Outside Yuzhou City.
Xu Linglong followed behind the slightly dejected Zhao Wanqing with a leisurely expression, her tone calm as she spoke:
"No need to be disheartened. The essence of being an evil cultivator is running fast and running cleverly. If they were easy to catch, they wouldn't be evil cultivators."
Zhao Wanqing glanced sideways:
"Then what would they be?"
"Fools." A smile surfaced on Xu Linglong's face. "Being an evil cultivator has a threshold too. Ruthlessness and sharpness are the most critical. Looking down on evil cultivators is unwise."
Zhao Wanqing did not respond.
Xu Linglong's words were actually reasonable, only they sounded somewhat like making excuses for evil cultivators – a roundabout form of praise.
Perhaps she meant to comfort her, but…
Evil cultivators were nothing more than filthy bugs that deserved to drown in a cesspit.
Xu Linglong followed behind Zhao Wanqing, watching her fall silent again, and spoke once more:
"The young monk from Chanlin Temple recently – I believe his name is Yuankong – has become quite formidable. It's said he also has some connection to Chu Xingchen."
"His Golden Core cultivation is truly impressive, though it seems he has suffered quite a bit lately. Evil cultivators really are growing more brazen by the day."
Zhao Wanqing pressed her hand on the long sword at her waist. Hearing this, she pondered for a moment before speaking:
"Back then, a Golden Core cultivator would have been considered a mighty figure in Yuzhou City. But this world is becoming harder to understand… Evil cultivators have suddenly appeared in great numbers, and their cultivation seems remarkably deep."
"But at the Golden Core realm, I'm afraid even that cannot smooth things over here."
Xu Linglong nodded heavily and let out a soft sigh:
"What's more infuriating are the surrounding sects. They clearly have more to spare, yet most just put on a show and refuse to truly exert themselves. If evil cultivators truly ran rampant in Yuzhou City, I doubt they'd benefit from it either."
Zhao Wanqing shook her head slightly. "Do good deeds. The sects have been insular for a long time now. They lost two elders and no longer have a voice in this region."
"What about Chu Xingchen – Senior Chu?" Xu Linglong cut in. "Senior Chu appears to have left a legacy in Yuzhou City as well. I even visited the sect's location – it was impressively grand."
"Senior Chu's cultivation is profound. Why not invite him? If he came, those evil cultivators would be dealt with in the snap of a finger."
"Even if we're not particularly close, Yuankong the monk surely is."
"Even if Senior Chu has important matters to attend to, it wouldn't hurt to ask. The common people outside Yuzhou City might not have to die in such numbers."
"Or has Senior Chu become like those other sects?"
Zhao Wanqing was silent for a moment before speaking slowly:
"Yuzhou City was merely a starting point for someone of his caliber. The places he will go in the future are far greater than Yuzhou City, and he will leave behind even more legendary stories."
"He is not a native of Yuzhou City either. Coming here would be out of sentiment. Not coming cannot be harshly judged."
"As for whether Yuankong is willing to call upon Senior Chu… that is not something we can force."
"The word 'bond' demands letting nature take its turn. Forcing it only ruins the relationship, and everything reeks of calculation."
"Anyone would be angered by the idea of treating a bond as a bargaining chip."
"As for me, I was born and rooted in Yuzhou City. Fighting to the death for this land is something I would have done regardless."
"Isn't Yuankong the same?"
"As long as the people of Yuzhou City put Yuzhou City first."
Zhao Wanqing finished speaking, as though she had also resolved every doubt in her heart.
The faintly dispirited look on her face vanished entirely. She quickened her steps and headed toward the Demon Suppression Bureau.
Xu Linglong did not speed up. Instead, she watched Zhao Wanqing's departing figure with a calm gaze and murmured softly:
"People from small places… do have their small-place backbone."
A pity that their intelligence network could never penetrate the level of top-secret information surrounding Chu Xingchen.
