Chapter 800: How Did I Run Into This Woman?

That concise explanation left Wu Zhaoxing unable to summon any further dissatisfaction.

Yun Ji could not help looking at Niu Youdao a few more times either.

His breadth of mind made her sigh inwardly.

Then she glanced back at her own son.

Both were men. How could the difference between them be this great?

That one exchange was enough to show her just how far Yun Huan stood below Niu Youdao.

No wonder one had risen to power in Nanzhou while the other had spent his days sheltering under someone else's roof.

She accepted it.

She was convinced.

Niu Youdao had not gone far before he stopped and turned around again.

Seeming to remember something, he returned to Situ Yao and the others.

"Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion brought fifty people into the Secret Realm. Why are there only twenty of you here?"

Situ Yao said, "Everyone was scattered around searching for Spirit Seeds. There wasn't time to gather them all. Another thirty didn't come."

"We were discussing that just now as well. Cai Jinqi and the Lingjian Mountain disciples all died, while we return without so much as a scratch. Anyone would suspect we'd conspired with you."

"Chu Fengping won't let us go."

"But if we don't return, we're worried those other thirty may run into trouble."

"That's simple. Don't worry. We'll deal with it afterward..."

Niu Youdao then questioned them closely about everything that had happened on the way here.

After getting a clear grasp of the details he wanted, he nodded and prepared to leave again.

Situ Yao stopped him.

Still uneasy, he asked, "How did you end up mixed together with these people?"

"They're my sworn siblings."

Niu Youdao pointed toward Fuhua and the others watching from the cliffs, gave that brief answer, and turned away.

Sworn siblings?

Them?

Several of them?

Had they sworn brotherhood inside the Tiandu Secret Realm, or before entering it?

Situ Yao stood there dumbfounded and speechless.

He had personally witnessed Niu Youdao swearing brotherhood with Hui Qingping and Quan Taifeng.

Niu Youdao returned to the top of the cliff and met Fuhua and the others.

Duan Wuchang glanced toward the people in the valley.

"You're letting them off just like that?"

Niu Youdao said, "They were my people to begin with. Circumstances forced them to abandon me. If there's an opportunity to pull them back, that's a good thing."

Lang Jingkong said, "I hate traitors more than anything in this life!"

Fuhua smiled sweetly as well. "Little Brother, sometimes you kill and sometimes you don't. That seems to conflict with the strategy you set yourself."

"If you keep changing back and forth like this, how are we supposed to trust you?"

Niu Youdao said, "I've always believed that if people can talk matters through properly, there's no need to fight and kill. Killing alone cannot solve every problem."

"Nor does this conflict with the strategy we agreed on."

"Who are these people?"

"They were the local power in Jinzhou when Jinzhou still belonged to Zhao. They still command a group of cultivators and several hundred thousand troops outside, fighting Zhao alongside my Nanzhou forces."

"Not only do we have to struggle for survival here, once we leave we still have to contend with Yan's three major sects for control of the battlefield."

"We need to look farther ahead."

"If I keep Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion tied to us, I also keep the forces they control outside tied to us."

Fuhua smiled. "What do your struggles for power and profit have to do with us? That's your business."

"All we know is that the fewer potential threats remain, the greater our chance of leaving safely."

Niu Youdao pushed back directly.

"This isn't simply a matter of cultivators fighting and killing. It's different from the way all of you usually handle things. It isn't as simple as you imagine."

"If I hold onto Jinzhou's power, then I gain a greater voice over the battlefield."

"Only if the power to influence battlefield decisions remains in my hands, allowing me to threaten every side's interests, will those sides give me face."

"Only if I firmly hold that power can I suppress the consequences after we slaughter people from the various states in here."

"Otherwise, if my own camp falls into disorder and I'm too busy saving myself, how am I supposed to help you restrain the Seven States?"

"You're enjoying yourselves now, but have you considered what comes afterward?"

None of the four had thought that far.

After hearing him, all fell silent.

They waited a while longer.

When the battlefield had been cleared and the spoils counted, Hong Gaitian spat in dissatisfaction.

"Not even ten thousand Spirit Seeds. All those people, and this is all they had. What a waste of effort."

Niu Youdao said, "That was expected. Every day, the Spirit Seeds they find are turned in and concentrated together."

Fuhua said, "Then it seems Little Brother will still have to keep working hard as bait."

Niu Youdao understood what she meant.

To reach Yan's central force and seize the Spirit Seeds accumulated there, they would need to keep breaking through layer after layer.

"Elder Sister, we've killed plenty of Yan cultivators already. I've proven my sincerity. It isn't suitable to keep moving against Yan for now."

Fuhua said, "Some people died. Not too few, not too many."

"How do I know you aren't simply putting on a show together for our benefit?"

Niu Youdao fell silent for a while.

At last he said slowly, "Within Yan, my power has already developed as far as it can. I can no longer avoid confronting Yan's three major sects directly."

Fuhua said, "What argument are you trying to sell us now? You keep circling around and never telling us enough to feel secure."

"Elder Sister, you win. I'll tell you the truth."

"Of Yan's three major sects, I must choose one to join."

"Zijin Cave and I already made preparations in secret..."

There were things Niu Youdao had not wanted to reveal.

But even after he had killed Yan's people, these four were still unwilling to let the matter go.

He could not get past this obstacle.

So he had no choice but to expose the fact that he intended to join Zijin Cave.

He explained how, when circumstances changed, Zijin Cave alone had been unable to protect him and had therefore been forced to abandon him.

He also revealed the agreement he had recently reached with Yan Li after contacting him again.

Fuhua and the others exchanged astonished looks.

They had not expected so many hidden dealings to be buried beneath the surface.

