It was a complete mess!
The three of them, unable to dodge in time, still held their swords, remaining on guard, yet they could only stare blankly at the figures that had rapidly vanished.
Then, chewing slowly, they realised they had not even swallowed the rations stuffed in their mouths. It was not too late to swallow them now.
Looking down at the ground, they saw their packs could never withstand the destruction caused by a group of Xuan grade cultivators. They were shattered, and the food inside had been pulverised into dust, swept away by the wind.
Nan Zhu carried his sword to the side, planted the tip on the ground, and knelt on one knee. He picked up a piece of torn cloth, gripped it in his hand, and cursed in the direction the troublemakers had vanished. “Beasts! We have to stay here for a year, and you do not even leave us a single change of clothes!”
Yu Qing sheathed his sword and looked around. “We should not linger here. Let us go. Move as fast as possible towards the exit. The three major factions have stationed guards there.”
The three sworn brothers quickly fled the area, daring not to delay for even a moment, and rapidly crossed over the hills and mountains.
Fortunately, they were not too far from the exit to begin with. After such a forced march, it did not take long for them to spot the barren mountain peak.
The three sprinted up the mountain and noticed several giant skulls scattered across the peak.
Hearing the noise, half body figures quickly emerged from the eye sockets of the skulls. The three brothers, who had just run up the mountain, paused briefly in surprise. They discovered that the personnel left behind by the three major factions had actually moved the giant skulls up here to use as dwellings.
The idea was actually quite good, as it provided shelter from the wind and sun.
“What are you doing?” one of the stationed personnel demanded.
Each of the three factions had left ten people here, making thirty in total.
Yu Qing smiled and clasped his hands. “They are unwilling to take us with them anymore. We have nowhere else to go, so we can only stay here and wait for the cave dwelling to reopen next year.”
Everyone knew the three brothers well enough. Hearing this, no one said anything more and simply left them to it.
Yu Qing turned back and immediately smiled at his two senior brothers. “Using skulls as houses is a good idea. Let us also find three giant skulls to use as our home. I will stay here to level the ground. You two go find the bones and carry them back.”
“Alright.” Nan Zhu chuckled. He felt the idea was indeed sound. If they could not keep up with the search parties of the three major factions, mixing with their stationed personnel should at least be acceptable.
Unexpectedly, Yu Qing immediately gave the two a subtle glance and added in a barely audible voice, “Just two of you carrying one skull each will do.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were somewhat surprised, but they were not foolish. They immediately realised that Fifteenth had other plans. Not wanting to ask questions at that moment, they nodded and left together.
When faced with danger, they felt that listening to Fifteenth was probably safer than making their own decisions.
Yu Qing turned to face the gazes from within the giant skulls, smiled again, and clasped his hands in a bow to everyone around.
One of the stationed men could not resist teasing him. “Third Place Scholar, we will be stuck together for nearly a year. I hear you are quite skilled at writing poetry. Given the scene before us, why not recite a poem for us? It will open the eyes of us rough folk, and when we leave, we will have something to boast about, right?”
Yu Qing smiled bitterly and bowed to ask for mercy. “Seniors, I am no longer the Third Place Scholar. I have already sworn to abandon literature for martial arts. My name is now Yu Qing. I hope you seniors will look after me in the future.”
“Young brother, you are really overthinking it. A person only lives once. Whether one pursues literature or martial arts is simply a different way of living. In my opinion, just do whatever you can do well. Overthinking is useless. When you are seventy or eighty years old and still fighting and killing, especially fighting and killing for others, you will understand.”
“That is the truth. Third Place Scholar, the path you are on now will never reach the heights of the one you left behind. You have truly chosen the wrong road, and you will regret it in the future.”
Several people offered earnest warnings one after another.
Yu Qing did not wish to discuss it further. He had his own unavoidable reasons for his choice, which were not worth explaining to outsiders. He bowed again. “Seniors, I will not disturb you further. I will go clear up that empty space over there.”
Quite a few people leaned over the eye sockets of the giant skulls to watch the spectacle, as meditating all day was boring anyway.
Yu Qing found an empty patch of ground and began to clear and level it with swift movements.
After waiting for a while, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie carried a large skull up the mountain together. Seeing Yu Qing’s location, they immediately carried it over and placed it on the ground he had levelled.
Yu Qing walked around the skull. When he reached the front, he jumped up, darted through an eye socket, and then turned his head to signal the two outside.
The two outside immediately flipped over and entered through separate eye sockets.
Once they were close together, Yu Qing immediately asked in a low voice. “Did you see the river outside the Peach Garden Basin earlier?”
The two nodded. Nan Zhu looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
Yu Qing said, “You two immediately pretend to go fetch another skull. Once you are far enough away, Ninth Brother will rush straight to the Peach Garden to pick peaches. After picking them, he will immediately head to the river and dive into the water to wait for Seventh Brother. Seventh Brother will stay behind, move slowly, keep watch, and delay any trackers behind us. This will prevent the trackers from catching up to Ninth Brother in time, giving him the chance to pick the peaches. When the time is right, Seventh Brother will also dive into the river to meet Ninth Brother. You two will then swim downstream. Just keep moving forward, diving as fast as you can in the main river channel.”
