Green Lotus City Lord

"I never expected the Illustrous Viper to show his face in public." - The Green Lotus City Lord said in an arrogant, domineering tone.

"However, now that we've locked you down, you won't be escaping anymore."

The Green Lotus City Lord waved his hand, and numerous terrifying auras appeared all over the city, they were the Rank 1 Qi Experts who were hiding in the dark, waiting for the signal to strike down.

Very quickly, 3 Rank 1 Qi Experts, accompanied by 7 or 8 Level 3 Qi Trainees, surrounded Long Gen. Their presence alone sent nature into turmoil, dark clouds covered the dome of the sky and thunder rumbled violently.

Long Gen backed down a few steps before unleashing the full power of his cultivation base, Rank 2 undulations emanated off of him as he fought back against the pressure unleashed by the Green Lotus City Lord and the 3 Rank 1 Qi Experts.

He stayed calm and collected, his expression did not change whatsoever, making it seem impossible for his enemies to tell what he's thinking about.

The Green Lotus City Lord frowned for a moment, he was cleaning up his city from the rats and criminals that infested it, and he wanted to do a thorough job. Although he investigated the Criminal District carefully, he still had some doubts and suspicions regarding some keys matters, after all, how come a Rank 2 Qi Expert came out of nowhere? And from where did the Criminal District get so many resources to raise Qi Trainees?

He found out that there must be some kind of Powerhouse backing them up, possibly a Demonic Sect of some sort since according to his invesitigations, a lot of children who were living in poverty or even worse were being recruited and taken to an area near the Tang Mountains.

Why a Demonic Sect? Because children who grew up in desperate situations are the perfect people to control and brainwash, due to their unsighty past, they'll develop a very strong loyalty towards their sect.

Despite that, Green Lotus City Lord still proceeded with the cleansing operation, the purge, he knew the Powerhouse behind the Criminal District must be strong enough to deploy a Rank 2 Qi Expert and occupy a portion of a strategic city but, what is he afraid of? After all, he got the backing of Western Wen! An Imperial Powerhouse with even stronger cultivators and Qi Experts!

Green Lotus City Lord's figure flickered, he unleashed a Magic, something that is even stronger than a Qi Technique, to appear directly next to Long Gen, the City Lord unleashed his sword from its' sheathe and slashed down at the black robed figure, the power behind that slash was so terrifying it made the surrounding space crack and crumble to pieces.

Long Gen did not try to evade or block that attack, all he did was raise his arm towards it, his finger tips glowing with a faint, blueish hue, intending to grab the sword.

When the Green Lotus City Lord saw this, his expression fell, but he continued on regardless.

BOOM!

An incredible shockwave spread out due to the collision between the two Rank 2 Qi Experts, the city walls that stood off for so many years and fended off the Su Dynasty shook violently and threatened to crumble.

Shockingly, Long Gen managed to grab the sword with his finger tips without sustaining any injuries whatsoever, this was also a Magical Technique, something that is even stronger and more domineering than the sword slash unleashed by the Green Lotus City Lord.

The two figures looked at each other for a brief moment, one suspended in mid-air and the other standing on top of the city walls, his feet sinking down in the ground.

The 3 Rank 1 Qi Experts closed in on Long Gen, intending to aid the City Lord. They unleashed Qi and Magical Techniques, filling the sky with various colors. Despite that, Long Gen seemed unfazed, he waved his hand and a shield sprang up, protecting him from the onslaught of fireballs and poison. If one paid close attention to his figure, then he can notice the faint glow of a jade pendant around his neck, this was a Qi Artifact! Something that very few people could get their hands on!

Long Gen looked closely into the City Lord's eyes as he muttered a few words in an ancient and archaic voice: "I will come back."

Then, the jade pendant around his neck shone with unprecedented brightness as his figure turned into a prismatic beam of light that shot off into the far distance.

The Green Lotus City Lord was astonished, his expression quickly turned into one anger and fury, he let out a cold harrumph that seemed to rumble and echo out across the entire Green Lotus City, he turned around and went back to his mansion..

Meanwhile, in the dumpy old prison cell, Ximen Wei was sitting cross legged, contemplating his escape plan and studying the Qi Condensation Manual.

The war between the City Authorities and the Criminal District was still going on, although most of the people fighting were mortals with no cultivation base whatsoever, there was quite a good amount of Qi Trainees hiding in the Criminal District, and therefore, it's going to take quite some time before the chaos ends.

The Qi Condensation Manual covers the first three levels of Qi Trainees and an introduction to the first Rank of the Qi Expert stage.

Basically, the very first three levels of Qi Trainees are all about opening Extraordinary Meridians, feeling and controlling the Qi around them, and eventually, absorbing the Qi through their Extraordinary Meridians and condensing it into a Core, which will be used for Qi Ascension.

Although the process seemed simple, it was in fact incredibly hard when it comes to execution.

Opening Extraordinary Meridians requires incredible luck and good fortune, on top of that, one needs innate talents and a mind-boggling amount of resources.

Feeling and controlling the Qi requires time and dedication, it can take years or even decades to be able to control Qi.

Finally, condensing Qi into a Core is something that is not only incredibly dangerous and life-threatening, it also requires the guidance of an expert or else you will be walking on thin ice, with the slightest imbalance, you will fall into damnation and die in body and spirit.

Qi Cultivation is a path not many tread upon, it is filled with hassles and dangerous, one misstep can dictate your life or death, and the deeper you walk on this path, the more dangers you will face.

That's why, despite there being a fair amount of Qi Trainees and even Rank 1 Qi Experts, Rank 2 and Rank 3 are far and few, in the entirety of Western Wen, there probably isn't more than 10 Rank 3 Qi Experts.

After coming up with a good, thorough escape plan, Ximen Wei stood up, grabbed the scroll that is the Qi Condensation Manual and shoved it in his pockets, then inhumanly tore open the jail cells and proceeded with his escape.