Meanwhile.
The courtyard where Wen Li’s trio resided was located near the commoners' district. To purchase some medicinal herbs for Zongzheng Huangyue's injuries, Gu Linshu had ventured into Wanbeiwu's inner city.
Wanbeiwu was a border city situated between Beiqiong Kingdom and Houchi Kingdom. Its geography was distributed in a strip-like fashion, and it was home to many complex factions. Among them, the Moquan Sect and Danfeng Valley were the most prominent; since their founding, these two powers had been in constant conflict over territorial issues.
Eventually, both sides negotiated a retreat of a hundred li each, respectively occupying the two areas with the most abundant spiritual energy in the north and south of Wanbeiwu to establish their own camps.
They had lived in relative peace for a hundred years, but recently, for some unknown reason, news of war between the two factions had surfaced once more.
As the saying goes, when the gods fight, it is the mortals who suffer.
Although the disputes of cultivators typically did not involve commoners and rarely resulted in the massacre of innocent lives, no one would spare the effort to protect them once the fighting actually began.
This left the ordinary people living in the hundred-li buffer zone between the two factions in a state of misery and trepidation. Even stepping out to set up a stall during the day required them to look around constantly, perpetually monitoring the sky for any movement.
Gu Linshu noticed this abnormal atmosphere as he walked. He quickened his pace in gathering his supplies, with only one last medicinal herb remaining on his list.
Just as he stepped into a spirit medicine shop named “Virus-Toppling Pharmacy,” the commoners outside the city gates began to flee in all directions.
“The Moquan Sect is attacking!”
“Ah! Run!”
Dozens of black-clad figures flew in on swords from the sky, surrounding six heavily injured individuals in front of them.
“Your Danfeng Valley will belong to my Moquan Sect sooner or later. If you surrender now, you can avoid the pain of the flesh!”
The leader of the six pursued individuals, a white-bearded old man, spat a mouthful of phlegm backward.
“Bah! If you hadn’t put Scattered Spirit Powder in our food, how could we have been ambushed by scum like you? If you have the guts, compete fairly! This old man would beat you to death!”
“Since you won’t listen to reason, do it. Just keep them alive.”
Helian Zhou, the Left Protector of the Moquan Sect who appeared to be a young man, waved his hand with a cold expression.
Ten people immediately accelerated and split up to form a perimeter.
Having been drugged, heavily injured while protecting his disciples, and severely outnumbered, even though the white-bearded old man, Luo Yuntian, was the Fifth Elder of Danfeng Valley and a fellow Early-Stage Golden Core cultivator like Helian Zhou, he was already exhausted after a few rounds.
Thud!
A figure was kicked down from the heights by Helian Zhou.
He smashed heavily into a street and tumbled across the ground before finally coming to a stop against the wall of the Virus-Toppling Pharmacy, coughing up fresh blood.
“Martial Uncle!”
“Master!”
The five disciples of Danfeng Valley were all captured alive. Their eyes bulged with rage as they witnessed this scene; they wanted nothing more than to rush over and save him, but in the next second, Helian Zhou knocked them all unconscious and ordered them bound.
He then flew down, landing and walking step by step toward the Virus-Toppling Pharmacy, raising his hand to seize Luo Yuntian, who was slumped in the corner.
“Uh...”
A soft, hesitant sound rang out. An elegant young man dressed in white happened to walk out of the pharmacy, which had been under a barrier designed to block out sound and attacks.
In broad daylight.
All ten men in black looked toward him, their eyes meeting his.
“...”
In an instant, the surrounding air turned awkward.
Gu Linshu, stared at by ten pairs of eyes, calmly turned his head to look at the old man slumped against the wall coughing blood, and then at the ten aggressive men in black who had captured five young disciples.
No matter how he looked at it, he realized he had stumbled upon a scene of murder and robbery.
He took a step back, wanting to indicate that he had nothing to do with them and that they should carry on as they pleased.
Unexpectedly, Luo Yuntian, who still had a breath left in him, kindly waved a hand at Gu Linshu.
