Since she could tell there was something wrong with that valley, only an idiot would walk into it.
In the face of absolutely overwhelming power, all tricks were just paper tigers.
At a single command, the five thousand elites of Qianlong Abyss surrounded the valley. The five thousand elites, with each formation of a hundred “men” forming a square battle array, combined their formation with twenty warships and launched an all-out assault on the valley. Brilliant beams of light wove together into a vast, dazzling curtain. The enormous valley was drowned beneath that destructive bombardment. Mountains, rocks, grass, and trees within were all reduced to drifting ash in an instant beneath that crushing force.
Two sticks of incense later, the bombardment stopped.
The valley, after that merciless barrage, was shrouded in swirling dust and smoke. No trace of life remained.
Opposite the valley, at a distance, stood a low hill. It wasn’t high or big, but it was lush with vegetation, rich in game, and—most importantly—populated.
Scattered over the mountain were a few small villages. The distant thunder of explosions, the blinding light from the valley, and the terrifying aura spreading from that direction filled the mountain folk with dread. Children huddled in their parents’ arms, so frightened they didn’t even dare to cry.
Halfway up the mountain, a waterfall plunged from the heavens. Driven by the mountain wind, the drifting spray shifted and changed form. The water crashed down into the layered sea of green forest below, flowed on for a time, then once again gathered into a straight silver stream that leaped off a cliff and poured into the abyss beneath.
Between the two sections of waterfall was a stretch of deep green woodland, where a brook wound along, half-hidden among the trees.
Beside the stream, under a moss-covered tree, a bonfire burned. Above the flames was a crab even bigger than a bathtub. Under the fierce roasting fire, its shell turned glossy, oil-slick and golden, droplets of fat dripping into the flames with a constant sizzling hiss.
Bao Gu sat cross-legged beside the fire, staring at the crab again and again, her doubtful gaze drifting from time to time to Qu Yirou, who stood straight-backed, looking off into the distance toward the valley, and to Yu Mi, who was bent over, grinding spices.
She was truly curious who had killed this crab demon.
She knew that both Yu Mi and the master of Soul Chasing Pavilion always went for necks and heads when they killed. Crabs had no neck, and their heads were under the shell. Yet somehow, one of them had managed, with a single blade, to carve a clean, arcing groove from the left side of the left eye all the way across to the right side of the right eye. If not for how neat the cut was, it honestly looked like someone had taken a bite out of a pie.
Without even lifting her head, Yu Mi said,
“Stop staring. We didn’t cut into the crab roe. Everything I scooped out was the stuff that’s not really fit to eat. What, you planning to gnaw on this crab demon’s mouth?”
Bao Gu’s gaze fell on Yu Mi’s lips, and she thought to herself: I’d much rather eat your mouth.
Far off, the bombardment in the valley stopped. She stood up and looked over. The main force of Qianlong Abyss had reformed into a proper marching army. From within the ranks, twenty demon cultivators who were extremely fast and good at concealing themselves broke away, fanning out in all directions.
The distance was too far for Bao Gu to make out details, but she could easily guess they were scouts.
She didn’t dare stare that way for too long. She knew this feeling all too well herself; even when you couldn’t sense the other party’s presence, the moment their gaze or spiritual sense fell on you, every pore on your body would bristle, as if you were being targeted by a predator. Every cultivator knew that feeling—and, often enough, even mortals did.
She wasn’t worried at all about Qianlong Abyss sending scouts to look for them. On the road, with two top experts in escape and stealth like Qu Yirou and Yu Mi around, their tracks along the way had been thoroughly wiped out—aside from the misleading traces they’d deliberately left behind.
As for the place they were currently resting, she had full confidence in the concealment formation she’d laid down.
It was hard to hide the movements of a marching army of tens of thousands, but covering the tracks of three people? That was child’s play.
Qu Yirou came back and sat down beside the crab roasting over the bonfire. She checked the heat, then brushed on another layer of sauce Yu Mi had made.
She said,
“As expected of one of Qianlong Abyss’s three main forces—the seventy-two Heavenly Demon Dragon Cavalry Guards. The weakest of them is at mid Deity Transformation, most are in the late stage, and the ten leading them are all at the Void Tearing stage. Whether they’re on the march or sitting still, they maintain formation the whole time. There’s practically no way to launch a surprise attack on them.
“What about you? What did you see?”
Bao Gu said,
“My Holy Aunt’s skill in formations is very high.”
Qu Yirou fell silent for a moment, then gave her a look.
“And what does the Demon Saint’s mastery of formations have to do with this?”
Bao Gu said,
“Didn’t you notice Qianlong Abyss’s warships didn’t maintain a continuous bombardment?”
Qu Yirou couldn’t help but laugh.
“They bombarded for two full sticks of incense and blasted the entire valley into dust, and you still think that’s not ‘continuous’? Stop being mysterious and just say it.”
Bao Gu said,
“The strength of a warship lies in defense and offense. To forge a powerful warship, you don’t only need high-grade materials and refinement techniques—you also need a steady energy supply.
