Before long, Bao Gu’s flying carriage reached the Desolate Ancient Mountain Range.
She rose from her seat and walked to the viewing platform at the front. Taking out the jade pendant the Demon Saint had given her, she was just about to use Tong Fang’s appearance to lure Ba out when, from the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of Ba silently appearing a dozen feet in front of her.
Ba, as always, wasn’t wearing a single stitch.
In her hand she held a smooth, jade-white lotus-root-like arm and was slowly gnawing on it. Her eating posture was extremely refined, taking small, delicate bites one after another, but the fact that what she was eating was a woman’s arm made it very hard for Bao Gu to stomach.
For all that she ate with such elegance, her speed was anything but slow. In just a few breaths, that arm had been stripped down to clean white bone, as smooth as if a master butcher had gone over it with the finest boning knife. Her shell-like teeth gently bit down on the humerus. With a crisp crack of breaking bone and another light nibble, she sucked every last drop of the scant marrow from inside.
Only after finishing that slender, delicate arm did Ba finally lift her gaze, those ink-black eyes like dots of lacquer faintly tinged with an unobtrusive red gleam, and looked Bao Gu over with interest.
Bao Gu lowered her head, turning the jade pendant over in her hands.
“This jade pendant was personally refined for me by my master. It carries a wisp of her life-blood imprint. I’m sure you recognize it.”
She raised her eyes to Ba.
“Before you ever regained your freedom, we already knew you were going after my master. She left this cultivation world a long time ago. I’m the only one who knows where she is now, because I’m her only disciple.
“You can kill me or Yu Mi, but don’t find my master before she wants to show herself. Let’s make a deal.”
Ba continued to size her up without saying a word.
Bao Gu said, “You let Yu Mi go, and I’ll take you to my master.”
Ba asked, “Yu Mi and your master. Which is more important?”
“Yu Mi is more important than my life,” Bao Gu replied. “For her, I don’t fear death. I don’t fear you either. I only want Yu Mi to be safe.”
Ba asked, “You’d trade your master for Yu Mi?”
Bao Gu shut her eyes in pain, then nodded.
With Ba’s strength, she had no need to worry about Bao Gu playing tricks. Worst case, she could just drag them both back again. Ba’s jade-white palm slapped out, and behind her, a vast world appeared out of thin air, hanging in midair like a mirage.
It was a purgatory.
A stifling blood-red sky pressed down with oppressive weight. On ground that looked as if it had been irrigated with fresh blood, there stood a magnificent palace made entirely of white bone. White bone, blood-colored mist. In the tumbling fog, countless wronged souls and fierce ghosts wailed and screamed, forming one terrifyingly twisted face after another, as if desperately struggling to break free from that skeletal palace.
Ba’s hand lifted slightly.
A figure Bao Gu knew better than anyone suddenly appeared beside Ba, then hit the ground and tumbled to a stop at Bao Gu’s feet. The blood-red world behind Ba vanished at the same time.
“Senior Sister!” Bao Gu cried hoarsely, almost leaping over on instinct alone. She rushed to Ba’s side and helped Yu Mi up.
“How are you? Are you all right?”
The Duobao Spirit Monkey let out a sharp squeak and landed beside Yu Mi, chittering nonstop.
Yu Mi’s hairpins and jade coronet were completely gone. Her long, silky hair hung loose in tangled disarray, framing a pale face. Her eyes, once bright and spirited, now hid a trace of panic.
Hearing Bao Gu’s voice, she lifted her head in disbelief.
“Bao Gu? What are you doing here?”
Her gaze swept the surroundings, and her expression changed drastically.
“Run!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she shoved Bao Gu away, summoned the Nanming Lihuo Sword into her hand, and shouted, “Little Monkey, get Bao Gu out of here!”
Even as she spoke she had already stood up, body filled with steely battle intent as she faced Ba head-on—only to suddenly cry out in agony.
“Ah—!”
Her whole body trembled, one knee crashing to the floor. The pain was so intense she almost dropped the sword in her hand. She turned her head and shouted toward Bao Gu behind her.
