Chapter 1430: The People of Tian Lou See the Subtle and Know the Manifest, Golden Gate Technique Antelope Hangs Horns

"Yo ho, thrilling!"

A hundred li outside Yu Jing Cheng, in the Lin Shan mountains, Zhu Yike let out a monkey-like cry and jumped three feet into the air.

With just half a silk stocking, a pair of underwear, and a chest garment, he had not only pulled off a swap under Dao Qiong Cang's nose to snatch the three women, but also successfully disgusted this enigmatic master of the Dao Hall.

Those three items were carefully selected by Zhu Yike from the homes and bodies of disreputable married women in Yu Jing Cheng—utterly authentic and original!

"I wonder if someone as lofty as Dao Qiong Cang, once he gets his hands on them, might have a habit of sniffing them?" Zhu Yike covered his mouth and chuckled sneakily.

The Dao Hall master, no less!

Stealing people right from his hands—this feat could go down in Jin Men history, to be sung about by future generations!

However, after getting the three women, Zhu Yike didn't dare indulge his mischievous streak any further by spying from afar.

After all, Dao Qiong Cang was no ordinary person.

Even if he couldn't see through Jin Men stealth techniques, if he reacted in time and launched a massive search of the mountains, escaping would become much harder.

"Ladies..."

"Hey hey, are you all alright?"

Zhu Yike looked shifty and sly, even with his face covered and only his eyes showing; one smile from him made it clear he was no decent fellow.

"What happened?"

Xiang Yi felt an incredibly bizarre sensation.

They had been on the verge of disaster, the three of them.

Then, suddenly, the world blurred, and right under Dao Qiong Cang's eyes, they miraculously appeared in a snowy mountain forest.

One moment in hell, the next in heaven.

If not for the similar level of spiritual energy around them compared to outside Yu Jing Cheng, Xiang Yi might have thought they had been transported to another dimension.

Who could have such power to snatch them from under Dao Qiong Cang's nose?

"Ladies... are you all mute?"

A voice came from behind.

Xiang Yi turned and looked, her heart inexplicably tightening as she nearly stumbled.

This guy only showed his eyes, and they were full of lecherous intent.

From the contours of his face under the mask, she could easily imagine he had a sharp, monkey-like face—utterly ugly.

Was it really this kind of villain, straight out of the street corners, who had saved them?

"Who are you?"

Xiang Yi slightly hunched her chest, crossing her arms in front of her with a hint of caution.

She was under a martial ban now, completely defenseless.

"Hey hey..."

Zhu Yike didn't answer, letting his brazen gaze sweep over the three women he had flipped into this situation, from left to right, top to bottom.

The one with the martial ban was Xiang Yi...

This one, he didn't recognize, but her back was exquisite, and her figure was top-notch.

This one holding the broken qin... wait, a broken pipa? A mortal? Hiss, she also had an exposed back, an even more stunning figure. No wonder she survived... So Dao Qiong Cang had that kind of preference?

"Who are you!"

Dong Dong was equally vigilant, her eyes filled with more irritation.

She'd seen that kind of gaze all too often at You Gui Ge—it was always from disgusting men like this.

Now, with Xiang Yi under the martial ban, among the three of them, only she had any fighting capability left...

Smack!

Dong Dong's thoughts hadn't even finished when she felt a burning sting on her cheek, her very soul nearly jolted out of her.

She clutched her face, twisting her head in disbelief toward that lecherous ugly ghost.

"You..."

"You what?!" Zhu Yike narrowed his eyes, tugging at the corner of his mouth under the black cloth as he said coldly:

"First, don't use that tone with your savior."

"Second, I'm no good person, let alone a gentleman. If you keep looking at me like that, I'll make your worst fears come true right here!"

"Finally, I don't like surprises. Either cripple your cultivation on the spot, or swallow this pill. Otherwise, you can cool off in the snow—I won't take you with me."

Zhu Yike finished speaking and flipped a deep purple pill into his palm.

It was obviously a poison pill; swallowing it would be fatal, and not swallowing it meant self-crippling her cultivation?

Dong Dong was stunned, then furious.

You're insulting a Tai Xu expert!

But as she parted her red lips to speak, Zhu Yike struck like lightning, his two fingers together jabbing viciously at her chest.

Thud!

A dull sound echoed.

Dong Dong's eyes bulged; as a Tai Xu, she hadn't even reacted to when this ugly ghost had attacked!

Pain shot through her chest and back.

