Chapter 74 – Guerrilla Warfare
Death in one blow!
Lu Ping killed a First Layer Blood Condensation cultivator in just one blow!
Not only did this terrify the remaining Xuan Ling disciples, the Zhen Ling disciples were also shocked.
As terror swallowed their minds, the Xuan Ling disciples quickly turned and fled. Lu Ping cast out his Yan Ling Swords, which turned into giant tidal waves that intercepted one of them.
Yao Yong mustered the last strand of energy left in him and cast out his mystic instrument, rushing forward to hold back the other Xuan Ling disciple. Hu Lili released a mid-grade flying sword to assist Yao Yong.
The disciple’s battle spirit was greatly diminished; he was too perturbed to properly control his arcane energy. On top of that, his spells and sword skills were no match for Lu Ping. It was no surprise that Lu Ping won the battle and severed him into pieces in just a few moments.
The last Xuan Ling disciple anxiously tried to flee, so frantic that he didn’t hesitate to expose his back to Yao Yong as he desperately flew south.
But while his attention was fully on Lu Ping and Yao Yong, he had forgotten about Hu Lili. Despite being a Ninth Layer Blood Refining disciple, she was famous among the outer hall disciples.
Her arcane energy wasn’t weak, though not as strong as Blood Condensation cultivators, and she had no problem casting a mid-grade flying sword. It jabbed at the disciple’s face from a blind spot and stalled his movements for a split second.
But a split second was all Yao Yong needed. His brick mystic instrument slammed down from above and flattened the Xuan Ling disciple into a pile of mashed meat.
…
On a small islet in the middle of nowhere, Lu Ping, Yao Yong, Du Feng, and Hu Lili were resting as they discussed their next move.
Lu Ping plundered two more interspatial pouches from the Xuan Ling disciples he killed. He initially wanted to share the battle rewards with the rest but they insisted that he keep it all. Lu Ping knew that they were proud people, so he didn’t continue to insist. He sat on a boulder and checked his battle rewards.
The Xuan Ling disciples were wealthy. Lu Ping counted roughly 5,000 spirit stones from their interspatial pouches. In addition to his own savings, this would be his first time owning more than 10,000 spirit stones. Lu Ping couldn’t help feeling a little proud of himself.
He also found a dozen Blood Condensation pellets. The quantity was as low as always, but Lu Ping was still satisfied. By comparison, he contrast, Lu Ping was unperturbed at seeing the mid-grade mystic instruments and casually stored them in the interspatial pouch.
The other disciple’s interspatial pouch was shared between Lu Ping’s three companions. Yao Yong and Du Feng were placid about it but Hu Lili was excited.
Lu Ping took out a red bottle of medicinal pellets and passed it to Du Feng. Inside the bottle were three Essence Restoration Pellets, a type of high-quality healing pellet for Blood Condensation cultivators.
Du Feng’s eyes brightened up. “Nice find. In three days, I’ll have recovered by eighty percent.”
Lu Ping smiled. He passed another bottle of medicinal pellets to Yao Yong. He opened the bottle, finding ten top-grade Spirit Regenerating Pellets which were incredibly effective in restoring a cultivator’s arcane energy. He immediately consumed one and said, “Junior Lu, you seem to have a lot of good stuff on you. Even I can get a share of your wealth now.”
After everything they went through together, the four of them were now brothers in arms. They didn’t act reserved and treated each other more naturally.
Lu Ping smiled and said, “Hehe, I just got lucky. I bought them from Di Kun Island, and they cost me quite a lot of spirit stones.”
Hu Lili, who had been puking for a long time on the side, then walked up to them and said, “You two are quite the pair. One likes cutting his enemy into pieces and the other likes smashing them into meat patties. I’m just an ordinary young lady, I can’t appreciate your craft.”
Lu Ping and Yao Yong exchanged a look and saw the amusement on each other’s faces. Even Du Feng smiled softly.
The four of them sat down together. They described their personal encounters in battles and exchanged information. Yao Yong asked, “So what do we do now?”
Hu Lili knew she was the weakest among the four. If she didn’t want to become a burden, she had to show her ability. Although Yao Yong and the others weren’t snobs, she had her own pride as a cultivator.
