The cartwheels rolled over the rugged dirt road, emitting a heavy and monotonous creaking sound that dragged out a long echo across the open plains.
Tu Dai leaned against several stacked wooden crates, his body swaying slightly with the jolting of the cart.
He stared expressionlessly at the massive and boisterous caravan ahead, his eyes filled with dead indifference.
The power of the Stealth Attack Gu was beyond doubt.
That eerie blue infant instantly pierced through the crude man's skull. Clean, silent, perfectly embodying the bizarre and deadly nature of the Void Path. After killing the man, Tu Dai quietly departed, taking advantage of the chaos and inferno that had engulfed Bone China Mountain.
He didn't know how long he had been fleeing, but just before he completely lost consciousness, the clamor of this massive caravan, like a piece of driftwood clutched by a drowning man, dragged him back to reality.
One primeval stone bought him a "ticket" to the unknown, and Tu Dai squeezed into this motley crew.
At this moment, he was like an inconspicuous rock, half-hidden in a corner piled with goods, his heterochromatic eyes seemingly unfocused, yet subtly scanning the passing members of the caravan.
This caravan was clearly a typical "ragtag army." Different uniforms, accents, and various Family insignias on their banners all indicated that it was a disorganized mob temporarily pieced together from several or even more small and medium-sized forces. It was chaotic and loose, lacking unified discipline—and this was precisely the cover Tu Dai needed most at the moment. It was easier to hide in murky waters.
His destination was already clear: Shang Clan City.
That was a necessary stop for him to gather intelligence, replenish his Gu, and enhance the combat power of this body.
As for the as-yet-unrevealed second trial, Dao Tian Can Hun had only left a vague message, promising to reveal it once they reached Shang Clan City.
Thinking of this, Tu Dai imperceptibly sighed.
His gaze swept over the Mortals sweating and toiling for their livelihoods in the caravan, and a sense of detachment, originating from his otherworldly Soul, welled up within him.
He slowly closed his eyes and immersed his mind in his aperture.
The verdant green true Qi "lake" was still shallow, covering only twenty-six percent of the bottom of the aperture.
On the surface of this barren "water," the black-purple Little Void Gu gracefully twisted its tiny body, creating subtle ripples on the true Qi liquid surface, as if playing contentedly.
Not far away, a bone-colored Gu resembling a human Rib Shield quietly floated, like a dormant reef.
This Rank 3 defensive Gu, found among Bai Zhan Rou's cold remains, had miraculously survived the previous bloody battle intact.
"Meaningless stubbornness..." A trace of cold evaluation arose in Tu Dai's stream of consciousness.
The Gu's body was fragile; had she not deliberately protected it in her desperate situation, this precious Rib Shield would probably have been destroyed along with her.
To Tu Dai, this "intention" of protecting it to the death was merely a futile sacrifice of the weak.
And deeper within that primeval sea, in the dark depths where light could not reach.
A Gu, entirely dark blue and curled up like an infant, lay dormant.
Its body emanated a cold, deathly aura, forming a strange contrast with the "liveliness" of the Little Void Gu above.
It was the Rank 2 Stealth Attack Gu.
"What a pity..." Tu Dai's thoughts swept through his aperture, carrying a hint of imperceptible regret.
Neither Bai Zhan Rou nor the crude man he had killed had any Gu left in their apertures at the moment of their deaths, as the Gu had self-destructed under the final, strong will of their masters.
He had not managed to obtain any spoils of war from them.
And the Stealth Attack Gu at the bottom of his aperture now was clearly not the one he had initially received from the Demon Venerable's remnant will.
As for how it appeared here... Tu Dai's expression became complex.
"Dao Tian Demon Venerable... even a wisp of his remnant will, his Dao refinement attainments are unfathomable."
Currently, what he relied on were the three Gu in his aperture:
Little Void Gu, Rank 1 Void Path.
Rib Shield, Rank 3 Bone Path.
Stealth Attack Gu, Rank 2 Stealth Path.
These were all his chips for struggling to survive and seeking his way back in this cruel Gu World.
Tu Dai's mind was calm as he silently planned his initial steps after arriving at Shang Clan City.
The cold reality, the depleted primeval sea, only three Gu... every step required careful calculation, allowing no room for error.
Just then, an uncontrollable clamor suddenly erupted from the crowd not far away!
Cheers, exclamations, and shouts of gratitude, like boiling water, instantly broke the caravan's dull rhythm of travel.
"It's that kind Young Miss of the Zhang Family! She's here again!"
"What a benevolent heart! Truly a living Bodhisattva!"
"Good deeds will be rewarded! Heaven bless Young Miss Zhang!"
