Gathering

Li Qi sat in the room, tapping on the table as he pondered the situation.

Jin Buhuan's strength was far inferior to his, but the power of that golden energy was truly formidable. Once that golden energy was unleashed, all of his defensive measures would be rendered ineffective, and all his defenses would be as fragile as paper.

Even dodging was unlikely; his reaction speed couldn't keep up with the speed of that golden energy.

In short, if Jin Buhuan had a mouthful of eighth-grade golden energy, as long as the opponent had no means of countermeasure, then no matter how many ninth-grade people there were, they would all be nothing but weeds in front of him and could be harvested quickly. As long as he activated his golden energy and took a walk, all the enemies on the way would lose their heads.

This is an eighth-grade weapon... even if it's not a cultivator, it's just a weapon.

Li Qi boasted that he was virtually unmatched among the ninth-rank officials, but when faced with a naturally born eighth-rank Innate Divine Weapon, he could only await his fate.

At times like these, you can see just how outrageous Shen Shuibi is.

How did she almost kill another eighth-rank cultivator with her ninth-rank cultivation?

However, Jin Buhuan's golden energy should not be easily activated.

It's not easy for a ninth-grade cultivator to activate an eighth-grade Innate Divine Weapon; his inability to control his divine body is likely one of the side effects.

Using his ability to observe the flow of Qi in all things through Shaman Path, Li Qi could clearly see why Jin Buhuan left while maintaining his tiger-headed, human-bodied appearance.

Because he can't control it.

According to Li Qi's own speculation, it would be difficult for an ordinary ninth-rank official to drive an eighth-rank divine weapon, and the same goes for Jin Buhuan. However, he had another Trump Card: his father was the Green Mountain Mountain God.

Mountain and water spirits—these are all considered Earthly Deity, Li Qi's area of expertise. He knew very well that most cultivators of the divine path possessed some unique qualities, and as a metal-element spirit born from Green Mountain, a native White Tiger, his child would likely inherit some of its traits.

As a divine child, Jin Buhuan managed to manipulate eighth-grade metal energy by forcibly activating his metal element spirit. However, the side effect was that his metal element became unbalanced, and the metal energy overflowed and filled his body.

An imbalance of the five elements within his body would cause him to behave in that way just now, unable to control his form, and his voice would become hoarse, as if he were ill.

That's because the lungs belong to the metal element. When the metal energy becomes unbalanced and expands, the lung meridians will also expand, causing him to breathe heavily and his voice to have a metallic quality.

According to Li Qi's understanding, the metal element is concentrated in the lungs, and the liver wood element is affected by evil. When metal is excessive, the lungs will also become diseased.

Jin Buhuan's activation of eighth-grade metal energy will damage his lungs and liver. It seems that this is not the first time he has used it. Therefore, Li Qi can reasonably guess that his lungs and liver have been damaged by metal energy to varying degrees.

This is his weakness, and we should be able to exploit it.

Also, there's his Cultivation Method.

Jin Yin...

His Cultivation Method is of unknown Dao Lineage, but it is something he practices.

Li Qi knew that to worship the White Emperor of the West, who was also the Golden Emperor among the gods, it was necessary to sing in the golden tone and play the Shang tone, which also belonged to the metal element.

The Shang tone, its sound is like a chime, its meaning is music, and its meridian is the Taiyin meridian of the hand. When it reverses the Yangming meridian, the Ying and Wei Qi become obstructed, the Yin and Yang Qi are reversed, the Yang Energy attacks internally, and the Yin Qi is injured externally.

The sound of metal is chilling and menacing, the sound of commerce is violent and violent. The harsh wind blows the stems and the heavy frost falls. When struck, it resounds through the Heavenly Gate. Therefore, his usual fighting style is to use this chilling and violent sound, combined with its Daoist rhythm, to shock the mind of the Heavenly Gate, and then suddenly strike to kill.

Next, observe his striking technique.

Each time he exerted his strength, he would strike the metal energy in his hand to correspond with the musical scale.

Is this simulating a bell?

Legend has it that Ling Lun cast twelve bells to harmonize with the golden sound. The bell was the original musical instrument for the golden sound. Jin Buhuan used divine weapons to imitate the sound of the bell in order to meet the needs of his Cultivation Method, while also having the advantage of surprise attack and killing.

So, what are the weaknesses?

His first weakness is that he cannot frequently activate his eighth-grade metal energy, as that would damage his physical body; using it too much could even be life-threatening.

The second weakness is the inherent weakness of metal. The book records that if metal is too hard and does not undergo fire to produce a sound, the person will be mute, because metal is indeed silent.

This means that metal objects are initially silent and need to be processed and cast to produce sound, just like the original "Ling Lun cast twelve bells". Without processing, the bells would also be silent.

