Chapter 570 - 577: The Result of the Careful Arrangement

He instantly realized he’d been tricked again.

He looked at Song Wanning in disbelief.

"You—"

The word had barely left his mouth when Song Wanning grabbed his tail, gave it a hard yank, and flung him to the side.

Gong Ye stabilized himself and opened his mouth wide. Instantly, dozens of freezing Water Swords shot out, each one aimed at Song Wanning’s vitals.

But Song Wanning threw out a Space Rune, and in the next second, her figure appeared several kilometers away.

Gong Ye roared furiously. His airborne body shot through the sky, chasing after Song Wanning.

But after just a few more flashes, Song Wanning appeared beside the Flower Peacock and directly snatched the Storage Ring from her hand.

The Flower Peacock was shocked. Her curled-up body instinctively straightened as she tried to snatch the Storage Ring back.

But in the next moment, Song Wanning decisively erased her Divine Soul Mark from it.

"SPIT—"

With her Storage Ring forcibly taken and her Divine Soul damaged once more, the Flower Peacock couldn’t stop herself from coughing up a mouthful of blood. Her face turned deathly pale.

Her face ashen, she glared at Song Wanning with bitter resentment.

No matter how worried she was, her pride wouldn’t allow her to show any fear.

But Song Wanning had no intention of dealing with her. After taking the Storage Ring, she turned and left with a casual flair.

By the time Gong Ye caught up, he only managed to crash into a shimmering Array, which sent him flying back.

Through the Array Patterns, Song Wanning’s face became an extraordinary eyesore.

He narrowed his eyes, trying to suppress the rage burning inside him.

’Every time I run into Song Wanning, I get so angry I could die.’

’This woman is my nemesis!’

Yet, her astonishing power always left him with a deep sense of admiration. This contradiction seriously messed with his mood.

"You planned this from the start?"

Gong Ye gradually calmed down, a faint, unreadable smile playing on his lips.

For some reason, the more she did this, the more his interest in her grew.

"Of course. I’ve long heard that the Demon King is profoundly skilled with Arrays. How could I hope to trap you without a little bit of planning?"

Song Wanning didn’t deny it.

’Strictly speaking, I’ve been considering this problem for a long time.’

’If the Demon King was really following us in secret, it means he’s a deep thinker and acts with caution.’

That was why they had prepared a counter-strategy in advance. Not only in Gong Ye’s location, but in other directions as well, she had long since sent her clones to place Spirit Stones.

In other words, from the very beginning, Song Wanning had calculated that she would set a trap in this exact location. Now that her clones had completed their task, they had long since returned to the Snake Clan...

This was something Gong Ye had been unable to detect.

The result was just as she’d hoped. With the coordinated setup, the Array’s coverage extended for dozens of kilometers.

As long as Gong Ye was unwilling to part with the Soul Exchange Pearl, he was bound to fall into the trap.

"Heh."

Gong Ye looked at Song Wanning’s confident face, truly noticing her outstanding beauty for the first time. A look of determination to possess her flashed in his eyes.

’Only a woman like this is worthy of standing by my side.’

"Song Wanning, we don’t need to be at daggers drawn."

"In a sense, we could have a win-win partnership."

He addressed her directly by her full name.

At first, he didn’t know this person was the infamous Song Wanning. It wasn’t until she abducted his people that he realized something was off. He had someone fetch a portrait of Song Wanning for comparison, and the result was just as he suspected.

After all, there weren’t many people at the Out-of-Body Stage who could fight him to a standstill.

’Considering she killed several Mahayana Realm ancestors from the Huo Family, it’s no wonder she’s so arrogant, daring to cause trouble in my territory.’

Song Wanning wasn’t surprised to hear him say her name.

A chill came over her face. "I might cooperate with anyone else, but never with you."

With that, she gave a slight smile and had Liu Lan Yi activate the Array.

The Array they had laid wasn’t just a simple Trapping Array, but one with offensive capabilities. It could unleash attacks of seven or eight different elemental types—an improved version by Feng Jiuxiao, so its power was self-evident.

Not even Gong Ye could hope to break free easily.

However, given his skill in Arrays, he would probably figure out how to disable it eventually. They had to act fast.

Seeing the Array activate, Song Wanning took out a Flying Artifact without a backward glance.

"Let’s go!"

Liu Lan Yi leaped onto the Magic Artifact, and the two of them sped away, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The Red Lotus Karmic Fire was taken away with them, and the Flower Peacock finally had a chance to breathe, groaning continuously as she lay on the ground.

Gong Ye glanced down at her, a look of disgust in his eyes.

He looked up again, toward the direction Song Wanning had fled.

"Think you can ditch me? Dream on."

"We’ll be seeing each other again very soon!!"

With that, he began to fend off the Array’s attacks while simultaneously trying to observe it and find the key to breaking it.

...

"Wan Ning, that peacock... are we just going to leave her in the Array?"

A flicker of doubt crossed Liu Lan Yi’s eyes. ’Wan Ning stole her Storage Ring, but she’s not going to finish her off?’

’This isn’t like her at all.’

"Martial Aunt, the Peacock Clan has recently been in talks with the Snake Clan about cooperating to deal with the Hundred Demons Palace."

Song Wanning shared the information her clone had gathered. With just that one sentence, Liu Lan Yi immediately understood her intention and tapped her on the forehead with a smile.

"You little rascal, you’re getting sharper and sharper!"

’She considers every angle, even things I wouldn’t have thought of. She has an excellent grasp of people’s hearts.’

Seeing how rapidly her Cultivation was growing, a pang of heartache shot through Liu Lan Yi.

’I wonder what Wan Ning has been through all these years...’

Song Wanning noticed her martial aunt’s mood dipping and immediately started telling jokes to cheer Liu Lan Yi up.

The two of them happily sped toward the true location of the Soul Exchange Pearl, hoping no one else had found the bead yet.

「Half a month flew by.」

Song Wanning finally arrived at the real location of the Soul Exchange Pearl.

But the scene before her was rather startling. The place Liu Lan Yi had brought her to was a desert.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but yellow sand, with no end in sight.

And that tiny little bead was somewhere in this endless expanse of sand.

Song Wanning blinked and turned to look at Liu Lan Yi with a feigned innocence.

"Martial Aunt, are you saying that the Soul Exchange Pearl burrowed into this sand?"

"And you... you can’t sense its location?"

Liu Lan Yi looked away guiltily and gave a dry laugh. "The situation was urgent back then. I saw the Soul Exchange Pearl go in, but I didn’t dare look for it. After all, Gong Ye was hunting me everywhere."

Back then, if she hadn’t been lucky, she would have been captured right at the start while still holding the Soul Exchange Pearl.

Fortunately, while she was on the run, she discovered this treasure-filled land and tossed the Soul Exchange Pearl inside.