Bao Gu had not expected Xuanxiu to suddenly raise that point. She froze for a moment in mild surprise, then turned the matter over in her mind and more or less guessed the reason. Given Qingying’s temperament, after more than two hundred years in the Upper Realm, there was no way no word of her had gotten out. Besides, Qingying and Bao Gu had once stayed for several days at the War King Manor in the Barbarian Realm, and the War King Manor there and the War King Clan in the Upper Realm shared the same lineage and had always exchanged news. Xuanxiu’s question was beyond her expectations, but perfectly reasonable. She pushed the jade box filled with rare spiritual medicines toward him.
“Add it up.”
Xuanxiu narrowed his eyes slightly and sized up Bao Gu without even glancing at the jade box.
Bao Gu’s lips curved faintly.
“What’s the matter? Isn’t this an apothecary that buys and sells medicinal ingredients?”
His gaze swept over the jade box.
“Shopkeeper Yu, settle her account.”
A cultivator who had been tallying the accounts came over. After counting the medicinal ingredients in the box, he said to Bao Gu:
“Please wait.”
He turned and went into the rear courtyard. Before long, he returned carrying another jade box and placed it in front of Bao Gu.
“Please verify the total, Fairy.”
Bao Gu opened the box and found a storage artifact inside. A jade slip lay on top of it, listing the medicinal ingredients she had sold. The quantities, types, and prices were all clear at a glance. Beneath it lay immortal spirit stones.
After checking that everything was correct, she put the storage jade box into her oversized storage bag. Then she looked up at Xuanxiu, whose expression had turned rather unpleasant.
“Xuantian is my master. I know he came from the War King Clan, and I know what happened to him back then. My master Xuantian did me a great kindness, and my master’s wife, Xue Qing, did me a great kindness as well. Without them, Bao Gu would never be where she is today.
“But neither my master’s wife nor I owe the War King Clan anything, and it owes us nothing. Even if my master once had some connection with the War King Clan, the moment he died in the Lower Realm, all debts were settled.”
Xuanxiu laughed in anger.
“Is the War King Clan’s cultivation art really that easy to learn?”
“Not at all. I reached this point only after surviving countless brushes with death.”
Bao Gu’s voice paused.
“Senior Xuanxiu, I know what you want to say, and I know what you intend to hold me accountable for. If you are the head of the War King Clan or the person authorized to speak for it, I will discuss this with you. If not, please have them come out and talk to me.”
On what grounds do you think you have the right to meet the head or spokesman of the War King Clan?
“Because your side wants to talk to me. Of course, you can choose not to talk. You can also choose to exterminate me, an outsider who learned the War King Clan’s direct-line cultivation technique.”
Xuanxiu laughed.
“From your tone, you seem quite confident that you can challenge the War King Clan.”
Bao Gu instinctively imagined what it would mean to challenge the War King Clan. She also remembered the massacre at Wangyue City and briefly lost focus.
“Regardless, the fact remains that I cultivate the War King Clan’s direct-line cultivation technique. What happened with my master—his choice back then and the War King Clan’s choice—belongs to the past. He has been dead for tens of thousands of years. There is no need to stir up trouble again over what was chosen or abandoned back then.
“But the events of that time, and the debt for my master’s murder, are not over.”
Her gaze, cold as a sharp arrow, turned toward Xuanxiu.
“I hope we can be allies rather than enemies.”
Xuanxiu had no idea where a newly ascended True Immortal got such nerve. He looked coldly at Bao Gu.
“Do you understand your current situation?”
He turned toward the entrance of the apothecary.
“You came here to do business, so I won’t make things difficult for you in this shop. But simply because you, an outsider, cultivate the War King Clan’s direct-line technique, you must submit to the clan’s punishment. Either abolish your cultivation and erase every memory you have of the War King Clan’s techniques, or have your soul annihilated!”
Bao Gu’s lips lifted slightly.
“Have you never considered the consequences if you attacked and failed to kill me? Or the consequences of the War King Clan killing me?”
