Chapter 786: Hong Gaitian

A group of shadowy figures sped through the night.

Suddenly, someone called, "Third Master, look!"

A burly man with a red beard and ruddy brows raised one hand.

The group slowed one after another and stopped atop the treetops, following his gaze.

Far away, firelight glowed brightly from the summit of a mountain.

A shifty, rat-eyed man said to the red-bearded man, "Someone lighting a fire on a mountaintop in the middle of the night—there has to be something strange about it."

The red-bearded man swayed his head from side to side. "Making it that obvious, like they're afraid no one will see it?"

"Those bastards from the Seven States never have good intentions."

"This is obviously a trap meant to lure us over and kill us."

"We're not falling for it."

"Keep moving. Stay as far away from those sons of bitches as possible."

The rat-eyed man raised a thumb. "Third Master is brilliant!"

"Go!"

The red-bearded man swept one arm forward.

The entire group once again transformed into shadows racing through the night.

...

On a mountain opposite the blazing fire, Niu Youdao and the others were hidden in the crown of a great tree.

They took turns resting and watching the surroundings.

Niu Youdao finished his watch and handed the task over to Wu Zhaoxing.

Wu Zhaoxing opened his eyes, swept the surroundings, then looked back at Niu Youdao, who was settling cross-legged on a branch to meditate.

"How many days has it been?"

"Not even the slightest response."

"Does this method of yours actually work?"

Niu Youdao said, "We're treating a dead horse as though it might still live."

"Better than doing nothing."

Wu Zhaoxing had long since lost the airs of the man ranked sixth on the Golden Core Ranking.

He sighed. "If we keep running into no one and the whole year passes like this, the joke will be enormous."

"We've already spent more than four months following you all over the place."

"If all of that ends up being for nothing..."

Niu Youdao said, "If that really happens, none of you need to worry about me anymore."

"I'll make arrangements."

"All three of you can return in peace."

Wu Zhaoxing asked, "And you plan to stay here alone and become a wild man?"

"At least I'd still get to live another two years, wouldn't I?"

Wu Zhaoxing said, "If you truly have no confidence, we might as well return to the ancient forest."

Niu Youdao shook his head.

If they went back now and waited until the other powers began returning, all the room he still had to maneuver would disappear.

Then everything he had done earlier truly would have been wasted.

The core problem remained unchanged.

He had to take first place.

If he waited until the final stage, there would not be enough time to operate.

How could he possibly seize enough Spirit Seeds from the various powers within such a short period?

He would probably be surrounded and beaten to death before he had even finished negotiating with the people he wanted to unite.

Wu Zhaoxing knew returning was inappropriate too.

He had only said it because he had run out of ideas.

If, at the very end, they truly faced a mass assault, he and the Yun mother and son would never be able to keep Niu Youdao alive.

After a moment of silence, Wu Zhaoxing asked, "You're certain finding the overseas people now will actually help?"

Niu Youdao said, "It's been more than four months."

"Going by the timing, those fellows should all have encountered one another by now."

"The heat should be about right."

Wu Zhaoxing looked doubtful. "They should all have encountered one another? What does that mean?"

"It means we can go talk cooperation with them now."

...

"Stop!"

The red-bearded man, still racing through the night, suddenly raised a hand and shouted again.

The speeding figures around him stopped one after another.

The rat-eyed man moved closer. "Third Master, what is it?"

The red-bearded man turned around and looked again toward the mountain glowing with fire in the distance.

He asked the people around him, "Among everyone who entered to search for Spirit Seeds, is there anyone moving faster than us?"

The man beside him gave a bitter smile. "Probably not. We're running for our lives because people are hunting us."

"Running your mother!"

The red-bearded man swung one hand.

Slap!

A scream followed.

The man who had spoken was knocked straight out of the treetop.

Branches and leaves crashed noisily as he fell, before landing with a thud beneath the tree and groaning in pain.

The red-bearded man looked toward the distant fire again.

