The next morning, the wind and snow at Falling Snow Pass had yet to cease. Swirling snowflakes drifted through the gaps in the window lattices, only to be baked into wisps of white mist by the ground fire array inside the room.
Inside the side hall of the Northern Mansion, the aroma of breakfast was thick.
Yu Wenqiu held a bowl of steaming spirit rice porridge. Her cheeks were stuffed full, but her almond eyes, usually half-squinted, were now wide and round, staring intently at the figure sitting at the other corner of the table.
A girl with twin ponytails sat there, drinking her porridge with extreme caution. Her movements were careful and subservient, as if she were a bullied little wife.
This was Nuo Tao—the Worldly Walker of the Myriad Thief Sect who had been brought back by Gu Chengming the previous night, now a registered person turned over to the right path.
Yu Wenqiu chewed her food, feeling that the usually refreshing spirit vegetables tasted somewhat bland today.
She looked at Nuo Tao, then turned to look at Gu Chengming, her eyes full of resentment.
Finally unable to hold back, she set down her bowl. "While it's not like we can't afford to feed an extra mouth, why didn't you tell me before bringing someone back? And especially since it's a..."
She glanced at Nuo Tao and swallowed the rest of the sentence: "...since it's a girl who looks quite pretty."
Gu Chengming couldn't help but chuckle. He patiently recounted everything about Nuo Tao becoming a "tainted witness" and the details of the theft at the Wanjin Pavilion warehouse.
Hearing this, Nuo Tao buried her head even lower, wishing she could shrink into her bowl. She didn't dare utter a single word of rebuttal.
Looking at the white porridge in her bowl, Yu Wenqiu’s anger dissipated by half for some inexplicable reason. She poked at the porridge somewhat gloomily.
Reason told her that Gu Chengming's explanation was perfectly sensible and made for the sake of the big picture. But emotionally...
Yu Wenqiu stole a glance at Gu Chengming's profile, which looked increasingly like refined jade in the morning light, and a sense of crisis welled up in her heart.
She hadn't noticed it back on the mountain, but why did Little Gu's luck with women suddenly skyrocket after coming down, especially since arriving in the northern border?
First, there was that Manager Yun Wan from the Hehuan Sect, then that female elder who looked only fifteen years old, and now, he could even pick up a thief girl just by going out to buy bedding?
Does Little Gu have some kind of constitution that attracts female cultivators?
Yu Wenqiu suddenly recalled the new art Gu Chengming had mentioned in passing, something called the Yin Yang Creation Strategy?
Even though Little Gu explained it was an upright dao art, just hearing the name made it sound inseparable from the Hehuan Sect.
Yu Wenqiu bit the tip of her chopsticks, imagining a grand drama in her head.
—What if Little Gu's willpower isn't strong enough and he truly gets dazzled by the outside world, running off with some woman from another sect?
Thinking of this, Yu Wenqiu suddenly felt a bit panicked.
She wanted to slam the table and tell Gu Chengming, "You belong to the Wenjian Sect in life and will be a ghost of the Wenjian Sect in death," and then throw this girl of unknown origin out.
But looking at Gu Chengming, the young Elder Yu lost her nerve again.
"Fine, forget it..."
She comforted herself internally. "As long as I don't die, I'll keep an eye on him. Hmm, as long as I keep him well-fed, he won't have the heart to run away."
Thus, Yu Wenqiu turned her grief and indignation into appetite and took a fierce bite of porridge.
Unaware of his elder's rich internal monologue, Gu Chengming turned the conversation to business.
"Elder, I'm going to visit a vice commander today."
"Hmm? A vice commander?"
Yu Wenqiu asked with her mouth full, "What for? Don't we have the Luoxue Guard Token? We can walk sideways in this city if we want."
Gu Chengming briefly recounted the information he got from Nuo Tao and the karma of the dharma treasures he had investigated with the Red Dust Technique.
"Wanjin Pavilion has operated in Falling Snow Pass for many years and has deep roots. If it were just simple price gouging or a monopoly, that could be considered the nature of merchants seeking profit. As long as they didn't cross a line, we'd have no reason to touch them."
"But the karma entwined around those twelve dharma treasures is too heavy. The resentment is thick and hasn't dissipated; it's clearly obtained through murder and looting, and most of the victims were likely our human cultivators."
"If a merchant guild operating inside a human stronghold is secretly hunting its own kind or even colluding with the demon race, they are digging at the very roots of Falling Snow Pass."
"Investigating them will inevitably touch many people's interests. With just my power alone, though I am not afraid, it would be easy to alert the enemy or be framed. Therefore, I need someone who has a say within the Falling Snow Pass hierarchy and has an absolutely reliable stance to back me up."
Hearing about official business, Yu Wenqiu's expression became slightly more serious.
She was lazy, but she was still an elder of the Wenjian Sect; she knew how to distinguish right from wrong on major issues.
Yu Wenqiu nodded and swallowed her food. "This is the northern border, after all, and the various factions are intricately intertwined. Since Senior Sister Luo isn't here, we really might get backstabbed if we act rashly."
"So, who do you want to find?"
Gu Chengming took a token from his robe. It was one Luo Jinyao had specifically left for him before departing, saying that if he encountered difficulties, he could use this token to find a few trustworthy vice commanders.
"Liang Si, Vice Commander Liang."
With the plan decided, Gu Chengming didn't delay any longer and set out with Nuo Tao.
Although Falling Snow Pass was called a "pass," its scale had long exceeded that of an ordinary city.
There were military monitors representing the interests of the Great Qian imperial family, resident elders representing various sects, merchant giants who came purely for the rich resources of the northern border, and opportunists who wanted to fish in troubled waters or even bet on both sides.
These people were like invisible nets shrouding the entire Falling Snow Pass.
Within this net, those who truly held power and were recognized by all parties—aside from the guarding commander Luo Jinyao—were the vice commanders who performed their respective duties.
