Chapter 28: Target: Zhao Gully – Let’s Play a Round of Gwent

“Two tickets to Zhao Gully, Baique Street Station.”

Huan Caiyi led Xu Gu into the Don’t-Earn-Money Commerce Fuyao Continent Flying Boat Central Terminal. In the sea of people, she somewhat awkwardly found the ticket inspection gate.

Xu Gu watched her tiptoe and sneak around and thought she was still too immersed in her ‘demon cultivator’ identity, so he didn’t pay it much mind. Instead, he asked,

“Zhao Gully, Baique Street?”

No matter how you looked at it, that didn’t sound like the sort of place you’d find master chefs.

It sounded more like a snack street.

“Yeah. Zhao Gully is Zhao Jingang’s place.” Huan Caiyi said.

“We’re not going to your place?” Xu Gu was surprised.

He’d assumed she would take him to her family’s territory. He wasn’t looking for ordinary cooks, but famous chefs, and famous chefs were not easy to find.

Wouldn’t going to your own territory, somewhere you’re familiar with, make more sense?

Also, wasn’t Zhao Jingang supposed to have a sky-piercing background? He lives in a place called Zhao Gully? What happened to that ‘sky-piercing’?

“Huh? To my home? Wouldn’t that be moving too fast?”

Huan Caiyi’s face turned rosy and she muttered shyly.

Xu Gu raised a brow, completely lost.

“Too fast for what?”

“Nothing.”

Realizing she’d slipped, Huan Caiyi coughed lightly to cover it up, then lifted her chin and put on a reserved, proud look.

“I’m an undercover agent right now. If I just waltz back into my own family’s territory, I’ll definitely get recognized.

“If we go to Zhao Jingang’s place, I don’t have to worry about that.

“Relax, there are plenty of famous chefs on Baique Street in Zhao Gully. Its reputation isn’t much worse than the restaurants back home like Huanghe Tower, Diaoyutai, or Celestial Pavilion. It’ll definitely be enough for Senior Brother to finish his mission.”

As she said this, her expression turned serious.

“Also, I’ve taken a mission too. It’s in Zhao Gully.”

“That works.”

Xu Gu nodded, finally reassured.

These five righteous undercover disciples might be a bit on the sinister side, but at their core they were still orthodox sect brats, pretty reliable overall.

“What’s your mission?”

“I’m supposed to establish some demonic-cave outpost or something.”

As she spoke, Huan Caiyi suddenly thought of something. She looked at Xu Gu with bright, admiring eyes and said mysteriously,

“Senior Brother, you know what? I’ve seen the Demonic Abyss outpost deployment map!

“Not just the current layout, but even the future expansion plans are almost exactly the same as what you deduced back in the third trial in the illusion realm.

“And it’s not just the outpost network. Even the core architecture layout of the main Demonic Abyss is exactly the same as what you designed in the illusion.

“Senior Brother, you’re incredible. How can you predict things that accurately?”

Her admiration was truly from the heart.

All the countless righteous sects of the world had the Demonic Abyss completely wrong. Even they themselves only realized how powerful the Demonic Abyss really was after going undercover for half a month.

But Xu Gu had simply borrowed the demonic treasure once, done a casual simulation, and reconstructed the Demonic Abyss’ true face. That was unbelievable.

The more she learned, the more amazing she felt he was.

Xu Gu: “…”

The Demonic Abyss and its outposts looked exactly like his third-trial simulation?

Of course they did. They copied it. How could it not look the same?

These people had zero respect for the original creator.

The worst part was that the Abyss implementing his three major reform strategies earned them all the benefits—while he was stuck carrying the karmic blame.

Damn it, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

Once they boarded the flying boat, Huan Caiyi seemed uncomfortable. Her brows stayed slightly furrowed the whole time.

“Are you afraid of heights?” Xu Gu asked, a little concerned.

“How could I be?” Huan Caiyi said proudly.

“I’m a sword cultivator! I’m going to be a White-Clothed Sword Immortal someday. Have you ever heard of a sword cultivator who’s afraid of heights?”

Sword flight was a basic class for every sword cultivator.

“Huh?” Xu Gu was shocked.

“Aren’t you a Dream Illusion Immortal Body? Shouldn’t you be an illusion cultivator?”

Plus, her mother was the number one illusion-array master in the world.

Even if she didn’t become an illusion cultivator, a formation cultivator would make more sense.

How did that turn into sword cultivation?

“White-Clothed Sword Immortals are so cool! Unlike certain illusion and array cultivators who look all mysterious and crazy all day and can’t even get a Dao partner.”

Huan Caiyi complained with a face full of resentment.

“I do not want to become that.”

“You’re not talking about your mother, right?” Xu Gu’s mouth twitched.

“Of course not…”

She shrank back reflexively, then glanced around at their surroundings and straightened up proudly again.

