Chapter 522 : Nine Abyss Sect_s Stronghold
522: Nine Abyss Sect's Stronghold
Not wanting to alarm anyone, Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue waited quite a while longer in the space. Only after all the searching Fusion stage cultivators had left and they had confirmed that no one remained in the vicinity did they emerge from the space.
The two exchanged a tacit glance in the direction the Second Elder had departed, and Jiang Mo turned to Yun Qingyue with raised eyebrows.
Yun Qingyue, without many words, simply said "Let's go," and took the lead in pursuing the direction the Second Elder had left—the wisp of ice flame she had left on the Second Elder earlier wasn't meant to burn him to death, but to track him.
The two traveled almost in a straight line; even the buildings within the city couldn't impede the steps of two cultivators. The advantage of this approach was speed; the two moved through the city almost like a gust of wind. The disadvantage was that they occasionally encountered patrolling demonized people, though this time the two had no interest in dealing with them—they avoided them when possible, and when avoidance was impossible, they hid in the space.
Fortunately, the two were quite perceptive, and their journey progressed smoothly.
Finally, after traversing nearly half the city, they arrived outside the gates of a mansion.
It wasn't clear who this mansion had originally belonged to, but it was evidently not an ordinary household. Whether in terms of the materials used in its construction or the remnants of formations around it, the grade appeared quite high. However, no matter how fine the mansion, its owner was no longer present. The mansion, having lost its owner, had clearly been occupied by another group, and the original protective formations had been destroyed.
Having tracked to this location, neither of them rushed to enter. Looking at the mansion before her, Jiang Mo even wondered if she and her Senior Sister were being too reckless. She tugged at her Senior Sister's sleeve and voice-transmitted softly: "Ah Yue, do you think the Second Elder found this mansion himself?"
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue immediately understood Jiang Mo's meaning—given the Second Elder's status, he should logically be residing with the Nine Abyss Sect. If this was a temporary residence he had found himself, that would be fine, but if it was a stronghold of the Nine Abyss Sect, their rash arrival was practically no different from lambs entering a tiger's den. So whether to enter or not remained a question.
Truthfully, Jiang Mo's concern wasn't superfluous. Upon hearing it, Yun Qingyue also felt there was risk. But having come all this way and tracked to this point, she felt somewhat reluctant to turn back, and besides, even igniting the ice flame might not necessarily burn the Second Elder to death.
Perhaps the most irresistible phrase in the world is "since we're already here," and Yun Qingyue, not immune to this, began to hesitate.
Jiang Mo clearly noticed this, and without waiting for Yun Qingyue to answer, she continued: "Since we're already here, we should go in and take a look. Ah Yue, don't worry, I can always protect our lives."
Yun Qingyue had no doubt about this, but a divine beast's innate space also had flaws, such as the entrance and exit being in the same location. In other places, perhaps no one would be willing to guard that entrance and exit for long, but if today they had to take refuge in the innate space out of necessity, getting out again wouldn't be easy. After all, this might be a stronghold of the Nine Abyss Sect, and they didn't have that much time to hide in the space indefinitely.
Rational thinking led Yun Qingyue, after brief hesitation, to ultimately choose to abandon the plan. She took Jiang Mo's hand and shook her head: "Let's forget it. We don't know what's inside, so let's not take this risk."
Jiang Mo had hesitated herself earlier, but now seeing her Senior Sister choose to give up, she suddenly didn't want to leave... In some mysterious way, she seemed to have a premonition, feeling that if she left now, she would definitely miss something.
A cultivator's intuition should never be taken lightly. Therefore, Jiang Mo stood motionless, frowning slightly as she said: "I have a feeling that we probably need to go in."
Yun Qingyue was somewhat surprised to hear this, but she turned to look at Jiang Mo and didn't contradict her. On the contrary, she was quite decisive; after hearing Jiang Mo's words, her gaze swept over the mansion before them, and she quickly pulled her along: "This way. New formations have been set up outside the mansion. We need to find a weak point to enter, otherwise we'll alert those inside."
Jiang Mo hadn't expected her Senior Sister to be so swift and decisive. She blinked, and was already being pulled away by Yun Qingyue. Fortunately, Yun Qingyue had become increasingly proficient in formations. She led Jiang Mo in a small semicircle and indeed found a suitable breakthrough point.
Then, seizing the right moment, Yun Qingyue pulled Jiang Mo, their figures flashing as they entered the mansion through a gap in the formation's operation.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · · · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue's earlier concerns were entirely correct; this mansion was indeed the Nine Abyss Sect's base. As soon as the two passed through the formation and entered the mansion, they discovered sentries every three steps and guards every five, with extremely tight security. Moreover, these patrolling guards all remained conscious, completely different from the zombie-like demonized people outside.
Both were startled by this display, but fortunately, they had anticipated and prepared for this before entering. Additionally, the formation outside the mansion had been arranged by the Nine Abyss Sect Leader personally, and the disciples had complete faith in their Sect Leader, which led to some laxity.
Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue, relying on their cultivation being higher than the patrolling disciples, quickly flashed into the shadows.
Yun Qingyue's expression slightly tensed as she pointed in a certain direction, gesturing to Jiang Mo, who immediately guessed that was where the Second Elder was located. However, looking in the direction Yun Qingyue indicated, Jiang Mo's expression also became less than pleased, for no other reason than that her Senior Sister was pointing at the central location of the mansion—as is widely known, such a central position in a stronghold is nine times out of ten where those in power reside. The Nine Abyss Sect Leader might very well be living there.
