Qu Yirou thought for a moment, then said,
“Soul Chasing Pavilion is a small world an ancestor once opened above the Futian Grotto-Heaven. The Soul Chasing Pavilion in Xuan Yue Ancient City is just a gateway to that small world. If anything goes wrong, we can retreat into the Futian Grotto-Heaven’s small world at any time, shut the passage, and cut off all contact with the outside world.
If the Demon Saint encounters danger, she can go to Soul Chasing Pavilion to avoid calamity.”
Bao Gu thanked her with genuine feeling.
“Many thanks, Pavilion Master.”
She didn’t say she would go. She didn’t want to drag Soul Chasing Pavilion into trouble.
Yu Mi stood up and asked Bao Gu,
“How long will it take you to set up the formations?”
Bao Gu said,
“Hard to say. At least one or two months.”
Yu Mi said,
“A few days ago, Grandmaster told me he wants to establish our mountain gate in the Azure Dragon Mountain Range.
He said, ‘A mountain need not be tall; with an immortal, it becomes sacred.’ Xuantian Sect doesn’t insist on some grand dragon-vein feng shui treasure ground. The Azure Dragon Mountain Range is enough.
We’ll be heading back to the range in the next couple of days to start on the mountain gate.”
Bao Gu said,
“You can’t build a mountain gate and palaces without craftsmen. Plenty of new cultivators have flocked to Qingzhou and are fretting about not having a way to make a living.”
Yu Mi smiled.
“I don’t think Xuantian Sect will have any trouble recruiting craftsmen.”
Bao Gu handed her a jade token.
“This is a token for entering and leaving the Xuantian Library. The one you had before can’t be used anymore.
Inside this token are the route and coordinates to enter the library. Only with this can you get in.”
Yu Mi’s heart stirred.
“So the Xuantian Library isn’t in Bao Gu’s void treasure realm anymore?”
She sent her divine sense into the jade token to probe it—and what appeared in front of her inner vision was an unbelievably vast formation diagram, with the Xuantian Library sitting at its core as the formation eye.
“This is…?”
Yu Mi focused her mind to examine it. She discovered the formation was actually a linked mother-child grand array. The Xuantian Library was the formation eye suppressing the mother array—the great array that covered the entire linked system—and beneath it were twenty subsidiary arrays.
Layers upon layers of formation patterns overlapped, the structure so complex it made her head spin.
She asked in surprise,
“This thing?”
Bao Gu solemnly reminded her,
“Keep it safe. Don’t you dare lose it.
After you enter the library, copy out the jade slips inside. You can take them out to copy them, but remember to put them back.
Many of the techniques and arts in there have already been lost to the world. If the jade slips go missing again…”
She chuckled.
“I really regret it now. Back then I only cared about studying the formations in there and never took the time to copy a set.”
Yu Mi laughed.
“Consider it done. What’s the big deal? I’ll get to it when I go back.”
Bao Gu was simply too cautious about everything, and when it came to matters of Xuantian Sect, she was so careful she practically wanted to do it all herself.
Yu Mi dared to bet that if it hadn’t been for the corpse-fiend calamity, Bao Gu would’ve seriously considered copying every single jade slip from all those floors of the library herself.
Bao Gu’s expression turned grave.
“It is a big deal. Senior Sister, the hope for Xuantian Sect’s inheritance and rise doesn’t lie in the Xuantian Sword, but in those techniques.”
Yu Mi answered,
“All right. I guarantee I won’t lose a single jade slip.”
After speaking, she carefully hung the jade token around her neck, then returned the old library-access token Bao Gu had given her before.
Bao Gu withdrew the wisp of her soul imprint from that old token, then crushed it.
She turned to Qu Yirou.
“Let me send Pavilion Master back now. I imagine Pavilion Master still has things to discuss with Wang Ding.”
In that battle just now, quite a few of the top ten powers in the cultivation world had lost people here. Now Kan Gang was about to lead forces to go raid their lairs—that would be an absolutely staggering fortune!
Qu Yirou smiled and nodded.
“I’ll trouble you, then.”
Bao Gu took out a portable teleportation platform and sent Yu Mi, Jade Shura, and Qu Yirou back to the battlefield area.
At this moment, a huge command tent had already been erected over the battlefield. All the various forces had dropped their rogue-cultivator disguises and raised their own banners.
The cleanup of the battlefield was still ongoing, but it was no longer the chaos from before; the ground had been divided into sectors. Every force registered under Kan Gang had been allocated a region, and because they were many, the loose cultivators had been given the largest area.
For cultivators, picking over a battlefield was not hard labor but a richly rewarding treat.
Every cultivator carried storage treasures, and most of their wealth was kept inside. Once they fell in battle, a lifetime of accumulation went cheap to someone else.
And today’s battlefield had seen the fall of sect-master-level figures from the major powers, including the likes of Ziwei Saint Lord himself. How could there not be good things on bodies like those?
