Chapter 372: Face
The fleet of paper boats followed its designated route.
The disciples on board began to reveal their auras, scaring away countless would-be spies.
"Look, this is the infamous chaotic land."
Yuan Chu suddenly lifted his chin, gesturing for Bai Mo to see.
Bai Mo looked down and saw a swirling nexus of spiritual energy. Below, the Spiritual Qi of the earth mingled with turbid qi, creating a breathtaking sight.
Yuan Chu said, "A place with such astonishing spiritual energy attracts countless Cultivators. They fight here endlessly, day after day. Mortals are almost nonexistent."
As the two talked, their gazes shifted, and they happened to witness a bloody slaughter.
Down in a mountain valley, a battle was raging. Flashes of colorful light shone as severed limbs flew through the air.
"Most of the people here aren’t local Cultivators. They’re outsiders searching for treasure. Countless conflicts have erupted, and the web of grievances is too tangled to ever unravel."
Bai Mo listened, lost in thought.
"Senior Brother, you seem to know this place quite well."
A smile touched Yuan Chu’s lips.
"I made a bit of a name for myself here once..."
In the time it took to exchange a few words, the battle below had ended. Only about thirty people survived.
One of them, a youth covered in blood, suddenly spotted the distant paper boats and took off after them at a run.
His legs couldn’t keep up. Drenched in sweat, he mounted a large, winged cat whose master had died and gave chase.
The winged cat pursued them frantically, finally managing to close the distance.
A red cord appeared on the youth’s wrist, shooting out to wrap around the mast of a sail.
SNAP!
The red cord went taut, pulling the youth onto the paper boat.
Only when his feet touched the paper surface could he finally gasp for breath, his face so red it looked like it might start bleeding.
A disciple from Divine Dao Mountain withdrew his gaze from him.
"If that red cord of yours had pulled any harder, I would have cut it."
The youth looked up, his face covered in sweat and his eyes slightly unfocused. He managed a fist-and-palm salute.
"My apologies..."
But the disciple ignored him.
A while later, as they passed a cliff, a husband and wife pushed and shoved their child onto a large bird, sending it toward the paper boats.
The bewildered child was carried by the bird and dropped onto a boat.
In the distance, many enraged Cultivators rushed over, screaming curses at the couple.
The couple just laughed boisterously in response.
The arriving Cultivators, helpless, turned their eyes toward the fleet.
But upon seeing it was a major sect passing by, they all shrank back, not daring to approach...
"What is the sect’s intention with all this?"
It wasn’t just Bai Mo; many other disciples were also confused.
Yuan Chu had a guess as to their purpose. He lowered his voice and said:
"They’re probably afraid our karmic weight is too light. The ancestral land might look down on us and blow us all away with a single puff of air, so they’re taking on all these people."
"They’re using their karma and fate to increase the ’weight’ of our group."
’Otherwise, why would they ever allow outsiders on board?’
"These are all capable people, able to calculate that we would be taking passengers..."
As if to prove Yuan Chu’s words, people continuously boarded the boats all along the route. It was clear that among them, there were few mediocre individuals.
「...」
Far behind the fleet, people began to inquire about its origins.
A Core Formation Cultivator sat at the head of a stone hall, his expression so dark it looked like it could drip water.
"The resources of these major sects are truly not in the same league as ours..."
He had tried to block the paper boats, only to be swatted down by a single swipe of Shang Wunian’s sleeve. He’d tumbled straight down, and the incident had now become a running joke in the area.
"There’s no future cooped up in this small place. We should go out and make our own way."
Hearing this, his apprentice, now the Sect Leader, hesitated.
"The sect has been rooted here for many years, after all. Though we haven’t exactly been thriving, we’ve been stable. To change things so rashly might be unwise."
"Shouldn’t we reconsider?"
"Reconsider my ass!"
The Core Formation Cultivator suddenly became agitated.
"The only reason it’s stable is because I’m still around! If something happens to me one day..."
BANG!
The stone doors of the hall were suddenly thrown open as two Cultivators entered together.
