High above the Taiqing Secret Realm, a streak of pink light streaked across the clear blue sky. Such an obvious escape light moving at a relatively slow speed quickly attracted some people’s attention.
“Hahaha, this guy’s escape light on their artifact is so obvious, and their speed isn’t great either. Isn’t this just begging us to come find them? Brothers, let’s go meet this fellow Daoist together!”
A yellow-robed man hiding in the forest shouted loudly. In the blink of an eye, several more yellow-robed cultivators emerged from hidden corners.
One of them, wrapped in bandages, showed a trace of doubt in his eyes after seeing that escape light.
“Senior Brother, that escape light… it feels a bit familiar. Although the speed is very slow, I keep feeling it’s somewhat similar to the escape light that knocked me flying yesterday.”
After hearing what that person said, the man called Senior Brother carefully observed the escape light in the sky once more. He then patted the worried man’s shoulder and laughed heartily.
“Junior Brother, are you saying that escape light looks like the one from the mysterious cultivator who directly sent you flying? You must be overthinking it. I heard from your junior brother earlier that the escape light suddenly appeared within his divine sense range, then suddenly disappeared, and the next moment appeared nearby. But look at this escape light — its speed is clearly something that can be captured with the naked eye. If it can move that fast, why fly at this kind of speed? Isn’t this just asking for trouble? Hahaha. You must still have trauma from being knocked flying. You get scared when you see a similar escape light, right? Hahaha.”
As he spoke, he turned his back and stared at the escape light ahead, then said.
“Don’t worry. With Senior Brother here now, even if the person inside that escape light is the one who injured you yesterday, with my peak Qi Refining cultivation, why would I be afraid of him? If we really run into them, I’ll naturally get an explanation for you. Someone who injured a person from our Tai Miao Sect can’t just let it go like that!”
Listening to the man’s impassioned words, the bandaged man was immediately moved and said.
“Senior… Senior Brother!”
“Everyone, let’s go together!”
“Alright!”
Following the man’s command, the other yellow-robed cultivators summoned their artifacts and drove their flight artifacts in unison, flying toward the front of that pink escape light.
Several yellow-robed men blocked the path of that pink escape light together, forcing it to stop. The light faded, revealing the petite figure inside — it was Shucao!
“A girl? What a beautiful person.”
After the person inside the escape light appeared, Shucao’s lovable little face entered the eyes of the Tai Miao Sect cultivators, causing their thoughts to momentarily stall.
Coming back to his senses, the leading man spoke to Shucao.
“This immortal fairy, this one is from the Tai Miao Sect. Since immortal fairy was able to come to this secret realm, you naturally know the rules the three sects have toward loose cultivators who enter the secret realm. I hope immortal fairy can hand over everything you obtained earlier. If you do, we will naturally let you leave. We won’t interfere if you go collect spirit materials again afterward. If immortal fairy is unwilling to cooperate with us, then don’t blame us for not knowing how to cherish beauty!”
“In the end, it’s still robbery. And they say it so righteously. But this really can catch people. Looks like pretending to be Tang is really useful!”
After the leading man finished speaking, An Qianhua suddenly said.
“After all, the three sects default to being the masters of the secret realm. Let’s prepare to carry out the next part of the plan.”
After replying to An Qianhua, Shucao didn’t waste any more words with the people in front of her. She directly flew back in the direction she came from.
“Hmm? Trying to run? Looks like immortal fairy would rather drink the penalty wine than the toast!”
Seeing Shucao flee, the leading man flew into a rage out of humiliation. He had spoken to her so politely, yet the other party didn’t give him any face at all. He immediately drove his flight artifact at full power while activating the artifact in his hand, determined to stop her.
When the others saw their senior brother give chase, they didn’t hesitate in the slightest and immediately followed.
“They actually dared to chase after me. Looks like they’re very confident.”
“It should be the courage given to them by their numbers. And the one leading them seems quite strong.”
“But looking at them like this, it won’t be easy for them to catch up to you, little Shucao.”
Shucao glanced back at the cultivators’ speed, then deliberately slowed her own flight speed a little.
“It would be troublesome if they gave up because they couldn’t catch up.”
A while earlier.
“Senior Sister, I sensed that person who was chasing me earlier is nearby.”
While they were traveling, Tang Kongkong suddenly said to Zhang Huaiyu.
“Really?”
“Mm. That day when I was being chased, I struck a sword mark onto the leading person. I was thinking that if I ever met him again, I would definitely return the favor. It seems the other party didn’t discover the existence of that sword mark. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to sense it.”
“I see. Then it looks like we don’t need to go to Tianling Mountain to demand an explanation from them anymore.”
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Huaiyu requested of Shucao.
“Fellow Daoist Shucao, this one has a small favor to ask. I wonder if you would be willing to help?”
“What is it?”
“Well, it’s like this. Fellow Daoist, your speed is quite fast. And that Tai Miao Sect group might currently be lying in ambush for passing cultivators. So I wanted to ask you to first fly over their ambush area at a slower speed, then, while ensuring you won’t be caught by them, fly back and lure them into our ambush circle. That way, we’ll be the ones surrounding them. Although this small favor is somewhat dangerous, the reward will definitely not be lacking for you, Fellow Daoist. If we get our hands on their harvest, you can choose a portion first.”
After weighing the pros and cons for a moment, Shucao felt this favor wasn’t too difficult. Even if they had more people and she had trouble dealing with them, she was confident she could run away.
And so, the scene from the beginning occurred.
Shucao deliberately controlled her flight speed, always suddenly accelerating just as they were about to catch up, pulling away from the cultivators behind her.
“Damn it, your methods aren’t small either. I’d like to see how many more times you can accelerate!”
