As soon as Yu Mi spoke, the first to be shocked were the cultivators who had just left the merchant ship and landed on the shore to watch, followed by the twelve demon cultivators who stared in disbelief.
This was the Jade Shura who had given Qianlongyuan and the Earth Ghost Dragon God such a resounding slap in the face?
Look at her age—matches! Look at her manner, bearing, clothes, and accessories—matches! Look at the aura and the strength she’s showing—also matches! As for her face—well, Disguise Pills might be expensive for most people, but for a young sect master with several Void Tearing stage protective treasures hanging off her, it probably costs less than a meal or a cup of tea.
The face might be a bit off, but the vibe and mannerisms are definitely similar.
The cultivators in the distance exchanged glances, their expressions shifting as they tried to figure out what to make of this.
Maybe they thought Jade Shura was just too bold, daring to show up in Qianlongyuan again.
Others figured that if this really was Jade Shura, someone who dared to snatch the Mirage Dragon Pearl even when the Earth Ghost Dragon God himself came for it, then slaughtering a few demon beasts in Youjiang was nothing! Jade Shura’s cultivation wasn’t high, but her strength was solid, and most importantly, she had powerful backers.
“Blade Order Master” Bao Gu and “Killing Empress” Qu Yirou—so far, the only way to describe them was: whoever messes with them dies!
Just as “Jade Shura” announced herself and everyone was still in shock, she suddenly moved.
There was a sharp “clang” as a blade was drawn, and “Jade Shura” vanished from her spot without warning, tearing through the void.
The next instant, she appeared silently beside the lead demon cultivator, her blade flashing coldly across his neck, sending a spray of blood and a head flying.
She then leapt back, the space around her rippling slightly, and disappeared.
That move stunned the onlookers on the shore, who shouted, “It really is Soul Chasing Pavillion’s Jade Shura!” Soul Chasing Pavillion’s stealth killing techniques were ghostly and unpredictable, killing without a trace.
Especially “Killing Empress,” who had mastered this move to perfection—rumor had it that even late-stage Void Tearing experts couldn’t sense her approach, and by the time they realized she was there, her soul-stealing blade had already taken their head—
Bao Gu was also stunned by Yu Mi’s sudden attack! A flash of doubt crossed her eyes: wasn’t Senior Sister’s cultivation supposed to be crippled?
In the moment she was distracted, the group of demon cultivators snapped out of it and scattered in panic, fleeing for their lives! Some turned into giant birds, flapping desperately to fly away, others transformed into aquatic beasts and dove into the water, swimming off at top speed, and some became land beasts, riding the wind as they ran.
Basically, they all reverted to their true forms to unleash their full power and escape as fast as possible.
These eleven demon cultivators, all capable of fully taking human form, ran fast, but Yu Mi was even faster.
A demon cultivator who’d turned into a giant bird was flapping its wings to flee when “Jade Shura” suddenly flashed past it.
The bird flew another yard or two before its head suddenly fell off, a jet of blood spurting from its neatly severed neck, and then its body dropped…
The next moment, another fleeing demon cultivator not far from the bird met the same end…
One after another, the demon cultivators were beheaded like chopping carrots!
The farthest any of them got was barely ten miles away.
“Jade Shura” struck cleanly and decisively, using the simplest moves, the most effective angles, and the deadliest methods to kill in one blow.
Her attacks were as smooth as flowing water, with no wasted motion, and every move was pure and practiced to perfection.
Such a dazzling display left the surrounding cultivators with no doubt that “Jade Shura” was the real deal.
Even Bao Gu started to wonder if Jade Shura had taken a Disguise Pill and swapped places with her Senior Sister at some point.
She stared in shock as Yu Mi, after killing the demon cultivators, went to collect their bodies and toss them into her storage treasure before returning to her side.
Bao Gu looked her up and down, even grabbing Yu Mi’s wrist to check her dantian.
Yu Mi’s dantian was full of spiritual power—forget Nascent Soul, there wasn’t even a trace of a Golden Core!
Yu Mi seemed to notice Bao Gu’s confusion and smiled, “Isn’t your combat power also hard to judge by normal standards?”
Bao Gu snapped out of it and immediately understood.
Body-refining cultivator! She’d always overlooked that her Senior Sister was also a body-refiner who had fused with the Nanming Lihuo Sword.
Her Senior Sister’s primordial spirit had been scattered, but only her soul was injured—her body had long since healed! Her Senior Sister had been refined by her Master with the Myriad Spirits Cauldron and fused with the Nanming Lihuo Sword! Once the fusion succeeded, that was body-refining at its peak.
In terms of body-refining cultivation, her Senior Sister’s strength was no less than her own now.
The only difference was that Bao Gu had fused with the Xuantian Sword, an upper-realm immortal weapon, while her Senior Sister had fused with a spirit weapon she’d forged and upgraded herself—the difference was in the weapon.
