The wilderness that bordered the Eastern Sanmu Subcontinent to the east was even bigger than the subcontinent. It was filled with jagged peaks, deep canyons, raging rivers, and thick ancient forests. It was filled with all kinds of beasts as well as entire demon domains. There were rumors of small pockets of wild humans, disconnected from the civilized world. There was even the possibility of running into the ruins of a long-extinct kingdom.
The eastern wilderness was a place of wonder and danger. Only Spirit Lords would dare to traverse the entire territory and that was only by land. Cultivators from the provinces only dared to spend a limited time within the wilderness and did not stray far from known paths and landmarks. People used it as a challenge to hone their skills and search for treasures and luck opportunities.
Wu Qianyu's first destination was a mercenary fortress a few days of travel from the border. It had been overrun during the initial stages of the monster invasion but it was retaken right after the invasion ended. The Bloodbird Group was one of the mercenaries that helped reestablish the fortress but it wasn't the only one. Wu Qianyu was slightly worried about meeting members of that mercenary group after locking up and torturing their leader but she didn't have a choice. This was the most established route into the wilderness from Cloudy Mountain Province.
She rode a brown mare steadily through a dim forest path. Sunlight barely peeked in through the thick canopy and there was a lingering fog between the tree trunks. The sound of insects and birds filled her ears while the smells of strange flowers and fungi stung her nose.
She kept one hand on the reins and one hand on the Purple Jade Sword, ready for anything. She was the only human around for many kilometers. She was getting close to the fortress but it was strangely quiet.
Sha! Sha!
Wu Qianyu ducked as a jagged arrow zipped past her head.
Her steed let out a pained whinny as a pair of arrows embedded themselves into its neck and check.
She leaped into the air as the horse collapsed. The Purple Jade Sword was already out and so was the sharp sword aura of Dugu's 10th Sword. She spun and deflected another volley of arrows and landed in a crouch, her sword raised high above her head in a protective stance.
"Hahaha!"
"Fresh meat!"
"Oy, it's a human female!"
Harsh voices came from the trees on both sides as a squad of goblins appeared. These demons had scaly gray skin, a hunched posture that only brought them to shoulder height, and what could only be described as knobby and rocky bodies. They were granite goblins, a species that lived underground and liked to dig through solid rock to create surprise attacks.
She counted ten in front of her and six blocking the path to her rear. There definitely shouldn't have been so many so close to the fortress, especially in one group.
Wu Qianyu stood back up and stowed her sword in her hand behind her arm. She gathered the power of pain in her right hand and directed it all into her index finger. Now was the perfect time to test out her Touch of Pain, in the middle of combat. She had no qualms using her Dao on demons.
"She's mine!"
"Don't kill her!"
A burly goblin with a rotund stomach rushed at her with a heavy club. It made it only halfway before she rushed up to meet it. Her spiritual energy knocked away the club and she was able to tap its arm with her finger.
"Yaaaaa! Graaaahhh." The goblin fell to the ground and writhed helplessly.
It was only at the peak of the Mind Focusing Realm. It had no protection against a spiritual attack that caused unbearable pain. It quickly threw up the contents of its stomach, rolled a few times, and fainted away.
"She killed Big Belly! Get her!"
The goblins leaped at her from all sides. At the same time, she charged at the nearest foe.
A brief and vicious brawl broke out. Wu Qianyu's sword energy kept her safe from wayward attacks while every touch she landed incapacitated a goblin completely. There was plenty of vomit in addition to the expelling of other orifices as the goblins lost control of their bodies. If it was humans, it would have been a sad and disgusting sight. But for goblins, it was exactly what they deserved.
Five goblins fell.
Ten goblins fell.
Soon, only the goblin leader was left, a tall lanky specimen at the middle levels of the Spiritual Control Realm. It wielded a heavy metal club and specialized in especially tough skin.
Wu Qianyu found to her surprise that her Touch of Pain was ineffective against it. The reason was due to the heavy accumulation of rock into a hard armor-like shell on its skin which was four or five times as thick as the other goblins. This goblin felt no pain because it simply felt nothing. It was like poking her finger at a boulder, it was pointless.
Such was weakness was to be expected but it was still a little discouraging. For her Dao to be truly useful in an offensive role and not just interrogating prisoners, it needed to be able to penetrate through spiritual armor and the thick hide of beasts and demons.
"Hahaha! Good! Now I get you all to myself." The ugly face cackled and waved its club, "I want to hear you scream!"
Wu Qianyu huffed in frustration and finally pulled out the Purple Jade Sword. With simple slashes that contained the purest and sharpest sword energy, she severed the demon's hands and feet and left it sobbing and begging on the forest floor.
She stepped back looked around the battlefield at her handiwork. Several goblins were still writhing in pain while most others were unconscious. She gathered them up in a small clearing next to the forest path and prepared to experiment with her Dao of pain.
She felt only a sterile curiosity like she was tackling a difficult problem, not torturing a living, intelligent being. In the past, she would have definitely refused to do something like this. It was a change that all cultivators went through while on their path towards immortality. It was a question of how far one was willing to go and what they were willing to do to achieve their goals. Some would lose themselves and emerge from the journey a completely different person. Others were able to hold onto their values and come out relatively unscathed.
Wu Qianyu's paused and thought about what her master had told her, about values, about how it was important to stay true to a certain philosophy and keep a set of principles in order to not lose her way along the journey.
Her enemy was demons and evildoers of the world, beings that caused her pain and would seek to cause her and her master pain. Her enemy was not ordinary humans living their lives or innocent beasts that were only defending themselves. This was her creed, her limit, her belief.
As long as the subjects of her pain were deserving, she would have a clean consciousness. These granite goblins before her certainly deserved it.
She made the decision and, with a steady heart, reached for the first goblin with the Touch of Pain.
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