Chapter 169 - The Only Hope (2)

Sageridge.

Outside the illusory mist array, drawn by the beast luring incense, all kinds of demonic beasts streamed endlessly through the pitch-black mountain forest, gathering toward Sageridge.

Within the illusory mist array, bloody slaughter still continued.

The military formation the Sageridge border army had formed outside the city was like a millstone of flesh and blood. Wave after wave of savage, snarling demonic beasts charged out of the fog, and wave after wave were ground into heaps of corpses by the formation.

The bodies of all manner of demonic beasts had already piled up like small hills outside the city, but unfortunately, the number of demonic beasts pouring out from the mouth of the fog showed no sign of decreasing.

The illusory mist array Xu Xinyao had set up was a trapping formation. It was a visibly powerful trapping formation, one capable of ensnaring tens of thousands of attacking demonic beasts within the array.

But by the same token, it was only a trapping formation.

The formation itself could not effectively kill the demonic beasts. It could only divert them out in batches, and in the end, the Sageridge border army still had to do the killing with their own hands.

And three full hours had already passed since the Sageridge border army marched out of the city, formed ranks, and began slaughtering demonic beasts.

The Myriad Manifestations Sect was still feeding demonic beasts into the array in an orderly fashion, like boiling a frog in warm water. Meanwhile, among the ranks of the Sageridge border army, some of the soldiers holding the formation were already beginning to flag.

At this rate, the first casualty would appear very soon tonight.

And once the first man fell, that would only be the beginning.

In the desolate silence, General Wang stared at the pitch-black fog in the distance. His voice was very soft. “Young Master Zhou, if we break out, will the Myriad Manifestations Sect spare the common folk inside the array?”

General Wang accepted reality quickly, and he reacted just as quickly. If the Sageridge border army broke out, then should the Myriad Manifestations Sect continue with its plan to slaughter the town, everything they had done would become known to the outside world.

Xu Yuan thought for a moment and instinctively wanted to nod in agreement, but in the end, he gently shook his head. “They won’t.”

“Why?” General Wang suddenly lifted his eyes and stared at Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan spoke one word at a time. “Because there is no evidence.”

After humans and demonic beasts died, their corpses would breed yin energy, but ghost fog would not form immediately.

It was a relatively long process.

As long as the Myriad Manifestations Sect was not stupid, there was a high chance they had only tampered with the illusory mist array and the town defense array for now. They would not be in a hurry to carve out any other formations meant to restrict the ghost fog.

Because as long as everyone died, during the time it took for the corpses to breed ghost fog, they would have more than enough time and energy to do all of that.

In other words, at this point in time, even if every last person in Sageridge died, it would simply be because something had gone wrong with the array.

As for breaking through the encirclement and announcing the truth to the world? The conversation would play out like the following.

We spent money and manpower helping you build this grand array. You Sageridge border troops were the ones too afraid of death to defend the city, and you ran away instead. Now you want to bite us back?

You say we were trying to cultivate ghost fog?

Then show us the evidence.

Did we build any formation in Sageridge for nurturing Yin energy?

In the flickering glow of the torches, the knife-carved wrinkles on General Wang’s face seemed to deepen even further. His low voice had turned hoarse.

“But we know.” He pointed at the fog blocking out the sky, his finger trembling slightly. “This illusory mist array was built by the Myriad Manifestations Sect, yet it happened to fail at a time like this. No matter how they argue it, they cannot escape blame!”

For a moment, the wall fell silent.

Xu Yuan shook his head, his tone low. “General Wang, it’s useless. On my way here, whether it was merchants and porters or sect disciples, everyone believed the builder of the illusory mist array to be the Fourth Young Miss of the Chancellor’s Manor, not the Myriad Manifestations Sect. The Myriad Manifestations Sect was merely responsible for providing the materials and silver.”

At this point, he paused. “And on top of that, you said earlier that Xu Xinyao left before the grand array project had been finished. But the rumors outside all say that Xu Xinyao only left after verifying that the grand array had taken effect. That has already confirmed, in everyone’s mind, that she was the one who built the formation.”

General Wang gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, “That activation of the grand array was only to verify the effects of the illusory mist array. It was not final acceptance.”

“But none of you denied it back then,” Xu Yuan said.

General Wang’s voice trembled slightly. “Miss Xu has done so much for Sageridge. She earned that fine reputation for it. How could we, the Sageridge border army, deny it?”

“So it makes no difference.”

Xu Yuan looked at the illusory mist array. “There is no way to investigate this matter anymore.”

General Wang’s voice was tight with suppressed rage. “You mean Miss Xu’s identity has become protection for those sons of bitches in Myriad Manifestations Sect instead?”

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment, then nodded. “As things stand, yes. Even if Xu Xinyao is willing to testify afterward, to the outside world, it would only look like she was doing it to protect her own reputation. And more than that, Her identity as the Fourth Young Miss of the Chancellor’s Manor will, to a great extent, affect the judgment of whoever the court sends to investigate. After all, her adoptive father is the current Chancellor.

“If the Myriad Manifestations Sect has prepared thoroughly enough, then even if the Sageridge border army manages to break through the encirclement, you will most likely be branded deserters who fled before the battle. When that happens, everything you say will be treated as lies you made up to absolve yourselves.”

General Wang seemed to age many years in an instant. He pointed toward the town, then outside it. “Then does that mean these four hundred thousand common folk are certain to die?”

Xu Yuan looked at General Wang, took a deep breath, and said in a low voice, “There is one way, but the chance is very slim.”

“What way?” General Wang immediately asked, a rare glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes once more.

“Current formation technology still cannot achieve long-distance control.” Xu Yuan’s voice was unhurried and steady. “In other words, if the Myriad Manifestations Sect wants to control the illusory mist array, then they must have set up a control node somewhere near Sageridge. You form ranks and help Senior Sister and me break open a path. We will go out, find the people there, kill them, and use that formation node to control the illusory mist array ourselves.”

General Wang hesitated slightly when he heard this. “Would the Myriad Manifestations Sect have powerful experts guarding it?”

Xu Yuan nodded. “They definitely will. But they absolutely won’t be too strong. At most, it will be a third rank Grandmaster.”

“Why?” General Wang frowned.

Xu Yuan analyzed quickly and calmly. “The Myriad Manifestations Sect is very strong overall, but it has not reached the point where it can secretly cultivate a second rank Origin Awakener without anyone knowing. Their first rank Transcendents and second rank Origin Awakeners are basically all famous figures with names and records. If those people make a move, then the moment they leave behind any trace, it would be the same as confirming that the Myriad Manifestations Sect intended to slaughter the town. The Myriad Manifestations Sect would never take that risk.”

When his words fell, the air went quiet for a moment.

Without the slightest hesitation, the burly border-army man bent both knees and knelt directly on the ground.

Xu Yuan frowned and moved to help him up, but the man had knelt with such force that Xu Yuan’s cultivation was not enough to lift him.

General Wang cupped his fists in both hands and bowed deeply to Xu Yuan. “Sageridge thanks Young Master Zhou for his great kindness.”

Xu Yuan frowned and said in a low voice, “General Wang, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to find that control node. And this still won’t be enough to convict the Myriad Manifestations Sect.”

General Wang shook his head and grinned. “Young Master Zhou, at least now, these four hundred thousand common folk have a chance to live.”