Life as a Rogue Cultivator

Along the base of the wall beneath the bed, there was a narrow crack; barely noticeable if not for the water trickling straight toward it.

The three men exchanged a look. Wei Hongqing pulled out several iron throwing darts. Zuo Gaofeng gripped his twin axes. Liu Xiaolou drew the Three-Mystery Sword, flipping his wrist, revealing a faint trace of the Bewildering Fragrance Tendon.

Once they were ready for anything, Wei Hongqing crouched down near the wall and gently inserted one of his darts into the crack, trying to pry up the tile without making noise. But the fit was tight, and he couldn't get enough leverage. After a few careful attempts, he still hadn't managed to lift it.

After thinking for a moment, he felt around the area. And just as he'd guessed, he found a slightly raised spot. He pressed it.

With a soft clack, two square tiles, each about a foot wide, sank down and revealed a hole in the floor.

Below was pitch black. Nothing could be seen. Wei Hongqing gestured toward the unconscious woman. Zuo Gaofeng grabbed her and handed her over.

Wei Hongqing took her by the arm and lowered her in, feet first, then her body, then her head, until she reached the bottom of the passage.

Using her as a shield, Wei Hongqing followed right after. The tunnel was narrow, and squeezing through took some effort. It made a fair bit of noise, and he had to adjust several times, but even so, there was no response from below.

Soon, a faint glow appeared; Wei Hongqing had lit a flame with a tinder stick. A moment later, Zuo Gaofeng followed him down.

After a while, Zuo Gaofeng climbed back up and said to Liu Xiaolou, "It's a long tunnel. Doesn't look like Lu Zi'an is down there. I'll go in with Brother Wei and check it out. You stay here and keep watch."

Liu Xiaolou waited in silence by the tunnel entrance. Two full quarters of an hour passed, and just as he was starting to lose patience, Zuo Gaofeng's head popped back up.

"Come on! We found him! Tell the Hermit and Tan Bajhang to come down; we're getting ready to move!"

Liu Xiaolou's heart leapt. He rushed out of the house and called Xishan Hermit and Tan Bajhang back inside. Both men were visibly excited but tense. They each pulled out their magical tools and dropped into the tunnel one after the other.

Going up against a tenth-stage Qi Refinement expert, who wouldn't be nervous?

The tunnel was tight. Zuo Gaofeng led the way, holding a burning pine torch and moving quickly in short strides. The others followed close behind. They couldn't tell how many turns they'd taken or how far they'd run when they finally surfaced again. A cool breeze met them as they emerged, immediately dampening the fire of adrenaline that had been surging in their chests.

Zuo Gaofeng snuffed out the torch and pointed into the darkness ahead. Faint outlines revealed what looked like a cliff edge. They crept closer, moving silently. Skirting around the cliff, the view suddenly opened up.

Below was a stone cave, lit from within by a flickering fire.

Wei Hongqing was crouched behind a thick patch of shrubs, about twenty-five zhang from the cave entrance. Beside him was the woman, now awake but still mute as her meridians were sealed. Her eyes were filled with hopelessness.

"He's in there?" Liu Xiaolou whispered.

Wei Hongqing nodded.

"It's really him?"

Another nod.

The firelight from the cave danced steadily, everything appearing quiet and undisturbed. Once everyone had arrived, Wei Hongqing gestured up toward the top of the cliff above the cave entrance, then jerked his chin at Tan Bajhang. Tan Bajhang gave a quick nod and circled around to climb up.

Zuo Gaofeng took position to the left of the cave entrance, while Xishan Hermit slipped into a tree diagonally opposite. Liu Xiaolou watched him as he pulled out a mechanical device; it looked like a crossbow box.

Wei Hongqing signaled to Liu Xiaolou to join him on the right side of the cave. Carefully, inch by inch, the two of them crept forward; Wei Hongqing was still holding the woman in his arms.

