Bao Gu walked slowly up the broad jade-paved avenue that led up to the Xuantian Sect.
The avenue, three zhang and three wide, was built entirely from white jade and looked especially imposing. On either side of the road, every hundred zhang there was a squad of Xuantian Sect inner disciples standing guard, and above, teams of disciples rode flying sword treasures back and forth on patrol. Hidden posts were laid out in the dark as well.
Bao Gu currently held no official post in the Xuantian Sect, but whether as a first-generation disciple, or with her present standing in the cultivation world and within the sect, she was someone no second- or third-generation disciple dared offend. Every one of them who saw her bowed with utmost respect.
While saluting, their divine sense naturally swept over Bao Gu’s tear-streaked face. Her pear-blossom-in-rain look scared them so badly they didn’t even dare raise their heads again. Of course, once they had finished saluting and Bao Gu had passed by, those disciples immediately used sound-transmission talismans to inform their own teachers that Bao Gu had returned.
A handsome young man in an ornate battle robe, brimming with heroic spirit, rushed over and landed in front of Bao Gu. He clasped his fists and bowed.
“Martial Aunt, Yu Jianming greets you.”
Throughout the entire Xuantian Sect, he was the only one truly qualified to call Bao Gu “Martial Aunt.”
Bao Gu ignored him and kept walking.
Yu Jianming followed respectfully at her side and spoke in a low voice.
“Martial Aunt, Master has a great life-saving treasure bestowed by the Grand-Matriarch Ancestor protecting her. For the moment, her life is not in danger. This disciple wishes to ask Martial Aunt to sit in town at Cloud Sea Thicket while I lead people into the Archaic Mountain Range to find where Master is trapped by the ba, then think of a way to rescue her.
“Martial Aunt, you bear heavy responsibilities. I hope you can put the bigger picture first and not risk yourself.”
Bao Gu lowered her head and wiped her tears. She stopped walking and turned. Her eyes were still traced with tears, rimmed red as she glared at Yu Jianming in fury.
“Yu Jianming, your master is a bastard!”
Yu Jianming had no idea how to respond to that. He knew this time Master had truly enraged Martial Aunt. He had never imagined it: so many people had gone into the Archaic Mountain Range without incident, yet his own master was the one who had something happen.
He himself was far less worried about his master’s safety than Martial Aunt was—not because he didn’t care, but after following Master through life and death for so many years, he had confidence in her.
Bao Gu knew venting her anger on her martial nephew was utterly unreasonable. She immediately ducked her head and continued up the mountain.
Yu Jianming didn’t want Bao Gu sinking into anxious thoughts, so he changed the subject.
“Martial Aunt, the peak our lineage holds now is named Lingyun Peak. Master chose the name. Second- and third-generation disciples all cultivate and live on the main Lingyun Peak. The Lingyun Hall has always been empty; Master only goes there when she is teaching. Normally, she lives in the Cloud Sea Thicket behind the mountain.
“The layout of Cloud Sea Thicket was arranged according to the old Cloud Sea Thicket at Two Realms Mountain. Are you returning to the main Lingyun Peak, or to Cloud Sea Thicket?”
Bao Gu said nothing and simply kept following the avenue upward.
The white jade avenue was very long—so long it looked like it had no end. She knew it led to the sect’s main peak, Xuantian Peak. Whether when it was at Two Realms Mountain or now in the Azure Dragon Range, the Xuantian Sect’s internal structure and the arrangement of peaks and ridges had hardly changed.
Above was the Sect Master; below were the various peak lords and ridge lords. One more or one less Vice Sect Master made no real difference. Even without Yu Mi, Lingyun Peak still had Yu Jianming managing everything; nothing was affected.
But to her, the Xuantian Sect without Yu Mi felt hollow, like there was nowhere in it she wanted to go. She had no mood to summon Lingyun Peak’s second- and third-generation disciples, nor did she want to return to Cloud Sea Thicket just to look at a courtyard empty of her senior sister.
