One Xuantian Sect disciple after another had been stirring up trouble, and Bao Gu could sense that the sect was already teetering on the brink. As soon as the sect-founding ceremony ended, she invited Zi Yunshu to accompany her to Xuantian Sect.
Neither of them belonged to Xuantian Sect anymore. To avoid a confrontation, they could not use a teleportation formation to go straight into the inner sect. Instead, they first arrived outside the mountain gate.
The moment they reached the gate, Zi Yunshu and Bao Gu sensed that something was wrong. The mountain gate, which should have been heavily guarded, had not a single guard in sight. The unnatural silence was eerie.
Zi Yunshu rushed to the hidden sentry posts. There, she found Xuantian Sect disciples lying dead on the ground. She turned to Bao Gu.
“Up the mountain.”
She shot toward Xuantian Hall at her fastest speed. The two of them reached the hall almost instantly and rushed inside, only to find Zi Tianjun sitting cross-legged on a meditation cushion before the hall. Several disciples dressed in Peak Master robes sat cross-legged on either side of him, apparently in the middle of a council.
Everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of Bao Gu and Zi Yunshu.
Zi Tianjun asked in surprise,
“Shu’er, you came too?”
When he saw Bao Gu, his expression darkened.
“What? Has the Machete Gang Leader become so eager to wipe us all out?”
Bao Gu was speechless for a moment. Then she replied indifferently,
“If I wanted to wipe you out to the last, would I need to do it myself?”
Her cold gaze swept over Zi Tianjun, and her clear, icy voice rang out.
“The cultivation arts Xuantian Sect practices now came from me. Zi Tianjun was my Grandmaster once, so let me make this clear: anyone who dares tamper with Xuantian Sect’s cultivation arts or lay a hand on Zi Tianjun’s life can wait for the iron hooves of the Machete Gang’s two million elite troops to trample them!”
Her voice, infused with spiritual power, reverberated through every corner of Xuantian Sect.
Those moving secretly through the shadows of Xuantian Sect suddenly heard Bao Gu’s voice right beside their ears. They were so frightened that their entire bodies went cold, and they did not dare move a muscle. But when they understood what she had said, they were overjoyed.
They all reached the same conclusion: the Machete Gang Leader knew they had come, but had no intention of stopping them. As long as they were only after wealth and did not threaten Zi Tianjun’s life, they had nothing to fear.
Bao Gu’s gaze returned to Zi Tianjun.
“I came to take back the books and records you copied from Xuantian Library.”
Zi Tianjun replied coldly,
“And if I refuse?”
“No matter. I’ll take them myself.”
Zi Yunshu suddenly transformed into a flood dragon and plunged headfirst into the void.
Zi Tianjun rose in anger.
“You dare!”
He glanced toward the place where Zi Yunshu had vanished, secretly pleased. She was his flesh-and-blood daughter, after all. She had known to move the library ahead of time so that Bao Gu could not seize it. Surely Bao Gu could not possibly snatch anything directly from Zi Yunshu’s hands?
Watching Zi Tianjun, Bao Gu suddenly felt sorry for her Grandmaster. The great building was already on the verge of collapse, yet he remained completely unaware. Every guard at Xuantian Sect’s mountain gate had been killed, outside forces had infiltrated the sect and hidden everywhere, and he had not sensed a thing.
She walked slowly into the hall and casually chose a meditation cushion. Once seated, she raised her head and looked at Zi Tianjun.
“Grandmaster, are you afraid Lingyun Peak will seize your authority?”
She chuckled softly.
“I handed the cultivation world’s number-one power to Yu Mi. She holds the Machete Token and commands two million troops. At the token’s command, their iron hooves can flatten anything. How could a sect master of Xuantian Sect, which has now fallen out of the cultivation world’s top ten powers, possibly compare with such glory and authority?”
Zi Tianjun let out a cold snort.
“Isn’t Yu Jianming already the sect master?”
Bao Gu smiled lightly.
“Nobody wanted the position. More than thirty of us—those of our generation who had left, together with Yu Jianming—drew lots. Whoever drew the winning lot became sect master. Jianming drew it, and he was so afraid of taking the position that he swallowed the jade tablet Little Martial Aunt had refined for the drawing in one gulp.”
She shook her head.
“The power you value is nothing but trouble to them. They want cultivation, strength, and ascension to the upper realm. While you exhaust yourselves scheming over a few cultivation resources and authority over a patch of land no larger than a palm, outside factions are already making plans for ascension. While you are still congratulating yourselves on becoming Deity Transformation and Void-Tearing experts, others are already preparing to ascend.”
She slowly rose to her feet.
“Grandmaster, while you think that the twenty-six peaks led by Lingyun Peak are trying to seize your authority, your Xuantian Sect has already been riddled with holes. The trusted direct disciples around you have no doubt stabbed you in the back countless times.”
Her cold gaze swept over the people whose faces had turned furious at her words.
