In the end, the group silently departed the city even before the night was over.
Their work here was already completed, so there was no reason for them to stay any longer. In fact, as compared to before, they now had a stronger reason to hurry back to the sect – to report on the Scarlet Leaf Sect's activities here in the city.
That said, now that they had seven prisoners in tow, the journey back to Purple Plum Mountain was destined to be much slower than their journey here.
Thankfully, they managed to claim a transportation treasure that belonged to the Scarlet Leaf Sect members, which significantly reduced the amount of time that they would have taken.
Along the way, Nie Hanchang and Lu Zhiying rode ahead while eight horses pulled a large caravan behind. It was a grand sight from the perspective of outsiders, akin to the entourage of an affluent noble.
However, the situation within the caravan was not nearly as luxurious.
Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi sat together while on high alert, carefully watching their seven prisoners lest they come up with any weird ideas.
As the seven had already sealed their meridians and sworn a death oath, Gu Qiansi felt rather at ease. On the other hand, Zhao Yunxiao could not bring himself to relax.
The memory of how Honey [1]had chosen to unseal her meridians and self-detonate rather than be brought back to Purple Plum Mountain was still fresh in his memories. In fact, Zhao Yunxiao had even considered not bringing the seven prisoners back since they had already sworn death oaths, but ultimately decided that he should still fulfil this responsibility to the sect.
After all, the sect administrators were way more knowledgeable than him, and would thus be able to gather more useful information from the Scarlet Leaf Sect members. When it came to the notorious Scarlet Leaf Sect, any new piece of information could end up saving the lives of many!
Little was said within the caravan. Unlike Honey, the seven were not nearly as talkative, and even showed clear signs of unease. Then again, perhaps it would be a tall order to ask them to relax around someone who had cut down their comrades right in front of their very eyes.
Fortunately, no hiccups occurred along the way, and the group eventually managed to make their way back to Purple Plum Mountain in a peaceful manner.
After both returning their rented horses and selling their newly-acquired horses at the Black Tortoise Inn, Zhao Yunxiao kept away the large caravan, and the group continued their journey on foot. Finally, two weeks after leaving Demonfall City, the group stepped foot within the sect grounds once again.
The guards reacted promptly the moment they arrived at the gate with prisoners in tow.
Three of the guards, all of them fellow outer sect disciples, joined the group as a safeguard, accompanying them to the Outer Disciples Hall where they handed the prisoners over to the sect administrators.
Be it Zhao Yunxiao, Gu Qiansi, Nie Hanchang, or Lu Zhiying, all of them were summoned for what appeared to be questioning in the name of reporting. Apparently, when it came to matters involving the Scarlet Leaf Sect, the sect administrators were a lot more uptight about their processes.
"Thirteen cultivators, all of them at the Essence Physique Realm, yet you managed to best them in combat," the deacon seated across from Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes. "How?"
"I have to say that those people aren't very good at hiding things. We saw it coming from a mile away, and thus managed to set quite a number of traps and arrays in advance," Zhao Yunxiao answered without hesitation. "After all, all we had to do was to fend them off, and Senior Martial Brother Nie would do the rest with his mythical bow! You should have been there to see it. The way those arrows tore through everything in their paths was absolutely glorious!"
A clear sense of excitement could be heard in his voice, as though he were recalling an unforgettably wonderful experience.
The moment Zhao Yunxiao decided to bring the prisoners back, the first thing he did was to corroborate the story with the rest of the group.
He did not involve the Scarlet Leaf Sect members in this, purely because it would only backfire if the prisoners were to end up being subjected to means of direct information extraction by the sect administrators.
On the other hand, he was certain that the sect administrators would not resort to overly harsh methods when it came to the four of them. So, all they had to do was to ensure that their story matched up and, at the same time, did not contradict the perspective of the Scarlet Leaf Sect members.
Now, the narrative was that the group had long detected the presence of enemy cultivators, and thus lured out the Scarlet Leaf Sect members after setting powerful arrays. Anything else could be answered frankly.
As for what array was used, all the other three members had to do was act ignorant and leave that for Zhao Yunxiao to answer. With Zhao Yunxiao's knowledge regarding arrays, he easily deflected any question about it that came his way.
Still, it took a gruelling couple of hours before they were finally allowed to leave the Outer Disciples Hall.
With that, this mission – one that was originally supposed to be really simple – finally came to an end after turning unnecessarily complicated. However, these added complications also resulted in an unexpected bump in terms of the rewards, so Zhao Yunxiao found it difficult to be unhappy about the final outcome.
Now, even after dividing the rewards among them, the amount of sect points received was still more than what the entire group would have received initially!
After leaving the Outer Disciples Hall, the group agreed to meet at the Lightwind Pavilion the next morning before returning to their residences.
It had been more than a month since they left the sect, including two weeks of tense travels while escorting prisoners, so they could not wait to finally have a good rest.
As for Zhao Yunxiao, he immediately got to work upon returning to his residence.
After organising his inventory, he popped a recovery pill and regulated his breathing to ensure that he would be in his best possible condition.
It was not as though he was feeling especially tired prior, but he simply dared not take any chances. After all, he could not afford to make any mistakes with what he was about to do next.
After a short meditation, Zhao Yunxiao excitedly laid out the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd before bringing out a gem that emitted a piercing purple light.
