Chapter 1452: Body in the Dao Camp, Heart in Suffering; Schemes as High as the Dao, Yet Words Fail

"Get the hell out of here!"

Blasted by Kui Lei Han's final strike, they were hurled from the town into the spatial turbulence.

Jin Ren's lingering spiritual sense and half of his Tianji body remained completely unharmed.

On the contrary, he could sense an invisible "thought" force shielding him, resisting the storms within the turbulence.

Presumably, Zhu Yi Ke, Xiang Yi, and the others were experiencing the same.

Perhaps they would all end up scattered across various corners of the continent, recuperating before returning to face Sheng Shen Hall...

Kui Lei Han's actions before and after were somewhat contradictory, to say the least.

But at the very least, it proved he held a neutral stance, not an enemy.

Now, from a certain perspective, what he was doing might be sending the Sheng Nu side and others to a safe place.

Unfortunately, Dao Qiong Cang seemed to have foreseen all of this.

When the Tianji Dao Wen seeped into the spatial turbulence, illuminating everything inside, and when that cry of "Da Nuo Yi Shu" reached their ears...

Whether it was Jin Ren, Xiang Yi, or Zhu Yi Ke who had just awakened from the residual electricity, they all realized something was terribly wrong.

A buzzing sound echoed.

The light and shadows before their eyes shifted.

Everyone, including the white-robed figures blasted in by Kui Lei Han afterward, was randomly scattered into a mountain forest.

"Where is this...?"

Jin Ren's Tianji puppet had lost all its combat capabilities.

His remaining spiritual sense wasn't strong enough to cover the entire mountain forest and determine their location.

But given that they had ended up here due to Dao Qiong Cang's Tianji technique, it was surely no safe haven.

Another buzzing sound.

All around in the mountain forest, the grass, trees, flowers, and stones lit up with Tianji Dao Wen.

Behind the Tianji puppet, a light gate materialized, and from its brilliance stepped a backlit black silhouette.

Jin Ren quickly maneuvered the Tianji puppet to turn around, not daring to expose its damaged back to this potentially hostile unknown entity.

As his spiritual sense caught sight of that graceful outline,

He then heard a familiar, long-absent voice, though now filled with coldness and strangeness:

"This is Qing Yuan Shan."

"I've been exploring the mountain for a full day, searching every nook and cranny, using the heavens and earth as the foundation and the great dao as the framework, to construct this nearly perfect 'San Shi San Tian Fang Xing Luo Wen Zhen'..."

Accompanying this proud voice, Yu Zhi Wen lifted her chin and straightened her posture, like a celestial maiden, holding a radiant star disc and stepping out on a halo of light.

Her star-like eyes sparkled with unusual colors as she stared at that ugly, makeshift, battle-damaged Tianji puppet.

After a long moment, she scoffed:

"Fortune is on my side!"

"Xu Xiao Shou, I've finally waited for you!"

Jin Ren was stunned.

Is this Yu Zhi Wen?

So overbearing and arrogant, she was completely different from the gentle girl in his memory!

For a moment, Jin Ren even suspected this was Dao Qiong Cang in disguise, deliberately leaking false information to lure him into a trap.

He remained silent, saying nothing.

Under the night sky, Yu Zhi Wen's gauze skirt fluttered slightly in the wind.

Suddenly, her lips curved into a smile. She flipped her palm and produced a broken Tianji arm:

"Xu Xiao Shou, no need to play dumb."

"Even in this state, I can tell at a glance that it's you!"

Jin Ren's spiritual sense fell upon the Tianji arm, and his heart sank.

That was the arm he had left behind outside Yu Jing City, after sacrificing an unknown carriage driver to break the sub-array of the Kyoto Great Array—the Pan Fu Zhi Shu.

After rescuing Xiang Yi, that Tianji arm had naturally been detonated.

He never imagined that it hadn't been completely destroyed and had fallen into Dao Qiong Cang's hands.

After going around in circles, it had now ended up with Yu Zhi Wen.

