Chapter 10: Cunning Villain

The old man pleaded for mercy while simultaneously slapping two cherished defensive talismans onto his body. However, Chen Mobai, having just witnessed the old man's brutal attack on his companion, hesitated only for a moment before gritting his teeth and activating both of his Green Arrow Talismans. Simultaneously, five iridescent beads rose up behind him.

"Look at my Green Arrow Talismans!" Chen Mobai exclaimed.

Recalling the old man's treacherous ambush of the youth in brown, Chen Mobai felt he was a suspicious and cunning villain, so he decided to bluff. Ostensibly, both Green Arrow Talismans unleashed ten spiritual energy arrows aimed at the old man, who was now enveloped in yellow and blue protective shields. Covertly, Chen Mobai also manipulated five glass beads, which emitted dazzling Five-Element spiritual energy fluctuations, appearing like powerful magical artifacts.

As expected, the old man's face showed suspicion.

The old man then hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and, trusting his many years of combat experience, made what he believed to be the correct judgment. He believed Chen Mobai's overtly launched Green Arrow Talismans were a feint, and that the real killing move was silent, but involved the five dazzling beads, which were overflowing with Five-Element spiritual energy and which he took for artifacts.

In the end, he activated both of his life-saving, Mid-Grade Tier 1 defensive talismans and braced himself to withstand the ten spiritual energy arrows. At the same time, the old man also threw out his black flag, which activated the water spiritual energy still controllable within the Azure Water Grand Formation, transforming it into torrents of water that swept forth, engulfing the multicolored glass beads flying from the other direction.

"Eh!?"

But to his surprise, the spiritual energy-transformed water had barely touched the colorful beads thrown by Chen Mobai when they crumbled like plaster powder, scattering into dust.

"Damn it, I've been tricked! This kid is so cunning!"

No sooner had this thought crossed the old man's mind than ten green arrows, imbued with most of Chen Mobai's spiritual energy, successively slammed into the two defensive talismans protecting him. The powerful impact forced the old man, who was resisting with his protective shields, to retreat step by step. The yellow and blue light shields flickered and dimmed like light bulbs receiving insufficient power.

The old man was only at the third level of Qi Condensation. Although he had extensive combat experience and decent assets, he was without the enhancement of the water manor's grand formation. Having fallen into the trap of over-reliance on experience, he had been outwitted by Chen Mobai. At this point, the spiritual energy within his Dantian was nearly depleted by the two defensive talismans.

But at this moment, even if he couldn't hold on, he had no choice but to push through. The old man took out a bottle of spiritual recovery pills, disregarding the waste and potential side effects. He swallowed them all in one gulp, his face immediately turning crimson. However, his spiritual energy fluctuations surged dramatically. The yellow and blue light shields also seemed to receive sufficient spiritual energy and began operating at full power.

*Thump! Thump! Thump!...*

Seven consecutive green spiritual energy arrows were repelled, their power exhausted, causing them to dissipate. The yellow light shield on the old man's body also reached its limit, turning into a scattering of yellow light before vanishing. But at this moment, the old man's face instead showed joy, because, based on his many years of combat experience, he had estimated that his other water-attribute defensive talisman could completely block the remaining three spiritual energy arrows. It was not unheard of for him to reverse a fight and kill a Qi Condensation Stage 5 cultivator while only being at Qi Condensation Stage 3.

Just as the old man began to consider how to counterattack and kill Chen Mobai to claim the water manor for himself, he suddenly realized something.

"No, wait, this kid was scheming against me from the start!"

The old man tried to adjust his position, but it was too late. Chen Mobai's spiritual energy erupted, and the remaining power of the Green Arrow Talismans burst forth in one go. Three green arrows heavily struck the blue light shield on his body, pushing his body back another three steps. These three steps caused the old man's back to touch the stone door of the water manor's central side hall.

*Sizzle!*

The dark blue lightning restriction was activated, and with a look of despair on the old man's face, it shattered his blue light shield, which still had most of its power. It then entered his body without obstruction, and amidst his screams, tore him into pieces.

"Hoo... hoo... hoo..." Chen Mobai gasped for breath, not only due to the exhaustion of spiritual energy within him, but also because it was his first time witnessing a living person die before his eyes. He had seen countless such scenes in movies and TV shows, but he had never felt such an unspeakable and immense shock until now. His mind went blank. Although neither person was directly killed by him, both deaths had indirect connections to him.

In a dizzy spell, Chen Mobai plopped down onto the ground. It was unclear how much time passed until a fish, eyes rolled back, landed with a splash beside his feet. Only then did Chen Mobai finally regain his senses.

One of the formation flags of the Azure Water Grand Formation had been broken by his Green Arrow Talisman, creating a flaw. The opening created by the old man now seemed permanently there, no longer sealing itself. This fish, while drifting in the water, had been lucky enough to dart into this opening. It then lost the protection of the water current, bounced with all its might to Chen Mobai's side, and died with its eyes rolled back.

"I need to find a way to repair this defensive grand formation," Chen Mobai murmured to himself. He still didn't know where exactly he was. According to the old man, it was a place called "Eastern Barrens." This place was lawless. If others were to discover this water manor, Chen Mobai felt reasoning with them would surely be useless. Therefore, it would be best to repair the Azure Water Grand Formation and hide the water manor once more.

However, formations were notoriously difficult to master. Among the four arts—cultivation techniques, alchemy, artifact forging, and formations—although Chen Mobai had diligently studied all of them, his performance was generally mediocre. He walked up to the formation flag he had broken, tied it with rope, and propped it back up. However, it was useless.

With a sigh, Chen Mobai noticed the black flag the old man had used to crush the glass beads. A flash of inspiration struck him. Using his Lifting Technique to remotely control it, he pulled the black flag over and replaced the broken formation flag with it. He waited for a quarter of an hour, but there was still no response.

Chen Mobai racked his brain, recalling all the knowledge about formations he had learned in class. Finally, he remembered an example his teacher had given: a formation was like a precise machine. After a problem occurred and components were replaced for repair, it needed to be reactivated by injecting spiritual energy, similar to a new device needing to be powered on for a test run.

Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment. After all, he wasn't a professional formation master, and he feared this activation step might be dangerous. But thinking about his three days in the water manor and the immense help the Mid-Grade Tier 2 spiritual land provided for his cultivation, he still gritted his teeth and decided to take the risk.

He injected a stream of spiritual energy into the black flag. Still no response.

"No, that's not right," he thought, "activation should be done at the main formation flag."

Chen Mobai recalled another piece of knowledge. He walked to the central formation base in the front hall and poured spiritual energy into it.

*Buzz!*

Then, to his joyous surprise, the opening in the Azure Water Grand Formation began to slowly shrink, eventually disappearing completely. It really worked.