Ambush

That tactic was still effective, managing to call back the youth's soul. Yu Ci smiled and said, "Wait here and stay hidden. If you're discovered, just jump straight down and brace your life on it. With that robe of yours, it won't be all that easy to fall to your death."

Ye Tu's heart calmed down slightly, and he thought of Yu Ci again. "Then what about you, big uncle?"

"Me? I'm going to see if I can directly slice off that bald thief's head!"

Ye Tu was startled, but Yu Ci no longer paid him any mind. He tucked in his body and sprang out, moving like an agile mountain monkey as he leaped onto the cliffside lateral to the slope, disappearing completely into the clouds and mist in just a few bounds.

Yu Ci was not going crazy, nor was he acting on impulse. He simply saw a shred of a chance to win, one obvious enough to tempt him into taking a risk.

Because he possessed the Zhaoshen Map.

Opening the Zhaoshen Map once more, he could tell that the other party's progress during this period had been less than satisfactory. Clouds and mist blanketed Sky Rift Valley, severely limiting visibility. Even though spirit cultivators relied on spirit-soul perception and their dependence on their eyes was reduced, there was always a limit.

Especially since the cliffs were as smooth as mirrors, with many places lacking even a single spot to gain purchase, coupled with fierce beasts and raptors possessing ultra-strong aggressiveness, it was truly a path of perils at every step. Unless one possessed a magic tool capable of flight, or treasures like Yu Ci's Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror, anyone wishing to delve deep within could only try and probe again and again. As for taking many wrong turns, that was the most normal thing in the world.

Yu Ci clung flat against the rock face. The spot three zhang or so to the right of his current location was the inevitable route the three of them would take to pass the slope. This was what the Zhaoshen Map displayed, and it was completely infallible.

Yu Ci's current location was originally an extremely steep cliff face with no footholds whatsoever. However, he rapidly carved out a recessed hollow with the jade medicine hoe in his hand. Thanks to the Treasure Boy and Young Master Ye, the medicine hoe cut through stone like mud, becoming even more formidable once true qi was infused into it. Crushed rock fell away with a rustling sound, muffled by the constant clamor of Sky Rift Valley.

Only a ghost-face monkey living nearby heard the noise and inquisitively poked its head out. Yu Ci struck like lightning, clasping a hand around its throat, and without waiting for it to struggle, he supplemented a blow with the medicine hoe, knocking it unconscious.

Holding the unconscious ghost-face monkey in his hand, he thought for a moment and began drawing talismans. This took a while, but the progress of the three men above was even slower. Yu Ci calmly finished drawing three talismans and sealed them within the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror.

Then, he made the Zhaoshen Map fade away, lest the cyan light attract the attention of the three men above. At this point, even without looking at the Zhaoshen Map, he could smell the scent mingling in the howling wind and mist—a scent utterly out of place in Sky Rift Valley, which was the mixed body odor of Poisonous Snake Monk and his companion.

He chose to position himself downwind, as this could effectively mask his scent. Precisely because Yu Ci possessed a sense of smell far superior to ordinary people, he paid special attention to similar abilities. Every time he went into hiding, he carefully restrained his entire body's aura, so his stealth methods grew progressively better with each passing day, and could be considered quite impressive.

The distance between both sides gradually closed, and the head-on gale rolled up the voices of the three men from above and to the side. Poisonous Snake Monk and his crew could be considered cautious down in Sky Rift Valley, yet they simply hadn't expected that in this profound depth reaching three thousand zhang, someone would anticipate his movements in advance and lay an ambush here early on. Therefore, they raised their voices amidst the howling and shrieking of the wind, afraid the other party wouldn't hear clearly:

"Xu Lao Er, how much longer does that root of yours have? Don't let it burn out completely before we even reach the destination."

The person who spoke used vulgar language, and his tone was cheerful and devil-may-care. His voice fit his person, and Yu Ci immediately thought of that baby-faced Taoist.

The one answering him should be the half-bald middle-aged man leading the way, his voice slightly husky. "Plenty of time. This 'Finger Smoke Path' is a secret transmission of my Wanling Sect. With the hair of a ghost beast, pursuing a thousand li is just a commonplace matter. What we need to look at now is whether your two sets of intelligence are accurate..."

"Intelligence jointly investigated by the abbot and Mister Mingyue is naturally trustworthy."

Poisonous Snake Monk's familiar voice rang out. When his emotions were steady, his slow and deliberate tone truly sounded like a cold, venomous snake hissing, "The crux is not with us, but on your end, Xu Lao Er. If you too get your eyes confused by the ghost beast, don't blame me and Lu Quan for disregarding the ties of friendship."

