It took only a few days for the group to reach the wilderness.
Lou Yue immediately bought the only village in the entire wilderness.
Her first step was to turn it into a complete base where people could eat, drink, trade, and rest.
To enjoy these conveniences, one needed contribution points.
Contribution points could only be earned by completing the missions issued by the Mission Tower.
For now, the Mission Tower’s missions were limited to the wilderness and the ruins. Once the organization was fully up and running, she planned to extend the mission range beyond the wilderness—even into the territories controlled by the Four Great Families. Its potential for expansion was immense.
During the first month, Lou Yue devoted nearly all her energy to rebuilding the village and finalizing the rules and regulations of the Mission Tower.
Fortunately, with Lou Chengfeng and Xiao Aiai helping her, the affairs, though complicated, proceeded in an orderly fashion.
She was currently using a female appearance, with only a veil concealing her true face. She needed the strength of the Deity Transformation stage to gather the power of the rogue cultivators.
When Big Brother Wei and the others heard her plans, they had joined without hesitation and even offered her several new ideas.
It was just that these rogue-cultivator groups had always been undisciplined, each with their own agendas. Even after gathering together, they found it difficult to break their old habits.
Lou Yue lay sprawled over the table, staring at the communication butterfly perched on the back of her finger. With a snort, she said, “Those twelve groups are suspicious of one another. Normally, they fight over the valuable parts of demon beasts, and they’ve already gotten into six or seven brawls since gathering together.”
A deep, amused voice came from the other end. “And then you stepped in?”
Lou Yue raised a brow, her tone casual. “Of course. How could I let such a perfect opportunity to make an example of them go to waste? Tsk, tsk. Too bad they were so weak. It took me only three moves to settle everyone.”
Dissatisfaction colored her voice. “They’ve had no cultivation resources in the past, so their cultivation advanced slowly. If we want them to grow into a force capable of standing against the Four Great Families, they still have a long way to go.”
The furious roar of a demon beast and the rush of wind could be heard from the other end.
“Don’t rush. We’ll take it one step at a time.” The man’s voice remained calm and unhurried.
Lou Yue sat up slightly. “Focus on what you’re doing. I’ll contact you again tomorrow.”
The next instant, a sharp sound cut through the air.
“Pfft—”
“It’s dealt with.”
Xiao Rangchen seemed to sit down right where he was. Even through the communication butterfly, she could hear the faint rustle of grass bending beneath him.
“Lou Yue.” His voice softened as he spoke each word distinctly. “Thirteen days left.”
Lou Yue lifted her eyes toward the full moon suspended in the night sky outside the window. The corners of her lips curved upward unconsciously. “You say that every day. Do you think I could forget?”
“I’m worried you’ll go back on your word. You have a history of doing that.”
“Xiao Rangchen!” Lou Yue immediately raised her voice and called his name.
The man let out a low laugh.
Suddenly, his laughter stopped.
Then, after tossing out a single “I’ll contact you later,” he cut off the communication.
Lou Yue guessed that he had encountered another particularly troublesome demon beast. It had happened several times before. An hour later, she received a written message.
Go to sleep first. We’ll talk tomorrow night.
Lou Yue finally relaxed.
Several thousand miles away, on a remote island in the Chaotic Abyss Sea—
Xiao Rangchen raised his hand, and a long spear appeared in an instant.
The man whose chest had been pierced coughed up blood, forcing a dying, vicious laugh from his throat.
“Heh… Xiao Rangchen… it’s too late… Before Yue Qi died, he had already sent word back to the Yue clan… You’re finished… The Yue clan and Cangya will surely join forces to kill you…”
Xiao Rangchen watched coldly as he breathed his last.
From Northern Ming Cangya to the Chaotic Abyss Sea, it took a flying beast roughly five days to make the journey for someone at the Deity Transformation stage.
From Qingzhou, where the Yue clan was located, to the Chaotic Abyss Sea took no more than three days.
When he had been communicating with Lou Yue just now, four people had been hiding nearby and concealing their auras. Two of them wore Cangya robes. Of the other two, one was Yue Qi—the same man who had drugged Lou Yue in Xuandu.
The final person was an expert at the peak of the Void Realm, exceptionally skilled in defense.
It was precisely because of this man’s desperate obstruction that Xiao Rangchen had been unable to kill Yue Qi immediately, giving Yue Qi the chance to send word out.
Xiao Rangchen stood motionless for a moment. Corpses lay scattered across the ground, but he did not spare them a glance. With several leaps, his figure vanished into the darkness of the island.
Over the next three days, Xiao Rangchen and Lou Yue communicated at their usual time each day, informing each other of their whereabouts.
