Chapter 135
Chapter 135: Demonic Cultivators’ Infighting
Just then, another voice tried to mediate: “All right, all right. We’re all here for the same thing. No need to ruin the mood over this little girl. Let’s keep it fair and compete.”
A Jade Cauldron Sect demonic cultivator smiled behind her hand as she said: “From what I’ve observed these days, this little girl will go practice sword in a small grove soon.”
She added, “The place isn’t big, but it’s quiet and empty. We can make our move there.”
Voices rose in agreement: “Fine.”
Someone added, “But let’s say this up front. Whoever grabs the little girl first, the rest do not snatch.”
More answers followed: “Fine.” “No problem.”
On the surface the dozen or so demonic cultivators were all amicable, though what lay in their hearts was anyone’s guess.
They fanned out and hid around Rong Shu, their gazes burning holes in her back.
At this moment Rong Shu walked along kneading the Little Hamster in her hands as if she had no sense at all of the danger coiling closer. She even hummed a snatch of tune under her breath.
The instant Rong Shu stepped into the grove, every lurking demonic cultivator grew restless with excitement.
They lunged toward the grove, each fearing that a moment’s delay would let someone else beat them to it.
Then, from somewhere, several Shadow Darts suddenly flew, streaking toward four or five demonic cultivators.
Already wary of one another, the demonic cultivators reacted instantly and dodged.
Though no one was hurt, that volley was a fuse that tore open what had been an uneasy peace.
Without another word, the demonic cultivators began launching frenzied attacks at one another.
“It had to be you, you turtle-born bastard!”
“Bullshit, you sneak-attacked me!”
“You bald donkey, I’ve endured you long enough!”
While chaos exploded, the culprit, Liu Kai, was feeling rather pleased with himself as he reported to the one guiding him from behind the scenes: “You called it. I tossed a few darts and they started fighting.”
He urged, “How about you? Have you made your move? Grab Rong Shu and let’s run!”
Many in this pack were at the ninth or tenth layer of Qi Refining.
Liu Kai was only at the seventh. He was outmatched.
He figured Xu Liu thought the same. Better to have Xu Liu snatch the girl and bolt.
On the other side, the quarry in everyone’s eyes, Rong Shu, read the message from her “good brother” Liu Kai and allowed a small smile.
“Well done,” she sent back. “Keep stalling them. I’ve already slipped into the grove.”
Receiving “Xu Liu’s” reply, Liu Kai’s eyes lit.
Good fellow.
That brat Xu Liu was devious.
He had gone in and ambushed early.
Liu Kai rejoiced. He would wait outside for Xu Liu’s good news, and help block anyone else from entering the grove.
After sending the message, Rong Shu was about to trigger the array when a surge of danger welled up—behind her.
The next instant she sprang from where she had stood.
Almost at the same moment, a black mass swelled up from the spot she had just vacated.
The shadow seemed surprised by Rong Shu’s reaction speed. It pushed up from the ground, bulging and coalescing into a blurry human shape.
The man laughed, gloating as he said: “Little girl, didn’t expect it, did you? I’ve been waiting for you inside the grove.”
He crowed, “Hahaha, you’re mine now.”
Rong Shu eyed the man who had taken shape with a faintly odd look as she asked: “You came in early?”
He boasted, “That’s right. Those idiots only know how to stalk you, but I’m different. I set my ambush in advance. I even cleaned out a few fools who were hiding here before.”
Halfway through his brag, he realized something was off.
He snapped his head toward Rong Shu.
Wait.
Why was this little girl so calm?
According to plan, shouldn’t she be terrified and helpless at the sight of him?
And what did she mean by “You came in early”?
What do you mean, he came in early?
As the man’s mind brushed the answer, a cold light flashed before his eyes.
A keen horizontal blade came straight for his face.
Startled, the man dissolved into shadow and sank into the ground.
At the same time, Rong Shu flicked out the last Formation Disc, tossed it to the earth, and triggered the entire setup.
In an instant, the grove flared with bands of white light.
The hidden Formation Discs activated together, weaving an array that sealed everyone within the grove.
“What is this?”
