Bao Gu swept a cold glance over them, slowly turned, and walked downstairs at an unhurried pace. She sat in the main seat in the hall.
She didn’t say a word, just watched the sweat sliding down from their temples.
Whether the three of them got along or had conflicts meant nothing to her. As long as they didn’t start brawling, did their own jobs, and handled their business properly, it was fine. But the fact that her mere appearance had them sweating cold bullets—that was worth pondering.
She could actually understand them quite well. Their old Lord of the Order was gone. The former Arrow Warden and now acting Order Warden was someone who wasn’t keen on power at all—carefree by nature—and on top of that, he was the young sect master of the Xuantian Sect. There was no way he could pour all his energy into managing the Kan Gang. Sooner or later, the gang would still have to be handed over to them to run. One day, the position of Cleaver Order Lord might even be passed to one of them.
Right now, all three stood on the same starting line. Of course they had to start planning and maneuvering early so they wouldn’t fall behind.
The Kan Gang had become what it was today in large part thanks to the three of them. Bao Gu was someone who remembered old ties; she would never do that “once I’m rich, I cast off my old veterans, birds gone, bow stored away” kind of thing.
Those who suffered with you should share in your prosperity.
She had been gone from the cultivation world for over five hundred years, not five months, five years, or fifty years. They had all assumed she was never coming back; there was no way they could just freeze everything in place and wait for her. Even if they’d wanted to, the changing situation wouldn’t have allowed them to remain unchanged.
They had fought bitterly, but none of it had touched Yu Mi. They hadn’t crossed Bao Gu’s bottom line, so Bao Gu had never intended to move against them.
Sitting in the main seat, Bao Gu thought quietly. Her cool, expressionless face betrayed nothing, making her seem unfathomable—and that, in itself, turned into a tremendous pressure.
If Bao Gu had flown into a rage, even drawn her sword on them, it would actually have been easier to bear than this wordless silence. Not knowing what Bao Gu was thinking, not knowing how she would deal with them—what was unknown was always the most unnerving.
Sun Dilong had known Bao Gu since she was just a teenage girl, and she’d scared him out of his wits back then. He’d followed her all the way through blood and fire; his fear of her ran deep into his bones. Remembering that Bao Gu had been watching from the second floor just now, he was so terrified that he couldn’t even kneel steadily, his whole body shaking.
Wang Ding and the Mad Demon weren’t much better off.
After Bao Gu left, they treated Yu Mi as their superior and followed her orders, but in reality Yu Mi didn’t manage day‑to‑day affairs. The Kan Gang’s power had practically been carved up between the three of them. Yu Mi’s greatest role had been soothing and balancing their conflicts so that, despite five hundred years of internal strife, the gang hadn’t split.
Now the Lord of the Order was back.
Would she pursue the fact that they had taken Kan Gang assets and turned them into their private power? Would she go after what they’d done in the shadows all these years? Would she hold them accountable for sidelining Yu Mi? Would she take all authority back?
Would she wipe them out?
They had witnessed the Lord’s methods. When she made a move, it was swift and ruthless—slaughtering cities, erasing factions. Who knew how many times she’d done that? Cleaning up just a few of them would be all too easy.
Time in the cultivation world usually flew by, yet right now the three of them felt every heartbeat drag on endlessly.
Finally, Bao Gu’s always indifferent voice sounded above their heads.
“Get up.”
Only after kowtowing did the three slowly rise to their feet, not daring to lift their heads, not daring to extend their divine sense.
Bao Gu’s calm voice sounded again.
“The world outside is vast and boundless. It’s far bigger than you can imagine. Whatever it is you want, go out there, fight for it, earn it out there. Plotting against your own people for this little bit of stuff in your own nest—what kind of skill is that? How much can you even grab?”
Heads still lowered, they kept silent, but the hearts that had been hanging in their throats sank halfway back into place.
Bao Gu went on.
“The Kan Gang is what it is today because you all put in real work. Your contributions are undeniable. The Kan Gang has a share that belongs to you.
“I don’t know how much of your own power you’ve cultivated over these five hundred years, and I don’t care to know. I won’t restrict your comings and goings, much less your development.
