Volume 4: Hidden Battles, Chapter 87: Counting Each Step

With that single sound, the middle-aged man was as if struck by lightning. First, there was a violent shock that halted his attack entirely. Then, he was hit squarely by Xue Feifei’s flute, and just as Chu Tianyu had whispered in his ear, he rolled to the side. As he rolled, blood kept flowing from his ears and mouth.
When he stopped rolling, his entire body ached as if his tendons and veins had been severed. He tried to get up, but his limbs wouldn’t obey him. Before he could even lift himself, the excruciating pain left him gasping for air.
Beyond the physical pain, the middle-aged man was filled with terror. This so-called member of the Tianmo Sect actually possessed such formidable skills—just one simple strike had left him in such a state. To be honest, Xue Feifei’s flute strike wasn’t that powerful either; his rolling away must have been due to the echo of the hidden attacker’s sound…
The situation on the field took a sudden turn, with unexpected changes leaving everyone outside stunned. After a while, the remaining four disciples of the Hanchan Sect were awakened by the middle-aged man’s heavy breathing. Ignoring their duty to hold their positions, they rushed forward—two staying on guard while the other two checked on his injuries.
“…There’s… a… powerful enemy… behind… Help… me… retreat quickly…” The middle-aged man gathered all his strength to say these words before losing consciousness again.
“Second senior brother? Second senior brother?” They called out a few times. Seeing that he was truly unconscious, they didn’t delay any longer. They signaled their companions and lifted the barely alive middle-aged man, retreating quickly while staying on guard.
Xue Feifei, holding her flute, was also stunned, trying to figure out what was going on. She herself wasn’t sure about the strength of her attack—it certainly couldn’t have caused such an effect. At first, she thought the man was trying some trick to deceive her, but then seeing him vomiting blood and looking pale, especially with his fellow disciples seemingly confused as well, could it be that some hidden injury suddenly flared up after she struck him? Could luck be that good?
As she pondered, ignoring the Hanchan Sect’s retreat, she suddenly heard cheers behind her. Then, several junior sisters rushed toward her, hugging her and chattering, “Oh, the eldest sister won!”
“That’s right, we won!”
“Yes, hehe, the eldest sister is the best—she drove away the bad guys!”

As they spoke, the younger disciples happily surrounded Xue Feifei and led her back to the wooden house. Though it was damaged, it could still provide some shelter from the wind. Xue Feifei, however, wasn’t in as good a mood. As they walked, she scanned the surroundings—everything was pitch black, with no sign of movement, nor any indication that anyone was helping her.

“I still remember clearly what happened back then. There wasn’t the slightest sign of movement. Even if someone had been secretly helping me, there should have been some clue—either hidden weapons or palm winds in the air. But nothing happened at all. So how did I suddenly win? Could it really be that his hidden injury flared up, allowing me to strike a decisive blow?” Xue Feifei kept pondering, unwilling to give up.

The older disciples also had doubts, especially after seeing Xue Feifei’s expression, which reinforced their suspicions. But seeing the excited faces of the younger disciples, they didn’t dare say much. After all, from the sudden upheaval at the beginning, to fighting off enemies, to this inexplicable victory, they had already gone through too much—there was no need to add more confusion.

So they simply exchanged glances, deciding to discuss the matter privately with the senior sister Xue Feifei later.

For Xue Feifei, there was still much to deal with—at least the two elders’ heads needed to be buried on the spot! Soon, as Xue Feifei approached the heads of the two elders, the girls’ joy at victory turned into grief over losing their loved ones, and the house was filled with cries of sorrow.

Chu Tianyu, watching from the side, was utterly baffled. He never expected these girls to have such intense emotions—laughing wildly one moment and crying bitterly the next, all looking heartbroken!

