Chapter 214 – Joining Forces And Schemes

“You…All of you are shameless! Perverts! Filthy animals!” Xia Yun’s face was red from anger, and some panic could be seen in her bright eyes. She looked like a frightened little rabbit at first, but after getting over that, she quickly sorted her thoughts out. She glared furiously at Gu Suihan’s teasing gaze and spat, “You play tricks! You use illusions!”

“Humph! Do whatever you want! My skin is merely a barrier to my soul, and my physical body is nothing more than a shell. Did you think I’d fall for these stupid little tricks? Dream on!!”

“Ha! I see why you became the saintess of that random order you’re from. You’re quite resilient emotionally.” Gu Suihan wasn’t upset that his ruse didn’t work and put his hand down again like he wasn’t any longer interested in teasing her.

He paused for a moment, then analyzed the situation in a lazy voice, “Actually, I can more or less guess what sort of trump card you have. Spatial laws of nature no longer work in this place, so there aren’t a lot of ways to escape, and you aren’t capable of pulling off most of them. In that case, you’re only left with those few possibilities.”

Xia Yun sneered at this. “Humph! There are countless secret techniques and god-level methods in the boundless world of cultivation. How can you be so sure?”

“Your action earlier on was a pretense. Which cultivator isn’t someone secretly obsessed with becoming more powerful? Why would you be bothered by an attack on something perishable and worthless like a physical body?” Gu Suihan chuckled quietly. He suddenly raised his head and stared straight into her eyes. “Spells, god-level techniques, forbidden techniques, formations, dao weapons…looks like your trump card is a formation.”

His sudden statement caught Xia Yun by surprise, so when Gu Suihan went through the list, her heart skipped a beat in fear, and her usually indifferent gaze trembled a little when he mentioned the word “formation”.

A chill rose from within her heart as his ghostly low voice echoed in her ears. “You…you..”

“Formations, spellcasting, hand seals, formation eyes…”

Her heart skipped a beat again when he mentioned the words “formation eyes”. The odd glint in her eyes lasted merely a second before disappearing, but unfortunately, that glint had been caught by Gu Suihan’s sharp eyes.

“Looks like your trump card has something to do with formation eyes. Let me continue guessing…” Gu Suihan broke into a smile. His smile was sweet, his brows seemingly painted on, his eyes bright, and his teeth white. His features were nearly perfect, yet they made Xia Yun shiver uncontrollably.

Before Gu Suihan could speak again, she shut her eyes and hissed, “It’s a formation eye, and it has something to do with our plans.” After saying that, she seemed to have lost her will to fight as she retrieved a shiny round dark colored ball from her storage ring and flung it fiercely at the infuriating young man in front of her.

“A Heavenly Positioning Stone. Hoho, it’s true that this thing would be able to get us out of this crappy situation we’re in,” said Gu Suihan as he turned it over in his hand with a strange smile on his face. “What a pity, though. It’s such a large piece, so using it in this situation would be a waste of precious resources. If my guess is right, you are still going to activate the formation to sacrifice a million souls in order to complete your mission. Am I right?”

“You are. But once this is in your hands, there’s no way that could possibly happen.” Xia Yun collapsed weakly onto the floor again and gritted her teeth. She glared angrily at Gu Suihan and sneered nastily, “Without knowing the spell for activating it, this thing will only allow one person to get out of here. What about the rest of them?”

She looked smugly at Chamu and the rest as she sniggered inwardly. That’s what you get for pushing me into a corner, she thought. You’re all going to suffer with me.

“And who said I was leaving?” To her surprise, Gu Suihan merely looked at the ball in his hand and casually put it down again. His expression darkened as he said, “Why don’t you make a guess this time? Since Rou Lingyun is prepared to secretly foil your plans, or rather, take your credit, then…do you think she wouldn’t be prepared with something like this?”

After he said that, Tang Xiaoyun’s eyes widened. He stroked his chin, and his eyes darted about. “Oh my…are you saying she’s got another Positioning Stone?”

“That’s not necessarily the case. She might have something else, like a spell to get coordinates in space, that could replace the need to have an actual stone like this one. If she’s going to borrow the power generated by sacrificing a million souls, it’s possible that something like that might work if executed at that exact moment,” said Gu Suihan with a chuckle. His lips curled into a creepy smile as he stared at the Positioning Stone that was now in the center of their little circle.

“You want to get out of here alive, but you also want to complete your mission. We just want to get out of here alive, so there’s no conflict of interest.” Gu Suihan glanced at Xia Yun, then drew a few things in the dust on the floor as he helped them to make some calculations. “Now, with an uncertain pawn like Rou Lingyun, we could try and plan something. We might be able to get something out of it along the way.”

“You have a way to control her?” spat Xia Yun in a disdainful voice as she made a face.