Matching the materials, Yu Zhi Wen could recognize with her eyes closed that this Tianji arm and the puppet were one and the same.

Naturally, in her eyes...

He was completely exposed!

Yu Zhi Wen looked a bit smug, pursing her lips as she spoke casually:

"You probably don't know yet, but I've become the head of the Dao Department, right?"

"This Tianji great array was specially constructed in advance just for you..."

"You can't outmatch the Dao Hall Master!"

"Because even outside Yu Jing City, he predicted you'd come here and arranged for me to set up the array..."

Yu Zhi Wen strolled forward, her slender jade fingers unconsciously twirling the edge of her sleeve.

In her star-like eyes, there was a clear hint of contempt, as if she had completely looked down on this battered pile of Tianji scrap in front of her:

"The San Shi San Tian Fang Xing Luo Wen Zhen has a total of thirty-three layers of variations, possessing the profound mystery of 'unfathomable to ghosts and gods, inescapable to spirits and demons'."

"It's formed from the heavens and earth, maximizing the advantages of the terrain. Any artificially constructed Tianji Dao Wen can have no more than thirty-three patterns."

"Even if the Dao Hall Master himself came, under my control of this array, he couldn't break it for a while!"

"Much less..."

She paused.

Yu Zhi Wen had just walked to the side of the Tianji puppet.

Glancing slightly, she spotted the grotesque scars on its back from the battle—wounds so severe that its central energy core and routes were fully exposed, like laying bare a person's heart and veins for the enemy to see.

For a Tianji puppet, this was undoubtedly fatal!

It meant that if she wanted, she could take him down without even borrowing the power of Qing Yuan Shan array—he wouldn't even have a chance to resist.

"Much less what?" The Tianji puppet asked calmly, its voice—long unheard but familiar—echoing from within.

Yu Zhi Wen closed her eyes, her long lashes trembling as her lips curled into a mocking smile:

"Much less you're already severely wounded!"

"And I, after gaining some insight under the waterfall, have refined the Tianji Dao Wen down to just nine patterns!"

Waterfall...

Jin Ren manipulated the half-broken Tianji puppet, turning its partially detached disc-like head toward the smug young woman.

Yu Zhi Wen said teasingly, "You probably don't know what 'nine' signifies, do you?"

"What does it signify?" he asked.

"Hmph! It means the Qing Yuan Shan array has even fewer flaws, only... uh?"

Her words halted as Yu Zhi Wen's face went blank.

She suddenly realized that the response hadn't come from the Tianji puppet, but from...

Under the night sky, a breeze rustled the trees.

Not far away, from the treetops, Yu Zhi Wen's gaze sharpened as she looked over.

There, she saw the Dao Hall Master himself, sitting on a tree branch, arms crossed and smiling, his face as handsome as a jade crown!

Ah—

Yu Zhi Wen nearly cried out.

"Go on, what does it signify?" Dao Qiong Cang shifted his position, resting his chin on his hand, as if he had been listening for a long, long time.

"Uh..."

"Mm..."

"Ah, this..."

Yu Zhi Wen's face flushed red as she stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.

"Nine is quite an absolute concept!" Dao Qiong Cang jumped down from the tree and walked over, speaking as he went:

"It means that as long as Qing Yuan Shan stands, this array remains unbreakable."

"Even if the attacker is a Tianji master of the highest caliber, they can find at most nine flaws."

"But by setting deadly traps in those nine artificial flaws and luring the enemy in, it becomes another level of... catching a turtle in a jar!"

Dao Qiong Cang glanced at the young woman with a sigh, his tone meaningful:

"Knowing there's a tiger on the mountain, yet still heading toward it..."

"The one breaking the array has no choice but to follow that path and fall into the trap—it's a blatant scheme!"

Seeming amused by his own words, Dao Qiong Cang chuckled, then added with a hint of reproach:

"A blatant scheme, ah!"

"How could you so easily reveal it to the enemy?!"

Yu Zhi Wen's lips quivered, her star-like eyes showing clear panic, even bordering on terror.