“Anyway.

“She not only tries to force me to be an illusion-array cultivator and makes me take tons of classes every day, she also wants me to manage a huge patch of territory for her.

“Why do you think I came to the Demonic Abyss as an undercover agent? It’s to hide from my mom.”

Xu Gu was completely speechless.

What kind of plot was this?

Too scared to run away from home and unwilling to inherit the family estate, so you choose to suffer by going undercover in the demonic path instead?

“You’re not afraid of heights, so why do you look so uncomfortable?” Xu Gu changed the subject.

He really didn’t want to talk about that any longer.

No way she was socially anxious, right? With how she was always looking for fun in the Abyss, that didn’t fit.

“Uh…”

Huan Caiyi looked a little embarrassed.

“I’ve never taken public flying boats before. I’m just not used to it.”

“Never taken a public flying boat before, that’s not a big—”

Xu Gu trailed off mid-sentence.

Right. You only took private ones.

He very wisely switched topics again.

“Well, the cabin space is still pretty big. Uh, okay, it is a bit small, but…”

He wasn’t sure why, but once he changed the subject his mood still didn’t lift much.

Huan Caiyi smiled softly.

“Senior Brother, I’m fine. You don’t need to comfort me. It’s not like I’m some pampered young miss.

“Forget flying boats—I’m undercover in the Demonic Abyss, how could I be picky about a cabin?”

“…”

Xu Gu blinked.

I’m the one who needs comforting, thanks.

Fortunately, he quickly pulled himself together and shook off the emotional inertia of his past-life memories, no longer obsessing over trivial material things.

In the cultivation world, the only thing that mattered was how hard your fist hit.

These external trinkets might have been important in his previous life, but here in a world of cultivators, if your strength wasn’t enough, having more of them only weighed you down.

The atmosphere gradually loosened up, and the two chatted and joked as time passed.

“Entering Zhao Gully territory ahead.”

“Total distance eight million li, estimated full-line flight time fifteen days.”

“First stop of Zhao Gully, Eastern Kingdom—arrival. Please prepare to disembark.”

“Huh?”

Xu Gu heard the announcement and raised a brow, a vein popping in his forehead.

“Zhao Gully is that big? Then why even call it a ‘gully’?”

Then he seemed to think of something and turned to Huan Caiyi.

“Earlier you said Zhao Gully is Zhao Jingang’s family’s, right? Not Zhao Jingang’s home, but Zhao Jingang’s family’s?”

“Yeah.” Huan Caiyi looked confused.

She didn’t see what there was to question there.

“…”

Xu Gu fell silent.

He’d thought he was overestimating the backgrounds of this group of five.

Turns out he’d underestimated them.

Good thing they’d all joined the Demonic Abyss as undercover agents to suffer alongside him.

Otherwise, he really would be depressed.

“I’m the future Demonic Lord. Even if they’re righteous undercover agents, now that they’re part of the Demonic Abyss, they’ll be under my command sooner or later.”

With that thought, he finally felt better.

Time flowed by.

To prevent fun-seeking Huan Caiyi from causing trouble on the flying boat and exposing herself, Xu Gu pulled out a simple homemade dueling card game—his knock-off “king of games” deck.

During this time, everything else on the boat was normal.

Except for some blind Foundation Establishment cultivator who decided to provoke a certain smug, asking-for-a-beating Qi Training youth. The two of them went at it on the ship’s dueling platform.

In the end, the Qi Training youth won.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator refused to accept it and called his older brother—a mid-stage Foundation cultivator—to demand the youth apologize.

The Qi Training youth shouted “Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river!” and summoned the spirit lady living in his soul, who then beat the mid-stage Foundation brother.

The brother refused to accept it and called his second uncle, an early-stage Golden Core cultivator, to suppress the soul lady.

The soul lady refused to accept it and called her third aunt, a late-stage Golden Core spirit milf, to suppress the early-stage Golden Core.

He then called his great-uncle, a late-stage Golden Core elder.

The soul lady’s third aunt called her second mother, a spirit granny.

In the end, both sides even called in Nascent Soul old monsters and Deity Transformation seniors.

The two Deity Transformation cultivators traded blows, then suddenly stopped mid-fight and realized the other was their long-lost old classmate.

Only then did the battle end.

The two parties not only shook hands and made peace, they immediately arranged a child betrothal on the spot.

“That’s it?”

Watching from the side, Xu Gu raised an eyebrow, looking disappointed.

“It’s always like this.”

Huan Caiyi didn’t find it strange at all.

She shelled melon seeds and played cards as she explained,

“I told you, it would never escalate. Even if it does, it won’t involve us.

“If you damage anything that belongs to Don’t-Earn-Money Commerce, you’ll end up paying with everything you own.”

(End of this chapter)