Before arriving, Ye Zichen calculated that Gu Li would place some kind of trap to counter him.
If they just forced their way in through brute force, he and the Great Sage alone would struggle against all of Gu Li’s subordinates. Even if they could break the encirclement, it would be difficult to protect the Zi Family from the resulting shockwaves.
That was why Ye Zichen had come up with this plan: using the Seventy-Two Transformations to become a replacement box for the key fragment.
Then, he’d had Zi Yun and Zi Xia approach together and say the lines they’d committed to memory in advance, all to convince Gu Li to lead them to where their clansmen were being held.
Ye Zichen didn’t dare guarantee the entire clan’s safety earlier, but that was because this trick would only work once, and he had no way of knowing whether Gu Li was keeping the Zi Family together or separately.
To his surprise, for the sake of convenience, Gu Li had dumped them all in the same courtyard.
“I just knew you’d show up.”
When he saw Ye Zichen appear out of nowhere, Gu Li showed no signs of surprise at all. He even smiled faintly.
“Of course. Thanks for showing me the way. Otherwise, it would have taken quite some effort to find this place. And thank you for keeping them all together. It’ll save me the trouble of seeking out the others,” laughed Ye Zichen.
“I truly miscalculated, but there are so many members of the Zi Family. You….” Before Gu Li could even finish his sentence, he saw a pitch-black treasure tower appear, hovering in mid-air.
“Collect!”
Beneath the surrounding demons’ shocked gazes, the Zi Family members blurred into streaks of light, and in a single breath of time, every last one of them disappeared.
Zi Yu and Zi Xia disappeared along with them. After collecting everyone, the Yao-Sealing Pagoda returned to Ye Zichen’s hand.
“That’s really quite the treasure!” Even now, Gu Li showed no signs of surprise. “I really ought to thank you for rushing right into my trap, and….. For delivering such a splendid gift right to my doorstep.”
Gu Li took a step back, and suddenly, a veritable sea of demon experts surrounded the courtyard.
“Heh, you brought quite a few people with you.” Ye Zichen scratched his head.
“Are you afraid?” asked Gu Li.
“Afraid? What, have we just met? What haven’t I gone through before? Do you seriously think this is enough to scare me?” Ye Zichen shook his head and laughed. “It seems you haven’t noticed, so let me remind you: surely you’ve noticed that a certain someone is missing from my side, right?”
For the first time, Gu Li’s smile gave way to shock. He’d only just noticed that the Great Sage, who’d been following Ye Zichen this whole time, wasn’t present.
Could it be?
“Great Sage, I’m over here!” Suddenly, Ye Zichen looked behind Gu Li and waved. The motion immediately attracted the demons’ attention, and almost all of them looked behind them.
However, there was no one behind them at all. There was no trace of the Great Sage.
When they looked away and turned back around, they discovered….
Ye Zichen was gone!
“Dammit, I fell for his tricks.” Gu Li couldn’t even remember the last time he’d cursed, but this time, he couldn’t help it; Ye Zichen had already vanished. “No one saw where he went?”
None of the demons answered. Gu Li narrowed his eyes and surveyed their surroundings. He could vaguely sense spatial fluctuations in the surrounding air.
Could it be that Ye Zichen mastered the Dao of Space too?
“Pursue him! Even if he’s gleaned enlightenment into the Dao of Space, there’s only so far he can get in such a limited time. He’s definitely still in Jadewave City!”
What was up with him lately? Ye Zichen’s ploy was obvious, yet he’d really turned and looked without the slightest hesitation.
An Lu!
After learning that An Lu had fallen into Ye Zichen’s hands, Gu Li found that he could no longer maintain his usual calm.
He desperately wanted to kill this man, the one who’d seized An Lu from him, but little did he know, his traps were full of holes.
He stretched his arms, then narrowed his eyes and ran off in pursuit.
Shortly after Gu Li left, one of the courtyard’s ordinary pebbles leaped into the air, then turned back into Ye Zichen.
The Dao of Space?
Gleaning even the slightest bit of such a Grand Dao took an enormous amount of time, effort, and experience. Even if he was an unparalleled “absolute-level” talent, how long had he been in the God Realm? He hadn’t had the time to research space at all.
No, he’d used the Seventy-Two Transformations, just like before.
“Jeez, that scared the crap out of me.” Ye Zichen leaned against the wall and took a few ragged breaths. From time to time, he peered out of the courtyard to see what was happening.
He didn’t dare use his divine sense, as if he did, any demon experts remaining in the estate would sense him immediately, then track him down. If that happened, even if he could fly, he wouldn’t be able to escape.
“I have no time to waste.” After calming himself down, Ye Zichen transformed once more, this time, becoming a moth. He beat his wings and leisurely drifted out of the courtyard.
“Heh, just how many people did Gu Li bring with him?” Ye Zichen the moth flew, then paused to survey the area. He did this several times. He sensed a dozen diviner-level demons within a thousand-mile radius.
Whenever someone’s divine sense swept by, Ye Zichen erased his presence and pretended to be a moth.
It seemed no one would discover him, at least, not on short notice. However, feigning a moth’s presence was a huge drain on his divine power.
Furthermore, in this shape, he couldn’t meditate or take medicine to recover his energy. Also, although Jadewave City was relatively small, at a little moth’s leisurely pace, who knew how long it would take?
Just as he was wondering how to get out of here quicker….
“He’ll do.” Ye Zichen smiled to himself, beat his wings, and headed in a certain direction.
Whoosh!
A demon expert landed in front of a street vendor selling spiritual herbs and grasses. “Hey, you. Have you seen this person?”
The demon stretched out his hand, creating a curtain of water. Ye Zichen’s image gradually formed on its surface.
The vendor was big and plump, and he was nothing but an earth supreme.
The demon was a diviner. Logically speaking, the vendor ought to have been terrified, but instead….
He smiled foolishly.
“The hell you laughing at? I asked if you saw him or not?”
“I saw him,” said the fatty with a nod and a burst of laughter.
The demon reached out and grabbed him by the throat. “Where?”
