Chapter 405: Why Is It You Again?!

"The sect master is too polite!"

After a brief silence, Wang Ping chuckled softly and said directly, "I am Kunyun. I have only just arrived, so how could I compete with you fellow Daoists for the dao field's Spiritual Treasure?"

"Furthermore, these Spiritual Treasures have always been wielded by you fellow Daoists, and you have long since built an unspoken rapport with them. Even if I were to take one, I know I couldn't put it to better use. I won't step forward only to leaving oneself open to ridicule by experts. Please pay me no mind, fellow Daoists; I am willing to just sit in and listen to the profound discussions of the Wuwei Buyi Dao Field."

The atmosphere immediately eased at Wang Ping's words.

The crowd of qi-ingesting practitioners, initially quite hostile over the appearance of a competitor, looked much more pleasant seeing him actively back down.

Not to mention, Wang Ping's words were highly tactful.

On the other side, however, Yi Xuangong raised an eyebrow imperceptibly. Outside the pavilion, a shadow tucked in a corner also rippled slightly.

'He doesn't even want a Spiritual Treasure?'

Even to a Qi Refining practitioner, a Spiritual Treasure was incredibly precious.

According to the shadow's calculations, a Qi Refining practitioner like Kunyun who had only just broken through might not necessarily have a Spiritual Treasure on hand. And even if he did, it might not suit him perfectly.

With the abilities of an Immortal Gate Qi Refining practitioner, it was impossible for him to lose a Dao discussion or spell battle. As long as he participated, a perfectly suited Spiritual Treasure would undoubtedly be his. That was, unless he wasn't Kunyun at all, and didn't cultivate heaven-yang wood qi, making him afraid that taking action would expose his true colors—hence his intentional refusal wrapped in pretty words.

'In that case... is he a fake?'

The mind hidden within the shadows couldn't quite grasp the situation. After all, the target was a cultivator of water qi. That lineage of the demonic path had always mixed truth with illusion, making reality seem fake and the fake seem real. It was extremely difficult to discern.

However, right at that moment.

"...Hahaha."

Wang Ping suddenly laughed. He had just realized that the third party hidden in the dao field most likely wasn't among the current batch of qi-ingesting practitioners in front of him.

The reason was very simple.

'Because of the unique heaven and earth qi of the Star Grave Sand Sea!'

'The heaven and earth qi of this perilous land is highly toxic to Qi Refining practitioners. If they truly are a Qi Refining practitioner from the Immortal Gate, they would at most conceal their presence.'

'The moment they make a move, they will inevitably be exposed.'

'Therefore, that third party couldn't possibly participate in a Dao discussion assembly that requires a spell battle. Yet, since they took action to probe me, they must want to confirm my identity.'

With this thought, Wang Ping already had his answer.

'He's nearby!'

They had to be in a place where they could observe him and distinguish the qi and profundities he commanded—which meant they were definitely within his attack range as well.

In a flash, his thoughts crystal clear, Wang Ping raised his palm. He drew upon a boundless bright light that abruptly and rapidly expanded in all directions. It quickly manifested a profound scene: streams of water that never overflowed, and a pit of the lost Dao. It circulated within the light, enveloping everyone present in the blink of an eye.

"What is this?!"

The crowd was instantly alarmed.

That included Yi Xuangong. He almost subconsciously circulated his magic power to resist, but the bright light had no lethal effect on him, leaving him with no way to fight against it.

Calamity of the Lost Dao!

'Currently, the Wuwei Buyi Dao Field is being besieged by three great dao fields and is in imminent peril. Of all the people within this dao field, who isn't in a dangerous situation?'

'The True Monarch truly calculates without missing a single detail!'

No wonder it was this feat of merit!

Truthfully, this dangerous situation wasn't actually dire enough, so the Calamity of the Lost Dao couldn't glean too much intelligence about their Dao accumulation from it. But that wasn't Wang Ping's goal anyway.

Because this thing actually had a target-searching function!

The entire dao field was in peril. Naturally, as long as someone was in a dangerous situation within the coverage of this feat of merit, Wang Ping would immediately sense them.

And according to his earlier calculations, the other party was undoubtedly within the coverage of the feat of merit at this very moment!

This was the flaw.

In order to probe him, the other party had struck first, thereby exposing a flaw—and in order to flush them out, he had no choice but to reveal his feat of merit.

The next second, Wang Ping shifted his gaze.

Almost simultaneously.

Not far from the Dao discussion pavilion, beneath the rippling bright light of the Calamity of the Lost Dao, a shadow had its tracks illuminated and broken, revealing a horrified face.

