# Chapter 32: Liu's Taunt Skill
Two [Divine Energy Condensed Bodies] cost 40 Ba Souls, and [Secret Technique: Heavenly Flow] required 450 Ba Souls. Calculating this way, Su Xiao needed to obtain at least 474 more Ba Souls.
474 Ba Souls almost equaled killing the same number of ordinary Tianba Clan members. If he killed elite or leader-level Tianba Clan members, he might obtain several or even over a dozen Ba Souls at once.
The most important issue now was where the Tianba Clan was. Earlier, Baha had encountered several Tianba Clan members of the Drowning type. Those Tianba Clan members had come out to hunt and had returned fully loaded.
Amu and Qifu's whereabouts were unknown. In other places, Amu wouldn't have problems, but in Divine Village, if he clashed with the Tianba Clan and was surrounded, Amu would face a desperate situation.
Su Xiao edited a team email to Amu, telling him to find a safe place to stand by to avoid unexpected casualties.
"Baha, where did you find the Tianba Clan earlier?"
"South, near a river."
"Lead the way."
Hearing this, Baha flew to low altitude, and Su Xiao began traveling across the wilderness.
All plants in Divine Village showed extremely strong vitality. The wild grass and trees were taller than those outside, with thicker roots and stems.
Traveling swiftly, Su Xiao arrived at the place where Baha had encountered the Tianba Clan earlier. This was a river beach covered in pebbles, with several patches of bloodstains spreading to the riverbank. Bloody bones could be seen on the shore, and a group of water birds were gathered around fighting over food.
When Su Xiao approached, the dozens of water birds were startled away, but they landed nearby, clearly unwilling to give up the delicious meat.
Examining the bones on the bank, most of them were still connected. The hunter had separated the fresh meat like a skilled butcher, leaving behind the organs and bones, taking only the fresh meat and a very complete animal hide.
Several strings of bloody footprints stretched into the distance, the traces not having been covered up. Thinking about it, the Tianba Clan were the rulers of Divine Village; they simply weren't worried about being tracked.
Following the footprints, Su Xiao tracked them into a forest. The footprints soon broke off. Along the way, there were broken branches, blood smeared on leaves from the fresh meat, and trampling marks on dead leaves. In Su Xiao's eyes, these traces were as conspicuous as fireflies in the dark.
Continuing the pursuit, Su Xiao jogged through the dense forest. Baha flew at low altitude, occasionally tilting his body to avoid hitting trees with his spread wings.
Bubu Wang followed calmly, and Liu could barely keep up, but her breathing was already rapid (jicu).
Liu was the key to opening Divine Village. After entering Divine Village, Su Xiao naturally brought her along. The bloodline of the Aideri Royal Clan had extraordinary significance to the Tianba Clan. The Tianba Clan would most likely not kill Liu directly.
After traveling for over ten minutes, the dense forest began to thin. Su Xiao had just rushed out of the forest when the area ahead opened up, and the road ended.
Ahead was a bottomless abyss, pitch black below. Standing before the abyss and looking down, the unfathomable darkness seemed ready to drag everything down.
The road ended here, but fortunately, a suspension bridge spanned the abyss. This bridge was about three meters wide. How long it was couldn't be seen clearly, but conservatively estimated, it was over a kilometer.
On both sides of the bridge were two steel cables. Below the cables were tied vines and ropes. The stepping surface was a series of long wooden planks.
"Are we... going across this? I'm not afraid of heights, but if there are enemies guarding the other side of the bridge, that would be bad. So, I'm not afraid of heights."
Liu bent down to look at the abyss below. She felt her legs go weak, the ground beneath her feet becoming as soft as cotton.
"You don't need to emphasize it. We all know you're afraid of heights."
"Impossible!"
Liu reacted like she'd had her tail stepped on.
"Last time I flew with you, this little girl... don't grab my beak."
"I, I didn't..."
"Hehehe."
Su Xiao ignored Liu and Baha, stepping onto the suspension bridge. As soon as he stepped on it, he felt the swaying beneath his feet.
Creak, creak~
The suspension bridge seemed like it could break at any moment. Just normal stepping made it unstable, and the bridge swayed with the wind. It was too long.
Baha flew over from above to scout the other side of the bridge. Bubu Wang ran at the front, already having fun.
Behind Su Xiao, Liu trembled as she moved forward. If her fear when first seeing the Giant King was 2, now it was at least 900. She was "happily" about to faint.
"Hurry up."
Su Xiao stomped on the suspension bridge. He heard a thud from behind. Liu had fallen to her knees.
"It's not New Year's, why are you bowing so grandly, Liu."