“Go! Go!”
Bao Gu saw Yu Mi’s snow-white feet exposed, divine-metal chains forged of god-gold passing directly through her bones. The wounds were a mess of blood and flesh; she could clearly see splinters of bone inside.
Her gaze followed Yu Mi’s legs upward and found more god-gold chains wrapped around her waist, each as thick as a pinky finger. They coiled forward, dug into flesh and pierced through her ribs, then looped around both arms, bored through the arm bones, and wound all the way down to her wrists.
Bao Gu’s heart hurt so much she almost forgot how to breathe. Rage flooded her eyes.
So this was what Ba had meant by “no danger to her life”?
This was what she’d done to her senior sister.
Her whole body trembled with anger, but she ruthlessly forced it down. She summoned the Xuantian Sword. It shrank to the size of a dagger, and she pressed its tip right against the center of her forehead.
“Let Yu Mi go,” she shouted, “or I’ll kill myself right now. You’ll never know where the World-Purifying Sacred Lotus is.”
The point of her sword was aimed precisely at the location of her divine soul. If she stabbed it in, her soul would be scattered and annihilated, beyond the help of any immortal.
At this moment Bao Gu was all cold, vicious resolve. If her strength were enough to fight Ba, she would have already thrown herself at her even if it meant being flayed to the bone. Even as she was, the air around her screamed that she was ready to trade her life to make Ba pay.
“I have a supreme treasure protecting my body,” Yu Mi shouted. “These are just flesh wounds, they don’t matter. What nonsense are you pulling? Put the dagger down!”
She twisted her head to glare at Bao Gu.
“What World-Purifying Sacred Lotus? You mean Saint Aunt? Have you lost your mind? Ba is utterly inhuman. If Saint Aunt falls into her hands—ah—”
Before she could finish, a wave of pain surged from every inch of flesh and bone. She couldn’t help but let out a bloodcurdling scream. Then she yelled again, voice hoarse:
“Leave! I don’t want you to save—mmph—”
The agony made Yu Mi curl in on herself, trembling all over. Her teeth chattered, tears streaming from her eyes. Yet at the same time she clearly felt every last god-gold chain on her body suddenly being ripped free.
Ba impatiently flicked her palm.
A hurricane-like gust wrapped around the blood-drenched Yu Mi and hurled her far, far away.
Bao Gu had just lifted a foot to give chase when the collar of her robes was suddenly yanked tight. A tremendous force locked her entire body in place. She couldn’t move a finger.
In panic she shouted, “Little Monkey, go save Senior Sister!”
The Duobao Spirit Monkey looked at Bao Gu with tear-filled eyes, then let out a high-pitched cry and turned into a streak of golden light that shot into the distance.
“Where is she?” Ba asked.
“I’ll take you,” Bao Gu said.
She felt the force binding her release. Feeling the dried trails of tears on her face, she hastily wiped them away and walked back toward the carriage. She stepped aboard and glanced back at Ba.
“Get on.”
Ba followed her inside. She watched as Bao Gu chose a seat, glanced quickly around, then shifted to one by the window. Curiosity flickered in Ba’s eyes. She raised a slender, scallion-like finger and poked at the carriage wall.
The half-foot-thick wall forged of Great Luo Gold Essence and reinforced with defensive formation patterns dented with a single poke of Ba’s tender finger.
A hint of amusement curved Ba’s lips, bright delight lighting her eyes. Her fingers sped up, poking at the walls again and again. In no time, the carriage walls were full of holes, like a honeycomb.
Bao Gu’s eyelid twitched nonstop. Her eyes went wide.
No wonder they’d used divine metal to seal Ba back then.
The more Ba played, the more Bao Gu’s heart quivered. Terrified she’d poke the whole carriage apart, Bao Gu immediately drove the flying carriage straight into the depths of the void, not even bothering to plot a course. She simply shot forward at maximum speed.
With no destination set, the carriage plunged into a pitch-black world.
