Life as a Rogue Cultivator

This hero's post was all about speed. They had to move before word got out that four of the Lu family’s cultivators were dead. Get people together and hit the manor as fast as possible.

These next few days were when Baiye Manor was at its weakest and most careless. Once they figured out what had happened, the chance would be gone; they'd miss the perfect window.

As for Lu Xiansheng, without the backing of the top cultivators who'd reached the Peak or the tenth layer of Qi Refinement, he’s going to have a hard time. If they just pile people on him, they'll overwhelm him.

Take out one inner disciple and Tianlao Mountain would hurt all the way to the bone. Who knows... maybe Lu Yuanlang would end up regretting his slaughter on Wulong Mountain.

They set out that night to hand out the invitations. The invitations were ready-made; everyone had returned theirs to Liu Xiaolou when they split up that day, so all Liu Xiaolou had to do was pull them from his Qiankun Pouch.

Zuo Gaofeng, Tan Bajhang, Captain Hu, and Fang Bu’ai each took on their own assignments. Even Liu Xiaolou had two delivery spots to handle himself. One for Fairy Huang Ye and one for Dragon Mountain Wanderer. All the locations were recorded in Liu Xiaolou’s notes, so everyone just had to head straight to their targets.

Liu Xiaolou set the deadline for the following night: whether the messages were delivered or not, everyone had to regroup at the foot of Baiye Mountain by then.

Dragon Mountain Wanderer was hiding farther away, more than eighty li out. Liu Xiaolou sprinted through mountain trails for four hours before finally delivering the hero’s invitation to him. Without pausing for breath, he turned right around and pushed on another sixty li to reach Fairy Huang Ye's hiding place by the Heluo Creek.

By then, it was already mid-morning. Fairy Huang Ye, bored and idle, was fishing by the creek when he suddenly sensed something unusual in the nearby woods. She looked up sharply. And saw a young man emerge from the trees, smiling at her.

She dropped her fishing rod and stood up, staring in surprise. “Xiaolou… you came to deliver it yourself?”

Liu Xiaolou smiled. “There’s a good opportunity this time. Might be worth the risk; maybe even a big catch. But it’s going to be a real fight for our lives.”

Fairy Huang Ye blinked. “Since when have we ever gone in without being ready to risk our lives?”

Liu Xiaolou chuckled. “True enough… How have you been lately, Senior Huang?”

She let out a quiet sigh. “Not great, Xiaolou. Honestly, I miss the days from half a year ago. Back then, it felt like our Wulong Mountain had finally caught the attention of the great sects. Even those highborn disciples started visiting our mountain. Of course, mostly to see you. But I was there beside you, and I felt proud all the same. These days, sitting here fishing alone, I keep wondering… when will times like that come back again?”

Liu Xiaolou fell silent for a moment. “That past year… it was like a dream reflected on water, beautiful but unreal. I thought it was all true, until Lu Yuanlang shattered it. Only then did I realize it was nothing but an illusion.”

“Xiaolou, tell me, when will our Wulong Mountain truly earn the respect of those great clans? When will all of that stop being just illusion and pretense?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. The only thing I can promise, Senior Huang, is that I’ll keep fighting with everything I’ve got.”

Fairy Huang Ye gazed off toward toward the distant mountains, her eyelashes fluttering. Liu Xiaolou had no idea what she was thinking, but in that moment, he found this senior cultivator of Wulong Mountain, who was much older than him, was actually quite captivating.

By early evening, Fairy Huang Ye and he arrived at the meeting point just outside Baiye Mountain. Dragon Mountain Wanderer and Li Busan were already there, and before long, Old Hu Du, Cang Yuntian, Wan Liming, Old Cripple, Qi Laoqi, and Mu the physician all showed up one after another. Soon, the returning Zuo Gaofeng, Tan Bajhang, Captain Hu, and Fang Bu’ai joined them too. Fourteen people in total.

It wasn’t a huge crowd, but with Zuo Gaofeng and Tan Bajhang present, Liu Xiaolou felt a bit more confident.

They were just about to start the meeting when Tan Bajhang said they should wait a little longer. “Dai Shenggao hasn’t arrived yet,” he said.

Liu Xiaolou was surprised. “Dai Shenggao’s coming too? You ran into him?”

“Xiaolou, it’s me,” Old Hu Du said proudly. “I found out where he's been hiding. Ever since he came back, he’s been laying low in Wuling Mountain, so I went to fetch him, haha! He said he needed a bit of time to prepare, but he promised he’d be here!”

