Rescue

Chapter 66: Rescue

"This Senior Brother Chi Xue of yours... How high is his cultivation?" Hu Jiao'er asked, looking at Zi Mo.

"True Element 8th Stage." Zi Mo replied obediently, not wanting to get beaten by Hu Jiao'er again.

"To think an 8th Stage True Element Cultivator enslaved a 6th Order Monster Beast." Hu Mei'er sighed lightly, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the situation.

Killing Chi Xue wasn't even worth mentioning for the Hu Sisters, but he was always accompanied by his 6th Order Monster Beast, and even if they succeeded in killing him, there was a chance that the Monster Beast might go after them when it gets freed.

"Compared to other 6th Order Monster Beasts, how strong is that?" Hu Jiao'er asked.

"Within the 6th Order, its strength is not remarkable, but it is more than enough to kill a True Element Realm Cultivator."

"Hmm." Hu Jiao'er thought about it for a moment before asking. "Where is Chi Xue, then? We've been observing the surroundings for the past month, and haven't found a single trace of him."

"Around a month ago, we captured a large group of around thirty Great Han Dynasty Cultivators with Senior Brother's help, but their leader managed to escape, so Senior Brother went after them while also looking for the two disciples from the High Heaven Pavilion—which are the two of you. The ones who were captured were implanted with a Soul Controlling Insect, turning them all into our servants."

"So that group led by Wu Cheng Yi got captured right after we separated from them, and while that happened, Wu Cheng Yi ran away." Hu Mei'er summarised what Zi Mo had explained.

"What happened to your servants?" Hu Jiao'er asked.

"... I only got two of them, but I killed them after extracting the information about their Secret Arts and Martial Skills." Zi Mo replied in a rather timid tone, scared that it might anger the two sisters.

"The situation is a bit—Hey, what's wrong?" Hu Mei'er stopped mid-sentence, watching as Zi Mo suddenly screamed in pain, immediately dropping to the ground as she clutched her head, writhing in agony.

"This is...?"

Zi Mo seemed to be enduring some kind of nightmarish torture, both her hands gripping her head as she struggled back and forth, sweating profusely.

"... Her soul is being attacked by something akin to a Soul Brand." Hu Jiao'er explained.

This wasn't her first time seeing someone's soul being attacked, so it wasn't hard for her to guess the reason for Zi Mo's agony, and from the latter's expression, it wasn't hard to tell that she wasn't acting.

"Could it be the two fellow disciples that separated from her after Chi Xue left?" Hu Mei'er's guess didn't seem far off, and Hu Jiao'er nodded.

The pain Zi Mo felt lasted for a long time before gradually subsiding; her clothes were now dripping wet from sweat, and her body was clearly exhausted, but her eyes had instead become cold and piercing.

"It's them! They're sending me a warning, telling me to come to them!" Zi Mo gritted her teeth so hard that a grinding sound could be heard, murderous intent clear in her eyes, and she turned towards the Hu Sisters with a solemn expression. "You said you wanted to collect Blood Beads from my Senior Brother and Sister, right? I will help you!"

"Where are they?" Hu Mei'er asked.

"That way!" Zi Mo pointed towards their right. "Probably about a few hours' journey!"

"Mei'er." At Hu Jiao'er's callout, Hu Mei'er suddenly disappeared from her position, surprising Zi Mo.

"Where is she...?" Zi Mo asked, surprised by the sudden disappearance.

"To check if you were lying or not." Hu Jio'er pointed her index finger towards the sky.

"Above?" Zi Mo looked up, wondering what Hu Jiao'er was talking about, only to find Hu Mei'er flying about fifteen hundred metres above the ground.

A 4th Stage True Element Cultivator couldn't reach that height in just a few seconds, so Zi Mo guessed that, like her older sister, Hu Mei'er was at the 9th Stage True Element Realm, too.

After a few minutes, Hu Mei'er returned, looking at Hu Jiao'er before explaining.

"I don't think she's lying, Big sis. The group Wu Cheng Yi left behind is being guarded by only two cultivators from the Tian Lang Dynasty, and I can't find Chi Xue anywhere; he probably went too far away while chasing after Wu Cheng Yi."