Jiang Mo's face darkened, but just as she was about to retreat, that premonition in her heart grew stronger. She didn't know what she would miss if they left now, but in these critical times, she didn't want to miss any opportunity.
So Jiang Mo gritted her teeth and still gestured to Yun Qingyue: Let's go!
Yun Qingyue understood and decided to take this risk with Jiang Mo, so she didn't hesitate. She only tacitly joined Jiang Mo in suppressing their auras to the minimum, then together they infiltrated toward the center of the mansion.
The two's journey was relatively smooth. Although the security became tighter the further in they went, and the cultivation levels of the Nine Abyss Sect disciples guarding and patrolling grew higher, fortunately these disciples' cultivation, no matter how elevated, wasn't like outside in Xuanqing City, where Fusion stage powerhouses were used to guard the city gates. The highest-level guards they encountered were only at the early Fusion stage, already holding not insignificant positions as elder-level figures within the Nine Abyss Sect.
Finally, the two arrived near the main courtyard. Jiang Mo brought Yun Qingyue into her innate space, stealthily using a water mirror to observe the situation outside—the security outside the main courtyard already included Fusion stage elders, so the guards inside this main courtyard would likely be even more formidable. And more concerning than these guards was the Nine Abyss Sect Leader, solidly at the Grand Achievement stage, not falling behind Sect Leader Zhu in the slightest.
In any case, through these days of challenges, Jiang Mo was quite certain that she currently couldn't defeat Sect Leader Zhu.
Jiang Mo was therefore extremely cautious, not even daring to observe from outside, fearing to alert their prey. However, before she had observed for long, she suddenly saw a familiar figure emerge from the main courtyard—who else but the Second Elder?
Given the situation, the Second Elder couldn't possibly be living in the main courtyard; he must have come to report something and, having finished his report, was now leaving.
The little tiger's eyes immediately brightened, and she hurriedly tugged at her Senior Sister's sleeve: "Ah Yue, look, the Second Elder has come out. He's not in the main courtyard, so we don't need to go in. We can just follow him."
Seeing this, Yun Qingyue also breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement. Noticing that the Second Elder was about to move away, they hastily exited the innate space, planning to pursue him. However, as soon as they left the innate space, Yun Qingyue immediately sensed something was wrong. Because although she and Jiang Mo had clearly seen the Second Elder leave, her perception still indicated that he was in the main courtyard before them.
This situation had only two possibilities: either the Second Elder who just left was a fake, or the ice flame she had left on the Second Elder had been discovered and removed. Both possibilities were significant. Yun Qingyue had no time to speculate; she pulled Jiang Mo and fled without hesitation: "Quick, let's go."
Jiang Mo didn't understand why, but since her Senior Sister reacted this way, she naturally cooperated fully.
The two fled rapidly from their original position, expecting danger to follow closely behind. However, after fleeing quite a distance, they found everything behind them peaceful, with no one pursuing them. In fact, they had run so fast that they even got ahead of the Second Elder. Fortunately, the two hadn't forgotten to conceal their traces while fleeing. Thus, although the Second Elder sensed something, he ultimately couldn't discover their trail.
After fleeing for a while, the tense atmosphere eased slightly, and the two found another place to hide. Jiang Mo then asked: "Ah Yue, what happened just now? Why did you suddenly pull me to run?"
Yun Qingyue didn't hide anything from her and immediately explained what had happened earlier. After listening, Jiang Mo also felt a chill.
Neither of them was the type to harbor wishful thinking. Although Jiang Mo felt it was a pity, she immediately said: "Since we've been discovered, it's not advisable to linger here. Let's leave right away."
Yun Qingyue didn't object and was about to leave with Jiang Mo when a familiar figure entered their vision. As it turned out, by such coincidence, the side courtyard they had randomly chosen to hide in was actually the Second Elder's residence.
This was truly a case of searching far and wide only to find what was right under their noses.
For such a windfall, Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue had no reason not to accept it—both of their cultivation levels had reached the late Fusion stage, and facing the Second Elder, who was also at the late Fusion stage, it was two against one. Additionally, divine beasts' combat prowess was inherently stronger than human cultivators'. If they caught him by surprise, they should be able to subdue him quickly without much issue, and as a last resort, they could still bind him and take him into the space.
Jiang Mo cracked her knuckles, no longer concerned about letting an unrelated person enter her space—after all, this was an enemy, or in other words, someone who would die sooner or later anyway, so there was nothing to worry about. Besides, they hadn't tracked him here simply to kill him; seeing that the Second Elder was clear-minded and held a high position, they wanted to ask if he knew any inside information. In this regard, capturing him alive and bringing him back to the space would be convenient.
Yun Qingyue saw the eagerness in the little tiger's eyes, and any lingering hesitation in her heart vanished. With just one glance at each other, they had already formed a tacit understanding, and finally, as the Second Elder approached, they struck simultaneously.
Once again, fact proved that their tacit understanding was excellent, but the Second Elder's defeat was beyond their expectations.
Almost in a single exchange, before Jiang Mo even had time to employ her innate space, the Second Elder was successfully subdued. Jiang Mo was even somewhat dazed, reaching out to pinch the Second Elder's face, suspecting she had captured a fake.
Yun Qingyue, however, saw that he was genuine. Without time to wonder why it had been so easy, she knocked him unconscious and hurriedly said: "Let's go!"