Whoosh!
A sword radiance cut through the skies.
With Royal Sword Flight, Jiang He soon arrived at the Zhoushan Isles.
The Zhoushan Isles were located northeast to the Zhejiang province and south to the Changjiang delta. They were a cluster of islands on the eastern seas located at the outer edge of Hangzhou, spanning 182 km from east to west and 169 km from north to south. They were the largest cluster of isles of the Hua Nation, and Peach Blossom Island which Jin Yong had written about was located among those isles too.
As for Mount Putuo, it was located at the southeastern seas of the Zhoushan Isles, though the island was not that huge—just thirteen kilometers squared.
Even so, Mount Putuo was also known as the ‘Buddhist Realm of the Seas’ or the ‘Sacred Grounds of the Southern Seas’. Temples of various sizes were built on top of it, including the Temple of Mass Salvation, the Temple of Mystic Rain, the Shrine of Jagged Stones, and the Shrine of Spirit stones, each of which consecrated Guanyin.
It was once the most famous tourist spot of the Zhoushan Isles, with endless visitors frequenting it every year…
Of course, that was before the Revival of Qi.
Prior to that, there were even administration centers set up at the Zhoushan Isles. Aside from being a tourist spot, it was also the largest natural fishing harbor of the Hua Nation, and the Shenjiamen Fishing Port located there was one of the three largest fishing harbors in the world.
However, as oceanic Ferals rampaged after the Revival of Qi, every resident who were living at the Zhoushan Isles had moved to the mainland, and everything including the temples were abandoned.
And right now, Jiang He was standing atop the lighthouse at the Shenjiamen Fishing Port.
It was the highest spot of the Shenjiamen Fishing Port, and when he stood on top of it, he could clearly see Mount Putuo, which was just nearby.
Mount Putuo was nothing special when observed with one’s physical eyes. Even so, once Jiang He infused his mystic energy into his eyes, he noticed that Mount Putuo was located beneath a gigantic radiant shroud, which was clearly an array.
Streaks of golden lights were materializing beneath the radiant shroud, along with thousands of other weird phenomenon.
Then, a figure flew in rapidly from the distance and landed beside Jiang He.
It was Lin Tianzheng.
After a little chat, Lin Tianzheng then quietly said, “There has been a lot of unusual phenomenon occurring from various locations in the nation. Intelligence personnel from the Jiangsu City base have also discovered a heavenly phenomenon on Mount Cangwu, where I’ve just returned from…”
Lin Tianzheng appeared weirded out at that and said, “There was actually a flock of monkeys in Mount Cangwu, each of whom were overwhelmingly powerful. While most of the monkeys were high-ranked Ferals, there were also over a dozen Feral Kings among them.”
“Weren’t you guys culling Feral Kings everywhere before?” Jiang He exclaimed in surprise then. “Did you guys managed to leave out Mount Cangwu? Hold on… you said that there were over a dozen Feral Kings, but what about Feral Emperors?”
“There aren’t any.”
Lin Tianzheng shook his head, saying, “That’s what weird about it… I’m guessing that the dozen or so Feral King monkeys only ascended in the last half month. While we were aware of their presence early on, their king was just rank-nine—moreover, they preferred remaining in the mountain and rarely left it, which is why we would not target them.”
Jiang He became quiet then.
To tell the truth, Feral Kings were not that powerful.
Even so, it was quite outrageous that a dozen Feral Kings had ascended from such an average troop of monkeys.
Moreover, the entire band of monkeys were high-ranked, which meant that they might have gained some advantage to mutate and evolve. If left unchecked, there would be many Feral Kings or even Feral Emperors who rise to power among them.
“Interesting.”
Jiang He chuckled, and said, “I’ll investigate the matter if I have the time for a trip to Mount Cangwu… By the way, Elder Lin, is Mount Cangwu in Jiangsu? Why haven’t I heard about it before?”
“Moung Cangwu is otherwise known as the Blue Peak or Mount Huaguo. It is the highest peak of Yuntai Valley.”
“…”
What the hell?
Mount Huaguo?
Taking a deep breath to calm his ruffled mind, he said, “Take a break here, Elder Lin. I’ll go to Mount Putuo and investigate what’s there.”
“But there’s an obstructing array, Mister Jiang.”
Even so, Jiang He stepped up into the skies, striding forward and laughed. “A mere array stopping me? Don’t you know that I, Jiang He, am a master of arrays too, Elder Lin?”
He arrived outside the array and carefully observed the array with divine mind and a way to crack it. Even so…
An hour passed.
Jiang He frowned in rage. “What the hell is that array? Why is it so different from the array techniques I’ve developed?”
Since he couldn’t crack the array with his own technique, he could only crack it by force.
Hence, Jiang He clenched his fist and punched out.
The nonchalant punch, however, contained his full physical strength.