However, Xu Linglong had received word that foreign cultivators had been covertly investigating Yuzhou City's situation recently.
Chu Xingchen had most likely already turned his attention this way.
Perhaps he was already calculating how to resolve it.
Xu Linglong's eyes narrowed slightly. Indeed, not enough people had died, not enough cruelty, not enough to make one's heart ache.
That was what gave Chu Xingchen the leisure to think through problems.
The people of Yuzhou City wanted to put Yuzhou City first?
Then she would first eliminate most of the people standing in front of her.
She would start by breaking this backbone-endowed Zhao Wanqing – strip away her backbone and see whether she was still so resolute without it.
She would refine A Nian – the girl who liked refining swill water – into swill water. If she liked refining so much, then she would be refined too.
She would go through every person connected to Chu Xingchen, one by one, and see whether they were all this backbone-endowed.
Xu Linglong thought this to herself, and her mood finally grew much more pleasant.
Chu Xingchen liked to take things slow? Then she would take things slow too.
But in the very next instant.
Xu Linglong's expression turned sharply serious, her gaze snapping toward the north.
Two streaks of rainbow light flashed past at extreme speed, and then no further spiritual energy fluctuations leaked out.
In the next moment, the emergency communication token at Xu Linglong's waist began to vibrate rapidly.
This token was notification… the fish had taken the bait.
Xu Linglong had already identified who the two auras belonged to – one was Bai Xuanling, whom she bore a severed-arm grudge against, and the other was their target: Chu Xingchen.
Intelligence from the Central Province had indicated only the Tianyan Sect and the Xuanqing Heavenly Sect were mobilizing cultivators, but their targets were unclear.
Xu Linglong had assumed Chu Xingchen would send someone.
She had not expected him to be so bold – favoring quick strikes in and out – actually concealing the intelligence and coming here directly with Bai Xuanling.
Indeed, blessed by heaven's fortune, when things go too smoothly one develops a taste for gambling, for risk, for ever-greater profit.
Just like that True Dragon that had been slain.
So reckless. Did he really think she was made of clay, incapable of striking back?
Xu Linglong struggled to suppress the smile on her face, held down the excitement in her heart, and lightly squeezed the jade slip in her hand, sending a message forward: Confirm first!
Chu Xingchen had always been cunning. If, in her eagerness and carelessness, she let him escape this killing trap…
Then there would truly never be another opportunity this good.
Xu Linglong raised her hand lightly. A drop of Origin Power flowed out and took her form, moving toward Zhao Wanqing.
She herself turned and headed for the main camp.
Xu Linglong kept her spiritual energy fluctuations suppressed as much as possible, moving slightly slower than usual.
Bai Xuanling was no ordinary figure – a cultivator forged in life-and-death combat, extremely attuned to the slightest spiritual energy fluctuations.
Xu Linglong had never felt her heart pound this fast. The road that was not long at all now felt as distant as a journey across a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers.
It felt like an eternity before she arrived – a rather crude wooden hut, surrounded only by simple spiritual energy barriers to block detection.
Xu Linglong pushed the door open hard.
Inside, the other three Celestial Demons were already seated, all turning their gaze toward her as she entered.
"So only Chu Xingchen and Bai Xuanling came?"
Xu Linglong struggled to contain the joy in her heart, but her tone still betrayed her slightly.
Bai Bo shook his head slightly.
Before he could speak, Xu Linglong frowned and asked:
"Other Tribulation Transcendence cultivators came too? Huang Miao should still be at the Pudu River, shouldn't he?"
This time Bai Bo made no extraneous gestures and spoke directly:
"Don't rush. No other Tribulation Transcendence cultivators came. There are just seven Spirit Transformation and Integration cultivators from the Tianyan Sect hovering outside. They can't affect the situation."
Hearing this, Xu Linglong cast a sharp gaze at the other Celestial Demons and asked no further questions. Instead, she said with excitement:
"For this to succeed, it is time for us to seize the Heavenly Mandate!"
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