After leaving the pavilion, Bao Gu had taken only a few steps when a palace maid who had been waiting nearby on Xuanyue’s orders met her and escorted her to Linger’s Spirit Treasure Garden.
Xuanyue had just laid out a banquet for Qing Ying and Bao Nianhui. When she saw her personal maid leading Bao Gu inside, she rose with slight surprise and asked with a smile,
“That was quick. Are you done talking already?”
Bao Gu smiled faintly.
“Mm.”
Her master’s wife had said only a few words, but Bao Gu understood what lay behind them. In her master’s wife’s eyes, the true Xuantian Sect had already been destroyed. Neither the Xuantian Sect Bao Gu had joined back then nor the present Xuantian Zong was the sect Xuantian had left behind.
Xuanyue thought for a moment and said softly,
“The legacy Father left in this realm has only two inheritors—you and me. You may pass it on to whomever you wish. As long as it does not bring shame to Father, none of us will object.”
As she spoke, she invited Bao Gu to take a seat at the banquet.
Xuanyue knew Bao Gu disliked having people crowd around her to wait on her. With a wave of her sleeve, she dismissed the palace maids, leaving only a few attendants stationed at the hall entrance to await orders.
Qing Ying was already bent over an entire roasted demon beast, battling the carcass in front of her. She used one finger like a knife, slicing off small pieces and sending them into her mouth.
Bao Nianhui, by contrast, behaved impeccably. She first paid her respects to Bao Gu, then sat back down and picked at the exquisite dishes before her, occasionally exchanging a few words with Linger.
Linger asked,
“Why didn’t Sister Yu Mi come?”
“She’s busy making arrangements for the Xuantian Sect with the senior brothers.”
Linger muttered,
“You’re all preparing to leave this realm. Why are you still fussing over such trivial matters?”
Bao Gu knew that Linger’s “trivial matters” referred to the Xuantian Sect. These days, she could no longer honestly call it the orthodox lineage left by Patriarch Xuantian. After a brief pause, she said,
“They’re fellow disciples I met when we were all still obscure. We’ve shared hardship and danger, and it’s rare for people to have such compatible temperaments. If the Xuantian Sect hadn’t taken me in back then, I would never have had the chance to inherit my Master’s legacy, and I wouldn’t be where I am today. For all I know, I would have died of old age long ago and returned to the earth.”
Xuanyue smiled.
“You really do repay a drop of kindness with a spring. Whatever you owed the Xuantian Sect, you’ve already repaid in full.”
Bao Gu nodded lightly.
Xuanyue urged Bao Gu to eat.
“Try what the Demon Realm’s cooks can do. To keep this little menace, Linger, from running off to the cultivation world again, my mother has practically worried herself sick. The chefs at the Demon Emperor’s Palace were even sent to the cultivation world specially to learn how to cook.”
Linger wrinkled her nose and snorted before turning back to talk to Bao Nianhui.
Bao Gu asked Xuanyue,
“Senior Sister, are you planning to stay in the Demon Realm from now on?”
Her master’s wife would surely keep Linger by her side and groom her as the heir to the Demon Emperor’s line. Xuanyue was her master’s wife’s biological daughter, as well as Linger’s dao companion, so naturally the three of them would remain together. However, Xuanyue had been born with mixed immortal and demon blood, and half of her bloodline also belonged to the War King clan. It was not impossible that she might return to the War King clan.
Xuanyue nodded.
“The demon world isn’t as complicated as the human world.”
Bao Gu had expected Xuanyue to say that she would stay with her mother and Linger; she had not expected this answer. Bao Gu did not know the Demon Realm well, but Mountain Guardian Granny had left a deep impression on her. She did not know whether that was because Granny had spent many years living among humans in the cultivation world or simply because it was her nature. Hearing Xuanyue say this, she only smiled faintly and did not respond.
Xuanyue lifted her eyes to glance at Bao Gu, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
“If you never give people your true heart, they cannot hurt you.”
Bao Gu looked up at Xuanyue.
Xuanyue raised a brow.