Kaboom!
The air rumbled.
Beneath his feet, a wave over a thousand feet tall suddenly kicked up over the serene surface of the ocean.
Jiang He’s physical strength could match a full-fledged Mahayana—how powerful was the force of his punch?
Oom!
Even so, the array merely shook a little under the force of his punch and did not break.
***
Behind the array, inside the Purple Bamboo Forest of Mount Putuo.
The many elites could only feel the ground rumble and the isle’s tremors, and their feet wobbled a little. However, in the next instant, a Buddha glow swirled in the Bodhimanda at the edge of the Purple Bamboo Forest, repelling the aura.
Outside the aura, Jiang He sneered.
“I would never believe in bad luck. How tough could that array be anyway?”
Charging the Nine Heavenly Stars Body Formula, veins of starlight promptly descended and shrouded Jiang He’s body. As he clenched his fist and unleashed a barrage of punches upon the array, it rumbled and shook endlessly, whereas the shockwave dispersing caused towering waves around the seas and crushed many nearby isles, but the array still stood.
Jiang He’s temper flared and the Mosquito Cutter arose as he beckoned with his hand.
Around it, the Sword Array of Ten Realms and Infinity formed instantly. Directing the sword array and slicing thrice upon the array, eventually…
Crack!
A crisp sound.
The array cracked.
Jiang He withdrew the Sword Array with a loud laughter, calmed the towering waves beneath him with a wave of his hand and strode out, descending upon Moun Putuo.
“Bow-wow…”
A dog’s bark was echoing from the distance.
Dumbo was rapidly flying towards him on a daemonic cloud, calling out as it flew, “Master, Master…”
Yip, yip!
It whinnied as it dived to Jiang He’s feet, crying through tears and snot, “Master, I was praying to the stars and the moon, but you finally came… If you didn’t come, my 200-catties worth of dog flesh would be vaporized here.”
Jiang He scowled and shoved Dumbo away with his foot.
However, Dumbo dived toward Jiang He again, wailing, “Master, those thugs were trying to hurt me!”
Jiang He kicked him away again, though when he looked up, all the human and daemon cultivators shuddered. Going pale in fear, one of them even cried out, “Lord Jiang He, we did not attack… Brother Dog!”
“Bleh!”
Dumbo leapt up to its feet again then. Holding a paw at its hip while pointing a claw at the cultivators, he barked, “A bunch of trash like you, calling me brother?”
“You were thinking about attacking me even though you did not do it. Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
All color drained from the faces of the many human and daemon cultivator, and they were left uncertain on how to answer.
Jiang He, meanwhile, was facepalming, having felt a rare sense of embarrassment…
Still, with the array now broken, the other cultivators naturally would not dare to hang around, and used various excuses to leave.
“Don’t leave if you dare!” Dumbo pompously barked at them.
His teeth clenched in frustration, Jiang He yelled, “You dog! There’s a limit to bullying—aren’t you afraid that someone would whack you dead in secret?”
Dumbo promptly cried out in surprise, “Master, they wouldn’t dare, would they?”
“Why wouldn’t they? I wouldn’t know who has done it if they don’t leave a trace.”
Fear registered all over Dumbo’s face then.
Jiang He then asked, “Tell me, what actually happened? And where are the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers and the eagles?”
Dumbo and Trumbo spoke over a dozen minutes as they each try to get a word in.
Jiang He frowned. “So you’re saying that the array only appeared today?”
“Two hours before, to be precise.”
Trumbo said nonchalantly, “Weird phenomena started to appear here on Mount Putuo a dozen days ago, and more occurred after we arrived. It is only today when that Bodhimanda suddenly showed up, drawing out some of the elites and causing them to fight. They only stopped because they were wary about your mighty name, after which the array popped up.”
Jiang He looked up to the edge of the Purple Bamboo Forest at that.
The Bodhimanda was covered beneath the vague radiance.
Jiang He strode before it, focused on coming up with a way to enter the Bodhimanda when a golden flash shot forth, assuming the shape of a door. A samanera stepped out then with his palms put together and chanting a Buddhist mantra, “Amitabha. This way please, sir.”
Somehow, Jiang He felt a weird familiarity toward the samanera after just one look.
Beside him, Dumbo suddenly shrieked, “Is that you, Eldest Brother?!”
Jiang He was dumbstruck.
It really was Eldest Brother!
He had changed into monk robes and shaved himself bald, and Jiang He almost did not recognize him.
After his initial surprise, Jiang He scowled. “What’s with that getup, Eldest Brother?”
“Amitabha…”
Eldest Brother was about to chant more Buddhist mantras when Jiang He slapped him squarely on the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.
“Talk like a human, wretch!” Jiang He scolded.
Eldest Brother started wailing at that, “Gramps, hurry up and save Second Brother and the others! They are being converted!”
