Ancient Godly Monarch

AGM 265 - Coerced

Qin Wentian and the middle-aged man continued onwards. Although this formation was fraught with danger, there would surely be an exit. At most, he would rather spend his time attempting to neutralise those traps he was confident in. If he faced levels of dangers that were beyond his abilities, Qin Wentian would rather take a detour than deal with it head on.

And just as Qin Wentian took yet another alternate path, a silhouette appeared at the edge of his vision. His heart involuntarily trembled as his body flickered, appearing next to a Puppet.

This… was Bailu Yi’s Puppet.

Strangely enough, after that the Puppet blinked at Qin Wentian, it pointed its finger in a certain direction, as though it was trying to tell him something. Qin Wentian’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “Are you being coerced by someone?”

That Puppet nodded, causing Qin Wentian’s heart to clench. “Bring me there.”

“Grandmaster Qin.” Just as Qin Wentian was about to leave with the Puppet, the middle-aged man appeared beside him, “Grandmaster Qin, what’s happening? It would be better for us to hurry up and break through this formation.”

“Senior, my friend just ran into trouble. Let’s go together, your level of power should be sufficient deterrence,” Qin Wentian replied.

The middle-aged man had a bitter smile on his face, did Qin Wentian just treat him like a hired thug?

Those who were still alive at this point, all either had a terrifying level of power or a high level of attainment in Divine Inscriptions. How could it be so easy? And if the offending party was also someone like him, someone from a transcendent power, how could it be worth offending him over Qin Wentian’s friend?

“Grandmaster Qin, it’s best if you stop meddling in other people’s business.” The middle-aged man amicably laughed. Qin Wentian’s brows creased but in the next moment, a raging wind gusted by as he saw the middle-aged man swiftly slam his palm onto the Puppet, causing explosive sounds to ring out. The Puppet immediately shattered into pieces, laying strewn about all over the ground.

Qin Wentian’s countenance instantly sank, regarding the middle-aged man with a noticeably sharpened gaze. “Don’t worry, I’m doing this so you can be more at ease and concentrate on finding the way out.”

This, the destruction of Bailu Yi’s Puppet, was an unmistakable threat.

After a moment of silence, Qin Wentian turned and continued walking ahead. An unknown emotion flashed in the middle-aged man’s eyes as he silently followed behind Qin Wentian. But this time round, he maintained a certain distance apart.

Evidently, he could still remember the painful lesson that was dealt to those at the Star-Seizing Manor, and so he definitely wouldn’t give Qin Wentian any chances to borrow the power of the Divine Inscriptions to make a move against him.

The middle-aged man became increasingly wary. Not only did he follow a safe distance away from Qin Wentian, when his help was required to ‘break’ the traps, he would directly refuse. He was afraid that Qin Wentian might be luring him into a trap of his own.

And in that moment, Qin Wentian abruptly stopped as he stared ahead. “Grand Formation, I need your help.”

Before them were mountains to his left and right. The path right in the middle appeared to be free of obstruction, yet Qin Wentian could clearly sense the aura of a formation within it.

The middle-aged man frowned, he didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary. But still, he decided to test out Qin Wentian’s words.

Abruptly, he sent out a palm strike, aiming at the space in front of Qin Wentian. And at the instant his attack landed, the space shimmered. An overwhelming surge of destructive energy crackled as it dissipated. The middle-aged man smiled, “Grandmaster Qin’s perception is truly beyond words. If there are other traps, please neutralise them as soon as possible. I believe that the exit is near.”

Anticipation flashed in his eyes, he knew what he said was right, the exit shouldn’t be far away.

“Senior, this formation is too powerful. If Senior doesn’t act, it would be truly difficult to neutralise this formation.” Qin Wentian frowned.

“I believe in Grandmaster Qin’s abilities.” The middle-aged man smiled before he stood there with his arms crossed, appearing extremely at ease.

“If that’s the case, delays will be inevitable.” Qin Wentian paused as he started to inscribe a Divine Inscription, creating runic outlines that emitted a faint amount of energy. The middle-aged man stared intently at Qin Wentian’s actions and then suddenly, his body flickered and he appeared right beside Qin Wentian, his palms circulating with a terrifying, fiery-red energy. The high temperature caused the surrounding atmosphere to distort, as a fearsome pressure pressed down on Qin Wentian. Without words, the middle-aged man was saying he would kill Qin Wentian if he made the wrong move.Qin Wentian remained silent, focusing on completing his Inscription.

And after a period of time, he moved forward and started to direct the manifestation of his Inscription to attack the formation ahead. With every step he took, the middle-aged man followed closely beside him; he could kill Qin Wentian at any second.

“Does Senior really need to be so cautious?” Qin Wentian laughed.

However, the moment he turned his head, his eyes became fixated with something behind the middle-aged man’s back.

“Who are you?” Qin Wentian asked in a cold voice.The middle-aged man’s expressions changed, yet he remained in the same position.

He smiled coldly as he replied, “Grandmaster Qin, these puny tricks won’t work on me.”However, he saw only that Qin Wentian’s countenance shifted drastically, and abruptly, a terrifyingly sharp aura erupted forth behind the middle-aged man, causing him to freeze in shock.

As he turned back to face the incoming threat, he simultaneously formed his left hand into the shape of a claw and extended it towards Qin Wentian. Even if there really was an enemy behind him, he still had to restrain Qin Wentian’s movements.

But just as the middle-aged man turned his head, Qin Wentian had already stomped on the ground, sinking into the earth. Sword-type Divine Energy rumbled into his Yuanfu as he sent out several sharp swords created from Astral Light flying towards the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man knew that he was tricked the instant he turned his head. Just as he suspected, there was no one behind him, yet at the same time, he could feel waves of terrifying sword intent explosively rushing towards him.