There was an unwritten rule in the northern border.
Any cultivator who had performed illustrious military service here and reached a certain level of cultivation would be granted a unique "title" by the Great Qian government and the Imperial Observatory.
Generally speaking, only great cultivators at the third realm peak or even the fourth realm were qualified to receive a title. However, if one's military achievements were shocking enough, a second realm cultivator could also be titled.
For example, back in the day, Luo Jinyao earned the beautiful title of "Sword Falls Like Snow" while in the second realm. Since then, she had advanced triumphantly, eventually becoming seventh on the Heaven Ranking and the "number one sword of the northern border."
And the Vice Commander Liang Si whom Gu Chengming was going to visit was known as 【Ten Thousand Mechanisms】.
Rumor had it that several years ago, Falling Snow Pass suffered an extremely strange surprise attack. Hundreds of second realm demon beasts, driven by several third realm great demons, bypassed all detection arrays and rushed directly to the city walls.
At that time, the main forces were pinned down and the pass was empty. It was this Vice Commander Liang Si who, by his own power and within the time it took for an incense stick to burn, controlled thousands of mechanical puppets to forge a line of steel defense. He held those hundreds of demon beasts outside the pass until reinforcements arrived.
That battle made the name "Ten Thousand Mechanisms" resonate throughout the northern border.
What interested Gu Chengming even more was Liang Si's origin—the Mohist Sect.
On the way to the vice commander's manor, information about this mysterious sect surfaced in Gu Chengming's mind.
In Great Qian, the Mohist Sect's reputation wasn't as prominent as the Daoist or Buddhist sects; it was actually quite low-profile.
The world only knew that many Ministers of Works came from the Mohist Sect, and the sky-patrolling giant ships that deterred the world were also the work of the Mohist Sect. Yet, few knew the true core of Mohist cultivation.
In the original forum for the game Xianmen, although there were few discussion threads about the Mohist Sect, every one of them was quite interesting.
What impressed him most was that Mohist practitioners, upon reaching the end of their cultivation, could manually create artificial intelligence.
Of course, Mohist cultivators referred to them as man-made artifact spirits.
Because Mohist cultivators were extremely few and the entry requirements were quite harsh, very few people came into contact with them, leading the Mohist Sect to remain quite mysterious.
Carrying curiosity about Mohist methods, Gu Chengming soon arrived at his destination.
The vice commander's manor was located on the west side of Falling Snow Pass, which was also the area where array fluctuations were most obscure and complex in the entire pass.
There was no scene of heavy security or a guard every three steps as he had imagined.
The gates of this manor were even a bit simple, without a single sentry. There were only two strange-looking lions cast entirely from bronze squatting at the entrance.
As Gu Chengming approached, the eyes of those two bronze lions suddenly turned. With a soft click, the gates opened on their own without any wind.
Gu Chengming raised an eyebrow, thinking it was interesting, and stepped inside.
Crossing the front courtyard, Gu Chengming met Vice Commander Liang in a very spacious workshop. Completely different from the image Gu Chengming had imagined, Liang Si looked very quiet.
He appeared to be about thirty years old, wearing a faded white long robe. His hair was casually pinned with a wooden hairpin, and his face was thin, carrying a scholarly air.
At this moment, he sat at a massive desk, holding a tiny carving knife, focused entirely on carving a piece of wood only the size of a thumb.
The entire workshop was piled with various gears, connecting rods, blueprints, and unfinished puppet parts, yet it didn't feel cluttered. Noticing Gu Chengming enter, Liang Si didn't stop his work immediately. He waited until the final stroke was finished, gently blew away the wood shavings, and only then looked up.
"Gu Chengming?" Liang Si set down the carving knife, his voice gentle. "Commander Luo mentioned you to me. Tenth on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, young and promising."
"Greetings, Vice Commander Liang." Gu Chengming cupped his hands in salute, not losing his manners despite the other's easygoing nature. "Forgive the intrusion; I have important matters to discuss."
"Sit." Liang Si pointed to a nearby stool that looked like some kind of mechanical chair. "There are no outsiders here; no need for formality. Since you've come with Commander Luo’s token, you must have encountered something troublesome that needs assistance."
Gu Chengming cupped his hands, skipping the polite pleasantries, and directly stated the suspicions regarding Wanjin Pavilion and those twelve dharma treasures.
After listening, a flash of surprise appeared in Liang Si's eyes.
He didn't rush to give a stance but instead took out several scrolls from a mechanical compartment behind him.
Liang Si pushed a parchment scroll toward Gu Chengming, his tone carrying a hint of praise: "This is something I started collecting half a year ago—the blueprints of Wanjin Pavilion's freight trade routes."
Gu Chengming unfurled the parchment, his gaze sweeping over the dense red lines and annotations. His brows gradually furrowed.
The map clearly charted the terrain of the northern border, with one route marked in cinnabar red looking particularly jarring.
This route started from Falling Snow Pass, headed north, wound deep into the edge of the demon territory, passed through several areas marked as extremely dangerous in intelligence, and finally made a large circle to return through several hidden passes.
Pointing at the red line, Liang Si said slowly, "Trade routes in the northern border involve both risk and profit. But the routes Wanjin Pavilion chose are ones that even fourth realm great demons often covet."
"However..." Liang Si's finger tapped the blueprint. "Wanjin Pavilion's caravans go twice a month, like clockwork. And in all these years, there's never been a record of cargo being hijacked or personnel being wiped out."
"This is very strange."
"Although the demon beasts of the northern border lack intelligence, the great demons occupying those dangerous lands aren't fools. A fat sheep loaded with spirit stones, dharma treasures, and pills passes by their front door every month, and they actually ignore it?"
"Since Vice Commander Liang already knew all this, why..." Gu Chengming was somewhat confused.
"Why not act?" Liang Si sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his temples. "Because there is no solid evidence."
