Chapter 179: Chapter 176: Heroic Spirit
Mo Qi’s words silenced the middle-aged man.
He, too, had considered this.
But the only method he knew to suppress the onset of the Cold Cicada Bloodline was the Little Yellow Spring Flower.
Because of the bloodline, his wife had been forced to leave him, leaving a son behind for him to raise alone.
The Cold Cicada Bloodline was passed down through generations. If a girl possessed it, not only would it not prove fatal, it would actually be beneficial for their Martial Dao cultivation.
If a boy possessed it, however, death was certain.
Although the middle-aged man had a Void Realm cultivation, placing him at the very peak of the Mountain and Sea Empire, he was utterly helpless when it came to his son’s Cold Cicada Bloodline.
To delay its onset, he had used a Secret Technique to seal his son in ice centuries ago.
By his calculations, the effects of the ice seal had worn off several years ago, and his son should have broken free long before now.
If he didn’t bring the Little Yellow Spring Flower out soon, his son would die when the bloodline flared up.
This was something the middle-aged man absolutely could not accept.
"You just said you can cure it?" the middle-aged man asked, his tone thick with suspicion.
Mo Qi nodded. "I can. And in this world, I’m the only one who can."
"Such arrogance!" The middle-aged man scoffed, clearly unconvinced.
The Cold Cicada Bloodline had been passed down for untold years.
Although only the women of each generation survived, over the ages, the Cold Cicada Bloodline clan had grown into a colossal power.
Compared to them, the Mountain and Sea Empire, tucked away in a corner of the world, was nothing.
Under such circumstances, and despite the research of countless powerful ancestors, the Cold Cicada Bloodline clan still hadn’t found a way for their male descendants to survive.
And yet, Mo Qi claimed he could cure it.
It was the most ridiculous joke in the world!
If his son’s time wasn’t running out and he wasn’t at his wit’s end, under normal circumstances, he would have long since slapped Mo Qi to death.
"How can you prove it?" the middle-aged man asked, clinging to a sliver of unrealistic hope.
Mo Qi smiled faintly and slowly walked up to the middle-aged man.
He raised a hand, intending to place it on the man.
"Would you mind, sir?"
The middle-aged man shook his head. He was confident that even if he just stood there and let Mo Qi do his worst, Mo Qi couldn’t harm him in the slightest.
Mo Qi placed his hand on the middle-aged man’s shoulder and focused his mind.
The Chaos Scripture trembled slightly, and a unique suction force surged forth, sweeping away all the Cold Cicada aura from the middle-aged man’s body like a whirlwind scattering clouds.
The entire process took less than half a second.
The middle-aged man was stunned.
As the husband of a woman with the Cold Cicada Bloodline, he knew better than anyone just how domineering it was.
This bloodline was the ultimate expression of yin, and it had a powerful suppressive effect on Yang Energy—which was precisely why it was fatal to male carriers.
The Cold Cicada aura in his body had been left there by his wife when they were intimate.
While it wasn’t enough to kill him, it was a constant source of torment.
And despite his Void Realm cultivation, he had been completely unable to do anything about this Cold Cicada aura.
But Mo Qi... with just a touch on the shoulder, the Cold Cicada aura that had plagued him for centuries was suddenly gone!
The feeling of relief that washed over him, originating from the depths of his soul, was unmistakable.
"You... How did you do that?" the middle-aged man asked in astonishment.
Mo Qi withdrew his hand. Instead of answering, he countered, "Is that proof enough?"
Long before he had even set foot on the path of the Martial Dao, the Chaos Scripture had shown its ability to absorb the energy of all things.
Otherwise, how could he possibly have mastered a Sword Skill akin to a Divine Technique with his mortal body?
The Cold Cicada aura might be domineering, but it was still a form of energy. And no matter how domineering it was, it couldn’t compare to the Chaos Scripture.
Others might be helpless against the Cold Cicada Bloodline, but for Mo Qi, who possessed the all-comprehending Chaos Scripture, it was no challenge at all.
"It’s more than enough!"
After a moment of deep consideration, the middle-aged man sighed, retracted his aura, and released Qian Duoduo and the others.
"Young man, if you’re willing to save my boy, I’ll go through hell and high water for you!"
Mo Qi was stunned, but he quickly understood the man’s reasoning, and a matter he had been hesitating about for a long time was finally decided.
The middle-aged man’s actions were both unexpected and deeply moving to him.
Despite having the absolute advantage in martial power, the middle-aged man hadn’t resorted to coercion. Instead, he chose a path of gratitude to earn the chance for Mo Qi to act.
Such a thing was almost unheard of in the Martial Arts World, yet it had truly happened.
Looking back, this was a man who, to save his son, had willingly allowed his cultivation to be sealed and been imprisoned Within the Pass for centuries. That perseverance and love alone were enough to shake Mo Qi to his core.
Both were fathers, both desperate to protect their sons, but this man and Zhang Shao were two completely different extremes.
Mo Qi was certain that the sons they raised would also be two different extremes.
As the saying goes: dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and the son of a rat will know how to dig holes.
Different kinds of paternal love would lead to vastly different outcomes.
"You are a man of great honor, sir," Mo Qi said, clasping his fists in a respectful bow.
The middle-aged man naturally understood Mo Qi’s meaning. He grinned. "I’ve lived my life open and honest. If it weren’t for my son, I never would have been sent to kill you. As long as you can save him, it’s worth it for me to be locked up here until I die."
Mo Qi gave Qian Duoduo and the others each a Medicinal Pill, telling them to treat their own injuries.
Then he looked at the middle-aged man and smiled. "For a hero like you, sir, to be imprisoned here forever—wouldn’t that be an injustice from the heavens?"
The middle-aged man rattled the chains on his limbs and gave a bitter smile. "With these things on me, even if I were a dragon, I’d still be stuck here coiling up like a worm."
"What if I could break your seal?" Mo Qi said with a smile.
The middle-aged man was shocked yet again.
"What? You can break it?"
The shackles sealing the middle-aged man were inscribed with a set of arrays. Though extremely complex and powerful, for Mo Qi, breaking them was only a matter of time.
"Yes," Mo Qi said with certainty. "But not right now."
"With my current strength, breaking it would take a great deal of time. You should know, the Annual Selection is only three days long. There’s simply not enough time."
"Besides, I have something very important I need to take care of first."
"If you trust me, sir, tell me what I need to know about your son. Once I’m out of here, I swear I will find him and cure him. And in the near future, I will come back for you!"
Without the slightest hesitation, the middle-aged man handed the Little Yellow Spring Flower he was carrying to Mo Qi.
"He’s in the Imperial City. This flower carries my boy’s aura; you can use it to find him."
Mo Qi put away the Little Yellow Spring Flower and asked, puzzled, "Aren’t you afraid I’ll deceive you, sir?"
"Haha, a man who’d throw away his trump card to save his friends... if I can’t trust you, who can I trust?" the middle-aged man said frankly. "I haven’t admired many people in my life, but you’re one of them."
"Oh, right!" The middle-aged man remembered something. "The one who undid ten percent of my seal and sent me to kill you was Wang Chen. That kid’s cultivation isn’t much, but he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with—sly as a monkey."