She glanced at the Tianji puppet, then back at the Dao Hall Master...

Raising a hand to cover her slightly pale and trembling lips, she said:

"Ah? Is that so?"

Dao Qiong Cang's combat instincts were too sharp, his reactions too quick!

He also raised his hand, covering his mouth with the back of it, feigning surprise:

"Ah? You didn't think of that?"

At this, Yu Zhi Wen felt like she had been thrown into a boiling pot.

Her body temperature soared, her face turned crimson as blood, and even her hair seemed to steam.

"I—I..."

"You—you, what!" Dao Qiong Cang pressed on relentlessly, step by step.

"I didn't think..."

"Didn't think of what!"

Yu Zhi Wen was forced to retreat repeatedly, utterly flustered.

Finally, with a thud, the dignified head of the Dao Department tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground.

Propping herself up with her hands, she looked at the Dao Hall Master like he was a demon:

"I didn't think you could... use..."

"Ah, right! So it can be divided into nine variations, turning the flaws into layers of schemes, then catching Xu Xiao Shou like a turtle in a jar..."

"Dao Hall Master, you're so clever!"

"Only just realized?" Dao Qiong Cang exclaimed in shock upon hearing this, "Wow, Yu Zhi Wen, you're so foolish!"

Yu Zhi Wen was so choked up she wanted to die.

She turned her head away, squeezed her eyes shut, and dug her fingers into the soil, even curling her toes tightly.

She didn't dare say another word!

The more she spoke, the more mistakes she'd make!

"What about the waterfall? I'm asking you, what is the 'waterfall'?" Dao Qiong Cang leaned in closer, his face full of curiosity.

Please... no more questions...

But how could Dao Qiong Cang stop?

He asked in alarm, "Surely your Tianji Dao Wen, your nine flaws, aren't all placed under the waterfall, right?"

Ahhhhhh!!!

"It's not..." Yu Zhi Wen's voice was as soft as a mosquito's.

"What if it is? What if I've already checked there?" Dao Qiong Cang's eyes widened, bigger and more intimidating than the moon!

"Woo woo..."

"Ah? It really is? I haven't had time to check at all!"

Dao Qiong Cang dropped his frightening expression. "After sending everyone to Qing Yuan Shan, I immediately locked onto Xu Xiao Shou, but I never expected someone to beat me to it..."

Yu Zhi Wen's head tilted down so far it almost buried into the earth, her eyes sealed shut, not daring to open even a crack for fear she was still in this world.

"And colluding with the enemy..."

"I didn't collude!" Yu Zhi Wen blurted out instinctively.

"Then what is it?"

"Woo..."

"Oh, sorry, how rude of me." Dao Qiong Cang straightened up, releasing the pressure, and even lightly slapped his own face in apology. "As civilized people, we shouldn't say 'colluding,' we should say 'showing off'."

"Mmph!"

Yu Zhi Wen grunted, her body going limp, her heart pounding as if she were about to be killed.

She fainted.

Not faking it—she really fainted!

The radiant star disc slipped from her hand and, by some twist of fate, rolled right to the feet of the Tianji puppet...

Dao Qiong Cang kept his eyes straight ahead, but the corners of his lips twitched upward, only to be forcibly suppressed.

He couldn't hold it back!

With a "pfft," Dao Qiong Cang burst into laughter, clapping his hands: "Fainting is great, it solves a thousand worries—wonderful, wonderful..."

"You old thief! I've put up with you for too long!"

The Tianji puppet suddenly roared.

It twisted its knee, tensed its waist, and unleashed a physical whip kick, sweeping upward with borrowed force.

Bang!

Such a weak attack didn't even require Dao Qiong Cang to use Tianji techniques.

He blocked it with his hand, and with a surge of Sheng force, half of the Tianji puppet's leg shattered from the recoil.

Yet, with that twist, the Tianji puppet bent down and swiftly picked up the star disc Yu Zhi Wen had provided.

Without hesitation, its spiritual sense linked to the disc.

