Chapter 188: The Drill

Translator: yikaii Editor: yikaii

Eldest Senior Sister recounted what she had witnessed in the secret chamber, which greatly infuriated Everlasting Fairy.

“Which bastard dares to impersonate me? Don’t they know that I was undefeated across the heavens in the ancient times, and everyone would avoid me on sight?”

Everlasting Fairy had the right to be proud. Any cultivator who mastered the art of ‘words into laws’ would be considered invincible among their peers, yet they still died by Everlasting Fairy’s hand.

“I feel a familiar aura on the cult leader. Could it be from that person who is impersonating me?”

The more Everlasting Fairy thought about it, the angrier she became, clamoring to confront the Everlasting Celestial and reveal his true identity!

Yun Zhi stopped Everlasting Fairy: “Senior, please don’t rush. That self-proclaimed Everlasting Celestial can appear freely within his statue, and since his statues are scattered across the entire continent,  if we let him escape now, it will be difficult to catch him later.”

“So you mean…”

“When the cult leader spoke with the Everlasting Celestial, he mentioned a selection that was to take place. Officially, it’s a talent recruitment, but in reality, it’s for the Everlasting Celestial to choose a body to possess.  If we make Lu Yang the target for possession, the Everlasting Celestial will walk into our trap, and then he won’t be able to escape.”

Everlasting Fairy, as  if awakened from a dream: “Little girl, you have quite the mind!”

“Hmm?” Yun Zhi raised an eyebrow.

Seeing the fairy, who was not the sharpest, potentially annoying Eldest Senior Sister, Lu Yang quickly fled the scene.

Eldest Senior Sister, when disembodied, did not care about how she was addressed, but now with her spirit whole, it was a different story.

Fairy, you’re on your own.

“But what exactly is the situation with the Everlasting Celestial?”

Lu Yang never expected there to actually be an Everlasting Celestial. Was the ancient fifth celestial really the Everlasting Celestial, or was it Everlasting Fairy?

Emotionally, Lu Yang leaned towards the latter; in terms of prestige, towards the former.

“Or was there a sixth celestial in ancient times?”

Lu Yang opened his eyes, exiting his meditative state, and assessed his current realm.

“I should now be at the peak of the mid-Foundation Building stage, just half a step away from the late Foundation Building stage.”

“What are you even talking about?” Meng Jingzhou, who had also come out of his meditation, complained beside him.

Barbarian Bone thoughtfully commented, “Is dividing realms into such detailed stages also a reason for Brother Lu’s strength?”

Meng Jingzhou quickly stopped Barbarian Bone: “Don’t think too much, Lu Yang is just being neurotic, you shouldn’t follow in his footsteps.”

“You three, get ready for the drill!” A cult member at the door reminded them.

Meng Jingzhou and Barbarian Bone were confused. Drill? What drill?

The loudspeaker arrays placed all around started announcing: “Attention all, the righteous path is about to attack, attention all, the righteous path is about to attack!”

There were also cult followers outside screaming to add to the atmosphere: “The righteous path is here, we’re doomed!”

“Run for it!”

“We’d rather die than surrender!”

“Let’s fight the righteous path!”

“Hahaha, the dogs of the righteous path, don’t think you can catch me!”

“May the Everlasting Celestial protect us!”

Then came the hurried sounds of running.

Lu Yang: “…you guys are really into your roles.”

Lu Yang quickly explained the situation about the drill to Meng Jingzhou and Barbarian Bone, and they finally understood what was happening.

The three of them hurried out of the room, shouting as they ran, “It’s bad, the Great Xia Dynasty in alliance with the Five Great Immortal Sects have attacked!”

Someone ahead glared at them: “Stop blathering nonsense, if the Great Xia Dynasty and the Five Great Immortal Sects really came, we’d have to switch to a surrender drill!”

Clearly, the Undying Sect had a detailed categorization for different types of drills.

On their escape route, Lu Yang saw cult members deftly packing things away into storage rings, their actions heartbreakingly practiced.

Some were wailing, declaring they would share the fate of the headquarters.

Others took advantage of the chaos to steal things, making a tidy profit.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing!” a cult member caught a thief in the act.

