Just as a hint of smugness welled up in his eyes, before he even had time to pull it back, he turned his head and his gaze suddenly swept over the group of people slowly approaching the foot of the mountain.
In that instant, the smugness on his face froze.
His mouth fell wide open, and the blade of foxtail grass he was chewing on slipped out.
His eyes went wide, and his entire body froze in shock, his breathing coming to a sudden halt.
A bone-chilling panic instantly swept through his entire body.
He leapt to his feet and frantically rubbed his eyes, terrified that his vision was playing tricks on him.
Hurriedly, he pushed aside the tangled branches in front of him and stared intently at the group below.
Xu Wu and his men were actually tied up securely and being led up the mountain.
His heart skipped a beat, and cold sweat broke out across his forehead. Had they kicked a steel plate?
He did not dare linger for even a second. Scrambling down from the tree in a panic, completely ignoring his posture, he turned and stumbled as he fled toward the Black Wind Stronghold.
At the foot of the mountain, Jiang Lu calmly looked up, sweeping her gaze over the treetop where the man had been hiding. A barely perceptible smile played at the corner of her lips.
It seemed they were almost there.
The mountain path was rugged, and he ran at a breakneck pace, tumbling and falling twice along the way. His robes were covered in dust, and his palms and knees were scraped, but he felt no pain, focused entirely on scrambling forward.
Finally reaching the entrance of the Black Wind Stronghold, his throat tightened. Gasping for breath, his voice trembled, and he shrieked in a near-cracking voice:
“This is bad! Chief! Something terrible has happened!!”
The bandits guarding the stronghold entrance exchanged bewildered glances.
They had never seen Goudan like this. Why was he so utterly panicked today?
What could possibly make him this frantic?
Knowing he had just come up from the foot of the mountain, had some accident occurred?
Inside the main hall, the stronghold chief, who was sitting in the seat of honor and drinking heavily, almost spat out a mouthful of strong liquor upon hearing the frantic, throat-tearing screams from outside.
His brow furrowed deeply, and he slammed his large hand onto the wooden table, causing the cups to rattle and spilling most of the wine.
“Which bastard is making all that noise outside? I'm alive and well, so what could possibly go wrong!”
With that, he suppressed his impatience and strode out of the hall.
Just as he stepped out of the doors, he saw the breathless and disheveled Goudan collapse to his knees in front of him.
“Chief, this is bad! I was on guard duty at the foot of the mountain and saw Xu Wu and his men tied up securely, heading toward the Black Wind Stronghold.”
After speaking, he looked up to read the chief's expression.
“What? Say that again!”
The chief's eyes grew serious. He knew the strength of Xu Wu and his men; ordinary people were no match for them. In fact, out of all the robberies they had committed, they had never once failed.
It seemed they had run into a tough crowd.
With Jiang Lu and Liu Qingqing leading the way and Lu Lingfeng and Xi Siyu bringing up the rear, the group came to a halt in front of the stronghold.
The massive, thick log gate of the stronghold was tightly shut, its heavy timber isolating the inside from the outside.
Looking up, the Black Wind Stronghold was perched halfway up the mountain.
Behind the stronghold lay a sheer, bottomless cliff with no path of retreat.
The only way to reach the stronghold was this winding mountain path—a natural defensive advantage that made it incredibly easy to defend and difficult to attack.
As they made their way up, they had traversed many winding and confusing paths. Someone in the stronghold clearly understood the principles of the Eight Trigrams, cleverly concealing the path up the mountain.
If an ordinary traveler who knew nothing of formations passed by, they would only get lost in the forest, unable to find the entrance at all. This was likely why the bandits felt so secure and fearless here.
The stronghold walls loomed nearly three meters high, built from thick, solid rammed earth.
Every so often along the top of the wall, bandits armed with sabers patrolled back and forth, their vigilant gazes scanning the dense forest below.
Upon spotting Jiang Lu's group, they immediately rushed to report.
Before long, the chief of the Black Wind Stronghold appeared on the wall.
Seeing the figures of Jiang Lu and the other three, his heart sank. These four carried an extraordinary aura and looked quite young. Furthermore, they did not seem to carry any weapons. How could they have defeated Xu Wu and his men barehanded?
What was worse, even after arriving at the stronghold, Xu Wu and the others were trembling violently, not daring to lift their heads, and a few had even wet themselves.
He knew things were bad. His heart rate began to quicken, a familiar warning signal he felt whenever danger approached.
This signal had saved him many times in the past.
“Who are you, and what business do you have at my Black Wind Stronghold?”
His rough voice rang out, though it carried a hint of uncertainty.
“Are you the chief of this Black Wind Stronghold?”
Lu Lingfeng's voice sounded calm, as if the man before him was not worth his concern.
“So what if I am?”
The chief instinctively replied.
“Junior Sister Jiang, what should we do now?”
Liu Qingqing walked over and asked Jiang Lu softly.
She found Junior Sister Jiang more and more agreeable. After all, she was just a junior sister from another sect, so she posed no threat to her own status.
Moreover, Jiang Lu never lectured her on her affairs, maintaining an excellent sense of boundaries.
Jiang Lu stared at the chief on the wall, her expression grim.
She had just opened her Heavenly Eye and saw that the Black Wind Stronghold was shrouded in a dense aura of resentment, comparable to a mass grave. Not a single person inside was innocent.
“Senior Sister Liu, watch closely~” she said softly. The Myriad Soul Banner suddenly flew out from her waist, gradually expanding as it hovered silently behind her.
A chill ran down Liu Qingqing's spine, and she took a few steps back to stand beside Lu Lingfeng and Xi Siyu.
The three of them looked at the black banner in astonishment. The Myriad Soul Banner!
Wasn't that something only ghost cultivators possessed?
Did Junior Sister Jiang minor in ghost cultivation?
The hollow bell at Jiang Lu's waist chimed, and Youmeng swayed its body with excitement.
It had caught the scent of food.
The moment the Myriad Soul Banner flashed, the entire Black Wind Stronghold was suddenly enveloped by a bone-chilling, biting aura. Ghostly winds swept in from all directions, and the air seemed to freeze instantly.
Every bandit in the stronghold felt their chest tighten as if their blood had frozen. A piercing coldness surged through their limbs and bones, spreading throughout their bodies.
The bandits guarding the walls felt their pupils dilate, and the weapons they held clattered heavily to the ground.
The sharp sound of iron hitting the ground was exceptionally jarring in the dead silence of the stronghold.
Their legs instantly turned to jelly, and their knees shook uncontrollably. The fierce, saber-wielding bravado they had shown moments ago vanished completely. Swaying unsteadily, they nearly collapsed to their knees.
A profound terror welled up from the depths of their hearts, as the boundless cold devoured all their courage.
Demons...
They are real demons!
Only now did they realize why these people possessed such otherworldly appearances and extraordinary auras.
At this thought, the bandits were scared out of their wits. Unable to maintain any semblance of defiance, they threw down their weapons in panic and crawled onto the ground, cries for mercy erupting one after another.
“D-Demon immortal, Great One!!”
“Spare our lives! We beg the fairy to spare our lives! We were blind to have offended you!”
“Mercy!”
“...”
Amidst the rising screams, Jiang Lu waved her hand gently, and the Myriad Soul Banner instantly enveloped the entire stronghold.
In an instant, everyone's eyes bulged as if they were witnessing an unspeakable horror.
Strands of black-misted souls were sucked into the Myriad Soul Banner.
Rate on N.U.