Using his fiery palm to frantically defend against the waves of sharp swords, the middle-aged man suddenly stumbled. The Divine Inscription carved by Qin Wentian earlier glowed with a radiant light, as cracks appeared on the earth where the middle-aged man was standing on. Making use of this opportunity, the swords immediately slashed forwards, aiming for his legs. The middle-aged man’s reaction was insanely quick, he quickly stomped on the ground, jumping upwards and dodging the sword slashes. However, he had forgotten about that gravitational pressure exerted by the Ascendant statue in the air. An overwhelming pressure bore down on him, forcing him to land on the already cracked ground from before.

He lost his balance upon hitting the ground, and this time around the middle-aged man couldn’t react in time as Qin Wentian suddenly appeared in front of him, blasting forth with his Falling Mountain Palms. The collision’s impact pushed the middle-aged man towards the traps within the formation that Qin Wentian had yet to break.

“SAVE ME!” The middle-aged man shieked in terror, but Qin Wentian merely retreated a few steps back as he watched his opponent getting incinerated by the triggered traps.

He took a huge risk in order to kill his captor but if he hadn’t taken the risk at all, he would’ve been unable to overcome his opponent. He’d had no other choice.

Only after his captor’s body had completely burned into ashes did Qin Wentian turn back to rush towards the place he had found Bailu Yi’s Puppet, his eyes filled with ice-cold intent.Even though Bailu Yi could sense her Puppet’s destruction, she would definitely understand that Qin Wentian would wait for her there.

In that time, Qin Wentian sat there as he prepared a formation to await the arrival of Bailu Yi.

But Qin Wentian was stunned to see Bai Fei arrive first instead of Bailu Yi. Not only that, she was in an extremely sorry state. Trailing behind her was a sinister young man who was also in a similar state albeit somewhat better, indicating that their journey here hadn’t been easy at all.

“It’s him.”

Bai Fei’s eyes lit up the moment she saw Qin Wentian.

The sinister young man behind her also had an expression of interest on his face when he saw Qin Wentian.

“Move quickly.” The young man prodded Bai Fei on, and a few breaths of time later, they both reached Qin Wentian.

“Grandmaster, what are you waiting here for?” The young man smiled politely at Qin Wentian.

Qin Wentian glanced at Bai Fei. Her robes had even more visible patches, and other than her beautiful shoulders, even the outline of her ample snow-white mounds were clearly visible, no doubt causing evil desires to bloom in the minds of males who looked at her. Her countenance was extremely haggard, and she looked to be under great pressure. Evidently, she was being forcibly coerced by the young man.

Bai Fei mistook the look in Qin Wentian’s eyes. She gritted her teeth, her countenance growing even more unsightly.

“Hehe, if she is to Grandmaster’s liking, I can gift her to you. She’s a beauty from the Pill Emperor Hall and is still untainted yet.” The smile on the sinister young man’s face grew even more amicable.

However, Qin Wentian merely shot a glance at him as he replied, “I still have something on, don’t bother me and go on ahead first.”

The young man was still smiling, it wasn’t such an easy thing for him to meet Qin Wentian, the most talented Divine Inscriptionist from the Star-Seizing Manor Camp. How could he easily let him go?

“Grandmaster, why don’t we form an alliance? Come with me, I definitely won’t mistreat you,” the young man continued.

Bai Fei interjected, “Grandmaster… Have we met before?”

The sensation of familiarity grew increasingly stronger. She was sure she had met Qin Wentian before, but she just couldn’t remember where.

Qin Wentian indifferently glanced at her, but didn’t bother to reply her. And at this moment, sounds of footsteps could be heard from afar. Qin Wentian shifted his gaze over as his eyes narrowed. The newcomers were none other than Bailu Yi and the old man clad in black from the Star-Seizing Manor.

As the black-robed old man saw Qin Wentian, a brilliant light flickered in his eyes. It was actually him!

As a member of the Star-Seizing Manor, he had personally witnessed Qin Wentian’s performance during the exchange. Also, when he remembered the incident from the previous formation, in that the Star-Seizing Manor was ‘harmed’ by Qin Wentian, an evil fire could be seen flickering in his eyes.

“Grandmaster Qin, what a good plan, causing my Star-Seizing Manor to lose such a large number of powerful peak-level Yuanfu cultivators.” A malicious smile appeared on the face of the old man as he spoke, yet Qin Wentian stared right at him, with an ice-cold light in his eyes that held an unspoken resoluteness. Not only did Qin Wentian hold no fear of him, perhaps he was even planning to kill the old man here.

The expression on the old man’s face didn’t falter. He walked behind Bailu Yi, aware that Qin Wentian’s killing intent was most likely because he was holding Bailu Yi hostage.

“Grandmaster Qin?” A look of contemplation dawned on Bai Fei’s face. She was trying to remember which of the Divine Inscriptionists she was acquainted with, with the surname of Qin.

“Are you alright?” Qin Wentian asked Bailu Yi.

“How well can I be after being forcibly coerced for so many days.” Bailu Yi glared at Qin Wentian. Qin Wentian breathed easier. Seeing how Bailu Yi was still able to joke around with him, he garnered that in these few days, she and her captor hadn't been in too perilous a situation.

“Release her and we will call this matter quits.” Qin Wentian stared at the old man as he coldly remarked.

“Hehe, Qin Wentian, aren't you overestimating yourself?” the old man shot back with amusement.

“Qin Wentian?”

Bai Fei’s mind rumbled as an image rose unbidden from her memory, superimposing onto the young Inscriptionist in front of her. Staggering backwards, her eyes widened in shock.

There was no mistake, it was him. She had finally recognised him! This monstrous Divine Inscriptionist was actually that young man from that small country!