Jade Shura sheathed her sword and glared at Bao Gu, annoyed.
“Do you still want to do business with me or not? If not, forget it!”
She turned to leave.
Bao Gu quickly grabbed Jade Shura and handed her a gourd of Second-Tier Monkey Wine.
“This… is a deposit for you!”
Such a good deal was hard to come by!
Jade Shura took the Second-Tier Monkey Wine, hesitated for a moment, then uncorked it and took a sniff.
Reluctantly, she said, “Fine! I can use this wine, so consider it as your deposit.”
She accepted the wine, and with a flick of her small sword, a ripple like water appeared in the air.
Jade Shura then disappeared into the air as if diving into water.
The young man sighed in relief after Jade Shura left and asked Bao Gu, “You didn’t hire Jade Shura to catch me, did you?”
Bao Gu pouted, “I don’t even know you.”
The young man said, “True, I’m just a wandering cultivator and can’t afford to offend people like you… Haha, I’ll be going then!”
Bao Gu called out, “Wait! How did Jade Shura become famous?”
The young man looked around carefully and whispered, “Her face is famous.”
Bao Gu asked, “Is she beautiful?”
The young man nodded, “You know the courtesan Xue Mudan from Drunken Flower Pavilion, right?”
Bao Gu shook her head.
The young man gave Bao Gu a long look and forced a smile, “Three years ago, the most beautiful woman in Xuanyue Ancient City was Xue Mudan from Drunken Flower Pavilion. Jade Shura loves wine, and once, while drunk, she bet someone that she could outshine Xue Mudan. She went to Drunken Flower Pavilion, challenged Xue Mudan, and won the title of the most beautiful woman in Xuanyue Ancient City. No one has dared to challenge her title since!”
Bao Gu thought to herself, “Jade Shura, a killer, went to compete with a courtesan and became the most beautiful woman in Xuanyue Ancient City? What a story!”
She noted Jade Shura’s love for wine and asked the young man, “Is Jade Shura her nickname or her real name?”
The young man replied, “Jade refers to her jade-like beauty, and Shura refers to her deadly skills.”
He cupped his fists and said, “I came to the Taigu Ruins to find spiritual treasures and increase my cultivation. I don’t want to get involved in your conflicts. Please, Bao Gu, let me leave.”
Bao Gu made a gesture of invitation.
The young man turned and quickly ran, covering several meters in a few strides, disappearing into the forest.
Bao Gu watched the young man run away and couldn’t help but laugh.
She thought, “He managed to get a Taigu Token to enter the Taigu Ruins but can’t afford a flying sword? He must be at least at the Foundation Establishment stage, yet he’s running on foot to escape!”
Without Yu Mi by her side, Bao Gu felt unsafe and didn’t dare to stay in one place for long.
She summoned her flying sword and cautiously flew close to the ground towards the depths of the Taigu Ruins.
After flying about ten miles, Bao Gu felt that flying like this made her too conspicuous.
Her ninth-level Qi Refining strength was too dangerous and noticeable in the Taigu Ruins.
Her strength was like a unique mark, and even disguises couldn’t hide it.
Without any magical treasures or talismans left, if she was recognized and without her senior sister to protect her, she wouldn’t last long.
The only solution was to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
She thought for a moment and returned to a crevice in a cliff she had passed earlier.
The cliff was between two mountains, forming a narrow passage.
The ground was very wet, with small puddles everywhere, and water dripped from the cliffs.
The rock walls had water marks, indicating it was a flood channel during heavy rains.
Bao Gu checked the surroundings and found no signs of danger.
She guessed that frequent floods prevented land animals from living there, and aquatic animals couldn’t survive in a place that couldn’t hold water.
Bao Gu set up a concealment and a spirit-gathering array with some low-grade spirit stones.
Seeing the ground was too wet to sit on, she took out a small cart her Little Martial Aunt had made for her in the Taiyin Sect’s mining area to use as a stool.
Bao Gu sat cross-legged on the small cart in the center of the spirit-gathering array, took out the Second-Tier Monkey Wine and Foundation Establishment Pill, and began to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage with the help of the spirit-gathering array.
She was already at the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining, just a step away from the Foundation Establishment stage.
In this place rich in spiritual energy, with the help of the Second-Tier Monkey Wine and Foundation Establishment Pill, everything went smoothly.
Bao Gu broke through the Qi Refining stage and became a first-level Foundation Establishment cultivator in just half a day.
During her breakthrough, Bao Gu felt a faint presence of the Xuantian Sword in her dantian.