It seemed those two white-haired heads were indeed the elders they had been waiting for. Through their time together, Chu Tianyu realized that aside from the personal grudges with Xue Feifei, Tianjian Gate didn’t seem like a sinister group. Moreover, during their journey together, he could clearly sense the deep affection and trust among them as family members. It seemed those two elders were the ones who usually taught and cared for them…

Thinking of this, coupled with the sad atmosphere in the room, even Chu Tianyu couldn’t help feeling a bit pained. In fact, he had held back when taking action this time—firstly, because his relationship with Xue Feifei and even the entire Tianyin Sect was still unclear, and secondly, it was still uncertain whether their purpose in coming here was related to the Black Dragon energy within him. So, Chu Tianyu merely intervened subtly, injuring the man from the Hanchan Sect and making up some excuse about the Tianmo Sect to warn them not to cause trouble again.

As for the clichéd notion of a hero saving a beauty, Chu Tianyu wasn’t that naive. He didn’t think that just by showing up and acting, he could resolve the misunderstandings between him and Xue Feifei. Before things were clarified, the best approach was to act secretly from behind the scenes.

However, what Chu Tianyu considered a subtle intervention turned out to be a disaster for the middle-aged man from the Hanchan Sect. Not only did his plans fail, but his martial skills were likely severely damaged by Chu Tianyu’s sudden use of the Buddhist Lion Roar technique. Even if he survived, it would be fortunate if he didn’t become disabled!

Meanwhile, Xue Feifei and her sister disciples, suppressing their grief, carefully cleaned the heads of their two aunts. With the recent clashes and the dust raised by the destroyed wooden door, the heads had become blurred and unrecognizable.

After choosing a quiet and secluded spot at the foot of the mountain to bury their aunts properly, the disciples of the Tianyin Sect gradually stopped crying and gathered to say their final goodbyes.

By the time they returned to the wooden house, it was already fully daylight.

Chu Tianyu hadn’t gone with them. Instead, he lit a fire inside and put all the bread left from the previous night into the pot. He added some snow water and used a dagger to shred the remaining snow deer meat from the basket before adding it to the pot and cooking everything together.

Soon, the room was filled with warmth and the aroma of food. After going through such turmoil overnight, the women were exhausted both physically and mentally. The scent of Chu Tianyu’s cooked meal made their stomachs growl, and they instinctively gathered around him.

At that moment, Xue Feifei also noticed the man they had hired to guide them. She was surprised that, despite the events of the previous night—headless corpses and fierce battles—he hadn’t run away. Normally, he should have left long ago.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but examine Chu Tianyu from head to toe. But at that moment, Chu Tianyu was in tattered clothes; since he had left, he had been beaten by the black dragon and hadn’t shaved his beard. His face was covered in patches of gray and black, giving him the typical appearance of a local mountain dweller. Moreover, they had hired him on a whim. It was impossible for some ulterior-motived person to predict in advance that they would hire him and wait for them halfway there, dressed up.

With this thought, Xue Feifei couldn’t find any reason to doubt him. Although she was meticulous, Chu Tianyu was even more cunning—he had already prepared his story. He gestured wildly at Xiao Ya, who he knew best, saying something like, “Last night, I was lucky to be with you ladies; otherwise, I would have been killed by those bandits.” He also mentioned that such thieves often appeared in the mountains, targeting tourists, and that the locals avoided them.

With these words, Chu Tianyu completely dispelled Xue Feifei’s doubts. It turned out he had mistaken the thieves from the Hanchan Sect last night for bandits roaming the mountains! It made sense—these mountain people had nothing to lose, so there was no need for them to fear robbery. It was logical for them to stay and follow them.

After figuring this out, Xue Feifei said to Xiao Ya, “Xiao Ya, give this brother some more money. After all, last night’s incident also scared him!”

“Mm, I know, senior sister. I originally planned to give him another fifty yuan. We even ate his snow deer meat yesterday!” Xiao Ya replied innocently.

“Okay, you decide then! By the way, leave two people outside to keep watch; the rest can sit down and eat!” Xue Feifei, clearly distracted, gave a casual order before pulling the older disciples over to sit beside her.

“Senior sister, what exactly happened last night?” one of the older disciples asked first.