While the mission rewards had been bumped up in terms of sect points, the original rewards naturally did not change. And one of them was none other than this metal amethyst. In fact, this gem was actually the main reason why Zhao Yunxiao had chosen to take on this mission.
According to Lou Yuan's blueprint, the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd could be brought to the next level by incorporating five precious stones within – fire ruby, wood emerald, metal amethyst, earth topaz, and water sapphire.
Of the five, he had already incorporated three into the halberd in the form of inscriptions.
Now, it was finally time for the fourth!
Just like the ones before, Zhao Yunxiao could sense the sheer amount of energy contained within the metal amethyst. He took his time to examine it carefully, making sure that he understood its structure perfectly before finally holding up an inscription knife.
In his mind, countless archaic characters appeared to create a seemingly boundless wall of ancient text. From there, the archaic characters slowly started to disappear one by one, until only one remained.
[Pierce]
When one thought about the metal element, one thing would definitely come to mind.
Sharpness.
Be it the sword, the sabre, the spear, the halberd, the arrow, or almost any other form of traditional metal weapon, the first thing that people cared about was always how sharp it was. With sharpness came piercing ability, which was basically what determined the lethality of the weapon itself.
And an overwhelming piercing ability was also what Zhao Yunxiao would desire of his Penta-Edged Grimoire Halberd!
Faint wisps of energy rose up from within the Ring of Steel and Bamboo Barricade, surrounding him with energy of the metal element. Bolstered by this environment of elemental alignment, the piercing light from the metal amethyst grew visibly more intense.
And this intensity only became stronger as Zhao Yunxiao extended his spiritual sense into the metal amethyst, skilfully extracting the energy within. A trail of purple energy flowed out from the metal amethyst, coiling around Zhao Yunxiao's hand before slowly gathering at the tip of the inscription knife.
He did not hesitate before putting the knife to one of the two remaining surfaces of the pentagon-shaped joint on the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd.
By now, Zhao Yunxiao had already gotten used to this process.
Under his meticulous control, the inscription knife quickly cut through the flat surface, leaving behind a sharp piercing light in its wake.
Despite his experience and familiarity, Zhao Yunxiao dared not get overconfident during the process.
He understood that any moment of distraction could result in a foiled result, not only for the current inscription but possibly even for the entire halberd. And at this point, that was simply not a loss that he could swallow!
Thankfully, there were no mishaps from start till end as the inscription process came to an end.
Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao let out a sigh of relief before lifting up the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd to admire it closely. Of the five surfaces of the pentagon-shaped joint, four were now inscribed with individual array nodes.
Now, only one remained. All he needed was to obtain a wood emerald, and he would finally be able to complete the halberd.
Having followed the concept of the ancient arrays, the final inscription would not only have its own individual ability, but it would also serve as the final array node that completed the overarching array.
With that, the overall strength of the halberd would soar to unprecedented heights!
The corner of his lips curled upwards slightly just by thinking about that.
He could not help but look forward to seeing just how strong the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd would become upon reaching its completed state!
Knock-! Knock-!
Zhao Yunxiao looked towards the door in surprise, not expected a visitor this soon after his return.
Knock-! Knock-! Knock-! Knock-!
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
Why couldn't she just wait until they met at the Lightwind Pavilion the next morning?
"Coming!" Zhao Yunxiao called out in irritation as he walked over to get the door.
As expected, it was Gu Qiansi.
"I didn't think you would notice so soon," Zhao Yunxiao teased.
"So, you know why I am here," Gu Qiansi eyed him carefully. "Then do you want to start explaining?"
"Well, just treat it as a token of appreciation for always cooking for us," Zhao Yunxiao shrugged. "But it's just a one-time thing, so don't go expecting to always get extra rewards!"
"Hmm? What token of appreciation?" Gu Qiansi tilted her head in confusion.
"What? Aren't you here because of the extra sect points?"
"What extra sect points?"
"I assigned slightly more sect points to you... wait, why are you even here?"
"Wait, you assigned more sect points to me?" Gu Qiansi exclaimed in surprise. "Well, thanks?"
"Like I said, why are you even here if not because of that?"
"That's not why I'm here! Ahem!" Gu Qiansi cleared her throat before crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at Zhao Yunxiao. "So, are you going to talk, or do you need me to ask the questions?"
"Talk about what? The sect points?" this time, it was Zhao Yunxiao's turn to be confused.
"This... Damn it, you threw me off my script earlier. Now, that line of mine doesn't work!" Gu Qiansi rolled her eyes before taking on a serious expression once again. "Anyway! What you did during the mission... do you really think that we wouldn't notice just how unnatural that is?"
"Heh, that is nothing. Just because I managed to deduce the identities of the spir-"
"You know I'm not talking about that," Gu Qiansi interjected. "How did you overpower Essence Physique realm cultivators with such ease? What were those hound-like water elementals? That isn't a technique that belongs to the Black Tortoise Sect, is it?"
"That delivery mission that you went on recently..." she quickly added. "What exactly happened during that mission?"
[1] Petiole-ranked member of the Scarlet Leaf Sect who backed the young noble Hui Shajing. She was subdued by Zhao Yunxiao and the Mystic Cavalry on their way back from the monkey demon subduing mission at East Stream Village, and ended up detonating herself while being escorted back to Purple Plum Mountain.