After breaking through to the first level of Foundation Establishment, she didn’t stop but focused on sensing the Xuantian Sword.
She knew the Xuantian Sword was in her dantian.
When she took the Foundation Establishment Pill and Monkey Wine, she should have died from the excess energy, but the extra energy mysteriously disappeared, just like when she used the spirit-gathering array in Xuanyue Ancient City.
She was too focused on breaking through to notice anything else, but she felt a faint movement of the Xuantian Sword in her dantian.
The movement was so slight she almost thought it was an illusion, but she knew it wasn’t, or she would be dead now.
She searched her dantian repeatedly but couldn’t find any trace of the Xuantian Sword.
She guessed it was because her cultivation was still too low.
Worried about Yu Mi, Bao Gu didn’t spend more time on the Xuantian Sword.
She dismantled the spirit-gathering array, collected the remaining low-grade spirit stones, and was about to leave when she saw a giant white python absorbing the thick spiritual energy.
Bao Gu was startled and thought it was her Little Martial Aunt.
She exclaimed, “Little Martial Aunt!”
But then she remembered her Little Martial Aunt couldn’t be here.
Looking closely, she saw the giant white python was filthy and reeked of blood, unlike her clean and beautiful Little Martial Aunt, who looked like a small white dragon.
This was clearly a cultivating monster.
Bao Gu had never encountered a real monster before, except for her Little Martial Aunt and the small celestial fox given to her by the mountain guardian.
Seeing the giant white python, Bao Gu was naturally scared.
She hesitated whether to fight or flee, but the python quickly turned and darted into a small hole nearby.
Bao Gu had no interest in hunting monsters and was more concerned about Yu Mi’s safety.
She checked on the small celestial fox in her blood oath token and saw it had recovered.
She released it and said, “Ling’er, take me to find Yu—” Before she could finish, the small celestial fox had already darted to the hole where the python had disappeared.
Bao Gu quickly called, “Ling’er, come back! Let it go!”
The small celestial fox looked back at Bao Gu, hesitated, then lowered its head and tried to enter the hole.
Bao Gu said, “Let it go. We need to find my senior sister. A monster is useless to hunt.”
The small celestial fox gave Bao Gu a disdainful look and reluctantly returned to her side.
It raised its paw and started drawing on the ground.
Bao Gu saw the small celestial fox drawing a series of symbols she didn’t recognize and asked, “What are you writing? Monster language?”
The small celestial fox’s eyes were full of contempt.
Bao Gu’s face tightened, “Write in human language.”
The small celestial fox gave Bao Gu a sideways glance and wrote on the ground, “Who cares about a stinky snake? There’s treasure in the hole!”
Bao Gu said, “Even if there’s treasure, we need to find my senior sister first. Finding her is more important. If we don’t find her, no treasure is worth it!”
The small celestial fox slapped the ground with its paw, let out a frustrated cry, and reluctantly left the hole.
It looked back at the hole, then at Bao Gu, and finally climbed up the cliff.
Bao Gu looked at the snake hole longingly, thinking, “If the small celestial fox is so interested, it must be something valuable.”
She wanted to search for the treasure but was too worried about her senior sister.
Her senior sister had too many enemies, and if something happened to her…
Bao Gu decided that no treasure was worth more than her senior sister.
She quickly summoned her flying sword and flew to the small celestial fox, who was climbing the cliff.
“Use your paw to point the direction. Flying is faster.”
She didn’t dare to fly too high, fearing she would be an easy target, so she flew close to the treetops in the direction the small celestial fox indicated.
The small celestial fox sometimes sniffed the air, sometimes dived into the forest to search, and then returned to Bao Gu’s flying sword to guide her.
Bao Gu guessed the small celestial fox was following the scent left by Yu Mi and her group.
Sometimes she saw blood drops, but more often, she saw nothing, yet the small celestial fox was certain Yu Mi had passed through.
After about half an hour, they started seeing signs of battle, with burned trees and sword marks everywhere.
Soon, Bao Gu saw a headless corpse, stripped of its clothes, leaving only a pair of pants.
Bao Gu’s heart tightened with worry for Yu Mi’s safety.
Following the small celestial fox, Bao Gu found more corpses along the way, all brutally killed.
Some were dismembered, and the most intact ones were headless.
The clean cuts on the necks looked like her senior sister’s work, but her senior sister was busy chasing Nan Yi and wouldn’t have time to strip the corpses.
Was someone following her to loot the bodies?
Bao Gu grew more cautious, suspecting someone was trailing her senior sister.