“That ploy to sow discord at the sect-founding ceremony—do you know how helpless it made the people of Xuantian Sect feel? In front of the pinnacle experts of every faction in the cultivation world, they had to watch their former fellow disciples leap around like clowns and make fools of themselves…”
She paused and drew a deep breath.
“I imagine some of you, Xiao Zhengchuan included, thought that because it was Xuantian Sect’s sect-founding ceremony, bloodshed would be inauspicious and the people of Xuantian Sect would not kill you. That gave you the courage to make trouble. But did you ever think about how humiliating the spectacle was? By then, we had already cut ourselves loose from Xuantian Sect, so we had no qualms about sitting there and watching it become a laughingstock. But the sect master of Xuantian Sect—the man who had already become a laughingstock throughout the cultivation world—is the father of my Little Martial Aunt, Zi Yunshu, an elder of Xuantian Sect’s Artifact Hall. That is why the people who went there to cause trouble were doomed never to return alive, doomed not to leave even a trace of soul-consciousness behind.”
Of the seven people seated in the hall, two pairs of eyes flickered faintly.
One Peak Master said coldly,
“Bao Gu, you’re no longer a member of Xuantian Sect. What do you take this place for? Do you think you can come here and spout whatever nonsense you like?”
Another Peak Master rose and shouted,
“Bao Gu, you’ve trespassed into Xuantian Sect—”
His expression suddenly changed.
“Something must have happened at the mountain gate! Quickly, send someone to check! Don’t let this vicious woman kill the gate guards!”
Bao Gu replied calmly,
“No need. There isn’t a single survivor at the mountain gate.”
Everyone’s expression changed.
One of them drew his sword in fury and held its tip against Bao Gu’s throat.
“How vicious!”
Bao Gu raised a hand and caught the blade. She applied the slightest pressure. The sword let out a mournful hum and shattered into powder, which drifted to the floor.
Damage to his natal treasure sent qi and blood roiling through his sea of qi. He spat out a huge mouthful of blood, but the blood flew toward Bao Gu only to be stopped by an invisible wall.
Bao Gu spoke in an even voice.
“Little Martial Aunt has lived in this mountain range for more than five hundred years. She cultivates the dragon path and understands the mountain’s aura better than anyone. Everything in this range is under her control; she could find even a needle no matter where it was hidden. The outside enemies you colluded with, along with the operatives from the private forces you secretly raised who infiltrated this place, probably will not make it out alive. My Grandmaster may have been deceived. He may be muddleheaded and incompetent, but when it matters, he still has an eight-tribulation flood dragon to clean up the situation for him.”
She paused, then swept her gaze over every direct disciple in the hall.
“You joined the sect later, so you probably know very little about me and do not understand how I conduct myself. I repay every grudge and every kindness. Do you know what your master, Zi Tianjun, means to me? He is my Grandmaster. To me, he is family, as much a father as a teacher—the person who did everything he could to protect me when I was weak and needed protection, who taught me talisman arts, placed great hopes in me, and guarded me tirelessly like a sapling. Those kindnesses have long since melted into my blood. Even if my heart had been chilled to the core, I could never stand by and ignore his suffering.”
Zi Tianjun’s emotions surged. His mind filled with conflicting thoughts, and for a moment he could not determine what Bao Gu meant.
Bao Gu continued,
“I’m very busy. I don’t have time to play with you. Unlike Senior Brother Feng and the others, I won’t indulge you or let you run wild, and I have none of their leisure to sit back and watch the show. Since you keep finding ways to make trouble for me, let’s settle this today.”
At that moment, she suddenly sent a voice transmission.
“Little Martial Aunt, leave a few alive! Don’t kill them all!”
One Peak Master demanded,
“What exactly do you mean?”
Bao Gu suddenly rose and appeared beside him in an instant. She seized him and slammed him down. With a single blow, she shattered the treasure Zi Tianjun had given him to protect his soul-consciousness.
Her divine sense bored straight into him and rifled through his memories. She condensed what she found into a memory imprint and injected it into a magical artifact. Once activated, the artifact produced a vivid projection of the past.
The scene showed a group of the sect master’s disciples gathered in council, discussing how to force the Lingyun Peak faction out.
One Peak Master recognized what would appear next. He swung his sword at the artifact, but Bao Gu slapped him away.
He crashed heavily into the wall before falling to the floor, his entire body twisted into a grotesque shape. Blood poured from his mouth, his pupils began to dilate, and his life was almost extinguished.
Zi Tianjun cried out,
“Feng’er!”
Yet from the projection came Xu Feng’s grim voice.
“If necessary, use the sacred artifact to blast him to death. Don’t worry about Master. If we can injure him too, all the better!”
Zi Tianjun turned toward the artifact as if struck by lightning, his face filled with shock and disbelief.