She rose to her feet and slowly walked toward the entrance.
“Xuanxiu, don’t use the War King Clan’s future to test me. You can’t afford the price.”
When she reached the doorway, she looked back.
“If I strike, I never stop until one side is dead.”
She turned toward the formation sealing the entrance. Drawing on the spiritual power within her body, she linked it with the Five Elements immortal energy drifting through heaven and earth, then combined it with the insights she had gained through years of cultivation. She gently pushed both hands forward.
The gathered immortal energy transformed into a vast surge of power and thundered toward the sealing formation. It slammed into the formation’s power, then spread along its aura until it quickly covered the entire array. At the same time, the entire formation was clearly imprinted in Bao Gu’s mind.
With a single glance, she recognized what kind of formation it was and found its weak point. She raised a hand and poured a second surge of power into it. With only a light strike, the sealing force blocking the entrance vanished like smoke.
To the few people nearby, it looked as though Bao Gu had merely raised a hand and summoned a hurricane. The hurricane compressed into a mass resembling a wind dragon formed from air and crashed fiercely into the formation. The formation’s power stopped it, causing it to scatter. Then Bao Gu gave a light wave of her hand, and the barrier sealing the entrance disappeared.
Xuanxiu had excellent eyesight and could naturally tell that Bao Gu had used a precise, skillful force rather than brute strength. Although the apothecary’s formation was not a grand array, it still had its intricacies. The fact that Bao Gu had broken it so easily proved that she was far from ordinary.
He stood up and folded his arms, watching Bao Gu stride out of the apothecary.
“Bao Gu, what will you do if I attack you?”
Bao Gu paused.
“If you attack me and no one from the War King Clan comes to stop you, I will take that as the War King Clan choosing to become my enemy. I will then do everything in my power to weaken it as much as possible. Either the War King Clan destroys me, or I destroy the War King Clan.
“And in response to your attack, I will first turn War City into a wasteland.”
She looked back at Xuanxiu’s grim face, a faint smile on her lips, and pointed toward the sword array high above.
“That city-protecting formation is truly pathetic. I will remain in War City for three days and wait for the War King Clan’s reply. If no one comes, I will leave. If the War King Clan chooses to destroy me, I will fight it. If it chooses to negotiate an alliance with me, I will handle whatever trouble Qingying has brought the clan.”
After saying that, she ignored Xuanxiu and turned to Yu Mi, who had arrived with Si Ruo and Qu Yirou.
“Senior Sister, I’m in a foul mood. Let’s go cause Seventh Lord Kun some trouble.”
Yu Mi raised an eyebrow.
“Kill him?”
“How could I? I’ll make him compensate me for my losses.”
Bao Gu winked at Yu Mi.
“Let’s find a restaurant first. Drinks are on me. Then we’ll go cause trouble for Seventh Lord Kun.”
Qu Yirou had dealt with Bao Gu ever since Bao Gu first entered the cultivation world and understood her temperament and style all too well. She sighed for the unfortunate Seventh Lord Kun.
“Of all people, why did he have to provoke Bao Gu?”
Bao Gu’s grudges were narrower than a needle’s eye. Even if she did not care about those few rare spiritual medicines, she would still use Seventh Lord Kun to make an example and let the War King Clan see her capabilities and how much clout she carried.
Restaurants were easy enough to find. Before they even reached the end of the street, the four of them spotted a rather impressive-looking restaurant and walked straight inside.
The four women asked for a private room. Once the food and wine had been served, they shut the door. Si Ruo took out some formation materials and set up a ward that blocked spiritual probing.
The food and wine on the table were packed with pure energy. Once consumed, that energy transformed into pure life essence and immortal spiritual power. The four women had originally only planned to find somewhere to gather information, but they ended up opening their stomachs and eating their fill first.
Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, Si Ruo covered her painfully stuffed stomach and secretly circulated her energy to absorb the power in the food.
