Chapter 78 - Meng Tai Escapes

Outside, the mountain Gu Hai had set fire to was still burning in some places. The fire was extinguished easily. The smoke, on the other hand, was difficult to disperse.

The Golden Tong, with billows of smoke everywhere, along with the thick, dark clouds in the sky and the rumbles and flashes from lightning, looked as if the world was coming to an end.

In this atmosphere, very few people were willing to leave their warm nests. Generally, after having inquired about the cause of the fire from the Tong members, they would return to their respective abodes immediately.

Gu Hai, on the other hand, took advantage of this dense fog, and made his way to the outer region of the Golden Tong.

"According to Meng Tai, there is a secret tunnel in the Golden Tong Colosseum. I have to go and retrieve ten bronze masks placed inside the Colosseum and also, activate an array?" While walking, Gu Hai was thinking over the discussion he had with Meng Tai.

"Although I had only a short talk with this Meng Tai, judging from his voice, he is surely not to be trifled with. He wants to use Yue Yao to threaten Li Wei!? He wants to put the mask on Yue Yao and force Li Wei to tell him the code for opening the mask?" Gu Hai contemplated while walking along.

Although Gu Hai abhorred the idea of using Yue Yao to threaten Li Wei, it was a case of his own life and death, and furthermore, he wasn't the one implementing it. For the moment, he could only suppress the discomfort in his heart.

Slowly, Gu Hai arrived at the foot of a hill, where he cleared away some plants and got rid of some rocks in accordance with the details given by Meng Tai, quickly revealing a small cave entrance.

"There really is a secret tunnel. Meng Tai is indeed not an oil-saving lamp. Even when they had brotherly feelings between them, he still prepared for contingencies. It seems he is not some honest man. No wonder he beheaded Yue Yao just like that!" murmured Gu Hai, thinking this over.

Entering the secret tunnel, Gu Hai covered up the entrance and made his way towards the depths of the cave. The tunnel’s path was winding. Slowly but surely, Gu Hai arrived at the end of the tunnel, still brightly lit by luminous pearls.

There was a lever on one side of the wall. Gu Hai grabbed it and pushed it down immediately.

A small door in the wall opened, revealing a huge warehouse before Gu Hai’s eyes.

The warehouse was also illuminated by numerous luminous pearls. Inside the warehouse, so many bronze masks were pilled up that they resembled a mountain. Gu Hai quickly stored ten of them in his storage s.p.a.ce.

At the same time, he looked around the warehouse as directed by Meng Tai, and eventually found a hook affixed to the wall.

"Is this the contraption?" Gu Hai knit his brow, looking at this hook.

Stretching out his hands, Gu Hai grabbed the hook with his fingers before turning it lightly, as directed by Meng Tai.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Suddenly, the hook started spinning, making rattling noises.

Meanwhile, some faint sounds of gears in work also rang inside the Colosseum.

When the Golden Tong disciples stationed at the Colosseum heard the rattling, some chose to ignore it, while some knit their brow suspiciously.

"Did you hear that? What's that noise? Shall we go look for it?"

"Look for what? I am not gonna look for anything in this G.o.dd.a.m.n rain!"

"That's right, come back and bet!"

---

Inside the warehouse, having finished what he came to do, Gu Hai turned around and returned through the small door in the wall, before pus.h.i.+ng the lever back up.

The small door closed again, as if Gu Hai had never been there.

Gu Hai slowly retraced his steps back through the tunnel and returned to outside the cave entrance.

Having come out of the cave, Gu Hai gave a look at the bronze mask in his hand. This mask was the very same mask which was worn by all the criminals so that they could not escape.

"So, I have to place the masks in the grandstands next, and wait for Meng Tai to retrieve it, that's it?" Gu Hai asked himself, frowning. "That won't do, I shouldn't believe in Meng Tai completely. He may not necessarily help me. I shouldn't place all my hope on someone else," the frowning Gu Hai murmured to himself.

