Volume 2, Chapter 123 – Time to Strike

The villagers were puzzled as they stepped into their courtyards one after another, only to discover small animal carcasses lying on the ground. To them, this was nothing short of a lifeline. Overcome with emotion, they knelt and kowtowed fervently toward the sky.

Yet, despite their excitement, none of the villagers dared make a sound. Food was too precious now—barely enough to feed their own families. If others found out, the meat might vanish before they could taste it. After half a year of starvation, neighborly bonds had frayed, leaving only the raw instinct to survive.

Qi Huang watched from above, her heart swelling with satisfaction at having done a good deed. Though the villagers’ behavior seemed selfish, it actually worked in her favor, minimizing unnecessary attention. If the Heyi Sect disciples noticed, future airdrops would be far riskier.

‘Now she can’t call me a useless doppelgänger anymore, right?’

Pleased with herself, Qi Huang continued her covert supply drops.

The mountain village was shrouded in mist, visibility limited to just twenty or thirty zhang. Combined with her high altitude, her actions went completely unnoticed.

Even if someone had spotted the falling game, the Heyi Sect disciples would’ve assumed the animals had simply dropped dead. With no visible wounds, who would suspect otherwise? As for whether the villagers ate well—that wasn’t their concern. As long as the villagers stayed indoors, all was fine.

And so, under Qi Huang’s “nurturing”, the twenty-odd survivors of Panshan Village finally tasted meat broth again. Sadly, the few gravely ill among them remained beyond help.

Days passed, and the Heyi Sect’s higher-ups finally lost patience.

“Guardian Guo, it’s clear the Honghua Sect isn’t coming. What’s the point of waiting around like this?”

Elder Lu voiced his frustration. Even for someone of his cultivation, days in this desolate wilderness had worn him thin.

“Elder Lu, why don’t you head to the Honghua Sect and gather intel? If you encounter them along the way, report back immediately.”

After some deliberation, Guardian Guo made his decision.

“Isn’t that too much trouble? I say we just kill these villagers now, regroup, and strike later. The Honghua Sect isn’t going anywhere—you can’t move an entire mountain.”

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Elder Lu was visibly impatient. The journey to the Honghua Sect spanned hundreds of li—no small trek.

“Do you not understand the saying ‘long nights invite many dreams’? That Blue-Scaled King Snake keeps slithering into the sky, massive as a mountain. What if another sect spots it?”

Guardian Guo’s tone was sharp.

With a reluctant sigh, Elder Lu activated his movement technique and left the village.

Qi Huang saw everything.

She immediately sent a mental message to her main body: “Elder Sister… our chance is here. One of their elders just left, heading toward our sect to investigate.”

“Good. It’s time the Heyi Sect paid their dues—starting with him.”

Cheng Hongling’s voice was icy. In the next instant, her figure vanished.

Elder Lu—Lu Hong—was the strongest elder in the Heyi Sect, his cultivation at the sixth layer of the Unity Realm, matching Cheng Hongling’s surface-level strength. The dense mountain forest did nothing to hinder his speed.

“Damn it! He won’t go himself, always sending me. I should’ve just killed all those villagers. Keeping them alive was a mistake.”

In frustration, Lu Hong unleashed his divine sense, obliterating a wandering spirit that had dared glance his way.

“I only looked at you once!” the spirit wailed before dissipating.

Lu Hong sneered, his figure a blur as he raced downhill, closing in on the Honghua Sect’s camp.

Then—

He skidded to a halt, eyes narrowing. “Strange… why is it getting colder?”

Crack… crack…

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An eerie sound echoed ahead—the sound of freezing.

Knowing something was amiss, Lu Hong immediately expanded his divine sense.

By then, ice had already crept to his feet. Behind it flickered a ghostly white figure, its form indistinct yet its alluring curves paradoxically vivid. The contrast was unforgettable.

“Cheng Hongling!”

Lu Hong’s face paled as his divine sense confirmed the figure’s identity. In all of Yongning Province, who hadn’t heard of the Honghua Sect’s prodigy?

Still, Lu Hong wasn’t panicked. At over sixty years old, his combat experience far outstripped some “brat”. In one fluid motion, he drew his sword and slashed, sending a massive earthen-yellow sword aura tearing through the air.

The shockwave uprooted grass and trees—yet didn’t even graze the hem of Cheng Hongling’s dress.

Lu Hong wasn’t discouraged. He hadn’t expected to defeat her so easily. This strike was meant to shatter the ice beneath her feet. It was no secret that her Dancing Butterfly Movement Technique relied on it.

Sure enough, the sword aura plowed through the ground like a colossal plow, the ice fracturing instantly.

“No ice? Let’s see how fast you are now!”

A smirk tugged at his lips—

Then, an immense pressure crashed down, as if he’d been plunged into the depths of the ocean.

Caught off guard, Lu Hong dropped to one knee. Before he could adjust, a shadow flashed past—followed by a chilling fragrance and a piercing cold at his throat.

His hands flew up instinctively. Blood gushed between his fingers.

“An… Incarnation Realm’s divine sense suppression?! H-how?!”

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His question went unanswered. As his vision darkened, he glimpsed another identical figure landing beside him—same curves, same scent.

‘A doppelgänger… Cheng Hongling has reached the Incarnation Realm! That bastard Zhou from the Huxiao Sect lied to us!’

With that final, furious thought, Lu Hong collapsed.

Qi Huang landed beside the corpse and immediately began rifling through his belongings. A man of his status had to have treasures—no sense wasting them.

“What are you doing?” Cheng Hongling frowned.

“Looting. I’m broke.”

“You’re such a miser. Nothing like me.”

“That’s because you’ve never been poor.”

“Oh please. You’ve barely been in this world long enough to know what ‘poor’ means.”

Qi Huang fell silent. ‘If only you knew how long I’ve really been here…’

A thorough search later, she walked away with a handful of talismans and over a hundred taels of silver—peanuts to most cultivators, but a fortune to her.

‘Haha, more gifts for the family!’

She even claimed Lu Hong’s sword. ‘Better to take too much than too little.’

Days passed. With no word from Lu Hong, Guardian Guo sent another elder to investigate.

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The result? Another ambush. Another looted corpse.

Qi Huang was starting to think missions were for fools. Why work when you could “lick the loot” off dead enemies?

The hunters had become the hunted.

“What the hell is going on?!”

Guardian Guo, now down two key subordinates, finally sensed something wrong. Fear gnawed at him. Should he investigate personally? Or was that a death sentence?

From above, Qi Huang watched the once-arrogant Heyi Sect leaders cower like turtles, savoring the irony.

“Send more people out. I’ve got loot to collect.”

She and Cheng Hongling had agreed to wait, picking off their enemies one by one.

But plans change.

That day, an elderly villager’s condition worsened rapidly. His son, unable to watch his father die, charged out of the village in desperation.

“You’re dead!”

The twenty-odd Heyi Sect disciples at the entrance, already seething, needed no excuse. They lunged.

“I’m making my move!”

Qi Huang wouldn’t stand by. After a quick heads-up to Cheng Hongling, she struck.

Dozens of her hair strands descended like a celestial waterfall, raining death upon the Heyi Sect disciples below.