"Though the route is suspicious, Wanjin Pavilion can claim their hired guards are powerful or that they have good luck. Unless we can catch them trading with the demon race on the spot or find contraband in their cargo."
"But these people are too cunning. Not only are there experts in the caravan, but they also have shielding treasures specifically against divine sense detection. I once sent several invisible puppets to follow them, but all lost contact mysteriously after entering the depths of the demon territory."
"Furthermore..." Liang Si pointed upward. "Wanjin Pavilion's connection network within the pass is very tough. Without ironclad evidence, a rash seizure would lead to accountability from those big shots who only want to collect wealth peacefully."
"I see. It seems I happened to stumble upon something this time."
"It wasn't just a coincidence." Liang Si waved his hand. "To be able to see the clues from a few dharma treasures, and to hold back from acting directly, coming to me first to communicate and seek support—this sharpness and steadiness really doesn't seem like a sword cultivator from the Wenjian Sect."
Gu Chengming was stunned. "Is Vice Commander Liang praising me?"
Why did those words sound a bit off? What did he mean by 'not like a sword cultivator from the Wenjian Sect'? What's wrong with them?
Liang Si seemed to see through his thoughts and sighed. "If you read more of Commander Luo's files from her years at Falling Snow Pass, you'd know what I mean."
He stood up, walked to a nearby cabinet, and said casually while rummaging through something: "Our Commander Luo has divine sword skills and is decisive in killing—that is naturally excellent. But in handling these convoluted matters, her style is... a bit too simplistic."
"If this matter were discovered by Commander Luo, what do you think she would do?"
Gu Chengming asked tentatively, "Lead troops to seize it?"
"No." Liang Si shook his head and turned around, holding a bronze command arrow. "She would likely just take her sword and kill her way up from the first floor of Wanjin Pavilion. She'd cut down anyone who blocked her, cut down anyone who didn't speak, and kill all the way to the top floor until she dragged the pavilion master out and put a sword to his throat to ask."
Hmm... that indeed fit Senior Sister Luo's "overwhelming force" style.
"Though that can solve the problem and is even satisfying," Liang Si handed the command arrow to Gu Chengming, his tone carrying a bit of heartache, "the mess afterward is too hard to clean up. The evidence chain is broken, the witnesses are dead, the people behind the scenes aren't dug out, and one might even be accused in court of 'killing the innocent and disrupting trade.' These past few years, trying to clean up after Commander Luo has made me lose almost all my hair."
Gu Chengming subconsciously looked at Liang Si’s head and quickly took the arrow with both hands. "Vice Commander Liang has had it hard."
"So, seeing a sword cultivator like you who knows how to use his brain and values planning before acting, I am truly relieved."
Gu Chengming felt strange hearing this, but he didn't dwell on it.
After exchanging intelligence, Gu Chengming and Liang Si decided to conduct an internal investigation of Wanjin Pavilion.
But obviously, they needed a sufficient reason.
"Getting in is easy, but it's hard to touch the core secrets without being noticed."
Liang Si frowned slightly. "The master of Wanjin Pavilion is at the early stage of the fourth realm and is extremely cautious. His warehouse is covered by third-tier arrays year-round; at the slightest disturbance, he would arrive in an instant."
"This is the second bargaining chip I wanted to mention."
Gu Chengming called toward the door, "Come in, Miss Nuo Tao."
The curtain lifted, and a reluctant-looking Nuo Tao shuffled in.
She glanced at Vice Commander Liang and shrank her neck, but still stood behind Gu Chengming with a stiff lip.
Upon learning Nuo Tao's identity, Liang Si was somewhat surprised.
Most descendants of the Myriad Thief Sect were morally ambiguous—not necessarily bad, but certainly not good people.
How did Little Gu manage to tame a descendant of the Myriad Thief Sect like this?
Liang Si's gaze toward Gu Chengming instantly became peculiar.
Indeed, any genius that Senior Sister Luo valued had their unique points.
The silence in the workshop lasted for a moment before being broken by Liang Si's light cough.
Since they had both witnesses and physical evidence, and with the key of a Myriad Thief Sect descendant, many previously impossible plans now had room to be executed.
Neither of them was the type to hesitate. After some secret deliberation, a reconnaissance plan targeting Wanjin Pavilion took shape.
Liang Si would handle the overt side, while Gu Chengming and Nuo Tao handled the covert side.
But this overt side wasn't a frontal assault; it was using Liang Si’s identity and authority as vice commander to create a bit of unavoidable trouble for Wanjin Pavilion within the rules.
The latter would be responsible for infiltrating and investigating Wanjin Pavilion.
Leaving the vice commander's manor, the wind and snow continued.
Nuo Tao followed behind Gu Chengming with her head drooping, kicking the snow beneath her feet in all directions as if the snowbanks were Gu Chengming's face.
"Does Miss Nuo feel wronged?"
Gu Chengming slowed his pace, his voice exceptionally clear in the wind and snow.
Nuo Tao huffed and turned her head away. "You are an official; it's only natural for an official to catch a thief. I admit defeat. I'll be your laborer willingly, but only this once. Once this is over, we're even, and I’m leaving Falling Snow Pass immediately, never to return."
"Laborer?"
Gu Chengming stopped and turned to look at the girl’s defiant little face. He suddenly shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of 'disappointed by her lack of ambition': "Miss Nuo, your vision is truly a bit too small."
"What do you mean?" Nuo Tao's eyes widened.
"Think about it, what was the purpose of your descent from the mountain?"
Gu Chengming spoke persuasively. "Was it for experience, to find the sect's tokens, and more importantly, to practice your sect's doctrine of 'stealing heavenly secrets and pilfering karma,' right?"
Nuo Tao subconsciously nodded. "Of course."
"Then think again, what kind of place is Wanjin Pavilion?"
Gu Chengming pointed toward the grand pavilion in the distance, still brightly lit in the snow.
"It is a place that hides filth and harbors evil, a black shop of murder and looting. Naturally, such a place is tied to countless threads of karma."
