Qianlongyuan is incredibly powerful, said to have a thousand warships, a hundred Eight Tribes Dragon Generals, thirty-six Dharma Protectors at the Void Tearing stage, seventy-two Heavenly Demon Dragon Guards, and three hundred thousand ruthless bandits.
If they fought head-on, even if Kan Gang threw in all their elite forces, they wouldn’t be a match for Qianlongyuan.
But war has never been just about brute force; the outcome depends on more than just numbers.
There are many other factors at play.
Five thousand Shura Hall death warriors, five thousand War Demon Hall beast slaves, and over twenty thousand Soul Chasing Pavillion assassins led by the Soul Chasing Pavillion Master were all waiting in the Xuantian Mountains inside Bao Gu’s massive storage bag, ready for action.
After making all the arrangements and discussing the plan with Bao Gu, the Soul Chasing Pavillion Master, Qu Yirou, left alone, moving ahead in secret.
Bao Gu took thirty thousand elite troops and, together with Yu Mi, set off from Kan Gang’s teleportation array, soon arriving in Zhao City.
Zhao City sits at the foot of the Chaoyang Mountains, at the confluence of the You River, Dayue River, and Jinlin River.
It’s a bustling commercial hub.
Merchant ships crowd the rivers, coming and going nonstop; in the sky, cultivators fly on magical treasures, and merchant ships piloted by cultivators crisscross above.
In the city, cultivators, mortals, and demon cultivators all live together.
Bustling, prosperous, wealthy, and well-connected—these are Zhao City’s hallmarks.
Silks, brocades, rare treasures, and exotic goods all gather here for trade.
What Bao Gu knows best about Zhao City is its famous brocades made from Fengcai Spirit Silkworm silk.
Fengcai Spirit Silkworms are only found in the Chaoyang Mountains, and Jinxiu Workshop has mastered their breeding.
The silk is fire- and water-resistant, smooth, tough, and shimmers with rainbow light.
It’s the most renowned fabric in the cultivation world.
All of Bao Gu’s clothes and bedding come from Jinxiu Workshop’s Fengcai Spirit Silkworm products.
Even though Zhao City is connected to the You River, Qianlongyuan’s bandits never rob here.
It’s not that they’re unwilling to “eat the grass by their own burrow,” but because Qianlongyuan understands the importance of a steady income.
Zhao City’s existence brings a constant flow of merchant ships through the You River, and these merchants are Qianlongyuan’s source of wealth! Destroying Zhao City would be cutting off their own livelihood.
Plus, Zhao City is a prosperous place with many powerful factions behind every major shop.
Wrecking the city would mean angering all these forces, and even Qianlongyuan couldn’t handle that.
Bao Gu chose to start from Zhao City precisely because it’s a chaotic mix of all sorts, making it easy to blend in.
Although Bao Gu’s real goal was to pass through Zhao City on the way to Qianlongyuan, the city’s reputation as a “commercial capital” was a huge temptation for someone like her, who had business in her bones.
If she could choose, she’d rather stay in Zhao City as a merchant, abacus in hand, doing business every day, instead of leading tens of thousands of troops into battle.
After arriving in Zhao City, Bao Gu hesitated for a moment, biting her lip, then gave up on heading straight to the docks and instead led Yu Mi into the city.
Yu Mi followed Bao Gu, watching as she ignored the route to Qianlongyuan and instead headed straight for the busiest market street, diving into a Jinxiu Workshop shop to talk business.
Yu Mi was completely dumbfounded.
Jinxiu Workshop didn’t just sell brocades made from Fengcai Spirit Silkworm silk; they also had other, more affordable spirit silks.
After all, Fengcai Spirit Silkworm silk was limited in quantity and production each year, but its fame had spread far and wide.
It was the favorite fabric of the cultivation world’s elite, especially female cultivators.
You could tell from Bao Gu’s own use—her clothes, sheets, and bedding were all made from this silk.
The bottom line: the stuff was great, scarce, and expensive.
The Fengcai Spirit Silkworm products Bao Gu used now were all tributes from Kan Gang from years ago, and after years of use, she didn’t have much left.
Now that she was at Jinxiu Workshop in person, she naturally had to buy a lot.
After all, she wasn’t the only one using it—she, Yu Mi, Zi Yunshu, and the Demon Saint all needed it.
Especially Zi Yunshu, who, as a beauty-loving artifact refiner, adored making gorgeous magical garments from Fengcai Spirit Silkworm silk.
That made their consumption of the silk enormous.
Bao Gu wanted a large quantity and planned to buy up all the Fengcai Spirit Silkworm silk she could get her hands on.
She didn’t plan to let any other brocades or silks slip by, either.
In her words, the cultivation world was unstable now, and no one could guarantee war wouldn’t reach here.
Brocades from Jinxiu Workshop that could be used to refine magical treasures were in high demand and worth stockpiling.
