The merchant ship’s steward looked at Bao Gu like she was an idiot and said, “Is this your first time on this route? Once it’s full, it’ll leave.
If you piss it off, it’ll capsize the ship and sink it.
All the cargo will be lost, and except for the VIPs on the third and fourth decks, hardly anyone will survive!”
To Bao Gu, there were good yaos and bad yaos.
She treated the good ones like people, but for these man-eating, disaster-causing yaos, killing them for materials wasn’t wrong at all! It was just a Golden Core stage giant turtle—killing it for materials was barely even worth it!
While the steward was talking, another person got dragged under, and some people, either because they couldn’t swim or were exhausted, started sinking into the water.
On the ship, some people wailed in grief as their loved ones were lost.
Others quietly tied themselves to the ship with ropes, hoping to avoid the same fate.
Some whispered, “The river god’s angry because we didn’t offer enough sacrifices! Before, it would just stop the ship or bump it a few times, but this time so many people got dragged into the water…” Before he could finish, someone nearby hushed him with a grave look.
Bao Gu saw fewer and fewer people left on the surface, with several still struggling.
She summoned her flying sword, darted to the water’s surface, and fished the people out, tossing them onto the sword.
The deck erupted in commotion, and many people stood up.
“An immortal! An immortal is helping us!”
Bao Gu moved fast, scooping the people from the water onto her sword and returning them to the deck in a flash.
She dove back in, pulling out the unconscious, the drowned, and even those half-eaten by the giant turtle.
One person, who had passed out from choking on water, still had a sliver of life left.
The giant turtle lunged at him, but Bao Gu snatched him away from its jaws, leaving it biting at nothing.
The giant turtle instantly went berserk, churning up a massive splash as it chased after Bao Gu, bursting out of the water.
Its huge body was like a small hill, leaping more than ten feet into the air, surging forward another twenty or thirty feet, then crashing back down, sending up a huge wave that rocked the ship.
“Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong!”
“We’re in trouble now!”
“Where did this damn girl come from?!”
“Damn it, who is this brat, daring to steal the river god’s food?!”
The ship was in an uproar, and many powerful cultivators from the second, third, and fourth decks poked their heads out to see what was happening.
Bao Gu dropped the people and bodies she’d rescued onto the deck, then saw the giant turtle swimming to the front of the ship, about to ram it.
No matter how sturdy the merchant ship was, it couldn’t withstand a Golden Core stage beast’s charge! Bao Gu shouted, “You’re looking for death!” She used a water technique, borrowing the force of the water under the ship to shove the vessel away, instantly putting distance between it and the turtle.
At the same time, a massive wall of water rose up, blocking the ship’s path.
Then, a huge water column shot up from under the turtle, launching it more than ten feet into the air.
The giant turtle flipped and leapt off the water column—
Bao Gu pulled a Nascent Soul stage water-element sword from her oversized storage bag and slashed through the air.
A sword light swept across the turtle as it fell toward the water!
With a thunderous crash, water exploded everywhere, and the giant turtle was split in two, blood dyeing a huge swath of the river red…
Bao Gu stood at the bow, sword in hand, her gaze cold as she watched the bisected turtle sink beneath the water.
The merchant ship fell instantly silent!
The steward’s face turned ashen as he glared at Bao Gu.
With a wave of his hand, a group of cultivators rushed forward, fanning out to surround her.
Bao Gu turned, swept her gaze over them, and suddenly understood.
This was the You River, territory of Qianlong Abyss.
The yaos in the You River were closely tied to Qianlong Abyss.
Killing this giant turtle would probably attract more yaos, and for people who made their living here, that was a disaster they couldn’t afford.
They couldn’t provoke Qianlong Abyss or the man-eating yaos of the You River, but they could take it out on her, a stranger.
Capturing her and sacrificing her to the river might appease the yaos coming for revenge.
Bao Gu stood calmly and asked, “You just watch as the yaos in the water devour your own kind and do nothing? Is that what cultivators do?”
The steward was furious at Bao Gu’s actions and cursed, “What the hell do you know? Take her down!”
A cold voice suddenly sounded from behind the steward.
“Who dares touch her?”
Bao Gu recognized the voice and saw Yu Mi appear behind the steward.
At that moment, Yu Mi was shrouded in a heavy, oppressive aura, a murderous intent that spread from her and made everyone around feel an invisible pressure and a bone-deep fear.
No one doubted she’d start killing at any second, heads flying and blood spraying.
Yu Mi stood tall and proud, her cold voice ringing out.
“So what if she killed a damn turtle?”
The steward sneered, “Big talk! Which sect are you from, girl?”
Suddenly, a panicked voice shouted, “Under the water! There’s something moving under the water!”
A shadow spread beneath the surface, turning it pitch black as countless splashes churned up the muddy riverbed.