The already agitated Core Formation Cultivator flew into a rage and shot to his feet.
"Who dares trespass in this sacred sect ground!?"
POOF!
A gale of astral wind blasted him in the face. The Core Formation Cultivator, who had just stood up, was slammed back down into his seat, cracking the stone throne.
The two unwelcome guests spoke.
"The fleet of paper boats that passed through here a few days ago—what are their origins, and where are they headed?"
The Core Formation Cultivator gritted his teeth.
"I couldn’t even last a single exchange. What makes you two think I’d know anything?"
The two unwelcome guests frowned, clearly displeased, but said no more and left.
Faintly, words like "fat sheep" and "rich pickings" could be heard.
The Sect Leader was already trembling with fright.
The Core Formation Cultivator shot the Sect Leader a glare of bitter disappointment.
It wasn’t that he was seriously injured; it was the fact that any random person could show up and treat him with such disrespect. The frustration stewed in his heart.
"Tomorrow, you’ll pack everything up. Have the sect members gather their belongings. We’ll figure out where to relocate and leave immediately!"
The Sect Leader didn’t dare to object this time. He asked:
"Who were those people just now?"
"Bandits who operate in the shadows. They mask their faces, gather a crew to pull a few big heists, split the loot, and then go their separate ways. When they’re short on cash, they come out again."
"Hmph. It’s just because we’re poor. Otherwise..."
Even if Shang Wunian and the others didn’t know about the chaos brewing behind them, they could probably guess.
Even someone with Bai Mo’s level of cultivation could sense that quite a few people had been tailing the fleet lately.
"Shouldn’t we do something about them?"
Yuan Chu craned his neck to look behind them.
"Once we reach our destination, they won’t have the means to bother us anyway."
"It’s fine to ignore them."
The moment he finished speaking, several Core Formation disciples from Divine Dao Mountain emerged from other paper boats and leaped off.
While still in mid-air, they had already summoned several wisps of profound wind.
They were seeking the aid of the Dharma Protector spirit generals from the mountain.
"The Xuandao Sect is conducting business! All others, retreat at once!"
A sinister, hoarse voice responded.
"The road is wide enough for everyone. Does your Xuandao Sect think you can take it all?"
"We’ll go our way, you go yours. You’d best not interfere... You—!!"
The voice trailed off into a whistle-like shriek, followed by a dull THUD. Then, the hoarse voice went silent.
"Senior Brothers, these people are burdened with sinful karma. If we kill them, we kill them. Why hesitate so much?"
One disciple blew a yellow wind from his mouth, which enveloped a mountain ridge and smoked out two or three figures, tears and snot streaming down their faces.
"If we don’t take a few of them out, they’ll think we don’t have the guts to act!"
The pursuing Cultivators hadn’t expected them to attack so suddenly. Their vicious natures were instantly revealed. The glint of blades and swords flashed, yaksha-like phantoms appeared, and the air filled with the wails of ghosts and howls of wolves.
"CROAK!!"
Suddenly, a toad’s cry, like a clap of thunder, shattered a vast swath of magical arts.
A Cultivator who had been secretly casting a malicious spell to curse another’s Divine Soul abruptly vomited blood.
The disciple who had made the toad cry, his face cold, scattered a shower of fine light, and countless bursts of blood erupted from the enemy’s side.
With the resources granted by their sect, plus the aid of the Dharma Protector spirit generals, it wasn’t quite like slicing melons and chopping vegetables, but they were still unstoppable.
For a time, it was a complete massacre.
On a paper boat, a disciple said to Yuan Chu:
"They were just a bunch of pests, so we dealt with them."
"If we don’t act, they’ll think we’re weak. Even if they don’t cause trouble this time, other fellow disciples who pass this way later might run into problems."
"When you’re out in the world, the first thing people look at is the sect’s reputation. But that reputation is something we disciples have to fight for ourselves!"
Yuan Chu rubbed the back of his neck and grinned, showing a set of bright white teeth.
"I guess I was overthinking it."