Baha flew back, spouting nonsense. He landed on the steel cable beside Su Xiao. He had already scouted; there were no enemies on the other side of the bridge. This bridge was a full 2 kilometers long. It was unknown how it was originally built. Without sufficiently reasonable design, this bridge would have long been twisted into a pretzel by the wind.
"Because of the royal blood in my body, my legs went weak. I can't help it either."
"Because of royal blood? You sure can come up with excuses, Liu."
Baha laughed so hard he almost fell into the abyss. Su Xiao came to Liu. Liu, kneeling on the ground, looked up at Su Xiao.
"I knew you wouldn't..."
Liu's words were cut short as she found Su Xiao grabbing her by the back of her collar and lifting her up.
"You found me out after all."
Liu lowered her head, took off the wrist pendant from her wrist. Her hair gradually grew a bit longer, and her body shape changed. However, she was still somewhat flat. Some secrets were already known to everyone, and Liu was no longer going to keep hiding them.
Suddenly, Liu felt a sense of weightlessness. She felt herself being thrown into the air, which made her originally slightly shy expression freeze. She almost gave Su Xiao a facial expression performance.
"Ah!!"
Liu screamed in midair, her voice completely feminine.
"What are you screaming about? I've caught you."
Baha, spouting nonsense, flapped his wings, grabbed Liu, and flew toward the other side of the bridge.
Su Xiao stopped when he reached the middle of the suspension bridge. He took out an iron spike, poked several pits in the wooden planks, then pressed chewing gum-like alchemy bombs into the pits. Every section he advanced, he set up an explosion point, just in case.
When Su Xiao reached the other side of the bridge, he saw Bubu Wang, Baha, and Liu waiting there.
Liu was looking around. She had a heart that was hard to match, but she was also alert enough, ready to dive into a bush at any time.
This was also why Su Xiao brought Liu deep into Divine Village. Liu's other abilities weren't great, but she was very good at finding places to hide.
Su Xiao looked ahead. A large area of ruins appeared before him. These ruins were mostly two or three-story pavilions with herringbone tile roofs. The tile decorations at the corners of the rooms curled upward, all in the shape of aquatic creatures.
Entering the ruins, there were wild grass and building debris everywhere. Su Xiao was about to go deeper into the ruins when footsteps came from ahead.
Su Xiao leaped into the second floor of an abandoned pavilion. Bubu Wang and Baha followed closely. Liu also immediately followed, but she was running a bit too fast and bumped her head against a protruding wooden stick, almost falling. She was dazed.
A total of 14 Tianba Clan members walked over. Their skin was blue-white, and they wore loose purple or dark green robes with wide sleeves. Their hems and earlobes were adorned with exquisite ornaments.
Through observation, Su Xiao found that the Tianba Clan didn't wear their robes casually. Those carrying long bows all wore dark green robes. Those with long knives at their waists or blade guns on their backs all wore purple robes with denser patterns. This should indicate the different statuses of Qin (melee) and Ni (ranged) within the Tianba Clan.
Su Xiao slowly drew the Dragon-Slaying Flash from his waist. Just as he was about to strike, a small hand grabbed his sleeve. It was Liu.
Liu pointed at herself, then at those Tianba Clan members, clearly meaning she would act as bait to attract those Tianba Clan members.
In Bamboo Village, Liu had confirmed one thing: the Tianba Clan wouldn't kill her directly, but would rather capture her.
Why wouldn't the Tianba Clan kill Liu? The reason was simple. She was of the Aideri Royal Clan. As long as she wore the Giant Ring, she could open the Divine Village Gate.
At this moment, the Tianba Clan in Divine Village didn't yet know that the Divine Village Gate had been opened. As long as they could sense that Liu was of the Aideri Royal Clan, Liu would be the best bait. She was the Tianba Clan's chance to regain freedom. Of course, the Tianba Clan wouldn't kill her.
"Grand... grandson?"
Liu suddenly shouted loudly on the street between the pavilions. Clearly, this was the "taunt skill" taught by Baha. As soon as her shout fell, a drawn longbow aimed at her.
The Tianba Clan member holding the longbow was about to release the bowstring, shooting an arrow through Liu's head, but immediately changed his aim.
Bang!
The long arrow pierced through the air, flying past Liu's head, breaking a few of her hairs.
Liu's tightly closed eyes slowly opened. She knew that always holding them back would eventually get her killed. Taking risks was exciting, and she liked the feeling, but it came with risks.
All 14 Tianba Clan members looked at Liu, disbelief in their eyes.
"Ge da wei (Tianba language: Catch her)."
A purple-robed Tianba shouted. At this moment, he hadn't yet noticed that spatial fluctuations had appeared behind him.