Bao Gu suddenly realized that her sense of belonging to the Xuantian Sect was not as strong as she had always imagined. Everything she felt for the sect came entirely from a few close people around her. Without Senior Sister, without Little Martial Aunt and Holy Aunt, no matter how flourishing or grand the Xuantian Sect became, even with a hundred thousand disciples, it still felt empty and lonely.
She stopped and looked at the long flight of steps stretching ahead toward Xuantian Peak, yet could not bring herself to lift her foot.
She wanted to revitalize the Xuantian Sect; that was a burden on her shoulders, the responsibility that came with inheriting the Xuantian Sword and the legacy of Ancestor Xuantian. It was what she owed him and the sect.
But what she truly wanted was only Yu Mi.
It was Yu Mi who had led her into the Xuantian Sect. It was Yu Mi who had taken her by the hand and brought her step by step to where she was…
Whatever the sect thought, whether they truly believed Yu Mi was not in danger or simply felt that Yu Mi’s life was far less precious than hers—that didn’t matter. For her, Yu Mi was everything. Without Yu Mi, she could not walk this road.
Bao Gu turned around and walked back down toward the sect’s gates.
This time she did not move as slowly as when she stepped into the sect. Each stride carried her dozens of zhang. In an instant she reached the mountain gate, stepped onto the teleportation platform, and tore through space.
Yu Jianming saw Bao Gu turn around and was still puzzled. Before he could even speak, he watched his Martial Aunt vanish in the distance, disappearing without a trace.
His Martial Aunt had come back suddenly, and left in an even more bewildering way, without a single explanation or order.
Feng Menglong arrived in haste, only to see Yu Jianming standing there alone, with no sign of Bao Gu.
“Jianming, where is your Martial Aunt?” he asked.
Yu Jianming gave a bitter smile.
“She must have had something urgent and left in a hurry.”
All across the Xuantian Sect people said his Martial Aunt was like a divine dragon whose head could be seen but never the tail—someone extremely hard to approach. They all believed that because she was deeply devoted to his master, and loved the house and its crow, she must value him greatly. No one would believe that in front of his Martial Aunt he could hardly get in two sentences.
Feng Menglong patted Yu Jianming’s shoulder.
“Come on. The Sect Master has summoned us to arrange people to rescue your master.”
Yu Jianming’s eyes lit up.
“Martial Aunt Feng, please put in a good word for me before the Sect Master and take me along.”
Feng Menglong gave him a glance.
“That’ll be hard. The Archaic Mountain Range is perilous beyond measure. Even your master fell in there. There’s no way the Sect Master will let you go. Lingyun Peak still needs you to carry the burden—who told you to be the only second-generation disciple on Lingyun Peak?”
Yu Jianming was silent for a moment, then asked quietly:
“Martial Aunt Feng… do you think Master can come back safely?”
Feng Menglong shook his head.
“Hard to say.”
Then, using divine sense to transmit privately, he added:
“That ba is terrifying. If it weren’t for your Martial Aunt… forget your master, even if the Sect Master fell in there…”
The ba was too terrifying. With Senior Sister Yu Mi in its hands, anyone sent in would only be throwing their lives away. There was simply no way to rescue her. Even if the Sect Master himself were trapped, he could only accept his fate and pray for luck.
“But since Bao Gu wants to save Yu Mi,” Feng Menglong said aloud, “no matter how many people have to be sacrificed, they’ll still go. Don’t worry. No matter the price, the Xuantian Sect will rescue your master.”
Bao Gu returned once more to Shadow City and found Wang Ding, ordering him to procure a warship capable of breaking the borders of space and crossing the void.
To break the void and endure the power of spatial destruction, the warship’s main construction materials alone had to be Great Luo Gold Essence, never mind the other formation materials and defensive arrays. Forget building a full warship—even making a personal carriage of that grade would cost a fortune. There were very few of them in the entire cultivation world.
The Soul Chasing Pavilion Master’s personal carriage was one; it had been robbed by the Earth Ghost Dragon God. Later, after the battle outside Shadow City, as the Kan Gang rose to dominance, Hidden Dragon Abyss feared the Kan Gang would unite the major powers of the cultivation world to destroy them, so they voluntarily returned the carriage.