"So what?"
"Since it's a grand karma, then as a Worldly Walker of the Myriad Thief Sect, if you can uncover the truth and sever the karma of that ill-gotten wealth, wouldn't that be of great benefit to your cultivation?" Gu Chengming asked in return. "More importantly, who is actually helping whom in this operation?"
Nuo Tao was stunned. "Isn't it me helping you investigate the case?"
"Wrong!" Gu Chengming denied it categorically. "It was you who discovered something was wrong with Wanjin Pavilion, and you who wanted to uncover this dark curtain. But you found that with your strength alone, it would be hard to penetrate the core without alerting them. Thus, with your extraordinary wisdom, you successfully caught the attention of me, a Night Guard official."
He pointed to himself, then toward the vice commander's manor. "Now, you have successfully mobilized a sword cultivator in the top ten of the Hidden Dragon Ranking as your aid, mobilized a vice commander holding heavy troops as your bait, and even leveraged the official power of Great Qian to help you complete this earth-shattering 'chivalrous thief' act."
"In this grand play, we are all pawns utilized by you, while you are the mastermind behind the scenes, planning and leveraging strength to lay the board."
Gu Chengming leaned down slightly, looking directly into the girl's eyes as they gradually lit up.
"The ultimate art of war is to subdue the enemy through strategy, using the officialdom of Great Qian for your own ends without losing a single soldier. Miss Nuo, if your master knew of these methods, he would surely praise you for surpassing him, wouldn't he?"
Leveraging strength? Planning and strategizing? The government is my pawn? I am the mastermind?
This series of high praise made Nuo Tao feel light all over, as if she were walking on clouds.
Right! Why didn't I think of that?!
Clearly, I am the one with superior skill. Through the 'self-surrender' strategy of finding life within death, I successfully tricked these two silly officials into working for me!
I'm not a runner; I'm the one playing the chess game!
"Ahem..."
Nuo Tao straightened her back, and her previous submissive look vanished instantly. She put her hands behind her back, trying hard to suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth, and spoke in a reluctant tone: "While your words have a hint of being deceptive... thinking carefully, there is some truth to them."
"Fine, seeing how well you're cooperating, this young lady will lead you this time."
Three days later, at Falling Snow Pass, the wind and snow eased slightly.
In front of the glittering golden gates of Wanjin Pavilion, Liang Si's carriage slowly came to a halt.
As a vice commander of Falling Snow Pass, Liang Si's entourage wasn't large, but his identity as a Mohist descendant was enough for any merchant guild to welcome him with open arms.
The pavilion master of Wanjin Pavilion, a rotund old man in brocade robes with a ruddy face, had already led several elders to wait at the door.
Seeing Liang Si exit the carriage, he immediately greeted him with a smile.
"Vice Commander Liang’s arrival brings light to our Wanjin Pavilion!"
Liang Si's expression was indifferent. He didn't engage in excessive pleasantries, only nodding slightly and speaking directly:
"Pavilion Master Qian is too polite. I have recently been reinforcing the defensive arrays on the north city wall and urgently need a batch of high-purity star-patterned steel and several array core sets capable of supporting fourth-tier spiritual power output. I heard Wanjin Pavilion has extensive channels, so I came to see if there are any suitable items."
Hearing about such a big deal, the light in Pavilion Master Qian’s eyes grew even brighter.
He stepped aside to lead the way while patting his chest in assurance. "Vice Commander Liang, rest assured. I dare not speak of other things, but if even my Wanjin Pavilion doesn't have rare spiritual materials in the northern border, they'll be hard to find anywhere else. Please, let us talk in detail in the private room upstairs."
As Liang Si was ushered into the top-floor VIP room like a star surrounded by moons, Wanjin Pavilion's originally tight security inevitably shifted its focus.
Several third realm peak elders went to the warehouse to retrieve treasures to show off their guild's foundation before this vice commander, and Pavilion Master Qian accompanied him personally, his attention mostly focused on responding to Liang Si's tricky questions.
Meanwhile, in a shadow in the back alley of Wanjin Pavilion.
Two figures, like wisps of blue smoke melting into the air, silently bypassed the perimeter.
Only after entering the interior did Gu Chengming realize that Wanjin Pavilion's foundation was indeed extraordinary.
What Nuo Tao had stolen previously were only the dharma treasures displayed openly for auction and exhibition.
In this true inner core area, the luxury and security were almost comparable to a small sect's treasure vault.
On the walls of the corridors, a fist-sized night pearl was embedded every five steps, its soft light illuminating the passage clearly.
"This scale... it's almost at the level of the Night Guard's Grade C vault."
Gu Chengming moved tightly along the shadows, secretly clicking his tongue.
"Careful."
Nuo Tao suddenly stopped and reached out to block Gu Chengming. She took a handful of seemingly ordinary dust from her storage pouch and blew it gently.
The dust scattered in the air, and in the previously empty corridor ahead, countless crisscrossing red light beams instantly appeared, dense as a spiderweb, blocking the way.
"This array is connected to the earth veins. Once touched, it will not only trigger thunder-fire explosions but will also instantly lock all exits and sound the alarm to the top floor."
While explaining, Nuo Tao took out a strange-looking jade talisman from her robes.
She bit her fingertip and dripped a drop of essence blood onto the talisman, then performed hand seals while chanting under her breath.
"Myriad Phenomena Formless, Karma Borrowing Path... Open!"
With her low shout, the jade talisman turned into a stream of light and merged into the array ahead.
Immediately after, the red light beams slowly parted to the sides, forcibly creating a passage just wide enough for one person through the net.
"Hurry! This can only be maintained for half an incense stick!"
A layer of fine sweat broke out on Nuo Tao's forehead; evidently, this move cost her quite a bit.
Gu Chengming didn't waste words. After crossing this outermost line of defense, the two gradually moved deeper into the core area of Wanjin Pavilion.