"Let's do the same thing we did with Zi Mo, but..." Hu Jiao'er said, and soon, she turned towards Zi Mo. "If she plays any tricks, make sure to kill her first."

"Understood." Hu Mei'er nodded.

As long as they could kill them and collect all their Monster Beasts as Blood Beads, it wouldn't matter how they did it.

Killing Zi Mo's fellow disciples meant gaining more than one hundred Blood Beads belonging to 5th and 4th Order Monster Beasts, along with the ones they had previously collected from the Great Han Dynasty Cultivators.

"For now, let's go." Hu Jiao'er said, and the three of them started making their way towards the place Zi Mo had previously mentioned.

Along the way, Zi Mo explained briefly about her fellow disciples again.

The two of them were cousins from the same martial family, and both had cultivations at the True Element Realm's 5th Stage.

One was called Yao He, while the other was called Yao Xi, and each of them controlled about one hundred and twenty beasts in total; this amount of Monster Beasts alone was more than double what Zi Mo had.

In her anger, Zi Mo no longer held back any information about two fellow disciples, so Hu Mei'er quietly listened, silently remembering everything she could while constantly searching for the best possible strategy to achieve their objective, and after a while, she was done coming up with a perfect strategy to deal with those two.

---

"Senior Brother, what should we do...?" Chen Xue Shu asked, looking at her Senior Brother, Shu Xiao Yu, who simply shook his head.

"At this point, I don't think we can do much." Shu Xiao Yu replied, looking around them. Their group now only had around seventeen or eighteen people left, and it had been almost a month since they were captured, with all of them being implanted with Soul Controlling Insects with the sole exception of Wu Chang Yi, who ran away after using them as a distraction.

"Hey, isn't that..." Shu Xiao Yu continued, pointing towards the two cultivators that were in charge of watching over the group, Yao He and Yao Xi.

Chen Xue Shu turned around, noting that Zi Mo, the Tian Lang Cultivator that had separated from the other two around three weeks ago, was now back, but to her surprise, the one following behind her was someone she was familiar with.

"Junior Sister Hu..."

The girl timidly following behind Zi Mo was none other than Hu Mei'er, the archer who had saved their lives not too long ago, along with her older sister.

When their eyes met, Hu Mei'er gave Chen Xue Shu and Shu Xiao Yu an awkward nod, lightly waving at them.

On the other side, Zi Mo looked at her fellow disciples, letting out a deep sigh before coldly asking. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why? Senior Sister Zi doesn't already understand?" Yao He chuckled.

"Is it because in the Sect, Master valued me more?" Zi Mo smiled back contemptuously, causing Yao He and Yao Xi's faces to suddenly went stiff, with their expressions quickly becoming cold. However, Zi Mo ignored this change and continued, "The two of you both entered the Sect earlier than me, but your cultivations are both still lower than mine, so even though you're unwilling to, you have no choice but to call me Senior Sister. Is that what you'd like to say?"

"You think your talent is better than ours?" Yao Xi laughed dismissively. "If our master hadn't given you more resources, how could you have surpassed us so easily? In terms of aptitude, just where are we not comparable to you?"

"Nothing about you is comparable to me!" Zi Mo didn't hold back, ruthlessly insulting the two of them and doing exactly as she was told to by Hu Mei'er.

Yao He's face twitched before putting on a look of disdain, "Is that so? Then I'd like to ask our dear Senior Sister... Did you ever imagine you'd fall into a situation like this before?"

"It's true, I didn't think you two would be so vicious and underhanded, plotting against me like this!" Zi Mo's face was suddenly filled with hatred.

Yao He sneered, "Well, let's just forget about all that; there's no need to get so worked up about it; after all, you're our Senior Sister, right? The reason we invited you here was quite simple: since we're stuck in this damned place for the time being and we essentially have no other enemies left, you shouldn't have any use for those Monster Beasts of yours, correct?"

Hearing Yao He's words, Yao Xi's eyes suddenly widened, and she noticed something. "Where are your Monster Beasts, Senior Sister Zi?"

When Zi Mo came to this place, the only one who accompanied her was the girl who acted like a maidservant, which was strange.

Zi Mo wasn't someone who would go around without her Monster Beasts guarding her.

"Why don't you take a guess?" Zi Mo sneered at her fellow disciples, causing the two of them to frown.