Only then did they finally understand why Niu Youdao had kept circling around the truth instead of speaking plainly.

Some things genuinely could not be exposed.

They absolutely could not be allowed to reach Xiaoyao Palace or Lingjian Mountain.

Now that he had finally shown them his hidden cards, Niu Youdao openly explained the result as well.

"I've already proven my sincerity by killing these people. There's truly no need to keep wasting our strength and energy on Yan."

"With Zijin Cave acting as an inside contact, so long as we retain enough strength to support them, Yan's Spirit Seeds will be easy to seize whenever we actually need them."

"For now, letting Yan's people continue searching for more Spirit Seeds is effectively helping us."

"If necessary, Zijin Cave can even manipulate events and make other powers consume one another, reducing the pressure on us..."

Once everything had been spoken openly, the suspicions and knots between them disappeared.

Everyone relaxed.

The matters that followed became much easier to handle.

...

Toward evening, the setting sun was beautiful.

The enormous cratered sphere in the sky had already become visible, looking as though it might fall at any moment.

Yan's people had spent the entire day racing around searching.

Now they were gathering again to rest.

Chu Fengping stood facing the sunset and waited.

Li Wuhua was waiting anxiously as well when a disciple of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion quietly approached him.

"The Sect Leader sent someone who found the direction where I was searching and brought a secret message."

Li Wuhua read the contents written on a scrap of cloth.

Then he quickly scanned his surroundings and quietly destroyed the cloth.

Night fell.

Chu Fengping was still waiting.

Cai Jinqi and the others still had not returned.

Inside the valley, Shan Hai and Yan Li walked together toward a campfire.

Chu Fengping, seated beside the flames, raised his head when he saw the two men staring at him.

"What?"

Shan Hai said, "I heard from people in the other sects that your disciple Cai Jinqi took some of their people away."

"Why haven't any of them returned yet?"

Chu Fengping said, "I'd like to know that myself."

Yan Li said, "Situ Yao and his people haven't returned either. Yan Baoru hasn't come back. Brother Chu, don't you think you owe us an explanation?"

What was going on with Yan Baoru?

Chu Fengping was wondering about that himself.

He had no intention of explaining anything, so he muttered a few casual lines and brushed the matter aside.

Shan Hai and Yan Li could do little about it.

After sending the two men away, Chu Fengping was filled with worry.

He feared something might have happened, yet at the same time felt that should be impossible.

Against one Niu Youdao?

Even with Wu Zhaoxing and the others added, no matter how badly things went, they should not have been able to prevent every single person on this side from returning.

Perhaps no news was good news.

That was the only way Chu Fengping could comfort himself.

He hoped Niu Youdao had simply fled too far, forcing Cai Jinqi's group to chase too far as well, leaving them temporarily unable to return.

By the next morning, however, not one person from Cai Jinqi's group had come back.

Chu Fengping sensed something had truly gone wrong.

No matter how incompetent his disciple might be, Cai Jinqi should have understood how worried the people here would become.

If they had chased too far and could not return in time, he would at least have sent someone back with a report.

There was no reason for there to be absolutely no word.

When Yan's people set out again to search for Spirit Seeds, Chu Fengping secretly dispatched men back along Cai Jinqi's route and ordered them to investigate.

...

For Niu Youdao, finding the next target was no longer difficult.

It was fortunate he had joined forces with the overseas cultivators.

The scouts the Four Seas had dispatched earlier were still watching the movements of the various states and leaving trail markers along the way.

Seven or eight days after breaking away from Yan's forces, Niu Youdao and the others headed directly toward Han and smoothly located the nearest target.

The plan remained unchanged.

Niu Youdao would personally act as bait.

Using someone else might have been useless.

Most people here belonged to some faction or another, and Han would not rashly offend another power without cause.

Niu Youdao was different.

By now, almost everyone knew Yan's three major sects had expelled him.

He was isolated, weak, and easy to bully.

And for certain powers, killing Niu Youdao could also provoke conflict among Yan's three major sects as they fought over Nanzhou.

Situ Yao watched Niu Youdao leave alone to take the risk and repeatedly shook his head.

To make it out alive, this man truly was willing to use every method available.

Running everywhere, jumping from one scheme to the next—it genuinely was not easy.

The sight made one sigh.

In the wilderness-like mountain forest, Niu Youdao traveled alone with a bundle on his back.

He crossed ridge after ridge in silence, his heart hard as iron as he pushed forward.

An unusual disturbance suddenly sounded behind him.

He stopped instantly and whipped around.

A flock of birds burst from the forest into the air.

Standing atop the treetops, rising and falling with the swaying branches, Niu Youdao coldly scanned the surroundings.

He observed for a while but saw nothing unusual.

Then he abruptly dropped beneath the canopy again.

He flashed rapidly through the dense forest and quickly hid himself in a remote spot, secretly watching everything around him.

Perhaps some wild beast in the woods had simply startled the birds.

But Niu Youdao did not dare be careless.

He suppressed himself completely and waited in silence.

A full half hour passed.

Nothing happened for so long that someone finally lost patience.

A graceful female figure flashed out.

She leapt from branch to branch, apparently searching for something.

The newcomer was none other than Yan Baoru.

Niu Youdao, hidden in the shadows, frowned.

Doubt rose in his heart.

How did I run into this woman?

Could this really be a chance encounter?

He became even less willing to move.

Holding his breath and suppressing his presence, he remained utterly silent in hiding.

The drifting skirts in the forest came to a stop.

Yan Baoru landed on the fork of a tree.

Her face was filled with suspicion.

Light flickered in her bright eyes as she searched, inch by inch, everything within the reach of her vision.

[End of Chapter 800]