Jinxiu Workshop didn’t care who the customer was—as long as the price was right, the spirit stones were paid, and the goods were in stock, they’d do business.
With spirit stones in hand, Bao Gu’s order was quickly filled and sorted into different storage treasures by type.
After leaving Jinxiu Workshop, she took Yu Mi on a stroll around Zhao City.
This time, she didn’t buy in bulk, just picked up a few things here and there.
She looked just like a minor fabric merchant with some means but no great background, and a bit of cultivation.
There were plenty of independent cultivators like that.
Zhao City is a place where mortals and cultivators mix, very complicated.
Here, the line between mortals and cultivators is blurred.
Some mortals practice martial arts and cultivate qi, though they call it “internal force” instead of “spiritual power.” For martial artists, reaching the Foundation Establishment stage is like opening all their meridians and becoming a master.
Some martial experts can even form a Golden Core.
Many mortals practice fragments of cultivation techniques or are outer disciples of cultivation sects.
There are cultivators, mortals, and plenty of poor folks with no skills at all.
Bao Gu didn’t dare linger too long.
She spent two hours buying everything she needed, then headed with Yu Mi to the docks.
Both banks of Zhao City’s docks were packed with boats, taking up most of the river.
The docks were a sea of people—cultivators in splendid robes, and plenty of ragged mortals hauling cargo.
River shipping was the lifeblood of business, so naturally, there were people running that trade.
Bao Gu and Yu Mi easily found a merchant ship that traveled the entire You River.
This merchant ship was a four-story tower ship.
The top floor had expensive suites for officials and nobles, complete with parlors, bedrooms, and rooms for attendants and guards.
The third floor had small suites for the moderately wealthy.
The second and first floors were single cabins and the deck, with the lower deck for cargo and the crew’s quarters.
Bao Gu and Yu Mi had no attendants and didn’t need to entertain guests, so they chose a single cabin on the first floor.
The first-floor cabins were near the deck, and many people who couldn’t afford a cabin ticket crowded onto the deck, often spilling into the corridors.
It was a mix of all sorts, with plenty of thieves and scoundrels.
But there was one advantage: these people, who spent their lives on ships, were very well-informed about all the news along the river.
As Bao Gu knew, many of these thieves were actually spies for the Shadow Pavilion.
Bao Gu was always cautious and didn’t want word of her arrival in the You River area to get out, so she hadn’t contacted any Shadow Pavilion spies.
After boarding, she and Yu Mi went straight to their cabin, set up a formation to block outside detection, and brewed tea while listening to the sounds outside.
People have mouths not just for eating, but for talking.
Where there are crowds, there’s always chatter, and all sorts of useful and useless information comes out.
From a few pickpockets who lived on the merchant ships, Bao Gu learned that since the You River’s eighteen water forts had gone on lockdown, a new rule had been set: no one was allowed in the water, and anyone caught would be executed on the spot.
The You River’s eighteen water forts were checkpoints set up by Qianlongyuan at strategic points along the river—both to guard Qianlongyuan and to collect tolls from passing ships.
Bao Gu guessed that the lockdown and the no-swimming rule were aimed at her.
After all, after what she’d done to the formation and feng shui of Wangxian City, the You River, as a major water dragon vein, had plenty of places where someone could tamper with the feng shui.
Better safe than sorry—if she pulled the same trick and brought disaster to the You River or Qianlongyuan, what then?
Bao Gu had never considered messing with the You River’s feng shui.
Unlike Wangxian City, which was a cultivator city with almost no mortals, the You River’s banks were dotted with countless villages and towns, most of them home to generations of mortals.
If she tampered with the river’s feng shui, the first to suffer would be the innocent mortals along the banks.
She couldn’t bring herself to sacrifice countless innocent lives just to deal with Qianlongyuan’s three hundred thousand bandits.
She always believed that power struggles and war shouldn’t harm innocent people.
But history shows that in every era, it’s always the innocent who suffer first.
When times are good, the people suffer; when times are bad, the people suffer.
This world, this cultivation world, is already full of scars.
She didn’t want to see more innocents suffer, at least not if she could help it.
She was determined to do everything in her power to protect them.
Leaning by the window, Bao Gu sent her divine sense to the riverbed, where she sensed a patrol of aquatic demon beasts.
She even considered handing the Mirage Dragon Pearl to the Earth Ghost Dragon God to resolve the conflict.
Whatever Qianlongyuan’s motives, at least they hadn’t set their sights on the Archaic Mountains or tried to break the formation and steal the sacred artifact.
Yu Mi sat cross-legged on the soft couch, eyes closed in meditation.
Occasionally, fire spiritual power would flicker over her body, and a faint trace of Nanming Lihuo aura would appear and disappear.
Bao Gu noticed this and knew Yu Mi was connecting with the Nanming Lihuo Sword fused into her bones and blood.