“If the War King Clan makes things difficult for you, do you really intend to fight it to the death?”
Bao Gu thought for a moment.
“I do not bear the Xuan surname, nor am I a blood descendant of the War King Clan. Yet I cultivate its direct-line technique, and I have taught it to many people. I have already become a problem the War King Clan cannot afford to ignore—a problem that directly affects its inheritance and foundations.
“If it could kill me and all outsiders who cultivate the War King Clan’s direct-line technique, thereby preserving its clan rules, that would naturally be its best choice. I do not want to be held to account, and I want even less for the War King Clan to purge Xuantian Sect. So I have no choice but to make it accept and acknowledge the fact that Xuantian Sect exists.
“If it comes down to which of the War King Clan and Xuantian Sect lives or dies, I will naturally choose the War King Clan to die.”
Si Ruo frowned.
“As far as I know, the War King Clan is an ancient family whose history is measured in tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of years. Its power is at the ‘King’ level. Against it, our current strength would not even qualify as an egg striking a rock.”
“But I have enough means to inflict one fatal blow after another on the War King Clan.”
Seeing that everyone had eaten their fill, Bao Gu raised a hand and withdrew the ward Si Ruo had set up. She opened the door and called over a waiter to settle the bill.
After the bill had been paid, she placed another fistful of immortal spirit stones on the table.
“Let me ask you something. Do you know Seventh Lord Kun?”
The waiter shook his head.
“Then do you know where in this city people go to inquire about, buy, or sell information?”
The waiter shook his head again.
Bao Gu frowned.
“Go call your shopkeeper.”
The waiter nodded and turned to leave.
Before long, a cultivator at the Mysterious Immortal realm pushed open the door. He wore a polite smile.
“What can I do for you, Fairy?”
“Are you the shopkeeper?”
“Yes. I manage this establishment.”
“Do you know Seventh Lord Kun?”
The Mysterious Immortal shook his head with a smile.
“I’ve never heard of him.”
“Then, Shopkeeper, have you heard of anywhere in the city where information is bought and sold or where one can ask around?”
“I’m sorry, miss, but I don’t know.”
Bao Gu leaned slightly forward.
“Shopkeeper, let me tell you something. Right now, I feel like causing trouble. The bigger the trouble, the better. At the very least, I need to tear down a house and ruin someone’s business.
“I have, well, a little history with Seventh Lord Kun. If I find him, I’ll go cause trouble at his place. If I can’t find him, I can’t be bothered to move elsewhere, so this place will do.”
The Mysterious Immortal smiled faintly.
“Fairy, this establishment belongs to the War King Clan. A Golden Immortal is stationed here specifically to deal with troublemakers.”
Bao Gu’s eyes lit up.
“Really?”
She slowly rose to her feet.
“I’ll give you one more chance. If you find out where Seventh Lord Kun is, I’ll go after him. If you refuse to tell me, I’ll tear down this shop and kill the Golden Immortal guarding it.”
She summoned Xuantian Sword and tossed it onto the table.
“Do you recognize this sword’s aura?”
The Mysterious Immortal’s gaze fell upon the sword. Although it was sealed and its aura completely restrained, he could still sense the aura of a king-grade artifact and the faint might leaking from it. He could also tell that the sword’s aura had merged with the girl’s as if they were one, and he recognized the traces of the War King Clan.
Anyone carrying a king artifact of the War King Clan was far beyond the reach of a minor shopkeeper like him. He immediately spoke.
“Seventh Lord Kun—Kun Qi. He owns Yingfeng Teahouse in the western district.”
Bao Gu stared at the Mysterious Immortal.
Understanding what she wanted, he continued.
“Seventh Lord Kun is at the Golden Immortal realm. He has a group of subordinates. They usually make a living through cheating and swindling people, and they also handle problems for others.”
“Handle problems?”