A drop of crimson blood burst from Dong Dong's back under that jab, and just as it was about to hit the snow, Zhu Yike leaned in and caught it with his palm.

"You..."

Dong Dong felt instinctively unwell and started to lean back.

Because the ugly ghost had bent down, almost fully pressed against her; she could even smell his revolting odor.

But how could Zhu Yike let her go?

After grabbing the blood, he let out a sleazy "hey" and placed his right palm over the ample softness on Dong Dong's chest, pushing upward.

Reversing heaven and earth!

The wound from Dong Dong's chest was actually pushed up to her forehead.

"Uh!"

In an instant, Dong Dong's body shuddered violently, her face turning pale.

If the piercing wound in her chest was bearable, having it shifted to her forehead was another story...

She was already in poor condition, and now she felt her life ebbing away!

"Tsk, a bit too big and way too chatty."

Zhu Yike withdrew his hand, still not satisfied as he sniffed it, then dripped Dong Dong's blood into a black jade talisman.

Then, with a flick of his finger, the purple poison pill shot into Dong Dong's mouth.

If you won't choose, I'll choose for you.

"You!"

Dong Dong struggled fiercely, wrapping her spiritual energy around the pill to spit it out.

Zhu Yike thrust his two fingers straight into her throat; under his spiritual energy's catalysis, the pill instantly merged into her qi sea.

Dong Dong collapsed limply to the ground, her qi sea desolate and her spiritual energy unusable, her face full of despair.

utterly helpless!

What kind of person was this? Where did he come from? She'd never heard of him before!

Zhu Yike pulled his saliva-covered fingers out of her mouth and wiped them on Dong Dong's chest clothing before clapping his hands and laughing:

"See? If you'd been this obedient from the start, wouldn't that have been better?"

"Don't worry, it's a three-day life-seizing pill. It can hold your current injuries and make you die in three days... Hmm, I don't have the antidote, so don't bother trying to kill me."

"If we're both still alive in three days, someone else will step in to save you."

"As for this jade talisman..."

Zhu Yike chuckled slyly, holding the jade talisman and waving it in front of Dong Dong's dazed eyes:

"This is my personal hobby—your life is mine now. From here on, you're my slave."

"Even if you survive the three days, whatever I say, you'll have to do."

Zhu Yike squatted down, pinched Dong Dong's angry face as she tried to speak, and turned it away:

"Don't speak."

Then, he turned his gaze to the mortal: "Stop pretending; you've been awake for a while."

A Yao trembled, huddled behind Xiang Yi, clutching her skirt and not daring to show her face.

The Dao Hall master hadn't targeted her specifically; under the protective talisman's power, she had woken up right after this guy transferred them.

But with Dong Dong, a Tai Xu expert, treated like this...

If he saw her face...

Zhu Yike pinched A Yao's face and examined it closely, shaking his head and clicking his tongue:

"Damn, what a stunning beauty from the mortal world!"

He placed a palm on A Yao's lower abdomen, and soon his expression turned strange.

"No way, not a shred of spiritual energy? You're incredibly lucky to survive!"

"In the midst of a holy war, a mere mortal making it out alive?"

"I saved them." Xiang Yi suddenly spoke up.

Zhu Yike glanced at her, raising an eyebrow high, then withdrew his frivolous hand and put some distance between himself and the three women.

Seeing the little girl scared pale by him, he said with a smirk:

"Relax, I'm no saint, but I won't mess with you right now."

"I'm just short on time for chit-chat and explanations, and I have to watch out for any betrayal or sneak attacks... Blah blah, anyway, that's it!"

Zhu Yike spread his hands: "If not for someone asking me to, I wouldn't touch this mess."

A Yao breathed a sigh of relief.

Dong Dong clutched her forehead, taking deep breaths and glaring at him furiously.

She didn't believe a word from this guy, and though she had pills to heal her forehead wound, none of them could use spiritual energy right now to open a spatial ring.

Xiang Yi, however, remained quite calm: "May I ask your honorable name?"

"Li, at your service." Zhu Yike smiled.

"Brother Li, are you from the South Domain?" Xiang Yi changed the subject.

Zhu Yike's expression darkened instantly.

His already small eyes narrowed further, gaining a chilling killing intent:

"You'd better not guess wildly. If I get angry, I'll kill you too."

Zhu Yike stopped smiling.

Xiang Yi, on the other hand, let out a light laugh.

Only a chaotic place like the South Domain's Sin Lands could produce someone as venomous as a snake.

The word "lust" often leads to a knife's edge; people in the Central Domain might not feel it much, but those in the South Domain know it all too well.