“Isn’t that so? If you hadn’t treated them as friends and family, why would you be feeling so disappointed and hurt now? The human world is full of using others and being used. Linger told me about your first days in the Xuantian Sect. They protected you so fiercely back then simply because you were worth protecting.”
Bao Gu looked into Xuanyue’s eyes, which seemed capable of seeing through everything, and at her detached expression, as though she knew all there was to know and stood above it all. She then thought of her senior sister and fellow disciples, whose faces had lit up with relief and delight at leaving Xuantian Zong, as if they had finally escaped that bunch.
An inexplicable ache tightened her chest. What Bao Gu cared about and held dear was no more than dust in other people’s eyes.
Seeing Bao Gu’s distress, Linger tried to comfort her.
“Don’t be upset, Bao Gu. The Xuantian Sect founded by my Uncle was destroyed when he died in battle. The Xuantian Sect that exists today is…”
Halfway through, she caught Xuanyue’s sidelong glance and said,
“Yue’er, this isn’t something we need to keep secret. As Uncle’s heir, Bao Gu has the right to know.”
Xuanyue said,
“You weren’t even born then. What could you possibly know?”
Linger replied,
“I was right there when Aunt was talking to you about the Xuantian Sect. You just didn’t notice me curled up nearby, sunning myself while I digested my food.”
Xuanyue could only reply,
“…”
Linger continued,
“Have you never noticed that none of us ever paid any attention to Zi Tianjun and his people?”
Bao Gu nodded lightly. She knew that Linger, her master’s wife, and Sister Xuanyue had never made any effort to hide their contempt for Zi Tianjun.
Linger asked,
“You spent so long in the Xuantian Sect. Didn’t you notice that, apart from Lingyun Peak in the Bamboo Sea Forbidden Land, there are hardly any tall mountains there? The spiritual energy is especially sparse as well, isn’t it? That’s because Uncle relocated the Xuantian Mountain Range when disaster struck. He left only the main peak behind, and that peak was smashed apart. Only the section above the mountainside remains.
“Uncle, the brothers who followed him back then, and the inner disciples at his side all died in battle with him. Those who survived could at most be called outer disciples who had obtained fragmentary cultivation arts. After the sect was destroyed, those outer disciples regrouped and established the later Xuantian Sect. They remained near Lingyun Peak on Cloud Ridge, in the region that had long since become unsuitable for cultivation after the mountain range was moved away. They held up the banner of Uncle’s orthodox inheritance because they wanted to draw the Xuantian Sword.
“Do you think Uncle’s Xuantian Sword is so easy to draw? Everyone who went to try died. Eventually, no one dared go anymore. And what is Zi Tianjun, anyway? The head of the Xuantian Sect’s outer disciples? An outer-disciple sect master whom not one of my Uncle, Aunt, or Cousin has ever acknowledged. He has no proper cultivation arts and no official seal, yet he dares call my Uncle his founding patriarch. We refrained from publicly denying his status and humiliating him before only out of consideration for you.”
Back when Bao Gu was still in the Xuantian Sect, they had grudgingly acknowledged it for her sake. Bao Gu had elevated Sister Yu Mi to the position of heir apparent, so they had not wanted to say much. But now that Bao Gu and Yu Mi had both left Xuantian Zong—and Bao Gu had personally made this trip—Linger felt it was better to make everything clear.
Bao Nianhui, hearing this, lifted her head in surprise and stared blankly at Linger, then at Bao Gu.
“Did something happen?”
Linger asked,
“You didn’t know?”
“Know what?”
Seeing Bao Nianhui’s utterly bewildered expression, Linger launched into a long explanation of what had happened at Xuantian Zong a few days earlier.
When Bao Nianhui heard it, she let out a startled cry, turned to Qing Ying, and blinked again and again. Confused and shocked, she asked,
“Sister Qing Ying, you took the Twenty-Six Peaks away?”
Linger was speechless. Where exactly was Bao Nianhui’s attention focused?
Qing Ying rolled her eyes at Bao Nianhui and continued poking at the demon-beast meat before her.
Bao Nianhui suddenly cried out,
“Ah!”
She pointed at Qing Ying.
