Stall

"Saint Aunt, there's a ruined temple ahead. Would you like to rest for a while?" The maid supported Saint Aunt. Both were exhausted, with several new wounds on their bodies.

Seeing that they would not make it out of the mountain last night, and unable to find anywhere to spend the night, the two had squeezed into a crack between two massive boulders. Saint Aunt took out a Seven-Colored Kasaya and draped it over the opening.

This, too, was an unusual Artisan Cultivator creation.

Once it covered them, it swiftly blended into the surrounding environment.

Not only was there no flaw visible on the outside, even their scent was concealed.

The two hid inside, not daring to move or make the slightest sound.

The nights in the mountains were truly terrifying. All sorts of bizarre entities, powerful enough to drive one into despair, passed by them from time to time.

They had held on until dawn was near when an accident still occurred. A rabbit, pursued by an aberration, crashed headfirst into the crack in the rocks.

The two were exposed and could only fight that aberration to the death.

Though they survived, they also alerted other evil entities. They fled all the way, and the Artisan Cultivator creations on Saint Aunt's person, along with the Law Cultivator's "Law Coins," were nearly spent.

But they had finally endured until daylight.

The two women nearly embraced each other and burst into tears.

No matter what, surviving a night in a perilous "Land Beyond Civilization" like Ghost Witch Mountain was something they could brag about for the rest of their lives.

Saint Aunt looked over the decrepit abandoned temple. One corner of the main hall had collapsed, the doors and windows were long gone, and the bottoms of the two pillars at the entrance had somehow been gnawed away by half. They swayed precariously, liable to collapse completely at any moment.

The offering table inside was still fairly intact, but the incense burner atop it had shattered into several pieces.

The statue in the center had lost one hand, and only half its head remained, making for a miserable sight.

Saint Aunt shook her head. "Don't go inside. There might be some bizarre thing hiding in there."

She looked ahead again. "Let's press on a little farther and find a sunlit slope to rest on."

"Yes, ma'am."

They had only taken two steps when Saint Aunt suddenly grabbed the maid. "Wait!"

Saint Aunt drew out the Ear Trumpet made of redwood and brass from her sleeve, put it to her ear, and listened carefully. Her expression changed. "Someone's coming!"

The maid froze. "Who would come here..." Then she suddenly realized. "That brat!"

Saint Aunt nodded. "Very likely."

"Why would he be here?"

With a trace of mockery, Saint Aunt said coldly, "To kill us!"

The maid's first reaction was that it was absurd, but then her eyes widened. "He doesn't really think he can do it, does he?"

"He's at the age when youthful blood runs hot. After winning several times in a row, of course his confidence has swelled rapidly!" Saint Aunt sneered. "And he could infer that we spent a night in the mountains—if not dead, then badly wounded. Heh heh, turns out he guessed right."

The maid gritted her teeth. "Even if we're badly wounded, killing him will be as easy as turning over a hand!"

"Don't underestimate him again." Saint Aunt drew a deep breath and said leisurely, "The fact that he could find us in these vast mountains—what does that mean? It means that brat must have marked us somehow, at some point!"

The maid frowned. "That makes things troublesome. We had planned to hide and ambush him."

Saint Aunt looked around. "No ambush. We'll fight him here, openly and aboveboard! We've suffered heavy losses this time, but as long as we get to eat the June Bug, it'll still be a huge profit!"

The maid nodded forcefully, then took her position in the open space before the ruined temple and summoned her last few Yin Soldiers, preparing to conceal them around the area in ambush.

But Saint Aunt gestured to her not to rush.

Then Saint Aunt picked up a branch and drew a large circle around the maid, enclosing all the places around her suitable for concealing Yin Soldiers.

That simple act left Saint Aunt drenched in sweat, her entire body visibly more listless. Clearly, the expenditure had been immense.

"Saint Aunt..." the maid called out in distress. Saint Aunt waved a hand. "Continue setting up. Within my 'Stall,' every rule works against that brat—I'd like to see what he'll use to kill us!"

The area Saint Aunt had drawn on the ground was the "Stall" of a Law Cultivator who cultivated Merchant Law.

Whoever owned the Stall set the rules.

Once Xu Yuan stepped into this area, he would be at an extreme disadvantage!

If they could further keep Xu Yuan inside the "Stall" for a certain amount of time, they could turn Xu Yuan into "merchandise" on the Stall!

Then, like a butcher, they could divide Xu Yuan's entire body into different parts and sell each for whatever price they wished.

Saint Aunt herself could buy Xu Yuan whole at an extremely low price—he would have no power to resist!

But the Stall's ability could only be used by an Eighth Stream Law Cultivator. Saint Aunt's Law Cultivator level had only recently reached the Eighth Stream, and now, under severe injuries, using it consumed far too much.

The maid immediately hid the Yin Soldiers throughout the Stall.

One in the patch of grass to the left, one beneath a large boulder at the front right, and one in the shadowed corner of the ruined temple steps behind them.

She had only these three Yin Soldiers left.

Saint Aunt, meanwhile, sat atop that large boulder, taking out the Divine Mechanism Crossbow and laying it across her knees.

Only one arrow remained in the Divine Mechanism Crossbow, but Saint Aunt felt that one arrow would be enough to settle everything completely.

After several narrow escapes from death last night, the Artisan Cultivator creations she had brought were almost entirely depleted.

Yet Saint Aunt remained incomparably confident. Today would be the perfect conclusion to her mission.

"I am the Saint Aunt chosen from among the hundred thousand faithful of the Pingtian Society. In the future, I am to become one of Great Sage Pingtian's three hundred concubines!"

"I am nineteen this year, already an Eighth Stream Artisan Cultivator and an Eighth Stream Law Cultivator! Countless resources from the Society have been gathered upon me!"

"I am destined for wealth and rank! What does a lowly menial from some backwater village have to compare with me?"

"To kill him, I won't need even half an hour."

"Half an hour from now, I will be a cultivator of all three great paths: Fate Cultivator, Artisan Cultivator, and Law Cultivator!"

A small knife gleaming with cold light was hidden in Saint Aunt's other sleeve.

On the path ahead, the roadside grass swayed. The maid immediately tensed, waiting for her opponent to burst out, yet no one ever appeared.

Just as the maid was wondering about it, a speck of golden light suddenly shot toward her throat!

"A Pill Cultivator! So it really is you!" the maid shouted. A Fly Whisk appeared in her hand, and she flicked it open to entangle the incoming Gold Pellet.

The Gold Pellet curved around, suddenly transforming into a short sword. With a crack, it severed the Fly Whisk's handle.

The short sword then continued slashing toward the maid's neck.

A small knife flashing with cold light suddenly stabbed in from the side, blocking the short sword with a clang.

The maid cursed and provoked him, "Hiding your head and showing your tail—are you even a man?!"

Xu Yuan really did come out. But he moved with incredible speed; wind whistled beneath his feet as he rushed before the maid, then swung a short club in his hand straight at her head.

The ghost soldiers the maid had ambushed along the way did not even have time to act.

Saint Aunt moved as swiftly as lightning, her small knife slicing toward Xu Yuan's neck.

Xu Yuan twisted aside to evade it, and the short club in his hand could no longer strike the maid. Yet that club suddenly became a long rope, whipping around her neck with a whoosh.

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