“If you feel you’re already strong enough to dominate a region and stand on your own, I can even let you take your people with you, carve out territory for you, and let you establish your own factions.”
The three of them jolted. With a thud, they dropped to their knees again.
Wang Ding cried out, “My Lord, your subordinate harbors absolutely no disloyalty!”
“Let me finish,” Bao Gu said.
Wang Ding knocked his head hard against the floor and didn’t dare raise it again.
The Mad Demon and Sun Dilong also pressed their heads to the ground, motionless.
Bao Gu said, “I can accept you either way. Whether you go or stay, I can accept it.
“If you go, the sky outside is high, the seas are wide. I’ll let you go freely.
“If you stay, the sky outside is still high, the seas still wide. I’ll take you out there to carve a path.
“But there’s one condition. Put a stop to the internal strife and pointless infighting.”
Wang Ding shouted, “Your subordinate swears to follow the Lord of the Order unto death!”
Sun Dilong also cried, “Your subordinate is willing to lay down his life in loyal service to the Lord!”
The Mad Demon said in a low voice, “Your subordinate is willing to die in service to the Lord.”
Sitting to the side, Yu Mi watched Bao Gu with a blank face, but inwardly she was a bit stunned.
Was Bao Gu really that terrifying?
Just look at the state these three were in.
Mention Sun Dilong, the Mad Demon, or Wang Ding, and who in the cultivation world didn’t feel a chill? Yet here they were, shaking in front of Bao Gu.
“Get up,” Bao Gu said.
The three stood, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
Bao Gu spoke slowly.
“I’ve just come back, and there are a lot of miscellaneous matters to handle.
“I’ll give you one day to consider whether you’re staying or leaving. If you stay, then stay with a settled heart. If you go, then go without worry.”
Yu Mi’s eyes flashed with a trace of surprise.
If they left with their people, wouldn’t the Kan Gang fall apart?
She had worked so hard to hold the gang together purely because it was something Bao Gu had left behind. She couldn’t bear to see Bao Gu’s painstaking efforts go to waste.
Thinking that, she suddenly realized:
Bao Gu was already back. With the Cleaver Order Lord here, how could the Kan Gang simply scatter?
Bao Gu was back. As long as Bao Gu was here to guard, what was the point of her clinging so bitterly to what Bao Gu had left behind?
Yu Mi secretly laughed at herself for that stupid line of thought.
Wang Ding, the Mad Demon, and Sun Dilong once again declared their stance in the firmest terms: no need to think it over, they weren’t leaving. Even in death, they wouldn’t leave the Kan Gang.
Worried that Bao Gu was actually using this to pursue and punish them for their infighting, they all turned to Yu Mi and begged her to plead on their behalf.
Yu Mi simply handed the Cleaver Command Token back to Bao Gu and stepped away from the whole affair.
Bao Gu could only give Yu Mi a helpless look.
In the past, she’d needed the Cleaver Command Token at her side as protection. Now she could guard herself just fine; the token was something she could take or leave. She’d wanted to give it to Yu Mi, but seeing how Yu Mi treated it like a scalding hot potato, she had no choice but to take it back.
The three of them were unwilling to leave, which naturally pleased Bao Gu.
“In that case,” she said, “then stay with an easy mind.
“Right now there’s something I need you to handle for me.”
Wang Ding, the Mad Demon, and Sun Dilong answered in unison, “At the Lord’s command. Your subordinates will not refuse even death.”
“No need for you to die,” Bao Gu said calmly. “I have three hundred thousand deathsworn that need to be settled.
“These three hundred thousand deathsworn are cultivators that Ba seized from the Desolate Ancient Mountain Range back then. All of them have sworn a blood oath to me.
“Talk it over among yourselves. Decide whether to scatter them under your respective commands, or arrange them separately. Just come up with a placement plan.”
Three hundred thousand deathsworn.
Cultivators seized from the Desolate Ancient Mountain Range by Ba.
In other words, their Lord had snatched three hundred thousand cultivators back from Ba’s hands.
Wang Ding, the Mad Demon, and Sun Dilong were all stunned.
They felt like their brains had gone dull, unable to process this.