The Empress of Yue had one such imperial palanquin. There were a few others, all of them the personal mounts of leaders of great powers.
Even as the Kan Gang’s Left Envoy, Wang Ding had been unable to make such a mount for himself. The gang was rich now, and he had saved a decent fortune over the years, but building that kind of carriage would cost more than building a hundred-zhang warship. With his private wealth, it was completely impossible.
If he wanted to use Kan Gang resources, he would have to apply to the Blade Lord, then get resources allocated from Sun Dilong. Wang Ding held no financial authority. Over these years the Kan Gang had always been focused on expansion. After moving to Qingzhou, they had built eighteen cities around Shadow City, burning through endless resources that all had to be used where they mattered most. How could he dare to ask for something like that?
Now the Blade Lord wanted a warship of that grade. How could he possibly produce one? Looking across the entire cultivation world, no one could.
Wang Ding told the truth.
“If the Lord wants such a warship, we can only immediately allocate resources and craftsmen to build one. It likely won’t be completed even within two years.
“If we step back and settle for something lesser, this subordinate can try to spend a great price to rent or purchase a void-crossing carriage from another power.”
Bao Gu thought for a moment.
“Then we’ll step back. Get a carriage. And give me all the spirit stones the Kan Gang can currently mobilize.”
“Yes. This subordinate will see to it at once,” Wang Ding replied.
Bao Gu pondered, then said:
“Invite the leaders of every major power in the cultivation world to the Kan Gang’s main hall. I want to see them.”
“When?” Wang Ding asked.
“As soon as possible.”
“And under what pretext?”
“Eliminating the ba scourge, and the path to ascension,” Bao Gu said. “Make sure Si Ruo, Qu Yirou, and Zi Tianjun are there.”
“Yes,” Wang Ding answered. He accepted the order and left.
Bao Gu left the Left Envoy’s residence and went straight to the Kan Gang’s main hall.
This was her first time stepping into the main hall since it had been completed.
The Kan Gang’s headquarters had been built like the imperial palace of an empire. The main hall’s layout strongly resembled a golden throne hall—except instead of carved dragons, the Kan main hall was engraved with the patterns of power and arrays.
Bao Gu did not enter the hall. She sat down on the steps before it and looked up at the clear sky overhead.
The sky in Qingzhou was always incredibly blue, deep and clean, with clouds as pure as flawless white jade. She had been in Qingzhou for more than two years, busy setting up arrays, busy cultivating and comprehending the Dao. She had never rested a single day, and had never once taken time to sit with Yu Mi and look at this blue sky, these white clouds, and the endless grasslands.
For two people in love to roam side by side beneath such a sky must be an incredibly happy thing. She did not know if she would ever have that chance again.
She had followed her senior sister into the cultivation world to find a way out of that great drought and catastrophe. From the first day she stepped into this world and learned she was a cultivation dead-end, she’d never thought she would amount to anything. She had always done what she could and left the rest to fate, cultivating as far as she could get. Even after later receiving Ancestor Xuantian’s legacy and seeing a hope of cultivation, even after forming the plan to help her master’s wife fight their way into the upper realm one day, she had never thought about what realm she wanted to reach or how strong she wanted to become.
She had never wanted to be some mighty figure ruling a region. All she had ever wanted was a small plot of land where she could quietly spend her life with the one she loved. Her Bao family, generation after generation, had never sought glory or towering wealth. Being modestly well-off and living peacefully was enough.
She had always known she and Yu Mi were on different cultivation paths. Yu Mi had always refused her because of that. Bao Gu had thought that as long as they loved each other, and both were cultivators walking the path of immortality, a difference in ultimate pursuit wasn’t that important.
Only today did she finally understand that Yu Mi’s concerns had been right. They really weren’t walking the same road. Yu Mi’s original insistence had been right as well; it was she who had forced things, who had been greedy.
