Chapter 360: Burning the Ranch

Guan Fangyi understood what he meant and shot back, "You think you'll be safe once you leave the State of Qi after offending Hao Yuntu?"

Niu Youdao countered, "Do you think all the tribute Tianyu Sect pays to the State of Yan's major powers serves no purpose? Do you think the great powers inside the State of Yan will allow cultivators from another state to barge into their territory and do whatever they please? You should understand this much: between one state and another, the cultivation world's major powers have divided their own spheres of interest!"

Guan Fangyi said, "I understand that. But you need to understand something too. If Hao Yuntu truly puts pressure on Tianyu Sect, Tianyu Sect may very well move against you. Hao Yuntu absolutely has that level of influence!"

Niu Youdao said, "Do you think I've been sitting around sightseeing in Qingshan Commandery? Why do you think I risked my life coming here to secure a future for those two commanderies? Then let me tell you: when it comes to who Qingshan Commandery and Guangyi Commandery belong to, I have the final say!"

He pointed to his own nose. The implication was clear. If Tianyu Sect dared provoke him, the two commanderies would break free of Tianyu Sect's control. Guan Fangyi looked surprised.

"You have that much influence over Shang Chaozong?"

Niu Youdao asked, "Do you think Shang Chaozong's current strength is enough to escape Tianyu Sect's grip?"

"Then what exactly are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about isn't important. What matters is that once you reach Qingshan Commandery, I can keep you safe!"

"Keep me safe? Hao Yuntu can absolutely influence the court of the State of Yan. If Hao Yuntu opens his mouth, do you really think your importance is enough to make the court of the State of Yan refuse him this face? With the State of Qi supporting stability among the states, do you think the court of the State of Yan wouldn't dare attack Qingshan Commandery?"

"You're taking this too far and too wide. Hao Yuntu wouldn't make that kind of enormous commotion just for me. To someone like him, it isn't worth it! In any case, relax. If I couldn't protect myself, I wouldn't be hiding in Qingshan Commandery."

"Reason?"

"I don't need to give you one. You'll understand later."

Niu Youdao brushed the question aside with a single sentence. He was not going to tell her now that Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion and Hai Ruyue had already been secretly dragged into the water by him. He was not going to tell her now that he possessed absolute influence over Jinzhou in the State of Zhao.

Whether it was the court of the State of Yan or Tianyu Sect, if anyone forced him until he could no longer establish himself in Qingshan Commandery and had no road left to live, Jinzhou would have no choice but to protect him with everything it had. At that point, even the State of Zhao itself might not be able to control the situation. The court of the State of Yan would have to consider the consequences of Jinzhou sending troops across the border.

Tianyu Sect would have to consider the consequences of that enormous neighbor beside Qingshan Commandery turning hostile. Of course, even Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion and Hai Ruyue themselves did not know about this yet. Unless he was driven into a desperate corner, Niu Youdao would never expose that card. For now, he had only touched on the matter enough to reassure Guan Fangyi. The fact that she was already speaking of defying an imperial decree showed how worried she truly was.

"Besides, where is this imperial decree?" Niu Youdao held out one hand as though asking her to produce it.

Guan Fangyi said, "You know perfectly well that anyone capable of tracking your movements like this is unlikely to be falsely claiming to belong to the Office of Investigation. And someone from the Office of Investigation would never falsely transmit an imperial order!"

"I don't know anything of the sort! Some random man runs out and says there's an imperial decree, and I'm supposed to believe him? On what basis? Looks like an impostor to me!"

Guan Fangyi rolled her eyes repeatedly. If he was determined to play shameless, how could anyone reason with him?

"We have to leave as quickly as possible!" Niu Youdao's tone was firm. He slowly turned and looked toward the man from the Office of Investigation in the distance, who was tending livestock while occasionally glancing in their direction. "Who knows whether Xiaoyue Pavilion has infiltrated even the Office of Investigation? At a time like this, apart from our own people, I trust no one. I will not place our lives in someone else's hands! Forget the emperor of the State of Qi. Even if the Heavenly King himself sent down a decree, I wouldn't obey it!"

