Chapter 153 That'll Teach You to Run Your Mouth

Members of the two major factions moved in droves toward the Binhe River Valley. After all, arriving first was not merely about seizing overall control, but about occupying advantageous terrain, as the location featured a strategic pass where a single defender could hold off ten thousand attackers.

The peaks and cliffs of the Binhe River Valley were heavily stacked, with jagged rocks towering about. Amidst the swirling clouds and mists, there was even the aura emitted by a high-tier spiritual beast. What was even more bizarre was that when Bai Qi had previously traveled there, he encountered those silent, murderously intent black flowers, especially those spine-chilling, parasite-like monsters that would slip into your body unnoticed, until you discovered them only when it was already too late.

Bai Qi had shared this matter with Wu Yunque. After all, once you had suffered a loss, you had to remember the lesson; otherwise, the cost would be a living human life.

Previously, some of the elders and disciples who accompanied Bai Qi had perished precisely because of those eerie flowers. Furthermore, he and his companions had only walked halfway before being intercepted by Xie Tu, and as for what might happen on the rest of the road, Bai Qi dared not be certain. Even as the new master of the Bronze Palace, he could not understand why such things were happening outside the Bronze Palace, around the Binhe River Valley region, nor could he know what kind of events had once taken place there.

Before this, Bai Qi set off ahead of schedule, merely informing Wu Yunque that he would go alone as the vanguard, as one person was enough; too many people would inevitably drag him down.

By now, it was already noon, and the three-day pact originally agreed upon with Xie Tu was drawing to a close. Just before leaving, Bai Qi shook the bell Xie Tu had given him to transmit a thought, signaling that he had already set off and telling her to pay attention.

Naturally, Xie Tu, who was recuperating and resting in the secret chamber, received Bai Qi's message. Her alluring red lips curved upward slightly, revealing a breathtaking smile.

Quickly tidying up, she decided to leave her mother here for the time being. Even while feigning recuperation, Xie Tu knew that the sudden events of the past two days would certainly disrupt her plans, so she was in no rush to take her away. Instead, she planned to meet with Bai Qi first to discuss how to handle the next steps.

Xie Tu took the secret passage without stepping out of her bedchamber, thus preventing the Ghost King from discovering her. Their designated meeting place was a market town in the Shisha Mountain Range, which served as the hub for all commercial trade and circulation. There was a strict rule here: no matter what kind of conflicts erupted among the surrounding factions, they were not allowed to spill over into this place; otherwise, they would undoubtedly suffer a siege by all the factions of Shisha. Therefore, this was the safest location in the entire Shisha Mountain Range, as well as a bustling bottleneck. Emerging from here led straight to the official highway heading toward Dragon Capital—the Tang Road.

By the afternoon, Bai Qi and Xie Tu met at a teahouse. Naturally, both had undergone special disguises: Bai Qi dressed himself as a merchant, while Xie Tu completely changed her style, disguising herself as a masked martial heroine wearing a bamboo hat. If Bai Qi had not sensed her familiar aura, he would have almost failed to recognize her.

After Bai Qi quickly and thoroughly detailed his situation to Xie Tu, she understood in her heart that those people from the Wusha Sect already held an ingrained estrangement toward her. If she went, not only would she plunge Bai Qi into a difficult predicament, but she might also be killed by those people at any moment. This was entirely a helpless situation, and looking at it now, she regretted her past sins too late. Gazing at Bai Qi, she fell into a deep and unknown contemplation.

Seeing Xie Tu's disappointed and melancholic expression, Bai Qi snapped his fingers and laid out his plan.

Staring at Bai Qi, Xie Tu widened her eyes in astonishment and said, "You are essentially setting a disguised trap for your own fellow disciples!"

"Hey, I don't know anything about that; that's just your words. Besides, the automatic opening of the Bronze Palace this time means the chess game of the Shisha factions has begun to stir. To be honest, I didn't even expect it to open this time," Bai Qi said seriously. That was the truth; he had originally planned to use the key in his hand to open the Bronze Palace, but he discovered that after a strange vibration of the key, the Bronze Palace had opened "by itself." This filled Bai Qi's mind with doubts: Was the Bronze Immortal deceiving him, or was this yet another trap? This made Bai Qi somewhat uncertain whether the golden grand hall he had obtained was truly beneficial to him. The most terrifying part was that this kind of crisis had already borrowed his body to make its move at the opportune moment.

As for this thought, Bai Qi had not told a single soul, because the entire affair defied conventional explanation from beginning to end. He faintly felt that this was a trap set by the Bronze Immortal, yet he somehow felt it was all too normal. Because a treasure was obtained far too easily, suspicion naturally arose—such a feeling was itself abnormal, and whenever abnormalities occurred, monsters were sure to follow.

Bai Qi and Xie Tu parted ways here. Relying on his own strength, Bai Qi departed and swiftly headed toward the essential path leading to the Bronze Palace—the Binhe River Valley!

Last time, he and his companions had nearly been wiped out here, and what bewildered Bai Qi even more was the disappearance of the elders and disciples who had accompanied him. They had vanished without a single sign, as if they had been swallowed whole. Even when he was fighting Xie Tu and had unleashed his trump card, no matter how powerful that attack was, it shouldn't have been able to endanger the lives of the others...

Shaking his head as he neared the Binhe River Valley, Bai Qi suddenly spotted a group of people. They looked like a mercenary band hunting a Tier 2 advanced spiritual beast. The strongest person among this troop was merely at the third layer of the Mysterious Realm, which should have been more than enough to handle this spiritual beast.

"Captain, we're about to catch it!" The speaker was a mercenary at the eighth layer of the Yellow Realm, with two characters embroidered on the backs of their garments: "Sand Iron," which evidently was the name of this mercenary group.

Flying in the air, Bai Qi looked down from afar and saw that this was a Tier 2 spiritual beast, a Fang-Toothed Boar. This beast had mediocre offensive power, but its defense was comparable to that of a Tier 3 spiritual beast. This group had laid traps to surround and encircle the beast, merely letting it continuously exhaust its stamina so they could eventually harvest it.

One of the mercenaries spoke up, "Captain, it looks like our luck is pretty good today. If we were a bit stronger, wouldn't we be able to hunt a Tier 4 spiritual beast? By then, we'd be the most powerful mercenary group in Shisha."

"Hah, stop daydreaming, you brat. You've never seen how terrifying a Tier 4 spiritual beast is, which is why you dare to talk such big nonsense," the captain chuckled and said from the side.

"Haha, I was just boasting... Even if there really were a Tier 4, there's no way we could handle it..." the mercenary laughed off awkwardly. However, before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly heard a roar echoing from deep within the forest. The coercion of this aura frightened the members of the mercenary group so much that they trembled and collapsed directly to the ground, while the Fang-Toothed Boar, which had been struggling endlessly just a moment before, instantly went limp like a deflated ball, sprawling flat and motionless.

"No way... this... I was just joking, how could this be?" The boastful mercenary stuttered incoherently as his joke became reality. Apart from their captain, who could still move slightly, the legs of these low-cultivation members had turned to jelly, rendering them completely immobile.

Bai Qi also took note of the spiritual beast's roar that had just sounded. This sound carried the formidable aura that could undoubtedly only be emitted by a spiritual beast of Tier 4 or higher.