Chapter 110: Counterkill
The resource point had Tier 2 spiritual farmland, and as a core disciple, Gu Mo would be the highest-ranking person at the site once he arrived. When that happened, those Tier 2 fields would naturally be his to allocate as he pleased.
Especially considering the resource point was far from the sect, Gu Mo could plant whatever he liked without restraint. The stationed disciples wouldn't dare question the actions of a core disciple.
In that sense, being dispatched to the resource point wasn't necessarily a bad thing for Gu Mo.
Of course, along with the benefits came the risks—namely, losing the sect's protection. Gu Mo would have to face the assassination ordered by He Shaogang on his own.
And Gu Mo had a pretty good guess where the ambush would take place. There was one location along the route to the resource point that was unavoidable.
To bypass it would mean entering the territory of spirit beasts—an even greater danger.
So, when he neared a valley along this mandatory path, Gu Mo came to a halt. Then, he slowly extended his divine sense outward.
Inside the valley—
Three figures sat cross-legged, their auras completely concealed. They had already been waiting in ambush for a week.
"Senior Brother, it's been a whole week. Could the target have taken another route?" one of the rear figures asked via voice transmission.
"This is a required path. He won't detour," the lead figure replied flatly. This mission came with a kill-on-sight order—they were to eliminate the target no matter what.
The sect had sent him, a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, along with two junior brothers at the early stage. This setup to assassinate a mere Qi Refining cultivator was like using a dragon-slaying saber to butcher a chicken. Even if that cultivator was unusually powerful, he couldn't possibly exceed a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Even if the target had heaven-defying combat strength, equal to Foundation Establishment, he still wouldn't survive against the three of them working together.
There was no need to worry about completing the mission—they simply had to wait quietly and strike when the target appeared.
Their only concern was avoiding detection. If the target sensed anything and fled, the whole operation might fail.
So the trio sat in stillness, auras hidden, divine sense suppressed. The intelligence indicated that the target had already awakened divine sense, so if they released theirs, he might pick up on it.
"Hm? What's that?"
Suddenly, the third figure—silent until now—spotted a bright red cherry rolling toward them from an unknown direction, and looked on in confusion.
"Probably tossed by some nearby pseudo-spirit beast," the mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator said. He released his divine sense to investigate. While keeping it suppressed helped them avoid detection, it also blinded them to the immediate surroundings.
"What?!"
The moment he released his divine sense, he sensed a figure sprinting away into the distance. His face changed instantly. Someone had approached them unnoticed. Despite keeping their divine sense suppressed, their physical senses should still have picked it up within a certain range.
Yet somehow, that person had bypassed their awareness.
"Stop him!"
They didn't know who this person was or why he'd approached, but their orders were to apprehend anyone who came near—better to be safe than sorry.
But just as the words left the mid-stage cultivator's mouth, a blinding flash of white light burst into his vision—the source, that bright red cherry.
BOOM—!
The thunderous explosion echoed behind him as Gu Mo's lips curled into an uncontrollable smirk. As he neared the valley, he had begun carefully scouting the area. It didn't take long to sense something was off.
Once he confirmed the anomaly, Gu Mo stopped using his divine sense entirely—if there really was an ambush, divine sense would tip them off.
So instead, he employed his mastery-level Aura Concealment Technique to suppress his presence and stealthily infiltrate the valley.
There, he saw the three hidden figures, all with completely suppressed auras and no divine sense active—Gu Mo was ecstatic.
He carefully crept closer. Once within range, he didn't hesitate to toss his most powerful item: a Tier 2 Cherry Bomb.
After all, facing one mid-stage and two early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators head-on would be suicide.
But a perfect opportunity for a sneak attack? That changed everything.
After waiting a few moments for the explosion's shockwave to fade, Gu Mo returned to the blast site to inspect the aftermath. With the Cherry Bomb's power, killing the early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators should be no problem.
But since one of them was mid-stage, it was best to double-check.