He could not tell her about the Shang Mirror. The long, ambiguous game he had played with Linghu Qiu had already collapsed. He understood perfectly well how determined Xiaoyue Pavilion now was to move against him.

Return to the Qi capital?

What a joke. Alerting the snake by striking the grass had only forced him to accelerate his escape. Guan Fangyi fell silent. She had to admit that Niu Youdao's decision did make a certain amount of sense... Inside the tent, Niu Youdao stood before a map and stared at it for a long while. Guan Fangyi paced nearby. Shen Qiu stood guard outside. The tent flap lifted. Uncle Chen and Old Six Xu entered.

Guan Fangyi immediately asked, "How does it look?"

Old Six Xu said, "Eldest Sister, we've made contact and tested everyone we could. We've also searched the ranch. There are no cultivators here!"

Guan Fangyi immediately looked at Niu Youdao.

"What do we do?"

Without turning, Niu Youdao said, "Shen Qiu!"

Shen Qiu lifted the tent flap and entered. He came to Niu Youdao's side.

"Master Dao!"

Niu Youdao asked, "Do you know where the ship is waiting for us?"

Shen Qiu shook his head.

"I don't. The Sect Leader only said the ship would wait for us at the agreed location."

He truly did not know. The so-called agreed location referred to a rendezvous known only to Black Peony, Gongsun Bu, and Niu Youdao.

Even in their secret messages, they had referred only to "the agreed location," never revealing the exact place to anyone else.

Now that the fleet had turned back, nearly all of it had already sailed beyond the State of Qi's waters. Only a single ship remained at the designated secret rendezvous point, waiting for Niu Youdao to arrive.

"Uncle Chen. Old Six Xu."

Niu Youdao called the two men over. Pointing at their approximate position on the map, he traced a long detour with his finger.

"We're here. The two of you go with Shen Qiu and change routes. Circle around this way, enter the State of Jin, then wait for us on this island in the State of Jin's coastal waters."

The three exchanged glances.

Guan Fangyi immediately asked, "What do you mean?"

Niu Youdao said, "At a time like this, we have to assume we've been exposed and prepare for the worst. If someone means us harm, they should already know our number. Five people traveling together make too obvious a target. We have to split up. If something happens, at least one group will have a better chance of surviving instead of all of us being wiped out together!"

Guan Fangyi grew angry.

"You want to use them as bait to lure the enemy? I don't agree!"

Niu Youdao spun around abruptly and fixed her with a heavy stare.

"Split into two groups and neither side is bait. If you insist on calling someone bait, then both groups are bait. If someone truly wants to harm us, then unless they're idiots, they'll know we're trying to reach the sea. Going directly toward the coast is actually the more dangerous route. Taking a detour is safer! If you don't like it, the two of us will take the detour and let them go straight to the sea!"

Guan Fangyi pursed her lips and turned her head away. She stopped arguing. That meant she believed him. First, what Niu Youdao said did make sense. Second, she had seen precedent for this sort of thing before.

When danger came, he had once sent the people around him away from danger while remaining behind himself to deal with the crisis.

Old Six Xu interjected, "Eldest Sister, Master Dao is right. Let's do it this way. We'll head toward the coast while you and Master Dao take the detour!"

"No!"

Guan Fangyi immediately changed her mind. Then she gave Niu Youdao a sour sidelong look.

"Let's do it his way!"

Uncle Chen said, "Proprietor, we should be the ones heading toward the coast."

"Do you really believe his nonsense?" Guan Fangyi glared at him. "Does he look like someone tired of living? The road he's taking must be the safer one!"

Then she made the decision on the spot.

"Enough. It's settled!"

Niu Youdao did not bother arguing with them further. He turned directly to Shen Qiu.

"Send word immediately. Tell your master that the moment day breaks, the ship is to leave the agreed rendezvous and proceed along the original route!"

