Chapter 340
Zhou Xinyi stood in front of 62 of her disciples. The cave was cold, damp, and uncomfortable compared to a nice detached house somewhere in the American suburbs. She would name her golden retriever Rudy and have a son and daughter who would play with Rudy around the inflatable pool, playing fetch with a red ball. Her husband would be on the grill while she sunbathes and shouts at her children to stop running around since they might get hurt.
People did say nowadays that it was just all a dream. Give up on the dream and live your life for the honour and glory of the Jiuling.
To hell with Glory and Honour. Screw all the goddamn meetings. The only reason why she put up with this and did not just let the death mark end her was due to being able to attain Late-Harmonic at the age of 33.
Oh how she dreaded that age. She was running out of time to have future little Haohao and cutie Zouzou.
Though these thoughts made venting out her stress easy to the Blood Blade sect disciples under her. Most were outer disciples, barely worth remembering their names. A handful were inner disciples who had reached at least the minimum threshold of Early-Resonant. There were no Core disciples among them.
Those were too precious to send out to a backwater dump to mine shiny gems.
The Grand Elder had instructed her to mine the blue green gems. It was for the final array of the Blood Corpse (Xue Shi) ritual, the old senile said. Once they had made enough blood corpses, they'd have the power to challenge the 9th spot in the Jiuling hierarchy.
But something about the orders didn't seem right.
Why would a Blood Corpse need a ritual array to form? She had gathered enough victims over the past month. 87 bodies, drained of blood, their life force extracted and stored in jade containers. That should be more than enough for the standard method of creating a blood corpse, although 87 was barely enough to create even two of them.
Abducting that many victims in a single spot was one of the stupidest decisions that came out of the sect's meetings. It was efficient, they said, to gather all the materials in one place.
Well now, the United Idiots are up their asses.
And what was up with an array to create a blood corpse? The standard method wasn't complicated. An array would complicate things further and might end up with a lesser quality blood corpse.
Yet the Grand Elder insisted on the gems. Somehow, he knew what the blue green gems did, and he dodged all the questions directed at him in those meetings. Where would he get the information then?
Regardless, that wasn't why she was here.
Xinyi reached into her robe to fish out a small blue green gem. The moment it touched her fingers, she felt the buzz that felt like her Qi seeped into the gem. When she pressed it against the back of her neck, she felt the death mark's grip weaken.
Every Blood Blade disciple had one; burned into the back of their neck during initiation. Even the Grand Elders had their own death marks controlled by the heads of the sect.
Any kind of action that would suggest betrayal, the death mark would activate immediately with no warning. Death would come, fill their lungs with blood Qi and drown them.
If she could figure out how to use this blue green gem to permanently disable the death mark, she could escape and leave this disgusting sect behind.
Something suddenly tugged at her spiritual thread.
Xinyi extended her senses across the room of the cave in front of her, counting the signatures of her disciples.
18 Early Resonants and 42 Early to Mid-Attuned.
2 Early Resonants were missing from the assembly.
"Where is #11 and #16?" Xinyi asked.
None of the disciples spoke. Their eyes shifted nervously left and right around them, probably thinking someone would speak up instead of them.
Finally, a man assigned as #19 in the mission spoke up. "They might still be doing their rounds of patrol, Elder Zhou. There were Sand Dune Wormlings scouring about just an hour ago. They might have dealt with it."
"Those worm dogs are no match for the Blood Blade sword forms," Xinyi said. A single Early Resonant could kill a dozen of them without breaking a sweat. There's no way they haven't dealt with it yet.
She extended her spiritual thread further, pushing past the cave walls and into the surrounding canyon. Searching for #11 and #16's distinct death marks, yet she found nothing. Not even signatures outside of the cave system except for the ones in front of her.
"Find #11 and #16's bodies!" Xinyi shouted. "Search the patrol routes! Search the mining areas! Search everywhere! Now!"
The disciples scrambled, rushing out of the main chamber in groups of 3 and 4. Within seconds, only Xinyi and her closest subordinates remained.
The bodies would tell her what happened.
If #11 and #16 were mauled, torn apart by teeth and claws, it was the worm dogs. Unlikely, but possible if they were ambushed by a larger pack. Wormlings were weak individually, but in large numbers, they could overwhelm even a Resonant.
But if the bodies were clean kills such as sword marks, bullet holes, or elemental damage, then it was humans.
