Chapter 209: The Saintess of the Northern Plains

"Alright, we'll return to the Tribal Alliance immediately. Big Brother Qing, do you want to—"

Landuo stopped mid-sentence. Recalling Jiuyou's earlier command to "lead the way," she turned to him, her tone tinged with uncertainty.

"Lead the way? Do you mean..."

"Naturally, you will take me back to wherever you just escaped from," Jiuyou said. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze resting on the direction they had fled from, his tone flat.

"But..." Landuo opened her mouth, at a loss for words.

She understood Jiuyou's intentions, but she also knew the reality: five Nascent Soul cultivators were currently besieging the Saintess, with a great cultivator anchoring their ranks.

As she saw it, two hundred years had passed. No matter how high Jiuyou's talent might be, reaching the early Nascent Soul stage would be his absolute limit. Pitting himself against five Nascent Soul cultivators was like striking a stone with an egg.

She was just about to explain the peril of the situation.

A golden light flashed. Jiuyou stepped to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. The two of them instantly shot off the ground, transforming into a streak of golden light that surged back the way she had come. His speed was terrifying; in the blink of an eye, nothing but an afterimage lingered on the horizon, leaving Huo Shan standing completely alone. The wind whipped his robes wildly around him, his face frozen in shock.

Landuo felt the world blur into a rapid retreat. The wind shrieked past her ears, whipping by so fast she couldn't make out a single landmark. In less than half an incense stick of time, he had carried her back into the borders of the Northern Plains.

"Big Brother Qing... are you truly an early Nascent Soul stage cultivator?" she asked tentatively, unable to suppress her curiosity.

Jiuyou didn't look back. He merely offered a faint smile, his hands clasped behind his back as he gazed into the distance. His aura was calm and profound—like a bottomless pool—leaving Landuo completely unable to fathom his true depths.

"You will know soon enough," he said evenly. "Just focus on leading the way. With me here, no one can harm you."

Landuo glanced up at him, a brief blush dusting her cheeks. She nodded and pressed no further. Raising her hand to point the way, her tone grew a little steadier.

"Big Brother Qing, Sister Graceful broke through to the Nascent Soul realm only recently. After the previous Saintess sacrificed herself, she became the youngest and most talented female cultivator in the entire Northern Plains, so she stepped up to inherit the title."

She paused to gather her thoughts.

"Ever since the Saintess took the mantle, she has been investigating the deaths of her father and brother, as well as several bizarre incidents along the border battlefields.

"Eight of us Golden Core cultivators escorted her deep into the warzone. The bodies being sent back recently had their souls preemptively extracted—they didn't look like normal battlefield casualties at all. But right as we were investigating in secret, our tracks were exposed. We fell into a trap the enemy had laid in advance.

"The Saintess and Great Grandmaster Gu stayed behind to hold off the enemy so the rest of us could break out and send word. But the Blood Abyss Sect had backup plans waiting for us. We lost several comrades along the way, and in the end, only the three of us managed to escape. As for what happened next, you already know."

Having finished her explanation, Landuo cast an involuntary glance over her shoulder. She still couldn't accept that Chun'er—someone she had viewed as family—had driven a dagger into her lower back at a time like that. She didn't speak another word for the rest of the journey, as if she were tearing that same painful memory apart and reassembling it over and over in her mind.

Jiuyou saw right through her thoughts, but he said nothing.

He had seen the fickle nature of the human heart far too many times. He was numb to it now. Ever since he had internalized that iron rule of the cultivation world, he had never truly placed his trust in anyone.

He didn't press her, nor did he offer any comfort. He simply carried her forward in silence. The wind rushed past the two of them, carrying away the words that didn't need to be spoken.

Several quarters of an hour later, the streak of golden light cut through the vast expanse of the sky, trailing a slender tail of flame in its wake.

"Big Brother Qing, it's just ahead," Landuo said, pointing forward.

Jiuyou's divine sense had already spread out ahead of them. When they were still a hundred li away, he felt the shockwaves of several bursts of magical power clashing together. As they drew closer, he pushed his divine sense to the limit, pulling the entire battlefield spanning hundreds of li into his perception.

The state of the battle was straightforward. The young woman, Graceful, was pinned down by two Nascent Soul cultivators—one at the early stage, the other at the middle Nascent Soul stage. Despite only possessing an early Nascent Soul stage cultivation herself, she fended them off with remarkable ease using a cauldron and a staff, showing no signs of losing ground.

On another front of the battlefield, a Great Grandmaster of the Northern Plains clad in a yellow beast-hide spiritual robe was engaged in a fierce clash with an elder of the Blood Abyss Sect. The Great Grandmaster wielded a pair of heavy golden-bronze hammers. Though his attacks were fierce and unyielding, he had clearly been forced onto the defensive. His opponent was none other than the Second Elder of the Blood Abyss Sect—Ying Tong.

Jiuyou's gaze lingered on him for a brief moment.

It was him.

Back when Jiuyou was merely at the middle Nascent Soul stage, this man had ruthlessly hunted him down, forcing him into the Blood-Demon Valley and nearly leaving him for dead. Seeing him again today, Ying Tong's cultivation was still stuck at the late Nascent Soul stage, while Jiuyou had already reached the peak Nascent Soul stage.

By the time Jiuyou withdrew his gaze, every single person on the battlefield had noticed his arrival.

Pinned under the heavy stares of so many Nascent Soul cultivators, the color instantly drained from Landuo's face. Just then, she felt a warm hand lightly pat her shoulder. A peculiar, soothing current of heat flowed straight into her meridians, instantly stabilizing her mind.

Graceful and Great Grandmaster Gu eyed him with heavy vigilance. They clearly didn't recognize him. As far as they were concerned, this Ganzhou cultivator who had suddenly materialized on the battlefield was an unknown variable, and it was highly likely he was backup called in by the Blood Abyss Sect. Worse still, he had seemingly captured the Golden Core cultivator they had sent out to beg for reinforcements.

The men from the Blood Abyss Sect looked equally hostile. Though they didn't recognize Jiuyou either, the unmistakable aura of a Righteous Path cultivator radiating from his body told them everything they needed to know: he was not going to take their side.

Naturally, Ying Tong noticed the newcomer's stare. There was no probing or hesitation in those eyes—only an extremely restrained killing intent. He didn't recognize Jiuyou. He had offended far too many people in his lifetime; how could he possibly remember a Nascent Soul cultivator he had once dismissed as coming from a barren wasteland?

But Jiuyou didn't give him the time to search his memory. Nor did he give a single person on that battlefield the chance to speak.

He raised his hand. An incredibly thin thread of golden silk slipped silently from his fingertips. It was three chi long and as sheer as a cicada's wing, looking like a severed sliver of pure light. With a light flick of his finger, the golden thread shot forward.

It moved impossibly fast, like a brushstroke delivering a preordained ending. Ying Tong barely had time to raise his eyelids before the golden thread arrived right between his brows.