Don't be fooled by how flamboyantly South Domain people play, or how this Brother Li groped Dong Dong...

When it comes to women, they're all extremely cautious.

Because in that place, so many high-level spirit refiners have died at the hands of beautiful assassins.

This Brother Li's every move was just him having learned from such losses and barely escaping death.

He was deathly afraid of surprises.

Besides not suspecting her, he even suspected A Yao.

What made Xiang Yi certain that this Brother Li was from the South Domain wasn't just that.

Earlier, this man had casually displayed a technique, shifting Dong Dong's chest wound directly to her forehead.

Dong Dong and A Yao didn't understand it.

But Xiang Yi knew the intricacies all too well.

If he could turn a minor wound into a major one, could he also turn a major wound into a minor one, like some magic trick?

This was at least a lost divine skill!

Ordinary spirit techniques couldn't achieve that.

And when he used the spirit technique, there was barely any spiritual energy leakage—it was clearly a top-tier South Domain method!

Combining his achievements in techniques, his ambiguously righteous and evil nature, his cautious essence, and the fact that he risked his life to save them from Dao Qiong Cang...

Xiang Yi's mind raced, and she quickly reinterpreted this "Brother Li."

—The number one in the heavens, inheritor of Jin Men stealth techniques, Zhu Yike!

"Thank you for your life-saving grace, Brother Li. We three will never forget it." Xiang Yi bowed slightly, her demeanor impeccable.

Zhu Yike finally managed to tear his eyes away, which had been glued to this alluring married woman, and withdrew his gaze.

This was that person's woman... He shuddered and said coldly:

"Don't!"

"If you don't stab me in the back, I'll thank the heavens. Don't ever say 'never forget.'"

Xiang Yi smiled gently and changed the topic: "Brother Li, you're lingering here, so you must not fear being discovered by the old Daoist?"

She had already noticed that this place was neither too close nor too far from Yu Jing Cheng.

Just turn around, and you could see some scenery from the south gate of Yu Jing Cheng, meaning Zhu Yike had been waiting here for quite a while.

But couldn't Dao Qiong Cang turn around and see them too?

"I'm scared to death, but I'm even more afraid of you lot stabbing me in the back." Zhu Yike muttered, then said seriously:

"Don't worry, the Dao Hall master's heavenly secrets techniques aren't that precise; he won't detect this place briefly."

He had been using "Deceive the Heavens" here all afternoon; any tracing force would find nothing here, even from a semi-saint.

Of course, if a Saint Emperor showed up, Zhu Yike said he wouldn't say a word and would surrender willingly.

Deceive the Heavens, one of Jin Men's techniques, could erase all traces of existence, fool the laws of the dao, and make one come without a trace and leave without a shadow.

Dong Dong rolled her eyes at that but felt the pain in her forehead and couldn't help retorting:

"The Dao Hall master can't detect it? If you keep delaying, he'll show up directly."

Zhu Yike turned his gaze sideways, smirking mockingly:

"Heavenly secrets techniques are nothing. As long as that old Daoist doesn't seal the Machine Ancestor, he can't break my—Li's—techniques!"

Machine Ancestor... Xiang Yi's mouth twitched, and she quickly said: "Let's get moving first."

Zhu Yike nodded.

He was well-prepared and didn't dare linger here too long.

He first scooped up A Yao with one hand and hoisted her onto his shoulder. As he pressed down, he hissed in a breath of cold air.

"Damn, is this really a waist? I'm afraid I'll snap it if I hold it!"

A Yao's face turned red instantly, but she bit her lip and trembled, not daring to speak.

Zhu Yike reached out again, but after glancing at Xiang Yi, he hesitated, extending and retracting his hand several times.

"Uh, um, uh..."

"It's fine." Xiang Yi shook her head; she wasn't one to quibble.

"Then, pardon me!"

Zhu Yike gritted his teeth, clenched his fist, and scooped Xiang Yi up by the waist, hoisting her onto his other shoulder.

He felt a warm, smooth sensation through the fabric on his arms and forearms—vague, yet stirring.

But with his "gentleman's hand" clenched into a fist, Zhu Yike even split off a thread of spiritual thought to stay vigilant, afraid of accidentally loosening his grip and touching something he shouldn't.

"This I have to say first: I'd never dare touch you, but you agreed to this, and I haven't groped around."

"Mm." Xiang Yi didn't say more; being carried on someone's shoulder was embarrassing enough.

