Chapter 780: Only a Little Trick

Whatever the larger purpose of this pursuit might be, Yun Ji and the others gradually came to understand one layer of Niu Youdao's thinking.

With people from a major faction clearing the road ahead, and a hidden contact leaving timely warnings along the way, following behind was comparatively safe.

It was far safer than wandering randomly.

It also reduced as much as possible the chance that they would stumble into someone hostile to Niu Youdao.

Ever since Yan's forces cast them aside, they had remained safe all the way to the present.

This strategy had clearly played a part.

They also realized that Niu Youdao would not recklessly charge into danger.

His head had remained calm from beginning to end.

He would not casually lead them into a risky situation.

Once they understood that, their hearts gradually settled.

Whenever Niu Youdao told them what to do or which direction to take, they stopped raising objections.

Of course, his occasional unreliability still drove them mad.

The bastard kept trying to capture animals from this world and turn them into mounts.

No matter how many times the lesson went badly, he refused to learn.

One moment he was steady and seasoned.

The next he would leap out of character so abruptly that no one could react in time.

Yun Ji and Yun Huan had spent a fair amount of time in Nanzhou and had known Niu Youdao for quite a while.

They knew the Niu Youdao of the past had not behaved like this.

Only after coming here did he occasionally seem to "change personalities," suddenly indulging himself and running wild like a mischievous child.

At the same time, mother and son could feel another difference.

Niu Youdao was no longer as leisurely as he had been in Nanzhou.

The entire tone around him had grown colder.

He was much deeper and more ruthless.

When it was time to kill, he decided without hesitation and showed no mercy.

He had begun to look a little like someone who could kill without blinking...

Enemies truly met on a narrow road.

After following He Xinru for some time, they received word that Zhao cultivators had been discovered in the direction of one of Wei's flanks.

Just as before, Niu Youdao immediately terminated He Xinru's activity.

Then he changed direction and began moving toward Zhao's forces.

After locating several Zhao cultivators, he did not approach them directly.

Niu Youdao raised a hand to stop the others.

The four concealed themselves and watched from a distance as several Zhao cultivators searched the area.

Hidden in the foliage, Yun Ji glanced at Niu Youdao beside her and slowly released the branch she had been holding aside.

She understood why he had not simply walked out this time.

Zhao was different from the other powers.

After what Niu Youdao had done in Tiangu, he and Zhao had already formed a blood feud.

Unless one of these men also happened to be one of Niu Youdao's hidden people, the previous method would not work.

Nor could he use the same nonsense about knowing Yao Xianding.

Wu Zhaoxing had plainly reached the same conclusion.

"How are you going to use them to find your people now?" he asked. "The earlier method probably won't work, will it?"

Niu Youdao did not believe he could possibly be lucky enough to encounter one of his own people the instant he found Zhao cultivators again.

Still watching the men in the distance, he answered indifferently, "When mountains block the road, open a path. When rivers block the way, build a bridge. Whether it works or not, I'll make it work."

Wu Zhaoxing asked, "Force them?"

"Even if they talk, Zhao's people are scattered over such a broad area that they may not know where the person you want is."

"Or are you planning to lie again and claim you know some 'Yao Xianding'?"

"Even if you find their gathering point, it won't help. The instant you show yourself, they'll fight you to the death."

"All of you stay here and wait for me," Niu Youdao said. "If you have to leave because something happens, leave trail markers behind."

As he spoke, he gently released the branch he had been holding aside to avoid making any sound.

Yun Ji asked, "Where are you going?"

"This time I'll handle it personally."

Leaving those words behind, Niu Youdao quietly slipped away.

The three hidden cultivators watched his figure vanish deep into the forest.

Then they looked at one another.

Wu Zhaoxing asked, "What is he trying to do?"

Yun Ji replied, "I'd like to know too."

Yun Huan sighed. "That fellow always leaves people lost in clouds and fog. Who knows what he's thinking? But since he said it that way, he probably isn't acting recklessly. We can wait."

The mountains were steep and dangerous, rising one after another.

Four Zhao cultivators were searching through the forest.

They had just swept onto a mountaintop when a calm voice suddenly called out.

"Who are you?"

The four instantly went on guard and looked toward the source of the voice.

A man stood atop a boulder at the summit with his hands clasped behind his back, staring coldly down at them.

One glance at his clothing told them he was from Misty Pavilion.

The four immediately flashed to the base of the boulder, cupped their hands in salute, and reported their identities...

...

By evening, Zhao's scattered search parties had gathered again.

A few people, however, quietly slipped away from the gathering point.

"Brothers, where exactly are we going?"

Chen Zifei, who had been led away by four Zhao sect cultivators, asked with growing uncertainty.

He was an independent cultivator Zhao had recruited and was not in a position to refuse them.

But as he looked around, he realized they were taking him farther and farther away.

This was already the third time he had asked the same question.

His unease was becoming obvious.

One man reassured him, "Brother Chen, be patient. It's something good. You'll know in a moment. We..."

His voice stopped abruptly.

All five men halted at once.

Four people had appeared ahead to block the road.

Niu Youdao and his companions.

"Niu Youdao!"

The men immediately went on alert.

The four sect cultivators traveling with Chen Zifei quickly looked around.

They had not yet seen the Misty Pavilion man they had been told to meet.

Instead, they had run into Niu Youdao first.

Niu Youdao appeared to have a headache.

He raised one hand and rubbed at his eye.

When Chen Zifei gave the answering signal, Niu Youdao smoothly followed with another hand sign.

"Cleanly."

Wu Zhaoxing, Yun Ji, and Yun Huan flashed out immediately.

Their attacks came with brutal speed.

The sounds of fighting stopped before long.

Wu Zhaoxing flashed back from a distance and threw a corpse at Niu Youdao's feet.