The United Knights.
Could they have found the base already? The Grand Elder himself had set up the trap array around the spike field. The spatial distortion should have kept any intruders walking in circles for months.
That couldn't be possible. Unless...
"Xinyi..." a whisper flowed to her right ear.
She flinched. Her hand went to her sword, ready to draw. But there was no one there.
"Xinyi... I can help you..."
The Grand Elder. Playing tricks on her again. These constant whispers... always about promised power. Mystic stage in less than a month. All she had to do was listen to its advice.
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A ridiculous trap to keep her loyal. Then why hadn't they activated her death mark yet if they knew she wanted to escape?
It could be that she hasn't given them clear action of her betrayal yet. She's still following orders. Those old conniving men knew that all those under them were only loyal because of the death mark. As long as no one acts on their thoughts and still does their jobs, there was no reason to activate the mark.
"If you find me, I'll show you it's real. Find me at the west tunnel."
The west tunnels? No way. She had ordered that tunnel sealed 3 days ago. The disciples had reported something wrong with it. A taint that seeped from the walls. A sort of miasma that made even the blood Qi feel clean.
She couldn't go there. She wouldn't go there. It was a ruse by the Grand Elder to get her to slip. That's what it was.
"Is it taint if it's unknown? Or is it unknown, therefore it is taint?"
"Do not tempt me, vile whispers!" Xinyi shouted aloud. "I shall not bend to your temptations!"
The few disciples remaining in the chamber turned to look at her with wide eyes. #1, her most senior subordinate, approached cautiously. "Elder Zhou? Are you doing well? Perhaps it's best for you to take a rest."
"I'm fine," Xinyi snapped. "I just need coffee. Fetch me coffee. Now."
#1 bowed and hurried away.
"An unknown could be a fortunate encounter. Have you no sense of adventure?"
Xinyi gritted her teeth. This stupid whisper had been with her for months now. Ever since the meetings. Ever since she drank the tea the Grand Elder had offered her during their private discussion about the Guatemala operation.
Those assholes were trying to keep her in the sect. They knew. They had to know about her plans to escape. Why else would they plant this voice in her head? The tea was probably poisoned with their own blood Qi, allowing them to pass long distance communications between dimensions. That was the only conclusion on what the tea meant.
"Elder Zhou."
Xinyi spun around, sword drawn, flaring with Blood Qi Intent on her weapon. "WHAT?!"
#1 stood there, frozen in fear, holding a steaming cup of coffee in both hands, trembling in fear as his face had gone pale.
Xinyi stared at the cup. Taking it from his hands, she said, "Thank you."
#1 bowed deeply and retreated to a safe distance. She didn't need to thank him, but she wouldn't let go of the humanity that the sect tried to take away from her.
Remember, Xinyi, everything you did wasn't because you wanted to. They coerced you to do them. Forced you through the threat of death. Xinyi did nothing wrong.
Xinyi raised the cup to her lips and took a sip. The coffee was bitter. Exactly how she liked it.
"Did you check for poison?"
Xinyi stopped mid-sip.
She circulated her Qi through her body, using the Blood Arts detoxification technique to purge any foreign substances from her system. Her blood Qi swept through her organs, her veins, her muscles, searching for anything that didn't belong.
Nothing. All the technique did was eliminate the caffeine she had just consumed.
Xinyi stared at the cup in annoyance. She took another sip to consume the caffeine once again.
"So you do listen."
Xinyi's eye twitched.
"Then listen to me again. The unknown is where the fortunate venture. Do you not agree?"
There was no point in listening to the whispers.
Xinyi never really cared about strength anyway. All of it came easy to her. Mastering Qi circulation, blood arts, martial forms. It was always weird to her that those around her struggled for months to learn a single technique while she picked it up in days, maybe even hours sometimes.
She couldn't understand. Why take so long? The movements were simple. Each art needed to use specific pathways to flow smoothly. It was obvious. Just feel where the energy wants to go rather than resisting and trying to control the technique.
But none of that mattered. Strength meant nothing when your life wasn't your own.
At times, she'd think that maybe life wasn't worth living with this death mark burned into her neck. Maybe she should just end it all. Kill the Grand Elder in a surprise attack before the mark could activate. At least she'd take one of those old bastards with her.
"Do it, Xinyi. The elder won't see it coming."