Therefore, she suggested, “The situation is clear now. Instead of initiating the war on the border as Zhen Ling Sect expected, Xuan Ling Sect brought the war to Xuan Qi Island. As the centre of this war, Xuan Qi Island is definitely surrounded and the fiercest battle is happening right there and now.
“But Xuan Qi Island has Core Forging Enlightened Masters like Enlightened Master Qu. And with the island’s great array formation, it’s not possible for Xuan Ling Sect to win in such a short time. So before then, they’ll surely block any reinforcements from reaching Xuan Qi Island. The surrounding seas have most likely been seized by their experts already.”
Yao Yong frowned. “Which also means we won’t be able to return to Xuan Qi Island or any of our sect’s islands anytime soon. Not only that, we’ll also be hunted down by the Xuan Ling Sect experts?”
Hu Lili nodded, her face grim.
At this time, Du Feng’s injuries had recovered slightly and he suddenly asked, “What do we do?”
Clearly, he was asking Hu Lili.
Hu Lili was happy when she heard the question. This meant that her opinion was acknowledged by the group, placing her on equal status with the rest of them.
“Firstly, we have to hide our traces when crossing the nearby seas, we cannot let Xuan Ling Sect track our movements. We’ll have to kill anyone who notices our presence. Secondly, we have to actively rescue any island disciples we can find. There’s strength in numbers, especially if we can find the other two Blood Condensation disciples. Lastly, we must kill every lone Xuan Ling Blood Condensation cultivator we see. This will weaken the enemy’s attack power and impede its siege on Xuan Qi Island.”
Lu Ping asked, “But won’t this alert Xuan Ling Sect of our existence and they’ll dispatch cultivators to hunt us?”
Hu Lili smiled confidently. “That’s exactly what we want!”
She glanced at their faces and noticed only Lu Ping understood her plan while Yao Yong and Du Feng were still puzzled.
She explained, “The crux of Xuan Ling Sect’s plan is the element of surprise. They initiated the war at the most unexpected location at the most unexpected time. It was a success in the beginning, but there’s a flaw in their strategy – if they can’t take down Xuan Qi Island quickly enough, our sect’s reinforcements will soon arrive to launch a counterattack. At that time, it’ll be hard to say who will win the war.”
Hu Lili paused for a moment to organize her thoughts before she continued, “In order to capture Xuan Qi Island, Xuan Ling Sect first has to set up a sealing array formation outside of the island. This will cut off the teleportals on the island and block off our reinforcements.
“So, if we can distract a few of the Xuan Ling experts to leave the frontline and chase after us, Xuan Ling Sect’s encirclement on the island will inevitably become weaker. Our Blood Condensation experts can then rush out of the protective array formation and destroy Xuan Ling Sect’s sealing array. Once the teleportals have been recovered, our reinforcements can immediately enter the island. By then, this siege will be resolved and Xuan Ling Sect’s scheme will fail terribly.”
Yao Yong and Du Feng paid their respects to Hu Lili’s intelligence. Lu Ping said, “Let’s call this guerrilla warfare.”
Hu Lili paused for a second, then she smiled and said, “Guerrilla warfare. How appropriately named.”
Lu Ping sorted out his thoughts and said, “But there’s more than that underneath the surface. I’ve been tailed by Blood Refining monster fishes twice in the nearby seas. If the North Ocean sea monsters decide to interfere in the war, won’t they end up as the biggest victor?”
After hearing Lu Ping, the slightly relaxed atmosphere between them suddenly turned solemn again.
Hu Lili thought for a while and said, “Then we need to find a way to notify our cultivators on Xuan Qi Island. As long as the seniors on the island are prepared, our losses will not be too heavy. Instead, Xuan Ling Sect will definitely be caught by surprise and suffer heavy damages. This is better for us in that case. Should the monster race interfere in the war, the sects will definitely cease under the North Ocean Alliance’s influence. In the end, Xuan Ling Sect will be the one that loses the most.”
Note: Guerrilla warfare in Chinese can be loosely translated as “Roam and attack warfare”.