The last thing he wanted was for an assassin to survive and report back. If all went well, he could still keep another Cherry Bomb as a hidden trump card.
"Hm!"
Just as he approached the bomb's impact crater, Gu Mo suddenly halted and rapidly retreated. At that exact moment, a sword strike slammed into the spot where he had just been standing.
Dodging the surprise attack, Gu Mo's eyes swept forward. There, a blood-covered figure staggered out of the smoke and dust—it was the mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, the strongest among the trio sent to kill him.
The man had clearly used a forbidden technique in desperation, forcibly unleashing all his spiritual power in a last-ditch effort to survive the blast.
The price: severe internal injuries and total spiritual depletion. He was barely hanging on thanks to a barrage of pills suppressing his wounds and restoring just a trickle of energy.
That trickle had fueled the ambush strike—but Gu Mo had dodged it.
Glaring at him with bloodshot eyes, the mid-stage cultivator fixed his gaze on Gu Mo. Even though Gu Mo had altered his appearance and fully suppressed his aura, the man instantly recognized him as their target.
He hadn't expected a mission that should've been easy to end up like this. Still, he wasn't worried—he may be badly wounded and drained, but taking out a Qi Refining cultivator should still be within his ability.
He swallowed several more pills to restore spiritual power, his face twisting into a feral sneer as he prepared to strike again.
But this time, Gu Mo acted first.
He wasn't about to underestimate a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, no matter how badly injured. Who knew what kind of deadly tricks the man still had—like powerful talismans that required minimal spiritual power to activate.
Better to eliminate the threat quickly.
So Gu Mo unleashed his full power, summoning the flying sword he had been nurturing within his body—a genuine magical artifact. Into it, he poured all the liquid-form spiritual energy he had accumulated over the past week.
With that infusion, the sword finally exhibited its true might as a magical treasure.
"You… you're a Foundation Establishment cultivator?!"
As soon as Gu Mo summoned his artifact-grade flying sword, the mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's expression shifted. He could ignore magical tools, but a true artifact was enough to pose a serious threat. And once Gu Mo fully activated the sword's power, despair appeared on the man's face.
In his current heavily injured state, he might be able to handle a Qi Refining cultivator, but there was no way he could contend with a Foundation Establishment one.
Zing!
Just as the mid-stage cultivator let out a startled cry, Gu Mo formed a sword seal with his hand. The artifact sword transformed into a streak of sword light and slashed toward the man. It pierced through his skull with ease. Given his condition, the fact that he could remain standing was already impressive—dodging Gu Mo's strike was nothing more than wishful thinking.
With that, He Shaogang's ambush was completely thwarted by Gu Mo. Of course, He Shaogang would likely organize a second attempt, but by then, Gu Mo should have already arrived at the resource point.
Once Gu Mo took command of an area with Tier-2 Spirit Fields, eliminating him would no longer be as simple as sending a few Foundation Establishment cultivators. Unless He Shaogang dispatched a Core Formation cultivator, Gu Mo wouldn't be easy to touch.
Unfortunately for He Shaogang, this region was known to be the territory of spirit beasts—one of which was rumored to possess the power of a Core Formation cultivator. And this area happened to lie directly along the route to the resource point. If He Shaogang sent a Core Formation expert, they would likely encounter the beast first.
Thinking of this, Gu Mo decided to frame the local spirit beast for the incident. He'd make it look like the attackers accidentally provoked the beast and were killed as a result.
This would buy Gu Mo valuable time to grow stronger. By the time He Shaogang realized how much of a threat he had become and decided to send a Core Formation cultivator after him, Gu Mo might already be strong enough to no longer fear them.
With the Tier-2 Spirit Fields, if Gu Mo tightened his belt and carefully managed his resources, cultivating a Tier-3 spiritual plant wouldn't be impossible.
"Not bad—there's loot too!"