“A formation? Where did a formation come from?!”
The surge of power drew the attention of the other demonic cultivators in the grove.
They lost their composure at once.
To them this had been nothing more than a routine hunt.
Their only headache had been guarding against the other hunters. Now…
Rong Shu did not hesitate. As the array locked in place, she slashed again at the shadow man.
His expression shifted several times before he cursed: “You’re not at the fourth layer of Qi Refining! You’re… at the tenth?!”
Damn it, she had hidden this deep.
These sect disciples were too crafty.
Still cloaked in shadow, the man saw Rong Shu continuing to attack in his direction and stayed calm.
According to the information he had gathered, Rong Shu possessed only Wind-Fire Dual Spiritual Roots.
The sect had tested her roots; a cultivator could hide their realm, but spirit roots did not lie.
He only needed to wait for Rong Shu to waste her spiritual energy. Then killing a stink-of-milk little girl would be easy.
Even if he alone could not finish her, there were a dozen demonic cultivators in the grove.
While he was indulging in this rosy thought, he went cold as Rong Shu’s entire figure melted into shadow as well.
She arrowed through the darkness toward him.
At some point the single blade in her hand had become two, and a thin, pale-golden sheen had filmed both blades.
Two arcs whipped out together.
They cut down toward the man.
“This… this is impossible!”
Panicked, the man tried to block.
But Rong Shu’s cultivation outstripped his by a layer. Once he lost the advantage of diving into shadows at will, he became a lamb on the block.
Her Twin Blades pierced his abdomen, driving clean through.
White blade in, red blade out.
Rong Shu twisted her wrists. Both knives churned inside him, then scissored to either side, cutting his body cleanly in half.
“…Aaaaah!”
His scream lasted only a few seconds before Rong Shu drove a blade through his skull and nailed him dead in the shadow itself.
When his aura finally faded, the two halves of his corpse floated up from the ground.
His wide eyes were fixed with disbelief and terror.
After she finished the man, Rong Shu did not linger. She moved at once.
Elsewhere, the sudden emergence of a formation had forced a truce among the demonic cultivators mid-brawl.
From the original fifteen, five already lay dead in the melee. The rest all carried wounds of one sort or another.
Just as they began to search for a way to break the array, the formation shifted.
Mist boiled up around them. Before anyone could react, the fog unraveled the group and scattered them.
Within the fog, a black silhouette slowly took shape.
The shadow figure, two horizontal sabers in hand, slipped through the mist again and again.
With every step, a scream split the haze. Hot blood spattered the ground with ticking sounds.
Rong Shu killed until only Liu Kai remained.
Facing the man whose heart had already died even as his body still fought back, Rong Shu leaned on the solid pressure of her tenth-layer Qi Refining cultivation and ground him down.
“Brother, safe travels,” she said, patting Liu Kai on the shoulder. Before he could react, her other hand flashed; one clean stroke sent his head tumbling.
After killing all of the demonic cultivators, Rong Shu dispelled the array’s fog and began to search the bodies.
She went through the dozen or so corpses one by one and collected several dozen Storage Pouches.
The possessions of demonic cultivators were not especially rare or precious, but there were many of them, and quantity makes a pile.
By Rong Shu’s estimate, once converted to Spirit Stones, the haul would fully cover the cost of using the array this time.
The formation was consumable; each use diminished it.
Even after subtracting expenses, Rong Shu had still turned a tidy profit.
More importantly, she had removed a portion of her hidden dangers.
After tidying the scene, she checked twice more. Once certain she had left nothing behind, she took the Little Hamster and departed.
A dozen demonic cultivators disappearing at once might draw the attention of their sects.
So in the days to come, Rong Shu decided not to go to the Alchemist Sub-Guild at all and to hide in Dragon Ridge Palace instead.
True, Dragon Ridge Palace was a big target. There were many sect disciples here, and the demonic cultivator sects would likely focus on it first.
But hiding outside without the sect’s protection carried far more risk and uncertainty.
Who could say whether the demonic cultivators might suddenly decide to slaughter the city?
When Rong Shu stepped onto Dragon Ridge Palace grounds, she finally let out a long breath.