The atmosphere here became increasingly cold, with an added, nauseating scent of blood.
They found a side hall that seemed to store junk.
Behind a pile of old crates, Nuo Tao discovered an extremely hidden secret door.
There was no keyhole on this secret door, only a swirl of black mist. That black mist wasn't spiritual power but an extremely malicious restriction.
"Hiss... this doesn't look like a normal array restriction." Nuo Tao leaned in to look. "Is this a Blood Soul Seal? This thing is considered a cruel technique even among evil cultivators."
A merchant guild warehouse using such evil arts to seal a door?
"Can you break it?"
"Of course." Nuo Tao snorted. "In the eyes of the Myriad Thief Sect, there is no restriction in this world that cannot be broken."
She took a deep breath and took a pair of dharma treasures from her sleeves to wear.
"Little Gu, protect me. This thing is a bit wicked; don't let that resentment strike my mind."
With that, Nuo Tao's hands began to dance like butterflies over the black mist.
Every time her fingertips tapped, they would draw out a strange ripple, as if she were reeling silk from a cocoon, slowly untangling, guiding, and neutralizing the entangled resentment.
As time passed, the black mist began to tremble violently. Vaguely, it felt as if countless shrill ghostly wails were echoing in their ears.
Gu Chengming's expression remained unchanged. The Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art circulated within him, and a wave of noble righteousness quietly spread out, blocking all the sinister aura trying to erode Nuo Tao’s mind within three feet.
After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Nuo Tao suddenly let out a soft shout and tore her hands apart.
Riiiip—
A crisp sound like tearing silk.
The black mist suddenly dissipated, revealing the heavy dark iron door behind it.
The door slowly opened inward, revealing the true sight within.
A thick, almost physical scent of blood and decay, like a flood that had been held back for a long time, instantly surged out from behind the door.
It was a massive underground space, with ever-burning lamps hanging from the four walls, lighting it as brightly as day.
But there were no piles of gold and silver treasures here, nor were there arrays of dharma treasures or pills.
There were only rows of iron hooks, like the ones used to hang meat in a slaughterhouse.
And on those iron hooks, what were hanging were not pigs or sheep, but living human beings.
No, perhaps calling them "human" was no longer accurate.
Most were naked, their bodies carved with strange runes that were emitting a dim red light, as if draining their life force. Some had their limbs severed, the stumps crudely bandaged, clearly to prevent them from dying from blood loss; some had their chests sliced open, revealing beating organs, and into those organs were inserted transparent tubes that were continuously draining essence blood.
They were still breathing and even conscious.
Those dull, numb, and desperate eyes turned slightly the moment the door opened, but they couldn't make any sound—because their tongues had long ago been cut out.
Below these "hangings" were rows of neat tables.
On the tables were various exquisite jars and bottles, as well as spirit roots just peeled off, spinal bones just pulled out, and eyeballs just gouged...
【The Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art feels quite angry seeing this scene】
【What makes a human human is because they have rites, degrees, and ethics! To treat one's own kind like pigs and dogs, performing such acts that defy the heavenly way, is to be worse than a beast! This is the ultimate collapse of rites and music!】
【"Kill!" It squeezed this word through its teeth: "Against such treacherous and evil scoundrels, only by using punishment to stop violence and killing to stop chaos can it be considered a great rite! Only then is it a great good!"】
【The Qingxin Art looked at that hell on earth, its eyes that always carried a smile were now filled with disgust.】
【Though it likes to watch the myriad states of the red dust and the loves and hates of the world, it watches the stories of "humans," not such nauseating "livestock" dramas.】
【It sighed softly: Truly disappointing... I originally wanted to watch you play an adventure game with the little thief girl.】
【It said seriously: Chengming, follow your heart. I will always be by your side.】
【Huiyuan Sword Manual: M-Me too!】
Gu Chengming stared fixedly at this hell on earth and slowly drew the "Zhanjiao" sword from his waist.
"Longevity Sect..."
That method of treating people as sacrifices, materials, and vessels, that familiar runic style—who else could it be but that group of lunatics?
"It seems there's no way to settle today's matter peacefully."
Gu Chengming turned his head to look at Nuo Tao, the killing intent in his eyes receding:
"Nuo Tao, can you break the restrictions here and let these people down?"
Nuo Tao, who was originally feeling nauseated, looked up, but her gaze had also changed: "I can!"
Nuo Tao's hands moved rapidly, and soon, the cultivators were let down one by one.
But immediately after...
Woooo—!!!
The sound was shrill to the extreme, like the mourning of some dying demon beast. It instantly penetrated the thick walls and arrays, echoing through every level of the pavilion.
"Damn, was there an alarm connected behind those restrictions?"
Nuo Tao's face turned pale. As a Worldly Walker of the Myriad Thief Sect, she had actually failed to notice the second layer of restriction hidden beneath the resentment; this was practically a Waterloo for her professional career.
"It's not your fault."
Gu Chengming's expression didn't change. His gaze lingered on the room full of human bodies for just an instant before he turned around. The Zhanjiao sword was already unsheathed, its blade vibrating.
"It's just a pity that the tea at Vice Commander Liang's place won't be finished."
Top floor, private room.
Pavilion Master Qian, who had been smiling and boasting to Liang Si about how his arrays were as solid as a fortress, found his smile frozen on his face the moment the alarm sounded. Immediately after, a terrifying killing intent erupted from his dull old eyes.
That was the movement of his core warehouse being opened!
"Vice Commander Liang."
Pavilion Master Qian stood up abruptly. His wide brocade robes moved without any wind, and a terrifying pressure belonging to a fourth realm cultivator instantly filled the room, crushing the expensive porcelain into powder:
"It seems there is a minor matter in my pavilion that needs handling. I'm afraid I cannot accompany the vice commander to his heart's content today. I shall come to your door to apologize another day!"
With that, his body flickered as he intended to burst through the window and dive into the ground.