“Oh, oh, oh! When I finished refining that Earth Immortal flesh and stood up, I was suddenly thrown into the air. You were behind it! You were pranking me! You—you—you…”
Furious, she shot to her feet and shouted,
“Sister Qing Ying, I challenge you!”
Qing Ying did not even look at Bao Nianhui, keeping her head down as she ate.
Linger hurriedly pressed Bao Nianhui back into her seat.
“With those skills of yours, your senior sister could crush you with one finger.”
Bao Nianhui suddenly remembered the time an inner disciple from Lingyun Peak had leaped onto the arena to challenge Qing Ying, only to be inexplicably beaten into severe injury. She immediately sat back down, grabbed her chopsticks, and buried herself in her food, as if she had not been the one demanding a challenge moments earlier.
Once Qing Ying and Bao Nianhui had eaten their fill, Bao Gu thanked Xuanyue and Linger and rose with Qing Ying and Bao Nianhui to take her leave.
Xuanyue and Linger personally escorted them to the teleportation gate.
Before they parted ways, Xuanyue advised her once more,
“Bao Gu, don’t take some things too much to heart. You brood too much. It’s not good for you.”
“Mm.”
Bao Gu nodded lightly, then led Qing Ying and Bao Nianhui onto the teleportation gate and returned.
She stepped out through the teleportation gate in Ghost Shadow City and said to Qing Ying and Bao Nianhui,
“Go play on your own.”
The moment she finished speaking, she sensed the ripples of a battle nearby. A group of Xuantian Zong disciples were fighting a group of “Xuantian Sect” disciples.
The Xuantian Zong disciples wore inner-disciple robes. The “Xuantian Sect” disciples had already changed out of those robes after leaving Xuantian Zong, so their clothes and ornaments were a jumble of styles. Their cultivation arts and sword techniques, however, made their origins obvious at a glance.
There were thirty or forty people in all. The battle was fierce and evenly matched, and neither side showed the slightest mercy. Every move was aimed at killing.
Bao Nianhui recognized one of them at a glance and cried out,
“Martial Nephew Xiao!”
Seeing him in danger, she drew her sword and rushed to his aid.
Suddenly, one of the Xuantian Zong disciples shouted,
“It’s Bao Nianhui! Kill her!”
He thrust his sword at Bao Nianhui, and several more disciples joined him in surrounding her.
In an instant, Bao Nianhui was in grave danger, while Martial Nephew Xiao was no longer threatened.
“It’s Little Martial Aunt! Fuck!”
Martial Nephew Xiao turned and rushed toward Bao Nianhui. He blocked an attack coming at her back and shouted furiously,
“Little Martial Aunt, what are you doing charging in here? Get out! Senior Brother Wu—come save Little Martial Aunt!”
The “Xuantian Sect” disciples had barely felt the pressure of being surrounded ease when they noticed that Bao Nianhui had somehow charged into the midst of the Xuantian Zong disciples and was now under attack. They hurried over to protect her.
Bao Nianhui might have outranked them in seniority, but she never put on airs. She came from the Cloud Sea Forest and had no shortage of treasures, so they were always taking advantage of her and benefiting from her generosity. If anything happened to her in front of them, the disciples of Lingyun Peak would beat them to death afterward.
Just as the “Xuantian Sect” disciples rushed over to rescue Bao Nianhui, another person charged in from the side. With a rapid succession of sharp cracks, he unleashed palm strike after palm strike, sending the Xuantian Zong disciples flying one after another and shielding Bao Nianhui.
When the Xuantian Zong disciples saw a Nascent Soul expert intervene, they retreated and demanded coldly,
“Who are you to meddle in Xuantian Zong’s affairs?”
The man turned and bowed respectfully to Bao Nianhui.
“Greetings, Young Miss. Are you all right?”
Bao Nianhui shook her head blankly.
“I’m fine!”
She didn’t know this man at all!
The man said,
“I’ll escort you back to the Enforcement Envoy’s Residence. Quite a few Xuantian Zong people have entered the city over the past few days. It isn’t safe.”
Bao Nianhui asked,
“Who are you?”
The man took out his identity token and held it out to Bao Nianhui.
“I’m a guard of the Inner Hall. I used to serve at the Enforcement Envoy’s Residence, and I once had the good fortune to see you several times.”