Yu Mi had been trying to connect with the Nanming Lihuo Sword fused into her bloodline on the ship, and she’d already told Bao Gu earlier that she could now use the Nanming Lihuo Sword, meaning she could use the power of the fusion.
In terms of cultivation, the fusion stage was equivalent to Nascent Soul, but with the boost from the fused weapon, body-refiners had a huge advantage in close combat over regular cultivators.
With Yu Mi at peak fusion stage, plus the killing skills she’d honed over the years, slaughtering these demon cultivators who were only thinking of running was as easy as chopping carrots.
Yu Mi said, “Let’s go, let’s rest on the shore for a bit! I’ll treat you to demon beast meat!” With that, she pulled Bao Gu down to a flat spot by the riverbank.
She asked, “What do you want to eat? Something that flies, swims, or runs?”
Bao Gu, who was considering her next move, replied, “Anything’s fine.” Her original plan was to quietly follow the merchant ship into one of Qianlongyuan’s heavily guarded water forts or cities, then suddenly unleash the thirty thousand troops from her giant storage bag, catching them off guard and picking off Qianlongyuan’s outer forces one by one to wear down their strength.
Qianlongyuan had three hundred thousand troops, but with half sent to deal with the mad demon, only one hundred fifty thousand were left to guard the Youjiang area, and most of those had to stay at headquarters, so the forces at each fort or city wouldn’t be many.
With her giant storage bag, she could make thirty thousand troops appear and disappear at will, striking at Qianlongyuan’s weak points and keeping them off balance.
But now, with this commotion and the “Jade Shura” identity, Qianlongyuan would definitely send people after them, messing up her original plan.
Yu Mi picked out a big golden fish from the demon cultivators she’d just killed.
The fish was over three meters long, its body slender, looking a bit like a giant loach, with a row of long, bristly, spiny fins running from head to tail, and claw-like spines on its belly fins, making it look like a dragon’s claw with webbing.
After tossing the fish’s body out of her storage ring, Yu Mi also threw out the head.
The fish had six long golden whiskers, and its head was flatter than a normal fish’s, again a bit like a loach.
The weird-looking fish immediately caught Bao Gu’s attention.
She looked closely, her lips parting in surprise, and cried, “Dragon fish!” Dragon fish were rare, and one this big was even rarer!
Yu Mi took out a sharp dagger and skillfully pried open the top of the fish’s skull, revealing a chicken-egg-sized, pale yellow, irregularly round, crystal-like object inside.
She put it in a jade box and stored it away.
Then she took out a big cauldron, a pile of seasonings, and a stack of chopped firewood from her storage ring.
She said to Bao Gu, “You start the fire!” and began to scale the dragon fish.
The scales of a fully transformed dragon fish were great for making magic treasures, and grinding them into powder made good medicine too.
Bao Gu saw that the cauldron wasn’t a magic treasure and had burn marks on the bottom, so she knew it was for cooking.
She could tell her Little Martial Aunt, the “foodie,” was planning to cook and eat the whole dragon fish.
She said, “This doesn’t seem like a good place to stay.”
Yu Mi kept cleaning the fish without looking up.
“What’s there to be afraid of? To deal with a Nascent Soul cultivator, do you think they’ll send a Void Tearing cultivator?”
Bao Gu thought that made sense.
Her Senior Sister had claimed to be Jade Shura, who was only at peak Nascent Soul stage, so at most Qianlongyuan would send some God Transformation stage cultivators or demon cultivators.
Sending a Void Tearing cultivator to catch a Nascent Soul cultivator would be too embarrassing for them!
Yu Mi was quick with the fish, and soon had it all sliced up.
The fire under the cauldron was already going, and the spring water was boiling.
Yu Mi said, “This dragon fish is at least a thousand years old, but its meat is still very tender—a real delicacy.
In a big restaurant, a fish like this would cost at least five or six hundred top-grade spirit stones.
One dragon fish is worth more than a Nascent Soul cultivator’s life.” As she spoke, she dumped all the fish slices into the pot, along with the head and some spirit herbs.
As soon as the water boiled, the aroma spread everywhere.
Bao Gu, who usually didn’t care much about food, couldn’t help but swallow at the smell.
She eagerly leaned over the cauldron and said, “With slices this thin and tender, shouldn’t they be cooked as soon as the water boils?”
Yu Mi laughed, “Meat from a late-stage transformed demon beast doesn’t cook that easily.” She added more firewood, making the fire blaze even hotter.
Bao Gu replied, “Oh,” and, being quick on the uptake, rummaged through her giant storage bag, pulling out a jade table and stools, bowls and chopsticks, and even a fish platter for the dragon fish meat, all ready for the meal.
If her Senior Sister was cooking, it had to be delicious.