"That's exactly the point."

"The major factions are all searching for Spirit Seeds."

"They shouldn't have moved ahead of us."

"There shouldn't be any large force in this area."

"So where did that fire on the mountaintop come from?"

The rat-eyed man said, "Could the weather be too dry and some heavenly fire accidentally ignited it?"

The red-bearded man said, "Would heavenly fire burn only the summit without spreading?"

"Someone obviously cleared the area and lit it deliberately!"

The rat-eyed man raised a thumb. "Third Master is brilliant!"

The red-bearded man pointed at him. "You. Take a few men and go see what it is."

"Uh..."

A thin sheen of sweat appeared on the rat-eyed man's forehead.

He tried asking, "What if it really is a trap set by people from the Seven States?"

The red-bearded man's already bulging eyes widened further.

"Are you questioning my judgment?"

"Are you calling me brainless?"

"No, no, no!"

The rat-eyed man waved his hands frantically.

What he very much wanted to ask was: If you're so sure your judgment is right, why don't you come with us?

The red-bearded man snapped, "Enough nonsense. Go quickly."

"And don't be afraid."

"I'll follow behind and support you."

"If you run into danger, signal immediately!"

"Yes, yes!"

The rat-eyed man forced a smile onto his face, turned, called several people over, and led them through the darkness toward the distant fire.

As they neared the target, all of them dropped into the forest.

They advanced quietly and remained highly alert to every direction.

By the time they were almost at the target mountain, they still had not seen a single person.

It did not look as though any large force had gathered there.

Their courage gradually grew.

"Someone's coming."

Wu Zhaoxing, who was responsible for observing the surroundings, suddenly gave a low warning.

Niu Youdao and the Yun mother and son, who had been sitting cross-legged on branches, opened their eyes at once and rose.

They looked in the direction Wu Zhaoxing indicated.

A furtive figure emerged from the forest and flashed onto the opposite summit.

The man circled the fire once, constantly glancing around.

Then he waved.

Three more people flew out of the forest and landed atop the mountain.

The four searched the area, exchanging quiet words.

Through their Dharma Eyes and the illumination of the fire, Niu Youdao and the others could see that whenever these men used their arts to leap or land, demon qi surrounded them.

"They're all demon cultivators," Niu Youdao murmured.

His eyes gradually brightened.

"They should be from the overseas group."

"Do any of you recognize them?"

"Can you tell which of the Four Seas they belong to?"

The reason he judged them to be overseas cultivators was simple.

All four were demon cultivators.

That did not mean the forces from the Seven States contained no demon cultivators at all.

There were simply very few.

Several demon cultivators appearing together was rarer still.

In truth, there were not many demon cultivators living openly within the Seven States to begin with.

The great sects there all styled themselves upright and orthodox and regularly did things under the banner of "slaying demons and eliminating evil."

In reality, demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters did not necessarily commit evil.

There were moral standards in this world.

Once a demon cultivator developed intelligence, how could it not understand good and evil?

When humans turned wicked, they could be far worse than any demon or monster.

But there was no helping it.

No one wanted to share interests with those different from themselves.

Such beings found it difficult to establish themselves inside the Seven States.

Under the banner of "slaying demons and eliminating evil," most could only flee overseas to survive.

Places like Yun Ji's Duyun Mountain and Ghost Mother's Xianyin Mountain were rare exceptions.

All three shook their heads.

Yun Huan said, "They're nobodies. I don't recognize them."

"No matter which sea they're from, persistence pays off. We've finally found them."

"Let's go meet them."

Niu Youdao left the words behind and was the first to flash out of the treetop, flying toward the opposite mountain.

"Master Su, someone's coming!"

One demon cultivator on the opposite summit shouted.

The rat-eyed man spun around.

Seeing figure after figure suddenly emerge, he immediately yelled, "Bad news! There's an ambush! Run!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The demon cultivators fled at astonishing speed, racing over the treetops into the night.