“Right now in the cultivation world, warships are either powered by spirit stones, or they draw power from heaven and earth through the formations built into them. If you use spirit stones to continuously power a warship, the consumption is enormous. No one can afford that for long, so very few warships use spirit stones as their main energy source. At most, slightly stronger sects will keep some spirit stones on board for emergencies.
“The vast majority rely on formations to draw power from heaven and earth. So the level of the formations engraved on the ship basically decides how strong the warship is.
“We don’t know yet how strong Qianlong Abyss’s defensive formations are, but their offensive formation is… not great.”
Qu Yirou asked,
“How can you tell?”
Bao Gu said,
“Because the warships of Qianlong Abyss couldn’t link their bombardments seamlessly. Between each round of fire, there was a brief pause. I counted—fifteen breaths. That should be the time their attack formation needs to draw in energy from heaven and earth.”
Qu Yirou blinked, taken aback.
“If top experts were fighting, a fifteen-breath gap is enough to get you killed. But warships have a powerful hull for defense, plus defensive formations, and the ships can cover for each other. It doesn’t seem like that big a problem. As far as I know, Qianlong Abyss claims to have a thousand warships; sheer numbers can also compensate for that gap.
“Or… do you see something else?”
She knew Bao Gu didn’t bring things up for no reason. If she’d pointed this out, she must have noticed something deeper.
Bao Gu said,
“The fact Qianlong Abyss’s warships have a fifteen-breath gap between salvoes shows their warships only use a single-layer attack formation.”
Qu Yirou looked a bit lost. She rubbed her forehead.
“Soul Chasing Pavilion is an assassination outfit. We don’t use warships. I don’t know much about them. Spell it out.”
Bao Gu said,
“The warships of Kan Gang and Xuantian Sect use multi-layer formations. That is, the ship carries several sets of formations, stacked and interlocked—a chained formation system.
“When they fire, one layer can bombard while the others are drawing power from heaven and earth. Even if the warship takes damage, as long as it isn’t utterly blown apart, any section that’s still intact can almost always launch another attack.
“From the way Qianlong Abyss’s warships fired, I can be sure their ships only have a single-layer formation. In other words, the entire hull is one integrated formation that handles both offense and defense.
“As long as you find the weak point in their formation, or the array eye position, their warships will shatter like tofu with a single hit.”
Qu Yirou asked,
“You’re saying that just from that fifteen-breath gap, you can be certain Qianlong Abyss’s warships only have one formation and no backup?”
Bao Gu said,
“If there were a backup formation, the two formations could rotate—while one fires, the other draws power from heaven and earth. That way you’d get seamless fire with no gaps.”
Qu Yirou frowned slightly, still puzzled.
“Then why doesn’t Qianlong Abyss use multi-layer formations?”
Bao Gu said,
“Multi-layer formations are stacked and interlocked. They can be separate entities or linked into a unified whole. You have to consider space-law applications, and every array pillar must bear precisely calculated force. Then there’s engraving all the formation talismans.
“If your formation mastery isn’t high enough—if your calculations aren’t precise enough—there’s a big chance the formation will collapse or self-destruct when you activate it.
“Ordinary warships usually use a single integrated formation that handles both offense and defense. To build a warship with multi-layer formations, you have to invest a huge amount of time just in the formation design and layout. You even have to integrate array materials into the refining of the structural components themselves. The cost is several times that of a normal warship, at least.
“So, Pavilion Master—if you had the same budget, would you rather build one multi-layer warship, or five or six single-layer ones?”
Qu Yirou nodded slightly.
“Five or six warships can make up for the difference in formations just by numbers. And multi-layer formations don’t only require an extremely high level of formation mastery—every piece of the ship that needs an engraved sigil has to be perfect. If one part has a flaw, it could cause a disaster. The more advanced something is, the easier it is for something to go wrong.
“From a risk–reward perspective, building single-layer warships really is more cost-effective.”
Bao Gu said,
“I need to get my hands on a Qianlong Abyss warship and study their formation. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll have to sneak close while they’re firing to observe at short range.”
Qu Yirou said,
“No rush. As long as they’ve got warships cruising around outside, we’ll have a chance to make a move.”
As she spoke, she sensed movement from the valley, looked up, and saw that the scouts Qianlong Abyss had sent out had found something and were returning to report.
They’d deliberately muddied the waters, leaving traces in several places to mislead them. Qianlong Abyss had strength and confidence to spare; based on the clues they’d gathered, they split their troops into three branches, spreading out for a comb-like search.
“The crab’s done,” Yu Mi said, and lifted off the top shell.
Qu Yirou looked at the crab. There wasn’t much meat under the opened shell, but what little there was had been roasted to a mouthwatering perfection. She threw a resentful glance at Yu Mi.
“Next time, can’t you roast something with more meat?”
She’d sat here for half an hour, and when the shell finally came off there wasn’t even a couple of taels of meat. She was very, very displeased.
