The Dragon-Seeking Envoy

"Death Seal?" At these words, Bai Tianqi's expression changed drastically, all color draining from his face in an instant. "Impossible! How could this be the Death Seal? Poison God Valley's exclusive supreme technique, the Death Seal, takes the form of a transparent ice crystal, not something blood-red!"

"You seem to know quite a bit, but that only makes your ignorance all the more glaring!" The man chuckled. "If the Death Seal is cultivated to full mastery, it does indeed take the form of a transparent ice crystal, and one can condense it out of thin air using nothing but one's own internal power. But that old Daoist clearly hasn't mastered it, and his cultivation is insufficient, so he could only draw on the blood essence within his body to condense a half-finished Death Seal. Still, even a half-finished Death Seal is far beyond your ability to neutralize. What awaits you now is a fate worse than death. Of course, between the poison and the depletion of his blood essence, that old Daoist has probably lost his life, hasn't he? Hahaha!"

Bai Tianqi began to panic inwardly, but he still clung to a thread of hope. He did not know this man before him at all, even if he could not fathom the man's strength.

"May I ask your honored name?" Bai Tianqi asked respectfully.

"You? You aren't qualified to know this envoy's name." The man snorted coldly. "I was merely passing through. If I hadn't seen the Death Seal and Heart-Burning Powder poisoning in the same person, I wouldn't have bothered. Although I don't know what connection that old Daoist has to Poison God Valley, the mere fact that he knows the supreme technique of the Death Seal suggests that the connection is anything but ordinary. Bai Tianqi of the Huaqing Sect, you certainly have some nerve! Poison God Valley, ah..."

At the end, the man seemed to give a sigh of feeling, then vanished from before the three of them.

"Master?" Zhang Ming and Hu Guyi did not really know what the Death Seal was, but hearing that it was a supreme technique of Poison God Valley sent a chill through their hearts.

Bai Tianqi trembled inwardly. He had never expected that Xuanzhenzi's final technique would actually be the Death Seal, and the deadly part was that he himself had been struck by it. Among those in Jianghu, anyone struck by the Death Seal would suffer its onset a year later unless they had a Special Antidote. When it took effect, it felt as though ten thousand ants were devouring their heart, an agony beyond endurance. Many in Jianghu had ultimately chosen suicide. Beyond this, what frightened Bai Tianqi even more was Xuanzhenzi's identity.

How did Xuanzhenzi know Poison God Valley's supreme technique, the Death Seal? If Xuanzhenzi truly had some connection to Poison God Valley, then it was easy to imagine that once Poison God Valley learned what Bai Tianqi had done today, he would die without a place to bury his body.

"You two, pursue him! Xuanzhenzi is already gravely wounded, and with that deadly poison in him as well, he can't get far. Go after him! Alive, I want to see him; dead, I want to see his corpse!" Bai Tianqi badly wanted to pursue him himself, but he dared not waste time, for he had already been struck by the Death Seal. Even if, as that man had said, the Death Seal Xuanzhenzi had used was not fully mastered, perhaps there was still a chance of removing it if he seized the time to concentrate on neutralizing it. Thus, he had to return to the Huaqing Sect immediately to enter seclusion.

"Wait. Head to Green Ox Temple at once and seize Xuanzhenzi's three disciples. Then bring the Green Ox Gate under control. You only need to hold it for half a year, until that batch of pills comes out of the furnace. Of course, you can also wait by the stump for the rabbit. I imagine that if Xuanzhenzi survives, he will probably find some way to return to Green Ox Temple. In his present condition, the two of you are more than enough to deal with him. I will get there as soon as possible," Bai Tianqi said.

"Then we aren't pursuing him now?" Zhang Ming still asked.

"I have my own plans. You two, set out immediately," Bai Tianqi ordered.

With that, Bai Tianqi raced toward the Huaqing Sect. After watching him leave, Zhang Ming and Hu Guyi exchanged a glance, then raced off together in another direction. Whatever the case, they still dared not disobey Bai Tianqi's orders, and what he had said was not wrong. If they pursued Xuanzhenzi now, they might find him, but there was also a very good chance they would not. They might as well take direct control of Green Ox Temple. Their main objective this time was that furnace of Sixty-Year Pills within the temple.

After returning to the Huaqing Sect, Bai Tianqi had his disciples tell the members of Jianghu who had come to celebrate his birthday that he had sensed faint signs of a breakthrough and therefore had to enter seclusion immediately. He would have to miss the birthday banquet.

With even the guest of honor absent from the birthday banquet, the members of Jianghu all took their leave one after another.

Before entering seclusion, Bai Tianqi also sent out quite a few Huaqing Sect disciples to track down Xuanzhenzi and Huang Xiao. Once found, they were to be taken dead or alive.

Meanwhile, at a manor in Huaqing City, Wu Yong accepted the portrait Old Yue handed him.

"Master, after several revisions, Huang San has confirmed that this is what the Scholar named Huang Xiao looks like," Old Yue said respectfully.

Wu Yong nodded, then unfolded the portrait in his hand. After one glance, he frowned and murmured, "Why does this person look somewhat familiar?"

"Master, do you know him?" Old Yue asked.

"This person!" Wu Yong was startled, then cried out, "Isn't this him?"

"Old Yue, go to the Elegant Abode immediately and find a young Daoist named Qingxiao!" Wu Yong shouted urgently. He realized that the young Daoist named Qingxiao whom he had met at the Elegant Abode looked exactly like the person in this portrait. The only reason he had exchanged a few words with Huang Xiao earlier was out of regard for Dugu Sheng. Otherwise, with his status, how could he possibly have taken any notice of Huang Xiao?

"No, I'll go myself! Some time has already passed. I don't know if he's still there," Wu Yong immediately added. Of course, even if Huang Xiao was no longer at the restaurant, he could still find him with the manpower of the Heavenly Qilin Pawnshop. Even if he had left the city, how far could he have gone in so little time?

Just as Wu Yong stepped outside, a servant ran over and said respectfully, "Boss, someone outside is asking for you by name!"

"Whoever it is, they can wait until I return!" Wu Yong said.

"Hahaha! What's so urgent that you won't even see me?" Just then, accompanied by a burst of laughter, a figure appeared thirty feet away.

Wu Yong had been about to shout at the newcomer for his impudence, but upon hearing the voice and then seeing his face, his expression changed. He waved at those around him and said, "All of you, withdraw. No one is to enter without my orders!"

Once everyone around him had withdrawn, a smile appeared on Wu Yong's face. He cupped his fist and bowed to the newcomer. "Wu Yong, altar master of the Youzhou Branch Altar, pays his respects to the Dragon-Seeking Envoy!"

"Altar Master Wu, there is no need for such ceremony," the Dragon-Seeking Envoy said with a smile. Had Bai Tianqi been present, he would certainly have recognized this Dragon-Seeking Envoy as the middle-aged man who had appeared before him earlier and identified Xuanzhenzi's technique as Poison God Valley's Death Seal.

"My lord envoy, I never expected that you would come in person, much less arrive so quickly. Please forgive your subordinate for failing to come and welcome you," Wu Yong said.

"Altar Master Wu, you are not to blame. I was already bound for Youzhou. When your letter reached the Main Altar, those above notified me. Since I was already in Youzhou, I was able to get here quite a few days sooner," the Dragon-Seeking Envoy said.

So that was it, Wu Yong thought. Otherwise, how could someone have arrived so soon after he had sent his letter?