By now, Tan Bajhang had made it to the top of the cliff above the cave entrance. He looked down and gave Wei Hongqing a hand signal. Wei Hongqing nudged Liu Xiaolou, indicating it was time.

Liu Xiaolou slowly crouched down and extended his palm toward the cave entrance, skimming it low across the ground. His hand stayed hidden behind the overgrown grass at the cave mouth, nearly invisible from inside. A strand of Fragrance Tendon unfurled from his sleeve. Activated by a stream of true qi, it released a colorless, almost imperceptible smoke that drifted silently into the cave.

The cave was much larger than a house, with a wide entrance and a fire burning inside. That made the bewildering fragrance less effective. But that had its upside; thanks to the fire, the faint scent of the fragrance was even harder to detect.

Liu Xiaolou's movements were light, and with the Fragrance Tendon shielded by his sleeve, the others had no idea the ambush had already begun. Aside from Wei Hongqing, the rest kept their eyes fixed on him, still waiting for the signal to strike.

The Fragrance Tendon kept activating, and Liu Xiaolou could feel the whip had shortened by a third. It pained him to waste such a rare item, but this wasn't the time to be stingy. Their target was a real expert, not someone like the woman lying at their feet.

He remembered a job they'd done with Wei Hongqing last year. The target had also been a tenth-stage Qi Refiner, and back then, they'd had barely any Fragrance Tendon left. Even after burning all of it, the effect had been underwhelming. The fight that followed was fierce, and the target nearly got away; if they hadn't outnumbered him, he might have escaped.

He also knew that with his current level of cultivation, the Fragrance Tendon he refined wasn't strong enough. His ability to activate it was still lacking, and even if he burned the entire strand, it probably wouldn't be enough to knock Lu Zi'an out completely. But as long as it had some effect, even just a little, it would make the ambush far more secure.

Holding that strange, twisted posture for so long, Liu Xiaolou finally started to draw attention. Zuo Gaofeng, Tan Bajhang, and Xishan Hermit had all realized it by now: Brother Liu was casting a spell and drugging the cave. When they'd used knockout drugs on the woman back in the house, no one had witnessed the process, so it hadn't seemed like anything special. But seeing it firsthand now, they found it utterly uncanny.

Where was the blowpipe?

Where was the smoke?

How had it all started without a sound?

An uneasy chill ran through each of them.

Inside the cave, Lu Zi'an was indeed present. He had hooked his feet into a crevice in the cave ceiling, clinging to it like a gecko. His body was pressed flat against the stone, and he kept a focused gaze on the entrance below.

On the left side of the cave entrance, he sensed a faint aura, almost indistinguishable. This meant that whoever was hiding there had cultivation of at least the sixth stage of Qi Refinement, though definitely not ninth. On the right, he detected three more: two with steady auras, and one weak. Likely a small band of rogue cultivators, the kind that were common in the wilds. They probably had decent coordination in battle. And farther off, in a tree beyond the cave mouth, there had to be one more; earlier, he'd heard the faint creak of a branch being bent. It was subtle, but not enough to escape his senses.

Hidden beneath Lu Zi'an's tongue was a short dagger, barely an inch long; his ultimate technique, honed through years of bitter cultivation. As long as one of his enemies dared to show their face, he was confident he could kill at least one instantly and catch them off guard. As for the remaining four, even together, they weren't enough to truly threaten him.

What he needed to consider was how to prevent any of them from escaping. If even one got away, word would spread, and he'd face relentless pursuit from Tianmu Mountain's forces. Honestly, even if he killed every one of these sneaky intruders, he could no longer stay here. What truly angered him was that his half-month of closed-door cultivation had just gone to waste. He'd failed to break through to full completion. He would have to start all over again. As for taking the Foundation Establishment Pill… that day now seemed further away than ever.

Hmm.... I'll have to take Pinggu with me when I leave. I wonder if she's in any danger…

The moment her name surfaced in his mind, an alluring image of her body suddenly danced across his vision, twisting and swaying in his imagination, making his mouth dry and his heart restless.

Damn it. It's too hot…