Tu Dai frowned slightly, his heterochromatic eyes looking in the direction of the sound.
He saw a group of ragged Mortals gathered in a certain direction, their faces filled with almost fanatical excitement and anticipation.
Tu Dai was about to get up, wanting to see who this divine figure was that could stir such popular enthusiasm.
"All of you shut up! Line up! Whoever dares to push again, I'll break his legs!"
A thunderous roar, imbued with undeniable authority, struck down like an invisible heavy hammer!
The clamoring crowd, like chickens and ducks with their necks squeezed, shrank their necks in terror and frantically began pushing and shoving to form a line.
A burly Gu Master guard, looking fierce and menacing, was scanning the crowd, clearly responsible for maintaining order.
Tu Dai watched with cold eyes, understanding.
In this Gu World where the strong preyed on the weak, the Mortals' effusive gratitude was but a faint spark that could be extinguished at any moment in the face of absolute power.
Through the gaps in the crowd, he finally saw the central figure.
A young woman in a green silk dress was gently distributing portions of dried food, wrapped in oiled paper, to the Mortals in line.
Her appearance was sweet and delicate, her temperament gentle, and against the backdrop of the dusty Mortals and fierce guards, she resembled a green lotus blooming in mud.
A small maidservant stood beside her.
"With a Gu Master guard and a personal maidservant... I wonder which Family's Young Miss she is; she has some kindness, though."
Tu Dai's mind briefly passed a detached evaluation, then he lost interest.
Such acts of charity by a noble Young Miss, in his view, were merely naive games, out of place with the harsh reality of this cruel world.
He withdrew his gaze, about to find a more secluded corner to rest.
A sudden change occurred!
Just as the woman in green was handing a portion of food to an old woman, a dark shadow, like a venomous snake lying in wait, suddenly darted out from the side of the crowd!
It lunged directly at the woman!
"Ah—!" The woman was caught off guard, her face paling in fright, and she cried out.
"Presumptuous!" The guard Gu Master reacted extremely quickly, his furious shout like thunder, as he stepped forward, his hand already on his saber hilt!
The lunging figure was also exposed to everyone's horrified gaze at this moment.
It was a man.
A man so ugly it was unsettling!
His left cheek was covered in twisted, dark red, hideous burn scars, like wriggling centipedes, and where his right ear should be, there was only a black, gaping hole!
His hair was sparse, his clothes ragged, like an ugly beggar.
At this moment, he did not attack, but instead fell to his knees with a "thud" at the woman's feet, tears streaming down his face, letting out a hoarse, unpleasant wail: "Young Miss! Please! Have pity on me! I haven't eaten in three days! They... they all bully me, Young Miss!"
This sudden turn of events and that extremely impactful ugly face caused a collective gasp from the surrounding crowd.
"Oh? He actually ran into him..."
A voice with a hint of amusement sounded in Tu Dai's mind without warning; it was the voice of Dao Tian Can Hun.
Tu Dai was already used to this; after leaving Bone China Mountain, he learned that Dao Tian Can Hun could converse directly with him, bypassing the stone.
"You know this ugly fellow?"
"Heh heh heh..." Dao Tian Can Hun's laughter was like a cold wind blowing through dry bones, carrying a hint of imperceptible sarcasm, "Stay away, kid. He's not a good person."
"The way you put it... I'm even more curious now." Tu Dai responded in his mind, but a cold arc curved at the corner of his lips.
However, curiosity aside, he knew this was absolutely not the time to investigate.
The guard Gu Master was already full of anger, about to grab the ugly man, and the scene was chaotic.
He decisively turned away, no longer watching the farce, his figure flowing like water into the shadows, quietly leaving the center of the commotion.
The caravan provided simple compartments for the accompanying Gu Masters; although built of rough wood, it was still a private space.
Tu Dai, as an outsider, paid the price of one primeval stone to rent a small compartment.
Pushing open the creaking wooden door, a stuffy smell, a mixture of sawdust and sweat, assailed him.
The room was small, with only a hard plank bed and a worn-out stool.
But for Tu Dai, being able to block out external prying eyes was enough.
He closed the door behind him, shutting out the noise and chaos from outside.
In the dim light of the oil lamp, he walked to the stool.
"Next..." he murmured to himself.
Under the lamplight, Tu Dai's figure began to twist and blur.
Like a reflection in water disturbed by a thrown pebble, his outline violently undulated and rippled in the dim light!
There were no light effects, no spatial ripples.
In this silent, eerie distortion,
Tu Dai's figure, as if completely erased from a canvas by an invisible giant hand, instantly vanished without a trace!
In the small compartment, only the dim yellow oil lamp remained, illuminating the empty bed and stool, as if no one had ever been there.