The two senior brothers were slightly shocked. Nan Zhu was particularly surprised. “Are we not supposed to team up with these stationed guards?”
Yu Qing spat. “Team up my arse! What are you thinking? They are the ones in cahoots with the three major factions. They are family, and we are outsiders. Do you expect them to help us deal with their own people? Putting on this show of making a nest to stay long term is just to attract the attention of the spies tracking us, understand? Our own lives must be kept in our own hands to be safe. Do not rely on charity from others. We still need to find a place they cannot easily locate and hide there.”
The two senior brothers suddenly realised the truth. After all this time, running here was merely a diversion to prepare for their escape.
Mu Aotie asked, “What about you?”
Yu Qing replied, “I will stay here and make a nest, pretending to settle in long term. That way, they will not commit their main forces to tracking you. It will draw their key personnel to keep watch around here.”
Nan Zhu worried, “If we run, will not all their personnel concentrate on tracking you later? How will you escape?”
Yu Qing explained, “The three factions will not send too many people to watch the three of us because they look down on us. The number of trackers will definitely be limited. Once we enter the water, their personnel will not be enough to cover a long stretch of the river for searching. The river water contains miasma, so they cannot stay submerged for long periods to search. There will be gaps everywhere, and I will find a way to slip away.
Ninth Brother, remember to pick plenty of immortal peaches. We might not be able to eat them openly, but we can certainly eat them in secret. This time, who knows how long those bastards will starve us. Being full on immortal peaches will surely last longer than spirit rice, right?
Seventh Brother, remember to set a fire to create smoke before diving in. I need to see the signal so I can react ahead of them. Remember, if I cannot catch up to you, swim underwater in the main channel for one hour and then go ashore. Make sure to leave a clear marker in the water at your landing spot so I can find it, come ashore, and meet up with you.”
“Alright.” The two senior brothers nodded together in agreement.
Yet Nan Zhu could not help but ask, “Even if we escape, what about the future? The three factions will definitely try everything to find us. Even if they cannot, we will have to show our faces eventually, right?”
Yu Qing replied, “If we accuse the man surnamed Qin of plotting to kill us without reason, we will lack a logical justification, and it will only make the informant suspicious. We must create trouble first. Only after an incident occurs will we have grounds for accusation, a way to frame them, and a story that they tried to murder us, forcing us to flee to save our lives. Only then can we persuade the three factions to join forces, set a trap, lure the man surnamed Qin in, and finally kill him.
Damn it, You Jia Bu has been targeting me and stole millions of taels from me. I have not even settled the score with him yet, and now he is targeting me again. The main treasure returned on its own. I did not steal it back. Can you blame me? If we do not kill him this time, he will never rest, and we will never sleep or eat in peace. In short, this time we must use the hands of the three families to take him down once and for all. I simply do not believe we cannot kill him!
Since we have already prepared an excuse for the future, do you not think this is the perfect opportunity for us to escape? If we run now, no one will pay attention. Later, we can secretly circle back and hide in the Peach Garden to eat our fill slowly. Therefore, do not worry. If we escape, we eat peaches. If we cannot, we will give an explanation to the three factions and use the opportunity to take down the man surnamed Qin.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were simultaneously dumbfounded. They stared blankly at him, realising that when Fifteenth had led them running this way earlier, he had already planned out such a complicated chain of moves.
Yu Qing said, “Enough. If we keep talking, it will raise suspicions. Go quickly!”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie snapped back to reality. They immediately flipped over and darted out. When they looked back at Yu Qing inside the skull, their expressions were indescribably complex.
Yu Qing waved his hand, signalling them once more to hurry.
The two then left together, descending the mountain. Along the way, they whispered to each other, finalising the details.
There were no more giant skulls to collect near the base of the mountain, so they had to go further away. As agreed, they headed towards the Peach Garden.
Halfway there, the two brothers suddenly leapt into the air together and swiftly climbed to the peak of a steep mountain.
Nan Zhu stood at the summit, observing the surroundings.
Mu Aotie quickly descended from the other side, then hid and weaved his way at full speed towards the Peach Garden.
As soon as he entered the basin, he immediately took off his coat and trousers. He quickly tied up the trouser legs and sealed the coat opening, rapidly fashioning them into two makeshift pouches. Bare legged, he jumped onto a tree and immediately started picking peaches, tossing them into the pouches.
He had to be fast. The spies, realising they could not approach past Seventh Brother, would definitely try to find a way around. Therefore, Nan Zhu could only buy him a limited amount of time.
Picking peaches was quick, but the fruits were so large that the two makeshift pouches could not hold much. After packing only about twenty, he ran bare legged with two sacks of peaches on his back. It truly looked like the style of a pauper!
He crossed over the basin, spotted the river outside, bounded down the slope, and after a few leaps, finally dove into the water to hide.
While floating with his head just above the water, hidden in the low hanging grass on the bank, he suddenly muttered to himself. Ever since he left the mountain with Fifteenth, why had they been doing such thrilling things all the time?
He suddenly felt that the methods of the past masters of Linglong Temple might have been correct after all. If things went on like this, a real disaster would mean the complete extermination of their sect. If their master knew this in the afterlife, he would surely regret passing the succession to Fifteenth.