Following the traces the three of them left behind, Qianlong Abyss’s forces chased all the way, only to either pounce on empty air or charge straight into the deathtraps they’d laid.
Those formations were kill arrays in the truest sense. Once activated, they drew in the power of heaven and earth to obliterate the array and everything inside it, leaving no survivors at all. A Nascent Soul stage cultivator caught inside had absolutely no way out; even Soul Transformation or Void Tearing stage experts would end up in a sorry state.
What enraged Qianlong Abyss the most was this: after their formation experts finally spent a great deal of time and effort breaking those arrays, they discovered that the materials used by the Machete Order Master to set them up had all been stripped from the corpses of Qianlong Abyss’s own demon cultivators.
The demon cultivators of Qianlong Abyss who died in their hands—their flesh had been eaten, and their bones, hides, scales, and armor had been refined by the Machete Order Master into formation materials, then laid back down as arrays… aimed right at them.
Of Qianlong Abyss’s three hundred thousand troops, more than half were demon cultivators. To the Machete Order Master, that was a sea of raw materials everywhere she looked. She harvested and used on the spot, laying arrays and traps wherever she passed. Cultivators who died inside those formations almost all had their souls destroyed and bodies erased, not even bones left behind.
Her methods were so vicious that even these bandits and demon cultivators, steeped in countless lives of blood, felt their scalps go numb.
No one wanted to die, and certainly no one wanted to be the idiot who walked into a trap.
Yet from start to finish, during the relentless pursuit, all they ever saw were traces of the three women—and all they ever ran into were the traps they’d left. Once you were hit, a Nascent Soul stage cultivation simply meant no chance of survival.
The three of them roamed the thousands of li of the You River region, slipping around the Heavenly Demon Dragon Cavalry as well as the heavily garrisoned river forts and major cities. Any demon cultivators patrolling the waterways, or the scattered small units stationed all over, had no chance at all if they bumped into them.
Put simply: anyone under two hundred strong, without a Void Tearing stage overseer from Qianlong Abyss, was fair game in their eyes.
And once they encountered them, the end was always miserable.
If it was a human cultivator, they killed them and burned the corpse to ash.
If it was a demon cultivator… just the thought was enough to make the demon clans of Qianlong Abyss shudder.
They were only three people, standing on teleportation platforms, able to instantly flee hundreds or even a thousand li away.
Qianlong Abyss’s main forces, on the other hand, were much slower.
To move an army by teleportation, they had to use domain gates. Those were meant for campaigns between major powers over long distances. Never mind the terrifying resource cost to activate one, a domain gate couldn’t be carried around. Only hundred-zhang warships and Qianlong Abyss’s core bases had them.
A five-thousand-strong unit lugging a domain gate around just to chase three women? That was a joke.
By the time they finished deploying the domain gate, lined up the army, transmitted, then re-formed battle lines on the other end, those three would long be gone. Besides, whether you used a teleportation array or a domain gate, you needed coordinates. Who knew where those three were going next?
And if they did know, they could just block them directly. Why would they bother with a domain gate?
Right now Qianlong Abyss couldn’t even get a grip on their movements.
With Immortal-Quest Sect’s downfall as a vivid lesson, no matter how arrogant Qianlong Abyss was, they didn’t dare let this slaughter god, the Machete Order Master, run wild in the You River region.
※※※
Night sank deep and still. A round, bright moon hung high overhead. Moonlight spilled down, shrouding the drifting clouds, making that hazy veil seem all the more strange and shifting.
The abandoned village beneath the moon was so silent there wasn’t the slightest sound.
In the middle of the village stood a blackened tree trunk, five or six people needed to join hands to encircle it. Only one charred section of trunk remained, still bearing the scars left by heavenly lightning.
Beside the tree was an ancient stone well in the shape of a Bagua, eight-sided and archaic in style. The water inside had risen to the lip and overflowed, rippling faintly under the moonlight.
A dozen paces from the well, beside a dried-out drainage ditch, lay a long bluestone slab, around eight feet in length, built into a washing platform. The surface of the slab had been worn extremely smooth.