“Quick... Run!”
“...”
Gu Linshu’s breathing tightened. He really wanted to tell the old man: I would have left on my own without you saying anything, but now that you’ve said it, I really can’t leave.
He quickly looked at Helian Zhou, wanting to explain.
“I...”
As it happened, when Helian Zhou saw that Luo Yuntian had vomited what looked like three buckets worth of blood and still had the strength to tell someone else to run, he assumed the boy must be from Danfeng Valley, given the old man’s legendary protectiveness over his juniors.
He narrowed his eyes and stared at Gu Linshu with a dangerous gaze.
“Are you also from Danfeng Valley?”
He shifted his hand, accumulating spiritual energy.
Gu Linshu saw that he was a Golden Core cultivator. Since all his Golden Core talismans had been confiscated by Wen Li, he had no way to counter him and could only brace himself to maintain his composure.
“I-I-I-I-I-I’m...” A rogue cultivator!
But the boy had forgotten that he was a stutterer. No matter how calm he appeared on the surface, he couldn't hide his inner panic, and his speech immediately became a shaky, stuttering mess.
Helian Zhou felt his ears grow irritated. Seeing that the boy was only an Early-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator yet so young, someone with such talent in Wanbeiwu would have joined either the Moquan Sect or Danfeng Valley.
“You have the guts to admit it. Since you were honest, I won't beat you. Let’s go.” He gestured with his hand.
“...Wait!”
Thwack!
Didn't you say you wouldn't beat me? Liar!
Gu Linshu’s eyes went wide, and his vision turned black.
He was knocked out and dragged away like a dead fish, slung upside down over a black-clad man's shoulder. As the man turned around...
Gu Linshu’s hanging head hit the wall with a clack.
The Cangchen Brush on his hair crown was scraped off, rolling under a wicker basket beside the door of the Virus-Toppling Pharmacy.
Helian Zhou wiped his hands, his work done. “Report to the Sect Master. I captured seven members of Danfeng Valley today, including Luo Yuntian.”
“Yes, sir.”
...
“How long has it been? We’re almost bloated from all this tea.”
Well after dark, Gu Linshu had still not returned from his shopping trip. Wen Li, who was sitting in the courtyard drinking tea while teaching Zongzheng Huangyue the path of the Ghost Cultivator, clapped her hands together and spat out a sunflower seed shell.
“Keep reading the book for now. If there's something you don't understand, we’ll talk when I get back. Don't open the door if someone knocks. I’m going to look for Gu Linshu to see if he’s been kidnapped and sold.”
Wen Li tossed a finger-thick book to Zongzheng Huangyue and reflexively tapped her on the head as a reminder.
“...Yes.” Zongzheng Huangyue remained silent. Her Master indeed never knocked on doors; she only knocked on her disciples' heads.
She looked down at the book resting on her lap. The title on the cover read: An Analysis of the Causes and Resolution Strategies for Optimizing the Integration of a Possessed Body: A Behavioral Study.
Zongzheng Huangyue thought the title was very strange and didn't look like a normal ancient text, so she guessed it could only have been written by her Master.
“Master, rest assured. I can protect myself. Please return early and stay safe.”
“If I’m not back, just go to sleep first. I’m going out for some late-night killing.”
Wen Li waved her hand and hurried to the kitchen. Grabbing her kitchen knife, Hold On, which was still covered in minced garlic, she rushed out with a murderous aura.
Bang!
She kicked the door open, and it shut automatically once she had passed through.
Previously, that glutton Xie Tinglan had nearly been lured away by a mortal with snacks in a crowded place.
But Gu Linshu was richer than him and was a young master who lived in the lap of luxury; there was nothing he hadn't seen. How could he possibly be lured away? If the child isn't home this late, someone must have stolen him!
Damn it all, she hadn't even redeemed Xie Tinglan yet, and now another one was lost.
And it was her wealthiest cub.
How was this any different from cutting off her path to wealth? It was utterly malicious!
Once she caught the thief, she would beat the waste right out of their gut!
Rate on N.U.