"You think I'd be like that dead ghost, stealing a Shooting Star Disk and thinking himself invincible under heaven? Not even Jin Huan can handle that disk, let alone the ghost beasts below!" Xu Lao Er sneered coldly. "Or perhaps, me defying the sect master's orders to secretly descend into the valley and accompany you on this trip is still my fault?"

Poisonous Snake Monk let out a cold laugh. "Don't blame us for talking too much; the fact is that the ghost beasts' spirits hold too great a temptation for your Wanling Sect. Hu Ke is the living precedent."

That Taoist Lu Quan coughed and laughed heartily, interrupting Poisonous Snake Monk's direct provocation. "Looking for you, Xu Lao Er, means both Zheng De and I trust you... Right now, what we need is a bit of patience. Finding the ghost beast is only a beginning; we still have to figure out a way to lure it away and find that buried treasure location before we can think about subsequent matters!"

"Subsequent matters might not even happen. That Bai Ri Mansion junior you mentioned is young, yet he has already achieved differentiated consciousness, transformed thoughts, and succeeded in spirit cultivation. Logically speaking, he should also be a renowned figure in Juebi City, yet we've never heard of him before. Could it be Jin Huan..."

Lu Quan's tone was very dismissive. "Your Wanling Sect has been oppressed by Bai Ri Mansion to the point of cowardice, so you can tie anything back to them! This time, Hu Ke's theft of the Shooting Star Disk out was so sudden. If Zheng De and I hadn't happened to cross paths and run into you, it would have been hard to know. No matter how powerful Jin Huan is, he's merely at the Advanced Core-Formation stage—he's no omniscient immortal!"

The three men's voices grew increasingly clear, and the information revealed within was indeed quite substantial. Yu Ci knew immediately that the Jin Huan repeatedly mentioned in their mouths was the mansion lord of Bai Ri Mansion, someone who could be considered a premier figure in Juebi City. At the same time, he sneered inwardly.

He didn't know the deeper reasons, but he could be certain that the Taoist was lying.

What happening to cross paths? When the bald thief Zheng De ambushed him back then, he hadn't even seen what the Shooting Star Disk looked like before the monk blurted it out. If anyone claimed they didn't know beforehand, who would believe it?

The monk and the Taoist were problematic, and Xu Lao Er was no good either. Colluding with outsiders over a "treasure" nowhere to be seen and defying orders to descend into the valley—such fools whose minds were blinded by greed deserved to die!

At that moment, Xu Lao Er cursed in a low voice, "Dammit, there's no path again..."

Yu Ci narrowed his eyes. The moment Xu Lao Er uttered those words, the three of them arrived directly above Yu Ci. However, if they wanted to go further down, the only place with footholds nearby was the route on Yu Ci's right-hand side. The temporary hollow Yu Ci had dug out had sufficient depth for concealment, and the gale also blew from the right, so there was no worry of exposing his aura.

At the same time, he also tried his best to restrain his spirit-soul fluctuations. This was his first time doing such a thing, but judging by the actual effect, it was not bad either. At least, none of the three above had noticed.

Those three spent a little time finding the correct path and then cautiously slid down. To call it a path was actually just one or two protrusions on the cliff face that could provide leverage for buffering and deceleration during the slide, preventing them from sliding all the way to the bottom. Of course, this was bound to be a safe zone where fierce birds and savage beasts did not linger.

The one who slid past first was still Xu Lao Er. Bringing the wind with him, he swept past three zhang away from Yu Ci. Yu Ci narrowed his eyes, faintly seeing the wisps of light smoke rising from this person's fingertips; the other party didn't even glance toward his direction. Once he confirmed that there was still a downward path here, Poisonous Snake Monk and Lu Quan slid down successively as well.

It was also at this moment that a dark shadow suddenly flew up from the lateral cliff face, pouncing head-on toward Lu Quan on this side.

The incident happened abruptly, but this baby-faced Taoist reacted with lightning speed. Without even adopting a stance, countless silk-like sword qi shot through the air in the blink of an eye, emitting a piercing shishing sound. That dark shadow seemed to be struck by a heavy hammer, tumbling violently backward while letting out a harsh shriek, and then thousands of bloodlines erupted all over its body as its cries abruptly ceased.

The mutilated corpse fell downward, and the three men above and below saw it clearly—it was a ghost-face monkey.