---

Hiding the cave entrance, Gu Hai quickly journeyed back to the VIP section and looked for an herbal store.

"Sir, what can I do for you?" asked the manager of the herbal store with a big smile on his face.

"I will make you a list, as long as you can arrange it for me, I will pay you a hefty price!" Gu Hai stated calmly.

"Alright!"

Gu Hai quickly wrote down a list.

"Oh, these? These are the most common herbs! Their efficacy is pretty poor. Even if they are all combined, it will still be useless. Sir, what is it you need it for, maybe I can give you some references!" the manager of the herbal store immediately smiled as he looked over the list.

"No need! Do you have it or not?" Gu Hai asked in a calm manner.

"I have them, it's just that...!" the herbal store manager's face became immediately ugly. After all, these herbs weren't worth a dime, just a low-grade spirit stone, at best. He wasn’t going to make anything off getting them together.

Gu Hai immediately took out thirty low-grade spirit stones. "These are all yours. And I would also like to use your furnace!"

"Sure, go ahead!" The manager very quickly took the spirit stones as his face lit up with happiness.

---

After four hours, the herbs had been slowly refined into a transparent concoction.

"Sir, what is this?" asked the herbal store manager, perplexed.

"You shouldn't ask what you shouldn't. You go out first!" ordered Gu Hai calmly.

A mocking look immediately appeared on the herbal store manager's face as he walked out of the alchemy room.

The transparent concoction was oily and extremely sticky.

Taking out a brush, Gu Hai lightly dipped it into the concoction before slowly smearing it on the bronze masks, adding a thin layer to them. If one didn't look carefully, it was simply unnoticeable.

Having smeared the concoction onto the masks, Gu Hai waited for them to dry out before carefully putting the masks into the storage s.p.a.ce.

Afterward, Gu Hai walked out of the herbal store. He ventured to the stands in the Colosseum and discreetly hid the ten masks in ten different places pointed out by Meng Tai.

Having done that, Gu Hai found a place and secretly hid there.

---

Outside the Golden Tong...

"Throne Master Ding, why are you leaving like this? I still didn't have the honor to perform my duties as a host!" Li Wei immediately attempted to persuade her to stay.

"It's not necessary! Li Wei, I don't have much time. A moment longer I stay here is a moment I am wasting! I need to find the dragon vein as soon as possible!" retorted Ding Rui, shaking her head.

"But...!" Li Wei still wanted to persuade them to stay.

"Well, Li Wei, we all have our priorities. My Song Jia Sect still has many important things to do! You stay and guard the Golden Tong!" said the Song Jia Sect Chief as he also shook his head.

"Well, if that's the case, then I will escort fellow daoists!" Li Wei could only take the second best option.

"That's not needed! Just prepare the spirit stones, I will take them next time!" Ding Rui shook her head.

Very quickly, the Ascendant Hall people embarked on a flying s.h.i.+p. A group of subordinates then sent it flying into the distance at an astonis.h.i.+ng speed.

Watching everyone leave, a cold look slowly appeared on Li Wei's face, "Humph! Is my Golden Tong just your money-making tool?"

As furious as Li Wei was, he had no choice but to endure.

"Oh? That's right, what happened to Ding Rui's nephew? I didn't see him leave with them!?" Li Wei suddenly remembered Gu Hai.

"Boss, Boss, it's bad! It's very bad!" Suddenly, a Golden Tong disciple came running up to him.

"What's wrong?" Li Wei's eyebrows twitched as he asked.

"Madam… has...has… been kidnapped!" said that Golden Tong disciple with an ugly look on his face.

"What is it? What happened to Yue Yao? What the h.e.l.l happened to Yue Yao?" Li Wei's countenance changed immediately.

"I don't know, that man appeared to be the previous B...Boss!" stated the Golden Tong disciple with a ghastly look on his face.

"Who?" Li Wei opened his eyes wide.