Niu Youdao and the others had suffered too long waiting for this opportunity.

After so many days, they had finally drawn someone over.

How could they simply let them escape?

If they missed this chance, finding the overseas cultivators again could be extremely difficult.

They immediately gave chase.

The fleeing demon cultivators spotted the group waiting ahead.

The rat-eyed man shouted, "Third Master, there's an ambush! Run!"

"Running your mother!"

The red-bearded man cursed, but still swung an arm toward the people behind him.

"Withdraw!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The entire group immediately followed him and fled at high speed.

"Friends ahead, which road are you from?"

Niu Youdao grew anxious and shouted at the top of his lungs from behind.

Whether they failed to hear him or simply ignored him, no one answered.

After chasing for a while, Niu Youdao became puzzled.

What was going on?

Judging by the silhouettes rising and falling under the moonlight, there had to be several hundred people ahead.

Why were several hundred people running from the four of them?

"I'm fine. I won't die."

"You two don't need to stay beside me."

"Hurry ahead and see what's going on."

"Try to stop them."

Niu Youdao waved Wu Zhaoxing and Yun Ji forward.

The two exchanged a glance.

Then both accelerated sharply, pulling away from Niu Youdao's side and racing after the group ahead.

After pursuing for a while, Wu Zhaoxing turned his head in surprise.

Yun Ji was keeping pace beside him without falling behind in the slightest.

"Third Master, they're catching us! Wait for us!"

Among the people fleeing ahead, some of the weaker cultivators saw the pursuers closing in and began shouting anxiously.

The red-bearded man at the very front glanced back.

Something seemed wrong.

There were not many people pursuing them at all.

Once the two figures behind plunged into the rear of his own group, the red-bearded man threw up one hand.

The fleeing crowd gradually stopped.

Weapons appeared in hand one after another.

Yun Ji flew down from above.

The moment she saw who stood below, she called out as she landed, "Hong Gaitian, what are you running for?"

The red-bearded man stared at her in surprise.

"Yun Ji? You've got some nerve. Why are you chasing us?"

Wu Zhaoxing landed beside her and looked back and forth between them.

From the tone, these two clearly knew one another.

And indeed, Yun Ji and the red-faced man were acquainted.

She shot back immediately, "Running away before you've even seen who it is? However timid I may be, I've still got more courage than you!"

The red-bearded man cursed the moment he opened his mouth.

"Running your mother!"

"Judging the heart of a gentleman by the mind of a petty man."

"Didn't you see we were traveling?"

While the two bickered, Niu Youdao and Yun Huan finally caught up.

They descended beside Yun Ji and Wu Zhaoxing.

The moment Niu Youdao saw the thickset red-bearded man, he was delighted.

This really was someone he had wanted to find.

A broad smile spread across his face.

He cupped his hands cheerfully.

"I was wondering who could be roaming so freely beneath the moon at night, coming and going like the wind."

"So it turns out to be Hong Gaitian, Third Master of the South Sea."

"I've come to meet you without invitation. Forgive the discourtesy."

They could not be called acquaintances.

But Niu Youdao had seen him in Tiangu.

Someone had pointed him out as Hong Gaitian, Third Master of the South Sea, and the person responsible for the South Sea contingent on this expedition.

Nor was Hong Gaitian the only one.

Back in Tiangu, Niu Youdao had made sure someone pointed out the leaders of all four overseas groups.

"Niu Youdao?"

Seeing who had arrived, Hong Gaitian looked equally surprised.

He craned his neck and peered back in the direction they had come from.

When he saw no one else pursuing them, he asked, "Niu Youdao, why were you chasing us?"

"Chasing?"

Niu Youdao laughed.

"I wouldn't dare."

"The few of us were warming ourselves by the fire and chatting on that mountain when several people suddenly appeared."

"We thought someone might be coming to attack us, so we came over to see what was happening."

"Who would have thought we'd run into distinguished company?"

[End of Chapter 786]