“Yes. He takes people’s money and makes their troubles disappear. Many wealthy merchants and business owners in the city deal with him. He doesn’t follow rules. Although he likes to take small advantages, he never provokes people he can’t afford to offend…”
The Mysterious Immortal swallowed the rest of his sentence. Hadn’t Seventh Lord Kun just provoked someone he absolutely could not afford to offend?
Bao Gu understood. So he was nothing more than a low-level underworld hood, a minor gang boss—the kind of person merchants hated most but still had to deal with and preferred not to offend.
She nodded lightly.
“Thanks.”
After asking for directions to Yingfeng Teahouse in the western district, she called Yu Mi, Qu Yirou, and Si Ruo and left the restaurant.
The Mysterious Immortal watched Bao Gu’s departing back and scratched his chin in confusion. With a king artifact in hand, she should have been a young lady from the main family’s direct line, someone highly valued by her clan. But the way she acted…
He scratched his head again. He simply could not make sense of her.
Then his eyes lit up.
“Wait! Could she be the one who killed Yan Dingtian?”
After asking for directions, Bao Gu and the others soon arrived outside Yingfeng Teahouse.
The attendant at the entrance saw four well-dressed women standing in a line and gazing up at the teahouse’s sign. He followed their gaze and looked up as well, but saw nothing unusual.
“Fairies, is there something wrong with our sign?”
A greasy-looking thug came out of the teahouse. The moment he saw the four women, he stopped dead, then turned around and ran back inside. In an instant, he disappeared.
Yu Mi looked at Bao Gu.
“Are we really tearing it down?”
Bao Gu firmly uttered a single word.
“Tear it down!”
Yu Mi summoned the Nanming Lihuo Sword and was about to kill her way inside.
Bao Gu hurriedly called out.
“Senior Sister, come back!”
Charging in alone as a True Immortal to tear down a Golden Immortal’s establishment was practically asking to be killed!
Yu Mi turned back toward Bao Gu. With a wave of Bao Gu’s hand, a hundred-zhang-long warship forged from Daluo Scarlet Gold suddenly appeared in the air behind her.
Bao Gu pointed at it.
“Board the warships!”
As she spoke, Daluo Scarlet Gold warships slid out one after another as if they were free, arranging themselves into a battle formation.
Qu Yirou and Si Ruo both gaped in shock and turned toward Bao Gu in disbelief.
*Using a whole fleet to bombard a single teahouse—did she have no shame?*
But when they thought about Bao Gu’s usual style, they had to admit that unless someone blocked her head-on and pushed her past her limit, she absolutely refused to draw her own sword and fight personally.
While the two of them were still stunned, Bao Gu had already used a teleportation formation to board one of the hundred-zhang warships. She then silently teleported to another warship hidden in the void, its defensive formation activated and a sacred artifact installed aboard.
Bao Gu shamelessly tossed the sacred artifact aside and planted Xuantian Sword in the place where it had been.
The commotion outside Yingfeng Teahouse had long since alerted everyone inside. Even people in the distance were watching the fleet that had suddenly appeared above War City and completely surrounded the teahouse.
The fleet consisted of more than a hundred warships forged from Daluo Scarlet Gold. The largest were a hundred zhang long, while the smallest were roughly ten zhang long. They formed a battle array, their power linking them into a single whole.
When the people inside Yingfeng Teahouse saw the formation, they hurriedly left the building and ran outside.
Yingfeng Teahouse activated its defensive formation, shielding the entire building.
Seventh Lord Kun appeared in front of the teahouse with more than a dozen people whose strength none of the four women could discern. He sent his voice directly to Bao Gu.
“Young friend, I know I was in the wrong first. I am willing to offer an apology…”
Before he could finish, a terrifying bombardment came crashing down. He raised both arms and formed a shape like the Taiji symbol. A shield of light spread from beneath his palms, solidifying into a barrier that firmly protected him and the teahouse behind him.
The battle array formed by a hundred Daluo Scarlet Gold warships poured its fire down upon Yingfeng Teahouse. The dazzling blasts bathed the entire building in a blinding white glare.
