"It seems that you are done," Hao Yu said while coming out of his hiding spot and walking toward Li Xue.
"Yeah. Thanks to you. If not for your trap and… that last arrow…. The situation might have gotten more serious." Li Xue nodded, feeling relieved. This was the first time she stood up for herself, especially against her oppressor.
"But this is not the end." Hao Yu waved his hand as though treating it like it wasn't a big deal.
Li Xue looked into his eyes for a few seconds, recalling what had happened earlier. She never thought that the cultivators would be rendered useless. In fact, in front of Hao Yu, cultivators were similar to mortals.
Hao Yu pointed to his back and said, "I need you to help me cover up the wounds on one of them. Can you do that?"
"Sure." Li Xue agreed without hesitation. "In fact, we can talk while walking toward that person."
"Let's go." Hao Yu began leading her. Since he was the one placing all the traps, he skillfully maneuvered past all of them and reached the guy hanging on the tree upside down. Li Xue noticed the problem, which was the arrow that killed him.
"That's the body. I want you to crush the head and the skull completely, making sure that no one will realize that an arrow had pierced him. The same applies to that Xiao Jun. I don't want to leave any trace." Hao Yu explained.
"It's not a problem." Li Xue didn't think it was a big matter, so she hurriedly jumped on top of the tree and cut the rope, letting the body fall down.
"By the way, what am I supposed to do next? Since I can't return to the city, should I wait in this place until the elder comes?"
"Considering the culture of cultivators, the elder will certainly come. However, there are two ways to avoid all this. This time, it's up to you to choose which path you like to take."
"Let me hear your thoughts first."
"The first option is to wait for the elder here. I don't know how strong a Foundation Establishment Expert is, so I'm thinking about using poison… I should be able to acquire poison in one way or another… But once the sect learns that you've struck down an elder through poison, they might choose to hunt you down."
Li Xue looked down, contemplating. As Hao Yu said, even if the cultivators were strong, they could still be poisoned. However, finding a poison that could harm a Foundation Establishment Expert would be hard, especially with the fact that Hao Yu didn't know how strong they were.
Hence, Li Xue couldn't help but ask, "What about the second option?"
"Do you have any elders you like or you can somehow trust? It doesn't need to be someone close to you. I just want them to be impartial… and might take you in… Even if it's not the elder, you can think of any disciples you're close with, preferably female."
"Hm?" Li Xue was confused about Hao Yu's request. She thought hard, wondering if she had any person like that. "An Elder, huh… There are a few elders who have taken an interest in me. After all, I have only joined the sect for five years and reached this far, while most people required at least a decade or two to reach this level."
"That elder… is he impartial?"
"Elder Ren is a quiet elder. However, he is probably the only one I can recommend. He is quite impartial, but the reason why I recommend him is that… there are some small frictions between him and Elder Biao."
"Is that so? What kind of frictions?"
"You know about Xiao Jun's personality. Elder Ren has a female disciple, a 10-Star Qi Gathering Stage Expert. She has grown far too strong for Xiao Jun, so yeah…"
"Oh?" Hao Yu fell into deep thought. It appeared that Li Xue wasn't the first target. With that kind of personality, Xiao Jun should have pursued Elder Ren's disciple and done something bad. And Elder Ren had confronted Elder Biao about it, but because both of them were elders, they couldn't do much.
But if Li Xue came into the picture, there was a chance that Elder Ren would be thankful and protect Li Xue. After seeing Li Xue's talent for a bit, he would take her in.
"If that's the case, I'd like you to send a letter to Elder Ren and tell him that you've killed Xiao Jun and want to return to the sect to admit that it was just self-defense." Hao Yu finally gave the second option.
"Huh? If I do that, won't the sect capture me?"
"No. If you send the message to him, I'm pretty sure that Elder Ren will be thankful to you. You just have to ask for an escort so that nothing like this can happen again. In fact, there is a high probability that Elder Ren will take you in to spite Elder Biao."
"But… even if the probability is high… One wrong mistake will…" Li Xue stuttered because of the shock. She just couldn't believe it that after going this far, Hao Yu actually suggested surrender.
However, Hao Yu raised a finger and explained, "Listen to me first. That's not the complete plan. Before getting escorted, you will cause a scene. I will give you a memo letter, and I want you to act and say things like in the memo. This way, you should be able to gain a bit of trust from that female disciple of his. After all, both of you are women."
Li Xue shook her head helplessly. "Can it even be done?"
"It's hard, but I have a way. Don't forget that before a cultivator, they are just human."
Li Xue recalled how they defeated all these people. The head-on battle had turned into a psychological one. It was clear that Hao Yu was capable of creating a situation where that female disciple would pity her.
With that thought in mind, Li Xue couldn't help but ask, "So, what do you need me to do?"
A smile appeared on Hao Yu's face as he whispered his plan.