What was this situation?
Their Lord had tricked Ba, lured her into the void, and then—
Ba hadn’t killed the Lord.
The Lord hadn’t been shredded by the spatial tearing force, hadn’t gotten lost in the endless void.
And then—she came back.
Not only did she come back, she’d even stolen three hundred thousand cultivators from Ba’s hands.
What on earth had happened in between?
Could it be that the upper‑realm sword she had fused with possessed heaven‑defying combat power and she’d used it to kill Ba?
Or had she relied on her scheming to pit Ba to death?
They certainly couldn’t ask their Lord those questions directly.
But—those three hundred thousand cultivators couldn’t possibly not know how they’d gone from Ba’s hands to theirs, right?
Asking them would definitely work.
Yu Mi was also stunned.
“You got three hundred thousand cultivators out of Ba?” she asked.
Bao Gu glanced at Yu Mi and gave a soft “mm” in acknowledgment.
“Those were all Qingying’s rations,” she explained. “I made a deal with her to trade for them.”
In front of Wang Ding, the Mad Demon, and Sun Dilong, she certainly couldn’t say that she’d lured those three hundred thousand over through a mix of cajoling and trickery.
Yu Mi stood up from her chair.
“Qingying is your disciple, right?” she asked.
Bao Gu nodded.
“She listens to you?” Yu Mi asked again.
Bao Gu nodded once more.
Yu Mi said excitedly, “Then call her over for me later. I want to take a look at her!”
“…” Bao Gu looked up at Yu Mi, thinking, You’ve already fallen into Qingying’s hands before; you’ve seen her. Why are you so curious?
Then she remembered that Yu Mi had sealed away her memories. If she couldn’t even remember Bao Gu, how could she remember Qingying?
“All right,” Bao Gu said with a nod.
Yu Mi could hardly wait to see what that Ba, who had terrified the entire cultivation world, actually looked like.
Her eyes shifted suddenly as she recalled a rumor from the cultivation world.
“I heard people say Ba is a naked little girl?” Yu Mi asked Bao Gu.
Bao Gu pressed a hand to her forehead.
“She’s learned to wear clothes,” Bao Gu said. “Senior Sister, um, let’s go get those three hundred thousand cultivators settled first.”
She finished speaking, took Yu Mi by the hand, and led her outside.
Wang Ding, Sun Dilong, and the Mad Demon followed closely behind.
The Xiaoyao Pavilion was in Qingzhou, just one city away from Youying City, where the Kan Gang’s main headquarters lay.
Leaving the Xiaoyao Pavilion, Bao Gu stepped directly onto the teleportation array in the city and headed for Youying City.
First, she probed the city’s defensive grand formation and confirmed that it was still the same array she had laid down five hundred years ago. No one had tampered with it; everything was still running exactly as it had back then.
She then linked the defensive formation with the intra‑city teleportation array, and used a voice‑transmission jade to contact the main battleship waiting in place in high orbit above Youying City, hidden within the clouds under a cloaking array.
She sent them Youying City’s coordinates and ordered them to station there.
Only after she confirmed that Youying City’s defensive formation had already been shut down—even Qingzhou’s regional grand formation had been turned off—did she have them teleport over.
Seeing Bao Gu shut down the defensive formations, Wang Ding, the Mad Demon, and Sun Dilong all wore unreadable expressions, not sure what Bao Gu was planning.
The Qingzhou Grand Formation, famed as the number one array in the cultivation world, was the Kan Gang’s strongest shield. With it closed, the gang was now wide open.
But if Bao Gu wanted to touch the array, they didn’t dare object.
Nominally, the Qingzhou Grand Formation belonged to the Kan Gang, but it was jointly used with the Xuantian Sect. In all the land, those who could control that formation could be counted on one hand—three in total: Yu Mi, the Demon Saint, and the Lord of the Order. At most, you could add Zi Tianjun as a half.
Receiving Bao Gu’s order, the people on the main battleship immediately activated the ship‑board array and linked it with Youying City’s teleportation array.
The main battleship’s teleportation formation connected with Youying City’s.