Poisonous Snake Monk turned his head mid-slide and praised loudly, "What a Raised Eyebrow Sword! Taoist Brother Lu's One Will Thousand Threads has already attained the true essence of Mister Mingyue... Careful!"

Before the word "trans-..." could leave his mouth, the monk's expression suddenly changed, and he changed his words to issue a warning.

A pure cyan sword blade silently emerged from the clouds and mist, timed to absolute perfection. It happened precisely when Lu Quan's storm-like sword momentum died down and he was inevitably in his recovery phase, and also precisely when his body slid into this region, finding himself in the worst possible environment where there was not a shred of leverage to be found save for the smooth cliff face behind him.

Every hair on Lu Quan's body stood on end. In the process of high-speed sliding, the cyan-flashing sword blade in the mist twisted slightly as well, but that bone-chilling air pressed straight against his fragile neck. What made him want to vomit blood the most was that there was no force exerted from above at all—he was simply hurling his sliding body right into it!

He let out a strange cry, finally forcefully summoning a sliver of strength at this critical Life and Death Line moment. Violently putting strength into his back, he slammed against the cliff face, leveraging the impact to hurl himself diagonally forward. Though this direction might cause him to plummet into an abyss of ten thousand zhang, it was also the optimal judgment to evade the sword light.

He could be considered timely in exerting his strength, but his neck still felt a chill, followed by a wet sensation; clearly, he had been grazed. Lu Quan had no time to fuss over this. His body was already airborne at the moment, temporarily distancing himself from the threat of the blade, and below him, Poisonous Snake Monk had also found a foothold and was using strength to rebound upward.

At this very moment, a buzzing roar surged from behind. Poisonous Snake Monk and Xu Lao Er both let out shouts, yet they were still a step too slow.

Lu Quan let out a shrill scream, using a secret technique to spur his residual vital qi and forcefully triggering the speed-conquering "Raised Eyebrow Sword." The formless yet substantive sword qi was on the verge of shielding his entire body, but it was still a beat too slow. His back vibrated, and a piercingly cold qi drove straight in. He groaned miserably, and the sword qi that was about to emerge was forcibly choked back right then and there. In an instant, his entire body's meridians crossed into disorder, and a mouthful of fresh blood could no longer be held back, coughing out.

"Catch!" Xu Lao Er's reaction could also be considered fast. Immediately, a pitch-black rope flew out from his sleeve, probing toward the direction where Lu Quan was tumbling to drag him back. However, within the mist, Lu Quan turned his head to stare fixedly at the rope while his body remained completely motionless. Looking closely, the eye sockets were brimming entirely with a aura of death!

"Seven Stars Illuminate Destiny, turn!"

The incantation pierced through the clouds and mist, roaring within the ears of the three men. Xu Lao Er's heart jolted, and he watched as blood sprayed from Lu Quan's seven orifices simultaneously. His out-of-control sword qi burst out of his body, instantly riddling his frame with thousands of holes just like that ghost-face monkey from earlier.

"It's not a sword; it's a talisman!" Poisonous Snake Monk rushed back up, seeing far more clearly than Xu Lao Er. The moment he saw that cyan sword blade flying away in complete defiance of reason, he cursed angrily, knowing that Lu Quan was thoroughly finished.

This trick of turning a sword into a talisman was sudden to the extreme, combining with the series of preceding mutations. If it had been any of the three, they probably wouldn't have been able to escape this calamity. Everything stemmed from the blind spot in their thinking: twenty li down in Sky Rift Valley, in a profound depth of over three thousand zhang, how could there possibly be someone who could so accurately grasp their whereabouts, lie in ambush, and ruthlessly strike out?

More importantly, who on earth was this person?

The next moment, dazzling firelight provided him with the answer!

Yu Ci leaped out from the clouds and mist. After releasing the Seven Star Sword Talisman, he switched to the Nine Yang Talisman Sword, and its unique revolving flame manifested. Poisonous Snake Monk's line of sight crossed the firelight of the talisman sword, and his face instantly twisted completely: "The Bai Ri Mansion junior!"

Amidst his shriek, his sleeves rolled outward, and qi cultivation akin to a giant axe and sharp blade swept forth. Following closely behind were several flickering points of dark green light; his habitual methods had already been used to the fullest.

Yu Ci's face was like cast iron, unmoving. Stepping onto the nearly vertical cliff face, he met the head-on gale-force axe-blade qi and gloomy dark-green light without the slightest intention of slowing down, hurtling all the way down. Borrowing the momentum of the Nine Yang Talisman Sword, the blade pierced through the air and thrust forward.