Perhaps because she liked quiet, peaceful days, she could never understand what was so great about becoming the strongest under heaven. Standing at the absolute peak and looking down on the world? She couldn’t see the point of being a so-called supreme expert who still couldn’t even protect herself or the people around her.
Everything she had ever gained came partly from deep luck and good fortune, and partly because she understood a bit about trade and business. Her growth had come easier than her senior sister’s. She was not truly strong. She had never believed she would become someone who could defeat all under heaven—no, not even after inheriting the legacy of War God Xuantian, who had indeed been someone who could defeat all enemies under heaven.
She had allowed the War God’s name to be dimmed in her hands. She did not have War God Xuantian’s ability to battle the world, but she was willing, like that Ancestral Martial Aunt, to exhaust everything she had to keep the one she loved safe.
The various powers were already gathered in Moon-Embrace City next to Shadow City. After receiving Bao Gu’s orders, Wang Ding activated the passage between Shadow City and Moon-Embrace City. Using the force of a great teleportation array, he constructed a bridge linking the two. Those in Moon-Embrace City stepped onto the bridge stretching from the horizon and soon arrived outside Shadow City, then were led by Kan Gang disciples into the main hall.
The leaders of the various factions arrived at the front of the main hall and were surprised to find the Blade Lord of the Kan Gang sitting on the steps outside, gazing blankly at the sky. With that peerless, fresh and exquisite face paired with those empty, distant eyes, no matter how they looked at her they couldn’t connect her with the current ruler of the greatest power in the cultivation world. She looked more like the girl next door.
Many people followed the Blade Lord’s line of sight up into the sky. They looked and looked, but saw nothing special.
Si Ruo came up beside Bao Gu, raised her head to look at the sky a few times, then asked:
“Bao Gu, what are you looking at?”
Bao Gu drew back her gaze and swept her eyes over the large group that had come up the steps. With a sweep of her divine sense, she counted seventy or eighty people.
She stood.
“Let’s talk inside.”
She glanced around but did not see Wang Ding.
The main hall was huge. Kan Gang people had already laid out seats inside. Bao Gu walked to the main seat and said mildly:
“Sit.”
She couldn’t even be bothered to trade pleasantries, so cold it made people itch to pinch her a few times.
But remembering the Blade Lord’s usual way of doing things, no one took offense. What was there to complain about? When she’d wiped out the Alliance Army and reshuffled the entire cultivation world, she hadn’t even shown her face. Now she was willing to come out and meet everyone, and was taking the initiative to discuss the ba scourge and the path to ascension—what more could they want?
Just on “ba scourge” and “ascension path” alone, she had more than enough qualification and capital to act aloof. Right now, every major force needed something from her.
More people continued to arrive in dribs and drabs. Not every faction leader had previously rushed to Moon-Embrace City to seek an audience with Bao Gu; many had only sent someone of some standing to test the waters. Now, with Wang Ding spreading the word, many leaders were hurrying over in person.
Judging by the Blade Lord’s style, if it weren’t a matter of heaven-shaking importance, she would never summon everyone in such a grand fashion.
The Soul Chasing Pavilion’s power did not rank among the very top in the cultivation world, and the only reason they had a seat in the hall at all was because of the ironclad ties between them and Bao Gu. As a faction, they weren’t first-rate, but when it came to who could speak freely in front of Bao Gu, the Soul Chasing Pavilion was number one. Even Yue Nation, currently the second greatest power in the cultivation world, had to step back in that regard.
With domain gates and teleportation arrays, everyone arrived very quickly. In no time at all, everyone was present and took their seats. Each power had brought several true decision-makers, big figures who held real authority, so the main hall ended up seating several hundred people.
If a meteorite happened to fall on the hall right now and smash it, the entire cultivation world would be crippled.
Wang Ding stood in the hall and said respectfully:
“Lord, everyone is here.”
Bao Gu sat at the main seat and gave a slight nod. She had not dealt with people for a long time, and now she was in a foul mood, with no desire for small talk or polite greetings.
“I invited you all here today,” she said directly, “because there are several major matters I want to entrust to you.”