At first she didn’t feel much. But after about the time it takes a stick of incense to burn, the carriage suddenly began to shudder violently. Outside, thunderous booms roared, and blinding light pierced through the windows despite the protective formations, so bright that even with her eyes closed Bao Gu saw nothing but pure white.
The carriage shook so hard it felt like it would come apart. The defensive formation was pushed to its absolute limit. The spirit stones stored inside were being consumed at a horrifying rate, rapidly converted into pure spiritual power to sustain the barrier.
Great Luo Gold Essence was known as the toughest metal in the cultivation world, yet under this pressure, it suddenly felt anything but sturdy. Even through the teleportation formation, Bao Gu could sense the raging force outside. The defensive array was starting to crack and collapse.
Ba frowned, formed a hand seal, and slapped both palms out.
With a muffled boom that sounded like the tearing of the void itself, a sheet of golden light burst from her hands, covering the carriage, which was already laced with cracks and on the verge of breaking apart. That golden glow isolated the outside fury. Inside the carriage, peace returned; even the blinding light dimmed to something bearable.
Bao Gu opened her eyes—only to discover she still couldn’t see a thing. Her vision was nothing but white. She could only rely on her divine sense to perceive her surroundings.
What she sensed made her scalp prickle.
The carriage’s outer shell had melted. The defensive formation had already collapsed. Outside was a sea of dense, multicolored cloud, roiling with explosive power. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed within, more terrifying than any thunderstorm she’d ever seen, more terrifying than the most fearsome tribulation cloud.
She cautiously extended her divine sense outward. The moment it touched that cloud and sensed the power within—sufficient to destroy heavens and earth—her head exploded with pain. Her vision went dark. The strand of divine sense she’d sent out was shredded in an instant.
Several breaths later, Bao Gu recovered, only to feel Ba’s cold, murderous gaze fixed on her. The fury in those eyes was more terrifying than the storm outside.
Seeing Ba like this, Bao Gu’s mood suddenly improved. She actually laughed—softly, lightly, like a breeze—her whole demeanor turning calm and unhurried.
“Ba,” she asked, “do you know where this is?”
Ba narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Where?”
“I don’t know,” Bao Gu said. “Do you?”
Ba’s gaze grew even icier.
“I think I might be lost,” Bao Gu went on. “Can you find the way back?”
Ba frowned again. Her voice was like ice.
“No.”
“Then I can relax,” Bao Gu said, smiling.
“…”
Bao Gu pointed to the seat beside her.
“Sit. Since we can’t get back for now, we might as well sit down and talk slowly.”
Ba stared at her with a cold, cutting gaze and didn’t move.
“No one is allowed to hurt Yu Mi in front of me,” Bao Gu said. “Not even you.”
Her own eyes went frosty as she spoke. Then she unintentionally glanced outside.
The carriage had just broken through that multicolored cloud. Her vision suddenly cleared. Outside was vast and empty, like the inside of an enormous storage treasure. But where a storage space was true void, this place felt deeper, more mysterious. In the endless blackness, countless points of light were scattered everywhere, far too many to number, dotting the broad expanse.
Behind them, she saw a thick layer of cloud, dazzlingly brilliant, as if it held every color in existence.
Bao Gu looked around. Other than the storm cloud they had just escaped, every direction looked the same.
The carriage was speeding forward at an incredible rate, racing farther and farther from that violent cloud. Far enough that she could now see its full shape: it looked like a spoon, twisted into a vortex. From a distance it seemed utterly silent, not the slightest hint of the earlier raging power—only a strange, serene beauty.
Bao Gu felt dazed. It all seemed unreal. She had never seen such a sight in her life.
She glanced at Ba’s ice-cold face, then took out the sound-transmission jade slip she used to contact Yu Mi and sent a strand of spiritual power into it.
No response.
She took out the one linked to her master’s wife. Nothing. It was like tossing a stone into the ocean.
Ba moved.
In an instant she was in front of Bao Gu. Her jade foot, as if carved from the finest stone, slammed into Bao Gu’s chest, kicking her hard enough to send her crashing over the chair, slamming into the wall, then bouncing to the floor.