Bao Gu had barely stepped out with the three of them when she suddenly felt a chill down her spine, goosebumps breaking out all over.
She turned her head and saw a young man who looked to be in his early twenties standing right behind her.
He wasn’t tall, his features thoroughly ordinary, his aura suppressed even better than Bao Gu’s, his eyes dull—one of those faces that, walking down a mortal street, would never make anyone look twice. As ordinary as ordinary could be.
But Bao Gu knew very well this man was anything but simple.
Someone who could appear silently at her side, and hide his presence better than she could—how could that be anyone simple?
She asked in puzzlement,
“And you are…?”
Qu Yirou, upon seeing him, hurriedly bowed.
“Master.”
Jade Shura very obediently chimed in,
“Grandmaster!”
She blinked and asked,
“Did you find Ziwei Saint Lord’s body?”
Qu Yirou’s master? Jade Shura’s Grandmaster? The Great Elder of Soul Chasing Pavilion?
Bao Gu thought of that bent, wrinkled old man who’d had one foot in the coffin, the former pavilion master and current Great Elder, and couldn’t help freezing for a moment.
“Great Elder broke through to the Void-Tearing stage?”
If he hadn’t broken through to the Void-Tearing stage, how could he have become this young?
The utterly ordinary-looking young man nodded lightly.
“I have the Command Lord to thank for that.”
Then he glanced at Qu Yirou.
“Weren’t you saying you’d take Ziwei Saint Lord’s head with one strike?”
Qu Yirou ducked her head guiltily.
“There were too many people trying to grab it. I couldn’t snatch it.”
The Great Elder snorted heavily.
“Disgraceful.”
Jade Shura was very displeased about the Great Elder scolding her master. Even if it was the Great Elder, she couldn’t help but butt heads with him to stick up for her own teacher.
“Great Elder, did you find Ziwei Saint Lord’s corpse?”
The Great Elder opened his hand. A storage treasure shaped like a thumb ring appeared on his palm.
“Too old. I only managed to strip off one storage ring.”
Ziwei Saint Lord was a huge tree that drew too many winds. The moment the fighting started, eight Void-Tearing experts had gone straight for him. Or rather, gone straight for what he had on him.
The Great Elder had only had time to hack off one of his arms and snatch this storage ring. When he turned around again, Ziwei Saint Lord had already been chopped to pieces, his corpse and all his artifacts divided up to the last scrap.
Qu Yirou smiled sweetly and sighed.
“Master’s skills are impressive as always. A true thief never leaves empty-handed.”
The Great Elder glared at her fiercely.
“Are you praising me or scolding me?
Hurry and go find Wang Ding. I hear Ziwei Dao Sect has already been taken by Yue Country. We can’t hope for the number one sect, but you’d better bring me back at least one of the top five.”
Up ahead, the number one power had already been scooped up by the second. Wouldn’t the third, fourth, and fifth be going crazy trying to grab the rest?
They were about to go raid the headquarters of the major sects. Even a sect war didn’t promise returns this huge.
With Soul Chasing Pavilion’s measly strength, could they really snatch one of the top five sects’ foundations?
As if the sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth-ranked sects were going to sit back and eat grass.
Qu Yirou had just opened her mouth to find an excuse when she heard the Great Elder toss out coldly,
“If you botch this, you can go kneel in the Punishment Hall for ten days to half a month.”
Then she saw her master clasp his hands behind his back and walk away, each step spanning dozens of zhang. In a few strides, he was gone.
She turned to Jade Shura and called softly, coaxingly,
“A-Guai…”
Her A-Guai had always been shameless and thick-skinned. This kind of thing was best left to Jade Shura.
Jade Shura slapped her own chest.
“Leave it to me.”
Then she swung around to Yu Mi, hooked an arm around her neck, and asked,
“So, are we sworn sisters or not?”
Yu Mi looked at Jade Shura, completely speechless.
“You know I never interfere in Kan Gang’s business.”
Helping Jade Shura pull strings in front of all these people? Why didn’t Jade Shura go hook Bao Gu’s neck instead?
Her Bao Gu’s words were as good as gold—one word worth a thousand pieces of jade.
Jade Shura grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth.
“Lady Arrow Envoy, lend me your Kan Blade Arrow Token for a bit.
The Kan Blade Token is too valuable, I wouldn’t dare borrow that, but surely I can borrow your Blade Arrow Token, right?
Relax, I guarantee no one will have grounds to complain.”
Yu Mi glanced at Bao Gu and saw that Bao Gu wasn’t paying them any attention at all—clearly she didn’t care about this matter.
So Yu Mi handed Jade Shura the Kan Blade Arrow Token that represented her status as Arrow Envoy within Kan Gang.
Qu Yirou said,
“All right, I’ll go arrange the manpower and get ready to raid some sects. I’ll take my leave first. Thanks.”