In the Ran Ming ruins, beneath Jin Ren's feet, an array disc unfolded, merging into a state of unity with heaven and earth.

In less than an instant, he cracked the star disc's defenses—which had already been lifted—and obtained the key to the Qing Yuan Shan great array.

"Teleport!!!"

Jin Ren shouted excitedly, not forgetting to take the young woman with him.

The surrounding heavens and earth lit up with patterns; flowers, grass, trees, wind, water, and clouds... all brimmed with dao rhythm!

But in the end, it didn't succeed.

Jin Ren couldn't use the power of the Qing Yuan Shan array to teleport away from in front of Dao Qiong Cang and head to a place abundant in water vapor, possibly the "waterfall."

After the starlight glowed around them...

The Tianji puppet remained in place, still clutching the star disc.

Its innocent, pattern-like eyes looked up from its half-broken rear, gazing at Dao Qiong Cang, who had just shattered its whip leg.

Dao Qiong Cang smiled faintly, his gaze piercing through the half-broken Tianji rear to meet Xu Xiao Shou's spiritual eyes.

A buzzing sound.

Light gates appeared all around the heavens and earth.

From them emerged white-robed figures, fully fifty or sixty in number.

"We greet the Dao Hall Master!"

Their unified shout was majestic, echoing through the clouds.

Jin Ren fell silent, shaking the star disc in his hand—it contained no water, the array disc was real, and Yu Zhi Wen had truly meant to help him!

"This is indeed the key, but it's useless now." Dao Qiong Cang explained with a smile:

"When I entered the mountain, I locked onto Yu Zhi Wen's position first and went to the 'waterfall,' pulling out all nine flaws... She really went for it!"

"I was still wondering if it was possible, and she had already done it... Ha, impressive!"

With a twitch of his mouth, Dao Qiong Cang refocused:

"Once the array was broken and under my control, her star disc became nothing more than a prop."

"It can still be used, but only because I granted it authority, letting her use it..."

Dao Qiong Cang said this with a smug expression, wagging his finger at the Tianji puppet's half-broken rear:

"But she can use it—you can't."

At the center of the Tianji puppet's rear, a crack opened, revealing a dark little tube that extended just far enough to point at Dao Qiong Cang's nostril.

Pfft—

Like a fart, a puff of dark yellow gas burst out from the tube.

Dao Qiong Cang reacted quickly, thinking it was some variable, and hastily retreated.

But it turned out this wasn't an energy attack or physical output—it was just gas expulsion!

He held his breath in time.

Yet the gas still seeped into his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, making it look no different from him inhaling it voluntarily.

"A fart?"

The watching white-robed figures were shocked.

The Dao Hall Master had teleported them here, presumably to form another great array or serve as its core.

Who would have thought the master had such tastes, making them watch him inhale a fart in broad view?

"Wait..."

That wasn't a person—it was a Tianji puppet. Where would it get a fart from?

This was clearly poison!

Everyone saw Dao Qiong Cang clutching his nose and staggering back.

"You..."

He couldn't speak, his face shifting from ruddy to pale, then to ashen, and finally purpling...

What terrifying poison!

What quality was this?

Xu Xiao Shou was a third-rank Wang Zuo refining spirit master, capable of creating high-quality poisons...

But even so!

Even a Sheng-grade poison shouldn't act this fast or affect a semi-saint so quickly, right?

"Dao Hall Master..."

Everyone realized something and kept their eyes down, noses to the ground, silent as death.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

The broken Tianji puppet tossed away the star disc and burst into laughter, then collapsed to the ground.

It gave up all resistance, its remaining Dao Wen glowing...

"Even you, Dao Hall Master, with your unfathomable depths and scheming mind, in the end, still had to inhale my Xu Xiao Shou's fart?"

"Don't worry, it's not poison—it's really just a fart... I haven't stooped that low yet."

"Today, you win, old daoist. I admit defeat."

The Tianji puppet suddenly swelled up:

"Farewell, everyone. May our paths cross again someday."

(End of chapter)