Chapter 1339: The Guiding Object

"Guide us?" The young man and woman looked at each other, completely unable to understand what he meant. The woman called out again, "What did you say?"

Wu Chang raised the objects in his hands once more, then suddenly struck them together.

Dong...

Another long metallic note rang out.

The sound was unpleasant to the ear, and together with his behavior, it made the young man and woman frown.

He was deliberately making that noise toward them. No matter how they looked at it, it seemed faintly provocative.

The woman was quite attractive, fair-skinned and delicate, with a naturally proud and spoiled air. Seeing Wu Chang standing there bare-chested with his hair hanging loose, looking like some rough wandering independent cultivator, she immediately scolded, "You crude fellow! You're making enough noise to deafen people. I asked what you're doing. Didn't you hear me?"

Seeing her speak so rudely, the young man beside her grew uneasy. He tugged lightly at her sleeve and warned in a low voice, "Junior Sister, we're away from the sect now. You should restrain yourself and not casually provoke strangers."

The woman turned and glared at him. "He's the one provoking us. How did it become me provoking someone? Senior Brother, why are you so timid and afraid of trouble?"

The man looked embarrassed, but still tried to soothe her. "Junior Sister, he may look rough, but the aura he keeps restrained within himself is extraordinary. He doesn't seem like an ordinary man. We don't know his depth, so we should be cautious. The Sect Leader ordered me to escort you to Boundless Pavilion. If anything happens to you, I won't be able to answer for it. Forget it. Better one less trouble than one more. Let's go."

"I don't need you to answer for me!" the woman snapped. "Qingtian Sect's might shakes Baizhou. Who beneath Heaven doesn't give us some face? When a disciple acts outside, they represent the sect's dignity. How can we simply allow others to provoke us?" Her meaning was obvious: she was not as timid and fearful as he was.

Then she pointed at Wu Chang again. "Big fellow! Why don't you answer when you're spoken to?"

Wu Chang had been watching their reactions the entire time. Once he heard that they were from Qingtian Sect in Baizhou of the State of Han, he realized he had probably misunderstood. Even so, he asked once more to confirm. "You're not here to guide me?"

The woman barked, "Guide you where? Who are you? State your name!"

That confirmed it. They were clearly not here to guide him.

Wu Chang immediately stopped paying them any attention. He turned back toward the depths of the desert and resumed striking the ring and cauldron.

Dong... dong... dong...

The grating sound rang out again and again.

The young man swept his gaze around and noticed the signs of resonance in the surrounding desert.

The young woman, however, was utterly enraged by Wu Chang's contemptuous refusal to acknowledge her. As the daughter of Qingtian Sect's Sect Leader, and an attractive woman besides, she was accustomed to flattery and deference. She was not used to being dismissed this way. She shouted, "Insolent madman—"

Before she could finish, Wu Chang suddenly poured spiritual power into the ring and cauldron and smashed them together.

Dong!

The deep impact made their hearts and livers tremble. Their eardrums buzzed, their minds went into disorder, and hot blood surged through their chests until both faces flushed red.

At the same time, a vast and oppressive aura spread from Wu Chang's body.

The young man and woman both changed expression drastically.

They finally realized something.

The young woman's eyes filled with horror. Even when Qingtian Sect's Supreme Elder was furious, his aura could not compare with this man's. The depth of the stranger's cultivation was easy to imagine.

Her voice trembled. "Who... who exactly are you?"

Wu Chang remained expressionless and continued with what he was doing. He could not be bothered to answer, or even spare them another proper glance. Qingtian Sect meant nothing whatsoever in his eyes.

The young man hurriedly tugged at the woman's sleeve and hissed, "Junior Sister, we can't afford to provoke this man. Go!"

This time the woman did not act willfully. She nodded nervously.

The two leapt upward together, intending to leave.

But neither could fly.

They rose barely a foot before being stopped cold.

Both looked down and discovered that their feet seemed to be gripped by two enormous hands, or bound by two pythons.

Several strands of yellow sand had twisted around their ankles like old, withered vines.

No matter how desperately they circulated their spiritual power, they could not break free.