Yu Mi broke off one of the huge claws and handed it to Qu Yirou.
“The claw’s where all the meat is.”
She placed the claw in Qu Yirou’s hand, then took out a large plate. She scooped out the rich, fragrant, spirit-dense crab roe and piled it onto the dish before passing it to Bao Gu.
Yu Mi gave Qu Yirou a claw and Bao Gu the roe—the gap in treatment was obvious. She didn’t seem the least bit worried about Jade Shura coming to settle accounts with her in the future.
Qu Yirou didn’t care about such little things. She lightly applied inner strength and shattered the crab claw’s shell, which was hard enough to be smelted into weapons. Inside, steaming hot, snow‑white meat was revealed, tender and glossy like congealed jade fat.
This crab was absurdly fat.
She slid a dagger through the meat and pried it aside. A gleam of light spilled out, dazzling to the eyes.
Yu Mi blurted,
“What’s that?”
She and Bao Gu leaned in at almost the same time, peering into the claw.
Qu Yirou picked out a pearl slightly larger than a chicken egg, round and crystal-clear like a piece of flawless jade. She shot Yu Mi and Bao Gu a surprised look, then focused her senses on it.
“It should be some sort of treasure that stores water energy.”
She handed it to Bao Gu.
“You’re well-read. Take a look.”
Bao Gu took the bead, held it in her palm, probed it with her sense, then gave it back to Qu Yirou.
“It’s a Water Control Pearl from a Beauty Clam.”
Yu Mi’s eyes flashed. She suddenly took out a large shell about four feet long from her storage ring. The shell was a rich green, with a pearly luster. It was slightly open, and a faint bloody smell seeped out.
She levered the shell fully open.
Inside lay a small, headless humanoid figure, about three feet tall. Its neck was neatly severed, its skin a sickly pale. The head was gone, but the body’s curves were exquisitely formed. Aside from its size, it was no different from a real human.
She swept it with her spiritual sense and, as expected, couldn’t find the Beauty Clam’s Water Control Pearl.
She scratched her head.
“How did a Beauty Clam’s life-bound pearl end up in a crab demon’s claw?”
Bao Gu said,
“Maybe the Beauty Clam and the crab demon were dao partners.”
Qu Yirou muttered under her breath,
“I don’t understand demon love lives.”
Looking at the corpse before her that looked so much like a human, then thinking about how what came from this body had appeared in the crab meat she’d just been about to eat, her appetite vanished.
She cast Yu Mi a wounded look.
“Don’t tell me you were planning to roast this Beauty Clam and eat it too?”
Yu Mi said,
“It looks like a person. How am I supposed to roast that and eat it? But I have heard it tastes incredible—a rare delicacy. Even dragon fish can’t compare in flavor.”
Qu Yirou stared at Yu Mi like she’d seen a monster. Her eyes clearly said: You just said you wouldn’t eat it, and now you’re praising how delicious it is?
Yu Mi said,
“Once we find a place with few people, we’ll use this Beauty Clam to set a trap and sucker in some demon cultivators from Qianlong Abyss. Maybe we’ll catch a few more tasty ones.”
She gave Qu Yirou, who had clearly misunderstood her intentions, a look of pure disdain.
“It’s bait. Do you understand the word ‘bait’?”
Qu Yirou and Bao Gu both looked up at Yu Mi at the same time.
Yu Mi asked,
“What’s with those looks?”
Bao Gu said softly,
“Senior Sister, I suddenly feel like we’re not here to fight a power struggle, but to…”
Yu Mi slanted a look at her.
“To what?”
Qu Yirou quietly finished the thought,
“A mouse that’s fallen into a rice jar.”
She silently offered a moment of sympathy for the demon cultivators of Qianlong Abyss.
Of all the people they could have provoked, they had to provoke Yu Mi the foodie.
She finally understood why Yu Mi was stronger than Jade Shura.
Bao Gu’s loyalties lay with Yu Mi, so she was too embarrassed to nod along, but in her heart, she fully agreed with Qu Yirou.
Because of that Beauty Clam, both Bao Gu and Qu Yirou lost their desire to eat the crab. They packed up the crab meat and the Beauty Clam and moved to another spot.
With Bao Gu here, laying ambushes wasn’t ideal when the enemy had the advantage in numbers. What suited them better was setting traps.
Bao Gu first laid down a concealment formation with an obvious flaw, something sharp scouts could detect. Then she crafted a few substitute jade slips, shaping illusions of the three of them sitting here roasting crab and chatting about the Water Control Pearl and the Beauty Clam.
Of course, you don’t catch a wolf without risking a lamb. The Water Control Pearl was also left there as bait.
At the same time she left the pearl, she set a killing formation. As long as the substitute jade slips weren’t shattered and the pearl wasn’t taken, the killing formation wouldn’t be triggered. To lure the enemy in deeper and hide the killing formation’s presence, she also set up several decoy formations around it.
