103: Chapter 103 Waiting for the Right Opportunity

Gu Shen's thumb rested on the hilt of his thunder pattern gold-slaying blade, gently stroking the rough scabbard.

He was in no hurry. Since he had already boarded this pirate ship, there would eventually be an opportunity to uncover the secret hidden beneath the oilcloth.

"Deputy Gang Leader Li has arrived!"

A loud shout broke the deathly silence of the courtyard.

A bald, extremely burly man walked out from the main hall. He wore no shirt, and his knotted muscles were covered in hideous, dark red scars. He carried a ghost-head saber half a person's height, his entire body exuding the terrifying Evil Qi of the Peak of Qi Refining 9th Layer.

The Deputy Gang Leader of the Quicksand Gang, Deputy Gang Leader Li Kun.

Deputy Gang Leader Li Kun's fierce gaze swept across the crowd like a physical force. The Loose Cultivators who were caught in his stare all subconsciously averted their eyes.

"Fellow Daoists."

Deputy Gang Leader Li Kun's voice was as coarse as sandpaper. "Having taken the deposit from the Quicksand Gang, tonight you are all brothers of the Quicksand Gang. I'll say the ugly things first: this red escort mission heads north out of the city, through 'Fengxiao Gorge,' straight to the Black Sand Market three hundred miles away. If any blind thieves try to intercept us on the road, draw your blades and hack them down! Anyone who dares to flee the battlefield, my ghost-head saber will not recognize friends!"

Having said this, he violently swung the ghost-head saber in his hand.

"Swish!"

A visible streak of blood-colored blade light slashed out, directly splitting the two-zhang-high Taihu stone rockery in the courtyard in two. The cut was as smooth as a mirror.

A show of force.

The Loose Cultivators in the courtyard, who had been somewhat relaxed, immediately tightened their expressions and fell silent one after another.

"Set off!"

Deputy Gang Leader Li Kun flipped onto the largest horned-scale horse and took the lead.

The Quicksand Gang steward began arranging the Formation. Gu Shen was assigned to the A-group, along with seven other Loose Cultivators with cultivation around Qi Refinement Level 6, and they tightly guarded the sides of the most mysterious beast-drawn carriage in the center.

The convoy drove out of the Quicksand Gang's main compound in a grand procession.

The gate guards had clearly been taken care of beforehand. When this murderous team arrived at the city gate at the hour of the Rat, the gate was silently pushed open just a crack.

The convoy merged into the vast night and wilderness outside the city.

...

Two hours later.

The sky was at its darkest, and dawn had not yet arrived.

The convoy drove into an area flanked by mountains on both sides, a terrain that was extremely narrow and treacherous. Wild winds poured into the gorge, emitting mournful howls like ghosts wailing and wolves howling.

Fengxiao Gorge.

The only road from Luoyan City to the Black Sand Market.

Gu Shen led his horse, walking on the right side of the central beast-drawn carriage. He did not use any magic power, relying entirely on his formidable night vision to observe his surroundings.

"Something is wrong." A warning sign suddenly arose in Gu Shen's heart.

The journey had been too quiet. Moreover, he keenly noticed that the core members of the Quicksand Gang, who had originally been guarding the inner circle of the beast-drawn carriage, had quietly slowed their pace at some unknown point.

They had retreated to the outer perimeter in an extremely secretive manner, instead pushing them—the Loose Cultivators hired with heavy gold—to the position closest to the beast-drawn carriage, which was also the dead zone most likely to be hit by the first wave of Spell bombardment!

"Using Loose Cultivators as meat shields, preparing to grease their soles and run at any moment?" Gu Shen sneered. Such Jianghu tricks were common in the Great Yu Cultivation World.

Pretending to check his horse, he deliberately slowed his pace by half a beat, and quietly moved from the side of the beast-drawn carriage to an extremely tricky blind spot. If a surprise attack occurred, he could use the Level 5 Qi Refining Loose Cultivator in front of him to block the disaster at any time.

"Woo—" A violent gust of wind blew through the gorge.

"Master!" The Crab at his collar suddenly emitted an extremely rapid vibration frequency, "Three o'clock direction, top of the cliff. Captured a large amount of abnormal high-energy magnetic field reactions! A Formation is being activated!"

Almost at the same instant the Crab gave the warning, "Enemy attack!!!" The Quicksand Gang members scouting ahead let out a shrill, miserable scream.