After being pulled away by Shucao several times in a row, the leading cultivator’s expression gradually darkened. Spiritual energy surged from his body, and the spiritual light on his flight artifact also roiled, bursting forth with even greater speed.
Seeing this, Shucao immediately raised her own speed to match his.
Just like that, the man didn’t notice at all that he seemed unable to catch up to Shucao. Leading his junior brothers, he gradually approached the place where Zhang Huaiyu and the others were lying in ambush.
Just as Shucao was about to stop flying and wait for Zhang Huaiyu and the others to appear, a banner flag flickering with golden light suddenly flew over from the side and blocked the path between Shucao and that Tai Miao Sect cultivator.
Clang!
With a ringing sound, the banner flag seemed to unfold into a massive wall, blocking the Tai Miao Sect group. This made Shucao suddenly freeze.
“Who is it? Where did this expert come from?”
Just as she was thinking this, a man stepping on a red flying carpet shouted loudly from the air nearby.
“I told you at the beginning not to listen to me and act together with me. Now you’re in trouble, right? For the sake of me saving you, you’d better thank me properly after we get out!”
A familiar arrogant voice drilled into Shucao’s ears. Looking toward the source of the voice, Jin Xuan, whom she had met once outside the secret realm, was standing there. His expression didn’t look very good either.
“Uh, why did this guy come? And he messed up the plan!”
Just as Shucao was still wondering whether to have Zhang Huaiyu and the others come out now, Jin Xuan suddenly glanced behind him. His expression changed slightly. He then charged straight toward where Shucao was, grabbed her wrist, and seemed to want to take her away from here.
But he couldn’t pull her.
Facing Jin Xuan who had suddenly run up to her, even though he had kind of tried to help her just now, because she hadn’t had a good impression of him back outside, and what he was doing now was far too sudden, Shucao said to him with some dissatisfaction.
“W-what are you doing!”
“Run! We’ll talk about everything else later!”
Just as Jin Xuan said this, several more streaks of light flew over from the direction he had come from and stopped not far from them.
“Aiya aiya, isn’t this Fellow Daoist Shucao? Long time no see. I was wondering why I felt there was still a mark nearby. I didn’t expect it to be you, Fellow Daoist.”
Among the two leading people, one was the old man Mu Ya whom Shucao had met outside. The other white-robed cultivator was a new face to Shucao.
“That dead old man secretly planted marks on us outside. Then after entering the secret realm, he teamed up with the Lingxu Sect cultivators. Starting from this morning, he used the marks to track other loose cultivators. Several people have already fallen into their hands by now!”
After hearing Jin Xuan’s explanation, Shucao said.
“He really is… quite cunning.”
“Fellow Daoist Shucao, please don’t blame me. I made a deal with several people from the Lingxu Sect. They asked me to provide the locations of loose cultivators, and in exchange I can get Foundation Establishment Pill materials from them. This old man is over a hundred years old with not much lifespan left. Besides taking a gamble on Foundation Establishment, I have no other choice.”
Shucao looked at the several Lingxu Sect cultivators not far away, then at the several Tai Miao Sect cultivators nearby. A trace of helplessness appeared in her eyes.
“People suddenly increased in number. This is going to be troublesome. Speaking of which, even though Jin Xuan was being chased, he still helped me once. Although his tone is really bad, I suddenly have a slightly better impression of him.”
“He really steps up when it matters. Not bad!”
Just as Shucao and An Qianhua were talking, the leading Tai Miao Sect cultivator spoke.
“Isn’t this Fellow Daoist Wang from the Lingxu Sect? I’ve long heard of your great name!”
“Oh, so Fellow Daoist Wu from the Tai Miao Sect is also here. What a coincidence.”
“However, Fellow Daoist Wang, this immortal fairy was someone I encountered first. You can’t set your sights on her.”
“Fellow Daoist, don’t joke around. You still haven’t caught up to her even now, yet you want to call her your prey. That’s really laughable.”
Because of Shucao, the atmosphere between both sides became tense. After all, both wanted to rob the resources obtained by the loose cultivator. At the same time, if they could heavily injure the other side, they could also reduce the number of competitors when ascending Tianling Mountain.
At this moment, the current situation had suddenly turned into a three-way standoff. Shucao’s side, with only two loose cultivators, looked like the weakest party no matter how you looked at it. Of course, this was ignoring Zhang Huaiyu and the others along with Shucao’s own combat power.
Seeing this scene, An Qianhua secretly laughed and then said.
“Wow, little Shucao really is a beauty who brings disaster. These people actually became like this because of you!”
“I feel like it’s completely not because of me.”
Looking at the situation before her, Shucao suddenly felt troubled. The plan that had been going so well to lure the Tai Miao Sect group into the trap had suddenly turned into something that looked like it was going to become a huge brawl.
“Whoa, Fellow Daoist Shucao is really something. She went out once and not only brought back a group of Tai Miao Sect cultivators, but also a team from the Lingxu Sect. What should we do now?”
Hidden in the forest on the ground, Zhang Huaiyu also said somewhat helplessly.
“Fellow Daoist Wang.”
At this moment, Mu Ya spoke to the Wang-surnamed cultivator from the Lingxu Sect.
“Now it looks like our side has two peak Qi Refining, two late-stage, and several mid-stage cultivators. Overall, our cultivation is higher than both other sides. That Jin Xuan was also exhausted quite a bit by us earlier. Why don’t we just wipe out both groups in one go?”
After observing the situation once more, the Wang-surnamed cultivator noticed that the Tai Miao Sect group seemed to show some signs of spiritual energy depletion. It looked like they had expended quite a bit while chasing that strangely dressed female cultivator.
Thinking this, he felt that no matter how he looked at it, his side had the advantage!
Thus, the corner of his mouth curled up as he immediately said.
“Move!”