Suddenly, she remembered how, back at the Lingyun Peak courtyard, her Senior Sister would cook demon beast meat with spirit herbs.
Back then, her cultivation was low and her strength weak, but with Lingyun Peak to herself, she could cultivate in peace, and the spirit treasures in the yard and wild game in the mountains were enough to feed her.
She didn’t have to worry about survival or being killed for her treasures.
Looking back, those were her most peaceful days.
Life was hard, but steady.
Bao Gu’s heart stirred.
She stepped forward and hugged Yu Mi tightly from behind.
Yu Mi was a little surprised.
“What’s wrong?”
Bao Gu said, “I just remembered when I was still at Qi Refining stage, cooking demon beast meat with you.” The memory made her heart ache, and she hugged Yu Mi even tighter.
Yu Mi said, “If you like it, I’ll cook for you every day from now on.”
Bao Gu murmured her agreement.
There were lots of merchant ships and cultivators on the river, and divine sense kept sweeping over them.
With so many eyes around, she was a little embarrassed to keep clinging to Yu Mi, so she let go.
The aroma from the cauldron grew stronger and stronger, making Bao Gu’s mouth water.
She even worried that the smell would attract someone to try and steal the cauldron and the dragon fish.
She had thirty thousand troops in her pocket—if anyone tried to steal her dragon fish, she’d crush them with her army.
Just as Bao Gu had that thought, she suddenly sensed movement behind her, followed by a pleasant voice: “Smells amazing!” The next moment, a figure appeared by the cauldron, rolling up her sleeves to reveal snow-white arms and slender jade fingers, picking up a ladle and dipping it into the pot.
Bao Gu bristled, instinctively wanting to summon the Xuantian Sword and strike, but then realized the voice and figure were familiar.
Looking closely, she saw it was none other than Qu Yirou, the master of Soul Chasing Pavillion! At the moment, Qu Yirou had suppressed her aura, making it impossible to tell her strength.
Qu Yirou scooped up some dragon fish meat, checked the doneness, then tasted the soup.
Only then did she turn and smile at Yu Mi and Bao Gu.
“I heard Jade Shura just showed up and killed twelve God Transformation Stage demon cultivators from Qianlongyuan in one go.
Where is she?”
Bao Gu looked at Qu Yirou guiltily.
Impersonating someone was a big taboo in any sect.
Yu Mi replied calmly, “I’ll treat you to dragon fish, so don’t bother about Jade Shura killing twelve God Transformation Stage demon cultivators from Qianlongyuan—just a minor detail.”
Qu Yirou gave them both an exasperated but amused look.
“You two are really something.” They were supposed to be at war, but here they were, risking exposure to play heroes.
And not only that, after the fight, they didn’t even leave—they stayed to cook the dragon fish right where they’d killed it, adding spirit herbs and treasures, making the smell so tempting she couldn’t resist coming out.
If her Ah Guai could kill twelve God Transformation Stage demon cultivators in one go, she’d be grinning in her sleep.
Yu Mi said, “Improving cultivation and strength is the top priority.
Anything else, no matter how big, can wait.” She served the cooked dragon fish into a beautiful jade bowl.
“Even if we have to fight, we need to eat and drink our fill first to have the energy.”
Qu Yirou scolded, “Nonsense!” But even as she scolded, she picked up her chopsticks, took the bowl Bao Gu handed her, and with a wave of her sleeve, moved the jade table and stools right next to the cauldron before sitting down to eat.
If the cauldron hadn’t been too big, she would’ve put it right on the table.
With delicious dragon fish, there had to be good wine.
Qu Yirou pulled out a jug of spirit wine and poured cups for Yu Mi and Bao Gu, then filled one for herself.
The three of them sat by the Youjiang River, eating dragon fish, the aroma wafting for miles, making everyone on the passing boats—human and demon alike—salivate, but they all kept their distance.
But just as they’d taken a few bites, people from Qianlongyuan arrived.
Over two hundred Nascent Soul stage demon cultivators and cultivators charged over, full of murderous intent.
Yu Mi and Qu Yirou put down their bowls and charged into the crowd of Nascent Soul cultivators, chopping necks and “carrots.” Before they rushed out, they reminded Bao Gu, “Guard the pot!”
The leader was a late-stage God Transformation cultivator.
Seeing another Qu Yirou appear, whose killing skills were at least as good as “Jade Shura’s,” he shouted, “Who are you?” As soon as he finished, Qu Yirou vanished, and the next thing he knew, his head was flying off his neck.
Then he heard the person who’d cut him down say, “Soul Chasing Pavillion’s Jade Ah Guai!”
“Pfft—cough cough cough—” Bao Gu, who was guarding the pot, bowl in hand, sipping soup and watching Yu Mi and Qu Yirou collect heads, suddenly heard Qu Yirou say that, and the dragon fish soup she’d just sipped shot right up her nose…