To unleash his power, he would need tools. He possessed that eighth-grade golden energy, but besides that, he must have other spare items that he couldn't just grab and use.

If we could strip him of his equipment, we could probably reduce his cultivation level by 90%, leaving only his voice. If he could produce a high-pitched sound from his lungs, we might still be able to put up a fight.

He must have other protective items on him, but we must first eliminate his other combat forces before we can force him to reveal his Trump Card.

This is a way to physically eliminate Jin Buhuan.

However, physically eliminating Jin Buhuan is far from enough to bring him down.

Jin Buhuan represents the deep-rooted power of Green Mountain in Clear Mist City, while Green Mountain is the iconic landmark of the Green Mountain Kingdom, and can even be said to be the true pillar of the Green Mountain Kingdom.

The Green Mountain God, Dao Accomplishment Sixth Rank, is said by the White Snake Mountain to be an extremely top-tier existence among those of the sixth rank. He can even rival those of the fifth rank within the Green Mountain territory, and at least the Green Mountain Kingdom Lord has no way to deal with him.

The spirit of metal Innate Variant, possessing immense killing power, and it is said that its lineage is also extremely profound.

You should know that... the Four Symbols, which are the four top-level celestial gods who divide the Azure Heaven into four regions, include the White Tiger.

The skies of countless outer worlds are all identical. No matter what world you are in, you share the same starry sky and the same Four Symbols.

What immense power that is!

Although both are White Tiger, they cannot be compared directly, but each one certainly has its own unique Trump Card and should not be underestimated.

So, what will be the result of this?

Jin Buhuan's actions within the city had already made him a host of enemies.

At the same time, does the Green Mountain God Jin Chi have no enemies in the Green Mountain Kingdom?

Just considering the existence of this Clear Mist City, did the Green Mountain Kingdom Lord not contribute anything to it?

Clear Mist City has just taken root on the edge of Green Mountain. Precisely because it is on the edge of Green Mountain, it is impossible for the Green Mountain God to reach out. It is also stuck here and has become a commercial and transportation hub.

If this was a coincidence, Li Qi would have cut off his own head.

It is clear that the Green Mountain Kingdom Lord had long harbored resentment towards the Green Mountain God, but due to certain circumstances or limitations, he was unwilling and unable to openly confront him.

But Clear Mist City and Clear Mist Sect are probably just pawns in his game of controlling the Green Mountain dragon.

Li Qi originally didn't want to get involved; he just wanted to finish what he was doing and run away. But Jin Buhuan's actions had crossed his bottom line of righteousness, so even though the risks were great, he had to do it.

Unite all forces that can be united.

He, Li Qi, could become a sharp knife that the Green Mountain Kingdom Lord could use to stab the god of Green Mountain God.

Actually, there is an even simpler solution: just reveal your identity and say that you are the young master of Wushen Mountain.

Once this title is mentioned, the attitudes of both the Green Mountain Kingdom Lord and the Green Mountain God will definitely change immediately.

Jin Buhuan, might even lose his position as heir, and his head might even be brought to Li Qi as an apology.

But that won't work; that's wrong.

The title "Young Master of Wushen Mountain" is just that—a title; it doesn't mean he's actually very powerful.

While constantly using the name of the Young Master of Wushen Mountain to wander around might deter many people, it also attracts many who are truly capable of challenging him.

He keeps calling himself the Young Master of Wushen Mountain, but wait until someone who can actually challenge him comes looking for trouble. That's when he'll know what it means to be a fool.

Now they've provoked Jin Buhuan. If he loudly proclaims himself the young master of Wushen Mountain, the next time he comes, he might be ten or twenty times stronger than Jin Buhuan.

A name that does not match reality will surely bring disaster.

Until he truly deserves the title of Wushen Mountain, Li Qi will bear all the trouble himself, no matter what he causes.

This can be considered a form of self-training.

If you need the resources of Wushen Mountain to solve everything, then you're just a useless person.

These are matters that Li Qi should be in charge of, and naturally he should be the one to handle them, instead of interfering whenever something happens and then calling on the adults in the family for help.

What kind of thing is that? Isn't that just scrap metal?

If you meddle in other people's business, you have to take responsibility for it yourself.

Even if it might offend the Green Mountain Mountain God.

But to handle this matter, one would need to appease the Green Mountain Mountain God.

After bringing down Jin Buhuan, Li Qi needed to find a way to prevent him from interfering, or to ensure that someone could protect him even if he did intervene.

"Then the strategy is set. Now we just wait for the others to arrive." Li Qi let out a long sigh, stood up, and stretched.

