Yu Mi’s grip was strong, pressing down on Bao Gu’s neck so that she couldn’t lift her head and felt a sharp pain. Bao Gu had to keep her neck bent and head down, and after a while, her neck became sore and achy. She didn’t dare make a sound or resist, because they were flying so high and fast that Bao Gu was afraid of falling. Although being pressed by Yu Mi made Bao Gu uncomfortable, she felt secure with Yu Mi behind her, ensuring she wouldn’t lose her balance.
After about half a cup of tea’s time, Bao Gu got used to flying on the sword, and Yu Mi’s grip loosened a bit. Bao Gu straightened her body and looked around. She had never imagined she could soar in the clouds. The thick layers of white clouds looked like newly produced cotton spread on a cotton bed, making her want to roll in it. Bao Gu also noticed that the glowing sword under her feet emitted light that enveloped both her and Yu Mi.
The oncoming clouds and wind automatically parted when they encountered the light from the flying sword, and even at high altitudes flying at extremely fast speeds, she didn’t feel the wind blowing on her face. She had never stood at such a high place and looked down at the mountains and rivers below. Previously, the most she had done was to go to the temple on the mountain with her father to burn incense. Standing on the mountain, she could overlook Qing Shan County. Now, standing in the sky, she found that the houses and cities below looked so small and few. With just one glance, she could see so far. Bao Gu felt both amazed and excited, full of longing for cultivating immortality and being able to fly in the sky on a sword like Yu Mi.
After a long silence, Yu Mi suddenly said, “Bao Gu, stand firm. If you’re afraid, crouch down and hold onto the sword, or lie down!” As soon as she finished speaking, the already fast-flying sword suddenly accelerated and plunged straight down, frightening Bao Gu into crouching and clinging to the sword with all her might.
Pressed against the sword, Bao Gu noticed that the material of the sword was like jade, crystal clear with a spiritual light flowing within. It didn’t have a sharp edge, but a smooth curved arc. In the next moment, she saw the mountain peaks that had been far away suddenly right in front of her, as if she was about to crash into them. “We’re going to crash—” Bao Gu screamed sharply. The flying sword suddenly “lifted” and pulled up a bit, heading towards a gorge between two mountains. On both sides of the gorge were verdant green mountains, and directly below was a rushing white stream, as if they had just passed over it.
A man’s voice came from behind them, “Immortal Yu Mi, why are you running so fast? I, as an observer, have seen the extraordinary talent of the fairy. I wish to spar with the fairy!”
Bao Gu turned her head and saw in the sky behind them, there were more than a dozen figures riding on flying swords, closely chasing them. Some had just emerged from the clouds. She felt the speed of the flying sword increase again, to the point where the green mountains on both sides of the gorge turned into green lines continuously passing by behind them, making her dizzy.
Yu Mi loudly responded, “I have calculated that this is not the right time for a spar. Otherwise, someone among you will perish here. Considering your hard cultivation, I will let you go. Leave quickly!”
As she spoke, she suddenly turned her body, and a green light narrowly passed by her side and landed on the mountain ahead, causing a loud explosion and knocking down several large trees, leaving a large crater in the ground.
“Haha! Immortal Yu Mi, you have such audacity! Immortal Yu Mi, do you dare to fight me?” Yu Mi replied without looking back, “In the Cloud City, I invited you to spar, but you dared not accept. Now you gather a group to ambush me. Such despicable behavior is beneath my attention.” The man shouted again, “How about a one-on-one with me?” Yu Mi said, “I invited you to spar in the Cloud City, but you dared not fight me. Now you challenge me again. I disdain to fight you. But out of pity for your pitiful state, let’s compare speed!”
She then taunted, “If you have the ability, catch up and fight me!”
Without looking back, she raised her right hand and raised her little finger in a gesture of contempt, then suddenly veered to the side on the flying sword, avoiding a green light that came from behind.
