The others heard this and added, "That's right, Boss. The brothers are hungry. Let's finish this job quickly so we can pull out early."
The bearded boss remained silent for a long moment. "Brothers, let's go!"
Gu Ningyun silently transmitted the message to her companions: "Get ready. They're about to make their move."
"Boss, it's them!"
The shifty-looking man shouted, "I've been following them for several days now."
"These are the easy marks you mentioned?"
The bearded boss sized up Gu Ningyun's group of five, then slapped the shifty-looking man upside the head.
"Idiot! These brats look penniless. You can tell at a glance they're disciples from some tiny sect. What good things could they possibly have? I brought so many men to lie in ambush here since early morning, and it was just a waste of my time!"
Gu Ningyun looked at the dozen or so people in front of the canyon, then down at their own low-profile cyan dharma robes, and blinked innocently.
She had discovered the shifty-looking man following them days ago.
To figure out his intentions, the group had remained calm and waited to see what he wanted to do.
Who would have thought he had actually mistaken them for easy marks worth robbing?
"Boss, I saw it with my own eyes. Every one of them has mastered a movement technique, and those techniques clearly aren't simple. Wouldn't it be perfect to snatch them for the brothers to practice?"
The shifty-looking man continued, "Besides, isn't it better that they're from a small sect? They're much easier to deal with than disciples from the major sects. Once we rob them, we rob them. What could they possibly do to us?"
It turned out they were after their movement techniques.
"You have a point."
The bearded boss patted the shifty-looking man on the shoulder.
The shifty-looking man raised his voice toward Gu Ningyun and the others. "Did you hear that? Hand over your movement techniques, and we'll spare your lives."
As he spoke, Gu Ningyun clearly saw a flash of murderous intent in his eyes.
Jun Luo transmitted: "These people are thick with the aura of blood and slaughter. They are likely ruthless killers. Do not hold back."
The five of them exchanged looks and, without waiting for further nonsense, attacked immediately.
Jiang Yao struck first, his spear sweeping toward the shifty-looking man.
The bearded boss drew his blade to intercept Jun Luo's sword while shouting, "Capture them alive! Soul-search them!"
Those subjected to soul-searching would be left as idiots at best, or have their souls shattered at worst. These people used truly vicious methods.
Gu Ningyun and her companions had never intended to let them go, and now their desire to kill surged even higher.
Wen Xuan and Mu Chenze had already engaged those attempting to surround them from behind.
The bearded boss was at level twelve of Qi Refining and was already locked in combat with Jun Luo.
Since there were more people surrounding them from the front, Gu Ningyun moved forward with her sword, first facing the level ten Qi Refining cultivator.
The fighting style of rogue cultivators was indeed vastly different from the sparring they did with fellow disciples. Every move was merciless, aimed at crippling the dantian or the meridians in the limbs.
But how fast were Gu Ningyun's movement technique and sword qi? In just three strikes, she had slain the level ten cultivator.
As her sword qi severed the man's neck and blood sprayed out, Gu Ningyun felt a sharp sting in her heart despite being prepared.
Having lived two lives, it was indeed difficult to adapt to killing a person for the first time.
Seeing his strongest subordinate fall, the bearded boss's eyes looked as if they would burst from their sockets. "Second Brother!"
Ignoring Jun Luo's sword qi, he swung his blade toward Gu Ningyun. "I'll kill you!"
Gu Ningyun's heart chilled, and the discomfort of her first kill was instantly replaced by a firm resolve.
With a single strike, she notched the bearded boss's blade. Jun Luo caught up and intercepted the boss's next move.
A level twelve Qi Refining cultivator was not easy to handle, and it took almost all of Jun Luo's focus to keep him pinned down.
Wen Xuan, Mu Chenze, Jiang Yao, and Gu Ningyun were each facing four or five opponents at once.
Furthermore, they were up against rogue cultivators who were higher in level, lived dangerously, and used any means necessary.
