Gently touching the blade pressed against her throat, feeling the icy coldness at her fingertips, Jiang Ke’er suddenly realized just how small and helpless she was in front of those Venerable-level powerhouses.
Yet she smiled faintly. “Go ahead and make your move, Sect Leader of Kuanglong Hall. This is exactly what you’ve been waiting for… so why hesitate?”
The man behind her was momentarily stunned.
He never expected Jiang Ke’er to face life and death with such calmness, and even more, to call out his identity in a single sentence!
“You… how do you know it’s me?” Dai Tian, the Sect Leader of Kuanglong Hall, asked with a grave expression.
If Jiang Ke’er were to say now—“I saw your carriage parked at the foot of the mountain; it wouldn’t take a second before someone’s head flew off”—it would be the truth.
In fact, she had seen Kuanglong Hall’s cultivators near the Luo’e Pill Sect, hiding by the back gate of the Luo’e Pill Sect.
But at the time, she was cloaked by the Underworld Province Cauldron’s concealment technique, and they hadn’t noticed her.
Among the three Venerables of Kuanglong Hall, Grand Elder Tie Yu had died, the Second Elder was a Medical Cultivator, so only the Sect Leader remained.
So Jiang Ke’er had taken a reckless gamble.
Luckily, she had the habit of scouting the environment before entering; otherwise, she might not have had the chance to continue this conversation.
Faced with Dai Tian’s question, Jiang Ke’er smiled mysteriously, her face filled with respect. “Master’s divine powers are vast, all-knowing and all-seeing!”
This only deepened Dai Tian’s unease; he couldn’t fathom Jiang Ke’er’s true intentions.
“Your idea is indeed bold and clever. Master once said among all these sects, only the Sect Leader of Kuanglong Hall is worth mentioning. That’s no exaggeration,” Jiang Ke’er said with a calm voice, not a trace of fear or tremor.
Dai Tian’s face darkened. “My idea? What idea? Tell me.”
“It’s simple logic,” Jiang Ke’er sighed softly.
“No one knows who the true mastermind behind the Lucky Bag is. I am the only link between the sects and Master… so if you kill me, anyone can pretend to be the Lucky Bag’s Master, right?”
Dai Tian snorted coldly. “What use would pretending have? I don’t have any formulas or bags. In a few days, when your Master sends new envoys, I’ll be exposed.”
“Sect Leader Dai Tian, you joke,” Jiang Ke’er chuckled.
“You don’t need to pretend for days. Just kill me today, change your appearance, then quickly visit every sect in the Dan Sect Alliance…and tell them the Lucky Bag’s Master has changed his mind, business is different now, no longer requiring them to pay fifty percent of their pill yield monthly. Instead, they’ll pay a large sum of Magic Crystals upfront, and in the future, only thirty percent of pills are needed. They’d willingly hand the Magic Crystals over to you.”
“Then why not have them give even more Magic Crystals, and not require any pills at all?” Dai Tian said begrudgingly.
“Sect Leader Dai Tian, are you truly foolish or just pretending?” Jiang Ke’er sneered.
“You should know better. If that happened, they wouldn’t comply. Paying monthly in pills may be hard to accept, but it binds them and us in a shared interest. They’re affected by pill price fluctuations and can trust us more. If no pill payments are required, they’d worry about us betraying them—taking the money and then publishing the formula.”
“…”
Dai Tian raised his hand and finally withdrew the blade from Jiang Ke’er’s throat.
Since she had anticipated all this, there must be a backup plan.
Killing this little demon wouldn’t gain him anything.
Luo’e had already tested the Lucky Bag’s backing force’s combat power.
Now Dai Tian had tested their intelligence.
The power behind the Lucky Bag was not only strong in battle but also deeply scheming—definitely not some lucky no-name who suddenly popped up. Very difficult to deal with!
“Who exactly is your Master?” Dai Tian gripped his blade tightly again, his tone threatening.
Jiang Ke’er once again felt the killing intent—not the bluffing kind from before, but hidden in every move Dai Tian made. This left her deeply puzzled.
Why did he still want to kill me?
Something’s not right.
Her heart pounded wildly, but she kept her expression as relaxed as possible. “You know very well I won’t say. I’d rather die.”
Dai Tian laughed.
“Then die.”
“Why?” Jiang Ke’er asked.
“Because you were never meant to exist here,” Dai Tian drew his blade, the sharp aura instantly cutting through the nearby birds mid-flight!
His hand rose, the blade fell!
“Since you like to plan, I’ll make your plans fall into chaos first! Let’s see what you’ll do then!”
Damn it, damn it!
Why does this bastard never follow the usual rules?!
Jiang Ke’er’s mind raced, but no matter how fast she thought, it couldn’t match the speed of his blade!
She didn’t even have time to scream for help!
“Ding—”
The blade had already sliced off a few strands of Jiang Ke’er’s hair, poised to cut her in half.
At the critical moment, a fierce sword light flashed through the nearby woods, colliding with the blade and deflecting it just enough so the blade struck beside Jiang Ke’er instead, carving a bottomless chasm into the earth!
Several flying swords then launched a furious assault on Dai Tian, the clangs and clashes forcing him to temporarily stop attacking Jiang Ke’er.
“Who’s there?!”
Dai Tian was shocked. The opponent’s strength was comparable, even slightly stronger than his.
Moreover, this aura and fighting style felt familiar.
The opponent gave no answer and even abandoned those expensive high-grade flying swords attacking Dai Tian, rushing out swiftly to whisk Jiang Ke’er away.
Dai Tian roared in fury, cleaving the flying swords into pieces, but against a Sword Cultivator willing to sacrifice their flying swords to buy time, he was still one step too slow.
“You bastard! Don’t think I don’t know who you are!”
The figure didn’t respond, disappearing over the horizon with Jiang Ke’er.
A gust of wild wind blew, stinging Jiang Ke’er’s eyes shut.
After landing, Jiang Ke’er quickly expressed her gratitude.
“Thank you for the rescue, Sect Leader.”
“Hm?” The other was momentarily stunned. “You guessed it was me too?!”
“Yiqin Shifu cares for me so much. How could she send a few inexperienced bodyguards down the mountain with me?” Jiang Ke’er stuck out her tongue.
“I knew there had to be a master hidden in the shadows… I thought it was at most a Martial Uncle from another peak, but I didn’t expect it was you personally, Sect Leader.”
“But how did you know I came personally?” the elder asked curiously.
“When Acting Sect Leader Elder Gong Zimo was so anxious, even Yiqin Shifu rarely spoke so harshly, ordering me to return immediately… it showed that bodyguard’s identity wasn’t ordinary. Plus, the Sect Leader left the sect around the same time we did, and such a huge incident happened in the sect without the Sect Leader returning to personally oversee it, so…”
Jiang Ke’er didn’t need to finish. It was obvious.
The elder laughed. “How could the Demon Race produce someone as clever as you? But there’s one thing you guessed wrong—Yiqin Shifu was so anxious not because of me, but because she worried about you!”
Jiang Ke’er scratched her head.
But as the elder spoke, his expression gradually grew cold.
“Yiqin Shifu cares for you so much, yet you would use her like this?”