It had been three against four.

One of the extra men had realized he could not win and seized an opportunity to flee.

Wu Zhaoxing pursued him, killed him, and brought the corpse back.

Niu Youdao tilted his head slightly to either side.

Wu Zhaoxing and the others immediately scattered again to stand guard.

"Chen Zifei?" Niu Youdao asked.

Chen Zifei still had not fully understood what was happening. "That's me. This is...?"

He pointed toward the corpses, completely unable to make sense of the situation.

Niu Youdao glanced down at the body at his feet.

These four men were sect cultivators after all.

Under pressure, they might keep certain secrets for a time.

There was no guarantee they could keep their mouths shut forever.

Some secrets were not things Niu Youdao would casually allow to spread.

Killing them to silence them was the safest solution.

He felt no psychological burden about doing this.

"They were the ones I ordered to bring you here," he replied indifferently.

"..."

Chen Zifei stared at him in disbelief. "They would listen to you?"

Logically, he could not understand it.

If these men truly obeyed you, why did you need to kill them?

"That isn't something you need to concern yourself with," Niu Youdao said.

"I told them to bring you here secretly. In your judgment, did anyone notice you leaving?"

Chen Zifei thought for a moment before answering hesitantly.

"We independent cultivators are responsible for the outer perimeter guard. I was one of them."

"They suddenly came looking for me."

"When we left through the area I was guarding, no one should have seen us."

"As for whether anyone knew before they came to find me, I can't judge."

"Once you return, you'll naturally be able to verify that," Niu Youdao said. "For now, I want to understand Zhao's situation."

"Which part?"

"After the Elders leading the three major sects died, did it affect them?"

"Yes!" Chen Zifei nodded. "The effect was enormous."

"Among the people you killed in Tiangu weren't only the Elders commanding the three sects. Quite a few major backbone figures died too."

"Right now, none of the three sects has anyone who can truly make decisions."

"Within each sect, the people left behind are all of roughly similar status. Who among them will willingly bow his head and obey another?"

"There's no one left who can suppress them."

"Under pressure from circumstances, they still discuss matters together and act in concert."

"But no one dares make decisions on anything important."

"They don't have the kind of internal authority those Elders possessed, where they could speak for the sect and had enough power behind them to shoulder responsibility."

"Now everyone is afraid that if something goes wrong, they won't be able to bear the consequences."

Niu Youdao asked, "They never considered joining forces with some other faction?"

"They did." Chen Zifei nodded. "Someone proposed it, but no one dared make that decision, so the idea was rejected."

"First, they're afraid another faction would use them as a spear and let them die for nothing."

"Second, they're afraid that if they bow their heads to another power, they won't be able to explain themselves after returning."

"They seem to have reached an unspoken consensus."

"What consensus?"

"They haven't said it openly, but I can feel it."

"On this expedition into the Tiandu Secret Realm, they've already given up on competing for the rankings."

"Self-preservation comes first."

"So long as they gather enough to scrape by and explain themselves afterward, that will be sufficient."

"They have a ready-made excuse for avoiding responsibility."

His gaze settled meaningfully on Niu Youdao.

Niu Youdao understood.

"They'll put it on me. Because of what I did, their expedition failed?"

"Mm." Chen Zifei nodded. "Probably. There doesn't seem to be another explanation."

"It's the best excuse they have."

"And it also lets them avoid unnecessary conflicts here and focus on preserving themselves."

Niu Youdao thought it over.

The situation was close to what he had predicted.

Before this, he simply had no way to confirm it.

He had not known whether some powerful figure would emerge among Zhao's remaining people and forcefully reorganize them.

Now the answer was clear.

No such person had appeared.

With that uncertainty removed, Niu Youdao made his decision.

"Good. You shouldn't remain here long either, so I'll keep this brief. I'm activating you now..."

He explained the trail-marker system and how they would maintain contact.

Then he released Chen Zifei.

This time, Niu Youdao did not ask him to frame anyone.

He did not order Chen Zifei to throw more dirty water onto the overseas cultivators.

He only wanted Chen Zifei to leave trail markers as he traveled, using Zhao's wider manpower to help locate the positions of other factions.

Once Wu Zhaoxing and the others returned, Niu Youdao made no attempt to disguise the corpses.

He simply told Yun Huan to destroy all traces of the bodies.

Afterward, they did not flee and hide.

Instead, they moved closer to Zhao's gathering area and observed from far away.

During a lull in the surveillance, Yun Ji finally had time to ask the question that had been bothering her.

"How did those Zhao cultivators obey you and bring Chen Zifei here?"

That was not merely Chen Zifei's confusion.

The three of them had been unable to make sense of it either.

No matter how they thought about it, it seemed impossible.

Niu Youdao did not reveal the truth.

He brushed the question aside casually.

"Only a little trick. Nothing worth displaying in public."

A little trick?

The three looked at one another, speechless.

They badly wanted to know what kind of little trick could produce an effect like this.

Wasn't that far too miraculous?

But after spending so much time together, all three understood Niu Youdao's habits.

If he did not want to reveal something, asking was useless.

They could not exactly threaten him into telling them.

So all they could do was let their imaginations run wild and guess.

They did notice one thing.

His method this time was clearly different from the previous two incidents.

For example, now he had moved close enough to watch the aftermath himself.

An entire night passed.

There was no major movement from Zhao's side.

Only a brief disturbance arose.

Their people searched the surrounding area for a while, but did not go far.

One could reasonably excuse that by saying it was inconvenient to search at night.

But after daybreak, Zhao still made no major response.

Its cultivators simply continued with their Tiandu Secret Realm expedition.

Watching Zhao's people leave, Niu Youdao quietly delivered his conclusion.

"Zhao's people have lost their cohesion."

[End of Chapter 780]