Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

The ones breaking through the clouds were Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi.

The dust of eighty thousand li had been utterly blown away by the high-altitude winds, but such winds had failed to scatter the weight and solemnity in their eyes.

After leaving Holy Maiden Peak, they had taken a little time to regulate their breathing. However, they had not waited for their injuries to fully recover before rushing over to White Emperor City.

Even as experts of the Divine Domain, they had paid no small price to accomplish this feat. Their complexions were somewhat pale and they seemed rather fatigued.

Standing on the green mountain, Bie Yanghong assessed his surroundings. With the slightest focus, his eyes could clearly make out everything that happened for several dozen li.

Across the river, White Emperor City was in turmoil, a sign that the demi-humans had noticed their arrival and were rushing to mobilize their troops and experts.

Bie Yanghong raised his right hand and spread apart his fingers.

Several deep blue ice crystals, exuding a boundless chill, drifted out of his palm. Though the wind blew upon them, they did not float away with the wind.

Those crystals of ice weightlessly drifted towards somewhere behind the mountain.

Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi followed.

In a short while, they saw a massive tree that soared more than a thousand zhang into the sky, piercing through the clouds and to the beyond.

The tree was so thick that standing in front of it made one feel like it was a city wall. At the base of the tree was a cave, and in the cave, a little house had been built.

A black-clothed girl sat on a stone stool within the house. With her chin on her hands, she seemed rather depressed.

Those blue crystals rushed over to her in streams of light as if they were family.

The girl noticed and raised her head.

The ice crystals bored into the red birthmark between her eyebrows and vanished.

The black-clothed girl saw Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi appear behind those icy crystals, and wariness appeared on her cold and beautiful face.

She was a proud and powerful dragon, but she could clearly sense that these two human experts had the ability to harm her.

Bie Yanghong’s gaze dropped to the girl’s feet. Seeing the chain, he slightly frowned.

Wuqiong Bi’s complexion turned extremely nasty upon seeing the black-clothed girl. In her thinking, even if Bie Tianxin’s death had nothing to do with the girl, he had still died to her dragon breath. Just when she was prepared to vent her spleen, she was stopped by Bie Yanghong’s stern gaze.

"Lady Zhusha, I will think of a method to save you," Bie Yanghong said to the black-clothed girl.

This black-clothed girl was naturally the legend of New North Bridge and Pope Chen Changsheng’s Protector.

She had many names. Chen Changsheng liked to call her Zhizhi, but Bie Yanghong and other experts from his generation were used to calling her by the name Wang Zhice had bestowed upon her: Zhusha.

The chain at the girl’s foot confirmed to Bie Yanghong that the death of his son had nothing to do with her, as it was impossible for her to leave this mountain.

Since this was the case, he naturally had to think of a way to rescue her.

By now, Zhizhi had guessed at who Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi were.

In truth, it was because Bie Yanghong’s red flower was far too famous, as were the nastiness of both Wuqiong Bi’s complexion and her horsetail whisk.

She had been imprisoned on this mountain for quite some time, so she had begun to form a few conjectures. She had even sensed the death of a Divine Domain expert the day before yesterday. But in the end, she still did not know what exactly had happened, much less why two of the continent’s experts would suddenly appear here.

She pondered Bie Yanghong’s words, then said, "Then I’ll have to thank you, though the task seems rather challenging."

Bie Yanghong’s gaze continued down and he realized to his surprise that the chain on her ankle extended into the mountain.

This chain was apparently tied up to a rocky outcrop in the ground, but his formidable eyesight meant that he could see at a glance that this outcrop was actually the tip of a stone base, and this stone base rested on the very bottom of this mountain. To put it another way, this chain was tied to the entire mountain.

If he wanted to take away the little Black Dragon, he would either have to destroy the sturdy stone base or sever the connection between the chain and the stone base.

He could not do the former. Although the feat was possible if he displayed the full breadth of his cultivation, such an act would produce too much activity and consume too much star radiance and true essence, greatly affecting his performance in the true battle. As for the latter... the Qi around where the chain and the stone base were connected was strange, like there was an invisible lock there.

Bie Yanghong slightly focused as he said, "Tiger Cage?"

Zhizhi replied, "I don’t know what it’s called, but this name isn’t bad."

Bie Yanghong knew that he was right. The object that locked the chain to the stone base was assuredly the legendary imprisoning artifact of the demi-humans, the Tiger Cage.

This was the imprisoning artifact used by the White Emperor clan to punish its traitors. Even the innate divine strength of the White Emperor clan could not break free of the Tiger Cage, so it was ideal for imprisoning the little Black Dragon.

Even an expert at Bie Yanghong’s level would find it extremely difficult to break the Tiger Cage.

However, since it was an imprisoning artifact, it had to have a key, and this key was undoubtedly in Madam Mu’s hands.

"After I kill her, I will release you," Bie Yanghong said.

Zhizhi replied, "Then I truly can’t thank you enough."

Bie Yanghong suddenly sensed something and turned to look at the sea of clouds.

A wind was rising from the sea, stirring waves in the clouds. In their unease, many seams appeared.

A meadow appeared in one of these seams, and on this meadow were two women. Bie Yanghong felt like the moisture and saltiness of the wind had suddenly increased in concentration.

......

......

As he looked at the rather similar faces of Madam Mu and Mu Jiushi, Bie Yanghong paused for a moment, then clasped his hands in greeting.

Madam Mu calmly returned the gesture.

Wuqiong Bi naturally would not pay her any respect, nor did she speak. She only stared at Mu Jiushi, her eyes spitting venom, glowing with poisonous flames.

This loathing stare of an expert of the Divine Domain and her own guilty conscience over the murder of Bie Tianxin caused Mu Jiushi to shiver, despite her extraordinary origins and her proud personality. In fear, she hid behind Madam Mu.

Bie Yanghong asked Madam Mu, "Empress intends to protect her?"

Madam Mu replied, "This place is White Emperor City and she is my younger sister. Do you think I would let you touch her?"

Wuqiong Bi pointed at White Emperor City on the other side of the sea of clouds and yelled, "You think that you can rely on those silly fools amongst the demi-humans to stop this husband and wife?!"

Her voice was abnormally shrill, like two swords incessantly scraping against each other.

Compared to this, Bie Yanghong’s voice was still had its usual warm and gentle tone, yet it seemed even more determined. "The White Emperor is in seclusion. You are alone."

Madam Mu calmly replied, "So the two of you did not mind worsening your injuries to hurry here as quickly as possible."

Bie Yanghong affirmed, "Yes. I had to ensure that no one could arrive before us."

Madam Mu’s expression did not change as she asked, "You believe that as long as the Great Western Continent does not have time to send reinforcements, I will have to confront a one-versus-two situation?"

Bie Yanghong again affirmed, "Correct. This is not a fair battle, but a father and mother taking revenge."

Madam Mu faintly smiled. "Then did you ever think that though my husband is in seclusion, he is not completely cut off from the world? If I’m really about to die, do you think he won’t act? And even if you two work together, is your victory really assured?"