"Go and scout the area!" Yao Xi ordered, and around ten Monster Beasts moved to the side, rushing towards the forest surrounding them.

"Idiots." Zi Mo smirked, watching as two flashes of light rushed towards her fellow disciples from their backs, stabbing their shoulders with accuracy that even scared Zi Mo.

"You!" Yao He roared in pain and anger, clenching his shoulders as the Monster Beasts started making their way towards Zi Mo, but before they could...

"Gaaaahhhhh!!!"

"Aaaahhhh!"

Two loud, painful screams pierced everyone's ears as Hu Jiao'er broke Yao Xi and Yao He's limbs, snapping their hands at unimaginably painful angles, with tears falling from their eyes.

"Order your Monster Beasts to stay where they are..."

The rest of the situation played exactly as it did with Zi Mo, with Hu Jiao'er ordering Yao He and Yao Xi to have their Monster Beasts kill each other before collecting their Blood Beads, along with the ones that Yao He and Yao Xi had on them, raising the number of Blood Beads they had gained by one hundred and seventy.

Now, the Hu Sisters had a total of a little over two hundred and thirty Blood Beads.

---

"Now all that's left is Chi Xue and his 6th Order Monster Beast." After collecting the Blood Beads from Yao He and Yao Xi's Monster Beads, along with the ones that the two had previously collected, Hu Jiao'er turned towards the seventeen or eighteen cultivators from the Great Han Dynasty, who were all still too stunned to speak, especially after watching the nerve-wracking scene of hundreds of Monster Beasts massacring each other. "You all don't plan on staying here, do you?"

Slowly, the cultivators from the Great Han Dynasty started snapping out of their daze, and the first one to approach Hu Jiao'er was none other than the duo from the Reflecting Moon Palace.

"... Senior Sister Hu?" Chen Xue Shu looked at Hu Jiao'er, not sure who she was.

"It is me." Hu Jiao'er replied with a small smile, and she watched as Chen Xue Shu and Shu Xiao Yu cupped their fists, bowing towards her.

"We owe you our lives once again. I have no idea how to repay such a favour."

Just as Shu Xiao Yu finished his words, similar words started coming out from different cultivators that were present there, and the respect and admiration in their voices weren't hidden.

To be able to deal with this situation without even needing to fight a single Monster Beast themselves, and also capture Yao He and Yao Xi...

None of them could've done it as perfectly as the Hu Sisters.

"Don't worry about it. Our goal wasn't to save you but to collect these Blood Beads, and subduing the Tian Lang Dynasty's cultivators happened to be the easiest way." Hu Mei'er replied with a smile.

She was happy about the fact that no one had died while they were capturing Yao He and Yao Xi, but in the plan Hu Mei'er had initially prepared, there was also a part to use the Great Han Dynasty Cultivators as a distraction, but thanks to Zi Mo's cooperation, that never happened.

"Regardless of what the reason was, the fact that you saved our lives remains." A woman from the Ten Thousand Flower Palace stepped forward, cupping her fists. "If there is anything you ever need help with, please feel free to visit the Ten Thousand Flower Palace."

And from thereon, every cultivator present thanked the Hu Sisters for saving their lives, introducing themselves and their forces.

All of them were elites of their respective forces, so saving their lives was indeed a very big favour to the ones backing them, but even then, Hu Jiao'er felt like she might end up falling asleep from all the words of gratitude.

"By the way, Junior Sister Hu, why are you so intent on collecting Blood Beads, going as far as collecting hundreds of them without absorbing them?" Chen Xue Shu asked, looking at Hu Mei'er.

"It's because they're a gift for our future husband." Hu Mei'er replied with a sweet smile, and Hu Jiao'er nodded.

They had already started cultivating the part of the Harem God's Cultivation Scripture made for Su Mu's wives, so their relationship could be considered official, even without the need for any official ceremonies.

"Huh...? All that for a gift?"

"Indeed." Hu Mei'er nodded.

At Hu Mei'er's words, everyone was somewhat shocked, remaining silent.

Just what kind of luck does a man need to have such a beautiful and caring pair of sisters all to themselves?

At that moment, without even being there, Su Mu had incurred the jealousy and admiration of every male cultivator present there.