Shen Qiu froze.

"Without waiting for us?"

Retaking control of another ship was easy to say, but the details carried all kinds of risks of exposing their movements. They could not simply stop some random vessel and order it to sail all the way to Qingshan Commandery. Small boats could not cross the open sea. Large ships generally belonged to wealthy households and usually had Goldenwings for communication. If a ship owner lost contact with one of his vessels, he would inevitably investigate.

And people who sailed the sea could often recognize whose ship they were looking at from a glance. If they searched for a shipowner on land and arranged another vessel, that meant staying on land even longer. Had Master Dao not said land was dangerous and they needed to get off it as quickly as possible?

Niu Youdao said, "Don't ask questions. Just do it!"

From his perspective, if he could not reach the agreed rendezvous before dawn tomorrow, then there was no point in making the ship wait for them any longer.

"Yes!" Shen Qiu answered.

Niu Youdao turned back and gave another order.

"Set fire to the ranch. Create chaos..."

A group of masked men in black raced through the night. When the man in front landed atop a high hill, he froze. He stared at the place in the distance where flames were blazing fiercely. The others landed one after another atop the hill. All of them froze as well.

"Is that the target location?"

"Why is it burning?"

These men were Xiaoyue Pavilion's elite operatives in the region. They had been ordered to rush over and encircle Niu Youdao. Their original plan had been to reach the site, quietly surround the ranch, and make their arrangements. Who could have expected to arrive and see this instead?

"Fire!"

"It's burning!"

"The fences! The cattle and sheep!"

"The horses! The horses are running!"

Night had only just covered the grasslands. Inside the ranch, haystacks were already roaring with fire. Many tents had caught flame as well. Herdsmen shouted, cried out, and screamed as they fought the blaze. No one knew how the enclosing fences had collapsed. Bundles of burning hay dropped from the sky and landed among the livestock. Cattle, sheep, and horses shrieked and scattered in every direction.

The man from the Office of Investigation rushed to the tent where Niu Youdao and the others had been staying. He found the tent already swallowed by flames. He then ran up onto the ranch's simple wooden platform. There was no sign of where anyone had gone. All he could see were the chaotic shadows of cattle, sheep, and horses racing wildly around. Under the moonlight, however, he could faintly make out a lone rider approaching.

As the rider drew near, the man on horseback became visible. He wore black robes and looked like an elegant scholar.

The Office of Investigation man immediately jumped down, snatched up a curved saber, mounted a horse, and charged out to block him.

He raised the saber and shouted, "Who are you?"

The refined man cupped his hands.

"May I ask whether Xu Dehai is here?"

The Office of Investigation man looked him up and down.

"What business do you have with Xu Dehai?"

The refined man said, "I am Xu Yong, a disciple of Mr. Yucang. I was traveling through this region when I suddenly received a message from my master instructing me to come receive Mr. Niu Youdao and escort him back to the capital. My master's letter said someone from the court would meet me here, a man who shares my surname and is named Xu Dehai. Could you help me inquire after him?"

"So you are Mr. Xu Yong. I am Xu Dehai!"

The Office of Investigation man hurriedly cupped his hands in return.

"I was indeed sent to receive you, Sir. It's only that this fire has put me in a foul mood, so I behaved rudely just now. Please forgive me!"

"No harm done, no harm done!" Xu Yong waved a hand.

Then he frowned at the burning ranch.

"How did such a good place suddenly catch fire?"

Xu Dehai looked back at it and said grimly, "Someone most likely set it deliberately!"

Xu Yong immediately asked, "Where is Niu Youdao?"

"Gone. Nine times out of ten, they were the ones who set the fire. Absolutely outrageous!"

Xu Dehai spat the words bitterly. He had been stationed here for years and had naturally developed some attachment to the ranch. Someone had burned it down in a single night. How could he possibly be happy? Hearing this, Xu Yong immediately wheeled his mount in a small circle and began surveying the surroundings in every direction...

[End of Chapter 360]