The thief responded without looking back, “It’s just a drill, it has to be as real as possible, all of this could actually happen!”

“Catch the thief!”

The Undying Sect was in complete disarray, the drill eerily realistic.

Lu Yang and the others left with the cult members toward an exit.

After leaving through the exit, not knowing how far they had traveled, they arrived at a completely unfamiliar place.

The person in charge of covering their rear at this safe passage was Deputy Cult Leader Jin, who destroyed the exit and erased their traces, making it impossible for the righteous path to find them. His movements were smooth, clearly well-practiced.

The cult members applauded, delighted with the successful conclusion of their act.

Only Barbarian Bone had a question:

“How are we supposed to get back?”

Silence fell instantly.

Right, previous drills hadn’t involved actually breaking the passage, so why break it this time?

With the passage broken and the traces erased, how could they return the way they came? There was no way back!

Deputy Cult Leader Jin was somewhat embarrassed; he had gotten too carried away with the drill, making it seem as real as if the righteous path were truly on their heels.

However, as the deputy leader, he quickly found a remedy.

“Everyone, don’t panic, I have a flying boat in my storage ring that can hold all of us. We’ll fly back.”

Inside the sect, there were many experts, and aside from a few like Lu Yang, everyone could fly.

But a large group of cultivators flying through the sky would easily attract the attention of the Great Xia Dynasty. If a few constables from the Great Xia came to investigate, stopping them and asking for identification, then well, they’d find they were dealing with major wanted criminals, with sentences no lighter than life imprisonment.

That would indeed be a farce.

It was better to take the flying boat, disguising themselves as low-level cultivators on a rental boat trip, a common enough sight not likely to draw scrutiny.

Deputy Cult Leader Jin took an old-looking flying boat out of his storage ring, deliberately choosing one that wouldn’t attract official attention.

The others, all seasoned schemers, understood Deputy Cult Leader Jin’s thinking and sat on the flying boat, suppressing their cultivation levels and displaying only Qi Cultivation stage outwardly, making the three Foundation Building stage cultivators the highest in cultivation visible.

Deputy Cult Leader Jin reassured everyone on the flying boat: “Actually, it’s not a big problem. According to the speed of the flying boat, by the time we return, the talents from the branches, both Foundation Building and Qi Cultivating, will have almost arrived. The timing will be just right.”

…

The flying boat moved unhurriedly through the sky, blissfully unaware of the danger that was approaching.

Near the flying boat hovered three figures in gray robes.

“How about that flying boat?”

“It’s not one from the Land of Gold Commerce or the other major trading companies; it looks pretty old, probably rented.”

“Lots of people, but weak cultivation. Just three at the Foundation Building stage. Worth robbing, maybe someone’s hiding something good.”

“Hit this one?”

“Let’s do it!”

The three in gray robes transformed into streaks of light, rapidly approaching the flying boat and forming a formation that trapped it.

“Don’t move, this is a robbery!” One, his face fierce with two scars like slashes, clearly a desperado.

“You might have heard of the fearsome Hu Brothers; just hand over your valuables, and we promise not to kill!” Another extended his tongue, licking a sharp knife, looking somewhat deranged.

“If you don’t comply, don’t blame us for being ruthless!” The third issued a series of eerie cries, like the wailing of ghosts, extremely unnerving.

“Don’t think we won’t kill. We’ve killed more people than you’ve even seen!”

They released a terrifying aura, intimidating everyone present.

These three were at the early stage of Nascent Soul!

Normally, just releasing their aura would make the other party give up resistance, hand over their valuables, and beg for their lives.

Whether they spared anyone depended on their mood.

Then the Hu Brothers saw that the passengers on the flying boat weren’t scared but instead were all showing eerie smiles.

One by one, the passengers released their auras: Nascent Soul Stage, Spirit Transformation Stage, Void Refinement Stage…

The Hu Brothers, feeling auras far beyond their understanding, swallowed hard.

It seemed they had made a mistake.

Deputy Cult Leader Jin stood up, leisurely asking,

“I hear you’ve killed more people than we’ve seen?”

(End of the chapter)