Dong!

Wu Chang struck the ring and cauldron together again.

The yellow-sand vines suddenly tightened and yanked.

Both young cultivators were dragged violently back into the desert.

"Senior Brother, my feet hurt!" the woman screamed in terror. She had discovered that no matter what she did, she could not break free from the ground beneath her. That was what truly frightened her.

Shing!

The young man drew his sword and hacked repeatedly at the sand around their feet.

It was useless.

They remained trapped.

Their fear deepened. They could feel just how powerful the strange man's cultivation was. To them, it was powerful beyond belief.

Dong... dong...

As the ring and cauldron continued to sound, yellow sand began creeping slowly up their legs.

"Senior Brother! Senior Brother...!" the woman screamed over and over.

The young man immediately shouted toward Wu Chang, "Senior, if we were rude or offended you in any way before, I beg Senior to be magnanimous and not hold the offense of lesser people against us. Please raise your noble hand and spare—"

His voice stopped.

The woman could no longer scream either.

Yellow sand clogged both their mouths.

It forced its way between their lips, into their nostrils, into their ears.

Neither wanted to accept it, yet neither had any power to resist.

Their faces contorted in agony.

Their bodies convulsed as the yellow sand invaded them.

Then both bodies rapidly swelled.

In an instant, they had bloated round like balls.

Bang! Bang!

The two bodies burst apart.

Yellow sand exploded outward with torn flesh and flying bone.

Two fresh skulls shot high into the air before falling back to the ground.

The smell of blood drifted on the wind.

Wu Chang behaved as though nothing at all had happened.

The ring and cauldron in his hands continued sounding.

Dong... dong...

...

"Look!"

Under the night sky, three cultivators were flying over the desert when one suddenly pointed to the side.

In the moonlight, a colossal creature broke out of the sand and began racing across the desert with thunderous speed.

The three landed atop a dune and stared.

One exclaimed in surprise, "It's the Scorpion Emperor!"

Another said, "You've all heard about the Demonic Sect Holy Son. Sacred Venerable Lü Wushuang seems to be searching for the Scorpion Emperor. If we can find it and report this to Misty Pavilion through the sect, it'll be a major achievement!"

"Go!"

At the shout, the three flashed into motion again and chased after the Scorpion Emperor.

They had not been following for long when a strange dong-dong sound drifted across the desert.

Far ahead, on a dune in the direction the Scorpion Emperor was charging, they could faintly make out a man standing beneath the moonlight.

The Scorpion Emperor came thundering toward him.

Wu Chang finally stopped striking the ring and cauldron and watched with cold, heavy eyes.

Why was the Scorpion Emperor charging toward him?

Such a thing had never happened before.

He barely needed to think before guessing that it had been drawn by the cauldron and ring in his hands.

In other words, the Scorpion Emperor had been summoned by the sound.

Wu Chang's eyes flickered.

Could the so-called guiding object truly be the Scorpion Emperor?

He wanted to see how the creature would react.

Instead, the Scorpion Emperor gave him no extra response whatsoever. The moment it reached him, its enormous pincers came crashing down in a frenzied attack.

Clang! Clang!

Wu Chang lifted the cauldron and ring and blocked both massive pincers head-on.

The force drove his feet several inches into the sand.

When the Scorpion Emperor discovered that it had failed to smash the tiny creature to death, its mountain-sized body lunged forward, intending to crush him outright.

Faced with the enormous bulk bearing down on him, Wu Chang turned one hand. He slipped the Heaven-Swallowing Ring over his forearm, raised his free palm beneath the Scorpion Emperor's abdomen, and heaved upward.

The mountain-sized Scorpion Emperor went tumbling into the air.

Its limbs clawed wildly before its back slammed into the sand.

It could not turn itself over at first.

Then its huge tail churned through the sand, giving it leverage to roll upright.

It charged Wu Chang again.

Having already suffered once, it had learned a lesson. Its stinger lashed forward and stabbed directly at him.

Clang!

Wu Chang raised the Mountains and Rivers Cauldron.

The mouth of the cauldron caught the stinger perfectly and blocked it fast.