Bao Gu felt the ribs in her chest shatter and stab into her organs. The pain was so sharp she couldn’t breathe. Blood surged up, pouring from her mouth and nose in great gouts. Her vision wavered and darkened, yet a smile still tugged at the corner of her lips.
Ba stepped over, grabbed the front of Bao Gu’s robes, and hauled her up.
Bao Gu turned her head and spat out a mouthful of blood. She quietly met Ba’s eyes.
“My Saint Aunt is in the Snow Region,” she said. “At a place called Little Jing Lake.”
She lightly poked Ba’s hand.
“Let me down.”
Ba released her.
Bao Gu dropped bonelessly to the floor. She stuffed some healing pills into her mouth and began circulating her cultivation to mend her injuries.
Ba turned to look out of the carriage. Her frown deepened. When her gaze fell back on Bao Gu, it was like a beast eyeing prey. She waited a moment, saw Bao Gu was still healing, then raised her hand and reached toward the top of Bao Gu’s head.
Bao Gu’s red lips parted slightly. Her voice was slow, calm.
“If I die, you’ll be the only one left drifting here.”
She opened her eyes and looked at Ba.
“You won’t even have anyone to talk to. You think you can imprison my soul? I might not be able to use most of the Xuantian Sword’s power, but using it to suppress my own soul is more than enough.”
Ba grabbed her again, lifting her up. This time her palm pressed to Bao Gu’s chest, a faint golden light flowing within her hand.
Bao Gu, whose injuries had just stabilized, immediately began coughing up blood again—large mouthfuls of it. Multicolored spiritual light flared around her body. Sword intent as vast as if it could tear the heavens themselves erupted to the limit. Under its sweep, every chair and ornament inside the carriage was shredded to pieces. Even the golden light shielding the carriage was starting to show signs of collapse.
Bao Gu knew exactly what Ba was doing—trying to force the Xuantian Sword out of her body.
The Xuantian Sword had already fused into her muscles, bones, and blood. There was only one way to strip it out now: like refining a magical weapon, melt her down and separate out the “impurities.”
As Ba worked, a cloud of blood mist formed in her hand. While drawing the Xuantian Sword’s power from Bao Gu, she was also extracting Bao Gu’s flesh and bone along with it. If she continued until the sword was fully drawn out, all that would remain of Bao Gu would be a drifting lump of blood and meat.
Ba tossed Bao Gu to the ground with clear distaste.
“What do you want?” she asked, looking down at her, brows knotted in irritation.
“I don’t want to die,” Bao Gu said, swallowing another healing pill.
Ba glanced sideways at her, voice dripping with menace.
“You don’t want to die, and you still tricked me into coming here?”
Either Ba or that star-cloud from earlier could erase this woman with a thought.
“You should know where I come from,” Bao Gu said.
Ba gave a cold snort.
“So what if you’re from the War King Clan?”
Bao Gu’s head snapped up in shock.
“How do you know about the Upper Realm?”
Completely fed up, Ba snapped, “What, you don’t know I’m the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor of the Upper Realm?”
Bao Gu all but toppled over.
“I thought the Heavenly Emperor’s daughter had her soul scattered, leaving only an indestructible golden body,” she blurted.
Ba felt, very sincerely, that talking to this person was an insult.
Bao Gu stared at her, completely confused.
Ba ground her teeth, eyes like frozen blades.
“Why did you drag me to this place?” she demanded. “You’re not afraid of dying?”
You’ve already gone this far seeking death and still want to live?
“You tell me why your soul was scattered yet you still remember you’re the Heavenly Emperor’s daughter,” Bao Gu said. “Then I’ll tell you why I brought you here.”
Ba let out a cold snort.
“Hard to believe the War King Clan produced someone as ignorant as you. Do you think memory only exists in the soul?”
“It doesn’t?” Bao Gu blinked.
If the soul is scattered and consciousness is gone, with only an empty shell left, where would memory even reside?
“Then where do you think the instincts of life come from?” Ba asked.
“Aren’t they innate?” Bao Gu said blankly.
