Chapter 173 - Ambush (2)

While Ran Qingmo was keeping the Myriad Manifestations Sect experts busy, Xu Yuan could sneak off and search for the formation node. And even if he could not find it, he could still creep over and give those three Grandmasters of the Myriad Manifestations Sect one hell of a surprise.

With Void Step Slash in hand, no one understood ambushes better than him.

Everything went smoothly. Even against three Grandmasters, that iceberg of a woman remained calm and methodical, slowly drawing the battlefield deeper into the mountains bit by bit.

After waiting quietly for a while, Xu Yuan moved. He followed the edge of the illusory mist array, searching for any possible control node.

His speed was neither too fast nor too slow. With the Sage's remnant soul using soul power to suppress the fluctuations of his source qi, Xu Yuan was not worried that the three Grandmasters locked in fierce battle over there would discover him.

All things had source qi fluctuations. There had to be a connection between the control node and the illusory mist array. With the Sage's remnant soul and his powerful soul force, finding that faint thread of source qi should not be too difficult.

But things did not go as smoothly as Xu Yuan imagined.

There was nothing west of Sageridge. Nothing to the north. Nothing to the east or south either.

In the span of half an hour, Xu Yuan circled the entire illusory mist array once and still failed to find anything that looked like a control node.

Returning once more to his starting point, Xu Yuan stared at the towering wall of fog that reached toward the clouds. His brows knitted tightly. “Old Luo, don’t tell me the control node is set up inside the illusory mist array itself?”

The Sage's remnant soul fell silent for a moment when he heard that, then said quietly, “That depends on what your sister’s foundational formation diagram looked like. If that diagram she gave them did not include a control node inside the array formation, then it’s basically impossible for one to be in there.”

“What do you mean?” Xu Yuan asked at once.

The Sage's remnant soul weighed his words for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Formations are things where tugging one thread moves the whole body. The overall structure, the fine formation patterns that guide the flow of source qi, the materials used, all of it matters. If even one step goes slightly wrong, the final result can end up a thousand miles off.

“And before your sister left, she activated and verified this illusory mist array. That means most of the work had already been completed. Trying to add something inside the formation at that stage would be no easier than rebuilding the whole thing. So if it wasn’t in the foundational formation diagram, then the control node the Myriad Manifestations Sect secretly created has to be outside the formation.”

Xu Yuan searched through the memories related to that sworn little sister of his, then shook his head. “Xu Xinyao shouldn’t be that stupid.”

After saying that, he sighed and asked instead, “If we make another lap, do you think we can find the control node?”

“Heh.”

The Sage's remnant soul gave a low laugh. “Xu boy, if you couldn’t find it after one lap, you won’t find it after a hundred. This is the sort of business that could wipe out an entire sect if exposed. Who knows how long the Myriad Manifestations Sect has been planning it? And you think a plan you cooked up in a few minutes can crack it?”

Xu Yuan fell silent for several breaths when he heard this. His heart felt a little complicated. He said quietly, “In that case, let’s not waste any more time. We’ll go help Ran Qingmo. Maybe we can capture someone alive and interrogate them. Mm. I’ll make the move. You just help me gather source qi.”

The Sage's remnant soul raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure you don’t want me to do it?”

“I don’t have the memories from the illusion, but a lot of things were carved into my body.” Xu Yuan shook his head and smiled. “In the illusion, I was a second rank Origin Awakener for more than ten years, after all. It’s just an ambush. Nothing serious.”

The Sage's remnant soul hesitated slightly, but in the end, he said nothing more. “As long as you know what you’re doing.”

With that said, Xu Yuan sped through the forest, following the trail left by Ran Qingmo’s battle.

BOOM! An explosive rumble echoed through the mountains. When the smoke and dust in midair dispersed, it revealed a shield formed from ice crystals.

Within that shield stood a beautiful figure in black, holding an ink-black sword. Her eyes were cold as she watched the three people around her.

Two men and one woman. An old man, a burly man, and a slightly plump woman.

Seeing that his attack had been blocked, the burly man rapidly retreated while shouting in a low voice at the old man. “Jia, this girl’s cultivation method is odd!”

“You think I need you to tell me that?” The old man snapped back. His figure looked rather wretched at that moment.

A sword wound had nearly cut his thin body in half at the waist. Ice crystals spreading from the wound had almost frozen half of him solid. If not for the cover provided by his two companions, he would likely have already become another ghost beneath that woman’s sword.

As he thought this, the old man’s source qi suddenly shook through his body. The ice crystals covering him shattered in an instant, and he sent a low voice transmission. “This girl is clearly that old bastard from the Celeste Sword Sect’s precious disciple.”

The slightly plump woman’s pupils shrank when she heard this. “Ran Qingmo? The sixteen-year-old Grandmaster like Xu Changge?”

The burly man’s eyelid twitched despite himself. He sent a voice transmission as well. “Should we let this woman go? She doesn’t have any evidence anyway. By the time reinforcements arrive, everything here will already be over.”

The slightly plump woman agreed in a low voice. “If the old man’s disciple dies here, it may be hard to give the Celeste Sword Sect an explanation.”

The veins on the old man’s forehead bulged. “You two bastards. Are you scared already? What if something goes wrong? What happens to the sect then? There is only one Xu Changge in this world. A fast cultivation speed does not mean strong combat ability.”

That was what he said, but the way the slightly plump woman and the burly man looked at the black-clothed woman across from them had already grown deeply wary.

To the sects, the name Xu Changge was practically a nightmare.

The slightly plump woman and the burly man had both attended the Celeste Assembly thirteen years ago.

Back then, they had only been at the fourth rank Body Integration Realm and had been eliminated early. But they had still seen the entire process of the talented disciples of their generation having their backs broken by that azure robed youth who seemed like a banished immortal descended to earth.

He crushed those at the same rank with a single sword.

Even though the two of them had long since crossed from the Body Integration into the Grandmaster Realm, when this generation’s Xu Changge appeared before them, what they faced was still a near-crushing strength.

After all, the old man had nearly been cut down by her in the first exchange.

The woman before them, dressed in black as dark as ink, made the two of them involuntarily think of that eldest young master of the Chancellor's Manor.

Moonlight poured down like a waterfall.

The four of them stood facing one another across the air.

Just as the three from the Myriad Manifestations Sect were beginning to waver, a blood red figure appeared behind the old man without the slightest warning.

It was sudden, so sudden that one might even suspect their own eyes had gone wrong.

And the instant that person appeared, the old man sensed him.

The old man did not think his soul sense had made a mistake.

He simply had no time. All his attention was on the black-clothed woman across from him, and the person behind him gave him no chance to react.

Time seemed to freeze.

The sword technique, like ink splashed across paper, bloomed like a flower. Beneath the cold moonlight, it traced a graceful arc through the air.

Then, the old man saw a familiar headless body.

After one breath of silence, the headless corpse dropped toward the ground like a kite with its string cut.

The mountain wind stirred the long hair at his temples. The man in blood red robes stood in the air, his calm gaze falling upon the man and woman beside him, both of them stunned beyond words. His voice was gentle. “Now, I have some questions for you.”