"Pavilion Master Qian, why such haste?" a calm voice spoke.
Liang Si remained seated in his armchair, but at some point, a delicate mechanical box had appeared in his hand.
As he lightly clicked his finger, countless silver threads as fine as cow hair instantly filled the entire room like a celestial net, deadlocking Pavilion Master Qian's path.
"Since it's a minor matter, let your subordinates handle it."
"I haven't finished explaining the array diagram yet. If the pavilion master wants to leave now, isn't that being too disrespectful to the Mohist Sect?"
Pavilion Master Qian's figure stalled. Looking at those silver threads emitting a faint blue light, his face instantly turned extremely grim.
He wasn't a fool. The warehouse being breached and Liang Si's obstruction—connecting these two events, if he still couldn't realize this was a setup, then his hundreds of years would have been lived in vain.
"Good... very good!"
Pavilion Master Qian laughed from extreme anger, his originally kind face now twisted like a malevolent ghost: "So the reinforcement of the arrays was a lie, and plotting against my Wanjin Pavilion was the truth! Liang Si, do you really think that with just a vice commander who plays with mechanisms, you can keep me here?!"
"Since we've shed all pretenses, today, this Wanjin Pavilion shall be your burial ground!"
Boom!
A violent surge of spiritual power erupted from Pavilion Master Qian's body. The arrays of the entire Wanjin Pavilion were completely activated at this moment, and the lights of countless killing arrays lit up.
Liang Si sighed, his fingers moving rapidly. Countless puppets shimmering with a metallic luster flew out from his storage ring, instantly forming a battle array.
"Whether I can keep you or not, we'll only know after we try."
Below, in front of the warehouse.
With the alarm sounding, Wanjin Pavilion's reaction speed was startlingly fast.
Only a series of hurried footsteps could be heard rushing from all directions. They weren't ordinary guards but a group of death soldiers clad in blood-colored leather armor and holding standardized dharma treasures.
"So... so many?!" Nuo Tao felt her scalp tingle as she looked at the dense crowd of death soldiers blocking all the passages. Although she was a Worldly Walker of the Myriad Thief Sect, she specialized in movement and escape; fighting head-on was never her forte.
"Little Gu... should we retreat?" Nuo Tao subconsciously shrank behind Gu Chengming.
"Retreat?"
Gu Chengming twirled his long sword. The dragon patterns flowing on the blade seemed to come alive, faintly emitting the roar of a flood dragon.
"If we leave, who will deliver these wronged souls?"
Before his voice had finished, he took a step forward.
Hum—
It wasn't just one sword.
With a thought from Gu Chengming, four streams of light shot up from behind him.
Four second-tier dharma swords, plus the third-tier Zhanjiao in his hand—five swords out at once, instantly constructing a sword array in the narrow corridor.
The leader, a second realm peak death soldier commander, let out a hoarse roar and charged first, wielding a saber. Dozens of death soldiers behind him surged forward like a tide.
Facing this encirclement that would make even an ordinary third realm cultivator retreat, Gu Chengming not only didn't retreat but instead charged into the saber light.
Then, Nuo Tao saw a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life.
Gu Chengming didn't use any fancy techniques; he only manipulated the swords.
But in his hands, those five flying swords seemed to possess their own consciousness, while Gu Chengming himself, holding the Zhanjiao, moved through the crowd as if taking a stroll in a garden.
A second realm late-stage death soldier roared and chopped down with a saber. Gu Chengming didn't dodge, instead performing an upward slash with his sword.
Clang!
That top-grade dharma treasure saber was directly cut in two by the Zhanjiao. Then, the blade followed through, and before the soldier could even scream, he was neatly split into two halves from shoulder to crotch.
Blood sprayed out, yet it was repelled by the sword qi three feet away from Gu Chengming, not even a speck touching his clothes.
Splat, splat, splat...
The sound of blades entering flesh rose and fell, yet there wasn't even a single crisp sound of weapons clashing—because the weapons in those death soldiers' hands were as fragile as rotting wood before Gu Chengming's sword.
Nuo Tao's mouth hung open as she stared blankly at the figure moving through the storm of blood.
She had seen second realm cultivators fight; usually, everyone kept their distance, threw talismans, cast spells, or hacked at each other with dharma treasures for hundreds of rounds.
But what was this before her?
If one came, one died; if two came, a pair died.
Whether it was an earth cultivator skilled in defense or a wind cultivator skilled in speed, before that man, there was no difference.
Everything was settled with a single strike.
"This... is this really the middle stage of the second realm?"
Nuo Tao swallowed hard, feeling her world view collapsing.
She used to think that as a Worldly Walker of the Myriad Thief Sect, her self-preservation among those of the same stage should be guaranteed unless she met a freak.
But looking at it now, if she were the target of that sword... she shuddered and touched her head, which was still on her neck.
"What lowlife dares to behave wildly in my Wanjin Pavilion!"
Just as the death soldiers were nearly slaughtered, a roar exploded like thunder.
A pressure belonging to a third realm expert surged from the end of the corridor like a landslide and tsunami.
A giant man at least nine feet tall, with muscles knotted like a steel tower, came charging forward, wielding a massive floral board axe.
With every step he took, the ground trembled, and the hard bluestone slabs shattered inch by inch.
Nuo Tao recognized him as the guard captain who had chased her when she stole the treasures from Wanjin Pavilion. She cried out in alarm, "Little Gu, be careful! This man is a third realm early-stage body cultivator—"
Her words cut off abruptly.
Because she saw Gu Chengming stop.
Facing that axe capable of splitting mountains and shattering stone, facing that aggressive third realm body cultivator who seemed ready to grind him into meat paste.
Gu Chengming didn't draw his sword. He only slowly clenched his right fist.
Deep in his Sea of Consciousness, that white figure that had been complaining about not having killed enough suddenly opened its eyes.
The next moment.
There were no spiritual power fluctuations, nor were there any lights or shadows of techniques—it was simply a punch thrown out.