Sure enough, around midnight, Dai Shenggao arrived. And with him came the three Huang brothers.

Seeing Liu Xiaolou, Dai Shenggao couldn’t help but shake his head. “Xiaolou, I never thought it’d come to this. Tianmu Mountain’s people are acting so brazenly; marching in to slaughter like that. The great sects treat their own pacts like garbage, and all they did was say, ‘just this once’? There’s nothing more to say. Last month, the Huang brothers and I joined forces with the men from Guzhang Mountain and took down Lu Yuanji. At least we’ve repaid a bit of that blood debt.”

The crowd brightened. “Lu Yuanji’s dead?”

“Wanderer Dai did us a huge favor!”

“Ha! I shoved a spear right up under his crotch!” crowed Huang Ziniu.

Liu Xiaolou laughed. “So it was you and the Guzhang Mountain seniors who pulled it off. By the way, an outer sect steward named Yan Xingfei, was he killed by you lot too?”

Dai Shenggao shook his head. “Haven’t heard that. No idea who knocked him off.”

Huang Ziniu was still explaining to the others, “I really did stab Lu Yuanji. And I heard the rooster crow afterward… I’m not joking, it really happened...”

"Alright then, let's make today one for the history books," said Liu Xiaolou. "We're taking down Lu Xiansheng and getting justice for the Guzhang Mountain seniors!"

Right then, Liu Xiaolou began assigning tasks.

Dragon Mountain Wanderer and Dai Shenggao were both at the peak of the Qi Refinement stage, Zuo Gaofeng was at the tenth layer, while Fairy Huang Ye and the old Daoist Hu Du were both at the ninth. As for Captain Hu, Cang Yuntian, Wan Liming, Old Cripple, and Qi Laoqi... they were all at the eighth layer. These ten made up the core strike team, the ones who would take down Lu Xiansheng.

Liu Xiaolou and Zuo Gaofeng had already worked out the plan.

In the battle two days ago, the enemies at Baiye Manor had split into two groups. Lu Xiansheng had taken an eighth layer Qi Refinement cultivator and another at the seventh layer to chase the brothers of Guzhang Mountain. Aside from those three, there shouldn’t be any other experts left in the manor. So, the eighth layer guy would be handled by Tan Bajhang and Mu the physician, while the Huang brothers would deal with the seventh layer one. Liu Xiaolou, along with Fang Bu’ai and Li Busan, would stay flexible. Ready to respond to whatever unexpected situations came up.

If Lu Xiansheng hadn’t yet returned to the manor, the plan was simple: once they broke in, everyone would lie low inside and wait to ambush him when he came back.

With the plan settled, the group set off under cover of night, silently making their way up the mountain.

Dai Shenggao, with his years of experience, could tell as soon as he reached outside the manor that there might be a protective formation guarding it.

Liu Xiaolou told him to stay calm and wait. Then, slipping out of the darkness, he moved quickly to the base of the wall. And step straight into the formation. But this wasn’t a problem. The formation was one of his own designs, something he knew inside and out. Skipping all the usual calculations, he used the Dipper Pivot Step, moving swiftly through the invisible pathways. In the blink of an eye, he reached the formation’s core, pinched the burning incense between the stone lion’s jaws. And snuffed it out. The formation stopped humming immediately.

Just like that, Liu Xiaolou had broken the manor’s protective formation with ease. But every formation’s core was connected to its master’s spiritual sense. This wasn’t a sparring match; it was a fight to the death. To make sure the enemy couldn’t reactivate it, you’d still need to destroy the formation disk itself.

For Liu Xiaolou, this part was easy too. The formation disk was buried right under the stone lion, just as he’d designed it himself. He lifted the lion and smashed it down onto the disk beneath. There was a crack as the disk shattered, and the entire formation collapsed instantly.

The moment it broke, a shout came from inside the manor: “Who dares destroy my Hundred-Leaf Great Formation?!”

Liu Xiaolou waved his hand. Dragon Mountain Wanderer and Dai Shenggao took the lead, and with a fierce battle cry, the group vaulted over the courtyard wall and charged into Baiye Manor.

Liu Xiaolou followed close behind Dragon Mountain Wanderer. Inside, chaos had already erupted. Chickens flapping, dogs barking, servants and attendants shouting as they ran in all directions.

Three of the manor’s cultivators leapt up onto the rooftops one after another, scanning the grounds for the intruders. The rıghtful source is NovєlFіre.net

“The one in the middle is Lu Xiansheng!” shouted Zuo Gaofeng.