This didn’t violate any rules of Soul Chasing Pavilion. Besides, with the corpse-fiend calamity pressing down on them, there were too many things that needed to be built, too many places that required cultivation resources.
If they didn’t take this chance to loot a fortune and replenish their stores, they might not survive this calamity and would be wiped from the cultivation world altogether.
So far, the corpse-fiend disaster had already wiped out countless small sects within Yue Country overnight. On top of that, the internal wars sparked by the calamity had caused many more forces to vanish.
This upheaval had completely reshuffled the cultivation world’s balance of power. In a trend like this, anyone who didn’t strive forward would simply be eliminated.
Yu Mi cupped her fists.
“Pavilion Master, travel safely.”
Bao Gu also raised her hands and gave a light cupped-fist salute.
Right then, Yu Mi received a voice transmission from Zi Tianjun through a jade talisman.
“Yu Mi, take the Flood Dragon warship and lead twenty thousand disciples to confiscate Wangxian Sect.”
Yu Mi exclaimed in surprise,
“Xuantian Sect is the one confiscating Wangxian Sect?”
Zi Tianjun’s steady voice came through the jade talisman.
“Mm. Four years ago, Wangxian Sect destroyed Xuantian Sect’s mountain gate. Today, the fellow Daoists present are giving me this chance to take revenge and wash away that humiliation.”
Several more voices sounded from the talisman in polite response.
“Letting Xuantian Sect confiscate Wangxian Sect is only fitting…”
“Sect Master Zi is too polite. This is karma between Xuantian Sect and Wangxian Sect. Of course it should be settled by Xuantian Sect…”
…
Hearing the noise from the jade talisman, Yu Mi and Bao Gu knew Zi Tianjun was still in the main command tent.
Immediately after, Jade Shura’s voice came through as well.
“Jade Shura pays respects to the Left Envoy.”
Then came another round of polite greetings and attempts to curry favor with Jade Shura, mixed with faint sounds of arguing, as if people were fighting over which sects they got to confiscate.
Bao Gu could picture the scene with no problem—and imagine just how chaotic it must be.
Yu Mi was very interested in raiding Wangxian Sect.
She said to Bao Gu,
“Then I’ll take people to confiscate Wangxian Sect first.”
Bao Gu reminded her,
“Be careful. Oh, and after you leave, see if you can find any news of the little monkey.”
Yu Mi laughed.
“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to it. It’s probably just off running wild somewhere.”
That was a true monkey who’d once ascended to the upper realm. Even if its combat strength in this world was limited by the laws of heaven and earth, its immortal foundation was still there.
Besides, it was a stone-born monkey, innately powerful in bloodline. In this world, there were probably no more than three beings that could actually harm it.
As far as she knew, Princess Xueqing counted as one, the corpse-fiends might count as one, and as for the third… who knew?
After sending Yu Mi off, Bao Gu went back to arranging her formations. She buried herself in the work; if Wang Ding or Yu Mi needed anything, they contacted her via sound transmission talismans.
The alliance army had taken horrendous losses during their siege on Yue Country. In the end, the two-plus million cultivators they’d assembled had basically emptied out the last of their usable strength.
Now that those two million had been wiped out, the people left behind to guard their sects could no longer form any meaningful resistance. Knowing they couldn’t keep their sects, not many were willing to stay and die with them. All they’d accomplish was adding a few more corpses.
So under Kan Gang’s leadership, the confiscations met almost no serious resistance.
But Bao Gu heard one particularly unexpected piece of news.
All of the medicine gardens and orchards in these sects had already been cleaned out ahead of time. Spiritual herbs, treasure herbs, spiritual fruits—every last one had been dug up or picked, not even a seed left behind.
No traces were left at the scene. Even the people assigned to guard the gardens didn’t know how they’d been taken out.
Bao Gu instantly thought of the little monkey.
This was exactly the same style as when the monkey had cleaned out Xuantian Sect’s medicine gardens. Back then, even her always-generous, bleed-but-don’t-cry senior sister had been so furious she’d actually cried.
No wonder the monkey hadn’t come back. First these alliance powers had been busy digging for sacred artifacts in the Archaic Mountain Range, then they’d gone off to besiege Yue Country and fight Kan Gang. Every Void-Tearing expert who could move had been mobilized, leaving their lairs empty.
Wasn’t that the perfect opportunity for the little monkey to slip in and loot everything?
Given the Duobao Spirit Monkey’s origins, it wouldn’t look twice at this world’s magic tools or refining materials. What it was passionate about was brewing Monkey Wine. When it came to spirit wine and spiritual fruits, the more the better.
She knew in her heart that the Duobao Spirit Monkey would be fine, but having had no news of it for so long, Bao Gu couldn’t help worrying. Now that she had a clear sign it was alive and well, the stone in her heart finally dropped.
She threw herself into her formation work with an easy mind.