Bao Gu, in snow-white robes, sat lazily atop that bluestone washing platform. She held a wine jug in one hand, drinking in unhurried sips, her gaze fixed on Yu Mi, who sat a short distance away by a campfire.
Yu Mi was cross-legged, her body wreathed in surging fire spiritual power as she cultivated.
A sweet, trembling warmth flowed quietly through Bao Gu’s heart.
For her, becoming an immortal, revitalizing her sect, ascending to the upper realm—these were responsibilities she shouldered.
But the person in front of her was her true longing behind it all.
What she wanted most was simply to stay quietly at Yu Mi’s side. Just like now. Doing nothing, saying nothing—simply sitting there, keeping Yu Mi company, watching her. That was enough.
Yet this moment was not peaceful, but deathly still.
There wasn’t even the rustle of a snake, mouse, insect, or ant in the surroundings.
At dusk, when they arrived at this village, a Golden Core stage weasel spirit had darted out of the dilapidated shrine at the village entrance that worshiped a weasel god. The weasel had squeaked and slipped straight into the hole under the shrine.
Not long after, it was as if some great disaster was about to descend—every animal on the nearby mountains fled in panic.
Bao Gu guessed that in the last two days they had killed too many demon cultivators and eaten far too much demonic beast meat. They’d eaten so much wild demon beast flesh that now anything with a bit of demonic beast blood turned tail and ran at the sight of them.
Or maybe… something else?
Bao Gu sensed something amiss and lifted her eyes—but saw nothing.
She called out softly, “Senior Sister.”
Then stared upward in shock.
In an instant, everything above her turned pitch black. The starry sky and moon were completely blotted out. The entire village was swallowed by darkness, leaving only the campfire’s faint glow.
Yu Mi finished her circulation and drew back her qi. She opened her eyes and looked toward Bao Gu. Seeing the wariness on Bao Gu’s face, she knew something was wrong.
She asked, “Any word from Pavilion Master Qu?”
Bao Gu shook her head.
“No.”
Yu Mi focused her senses, sweeping a gaze over the area.
“Why is it so quiet?” she asked. “Bao Gu, did you sense anything unusual before this?”
Seeing the situation, Bao Gu could already guess their tracks had most likely been exposed. What she didn’t understand was how.
She thought for a moment, then asked, somewhat uncertain, “When we got here, we scared off a Golden Core stage weasel, and then all the animals in the area migrated. Does that count?”
She looked at Yu Mi and blinked guiltily.
If that didn’t count as suspicious, then how were they supposed to explain what was happening now?
As soon as the words left her mouth, she saw Yu Mi staring at her, face twisted in horror as if she wanted to eat someone. Bao Gu’s guilt grew.
“Don’t tell me,” she said weakly, “that weasel went and reported to Qianlong Abyss?”
Through gritted teeth, Yu Mi asked, “Have you even heard of Qianlong Abyss’s one hundred and eight clans?”
She didn’t want to scold Bao Gu too harshly. After all, Bao Gu had almost no experience roaming the outside world, so she had no instinctive sense of danger for things like this. And because Yu Mi’s cultivation had been crippled, her divine sense range was very weak; she couldn’t easily read the movements in the area either.
Bao Gu hummed an acknowledgment.
“We’re only three people,” she said. “Qianlong Abyss has already dispatched the Heavenly Demon Dragon Cavalry. If they also send out the one hundred and eight clans, wouldn’t that be a bit…”
Her voice trailed off. The more she said, the less confident she sounded.
She knew well how serious it could be to underestimate the enemy or pin your hopes on luck.
Yu Mi cut her off.
“Leave that aside for now. I suspect Qianlong Abyss has already wrapped us up tight.”
She exhaled slowly.
“We’re dumplings in their pot. Go scout and see what’s going on out there.”
Even if Yu Mi hadn’t said it, Bao Gu would have gone to check.
As Bao Gu flew out of the village, Yu Mi called after her,
“Hide your presence! Use the Void-Stealth Escape Art!”
“Be careful,” Bao Gu replied.
Then she activated the Void-Stealth Escape Art and slipped silently toward the outer edge of the village.