Ba genuinely felt her intelligence had been gravely insulted. Why was she even explaining this to such a clueless idiot?
Face dark, she turned toward the window and stared out into the deep, starry void. Her mood was foul. With a wave of her hand, a palace of white bone appeared in the air before them.
The entire structure was built on the frames of gigantic beast bones, smaller human and lesser beast bones neatly filling in the gaps. The palace walls were lined with cages forged of bone, stacked in orderly layers ten levels high, filling both sides of the hall. There were thousands of them. Each cage held a crowd of cultivators, every one of them terrified.
One cultivator even cried out, “The Butcher Mandate Lord—!”
Bao Gu extended her divine sense into the cages. Judging by their clothing, insignia, and the few faces she recognized, she realized many of them were soldiers from the one million alliance troops who had vanished in the Desolate Ancient Mountain Range, as well as some who had helped break the Heaven-Sealing Forbidden Domain Array.
When the prisoners saw Bao Gu, many began shouting for help.
Bao Gu was stunned.
These people were still alive?
And they wanted her to save them?
If it weren’t for them, would Ba be rampaging like this now? Would she have ended up in this state?
She very much wanted to kick them while they were down.
Suddenly, she felt the collective fear in the cages spike, followed by near-total silence.
The next moment, the door of one cage swung open. An early Spirit Transformation cultivator was dragged out, his scream raw with terror.
“No—!”
Mid-scream, he was yanked straight into Ba’s hand. One of her hands clamped down on his shoulder, the other gripped his neck. She twisted.
His neck snapped cleanly, torn off in her hand. Blood spurted from the stump of his throat, but Ba only parted her lips slightly. The spray of blood condensed into a stream and poured into her mouth. In a few breaths, every drop of blood in that cultivator’s body was inside Ba.
Her thumb pressed into his skull like it was tofu, punching effortlessly through the bone. A light flick, and the skull cap flew away, revealing the white, still-pulsing brain beneath.
Bao Gu clearly saw a strand of divine radiance flickering under that brain matter. She saw the cultivator’s soul trapped there, shrieking in abject horror.
“No—no—no—!”
Ba lifted the exposed brain to her lips and slurped.
With a single long suck, she drained out all the brain tissue, brain fluid, and marrow, leaving behind an empty skull and the cultivator’s face, frozen in a grotesque mask of fear.
A wave of nausea surged up Bao Gu’s throat. Ignoring her heavy injuries, she scrambled toward a corner—only to slam into the boundary of that bloody hell-world and bounce back in fright. She forcibly swallowed the bile in her throat.
After a moment, she saw Ba dismiss the blood-prison world again, then return to gnawing on the cultivator’s remaining body parts.
Bao Gu couldn’t bear to watch. She huddled in the corner of the carriage, stomach spasming, waves of nausea roiling up. She’d already wanted to throw up just from Ba eating live people in front of her. Now Ba actually started tossing half-gnawed bones at her.
Once she’d stripped the skull, she casually tossed the skeletal head into Bao Gu’s arms.
Bao Gu’s skin crawled. She scrambled on hands and feet, flinging the skull away—only for Ba to toss half a chewed neck bone at her. Then ribs. Then vertebrae…
In less than half a stick of incense, a living early Spirit Transformation expert had been reduced to a pile of bone fragments. All of it was dumped at Bao Gu’s side.
Still unsatisfied, Ba opened her blood-prison world again, grabbed another cultivator, and repeated the live-feast performance.
When she was in a bad mood, she took it out on her food. Her appetite was excellent; she devoured more than a dozen people in one go before stopping.
By then, bones were piled all around Bao Gu, encircling her in a ring of shattered remains. She gagged over and over, but with nothing in her stomach but acid, she couldn’t vomit anything.
Full at last, Ba looked at Bao Gu’s thoroughly shaken expression with great satisfaction. Her mood improved considerably. She nudged aside the bones at her feet and sat cross-legged in front of Bao Gu, smiling.
“Now,” she said pleasantly, “you can obediently tell me how to get back, can’t you?”