So Xue Feifei recounted the details and shared her current thoughts, saying, “It seems this trip to Motuo is full of dangers. The sudden appearance of the Hanchan Sect, their precise knowledge of our whereabouts, and even their awareness of my secret as a Tiandi being—all these suggest that there must be a traitor among my Tianyin Sect peers!”

“A traitor? That’s impossible! Our Tianyin Sect disciples have grown up together!” The listeners exclaimed in unison in shock.

Xue Feifei signaled them to speak softly so as not to disturb their fellow disciples, then said, “This is just my guess, but given that those thieves from the Hanchan Sect could call out my name and know that I have a pure yin constitution, it’s very likely that something sinister is going on. And with that middle-aged man’s cultivation level—though strong—he might not be able to defeat those elders, but he should be able to protect himself. But now, Second Elder ‘Xueyin’ is already… and Second Elder ‘Yundong’ is missing—clearly, there must be something fishy going on!”
“Elder Sister, what should we do now?” someone asked.
Xue Feifei pondered for a while before saying something that almost made Chu Tianyu, who was sitting nearby listening secretly while “cooking porridge,” choke on his spit—because what she said was, “Sigh, I don’t know either!!”
At first, Chu Tianyu found Xue Feifei’s analysis logical and her predictions reasonable. He thought she already had a clear plan for the future, but to hear such a response at the end was truly surprising.
After that, as they chattered among themselves, Chu Tianyu lost interest in listening. Anyway, it all came down to one conclusion: just take it one step at a time!
Sure enough, in the end, Xue Feifei, with a worried expression, said to her junior sisters, “Forget it, let’s just take it one step at a time!”
Chu Tianyu almost fainted on the spot…
Indeed, they had to take things one step at a time. The path became even more treacherous; some sections had collapsed so severely that without proper preparation or planning, it was impossible to pass through.
Along the way, the disciples of the Tianyin Sect also lost their usual laughter and joy, all looking grim and worried. Even the lively and talkative Xiao Ya kept her lips tightly closed, closely following Chu Tianyu, helping him clear paths and cut through obstacles from time to time.
But along the way, thanks to Chu Tianyu, this little servant, there was no need to mention his role in guiding the way—many major risks were quietly resolved by him. Moreover, his grilled bread with meat made the disciples of the Tianyin Sect addicted to it. Xiao Ya kept pestering Chu Tianyu to get some meat, leaving him at a loss—thinking to himself, “They really spent those 100 yuan well!”
As for Xuezhang meat, Chu Tianyu couldn’t obtain it for now, unless he showed off his martial skills! But coming up with different dishes wasn’t a problem for him.

Whenever the group took a break on the journey, Chu Tianyu could dig up some bamboo shoots or polygonatum from the surrounding mountains that hadn’t yet emerged from the soil. This amazed Xiao Ya, who always followed him, and whenever she asked how Chu Tianyu knew where there were bamboo shoots or polygonatum underground, he would reply with a classic excuse: “That’s just what mountain folks are good at!”
Indeed, it was indeed Chu Tianyu’s skill. The bamboo shoots, along with the soil they were dug from, would be roasted over fire. After cooking, the dry soil would be broken apart, and a few layers of the outer skin removed, revealing layers of tender and fragrant shoot meat inside!
“Wow, brother, what is so delicious?” As everyone was eating the bamboo shoots roasted by Chu Tianyu, two figures suddenly appeared behind them at lightning speed.
“Who are those?” Xue Feifei waved her hand, signaling everyone to be on guard.
Fortunately, the two figures did not advance further and stopped right in front of the group.
Only then did everyone realize that the newcomers were two tall, burly men, nearly two meters in height, with muscular builds, and their appearance and clothing were almost identical.
Everyone was shocked—given their size and strength, it was surprising they had such swift movement skills, indicating their considerable combat abilities.
“Hey, girls, what are you eating? It smells so good. Can I have some?” one of the men asked, drooling and with an eager expression on his face.