Lou Yue noticed nothing unusual.
On the fourth day, Lou Yue finished making arrangements for everything currently in progress. She then summoned Big Brother Wei and the others and told them that she would be going to the Chaotic Abyss Sea for a while, adding that they could contact her through the communication butterfly.
When Lou Chengfeng learned that she intended to go to the Chaotic Abyss Sea to look for Xiao Rangchen, he immediately grumbled, “He’s cultivating there. What are you going for? Don’t tell me that brat’s clinginess is contagious!”
Lou Yue ignored his sarcasm and merely asked him for a drop of his blood.
Lou Chengfeng had no idea what she wanted it for, but he still pricked his fingertip and gave her a drop.
Lou Yue took out a pale-gold branch and had Lou Chengfeng drip his blood onto it. Once the blood had been absorbed, she handed the branch back to him.
“Keep this with you. You’ll be able to move freely within the ruins. If anything happens, you can also bring people inside and take refuge there. Even if several experts at the peak of the Deity Transformation stage attacked at once, they still wouldn’t be able to break through the ruins’ barrier.”
Lou Chengfeng’s eyelid twitched, and his voice rose. “Are you planning to stay there for several months?”
Lou Yue’s tone was light. “Mm. Two months at the shortest, six months at the longest.”
Lou Chengfeng stared at her. “Why would you need to stay that long? You’ll be alone with a man! No, I don’t agree. One month at most!”
Lou Yue lazily replied, “We’ll see. In any case, there’s nothing urgent. Don’t contact me unless something important comes up. I’m going there to improve my cultivation, and I’ll be very busy.”
Lou Chengfeng was so furious that he nearly raised his hand and flicked her on the forehead. Busy? In his opinion, the girl was clearly busy flirting with that brat and was deliberately forbidding anyone from disturbing her!
“Remember to take Qiniang up there every so often to see her son,” Lou Yue reminded him.
Lou Chengfeng’s expression grew even more displeased. “Don’t stay there too long. Things in the wilderness may be proceeding smoothly, but you’re still the backbone of this operation. As long as a Deity Transformation expert like you sits there, even if you do nothing, you’ll serve as a deterrent to certain people.”
Lou Yue understood that perfectly well. Half the reason she was going to the Chaotic Abyss Sea was indeed Xiao Rangchen. But the other half was to use battle there to increase her cultivation as quickly as possible.
Above the Deity Transformation stage, every step was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Establishing a force of rogue cultivators in the wilderness could be described in grand terms as fighting for a path forward in this unjust world.
On a smaller scale, it was also for her own sake.
Developing the rogue cultivators into a force capable of standing against the Four Great Families was the path before her. But raising her cultivation to the legendary Godhood realm was her true goal.
She no longer wanted to use Wuxiang, nor did she want to wear a veil. She wanted to stand openly before everyone.
Even if they knew she possessed the Furnace Physique, or that so-called Zhuoxi Physique, no one would dare lay a hand on her.
She wanted to live freely and recklessly. If anyone dared to harm her—or anyone she cared about—she would have the power to ensure that they came never to return.
That was what she truly wanted most.
“I’m talking to you. Are you listening?” Lou Chengfeng urged.
Lou Yue neither answered nor spoke. She simply reached out and pushed him straight out of the room. Then, right in front of him, she slammed the door shut with a bang.
Lou Chengfeng was so furious outside the door that he ground his teeth. He stared at the door for a long while before finally growling, “The older you get, the less manners you have. I’m telling your mother!”
Only after Lou Chengfeng’s footsteps had faded did Lou Yue lie down on the bed and take out her message butterfly.
Xiao Rangchen was apparently busy with something; the connection never went through.
After waiting for a while, Lou Yue sat cross-legged and began meditating.
About an hour later, Xiao Rangchen finally sent her a message.
“You’ve gotten addicted to killing monsters, haven’t you? What kind of beast took you so long to deal with?” Lou Yue teased him.
It was very quiet on Xiao Rangchen’s end. She could hear even his breathing clearly.
“I accidentally stumbled into a monster’s nest. It took some time,” he said in a low voice.
Hearing that his breathing was slightly uneven, Lou Yue muttered, “Sounds like they were tough.”
“Mm,” Xiao Rangchen replied.
Then silence fell between them.
Lou Yue lay on her stomach, propping up her chin with one hand, the corners of her lips curving upward. “Why haven’t you said how many days are left today?”
Xiao Rangchen was silent for a moment. His breathing was light yet faintly hurried, carrying a trace of strain, but still coming through clearly.