The green light landed on a rock weighing tens of thousands of catties, shattering it. Yu Mi was indignant. She saw Bao Gu’s buttocks raised high and her body in a very undignified position on the flying sword, so she kicked her high-raised buttocks. Bao Gu, in pain, asked, “Why did you kick me?” Yu Mi gritted her teeth and said, “If it weren’t for helping you to exterminate that fire toad in Qing Shan County, I wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses and depleted my spiritual energy. I wouldn’t be in such a sorry state now.”
As she spoke, she didn’t slow down at all, maneuvering the flying sword around the mountains and gorges, constantly evading the attacks from the people chasing them from behind.
Bao Gu, feeling indignant, said, “Didn’t you say it was very easy to exterminate a small demon?” Yu Mi was speechless and kicked Bao Gu’s buttocks again. Seeing the people behind them easily blasting a large chunk out of the mountain and shattering huge rocks, Bao Gu knew it was dangerous and didn’t dare to argue with Immortal Yu Mi at this moment, lest she distract Immortal Yu Mi. She silently held onto the flying sword and remained silent.
Immortal Yu Mi lowered herself again and flew directly into the mountains and forests. Bao Gu felt the temperature around her suddenly rise. She turned her head and saw that Immortal Yu Mi had a fiery red sword in her hand. Immortal Yu Mi raised the sword and slashed it towards a large tree in front of her. Bao Gu followed the direction of Immortal Yu Mi’s slash and saw a large tree snap at its base and fall with a “boom,” instantly igniting into a large fire. Under the fallen tree lay a black panther even larger than a tiger!
At the moment the large black panther leaped up as the tree fell, Yu Mi and Bao Gu had already flown out four or five zhang away on their flying swords. A deafening roar echoed through the mountains and forests behind them, causing a flock of birds to scatter.
Bao Gu didn’t have time to look back at the commotion behind her because she saw Yu Mi flying towards a cliff ahead, where there was a huge bird’s nest. When they were less than a zhang away from the nest, Yu Mi once again slashed the air and lifted the nest, causing three “baby birds” with just grown feathers, larger than the eagles Bao Gu had seen, to flap their wings and cry out as they fell off the cliff!
A piercing bird cry echoed in the sky! Bao Gu turned her head and saw a bird with wings spread out to a length of one zhang rapidly approaching in the sky. Yu Mi turned her flying sword around and charged towards the dozen or so young men in black clothes with moon patterns embroidered on their chests, who were closely chasing behind them.
The large bird rushed towards the direction of the bird’s nest, diving straight towards the cliff. Bao Gu saw a dozen young men riding flying swords and wearing black clothes with moon patterns on their chests in front of her. When they saw Yu Mi charging over, they immediately formed a formation. She heard one of them shout, “Don’t let her escape!” Yu Mi retorted, “If you have the guts, don’t run!”
A bird cry tore through the sky. Yu Mi, riding her flying sword, plummeted vertically into the dense forest below. They descended in a straight line, stabilizing just before hitting the ground, and then flew at an extremely high speed just above the ground. In the sky, the sunlight was still visible, but upon entering the forest, they realized that it was already late, and the forest was dimly lit.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning tore through the sky, illuminating the mountains and forests. Bao Gu felt strange. It was such good weather, calm and sunny, so where did the lightning come from? The clear bird cry rang out in the sky again, followed by a cry of agony: “Ah—”
Then, a loud shout came from behind: “Junior Brother!”
“It’s the Lightning Eagle, let’s retreat!”
Bao Gu saw several flashes of lightning illuminating the darkness. The lightning flashes made the dim forest as bright as day. The flying sword was extremely fast and quickly flew out of the range of the lightning, over the mountain top, and into the dense forest below. She heard occasional explosions in the distance behind her.
Bao Gu turned to look at Yu Mi and saw her concentrating on controlling the flying sword to move forward. After flying for more than half an hour, there were no more sounds from behind. Yu Mi then flew out of the dense forest and ascended into the sky.
