fight him inside the array because Wind couldn't stay in his current hyped up condition for long. He'd eventually revert to normal level where he wouldn't be confident in his victory.
"Come on! Is the great Emperor Jiao only this much brave?" Wind taunted. "Afraid of a little strategy?"
"Humph!" Jiaos snorted before half of them entered the strategy. This was a probe.
The thousand infusion array immediately suppressed their cultivation greatly and made them feel sluggish and tired. Their movements were greatly slowed while they felt a mental and physical exhaustion already. This was the effect of support and attack type strategies. It couldn't last forever of course. Calen who was controlling the array had her own limits.
Shing! Wind unsheathed his green jade blade. He was prepared for a close combat now.
Swoosh! He leapt towards the Jiao duplicates and began fighting.
Clang! Clang! The blade struck the scythes as Wind agilely and speedily fought multiple Jiaos. He was so fast that only blurs could be seen when he moved around. The duplicates used many techniques but they are too slow! Wind dodged and attacked successfully and eventually started killing them! These duplicates had Sage realm power to begin with and Wind was already capable of fighting peak Sage realm warriors, thanks to his perfect body. These duplicates were further weakened by the hundred infusion array.
"The duplicates outside have not multiplied and charged in. Nor are they attacking the strategy from outside." Wind thought while he fought. "They can clearly see that the array has defensive strategies in the middle and center. Their attacks won't reach that far unless they multiply several more times & attack together. So why aren't they doing it?" Wind smiled. "It seems that the duplicates can only split one time and that they already have. This technique must use considerable amount of chi as well. Thus, if they multiply into thousands but have no chi left to fight, then what'd be the point? They are not going to split any further. As long as I kill all these duplicates, I can escape!"
However suddenly, Wind started to feel immense pressure from all sides! The hundred infusion array was targeting him too now.
"Calen! What are you doing!?" Wind growled. He was no fool. This strategy was completely under Calen's control. She was the one targeting Wind.
"What do you think, you murderous vile villain!" Calen shouted back angrily.
"Jiao! I'll set you free if you promise to spare my life and kill this man." Calen said to Jiao duplicates, surprising them and Wind.
"I agree." One of the Jiao spoke. "You can even join my army as a commander." Jiao offered. He knew that he had lost many of his warriors in the revolution. He was well aware of what was going on in his kingdom. It's just that he had been busy fighting Wu Shang to rescue his daughter & now he was stuck here dealing with Wind and Misa. Many of Jiao's generals and capable warriors had died already. Thus, he would not skip a chance to rope in a timely aide such as Calen who apparently had a grudge with Wind; the thief who stole Jiao's riches. She also was a strategy expert of such high level that she could restrain multiple Sage realm warriors! She was very talented.
"If you want me to join you, then you have to pardon my mother elf lady Aerin as well & free her from the revolutionary army." Calen demanded.
"That can be done with ease when I go around wiping out those rebels." Jiao said calmly. "You have my word!"
"Don't be fooled, Calen!" Wind shouted. "You don't know this man. He backstabbed the previous emperor and massacred his supporters to obtain the crown. He is evil. Why must you go against your own father? What has gotten into you?" Wind was deeply shocked. He had not seen this coming. With Calen, he had a shot at escaping but if she backstabbed him, Wind would die inside the hundred infusion array!
"You're the evilest man I've ever seen!" Calen shouted at Wind. "You fooled my mother and passed her around to other men as if she were a prostitute! You call yourself a man?? You're not worthy of anyone! You even messed up her mind and eventually killed her! Treating her as an ingredient to concoct ever-youth pill…you have no heart! You scoundrel! You even fucked your own mother and broke her mind & used her as a sex slave, freely sharing with other men. What sort of a twisted person are you? Are you even human?!" Calen was breathing heavily. Her large breasts heaved up and down and her faced flushed red with anger.
"I can control the treasure strategy enough to learn of the deeds you've done behind my back. I want nothing but your head on a platter! With you gone, my mother Aerin will finally be free! I will take revenge for what you've done to us all!"
"…" Wind took a deep breath and shook his head. "You truly are my daughter. Hell bent on revenge." Wind said. "But I'll have to punish you properly for this mischief. I'll use you to breed a dark elf army." Wind smiled coldly. Calen felt even angrier.
"You'll die today!" She shouted and suppressed Wind even more, not sparing any chi for herself. She then released Jiao from the suppression.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! All the Jiao duplicates surrounded Wind immediately!
"Time to die, thief!" They said in unison and attacked him together. Bright lights flashed as their techniques struck Wind and an explosion occurred engulfing Wind entirely.