'The Calamity of the Lost Dao... It's the Calamity of the Lost Dao!'

'It really is that Dao Child of water qi.'

'I miscalculated... Not good!'

In an instant, the shadow felt like crying but had no tears. The good news was that he had successfully probed the other party's identity. The bad news was that he might be a little bit dead.

The shadow didn't dare linger for even half a moment. With a rumble, an auspicious cloud rose above his head, and he prepared to transform into a beam of light and flee. He had absolutely no intention of clashing.

Are you kidding? The other person was a Dao Child of the immortal realm, a direct descendant of a True Monarch. Meanwhile, he was merely a direct descendant of a True Person. Although he had Qi Refining cultivation, and rumors said the other party was only a Corpse Dissolution Immortal, this was the freaking demonic path of water qi. God knew if the Corpse Dissolution Immortal part was real; it might just be another smokescreen used to fool people!

Not to mention, the guy had just schemed six Qi Refining practitioners to death!

And rumor had it that the shameless water qi cultivator had refined all six Qi Refining practitioners into Yin gods... So strictly speaking, he might have to deal with seven Qi Refining practitioners!

No, more than that. There were also those missing Qi Nourishing practitioners from the Wuwei Buyi Dao Field. It was most likely that they had also been murdered by this Dao Child of water qi.

So he still had to add at least the Yin gods of the Qi Nourishing practitioners.

How the hell was he supposed to fight that?

If he didn't run now, it would be too late!

Thinking of this, the shadow dared not dawdle. A gloomy luster rapidly surfaced around his body—the Hidden Dragon Meridian Circulation. It looked as if he was about to conceal his figure and vanish without a trace.

Seeing this, Wang Ping's eyebrows immediately shot up.

It was because the other party's primary cultivated qi was actually the exact same as his own—earth-yin water, the Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi. This was the first time he had met a fellow cultivator of the same path.

With this thought, he immediately spoke, "Earth-yin water is the weakest ultimate yin. It obtains the dragon and moves, its merits transforming into this divinity. Thus, concealment is only meant for a better revelation. Just like subterranean spring meridians, it also possesses the variation of ascending to the heavens to become clouds and rain. Fellow Daoist, rather than hastily fleeing, you might as well quickly reveal your true form!"

The Dao discussion arrived with a rumble, riding on the sound of a drum.

Drum of Purging Vice and Quelling Turmoil!

The drum sounded out the Dao tone. In addition, layers of illusory colors triggered changes in heaven and earth. One could see the water of the earth veins ascending to the sky to manifest as clouds and rain, and a torrential downpour instantly fell.

This was a Dao discussion specifically targeted at the Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi. Wang Ping had thought this move would be enough to shatter the other party's concealment and force them to reveal their true body.

However, what surprised him was...

Faced with Wang Ping's Dao discussion, the other party was completely unaffected. Not only did they show not the slightest intention of revealing themselves, but they vanished from the spot at an even faster speed.

"Hm?"

Wang Ping's expression shifted slightly, and he soon realized: 'Within the qi phenomena controlled by this person at the Qi Refinement First Layer, there is no step for "manifesting to the world"!'

Hide first, deceive later, then manifest to the world.

This was the profundity of "the gentleman should hide his implements at the right time," and it was also the deepest Dao secret of the water qi. It was one of the qi phenomena of earth-yin water, the Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi.

When Wang Ping transitioned his cultivation to become a Corpse Dissolution Immortal, this was the exact phenomenon he had mastered. He used the shifting body of a Kunpeng to complement the qi phenomenon corresponding to this concealment and manifestation. However, that was him. The earth-yin water Qi Refining practitioner before his eyes was not like this. The earth-yin water qi phenomenon this person had mastered evidently stopped purely at the step of concealment.

Therefore, this Dao discussion was useless against him!

'If I want to completely shatter his concealment qi phenomenon, I must use a Dao discussion focused purely on concealment. However, this is quite different from the Dao discussion that I primarily cultivate and have mastered.'

There was specialization in every art.

With the perilous situation being insufficient, and the Calamity of the Lost Dao having no way to pry out the secrets of the other party's Dao foundation, it was impossible for Wang Ping to defeat his opponent directly using a Dao discussion.

'...Oh well.'

Wang Ping's mind raced. His reaction was swift; since he couldn't use a Dao discussion to settle the matter in a single strike, he would use profundities to decide the victor. As he was now, he still had the confidence!