“Oh.”
Bao Nianhui said,
“Thank you. But you don’t need to escort me back. My master is here. I’ll return with her.”
Hearing that the Lord was also present, the man hurriedly looked around. Only then did he spot Bao Gu, the white-robed Cleaver Lord, standing silently beside the nearby teleportation gate. He was so frightened that he immediately dropped to one knee and saluted.
The Xuantian Zong disciples looked in the direction of his kneeling and were horrified to find Bao Gu standing beside the teleportation gate, with Qing Ying beside her as well. They scattered in all directions.
The members of the “Xuantian Sect” hurried forward and saluted Bao Gu.
Bao Gu projected her voice in every direction.
“City Guard Commander, are you here?”
A moment later, an armored City Guard Commander arrived with a squad of armored guards and saluted with clasped fists.
Bao Gu ordered in a deep voice,
“Search the entire city thoroughly for traces of Xuantian Zong disciples. Expel them immediately when you find them. Starting tomorrow, any Xuantian Zong disciple found in the city is to be killed on sight, without exception!”
Everyone nearby was stunned by the order.
Even Bao Nianhui stared wide-eyed and called out,
“Master.”
The killing intent radiating from her master made her shrink back and draw in her neck.
Bao Gu waved to the City Guard Commander.
“Go and carry it out.”
She then looked at the guard who had just protected Bao Nianhui.
“You did well.”
She took out a jade tablet, sealed a wisp of her command into it, and handed it to him.
“You have rendered meritorious service by protecting the Young Miss. I am promoting you one rank.”
The guard thanked her and accepted the jade tablet with both hands.
Bao Gu took out several bottles of healing medicine and handed them to Bao Nianhui.
“The people who protected you were injured. Take them to be treated.”
“Oh.”
Bao Nianhui accepted the medicine from Bao Gu.
After returning to her residence, Bao Gu immediately summoned Wang Ding and issued an edict.
“Starting tomorrow, any Xuantian Zong disciple found in any city within Qingzhou, Yunzhou, Yanzhou, Leizhou, Jiangzhou, Luzhou, or Jizhou is to be killed on sight!”
Wang Ding had already heard about Bao Gu’s order to expel Xuantian Zong disciples from Ghost Shadow City. Now that he heard every territory under the Cleaver Gang’s complete control would also be purged of Xuantian Zong disciples, he was shocked.
“What about the people who followed the Lord and the Enforcement Envoy out of Xuantian Zong? How are we supposed to distinguish the two groups?”
The Xuantian Zong disciples had discarded their uniforms, so there was no way to tell which ones followed Zi Tianjun and which ones had followed the Lord and the Enforcement Envoy.
Bao Gu said,
“Yu Jianming, the new Sect Master of the Xuantian Sect, and the Xuantian Sect’s Council of Elders will discuss the matter and make a decision. Pass down the order: when purging Xuantian Zong disciples, be careful not to injure any Xuantian Sect disciples by mistake.”
“Yes!”
“You may go.”
But Wang Ding remained where he was, looking troubled.
“Is there something else?”
He hesitated.
“I… wanted to ask the Lord to lend me some spirit stones.”
Bao Gu was surprised and looked up at him. She knew that Wang Ding and his men had sold everything they could to cover the deficits accumulated over the years, yet they still owed a great deal of money.
Wang Ding did not dare conceal the truth.
“I owe quite a lot and need to find a way to pay it back. I want to… to set up some businesses to clear my debts. I’m buried under debt, so I can only come to you, Lord. I… I beg you—since this subordinate is drowning in debt and has no way to repay it—show me mercy and let me operate a few shops, medicinal herb gardens, or something of the sort.”
Bao Gu gave Wang Ding a long, unreadable look.
“Where did the annual offerings you gave Yu Mi come from?”
Wang Ding answered respectfully,
“A small portion was the Cleaver Gang’s regular allotment. The greater part came from my own pocket, to curry favor with the Enforcement Envoy. Although you, Lord, went into the void, you had treated this subordinate with kindness as heavy as a mountain, and I would never dare let you down. Besides, because of my disputes with the Right Envoy and the Finance Envoy, and because I was stationed in Qingzhou, I naturally hoped the Enforcement Envoy would look after me a little.”