In the sky, the teleportation formation forcefully tore open a gigantic rift. That rift spread out to cover the entire sky over Youying City. Clouds that should have been high in the heavens were dragged down through the linked arrays to just above the rooftops. Any random Qi‑Refining cultivator standing on a roof, giving a little leap with lightfoot skill, could touch those clouds that were technically still in the high sky, but now also in Youying City.
The disturbance was enormous. The whole city was alarmed. Almost every cultivator raised their head to look up.
They couldn’t quite understand why the teleportation array suddenly seemed to be dragging the sky itself down, hauling the clouds with it.
Someone even shouted, “What, did someone go crazy?!”
The very next moment, everyone realized—there was something hidden above the clouds.
Some unimaginably huge thing had been hiding up there under invisibility and aura‑concealment.
When that thing’s “disguise” peeled away, everyone thought they had to be going insane.
They looked up.
Above their heads, the sky was covered by crimson‑gold metal etched all over with glowing sigils.
Youying City was big.
The mass of Da Luo Scarlet Gold above them was bigger than Youying City.
Beside Bao Gu, Yu Mi lifted her head and stared at the gigantic Da Luo Scarlet Gold construct that had suddenly appeared. Her divine sense spread out instinctively, and then she was utterly shocked.
So what if Bao Gu had taken Ba as a disciple?
Bao Gu actually had a warship made of Da Luo Scarlet Gold, and it was bigger than Youying City itself.
Da Luo Scarlet Gold!
Measured in top‑grade spirit stones, Da Luo Scarlet Gold!
And they’d used it to build a ship this huge.
Yu Mi’s first reaction was: Is the person next to me really Bao Gu? Not some unfathomable someone impersonating her?
No matter how capable Bao Gu was, how could she possibly get a warship like this?
Softly, she called, “Bao Gu.”
“Mm?” Bao Gu responded.
“Where did you get this Da Luo Scarlet Gold ship?” Yu Mi asked.
“I spent fifty years building it,” Bao Gu said. “This battleship isn’t made entirely of Da Luo Scarlet Gold. Only the keel and outer hull are. It can cross the Void Realms.”
Yu Mi was stunned all over again.
“Where did you get that much Da Luo Scarlet Gold?” she asked.
“Picked it up in the void,” Bao Gu said.
Yu Mi sucked in a sharp breath.
Picked up in the void.
Picked up.
How could you be this good at picking things up?
Then again, wasn’t that exactly what Bao Gu was good at?
Hadn’t the Xuantian Sword been “picked up” because Bao Gu got lucky?
Hadn’t her Void Treasure Realm also supposedly been something she’d “picked up”?
“You know about meteors from beyond the heavens, right?” Bao Gu asked.
Yu Mi nodded blankly.
“We were drifting in the void,” Bao Gu said, “and we ran into a lot of very large heavenly meteorites. They had rich mineral veins. We mined them and built the battleship.
“Later we even encountered a star whose main composition was Da Luo Gold Essence…”
Yu Mi raised a hand to stop her.
“Enough. Stop. Don’t say anything else. My brain can’t keep up. Let me calm down. I need to calm down.”
She hurriedly pinched herself, then looked hard at the immense battleship overhead—this really wasn’t a dream.
She pulled out a voice‑transmission jade and contacted Zi Yunshu.
Once Zi Yunshu’s voice came through, Yu Mi blurted, “Little Martial Aunt, do you know what I’m looking at right now? I’m looking at a battleship made of Da Luo Scarlet Gold that’s bigger than Youying City!”
Zi Yunshu snorted. “You’re drunk, aren’t you? Is Bao Gu next to you?”
“I’m here,” Bao Gu replied when she heard Zi Yunshu’s voice.
“Good,” Zi Yunshu said. “Sober her up.”
Then she cut the connection.
“…” Yu Mi was speechless.
She really had seen it.
And that battleship, bigger than Youying City, actually belonged to Bao Gu.
Suddenly, she felt the jade in her hand pulse again. She reconnected it and heard Zi Yunshu’s voice.
“Yu Mi, what’s going on with the Kan Gang? Look at the sky over Youying City. Why… why do I see a giant mass of Da Luo Scarlet Gold up there?”