Immediately following, in the dark sky, dozens of blinding blood-colored flames suddenly lit up. They were not torches; those were dozens of Fire Talismans and Blood Fiend Cones being activated simultaneously!

"Boom!" Like a rain of meteors, Spells filled the sky and smashed with extreme precision toward the convoy at the bottom of the gorge.

"Ah!" "Help!" Screams instantly tore through the night in Fengxiao Gorge. Three hired Loose Cultivators who reacted slightly too slowly were evaporated on one side of their bodies by raging fireballs before they could even erect their protective spiritual light.

For a moment, people and horses were overturned, and flesh and blood flew everywhere.

"Enemy attack! Form up and defend!" Deputy Gang Leader Li Kun of the Quicksand Gang roared, his ghost-head saber slashing out several zhang of blade light, forcefully shattering the two Blood Fiend Cones falling towards him.

Gu Shen did not panic.

The moment the sky full of firelight descended, he slid backward along the ground like a light fallen leaf for three zhang, perfectly dodging a fireball that grazed past him.

He raised his head, looking coldly toward both sides of the cliff.

In the darkness, dozens of Cultivators wearing blood-colored robes and evil ghost masks were swooping down from the cliffs like a flock of bats that had smelled blood!

The leader, with a cold and sinister aura, was shockingly also a Demonic Path Cultivator at the Peak of Qi Refining 9th Layer.

"The Dark Guards of the Blood Fiend Sect!" Someone in the crowd shouted in terror.

The Blood Fiend Sect, a major Demonic Path sect that made people tremble with fear in the Great Yu Cultivation World. They had actually set an ambush in Fengxiao Gorge!

"Li Kun! Hand over the yang key, and I will leave your corpse intact!" The Blood Fiend Sect commander who swooped down from the cliff held a blood-colored spear, which carried a terrifying sound of breaking through the air as it aimed straight for Li Kun's head.

"Bullshit! You want to eat my escort? Let's see if your teeth are hard enough!" Li Kun did not show weakness, urging his horse to meet the attack.

The two experts at the Peak of Qi Refining 9th Layer instantly clashed above the gorge, their Spiritual Pressure surging and rocks crumbling into the clouds.

The battlefield below had turned into a cruel meat grinder. The Quicksand Gang members and the Dark Guards of the Blood Fiend Sect fought frantically. The Loose Cultivators who had been recruited finally realized their fate as cannon fodder, but their retreat path had been tightly sealed, leaving them no choice but to bite the bullet and draw their Magical Artifacts to fight for their lives.

Gu Shen hid on the edge of the chaotic crowd.

A Blood Fiend Sect Disciple at Qi Refining Level 7, eyes red with Killing Intent, swung his blood blade, beheaded a Loose Cultivator, and then locked his sinister gaze onto Gu Shen, who seemed scared silly in the corner.

"Die!" The blood blade carried a thick, fishy wind as it slashed down at his head.

Gu Shen did not even lift his eyelids.

"Clang!" The thunder pattern gold-slaying blade, scabbard and all, accurately blocked the path of the blood blade.

"Clang!" Sparks flew everywhere. The Blood Fiend Sect Disciple felt his tiger's mouth violently shake, as if he had struck a ten-thousand-jun iron mountain, and his Magical Artifact nearly flew out of his hand.

"A Body Cultivator?!" His expression changed drastically.

Gu Shen slowly raised his head; there was no expression on his face full of flesh.

"You are blocking my way." Before the words fell, Gu Shen's left hand formed a sword finger, and a dazzling streak of Geng Metal Sword Qi flickered at his fingertips.

"Puchi!" The Golden Light Finger instantly pierced through the throat of that Blood Fiend Sect Disciple.

He withdrew his finger and shook off the blood.

Before the corpse even had time to fall, Gu Shen's gaze had already pierced through the chaotic battlefield, locking firmly onto the black beast-drawn carriage in the center that was shaking violently amidst the aftermath of the Spells.

Because during the fierce battle just now, a concealment Talisman stuck to the surface of the carriage had been shattered by stray Spells.

Inside the carriage, an extremely pure, bone-chilling cold Evil Qi was emitted, one that even caused the surrounding air to freeze into frost!

"The opportunity has arrived." Gu Shen gripped the hilt of his blade, his figure flickered, and under the cover of the corpses covering the ground and the firelight, he silently approached the beast-drawn carriage.