The Scorpion Emperor's tail trembled under strain. It was obviously wrestling against Wu Chang with all its strength.

On a dune not far away, the three cultivators who had just arrived stared in growing astonishment.

They did not know who Wu Chang was.

Yet under the savage attacks of a monster as enormous as the Scorpion Emperor, this man had not moved back even half a step. He simply stood where he was and dealt with every attack calmly.

Was this really strength a Golden Core cultivator could possess?

Wu Chang, locked in a contest of strength with the Scorpion Emperor, was puzzled as well.

If this creature truly was the guiding object, why had it come to attack him?

The other sand scorpions had fled in panic the moment they heard the ring and cauldron.

Why had the Scorpion Emperor come charging in to fight for its life?

He gradually sensed the reason.

He had intruded upon the sand scorpions' territory.

The lesser scorpions feared the sound, so they had summoned their powerful leader to drive away the thing disturbing their habitat.

His judgment was correct.

The young scorpions' living environment had been severely threatened, and the Scorpion Emperor had indeed come to eliminate that threat.

Once he thought of that, several things became easier to judge.

If the Scorpion Emperor truly was the guiding object, then this was plainly why striking the ring and cauldron could summon it.

But what was he supposed to do if the Scorpion Emperor would not submit to control?

Even if he subdued it by force, that did not necessarily mean he could make it obey him.

The two sides could not communicate.

Since the Demon Canon said the ring and cauldron were the instruments that acted upon the guiding object, then the crux of the problem had to lie with the ring and cauldron.

After those thoughts flashed through his mind, Wu Chang suddenly swept the cauldron outward and knocked the scorpion's tail aside.

The Scorpion Emperor refused to relent. It twisted its body and prepared to attack again.

Dong!

Wu Chang poured spiritual power into the artifacts and smashed the ring and cauldron together.

The resulting note was deep and immense.

The three cultivators watching from a nearby dune immediately felt their hearts turn restless and their blood churn.

The Scorpion Emperor, already swinging its tail forward for another attack, suddenly gave a sharp "screee" at the stimulus. It seemed unable to endure the sound and retreated again and again.

Wu Chang saw that it worked.

So the Scorpion Emperor was not immune to this sound after all.

Dong... dong... dong...

He continued striking the ring and cauldron without pause.

Tormented by the noise, the Scorpion Emperor seemed trapped in unbearable confusion. It wanted to attack Wu Chang, yet the "demonic sound" kept disturbing it. It screeched and circled in agitation.

At last, apparently unable to endure any longer, the Scorpion Emperor suddenly turned and fled.

It raced away as though madly escaping the sound.

Running?

Wu Chang had no intention of letting it escape.

Then his gaze shifted toward the three figures on the nearby dune.

The Heaven-Swallowing Ring suddenly left his hand.

The golden ring screamed through the moonlight.

The three cultivators were shocked. None had expected Wu Chang to attack them without warning.

They tried to scatter and flee.

Then they discovered, in horror, that the sand beneath their feet had somehow stuck fast to them.

They could not move.

The golden ring shot toward them with a shrieking break in the air, its momentum savage and terrifying.

All three hurriedly drew weapons to block it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three explosive impacts rang out.

Not one of the three survived a single strike from the golden ring.

With crushing, unstoppable force, the ring burst through all three bodies.

Then it wheeled through a broad arc in the air and returned with a whistle to Wu Chang's hand.

The reason he killed them was simple.

Anyone who had seen this scene between him and the Scorpion Emperor would not be allowed to live.

Gripping the golden ring, Wu Chang vanished in a flash and chased after the Scorpion Emperor.

He landed on its back and simply stood there as the beast carried him away.

After running for a time, the Scorpion Emperor gradually recovered from the torment of the "demonic sound."

Its raised tail immediately stabbed toward the man standing on its back.

Dong... dong...

Wu Chang struck the ring and cauldron together again.

The demonic sound returned.

The Scorpion Emperor lost control of itself once more and could only flee at even greater speed, desperate to escape the maddening noise.

[End of Chapter 1339]