Bao Gu knew that they had shaken off their pursuers. Seeing the flying sword flying smoothly and steadily, she sat up on the sword and looked up at Yu Mi, asking, “The lightning just now was really strange.”
Yu Mi looked down at Bao Gu and said, “The nest I destroyed belonged to a type of demon called the ‘Lightning Eagle.’ It is a thunder-type demon with a very violent temper. It is extremely fierce, and only high-level experts in the later stages of the Golden Core realm dare to provoke it easily. I destroyed its nest just now and almost hurt its offspring. How could it not be angry? If it gets provoked and then I lure in the disciples of the Tai Yin Sect, who are numerous but not very powerful, it would be very dangerous for them.”
If it weren’t for the flying sword given to her by her master, which was fast enough to create distance while the Lightning Eagle was chasing the Tai Yin Sect disciples, she would have been in great danger. Even though they had already escaped far enough, she still didn’t dare to slow down, fearing that the Lightning Eagle might catch up.
Bao Gu asked, “Will the Tai Yin Sect disciples die? Isn’t this a bit too much?”
“Too much?” Yu Mi chuckled and said, “Do you think they came with so many people to spar with me? This is an ambush and assassination. If we were caught up by the Tai Yin Sect disciples and couldn’t defeat them, we would die. Bao Gu, in the world of cultivating immortals, killing and betrayal are common occurrences. Although the various sects appear peaceful on the surface, they fight to the death in private. The treasure robe given to me by my master, the flying sword under my feet, the flame sword in my hand, and even the corpse of the fire toad in my storage bag would all be targets for them to fight over. If they had caught up with us just now and killed us, we would have died.”
Bao Gu blinked and asked, “Does the Tai Yin Sect have a grudge against us?”
The word “us” made Yu Mi glance at Bao Gu. Yu Mi said, “It’s not really a grudge.”
Bao Gu asked, “Then why do they want to kill us?”
Yu Mi was speechless at Bao Gu’s innocence. If she didn’t explain some things clearly to Bao Gu, she was afraid that Bao Gu would be in danger in the future. After all, she was the one who brought Bao Gu into the world of cultivating immortals and took her into the Xuan Tian Sect and the Ling Yun Peak. She had the obligation to take care of her. She asked, “Do you understand the principle of ‘not revealing one’s wealth’?”
Bao Gu nodded and said, “I understand.”
Yu Mi continued, “Do you understand the competition among peers?”
Bao Gu nodded again and said, “I understand.”
Yu Mi said, “There are limited resources in the world of cultivating immortals, and everyone wants to gain more resources to go further on the path of cultivation. Although it is dangerous, seizing resources by force is a shortcut. Although they dare not openly rob in crowded places, if they encounter a place with few people in the mountains and wilderness, they will rob and kill, leaving no trace of the victim. Among the sects, they compete and eliminate the potential threats from other sects. But you don’t need to worry. With your talent, as long as you don’t actively seek trouble, no one will bother you, let alone rob you.”
Bao Gu pursed her lips in annoyance and said, “You don’t need to say the last sentence to comfort me. You’re just hitting my self confidence!” Even you with a rare spiritual root and a genius, still ended up running for your life. She could only think this to herself and not say it out loud, fearing that Yu Mi would kick her off the flying sword.
Bao Gu was able to survive in the Three-Year Drought of Qing Shan County and the widespread famine, and her family’s food was not taken away, so she wasn’t stupid. Yu Mi had told her so much, and she naturally understood and gained a new understanding of becoming an immortal and the world of cultivating immortals. She thanked Yu Mi, who gave her a disdainful look. Bao Gu was only a nominal outer disciple, and technically didn’t have the qualifications to call her senior sister. However, there were few people in the Xuan Tian Sect, and even fewer in the Ling Yun Peak, so now there were only four people in the entire Ling Yun Peak, including Bao Gu.