Stupid whispers. It could read her mind somehow. Definitely because the blood Qi in that tea had gotten inside her, creating some kind of connection.
Killing an elder, though, would prove to be useless. She already saw grand elders and sometimes even elders be assassinated by their own disciples in meticulous schemes.
The result was, whoever devised the plot got promoted a rank. The control of their death marks was then transferred to a new superior.
Such a vile sect this was. Honour and glory? It had none at all. It was all just chains wearing different names.
"Blood arts. Hemorrhaging Grasp. Is that not the art that you are having difficulty with? Acquiring that would let you become a Grand Elder."
Again, the whispers gave her another thing to think about. It could read her surface thoughts but not understand the context behind them.
Yes, she had shown the grand elders of her struggle to learn Hemorrhaging Grasp, all for show. It was the final technique required to be promoted to Grand Elder rank. But becoming the youngest and lowest-stage Grand Elder was basically a death sentence.
Core disciples were ambitious. 3 of them in particular had eyes that drooled to assess different targets of their greed, whether that be killing for rank, fun, or just lust.
If Xinyi became one of them at only Late-Harmonic, those 3 Early Harmonic would see her as prey. They wouldn't be able to get her in a fair fight, but an ambush.
Best to stay just an Elder, high enough to have authority and low enough to not catch meaningless attention. Until Mystic-Stage, that is, where she could properly defend herself or until true escape.
Xinyi looked at the blue green gem still in her hand. Carving it with Qi, she fashioned it into an ergonomic earpiece. Within minutes, it was done.
Pushing it into her ear, the whispers became muffled immediately. It wasn't gone, but noticeably quieter, like someone talking through concrete. Still there, but barely audible, that she could just ignore it.
That was better than nothing.
Footsteps echoed from the cave entrance.
Xinyi turned to see a squad returning from their patrol route. She counted the signatures automatically.
This squad was supposed to have 2 Resonants and 2 Attuned.
"#55, #32," Xinyi said. "What happened to #10 and #13?"
#55's face shifted around the cave as if looking for something invisible. There was nothing there, only her and a couple of other disciples that stayed for her protection."
"A ghost took them, Elder Zhou," #55 said.
"A ghost?"
"We couldn't see it... #10 was walking beside us. Then he was just gone," #55 said, voice trembling. "We searched for him but found blood on the rocks with no body anywhere. #13 vanished the same way while we moved forward ahead of him."
"The thing took the bodies, Elder Zhou, please believe us," #32 added quietly. "We couldn't find anything. Not even drag marks."
It was night time. Maybe there was an entity in this rift that could be invisible.
No. Rift entities weren't that smart to not leave a body behind. This smells like it was calculated. To take #13 while the other two weren't looking had to be a sign of other humans near the vicinity, taking them out one by one.
Jiuling cultivators were also known for exorcism techniques. Even a bottom-tier sect like Blood Blade had methods to deal with spiritual entities. If it were truly a ghost, #55 and #32 should have been able to sense it, fight it, and eventually exorcise it.
She studied #55's face carefully. There was no possible sign of any kind of malice or lie on his face. He was just a scared boy, trying his best not to die. All of them were.
He wasn't lying. Whatever he saw, it was something that genuinely terrified this boy.
Could it be the United Knights? They had been causing problems at the blockade for weeks now. No... the Knights were honourable to a fault. They wouldn't stoop to deception in combat, let alone use invisibility.
Those weren't their tactics. Usually, it was litigation and head on enforcement.
Something else was going on here.
To take down 2 Attuned without alerting the Resonants walking beside them, the attacker would need to be fast. Experienced in assassination techniques that even Early Resonants could not detect.
That was a problem. Even at her current stage, something undetectable by a Resonant could still pose a danger if the ambush succeeded.
The only ones capable of that level of stealth were other Jiuling cultivators.
Another sect?
The Beggar Sect had the most reason to interfere with Blood Blade operations. If they had learned about the Blood Corpse ritual to wage war against them, they could possibly stall the operations.
Beggars were masters of information and infiltration. Invisibility was well within their capabilities. The 8 idiots she sent yesterday also hadn't come back yet. The United Knights weren't capable of chasing them, especially when they had the transportation array that only worked for ones with a death mark.
Which means... it could only be another Jiuling sect. Beggar or whoever. This whole rift has now become a war zone.
"Call everyone back. I'm raising the alert status to red," Xinyi said to #1.