【Hundred Bones Resonating: Kneel before Emperor Gu!】
Boom—!!!
The air seemed to be compressed to the limit in this instant and then suddenly exploded.
The giant named Zhang Man didn't even have time to turn his ferocity into terror before he felt an indescribable, unstoppable, and horrifying force slam violently into his chest.
Bang!
A muffled thud, not crisp, but dull enough to make one's heart stop.
Nuo Tao felt her vision blur.
That previously invincible third realm body cultivator was like a balloon filled with water that had been stepped on violently.
There was no corpse, no limbs.
There was only the mist of blood exploding in the air and a clump of mangled meat sliding down the wall.
On that indestructible dark iron wall, a clear fist print several inches deep remained.
【CG / Bai Tiandi, Help Me: Damage multiplier increased to 1.15】
The remaining death soldiers looked at the man standing in the blood mist, completely unscathed, and the hands holding their sabers began to tremble violently.
Leaning against the wall, Nuo Tao's legs went weak, and she was completely dazed.
She looked at the "body cultivator" on the wall and then at Gu Chengming, who was shaking out his wrist.
"A third realm body cultivator gone in one punch?"
She felt she might be dreaming.
Is this really something a second realm cultivator can do?
Is he even in the same world as me?
When my fifth realm master was young, was he this monstrous?
"Don't just stand there."
Gu Chengming took a deep breath. Although the Hundred Bones Resonating within him was still clamoring for another punch, he knew now wasn't the time to linger.
Though that punch felt great, it had consumed all his physical strength. After using the sword array to kill the remaining death soldiers, he turned around and grabbed Nuo Tao, who was still questioning her life:
"The movement upstairs isn't right; Vice Commander Liang can't hold on much longer. Let's go and support him."
The battle on the top floor was far more tragic than Gu Chengming had imagined.
Or rather, it was a one-sided tragedy.
When Gu Chengming brought Nuo Tao through the floorboards to the top floor, what he saw was a mess.
The entire private room had been completely destroyed, the roof torn off, and the wind and snow poured in.
Liang Si's refined long robe was now in rags, and he was covered in injuries, blood staining half his body.
Around him, those dozens of exquisite mechanical puppets had now become a floor full of scrap metal.
Some had their limbs torn off, some had their cores blown apart; only two or three damaged puppets were barely maintaining a line of defense.
Vice Commander Liang was indeed strong; his mechanical arts could gain the upper hand through numbers and exquisite coordination when facing those of the same stage or even slightly above—the so-called "god of clearing mobs."
But his biggest weakness was the lack of a decisive burst of power and the fragility of his main body when faced with absolute violence.
And Pavilion Master Qian was exactly the type he found hardest to deal with.
He didn't use any treasures; instead, his entire body was wrapped in a black-red baleful aura. Within that aura, countless wronged souls faintly shrieked, and every strike he made carried a poison that corroded spiritual power and the soul.
This was clearly an evil art of the Longevity Sect, using the resentment of slaughtered cultivators for cultivation. Although the foundation was unstable, the killing power was truly terrifying.
Pfft—
Liang Si spat out a mouthful of blood, and most of the threads controlling the puppets snapped.
He looked at the rushing Gu Chengming, his eyes full of anxiety. "Gu Chengming! Who told you to come up?!"
"Hurry and take that girl away! As long as you leave here and spread the news, he's finished!"
Liang Si knew very well that he had lost.
He had underestimated Pavilion Master Qian's strength and the madness the other had after practicing evil arts.
Now Gu Chengming coming up wasn't support; it was suicide.
The chasm between the second and fourth realms couldn't be filled by numbers.
"Leave?" Hearing this, Pavilion Master Qian in mid-air let out a blood-curdling sneer.
His state was extremely unstable at this moment, his eyes blood-red, and things seemed to be crawling under the skin of his face—a sign of backfire from the evil arts, yet it made him look even more terrifying now.
Pavilion Master Qian’s gaze locked tightly onto Gu Chengming, his fourth realm pressure pressing down like a mountain:
"I was worried you’d run away and make it hard for me to escape, but I didn't expect you to deliver yourself to the door."
Before his voice finished, Pavilion Master Qian’s figure vanished instantly.
When he reappeared, he was three feet above Gu Chengming's head.
He didn't bother with the already exhausted Liang Si but instead struck down with a palm.
That palm rapidly expanded in mid-air, turning into a massive palm the size of a millstone wrapped in countless black-red ghostly faces, bringing a suffocating stench and pressure as it slammed down toward Gu Chengming’s head.
In the critical moment just before that massive palm touched Gu Chengming's hair, his figure suddenly became ethereal.
There was no explosion of spiritual power, nor any dodging movement.
It was like a reflection in the water being brushed by a breeze.
Bang! Pavilion Master Qian's palm, which could crush gold and stone, struck solidly against "Gu Chengming."
There was no feeling of flesh and blood splattering.
Pavilion Master Qian was slightly stunned.
The feeling was wrong!
Empty? Before his brain, which had become somewhat slow due to practicing evil arts, could react, the "Gu Chengming" he had hit suddenly gave a strange smile.
Immediately after, the figure shattered like a bubble.
Red Dust Phantom!
But what was truly disgusting and truly fatal wasn't this phantom.
It was that at the moment the phantom shattered, a point of white light carrying a chill that would freeze even heaven and earth bloomed from the phantom's "heart."
That wasn't Gu Chengming's sword.
It was an ancient sword talisman hidden inside the phantom at some point.
It was the life-saving trump card that the seventh on the Heaven Ranking—Luo Jinyao, who had guarded the northern border for ten years and made the demon race tremble—had personally left for Gu Chengming before departing.
"This is..."
Pavilion Master Qian’s pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpricks, and a fear originating from the depths of his soul made all the hair on his body stand on end.
He wanted to flee, to retreat, to defend.
