Action

Gu Ningyun and the other four carefully inspected the contract before signing it with Zhou Fei.

“We will make our move once we confirm the news of Zuo Hu’s death. Border City is currently under the Spirit Snake Gang’s control, making entry and exit inconvenient. If you five Daoists don't mind, I have a manor outside the city where you can rest for now.”

Hearing the word “news,” Mu Chenze raised an eyebrow and transmitted, “The ‘little lamb’ and ‘soft persimmon’ that the World Forum thought he was, is actually a lurking viper. Zuo Hu and Wu Chao probably never dreamed that the useless City Lord they thought they had under control had already bought reliable spies within their two gangs.”

Gu Ningyun remembered Zhou Fei acting as the oriole at the mass grave, just like her, and silently nodded. Indeed, he’s a viper. No, she wasn’t an oriole; she was a hunter.

While waiting for news at the manor, besides cultivating and formulating plans, Gu Ningyun found a corner in her space far from the Yimu spirit marrow, placed the Yin-Gathering Pearl, and planted the soul-nourishing wood and Soul-Nourishing Flower seeds. The Yin-Gathering Pearl could control the range of yin energy, preventing it from affecting other parts of the space. As for Jiang Yao’s offer to help find a portable herb garden, Gu Ningyun stated that she had coincidentally obtained one during a previous trial, and it was now coming in handy. Jiang Yao then said no more.

...

Three days later, deep in the night. With Zhou Fei, the City Lord, leading the way, Gu Ningyun and the others, wearing Stealth Talismans, entered Border City without alerting anyone or triggering any city-protecting arrays.

As for the yellow-rank top-grade Stealth Talismans they wore, they were naturally a friendly gift from Zhou Fei.

Zhou Fei had been thoroughly duped at the mass grave, so he would naturally be highly suspicious of anyone skilled in Stealth Talismans and earth-tunneling talismans. Gu Ningyun, of course, wouldn't expose herself.

When they were discussing the plan to deal with the Spirit Snake Gang and Zhou Fei mentioned needing Stealth Talismans, Gu Ningyun pulled out a few yellow-rank low-grade Stealth Talismans. “I bought a few when I left the sect for my trial. I never expected to actually use them now.”

These yellow-rank low-grade Stealth Talismans were actually something she had made while disassembling talismans earlier. She hadn’t expected them to serve as a deceptive prop here.

Seeing a few yellow-rank low-grade Stealth Talismans with sparse spirit energy, whose effects would wear off at an unknown time after use, even a cultivator like Zhou Fei, who had spent several years in Border City, fell silent.

Because Gu Ningyun and the others had inadvertently saved him at the mass grave, he hadn't really suspected that these five kids were behind the theft of the Soul-Nourishing Flower and the scheme against him. Now, seeing Gu Ningyun’s innocent expression and the yellow-rank low-grade Stealth Talismans in her hand, he even dropped the “how” from his thoughts, completely clearing them of suspicion. He also believed their small sect origins a tiny bit more.

He rummaged through his storage bag and pulled out a stack of yellow-rank top-grade Stealth Talismans, distributing three to each of them. “Just use mine.”

Tapping the yellow-rank top-grade Stealth Talismans on their bodies, Gu Ningyun and her group passed through the city gate and arrived at the main street.

Perhaps due to the ominous night sky, the already deserted street appeared even more sinister in the pitch-black darkness. It was like a gaping maw, waiting for prey to walk into its trap.

However, even in darkness without any light source, it had little effect on cultivators with heightened senses. Moreover, they also possessed divine sense.

With a single sweep of her divine sense, Gu Ningyun discovered many Qi Refining stage cultivators hidden behind the street stalls, on the rooftops on both sides, under the eaves, and behind the piles of debris next to the houses. They ranged from Qi Refining level two to Qi Refining level ten.

Wu Chao had indeed laid an inescapable net in Border City.

As for who it was meant to catch, Gu Ningyun silently mourned for Zhou Fei for half a breath.

Zuo Hu was dead, and this main street was the shortest route from the city gate to the City Lord’s Manor. Who else could be the turtle in this trap but Zhou Fei?

According to Zhou Fei’s intelligence, there were also ambushes along the routes from the other three city gates to the City Lord’s Manor. As soon as Zhou Fei entered Border City through any gate, the people at the gate would react immediately and stall him. Once Wu Chao and his confidants arrived, Zhou Fei would be unable to escape and would surely die.

According to the previous plan, Gu Ningyun and the other four split into four groups to clear the ambushing gang members along the four routes.

The city gate they entered was closest to the mass grave and had the most ambushing personnel, so Wen Xuan and Gu Ningyun would clear it together, while the other three went in the other three directions.

As for Zhou Fei, he was near the Spirit Snake Gang’s main headquarters, monitoring the activity inside.

Once her companions had left, Gu Ningyun took out the essential tool for their mission tonight: a porcelain bottle.

Inside the porcelain bottle was an upgraded version of purple mist, personally refined and concentrated by Wen Xuan, a professional alchemist, based on the original purple mist, resulting in a more potent and purple version.

This was also something they had concocted over the past year. When the upgraded purple mist was first ready, Gu Ningyun had asked Martial Uncle Lu and some veteran outer sect disciples from Fighting Peak—whom she had befriended through sparring—to test it. The final conclusion was that it could stun early Foundation Establishment cultivators for a period. For cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage, whether Qi Refining level twelve or Qi Refining level one, all could be knocked unconscious. The duration of unconsciousness varied with cultivation level; even those at Qi Refining level twelve could be knocked out for a minimum of three hours.

According to Zhou Fei, these ordinary gang members were still useful to him, and injuring them would be counterproductive. The purple mist was the best choice.

According to the intelligence, the number of people ambushing on this street was almost double that of the other streets. Rather than speed, it was more important not to alert the other gang members on the street. Thus, Gu Ningyun and Wen Xuan did not act separately.

They first walked along the street and noticed that all the gang members were looking towards the city gate, and those closer to the gate were more vigilant. They simply decided to start incapacitating them from the city center outwards.

After coordinating with Wen Xuan, Gu Ningyun and Wen Xuan simultaneously activated their movement techniques, arriving beside a person under a tree.

With Gu Ningyun, a wind spirit root cultivator, any airflow they generated while moving was neutralized by her wind spirit energy.

By the time Gu Ningyun and Wen Xuan were standing to the left and right of the gang member, he still hadn't noticed a thing.

In the three-plus years since entering the sect, Gu Ningyun had grown much taller. Without needing to tiptoe, she simply raised her arm slightly and brought the porcelain bottle to the gang member’s nose. A wisp of concentrated purple mist drifted from the bottle’s opening, carried by the gentle breeze generated by Gu Ningyun’s wind spirit energy, and entered the gang member’s nostrils with his breath.

Without a moment to react, the gang member’s eyelids drooped, and his body went limp. Wen Xuan quickly supported him, helping him maintain his current posture, propped against the tree as if merely resting. Even if other conscious gang members swept their divine sense over him, they would only think he was tired from days of ambushing and leaning against the tree for comfort, never suspecting he was actually unconscious.

Using this method, Gu Ningyun and Wen Xuan worked together to quickly incapacitate all the gang members in the section closer to the city center.

The closer they got to the city gate, the more cautious they needed to be. They proceeded carefully, but still almost exposed themselves once.