"I...I don't know, however, he looked a bit like previous B...Boss! I...I...!"

SWIs.h.!.+

Li Wei's face immediately distorted as he quickly rushed frantically towards the Golden Tong.

---

Inside the Golden Tong...

"Hold it right there!" "b.a.s.t.a.r.d, let Madam go!" "Fire the arrows!" "Don't hurt Madam!"...

The Golden Tong was in a state of chaos.

Apparently, Meng Tai had escaped. Meng Tai, with a naked upper body and entire body riddled with b.l.o.o.d.y wounds, from which poison was still coming out, had an incomparably pallid face.

He had escaped, but after having been tortured for two decades, he simply wasn't as strong as he used to be.

Ke Ke Ke!

Meng Tai coughed up blood off to the side as he carried Yue Yao by her waist, flying towards the Colosseum with a savage look on his face.

Yue Yao's cultivation seemed to have been sealed. She simply didn't have any strength to retaliate. Even then, there was a dull look on her face.

Suddenly, the captured Yue Yao quivered as if she was afraid of Meng Tai. A painful look showed up on her face as she looked at Meng Tai.

"Who are you?" An agonized look covered Yue Yao's face when looking at Meng Tai.

"Yue Yao, you are still alive. But with just one ethereal soul, you are no different than a walking corpse. What reason is there for you to go on living?" Meng Tai replied coldly.

"I am Yue Yao, I am Brother Li Wei's woman!" said the trembling Yue Yao in a dull tone.

"Human, yet not human; ghost, yet not a ghost, it's what you brought upon yourself. Otherwise, how would we four brothers and sisters be in this situation today? Humph, let's hope Feng Ling is alright, otherwise, even if you still have a human soul, I will destroy you!" Meng Tai said hatefully.

"Feng Ling? Who is Feng Ling? It sounds so familiar!" Yue Yao held her head in pain.

"Feng Ling!? Who was it who was good to you when you were young? Whatever Feng Ling ate, she gave to you; whatever she wore, she gave it to you! She treated you like her own sister, like her own daughter, but what about you? You not only poisoned Feng Ling for the future, but almost killed her! You are the most poisonous woman I have ever seen, you are an ingrate!" Meng Tai sneered at her.

"I hurt Feng Ling? Yue Yao hurt Feng Ling?" Yue Yao held her head in pain.

"Humph!" Meng Tai snorted coldly.

Avoiding countless arrows, Meng Tai arrived at the Colosseum.

---

At a secluded corner in the outer ring of the Colosseum, Gu Hai's face froze. "So quick, how did Meng Tai escape so quickly?"

BANG!

Meng Tai with Yue Yao landed in the stands and immediately found a mask left by Gu Hai.

As he stretched out his hand, the mask immediately flew into his grasp.

BAM!

With a casual throw, the mask immediately settled on Yue Yao's face.

"There, quickly save Madam!" "Ah? They have entered the Colosseum?" "Not good, that man has put a mask on Madam’s face!" "Quickly, quickly deactivate the Colosseum!" ...

The Golden Tong disciples cried out fearfully.

Meng Tai brought Yue Yao inside the Colosseum.

---

BANG!

Deep within the Colosseum, Meng Tai broke the wall with a punch, immediately revealing a stone disc, and placed his hand upon it.

Immediately, large energy ropes rushed out from the Colosseum array. All the Golden Tong disciples that rushed into the Colosseum were immediately whipped by the energy ropes. They were so powerful that a Golden Tong disciple was even torn into two, splattering his blood and guts into the air.

"Not good, we can't control the Colosseum array!" "It's not working, all the arrays are not working!"...

Numerous Golden Tong disciples cried out in fear. Many red energy robes, like whips of death, whipped all the Golden Tong disciples.

SWIs.h.!.+

Suddenly, a silhouette arrived in the sky. It was none other than Li Wei, who came rus.h.i.+ng.

"Meng Tai, let go of Yue Yao!" roared Li Wei, glowering.