But that light was too fast.
Zheng!!!
A crisp sword chime rang out, covering the wind and snow, covering the fighting, and resounding throughout Falling Snow Pass.
It wasn't a sword qi but a flake of snow.
The sword talisman shattered, and the sword intent emerged!
At that moment, the world seemed to lose its color, leaving only that stunningly brilliant sword light.
It cut through Pavilion Master Qian’s protective baleful aura without any obstruction, cut through his proud fourth realm body, and cut through the dharma treasure he tried to block with.
Like a hot knife through butter.
Pavilion Master Qian only had time to utter half a syllable before that sword light entered his brow and exited through his crotch.
Then, with momentum undiminished, it shot into the clouds, cutting a massive rift thousands of feet long through Wanjin Pavilion's supposedly solid defense array along with the thick dark clouds overhead!
Sunlight spilled down through that rift.
It shone on Pavilion Master Qian’s body, which was frozen in mid-air.
A thin red line appeared right in the middle of his body.
Splurt—
Blood sprayed like rain.
This fourth realm great cultivator, who had been entrenched in Falling Snow Pass for many years, colluding with the Longevity Sect and harming his own kind, was thus neatly split into two halves in full view of everyone.
The corpse fell, making two muffled sounds.
The whole world went silent.
Liang Si remained in his posture of wanting to rush over to rescue, his mouth open wide enough to fit an egg, staring blankly at the corpse on the ground and then at Gu Chengming standing not far away.
Nuo Tao simply collapsed onto the ground.
Who am I? Where am I? What just happened?
Gu Chengming's body swayed, and he barely supported himself with the Zhanjiao sword to keep from falling over.
Activating that sword talisman didn't require him to provide all the spiritual power, but the guidance of that burst of sword intent still instantly drained all the true essence and physical strength from his body.
At this moment, he didn't even have the strength to move a finger.
Gu Chengming panted heavily, looking at the corpse, a smile touching the corner of his mouth.
—Do you understand the weight of a life-saving item given by an elder to a sect genius?
However, the consumption of Senior Sister Luo’s sword talisman was truly too great. If he hadn't been worried that Vice Commander Liang wouldn't be able to hold on while he went for help, he certainly wouldn't have taken such a risk.
【The Red Dust Phantom is quite relieved. Although your action of rushing to help was impulsive, the subsequent handling was very much to her liking. Using the phantom to coordinate with the sword talisman to kill a fourth realm cultivator—Fellow Daoist Gu, you are truly a genius!】
【Red Dust Phantom Favorability +10】
【Current Favorability: 20 / Stranger】
【The Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art looks at the remains of the death soldiers and at Pavilion Master Qian, who was split in two, and finally breathes a sigh of relief】
【Maintaining the peace of a region, sweeping away the world's filth, giving justice to the dead, and clarity to the living—this is great benevolence, this is great righteousness, this is a great rite!】
【The look it gives you is now entirely filled with recognition and admiration】
【Zhou Rites Heavenly Rectifying Art Favorability +8】
【Current Favorability: 85 / Like】
That was quite a harvest...
Gu Chengming found it amusing. After a sigh of sentiment in his heart, he looked over at Liang Si, who was still dazed, and called out, "Vice Commander Liang... stop staring."
"That was Senior Sister Luo’s sword talisman. Hurry up and clean up the mess..."
Only then did Liang Si wake up as if from a dream.
The ruins of Wanjin Pavilion were eventually buried by the seemingly never-ending wind and snow of the northern border.
Vice Commander Liang used Mohist thunderous methods to quickly seize all the merchant guild's industries, and the mountain of evidence was presented directly, enough to shut the mouths of all the nobles who wanted to cause trouble.
And the once arrogant Pavilion Master Qian became nothing more than a cold line on the official bulletin: "Colluded with evil cults, executed."
As for the Worldly Walker of the Myriad Thief Sect, who should have taken advantage of the chaos to escape with her exquisite movement techniques, she made a decision that went against her ancestral teachings.
—She stayed.
Perhaps it was because of the secret realm token in Gu Chengming's hand, or perhaps because after personally witnessing that young sword cultivator shatter a third realm expert with one punch and cut down a fourth realm expert with one sword, the girl’s restless, freedom-loving thief heart suddenly developed an enlightenment called "following one's heart."
Rather than wandering the world in fear, potentially being slapped to death by some unknown powerhouse at any time, it was better to lurk by this sword cultivator’s side.
At least in terms of safety, he certainly provided enough.
Of course, for Gu Chengming, this storm brought not only a massive amount of merit and a mountain of loot but also a new title that quickly spread through the northern border, making him quite helpless.
Although it was also a title obtained in the second realm, unlike Senior Sister Luo’s "Sword Falls Like Snow," Gu Chengming’s title was much more direct.
【Falling Snow Pass Murder Demon】
Looking at the new suffix on the Hidden Dragon Ranking.
—This thing should change with my record later, right?
Right?!
Of course, there was ultimately no answer to this question, but the arts began to comfort him one after another.
【Hundred Bones Resonating laughed: Emperor Gu! Why sigh? Though it would be more perfect if it could be changed to "Heaven-Burial Demon Emperor."】
—Then it should stay as Falling Snow Pass Murder Demon.
【The Zhou Rites comforted: As the saying goes, one establishes prestige through punishment. With this fierce reputation abroad, those who want to commit crimes will feel fear when facing you in the future, thus daring not to act. You won't even need to move to stop conflict. Subduing the enemy without fighting—this is the ultimate meaning of education!】
【The Qingxin Art chuckled behind her hand: Isn't it fine? This title is quite cute.】
【Huiyuan Sword Manual said softly: As long as it's Chengming's title, it's the best! Murder Demon sounds quite... majestic too?】
Gu Chengming was speechless, looking up at the sky, leaving only a long sigh to dissipate in the wind.
The young man held his sword; his name rose from the wind and snow, and the story was just beginning.
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