Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road

Wang Chong was somewhat surprised. "Sister Zhu, did you notice that what we experienced just now was different?"

Zhu Ying looked somewhat bewildered. "How was it different?"

Wang Chong said, "He asked me to deliver a letter to a Celestial Venerable after I ascended, and offered me two Thunder Lord Pearls as payment. But I refused."

Zhu Ying was greatly astonished. "Why was my experience different? He asked me to deliver a letter to a Daoist surnamed Ma, not to any Celestial Venerable!"

With a turn of her delicate hand, Zhu Ying held up a pearl. "I didn't refuse. I accepted his Heaven-Opening Pearl."

Wang Chong took it and sensed it slightly. He only felt that this item was not of the same lineage as the Heaven-Mixing Talisman, but shared a common origin with the Myriad Demons Formula. He returned it to Zhu Ying and said, "Once my cultivation is profound enough, I'll accompany Sister Zhu to deliver the letter. You must not go alone to meet some Daoist Ma."

Zhu Ying laughed. "I never intended to deliver any letter."

Wang Chong frowned slightly. He wanted to persuade her, but in the end, he said nothing.

Wang Chong's father had taught him often: morality used to restrain oneself was the conduct of a gentleman; morality used to condemn others was the road of petty men.

He felt that helping others should not earn a reward, and that taking something yet refusing to do the task was highly improper. But using such standards to condemn someone else was another kind of impropriety.

Besides, Daoist Shen behaved furtively, his words and actions contradicting each other. Having Zhu Ying and Wang Chong deliver letters might not be a good thing at all. Perhaps some enormous trap awaited them.

If he persuaded Zhu Ying now that she absolutely had to keep her promise, what would he do if something happened to her?

Knowing Wang Chong could not use the Heaven-Opening Pearl and that she herself greatly liked this magical treasure, Zhu Ying put it away. Smiling, she asked, "Why did you refuse to deliver the letter? The Thunder Lord Pearls might not be inferior to the Heaven-Opening Pearl."

Wang Chong replied, "Daoist Shen behaved furtively. I don't trust him."

Zhu Ying said, "You could accept the magical treasure and simply not do the task."

Wang Chong replied, "That does not accord with my morality. It absolutely cannot be done."

Zhu Ying asked again, "Then what do you think it counts as when I accept the treasure but do not do the task?"

Her beautiful eyes shifted as she seemed to smile yet not smile. In her heart, she dearly wished to know Wang Chong's answer.

Wang Chong replied, "I already said that if Sister Zhu intends to deliver the letter, once my cultivation is profound enough, I'll accompany you. You must not go alone to meet some Daoist Ma."

"If Sister Zhu does not intend to deliver the letter, then we need not mention this matter again."

Zhu Ying laughed. "You certainly know how to smooth things over."

Wang Chong said, "This is merely the human heart."

Zhu Ying pondered for a long while, feeling that those words carried deep charm.

As the two chatted idly, a sudden thunderclap exploded. A boy in white, standing upon a willow leaf, flew out of the Dragon Palace, shattering all eighteen layers of its grand formation.

The Dragon Palace's great formation was no ordinary thing. Although it had been shattered by a powerful magical treasure, it slowly mended itself at once, actually blocking the pursuing sea-clan soldiers and generals behind it.

The boy in white laughed loudly. Standing on the willow leaf, he split the seawater apart and shot straight up to the surface.

Only after nearly half an hour did a young Dragon King rebuke the formation open and lead the sea-clan soldiers and generals out in pursuit. But they could no longer catch up; the boy in white had long since vanished without a trace.

Zhu Ying and Wang Chong were both stunned at the sight. Wang Chong suddenly cried, "Thunder Lord Pearls! That boy in white must have obtained the Thunder Lord Pearls."

Zhu Ying was slightly startled, then immediately felt that it had to be so. Otherwise, how could that boy in white have blasted open the Dragon Palace's great formation?

She said, "Brother Chong, do you regret it now? The Thunder Lord Pearls' power is truly earth-shaking and world-shocking."

