165: Chapter 165: Cultivator Meets Soldier, Reason Is No Good

"Who is it?" Jiang Ning asked, not at all surprised.

With Qingyun Sect having planes landing and bright lights flashing everywhere, it would be hard not to be discovered.

The soldier shook his head. "Can't see their faces, they're too far away. The other side is quite cunning; they stopped five kilometers away and are using some kind of water mirror spell to peek at us. Our equipment can only see a rough outline; we can't identify who they are."

"However," the soldier tapped the small screen on his arm, which displayed a humanoid thermal image, "looking at their formation, they don't look like a rabble, but rather like people from some sect, disciplined."

Jiang Ning looked at the screen, feeling confident.

Professional.

These were her people. Indigenous cultivators relied on cultivation base to fight; her people relied on technology and intelligence. Before the enemy even arrived, their background was already figured out.

"Chief Engineer, should we engage?" Zhang Liancheng's voice came through the communicator. He had already set up temporary machine gun turrets at several key positions.

"Don't be hasty," Jiang Ning shook her head. "We just arrived; there's no need to fight everyone we see."

She intended to build Qingyun Sect into a base, not a battlefield exposed to attacks from all sides.

"Senior Brother Sect Leader Lu Yun," she turned her head, "besides the Money Gang, what other major factions are nearby?"

Sect Leader Lu Yun furrowed his brows and thought for a moment. "There are over a dozen factions, big and small, in this Black Stone Valley. But aside from the Money Gang, the only ones capable of bringing out thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators at once are…"

His face turned pale instantly.

"The Blood Evil Sect!"

"The Blood Evil Sect?" Jiang Ning's eyes narrowed when she heard the name.

They really were old acquaintances.

Back when she was just a small Qi Refining cultivator, she had dealt with this group of demonic cultivators. She didn't expect that after several years, they would still be around.

"What are they here for?" a young disciple asked nervously.

"What else could it be!" another disciple said angrily. "A weasel wishing a chicken a Happy New Year—they're up to no good! We have a grudge against the Blood Evil Sect!"

"Right, Uncle-Master Jiang Ning drove them away once back then, and these guys have been holding a grudge ever since. Now that they see our commotion, they probably think there's treasure, and they're either here to rob us or take advantage of the situation!"

The disciples chimed in one after another, all of them seething with anger.

The reputation of the Blood Evil Sect here was clearly rotten to the core.

"Looks like they're here to cause trouble." Jiang Ning curled her lips.

Perfect.

She was worried about where to light the "three fires" of her new administration.

And now someone has delivered themselves right to her doorstep?

"Everyone, stand by at your positions, don't stop what you're doing." Jiang Ning gave the order through the communicator. "Let them come over. I'd like to see what kind of tricks they want to pull."

...

Five kilometers away, on a hillside.

The Vice Sect Leader of the Blood Evil Sect, an old man with a hooked nose, was staring intensely at the water mirror in front of him, his brows knitted together.

Inside the water mirror was the scene in front of the Qingyun Sect gate.

Those strange-looking iron lumps, those mortals wearing weird clothes, and that blinding white light...

No matter how he looked at it, it was ominous.

"Vice Sect Leader, this situation isn't right," a rudder master nearby leaned in and said. "Since when did Qingyun Sect get so many weird gadgets? Where did those mortals come from?"

"Yeah," another rudder master also said, "and the atmosphere at Qingyun Sect is different too. Look at those disciples; they're all pumped up like they've been injected with adrenaline, nothing like their half-dead selves before."

The hooked-nose old man didn't speak; his gaze was locked on the woman in black standing at the very front in the water mirror.

Although it was far away and hard to see clearly.

But he kept feeling that this figure looked familiar.

"Look at that woman," he pointed at the water mirror with his finger, "does she look familiar?"

Several rudder masters leaned in and looked for a long time, then all shook their heads.

"No impression."

"Looks quite young, doesn't look like one of the old-timers from Qingyun Sect."

At this moment, an inconspicuous young cultivator at the very back of the group suddenly let out an "Eh."

"Vice Sect Leader, I… I think I have some impression," he said uncertainly.

"Speak!" The hooked-nose old man turned back, his eyes like knives.

The young cultivator shuddered in fear and quickly said, "A few years ago, I was still an outer disciple, and I came with a team to attack Qingyun Sect. That time… that time we were driven back by a woman."

"I heard that woman was the genius from Qingyun Sect, called… called Jiang Ning!"

"Jiang Ning?!"

The hooked-nose old man was shocked!

He remembered!

It was this woman!

Back then, it was her who used some unheard-of formation to run the Blood Evil Sect in circles, and in the end, they had to slink away!

That battle made the Blood Evil Sect the laughingstock of the entire Black Stone Valley!

Later, they heard that this Jiang Ning had disappeared shortly after, and they all thought she had died or left.

They didn't expect her to come back!

And she brought so many messy things and people!

"So it was her!" A sinister smile appeared on the hooked-nose old man's face. "There is a path to heaven you don't take, and a doorless hell you insist on breaking into! Perfect, let's settle old and new scores today!"

He waved his hand. "Let's go! Follow me!"

"Vice Sect Leader, aren't we waiting for news from the Sect Leader?" a rudder master asked cautiously.

"Wait for what!" The hooked-nose old man snorted coldly. "A yellow-haired girl, what can she do with some crooked, evil tricks? She was lucky back then, but today, I'll let her know what happens when you offend the Blood Evil Sect!"

"And while we're at it, let's snatch all her strange treasures!"

His eyes were full of greed.

In his eyes, these things from Qingyun Sect must have been dug out of some ancient tomb.

Now, these treasures were about to belong to the Blood Evil Sect!

Soon, the thirty-plus people from the Blood Evil Sect rushed aggressively to the gate of Qingyun Sect.

Looking at those busy soldiers and the equipment being installed, the greed in the hooked-nose old man's eyes was almost overflowing.

"Sect Leader Lu Yun! Get out here!" he roared at the top of his lungs.

His voice echoed throughout the valley.

But over at Qingyun Sect, absolutely no one paid him any mind.

The soldiers went about their work, not even glancing at them.

The disciples of Qingyun Sect, having received Jiang Ning's instructions, just stood by and watched the show.

This feeling of being treated like air made the hooked-nose old man explode on the spot.

"Presumptuous! Is your Qingyun Sect deaf?!" he bellowed.

At this moment, two soldiers in uniforms, carrying black tubes, walked over with expressionless faces and blocked their path.

One of the soldiers spoke coldly:

"Military construction zone."

"No entry."

"State your identity and purpose, otherwise we have the right to take action."

Everyone in the Blood Evil Sect was stunned.

Military construction zone?

State identity?

What kind of nonsense is this?

The hooked-nose old man was so angry his lungs were about to explode.

He, the dignified Vice Sect Leader of the Blood Evil Sect, a great expert at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, wasn't he revered like an ancestor everywhere he went?

Today, he was actually blocked by two mortals who didn't even have cultivation?

And they asked him to state his identity?

It was a huge joke!

"Two ants looking for death! Get out of my way!"

He roared, and raising his hand, he shot a beam of blood-colored light towards the two soldiers!

In his eyes, these two mortals would be turned into two piles of rotten meat in the next moment!