On the mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's corpse, Gu Mo found a storage pouch. As expected of an assassin backed by a powerful faction, his possessions were substantial. Rogue cultivators rarely had such wealth.
As for the two early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, everything on them had been vaporized by the annihilation-grade blast of the cherry bombs. This was one of the downsides to using cherry bombs and potato mines.
A quick inspection of the storage pouch yielded a hundred mid-grade spirit stones—and nothing else. The man had likely consumed all his pills before the battle.
Still, a hundred mid-grade spirit stones was nothing to scoff at. It more than made up for the fifty Gu Mo had spent earlier. The storage pouch itself was also worth a fair sum, as it was an artifact in its own right.
Back at the spot where his sword light had struck, Gu Mo found another flying sword—identical in style to his own but of unknown origin. It, too, was a basic artifact.
Killing a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and earning one hundred mid-grade spirit stones, a storage pouch, and a low-grade artifact—this was definitely a bountiful haul.
If the assassins had been rogue cultivators, Gu Mo probably wouldn't have gotten anything at all. Most rogue cultivators wouldn't have survived the cherry bomb explosion in the first place.
After collecting his spoils, Gu Mo cleaned up the battlefield, arranging the scene to look like a spirit beast attack, then continued on through the canyon toward the resource point.
---
Qinglu Sect
As days passed with no news, He Shaogang grew increasingly anxious. He hadn't yet received any intelligence on the assassination attempt against Gu Mo.
"Young Master, we've received new information!"
Yao Shifeng hurried over and handed him a sealed, encrypted letter.
"Let me see it."
He Shaogang took the letter, broke the seal, and deciphered the protective spell. His brow furrowed as he read the contents—the very report he had been waiting for. The message stated that the soul lamps of the assassins had gone out.
The sect had sent investigators, and the official conclusion was that the three were killed by a spirit beast attack.
"A spirit beast attack? How convenient…"
He Shaogang felt something was off. Still, the ambush site did lie on the edge of a spirit beast's territory, so it wasn't implausible.
Whether there was foul play or not, the fact remained: Gu Mo was still alive. Now He Shaogang had to decide whether to launch another assassination attempt.
But if he missed this window, Gu Mo would already be stationed at the resource point. That place had protective formations, making assassination much more difficult.
Worse, several major sects were eyeing that resource point. If He Shaogang sent people there now, they might be mistaken as trying to seize the resource and end up clashing with those sects instead.
Still, He Shaogang could always find a way to manipulate those other sects—perhaps pit them against Gu Mo and let them do the dirty work.
"Shifeng, deliver this letter."
He Shaogang finished writing a message, sealed it with magic, and handed it to Yao Shifeng.
"Yes, sir."
Yao Shifeng accepted it respectfully and withdrew without a hint of emotion, despite knowing it was part of a scheme against Gu Mo.
He was clear on one thing—his loyalty lay with He Shaogang. The moment He Shaogang formally invited him in and revealed his true background, Yao Shifeng had chosen to follow him without hesitation.
Because Yao Shifeng knew that any hesitation would lead to only one outcome.
From the moment he became He Shaogang's attendant, their fates had been bound together. His only path forward now was to help He Shaogang seize the Qinglu Sect's spiritual veins and strongholds. If successful, he too would reap immense rewards.
"Shifeng really is reliable." Watching Yao Shifeng leave, He Shaogang nodded in satisfaction. With Shifeng handling external matters, he can focus on the next phase of the plan.
Of course, after what happened with Gu Mo, He Shaogang had placed multiple layers of restrictive spells on Yao Shifeng to ensure there wouldn't be another unexpected variable like Gu Mo.
---
"I've finally arrived!"
As a low mountain peak came into view, Gu Mo knew he had reached his destination. He had already done thorough research on this particular resource point.
Among Qinglu Sect's many resource sites, this one wasn't the highest-ranking, but its importance was among the top. That was because the spirit herbs grown here included a key ingredient used in refining Foundation Establishment Pills.
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