Wang Chong shook his head. "I do not regret it."

"It's just that since he took the Thunder Lord Pearls, he likely agreed to Daoist Shen's terms as well. I wonder what conditions Daoist Shen gave him, and to whom he must deliver a letter."

Naturally, Zhu Ying could not guess who else Daoist Shen wanted to send letters to. She smiled. "We need not concern ourselves with such matters. In any case, they are beyond our control."

"Let's hurry back to Wutai Mountain."

Little Bug answered in agreement. The two traveled submerged along the seafloor until they reached the shore, where they broke through the waves and went ashore. They then switched to the Soaring-Cloud Technique, riding a bank of white cloud straight toward Wutai Mountain.

They still traveled in fits and starts along the way, while Zhu Ying and Wang Chong each refined the flying sword they had obtained.

Following the orthodox method, Zhu Ying drove twenty-eight sword-formula talismans into the Crimson Rainbow Sword, refining it bit by bit from the beginning.

But once Wang Chong began, he discovered that the Crimson Lightning Sword contained thirty-six Heaven-Mixing Talismans. They differed utterly from the Five-Terrace Sect's sword-formula talismans, yet both sets of sword-formula talismans were encompassed by the Celestial Escape Sword Formula and did not go beyond the confines of the one hundred and eight sword-formula talismans recorded upon the Celestial Stele.

After examining it for a while, Wang Chong began refining it according to the sword-formula talismans on the Celestial Stele, imprinting the one hundred and eight sword-formula talismans one by one. The sword-formula talismans absent from the Crimson Lightning Sword were naturally easy to refine, while those already within it were awakened by Wang Chong and immediately responded.

The two refined their flying swords together. After Zhu Ying refined hers for an entire night, she still could not use it. Wang Chong, however, had refined his for one night, and it had already begun to resonate with his own aura, allowing him to wield it through the air.

But for Zhu Ying's sake, Wang Chong deliberately concealed the progress he had made in refining his flying sword. Zhu Ying only thought he was slightly faster than she was, never imagining that the difference between them was as vast as heaven and earth.

The two flew for a day and night. The next day, just as they were about to continue on their way, they saw a willow leaf drifting toward them from ahead.

The willow leaf was broader than a door panel. Seated upon it was a boy in white—the very boy who had stolen a treasure from the Dragon Palace. Seeing them from afar, he said with a grin, "Do you know what it means when enemies meet on a narrow road?"

Wang Chong hurriedly formed a hand seal for the invisibility technique, concealing himself and Zhu Ying.

The boy in white laughed. "When I was being chased in the Dragon Palace, I had no time to break your invisibility technique. But now there are no shrimp soldiers and crab generals from the Dragon Palace around. You still want to escape with an invisibility technique? That is simply a fool's dream."

"Watch me break your invisibility technique."

He formed a spell gesture and flicked it into the air, but nothing appeared before his eyes.

The boy in white sneered. "So your invisibility technique is impressive. But what of it?"

With a wave of his hand, he sent out a pearl. With a thunderous boom, the air trembled, yet Zhu Ying and Wang Chong still did not appear.

The boy in white secretly cried, Their cloud technique is extremely slow, and my Thunder Lord Pearls have a vast range. How have I still failed to blast them out?

He fired Thunder Lord Pearls in succession, bombing everything within a thousand li into chaos, but gained nothing. Growing impatient, he released another streak of red light that shot wildly across the sky, trying to force the two out.

By then, Wang Chong and Zhu Ying had already dispersed the Soaring-Cloud Technique and ridden a fire serpent more than a hundred li away. Watching the boy in white throw his magic about at random, Zhu Ying said softly, "Brother Chong, your reaction was still faster. You thought to turn invisible first, then change our method of flight."

"We are absolutely no match for this boy."

Wang Chong said softly, "He was actually able to catch up to us. I wonder what method he used. If he had merely been lying in wait and saw us leave the sea and come ashore, that would be one thing. But if he possesses some secret tracking art, we will not be able to flee far."