At this thought, a halo of light immediately surfaced behind his head. The Mysterious One's Calamity-Crossing Ring rumbled as it spun, and a graceful silhouette instantly stepped out from within.

I choose you, Fairy Supo!

In a flash, a cold, clear moon slowly rose. This was precisely the heaven-yang metal, the Clear Autumn Looking-White Somber-Killing Qi. And within the bright moon, there was also a pristine white palace.

Spiritual Treasure, Guanghan Palace!

Metal births water, and the tides respond to the moon. In this moment, the profundity of commanding all waters shook the space between heaven and earth, like an invisible giant hand forcefully grabbing hold of the fleeing shadow.

"Fellow Daoist, please hold your steps."

Wang Ping gave a light chuckle. Another person walked out from the profound ring behind his head—it was none other than Chu Tianqiu. At the same time, Wang Ping took out a second Spiritual Treasure and handed it to him.

The Dark Obscurity Pot!

Earth-yin earth was the greatest counter to earth-yin water. Even during the battle at the Eight Trigrams Furnace, Wang Ping had avoided this person, ultimately relying on a group assault to kill him.

From this, it could be seen that the mutual generation and restriction of the heaven and earth qi was highly authoritative to a great extent. Therefore, when Chu Tianqiu appeared and aimed the Dark Obscurity Pot at the shadow, the mighty water qi on the shadow's body, and even the gloomy luster concealing his aura and figure, were swiftly stripped away, scattering across the earth like spring rain.

"Hiss...!"

Seeing this scene, the shadow hurriedly brought out his own Spiritual Treasure as well. It looked like a boat. He was just about to escape into it, intending to rely on the Spiritual Treasure's profundities to flee with his life.

However, almost at the exact same time.

"I've been waiting for you!"

Behind Wang Ping, Fairy Supo's figure quickly faded away. Taking her place was the earth-yin metal Qi Refining practitioner, Tao Shaobo. His fingertips had already formed an incantation seal:

"I respectfully request the Hundred Treasures Great Abundance Granary to open its doors!"

Resplendent and magnificent doors rumbled open, gently sweeping over the Spiritual Treasure boat that the shadow had summoned. The boat vanished instantly, swallowed whole by the granary.

The shadow, who had originally planned to escape into the boat, thus pounced on empty air.

"???"

Where did my huge Spiritual Treasure go? How did it just disappear?

In this moment, the shadow admitted he had lost his composure.

This wasn't how spell battles were fought! You were supposed to bring out your water qi methods so we could compete in profundities. Since when was it acceptable to summon so many Yin gods and use sheer numbers to gang up on someone?

This was too shameless!

Slumber of the Hibernating Dragon.

A feat of merit!

Instantly, Wang Ping, who had been sitting calmly and steadily driving the Yin gods forward, had his eyes light up. 'He finally exposed it. This is not his own feat of merit.'

As a cultivator who had simultaneously founded two feats of merit and inherited the feat of merit of a superior cultivator, Wang Ping considered himself to have quite a bit of understanding regarding both. Compared to a feat of merit founded by oneself, a feat of merit inherited from a superior cultivator might not be the slightest bit inferior in terms of profundity, but its aura would carry a trace of inexplicable superficiality.

In short, the foundation was unstable.

After all, it wasn't one's own feat of merit. Since a superior cultivator could bestow it, they could also take it back. And the feat of merit currently displayed by the shadow clearly gave off this exact feeling.

'Which True Person's is it?'

Wang Ping widened his eyes, his thoughts racing. 'A dragon hiding underground is called a hibernating dragon. At first glance, this is a feat of merit corresponding to the Hidden Dragon Meridian-Circulating Nether-Penetrating Qi.'

'If others saw this, they would also think he is a water qi cultivator.'

'But if he were also a water qi cultivator, how could I not know? How could the True Monarch not tell me? Therefore, it can't be water qi. Someone is framing the water qi line!'

In that case, if it wasn't water qi, what else could this feat of merit correspond to?

Thinking of this, Wang Ping had already activated Golden Sea Desiccation, eliminating all distracting thoughts. Deep within his sea of consciousness, the dust cleared and light was born, and a clear realization finally surfaced:

'If a dragon hiding underground isn't water, then it can only be earth!'

Just like when he previously cultivated the two Divine Powers, the earth-yin water Divine Power could coexist with the Human Yang Earth Divine Power—the two naturally shared a certain connection.

'This is an earth qi feat of merit!'

'This person is from the Protector Courtyard!'

Thinking of this, the name of a True Person from the Protector Courtyard naturally surfaced in Wang Ping's mind:

Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang?!