“Slay demonic cultivators?”
Lu Lingfeng and the others looked completely bewildered. What demonic cultivators?
Seeing this, Jiang Lu's heart sank, and she asked in a cold voice, “Then how did you get here?”
Sensing the sudden change in Jiang Lu's tone, Lu Lingfeng had a bad premonition. He exchanged a look with Xi Siyu and Liu Qingqing, hesitated for a moment, and then hesitantly explained the reason.
Jiang Lu looked at Liu Qingqing, her eyes flashing. Her guess had been correct.
“I was ordered by my master to come here and slay demonic cultivators. Since the three of you are here as well, let's go together.”
After saying this, a spiritual boat appeared beneath Jiang Lu's feet, and the three of them immediately hopped on.
Jingzhou—
“Jingzhou is the territory of Prince Qi, which is closest to where I encountered those few demonic cultivators that day. Furthermore, Prince Qi has been recruiting a large number of extraordinary individuals. If my guess is correct, they are highly likely to come here.”
Jiang Lu looked down at the plains below. This place was located on the eastern side of the Great Qian Dynasty and was well-watered.
She slowly lowered the spiritual boat, then swept her divine sense across the entire provincial capital.
Hmm?
Suddenly, a wisp of demonic energy flickered within Jingzhou's provincial capital. Although it vanished in an instant, Jiang Lu caught it.
Her expression shifted. There really were demonic cultivators here!
However, after so much time, these demonic cultivators had likely consumed a significant amount of human essence blood. The trace she sensed disappeared almost immediately.
Jiang Lu altered her flight path and landed in a field some distance away. She put the White Tiger back into her spirit beast bag and handed each of the three a Qi-Restoring Elixir.
Although the three were curious, they remembered that Jiang Lu was different from them—she was here on a mission. Assuming she had simply come prepared, they didn't think too much of it.
Taking the elixirs, they felt their spiritual energy instantly restore.
Joy flared in their eyes. They hurriedly opened their storage bags, took out the items they needed, and packed them into regular bags to carry on their backs.
If their spiritual energy drained again, they could at least rely on these items to survive.
Liu Qingqing hadn't caused any trouble along the way, which actually made Jiang Lu a bit curious.
Liu Qingqing had wanted to make a scene, but since her two senior brothers weren't paying much attention to Jiang Lu, she had no excuse to complain.
Furthermore, no matter how foolish she was, she knew that if she wanted to return to the cultivation world, she had to rely on Jiang Lu.
Though her senior brothers pampered her, their pampering was useless at a time like this. She didn't want to stay in the mortal realm. Having grown accustomed to the conveniences of the cultivation world, she found everything here deeply uncomfortable.
Sensing Jiang Lu's gaze on her, Liu Qingqing wanted to glare back.
Xi Siyu immediately pulled her aside. Seeing her jealous expression, he let out a breath and patted his chest, glad he had stopped her in time.
“Third Senior Brother, you're not even going to help me?”
Seeing this, Liu Qingqing's eyes darted around. She pressed her handkerchief to the corner of her eyes, which quickly turned red. In a weak, fragile voice, she said, “If you want Junior Sister Lu to take my place, you should have just said so earlier.”
Jiang Lu's lips twitched. She had spoken too soon—so this was what the girl had been holding back.
She turned around and walked a few steps forward.
She really couldn't stand this kind of devious little white lotus.
Xi Siyu pinched the bridge of his nose and immediately comforted her, “Little Junior Sister, Junior Sister Jiang is different from you. How could we ever compare the two of you?” After all, Junior Sister Jiang isn't nearly as high-maintenance.
“Really?” Liu Qingqing asked skeptically.
“Of course,” Xi Siyu replied with absolute certainty.
Having finally coaxed his Little Junior Sister, Xi Siyu dejectedly leaned against Lu Lingfeng, his eyes full of pleading.
“Second Senior Brother, we really should talk to Master when we get back. It's one thing for Little Junior Sister to be foolish, but she's also so disobedient. We shouldn't let her out again.”
Xi Siyu felt incredibly helpless. If the sect rules didn't forbid it, he would have loved to dump her in the mortal realm to fend for herself.
“Third Junior Brother, don't worry. When we left that day, Eldest Senior Sister told us to bear with it for a little longer. Everything will be clear after the Heaven's Pride Board rankings. It's only a matter of a few years anyway.”
“If she doesn't make the Heaven's Pride Board, and she harbors malicious thoughts in the future, Master will naturally take action.”
Lu Lingfeng whispered back via voice transmission.
With her back turned to them, Jiang Lu heard every word of their conversation and shook her head helplessly.
She's the child of fortune. How could she possibly not make the board?
Making the board meant the allocation of resources. Perhaps Sect Master Shi had long known what kind of character she had, but for the sake of resources, he had no choice but to act this way.
Dressed in the attire of martial artists, the group headed toward Jingzhou's provincial capital.
“Junior Sister Jiang, how do we distinguish those demonic cultivators?”
Jiang Lu's lips curved into a smile as she cast a meaningful look at the three of them.
If she hadn't known how the sect operated before, now that she had the three of them, she knew exactly what to do.
The look in Jiang Lu's eyes sent a sudden wave of panic through the three of them.
This...
They had a very bad feeling about this.
“Alright, we'll stay here tonight. It has exactly four guest rooms.”
After saying this, Jiang Lu walked around the perimeter of the courtyard, casually setting up a few arrays and wrapping the entire courtyard in her divine sense.
As darkness fell, Jiang Lu sat on her bed meditating, though her divine sense remained active, observing every movement outside.
She needed to know how many demonic cultivators were here. If there were several and she only killed one, the rest would go into hiding.
If that happened, finding them would become even harder.
Suddenly, Jiang Lu noticed a person who seemed no different from an ordinary mortal.
He wore a long black robe, had a hunched back, and possessed an aged face, but his gait was somewhat floaty.
How strange.
Jiang Lu locked her divine sense onto him. She wanted to see what this man was up to.
She watched as the old man walked out of the backyard of Prince Qi's Manor, turned past three streets, and entered a two-entry courtyard.
The surrounding area was filled with the residences of merchants, with many people bustling about.
Jiang Lu watched as he knocked nine times on the door, and someone inside opened it.
He slipped inside immediately.
“Why are you here?”
When he stepped into the room, three other people were already inside.
They looked even more haggard than the old man. Although dressed in mortal attire, their clothes wrapped them completely, leaving only their bloodshot eyes exposed.
“Guess who I saw today?”
The old man's voice was raspy, carrying a hint of excitement.
“Who? It couldn't possibly be someone from the cultivation world, could it?”
The seated old man let out a soft snort, his face filled with disdain.
“Actually, yes. And they are three direct disciples of the Liuyun Sect.”
There was also Jiang Lu, but since he had never seen her before, he ignored her, assuming she wasn't anyone important.
“What?”
The three of them gasped in unison.
They stared at him in disbelief, their entire bodies trembling with excitement.
“How strong are they?”
One of the old men stepped forward, grabbing his hand with an urgent look.
“Merely late-stage Qi Condensation. And from what I can see, their strength is constantly draining.”
The old man's tone was smug.
Although they had been heavily injured when they first arrived, they had mostly recovered after this period of recuperation. Moreover, they possessed early-stage Foundation Establishment strength.
While it was nothing in the cultivation world, in the mortal realm, it was more than enough.
“Hahaha—”
“Heaven is truly on our side!”
As long as they absorbed the essence blood of those few disciples, who in the entire mortal realm could possibly stand against them?
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