Zhu Yike took a deep breath and looked at Dong Dong.

Dong Dong's face paled, unable to bear the pressure, and she pointed at herself: "What about me?"

"As you can see..." Zhu Yike adjusted his left side, not daring to move his right. Half his body felt petrified, yet he still grinned: "Both my hands and shoulders are occupied; I can't take another person."

"You!" Dong Dong was furious.

"My techniques require holding someone to take them along." Zhu Yike's eyes darted, and he chuckled: "There is another idea..."

"What idea?" Dong Dong had a bad premonition.

Zhu Yike rubbed his legs together, clamping his knees: "Come over here yourself, and I can take you, but you'd never agree."

Dong Dong glanced down at his crotch and nearly exploded with anger.

I'm a Tai Xu expert!

This was blatant humiliation!

"Take Sister Dong Dong with us..."

A Yao's voice was as soft as a mosquito's, but she mustered the courage to speak despite her trembling.

Without Sister Dong Dong leading her through Ling Street, she would have been left on the battlefield, who knows in whose hands.

"Sure, spend a night with me, and I'll take her." Zhu Yike turned to his left shoulder and said teasingly.

He didn't want to take either of these two women!

A Yao's body shook, and she closed her eyes, as if making a major decision, her pale lips parting: "Okay..."

"Leaving her behind, the old Daoist could easily trace you with heavenly secrets techniques." Xiang Yi interrupted.

Zhu Yike whistled upward, not saying much.

He knew that full well, but he wanted Xiang Yi's stance—to know he was risking his life for this.

Zhu Yike could go all out for his boss because he was now the esteemed second-in-command of the number one establishment in the heavens.

As for Xiang Yi, You Gui Ge, the Eight Honored Ones, Saint Slaves... all trivial!

Those things meant nothing to him now!

South Domain people were clear about grudges.

Zhu Yike was saving them on his boss's orders, and it was voluntary.

But since he saved their lives, they shouldn't take it for granted or boss him around.

Even if he said not to worry about the favor, they shouldn't take his words at face value—they still owed this debt.

A "life at the ghost gate, gods call it divine" favor...

Zhu Yike didn't really want to give it up, just like his boss saying he was Zhou Tian Shen was fake.

Whoosh.

With a flick of his thumb, a copper coin flew into the air.

When it landed on A Yao's back, it hit the ground.

At the same time, Dong Dong felt a blur before her eyes; she was stacked onto A Yao's back.

"Uh."

A Yao grunted softly; the frail her seemed to bear an unbearable weight, nearly injuring herself.

"Thank you." Xiang Yi spoke up promptly; she understood the jianghu rules of South Domain people—or rather, those like the dead souls in the street corners.

"No need to thank me; it's what I should do." Zhu Yike grinned widely, his teeth nearly tearing through the black cloth over his face.

He stepped over the snow, and the copper coin vanished—this couldn't be left behind, or the Dao Hall master would spot it, and they'd all die.

After scanning around and checking three times, Zhu Yike patiently returned the stones he had stolen from elsewhere during his bored wait to their original spots.

How could stones from another mountain end up here?

As for the underwear and such, the bad ones had already been returned, and the odors dealt with.

"Anything else..."

After another three checks, Zhu Yike erased the traces left by techniques like "Shift Form and Shadow" and "Deceive the Heavens."

Yes, Deceive the Heavens could erase all traces.

But even from the Technique Ancestor lineage, the existence of this technique itself left a trace.

If heavenly secrets techniques were applied carefully, they might detect it.

Was Dao Qiong Cang careless?

Not at all!

Zhu Yike was under immense pressure.

He hadn't been this meticulous even when disposing of bodies, and finally, he asked Xiang Yi: "Do you think there's anything else that needs handling?"

"Nothing; you're very... extremely cautious." Xiang Yi chose her words carefully, swallowing the rest: as expected of Xu Xiao Shou's man.

After one more final check, confirming no details were overlooked, Zhu Yike took a deep breath.

"Close your eyes!"

The three on his shoulders closed their eyes simultaneously.

"Take off!"

The Lin Shan mountains stirred no birds; the human figures vanished without a trace.

Using the snow to complete the swap was flawless.

As the light snow swirled, it quickly buried the last trace Zhu Yike left—two footprints.

Yes, even that was within Old Zhu's considerations.

Thanks to the North Domain genius Jiang Na Yi for the grand reward to Zhu Yike. Oh, Old Zhu, someone's rewarding you.

Zhu Yike: "Hey hey, want me to steal your underwear?"