The scholar suddenly spoke up, “That man is one of the pawns you’ve planted?”

When he mentioned “that man”, everyone immediately thought of the young man they watched having a romp with Rou Lingyun. How else could Gu Suihan have possibly been able to see exactly what the two of them were doing at that moment?

“The biggest difference between men and women is the way they think. The former tend to be more focused on logic, while the latter tend to focus more on their emotions. Since time immemorial, men usually managed to get through tribulations brought by romantic entanglements, while most women end up getting entrapped. Or at least, that’s the case for most people.”

Gu Suihan massaged his brows, narrowed his eyes and continued quietly, “If that’s the case for Rou Lingyun, then it’s inevitable that the man who both saved her life and took her virginity would have a special place in her heart. Anything that Li Yu says or does might have some influence on her.”

“I don’t think it’s fair to generalize like that. I’m not like that,” retorted Xia Yun immediately.

“You’re right. You’re not like that.” Gu Suihan threw her a knowing glance and said, “You’ve never gone through such a tribulation, so your heart is stable and unaffected. Of course, you wouldn’t be like Rou Lingyun. But…perhaps the rest of them would understand.” He turned to look at the other men, who were all deep in thought.

The scholar felt Gu Suihan’s gaze and unconsciously cleared his throat. “Please go on.”

“Firstly, we need Rou Lingyun to believe without a doubt that…Xia Yun is dead. She must be fully convinced. Then only will she proceed with her plans without any worry. I think, since she was able to get concrete information and be fully prepared, then she must have people on her side within Fengyang. There’s no way she could have pulled this off all by herself.”

“But the people who came with me are all dead,” blurted Xia Yun.

“Did I say the people helping her were in your entourage? It would be too hard for them to go unnoticed like that, so I’m sure she’d get someone outside of your team. I’m not sure about this, but we ought to give it a try, don’t you think?” Immediately after saying these words, Gu Suihan suddenly thrust his palm out and hit the still-recuperating Xia Yun hard, even as the rest looked on in horror.

“If we’re putting up a show, we’ve got to go all the way. If you don’t die in front of her very eyes, how is she supposed to believe for sure that you’re dead?” he said calmly as Xia Yun glared venomously at him. He then turned to the rest and said, “Now, she’ll start running, and the rest of us will run after her. Rou Lingyun is now about 30 kilometers from here. Once we get to where she is, the rest will depend on whether Xia Yun’s acting is able to fool Rou Lingyun. If it goes well, Xia Yun will be able to do what she wants in secrecy.”

“As the saying goes, when the mantis is too focused on catching the cicada, it fails to notice the finch waiting behind to gobble it up.” The scholar rubbed his palms and chuckled to himself.

Chamu laughed heartily. “And who would have thought that there’s still a hawk waiting for that finch.”

“And when all her efforts end up going down the drain, you can take the credit for her work and complete your mission while we get to benefit and get out alive. It’s a plan to kill two birds with one stone. We’re happy to go along,” said Tang Xiaoyun calmly as he gently rubbed his halberd.

“You can hold on to the Positioning Stone. She’d definitely search your body, so let her take this thing from you. Otherwise, we’d end up fighting each other for it eventually.” Gu Suihan kicked it gently toward Xia Yun.

“Let’s sign an agreement.” Xia Yun wiped away the blood dribbling from her lips and kept the Heavenly Positioning Stone. She squeezed a bit of blood onto her finger and stretched her hand out.

“That’s exactly what we were thinking of doing too.”

They exchanged smiles and saw the fierce determination in each other’s eyes.

Humans were willing to die for wealth, like how birds were willing to die for food.

Of course, they were tempted by the prospect of gaining the belongings of those at Nascent Change. It was worth risking their lives to get such items.

That was how cultivators were. They embodied greed, selfishness, unpredictability, prejudice, and other sinister traits that seemed to work against each other yet co-existed.

Li Yu and Rou Lingyun slowly regained their senses after their moment of passion and woke up at the same time.

As their eyes met, they saw a deep embarrassment and awkwardness in each other’s gaze.

“I, uh…” As she stared frostily at him, his fingers tensed up subconsciously, and he felt a smooth and warm object in his hands.

“Let go.”

Rou Lingyun’s fair and flawless face reddened immediately when she felt his hands on her and bit her lip as she forcibly suppressed her emotions and barked at him emotionlessly.

“Huh? Oh…OH!” Li Yu stared at the impossibly beautiful face just inches away from him in a daze and put his hands down again in a panic. He started to wriggle unnaturally, trying to avoid the stressful glare she was giving him.

But to his surprise, his movement caused Rou Lingyun, who had just gotten up from lying on him, to groan. A pinkish flush spread across her fair skin as her slim waist bent under her weight. She landed back on his chest and panted heavily.