Outside the village, she had already laid down a defensive formation using flags gifted by her Demon Saint aunt. A formation forged from Void Tearing grade materials could withstand even several blasts from a warship.
Stepping along the formation nodes, she quickly reached the very edge of the village.
But there, she saw only darkness, as if the world beyond had been draped in black cloth. She couldn’t see a thing.
Within the darkness, she could feel life-forms stealthily moving all around.
From a formation not far away came an impatient voice.
“Catching the Machete Order Master, dead or alive, is a massive military merit. Old Man, if you still can’t break this array, we might as well bring the warship up and blast this place open. If we let her slip away, we’re in trouble.”
“Hmph. What’s the rush? I’ve already sealed this entire village with a grand array. Right now she’s a turtle in a jar, she can’t sprout wings and fly.”
A slow, muffled voice, heavy with irritation, rumbled out.
“What was that supposed to mean?”
“Ahem, Brother Turtle, I wasn’t talking about you. It was just a metaphor!”
“Brother Turtle” snorted.
“Even as a metaphor, don’t use me as the example. Annoying. Is the Machete Order Master’s array really that hard to break? Old Man, isn’t this just something she threw together for temporary defense? You’ve been at it this long—are you even up to this?”
“You don’t understand shit—”
The one they called Old Man snorted, then continued more respectfully,
“Marshal Turtle, that’s not how you put it. I estimate this array isn’t actually her own work. See those faintly visible flags up ahead? Those are Void Tearing grade treasures.”
He lowered his voice slightly, as if savoring the words.
“The Snowfield Demon Saint. Ever heard of her? She’s the Machete Order Master’s master. You think she wouldn’t give her disciple a few life-saving treasures? The girl’s skill in formations is famous throughout the cultivation world, and the Snowfield Demon Saint is even stronger than she is. If we manage to break this array and take those flags… just imagine… a full defensive flag set personally refined by the Snowfield Demon Saint, Void Tearing grade…”
The first voice clearly had his heart set on those flags. He let out a greedy chuckle.
“Heh, heh. Old Man, take your time with the array. We won’t bother you.”
Then, wariness crept into his tone.
“But you really sealed this place tight, yeah? She’s not getting out?”
Old Man sounded both confident and faintly vicious.
“She wants to run? Only if she breaks out by force.”
“Then I can relax,” the first voice said. “The three of our clans joined forces and brought ten thousand troops to press down on this place. Not even with wings can she escape.”
Another voice chimed in,
“With the three of our clans working together, catching her will be more than easy. We definitely can’t let word of this get to the Heavenly Demon Dragon Cavalry. If they show up and snatch this credit from us, that’d be a huge waste.”
“Exactly! Exactly! I heard the Dragon God still wants that Mirage Dragon Pearl in her hand. How could we let those turtle sons of bitches from the Heavenly Demon Dragon Cavalry grab it? They already ride over our heads all day…”
“What did you just say? Call me Grandpa Turtle, you little bastard! ‘Turtle son of a bitch’ your mother!”
“Hey, I’m talking serious business here, and you, you turtle spawn, just keep yapping? Screw you, you dog-fucked bastard.”
“Fuck you! Dog-fucked? You got a problem with our Jackal Clan?”
“Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue! Brother Dog, Brother Dog, my apologies… hahahaha…”
“Enough crap! We of the Weasel Clan were the first to discover the Machete Order Master. When we take her down, the credit, we get the biggest share…”
That immediately drew objections from those around him.
Bao Gu had no time to listen to them bicker over military merit. They hadn’t even caught her yet and were already busy dividing the spoils.
They really thought she was that easy to capture?
The array outside blocked her senses; Bao Gu couldn’t clearly see the situation beyond. But from the directions and distances of their voices, she could tell they had ringed the entire village.
And that Old Man breaking her array… actually dared covet the flags her Demon Saint aunt had given her?
Tsk.
A single “Heaven-Shrouding Grand Array” and they thought they could seal her inside and lock her down?
Were they underestimating her, or underestimating her Demon Saint aunt?