A Golden Immortal reinforcing a defensive formation was no easy target. Seventh Lord Kun forcibly withstood the bombardment unleashed by the hundred warships.
“Young friend, I know you have ties to the War King Clan, and I am willing to show you respect. Don’t push people too far…”
Before he could finish, a terrifying aura surged from behind him. Spatial fluctuations followed, and a warship forged from Daluo Scarlet Gold slowly emerged from the void.
The warship looked no different from the others he had seen, but its aura was like that of a gigantic ferocious beast, or a sharp sword freshly drawn from its sheath. The instant he saw it, his heart and soul nearly shattered.
Then the warship slashed at the teahouse behind him, releasing a strike that resembled sword energy.
With that blow, the firmament was torn apart. It was like divine thunder descending from beyond the Nine Heavens. With a single slash, the warship shattered both the teahouse’s defensive formation and the barrier Seventh Lord Kun had summoned.
The immense force ripped the teahouse apart. Before the shock wave could fade, it reduced the enormous building to fragments.
The tremendous power sent Seventh Lord Kun and his companions flying. They crashed heavily onto the ground, all of them seriously injured.
“The God of War Sword! That was the War King Clan’s God of War Sword!”
Seventh Lord Kun’s face turned a ghastly purple-gold. He fell to the ground and did not dare move.
The people beside him had suffered some injuries, but none were serious. One after another, they fled at top speed.
Seventh Lord Kun wanted to escape as well, but he could clearly feel the aura of the God of War Sword on the warship locking firmly onto him.
Then a young woman with cold, aloof features and a faint smile appeared in front of him.
Wasn’t she the street-stall girl from the Lower Realm whom he had met outside the city?
His expression became exceptionally ugly.
“Miss, weren’t you from the Lower Realm?”
Bao Gu crouched in front of Seventh Lord Kun and nodded lightly.
“Yes, I am from the Lower Realm. Let me introduce myself. My name is Bao Gu. I come from the Desolate Heaven Realm. I am the inheritor of the legacy of Xuantian, the War King Clan’s God of War, and the wielder of the Boundary-Breaking Divine Sword.”
Desolate… Desolate Heaven Realm? Bao Gu? The wielder of the Boundary-Breaking Divine Sword? A disciple of God of War Xuantian?
Seventh Lord Kun’s face became even more dreadful. He looked up at the densely packed fleet arranged in a battle formation and nearly burst into tears.
“Fairy, I only ran off with a couple dozen ten-thousand-year-old precious herbs. Was there really any need to bring this much force against me?”
Bao Gu wore an apologetic expression.
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself and came straight to your doorstep.”
She paused, then asked with complete sincerity:
“Are we still fighting? If so, we can continue.”
Seventh Lord Kun hurriedly waved his hands.
“No, no! We won’t fight anymore!”
Bao Gu nodded.
“Good. Although you cheated me, I flattened your teahouse, so we’re even. But you took my things. Shouldn’t you return them?”
“Of course, of course! But… I gave them away. Could you give me a little time to…”
Bao Gu’s pretty face turned cold.
“No. Pay me their value. If you can’t, pay with your life.”
Seventh Lord Kun hurriedly took out his storage ring, opened its restrictions, and handed it to Bao Gu.
Bao Gu swept it with her divine sense and discovered that Seventh Lord Kun had a surprisingly rich hoard. She calculated the value of the medicinal ingredients she had lost according to the prices she had charged earlier, took the corresponding number of immortal spirit stones, and returned the storage ring to him.
She then stored the Daluo Scarlet Gold warships one by one in her oversized storage bag. After Yu Mi, Qu Yirou, and Si Ruo had disembarked from the Daluo Scarlet Gold warship anchored by Xuantian Sword, Bao Gu recalled Xuantian Sword and stored that warship as well.
Then the four women once again lined up shoulder to shoulder and sauntered away.
Seventh Lord Kun swept through his storage ring with his divine sense, then looked at the teahouse reduced to ruins. He was utterly devastated.