“If you’re busy, you can come a few days later,” he said slowly.
Lou Yue raised her brows. “Are you really Xiao Rangchen? You’re not someone pretending to be him, are you?”
He seemed to chuckle, his voice tinged with a layer of weary hoarseness.
“Are you very tired?” Lou Yue asked softly.
There was another pause before he slowly replied, “Talking to you makes me forget the exhaustion.”
Lou Yue couldn’t help laughing. “Xiao Rangchen, there are still nine days left. Then I’ll be there.”
She deliberately didn’t tell him that she would be setting out tomorrow, wanting to give him a surprise.
After a brief silence, Xiao Rangchen asked, “Have you been busy lately?”
Lou Yue exaggeratedly replied, “Extremely busy. I might even be a few days late, so don’t be angry.”
A muffled “Mm” escaped from his throat.
Lou Yue curled her lips, suppressing her laughter as she spoke in an utterly calm and ordinary tone, “All right, I’m hanging up. If you’re tired, get some rest. It’s not as though a day or two will matter.”
Xiao Rangchen acknowledged her.
After Lou Yue ended the call, she lay on the bed, grinning foolishly as she imagined the look of surprise on Xiao Rangchen’s face when he saw her.
But when the connection was completely severed, the cavern where Xiao Rangchen was instantly plunged into darkness. Only a faint golden glow remained from the message butterfly, mingling with the pale blue gleam of its glasslike wings as it drifted eerily through the darkness.
That dim light revealed the dark-red pool of blood that had already spread across the ground.
It also illuminated the blood still seeping steadily from the right side of Xiao Rangchen’s chest.
Xiao Rangchen gazed silently at the pale blue tint on the butterfly’s wings for a long while. Only then did he slowly raise his hand and take out the wound medicine Lou Yue had once given him. In the faint light, he poured it over the injury.
It took nearly half a bottle before the sword wound—one that had almost pierced straight through his chest—finally began to stop bleeding.
The cavern sank back into absolute silence. Only the blood slowly coagulating in the darkness bore witness to what had happened.
Leaning against the wall behind him, Xiao Rangchen forced himself to sit upright. He bent one leg and let the message butterfly settle on his knee, his dark eyes filled with nothing but solemnity.
*
Lou Yue mounted the eagle-vulture first thing the next morning and flew toward the Chaos Abyss Sea.
The eagle-vulture was the very same one that had once relentlessly hunted them after its starstone was taken.
The difference was that, just as fierce and savage as it had been back then, it was now equally docile and obedient.
Lou Yue lightly tapped its still-trembling back. “If you can’t calm down, I’ll go back and choose another one.”
The eagle-vulture immediately forced down its excitement and flew steadily beneath its new master, racing toward their destination at full speed.
Its cultivation was only one step away from the Deity Transformation stage. Flying continuously for an entire day was hardly a challenge for it. Lou Yue did not let it stop to rest. The woman and the eagle traveled day and night, pressing onward at breakneck speed.
After night fell, Lou Yue received no message from Xiao Rangchen, so she took the initiative and contacted him. The connection failed.
She still couldn’t reach him by dawn.
This had never happened before.
Just as Lou Yue began to grow worried, Xiao Rangchen sent her a message at noon. He barely had time to say a few words before using the difficulty of the monsters as an excuse to end the call first.
Sitting on the eagle-vulture’s back, Lou Yue grew more uneasy the more she thought about it.
The next day, when Xiao Rangchen once again failed to contact her at the usual time, her unease transformed into vigilance. She immediately urged the eagle-vulture to fly even faster.
On the third day, with only half a day’s journey remaining before they reached the Chaos Abyss Sea, the message butterfly received a written message from Xiao Rangchen:
“The Chaos Abyss Sea has been in turmoil recently, and the message butterflies are being disrupted. I’m safe. Don’t worry.”
Lou Yue’s brows drew tightly together. She immediately sent another message, but once again, no one answered.
She had just decided to contact Lou Chengfeng when her message butterfly began to flash first. It was Lou Chengfeng calling her.
“How far are you from the Chaos Abyss Sea?” he asked bluntly, his tone grave.
Lou Yue’s heart inexplicably skipped a beat, and her voice tightened. “I’m still a day away. Did something happen?”
Lou Chengfeng seemed hesitant. Only after a moment did he say in a low voice, “There’s word that Cangya Lan suddenly took a group of people to the Chaos Abyss Sea.”
Lou Yue blurted out, “When did that happen?”
“Five days ago.” Lou Chengfeng paused. “By the time it takes to travel there… they should have arrived at the Chaos Abyss Sea by now.”