Piaoxu has already gone to deliver her message. Those addresses are actually those of the people who once invited Li Qi, trying to get Li Qi to join their camp to fight against Jin Buhuan.

These people will become the force that brings down Jin Buhuan.

Li Qi was responsible for eliminating Jin Buhuan's physical body, while they were responsible for eliminating Jin Buhuan's forces.

"Judging by the time, they should be here by now, right?" Li Qi shook his head and muttered to himself.

Just then, Shen Shuibi's voice suddenly came from behind. "Li Qi!"

"Ah, what's wrong, Miss Shen?" Li Qi turned around, temporarily putting aside the scheming thoughts swirling in his mind, and put on a smile as he looked at Shen Shuibi.

"The formation is all set up, so at least my own safety shouldn't be a problem. It's just that I don't have any treasures to reinforce the formation... I can only rely on favorable timing and location." Shen Shuibi walked over, let out a long sigh, and had a smug look on her face.

Li Qi said, "You've worked hard. Tonight, I'll have Piaoxu prepare a special meal for you. We'll use those ingredients from outside; they're all top-quality. I'll let Piaoxu handle it. I won't compete with you; I'll show you my skills too!"

As he spoke, he pointed to the wedding cars outside.

Upon hearing this, Shen Shuibi smiled and narrowed her eyes, then skipped off to choose something.

She had forgotten why she came here.

Actually, she came to complain.

Li Qi is good at giving orders; he always comes up with incredibly difficult things, but luckily I understand them all!

Hmph, even Yang Ning probably couldn't set up this formation. There are no supporting items, and his cultivation is only at the ninth rank. It was all done purely through skill.

Unfortunately, Li Qi didn't understand formations.

If he understood, he could probably think of it as Shen Shuibi using sand to handcraft a usable CPU.

The level of difficulty is so high that it's unbelievable.

Relying solely on runes and guiding the power of heaven and earth, without array plates or flags, without precious materials, and simply creating Creation from Nothing, this array capable of temporarily resisting an eighth-rank attack was completed, which can only be described as astonishing.

Jin Buhuan's mansion also has a similar-grade array. Jin Buhuan spent a lot of money on it. The array master he invited was extremely arrogant. It took half a year to carefully study and explore the array, and he emptied his savings of many years before it was finally set up.

Even so, Jin Buhuan still felt he had made a huge profit, because a formation that could withstand a direct attack from an eighth-rank expert was extremely rare, and the formation master who could create such a formation was also extremely precious.

I wonder what he would think if he knew that Shen Shuibi didn't want anything and had managed to create all these things by hand in a single day.

Perhaps he will regret offending Li Qi.

Putting those matters aside, soon, one after another, people with secretive movements appeared before Li Qi.

Their methods were so varied that Li Qi was amazed.

The first thing to arrive was the tea in Li Qi's hand.

He was still waiting, but the tea in his hand suddenly split into two clumps, then flew up, twisting and turning, folding and twisting several times in the air, and finally transformed into a water mirror, projecting a phantom human figure into it. Then the mirror shattered, and the human figure bowed to Li Qi: "Young Master Li, have you finally made up your mind?"

"The Misty Rain Tower's Cultivation Method are truly profound and mysterious. With such assistance, how could I possibly tolerate this?" Li Qi replied with a smile.

A little while later, the bamboo plant in the corner of the inn next door suddenly sprouted new buds, blossomed, and bore fruit.

The flowers are as white as mutton fat and as delicate as crane wings; the fruits are pink and snowy, with speckled red and purple hues.

The fruit split open, revealing a tiny person inside. Although only the size of a thumb, the person was neatly dressed and handsome.

As soon as he appeared, the little man answered loudly, "Young master's sudden invitation made Yunzhi Pavilion dare not refuse. I just didn't expect that even Misty Rain Tower would be here?"

As soon as these words were spoken, a voice suddenly came from the sky. "Haha, there are more than just the two of you!"

Then, I saw a big character appearing in the mid-air. If I looked carefully, I saw it was a big character 'door'.

As soon as the word "door" was uttered, it was pushed open, and a scholar-looking man emerged, holding a brush in his hand. "We've arrived at Plum Blossom Study. Are there any other friends here?"

Before long, various methods appeared, and about ten people arrived. They were all extremely secretive, either hiding, projecting, or teleporting, so that no one would notice them on the way.

Once inside the room, Shen Shuibi's array was complete, making it even more difficult for outsiders to see inside.

If it weren't for the hidden array that Shen Shuibi inscribed on Piaoxu's body, which provided them with a method, even their Technique Method wouldn't have been able to penetrate it at all.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Li Qi cupped his hands and said, "Gentlemen, without further ado, I will get straight to the point: Jin Buhuan's death is tonight."