A wave of demonic energy spread from below.
Bao Gu could sense countless aquatic creatures surging toward the ship.
There were all kinds, big and small—some the size of common fish, others as large as Golden Core stage beasts—swarming together in a dense mass, impossible to count.
Everyone on deck looked terrified, some even ashen-faced.
But, intimidated by Bao Gu’s display and Yu Mi’s aura, no one dared to complain.
The steward said coldly, “Ignorant brat! You saved a few people but doomed the whole ship!”
Bao Gu shot him a frosty glare and said, “Even beasts know to protect their own and avenge them.
Some people just watch as their own are fed to beasts—worse than animals!” With that, she tapped her toe, rode the wind, and landed on the water a few yards from the ship.
A surge of sword intent radiated from her, her powerful aura stirring the river and lifting the water into the air, condensing it into thousands of razor-sharp ice swords! She shouted, “Fly, all at once—destroy the enemy!” With a wave of her hand, the ice swords, formed from water techniques and sword energy, rained down on the river like a storm, overwhelming and unstoppable.
In an instant, the water for dozens of yards around boiled like a pot.
Sword energy exploded everywhere!
Flesh and blood flew in all directions!
The river turned red with blood!
Bao Gu, sword in hand, waded into the river, hunting down any survivors beneath the sword rain!
Her sword intent was icy cold!
Underwater, sword light surged!
One after another, the yaos’ auras vanished.
The blood-red water spread downstream, dyeing the river for miles, filled with the bodies and chunks of countless slain yaos.
Bao Gu flew out of the water and landed on the ship.
Not a drop of blood stained her, not even a hint of moisture.
The cultivators on the ship stared at her in silence.
The mortals were even more terrified, not daring to make a sound.
To these cultivators, the aquatic creatures that had gathered weren’t particularly strong—anyone at Nascent Soul stage could handle them.
But there were so many, and this woman had killed them all without batting an eye, wiping out every yao and even the fish and shrimp in the area! Everywhere you looked, the river was stained red!
The shock of that sight was overwhelming.
Most importantly, her power was clearly at the Nascent Soul stage, and her swordsmanship was extraordinary—she was a sword cultivator!
The path of the sword cultivator was always one of slaughter and strength.
What made it even more chilling was that this was the You River, Qianlong Abyss’s territory! This was like digging up the tiger’s den!
She clearly didn’t care about Qianlong Abyss or fear death.
The steward shouted, “Dock the ship! If you want to live, run for it!”
Chaos broke out on the ship!
Someone wailed, pounding their chest, “My goods! That’s everything I own! How am I supposed to move it all?!”
“You’re still thinking about your goods? When the river god comes, you won’t even have your life!”
“Yeah, when immortals fight, mortals suffer!”
The mortals on board were in total disarray.
The cultivators all took off, flying away on their treasures or riding the wind.
Bao Gu suddenly felt a mix of emotions.
These people were just trying to survive on the You River, sacrificing a few to save the many.
She’d saved a few, killed the yaos and fish that gathered, but now the whole ship was in danger, forced to abandon ship and flee.
She sent a voice transmission: “Don’t panic.
Keep going.
I’ll handle this.” With that, she stepped onto her flying sword, went to Yu Mi, pulled her up, and rose into the air, hovering above where she’d killed the giant turtle.
The steward quickly ordered, “Set sail! Go! Get out of here!”
Yu Mi asked, “Are we fighting here?”
Bao Gu smiled calmly.
“Why not have another fight here?”
Yu Mi grinned like a kid with candy and said, “I just got a new sword.” She winked at Bao Gu.
“It’s a really good sword.”
Bao Gu knew she meant the Nanming Lihuo Sword.
She whispered, “It’s not time to reveal your identity yet.
Use a different weapon.”
Yu Mi winked playfully, pulled out a sharp, delicate curved blade, and said, “Then I’ll use a knife.”
Bao Gu asked, “You know how to use a knife?”
Yu Mi replied, “Are you underestimating me? I’m a master of all eighteen weapons—there’s nothing I can’t use!”
Bao Gu suddenly sensed something and said quietly, “They’re here!” As she spoke, a group of yao cultivators stepped out of a teleportation array in midair ahead of them.
These yaos wore thick armor and were huge—Bao Gu and Yu Mi weren’t even as tall as their waists.
Their cultivation was strong enough to take full human form, and their weapons were all decent Nascent Soul stage treasures.
There were twelve in total—a perfect dozen.
The leader growled, “You’ve got guts, causing trouble in the You River! Name yourselves!”
Yu Mi answered proudly, “Fine, Soul Chasing Pavillion, Jade Shura!” The curved blade she’d been holding was now at her waist, and her fingers were idly stroking the hilt—a signature move of Soul Chasing Pavillion before a fight, one Jade Shura had picked up, and now Yu Mi was doing it too.