Mu Chenze had already sustained a wound on his arm, and a rogue cultivator's long blade had grazed Wen Xuan's dantian, leaving a red mark.
Gu Ningyun decapitated one person with her sword, forced the remaining three back with two bursts of sword qi, and then brought out her zither.
Attack melody, 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》.
It was the same familiar, aggressive tune, but this time, the feeling of playing it was entirely different.
As the music began, layers of cyan sound blades surged forth. Every wave of sound blades claimed three to five heads.
Before even a tenth of the song was finished, the remaining bandit cultivators on the field had been wiped out.
Wen Xuan turned back in shock. Seeing Gu Ningyun's pale face, her heart sank, and she hurried over to support her, feeding her a Spirit-Replenishing Pill.
"What just happened? Ningyun, what did you do to exhaust yourself like this?"
Gu Ningyun swallowed the Spirit-Replenishing Pill, feeling a bit guilty.
"It was my first time successfully playing an attack melody. I didn't quite control it properly and drained all my spirit energy."
During the time Gu Ningyun was learning the songs, Wen Xuan and the others had sparred with her daily, so they had naturally heard her mention the attack melodies.
"So that means you can use attack melodies now!"
"Yes."
Gu Ningyun recalled Martial Aunt Kong's teachings and the feeling of playing 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 just now, gaining some insight.
She had killed so many demon beasts in the secret realm before, yet she could never produce the offensive effects of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》.
This time, it worked as soon as she killed that level ten cultivator. Was the 'killing' Perfected Person Kong spoke of actually referring to killing people?
"Not bad, Ningyun. Now you have another means of attack."
Wen Xuan held her arm. "Those sound blades just now were the effect of the attack melody, right? Ten breaths—it only took ten breaths. You only played the beginning of the song and wiped them all out. Cool!"
"Actually... normally, with my current cultivation, I shouldn't be able to produce such a powerful effect."
Gu Ningyun rubbed her forehead. "I just wasn't familiar with the spirit energy consumption of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 and lost control for a moment."
"It really is dangerous to overextend your spirit energy like that."
The wound on Mu Chenze's arm had already healed. Ignoring his torn sleeve, he cast a Cleaning Technique to remove the bloodstains and walked over. "While we're here with you, hurry up and practice. I remember when you learned 《Lingtai》, you were able to control the spirit energy output after some practice."
Under the effects of the Spirit-Replenishing Pill and her cultivation technique, Gu Ningyun's spirit energy had recovered somewhat.
She stood up straight and looked at her worried companions with a curved smile. "That is true."
There was also the primordial spirit attack of The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm.
The sleep effect of 《Lingtai》 required a divine sense lock-on, which was also its weakness.
The physical attack of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 was controlled by spirit energy, but she didn't know how its primordial spirit attack worked.
If the score didn't mention a need for a lock-on, perhaps it could be guided directly with spirit energy or the primordial spirit.
They split the seventeen storage bags from the rogue cultivators among themselves. Wen Xuan started a fire, and the corpses and traces of the battle were completely erased.
The previous campfire had been destroyed in the fight, but the group didn't mind. They moved to a new spot, fully recovered their spirit energy, and finished their lunch.
The afternoon wind blew through the canyon, carrying the scent of green grass and soil.
There was no fishy smell of demon beasts.
Gu Ningyun looked at the canyon ahead. "Let's go. Once we pass this canyon, we'll be in Cangzhou territory."
The Xiaoyao Immortal Sect was located in the center of Yunzhou.
In the major cities of Yunzhou, besides the sect outposts, the sect had also established large teleportation arrays in the marketplaces to facilitate travel for other cultivators. One only needed to spend spirit stones to use them.
Gu Ningyun and the others had spent most of this month traveling using their movement techniques. When their practice hit a bottleneck, they had rented teleportation arrays in city marketplaces a few times to save time.
Only then were they able to cross half of Yunzhou within a month and reach the border. This left them with two months to traverse Cangzhou from west to east and reach Donglin City.
Rate on N.U.