With the liability of Liu Kai gone, her “Xu Liu” demonic cultivator persona should hold a while longer.
She was in good spirits when, a short distance on, she ran into people she would rather avoid.
A girl’s voice was trembling with tears as she said: “Senior Brother, it was so frightening. I almost couldn’t see you… sob…”
A male voice soothed her: “Ruan Ruan, don’t be afraid. They’re all dead. No one will hurt you.”
The girl hiccupped: “Good thing you were here, otherwise…”
Her words trailed off and she began to cry again.
Then Feng Lin and Qin Yuan added their reassurances one after another.
Hearing this exchange, Rong Shu raised her brows.
So Yu Ruan Ruan had been ambushed by demonic cultivators.
Judging from the situation, Feng Lin and Qin Yuan had saved her.
Yu Ruan Ruan was at the Foundation Establishment Stage. The demonic cultivators who had attacked her were likely at Foundation Establishment, if not at the Golden Core Stage.
With that in mind, Rong Shu turned to leave.
She could not linger near Yu Ruan Ruan.
If the demonic cultivators tailing Yu Ruan Ruan at Foundation Establishment or Golden Core also fixed on her, it would be a headache.
But as Rong Shu moved to go, Yu Ruan Ruan spotted her.
The girl called out: “Junior Sister, you’re here too.”
Qin Yuan turned and said: “Junior Sister Rong?”
Caught out, Rong Shu could not slip away unnoticed. She turned and greeted them politely: “Senior Brothers, Senior Sister.”
Qin Yuan, taking in Rong Shu for the first time in days, frowned as he said: “Did you just come back from outside? Be careful these next few days. Stop running around for fun.”
Rong Shu nodded: “All right, Senior Brother Qin.”
Yu Ruan Ruan pressed a hand to her chest and looked at Rong Shu with anxious concern as she said: “Yes, Junior Sister, there have been more and more incidents of demonic cultivators attacking sect disciples in the city. You mustn’t wander about. There’s always time to play, but if you run into demonic cultivators, you could lose your life.”
Rong Shu was about to nod when Feng Lin snorted and said: “Ruan Ruan, don’t bother with her.”
He added, “If she insists on running out to court death, no one else is to blame.”
His eyes were cold as he thought that the best outcome would be for her to die at demonic cultivators’ hands and be done with it.
Rong Shu kept her face courteous as she said: “Thank you for your concern, Senior Brothers, Senior Sister. I won’t step beyond Dragon Ridge Palace in the coming days.”
Yu Ruan Ruan said: “Junior Sister, come to think of it, I don’t even know where you live.”
She continued with a touch of grievance in her eyes: “It’s been so many days and you haven’t come to see us. What have you been doing?”
Rong Shu was still thinking about how to gloss that over when Yu Ruan Ruan chattered on: “The sect grand competition has been wonderful. Did you watch it, Junior Sister? Our senior brothers are amazing. They should have no trouble making the top twenty. I’ve been the one holding us back… I’ll be lucky to squeeze into the top fifty.”
With that, Yu Ruan Ruan looked ashamed.
Rong Shu nodded and said sincerely: “Senior Brothers and Senior Sister are formidable. I’ll learn from your example.”
Suddenly, Yu Ruan Ruan’s glance flicked sideways and lit on the Little Hamster: “Junior Sister, what is that in your hands…”
The Little Hamster was so small that Rong Shu could cup it completely with both hands.
But since Rong Shu had been holding her hands in the same position for so long, Yu Ruan Ruan’s attention had naturally been drawn to them.
On a closer look, she noticed something was off.
Since she had been discovered, Rong Shu no longer hid it and said: “Just a little pet I came across recently.”
When Yu Ruan Ruan saw it was only an ordinary Little Hamster, a flicker of disdain crossed her eyes, though her mouth formed the words: “So cute. Junior Sister, could you let me hold it?”
Inwardly, malice rippled through her as she thought: [If I take that Little Hamster and “accidentally” drop it… that small one would surely die from the fall. Then Rong Shu would be heartbroken, wouldn’t she.]