Even though Yu Mi’s cultivation had been crippled, her body had been tempered in the True Spirit Cauldron and successfully fused with a weapon, making her physically as strong as a cultivator at the Soul Formation or Weapon Fusion stage.
Of course, that was only if Yu Mi could actually use the Nanming Lihuo Sword fused into her body.
Days spent cooped up in the cabin were incredibly boring.
Yu Mi focused on her cultivation, and Bao Gu kept busy too, studying the ancient demon talismans on the jade slip the Demon Saint had copied for dealing with drought demons.
The Dao, the path between humans and demons, was actually connected.
The ancient demon talismans came from the upper realm’s demon clans and were incredibly powerful.
They were demon clan techniques, but if Bao Gu could master them, they’d greatly improve her own cultivation.
Time in cultivation passed quickly.
The merchant ship stopped at one dock after another along the way, setting off again each time.
Bao Gu knew there were Qianlongyuan spies on board, so she didn’t make any rash moves, just sat tight and let the ship pass openly through the water forts into Qianlongyuan’s territory.
Suddenly, a dull thud sounded from the bottom of the ship, shaking the whole vessel like an earthquake.
Bao Gu, sitting by the window, almost dropped her jade slip out the window.
What happened? She instinctively sent her divine sense to the bottom of the ship and saw a giant turtle, as big as a small mountain, right beneath them.
Bao Gu’s eyes went wide at the sight of the turtle, whose shell was nearly thirty feet across! At first, she thought she’d run into Bixi, one of the nine sons of the dragon, but on closer inspection, the turtle had none of the dragon’s features.
Its eyes glowed with a sinister light, full of demonic energy—definitely not a friendly creature.
As Bao Gu watched, the giant turtle started spinning in place under the ship, like a spinning top.
Its size and speed created a massive whirlpool beneath the water.
The merchant ship was caught in the vortex, spinning like a top itself.
The ship rocked violently, and everything in the cabin—including Bao Gu by the window—was thrown around.
Bao Gu was so dizzy she almost blacked out, and when she was flung across the room, her chin slammed into the table, making her eyes water from the pain.
Fusing with the Xuantian Sword made her tough, but not immune to pain.
Yu Mi, still meditating cross-legged, sat as steady as a mountain, completely unfazed by the creaking, shuddering ship that seemed about to fall apart.
She just kept cultivating, unmoved.
Bao Gu was in awe of her senior sister.
Yu Mi’s cultivation speed was fast, but every step was earned through hard work, not by relying on rare treasures or pills like some cultivators.
Not wanting to disturb her, Bao Gu took out formation flags to stabilize the cabin and reinforce its defenses.
The giant turtle stopped spinning, and the ship calmed down.
Bao Gu opened the cabin door and saw people sprawled all over the corridor, many bleeding from head wounds, others vomiting on the floor.
The stench of blood and vomit was overwhelming.
She heard wailing from the deck—someone crying, “My daughter!” and another, “My son!” The deck was in chaos, and the ship’s manager was at the bow, kowtowing and throwing livestock into the river.
Bao Gu’s heart skipped a beat.
She sent her divine sense into the water and saw that, thanks to the turtle’s earlier rampage, many people had fallen in.
The giant turtle was feasting below.
Its head was bigger than a washbasin; it swam up to an unconscious person, bit down, and with a shake, blood blossomed in the water.
The person was torn in half and swallowed in a few bites, then the turtle moved on to the next.
Bao Gu was so shocked by the scene that she shouted, “Save them!” But as soon as she spoke, she realized that anyone with the power to help wouldn’t be on the first floor—those thrown into the water were all ordinary people who couldn’t afford cabin tickets.
Sending them into the water to save people from the turtle was just sending them to their deaths.
As for the cultivators on the upper floors, none of them made a move.
She closed the cabin door and hurried to the deck, where she saw people in the water struggling toward the ship, calling for help.
There were a lot of people in the water, and many were still conscious, all desperately trying to get back to the ship but unable to climb aboard.
The giant turtle, having finished off the unconscious, now headed for those still struggling.
Bao Gu saw the turtle approach and shouted, “Watch out!”
People on the deck saw a huge shadow and a massive splash, and screamed in terror.
Those in the water were even more terrified.
A seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy was bitten by the turtle, let out a bloodcurdling scream, and was dragged under.
Blood and water churned…
Bao Gu pulled out her Immortal Binding Rope from her giant storage bag, threw one end into the water, and shouted, “Grab the rope! I’ll pull you up—” But before she could finish, a hand snatched the rope from her and threw it into the water.
She turned in shock and saw it was one of the ship’s managers, glaring at her and shouting, “These are sacrifices for the River God! If you pull them up, I’ll throw you in!”
“Ah—” Another scream came from the water as another person was killed.
“My son—save my son—” Someone on the deck collapsed at the rail, wailing in despair.
Bao Gu’s eyes turned red.
She glared at the manager and shouted, “How can you be so heartless!”