Wang Ding was genuinely glad that his annual offerings to Yu Mi had always been generous and that he had never given her any reason to take offense.
Bao Gu said,
“As the Left Envoy, it would be improper for you to send your subordinates into commerce, and doing so could easily lead to trouble.”
She looked at Wang Ding.
“Tell me, Wang Ding—which matters more: power and position, or becoming an immortal?”
Wang Ding replied,
“Power and status make it easier to obtain cultivation resources and advance in cultivation. Take me, for example. My talent for cultivation is mediocre. Without a huge amount of cultivation resources piled on me, I could never have reached my current realm. There are countless cultivators, but how many of them ever become immortals? The Realm-Breaking Gate is still under construction. Even after it is completed and makes ascension to the upper realm possible, how many people will be able to cultivate to the Mahayana stage and then successfully survive the tribulation? Immortality is too remote. Power and status are more practical.”
Hearing this, Bao Gu sighed inwardly. Then her tone changed.
“You have a large household to support, and that isn’t easy. From now on, thirty percent of Azure Dragon City’s tax revenue will go to you.”
Wang Ding was stunned.
“Azure Dragon City is less than thirty li from the territory of Xuantian Zong. It is nominally under the Cleaver Gang, but Xuantian Zong has always controlled it. This…”
Bao Gu said,
“Then reclaim it! The Cleaver Gang will take Azure Dragon City back, and the tribute paid to Xuantian Zong will end as well. If Xuantian Zong comes knocking on the Cleaver Gang’s door, deal with it however you see fit.”
She picked up a jade slip from the table, inscribed an edict, and handed it to Wang Ding.
“Take my edict to the main camp and mobilize troops to reclaim Azure Dragon City. If Xuantian Zong is willing to hand it back, all the better. If not, resolve the matter by force.”
“Yes!”
Seeing that Bao Gu had no further instructions, Wang Ding said,
“Then I shall take my leave.”
He backed slowly out of the hall before turning and leaving.
Only after leaving the side hall did Wang Ding let out a long breath. He felt that the Lord was becoming more frightening by the day; the pressure he felt before her was as immense as a mountain.
At the same time, he truly thought that Zi Tianjun’s brain must have been kicked by a donkey. First, he had forced the Lord and the others out. Then he had failed to keep his disciples under control, allowing them to cause trouble in Ghost Shadow City. Xuantian Zong disciples had actually dared to surround and try to kill Bao Nianhui right in front of the Lord!
Xuantian Zong was determined to rush headlong down the road to ruin.
Once the Lord became ruthless, she did not even care about her own life. She had even managed to trick Ba into being exiled to the void with her. If she could cast her own life aside, what was there that she would not dare to do?
After the Lord left, the Cleaver Gang’s income gradually dwindled. Its thirty-percent share of the yearly proceeds was far below what it had received while the Lord was present, but it was still a substantial source of income.
On top of that, several cities around the Azure Dragon Mountains were under Xuantian Zong’s control, and all their annual revenue went to Xuantian Zong. More than a hundred thousand people could live in comfort without ever leaving their homes, with an inexhaustible supply of cultivation resources.
Now, with a single sentence, the Lord had cut off the Cleaver Gang’s tribute, and the largest city, Azure Dragon City, would be reclaimed just as easily. Who knew whether the remaining cities could be held onto in the future?
Wang Ding even suspected that the few Xuantian Zong disciples who had attacked Bao Nianhui that day had been planted by someone who bore a grudge against Xuantian Zong.
Trying to kill Bao Nianhui in Ghost Shadow City? Did they think the Cleaver Gang’s city guards, hidden sentries, and informants there were all dead? The Lord’s disciple was the Young Miss. They had surrounded the Cleaver Gang’s Young Miss at the Cleaver Gang headquarters.
The only reason the Gang’s people had not appeared and chopped them into mincemeat on the spot was that the Lord had not yet made her stance clear. No one was sure of her attitude toward Xuantian Zong, so they had not dared to act rashly.
