Following a slight crack, the lotus bloomed on Xiang Liu’s head was chopped into two, then transformed into strands of light mist and dissipated. A soft yet extremely strong power came sideway and dragged Xiang Liu’s enormous body away. Meanwhile, a white hand slapped at Ji Hao’s rib.
This hand came so suddenly and quietly that Ji Hao didn’t notice it until it was only three-inches away from his body, despite the fact that he had his spirit power spread out all the time.
The Taiji cloak glowed instantly. Clear streams of mist rose wave by wave like the petals of a large blooming lotus. The hand slightly quaked, then tore apart tens of waves of clear mist in a row. However, after the hand tore apart each wave of clear mist, hundreds of waves of clear mist would puff out of the Taiji cloak and surround Ji Hao layer by layer, rotating like a giant whirlpool. A strong, unbreakable force was generated from the cloak, which pushed the hand hundreds of meters away.
"A nice treasure!" That hand disappeared, and instead, Priest Hua’s scrawny face showed up hundreds of meters away, looking at Ji Hao’s Taiji cloak from up to down with narrowed eyes. "This is Brother Dachi’s work, isn’t it? Indeed a masterpiece!" said Priest Hua.
Ji Hao smiled faintly, glanced at him and responded blandly, "I learned about the great Dao of Taiji from Uncle Dachi, but this Taiji cloak is not Uncle Dachi’s work. This cloak is made by Uncle Qing Wei and my s.h.i.+fu, and a nameless priest, with quite a lot of great materials and time."
Priest Qing Wei, Priest Yu Yu, and a nameless priest?
Through countless centuries of severe cultivation, Priest Hua’s heart had already become as hard as a rock. Nevertheless, hearing Ji Hao, he still quivered in shock, and his face twitched intensively. He raised his eyelids and looked at Ji Hao from head to toe in surprise, then nodded slowly, "I see… I do not have the luck to own this treasure."
Ji Hao giggled. ‘Finally, I know someone that even you dare not to offend, don’t I?’ Thought Ji Hao.
Did Priest Hua know the mysterious, powerful being that Ji Hao sensed faintly in Priest Dachi’s palace of Dao? ‘This treasure is destined to be mine’, this was what Priest Hua would say for any treasure he saw. But facing Ji Hao’s Taiji cloak, he dared not to say that anymore.
"I’m afraid that you don’t have the luck to take Xiang Liu either." Ji Hao pointed at Xiang Liu, who now only had eight heads left, and one of those heads was vomiting sticky black blood. "Priest Hua, give Xiang Liu to me, then we can talk," said Ji Hao coldly.
Priest Hua frowned. Once again he carefully observed Ji Hao’s Taiji cloak from up to down. Pondering for a short while, he slightly shook his head and responded, "Xiang Liu is indeed meant to be under my guidance. In the future, he will become a venerable guardian of my sect."
"Xiang Liu is a sinner!" said Ji Hao with a harsh tone, "He is causing disasters. Priest Hua, are you really going to accept such an evil creature?"
Priest Hua narrowed his eyes and smiled quietly warmly. He mildly nodded to Ji Hao and said with a soft voice, "What disaster did Xiang Liu cause? The one who raised this flood is Gong Gong. Does Xiang Liu has anything to do with it?"
Before Ji Hao could respond, Priest Hua smiled and continued, "As for Xiang Liu’s sins, he may have killed some living creatures, but as long as he is willing to thoroughly reform himself and follow my guidance, the supreme power of my sect will naturally wash off his sins."
Ji Hao looked at Priest Hua coldly. "‘A butcher becomes a Buddha the moment he drops his cleaver’. Is that what you mean?" said Ji Hao without a second thought.
Priest Hua’s face twitched again for three times in a row. His smile faded as he stared at Ji Hao in a complicated way and murmured the sentence Ji Hao said over and over again. Repeating the sentence for tens of times, Priest Hua dropped his eyelids and said blandly, "What is a ‘Buddha’? Ji Hao, stop talking nonsense. Xiang Liu’s life will not be ended today by you. I am here, and you can’t do nothing to him."
Xiang Liu’s enormous body slightly wriggled. His muscles squirmed, squeezing out all ‘wolf tooth’ arrows stuck inside his body. He gasped quickly, showed his teeth, and stared at Ji Hao. He laughed coldly and said through his gritted teeth, "Ji Hao, a powerful being is willing to help me today. You can’t kill me! For what you tried to do today, I will make you pay, a thousand times more! You wait, you wait and see!"
Priest Hua smiled, then turned over his palm. On his palm was a fist-sized lotus seed, transparent, splendidly glowing like a beautiful colorful crystal piece, emitting a strong and refres.h.i.+ng aroma.
"Xiang Liu, you are a strong creature, given birth by the world itself. You shouldn’t die in Ji Hao’s hands. This magic lotus will heal your body, cure your wounds, and cast away the negative energies acc.u.mulating in your body for all these years. Your body will be cleansed, your blood will be purified, and you will grow much stronger, even reaching a new level of your cultivation!"
While smiling, Priest Hua continued in a bland tone, "At present, you can only grow power, yet your cultivation hasn’t improved for many years, am I right? This magic lotus will solve all problems for you."
Xiang Liu blinked his eyes, lowered a head of his, and picked up the lotus seed with his mouth.
Watching Xiang Liu do that, Ji Hao abruptly laughed, "Xiang Liu, you’re under Gong Gong’s command, but now you’re throwing yourself into Priest Hua’s lap. Do think about the consequences!"
Xiang Liu paused instantly, but Priest Hua chuckled relaxedly. He looked at Ji Hao with a big grin on his face and said, "Marquis Yao, you’re wrong. I am standing aloof from all worldly affairs. Xiang Liu will become a disengaged guardian of my sect after he follows my guidance. Meanwhile, he can serve as a senior minister under Gong Gong’s command. Nothing will change, nothing will change."
Xiang Liu laughed, let out his long fork-tongue and wrapped the lotus seed into his mouth.
Seeing Xiang Liu preparing to swallow the lotus seed, Ji Hao sneered again and said, "Do you truly dare to eat that? You shouldn’t eat anything given by a stranger, should you? Even three-year-old kids know that. You’re the famous Xiang Liu, but do you really dare to swallow that lotus seed?"
Xiang Liu paused again. Priest Hua immediately made a vow, "I swear with the future of my sect that this lotus seed will only help by friend Xiang Liu, and will not do any harm to him. If I say one world untrue, my sect will fall apart, and will never rise!"
Ji Hao gave up. With a heavy heart, he watched Xiang Liu swallow that lotus seed, but couldn’t stop it from happening.
A magical power released from Xiang Liu’s body. The head chopped off by Ji Hao grew back out instantly, while Xiang Liu’s scrawny, skinny, zombie-like body gradually swelled. At the same time, a thriving life-force spread out from his body. The sticky liquid covered on his scales disappeared quickly, while his scales turned clean, translucent, and vividly colored with a beautiful l.u.s.ter. He looked quite young now.
A clear beam of light flashed across Xiang Liu’s l.u.s.terless eyeb.a.l.l.s. He abruptly opened his mouth and coughed out streams of sticky and stinky liquid.
"I understand!"
Xiang Liu shouted deeply, before a lump grew out from a neck of his. Puff! The tenth head grew out from Xiang Liu’s body.
The power vibration released from Xiang Liu’s body rapidly grew stronger. Xiang Liu roared towards the sky, then pounced on Ji Hao.