Another disciple lunged at the artifact, but Bao Gu seized him before he could take more than a single step. She searched his soul, drew out his memories, forged them into an imprint, and fed them into the artifact.
Another projection appeared, showing him conspiring with outside forces to infiltrate Xuantian Sect and plunder its treasury.
Bao Gu continued to act. Except for Xu Feng, whom she killed with a single slap, she extracted memory imprints from all the others and laid their schemes bare before Zi Tianjun.
Zi Tianjun’s face was filled with horror. He stumbled backward until his back struck a pillar, then stood there trembling.
These supposedly loyal disciples had stayed beside him and kept him occupied with discussions about reorganizing Xuantian Sect. Yet they had actually been tying him down so that they could secretly strip the sect bare and establish a foundation of their own elsewhere.
The artifact replayed their words.
“That bastard Zi Tianjun is like a miser, sitting on so many cultivation resources and refusing to hand them over to us…”
“Fuck, I’m sick of kissing his ass every day!”
“He’s got no ability at all. All he knows is how to scheme, yet he thinks himself clever. The people from Lingyun Peak look at him like he’s a joke! Balance the factions? Bullshit!”
“Those bastards get to roam the vast world outside every day, living it up. Why the hell should I stay in the sect and serve him like a dog?”
Zi Tianjun trembled all over. With a roar, he called forth his sword and slashed at his disciples.
“Master, Master, spare me—ah!”
The plea was cut short as blood sprayed and a head flew through the air.
The others fled for their lives. Zi Tianjun did not pursue them. He stood at the hall entrance with his sword in hand, watching their fleeing figures as he let out a mournful howl. Tears streamed down his weathered face, as if someone had carved out his heart with a knife.
Bao Gu stood expressionlessly in the hall and did not move again. She had no idea how many direct disciples her Grandmaster had, but the memories she had searched from these few alone implicated more than fifty people. Some had been only lightly involved, while others were guilty of crimes deserving death.
This was Xuantian Sect’s affair. Little Martial Aunt would deal with it, and it was not Bao Gu’s place to intervene.
Meanwhile, Zi Yunshu, in flood-dragon form, sealed off the Canglong Mountain Range and searched it inch by inch. Whenever she found an infiltrator from an outside faction, she searched their soul and killed them on the spot.
As for Xuantian Sect disciples, she caught them one by one and searched their souls. Each investigation exposed a whole network of accomplices. She released those whose offenses were minor, crippled the cultivation of those whose crimes were more serious, and executed those whose actions were beyond forgiveness. Their souls were sealed in artifacts for future investigation.
Wielding a sacred artifact, the eight-tribulation flood dragon purged the sect. The outside operatives who had infiltrated Xuantian Sect with evil intentions were slaughtered without any ability to fight back.
Unable to match Zi Yunshu, they tried to flee, only to discover that the entire mountain range had been sealed off. With nowhere left to go, they charged toward Xuantian Hall.
When they burst onto the plaza before the hall and saw Bao Gu, they trembled from head to toe. One person, driven to the brink, shouted in agitation and grief,
“Leader, didn’t you say the Machete Gang would neither harm nor help Xuantian Sect from now on?”
Bao Gu replied calmly,
“I only came to find out who was directing Xiao Zhengchuan from behind the scenes when he caused trouble at Xuantian Sect’s sect-founding ceremony, and to reclaim my belongings.”
She raised a hand.
“Do as you please. As long as you do not attack Zi Tianjun, I will not stop you.”
She paused and explained,
“He, his daughter, and his son-in-law have all shown me great kindness. I have to keep him alive.”
The group looked at the devastated Zi Tianjun, then at Bao Gu. At last, they gritted their teeth, turned around, and fled in search of another escape route.
Bao Gu took out a set of formation flags and used them to protect Xuantian Hall and Zi Tianjun inside it. She then went to Xuantian Sect’s library and swept all the books marked as originating from Xuantian Library into an enormous storage bag.
As for copies that had already been reproduced and circulated, she had no intention of tracking them down. Nor did she plan to cripple the cultivation of anyone who had learned the techniques. In her eyes, a legacy could only flourish if someone learned it. If others had learned it, so be it. It was no great matter.
After collecting the copied books and records from Xuantian Library, Bao Gu left Xuantian Sect at once.
Before leaving, she saw Zi Yunshu, still in flood-dragon form, rounding up and hunting people throughout the Canglong Mountain Range. She had thrown the entire range into chaos, while many low-level disciples who knew nothing about what was happening stood terrified and helpless.
Some desperate operatives from outside factions even charged into the residences of low-level disciples and took them hostage. They then ran into Feng Yi, who was returning after attending the banquet for Xuantian Sect’s sect-founding ceremony, making the situation even more chaotic.
An otherwise proper cultivation sect had been reduced to complete chaos, with corpses scattered everywhere.
Bao Gu had no intention of helping. By letting Zi Tianjun see the truth that day and protecting him once more, she had already done everything kindness required of her.
