“Is that so? I don’t know what my disciples did to offend you, Brother Zheng Wei, but could you defer their punishment to me?” Before any further action could take place, an indifferent voice sounded out, followed by various-colored streaks of light heading in their direction. In the blink of an eye, the Sacred Poison Sect Elders appeared before them.
The one who spoke faced against the silhouette in the red light.
Much to the surprise of those present, the overbearing cultivator from before chuckled upon seeing their arrival and said, “So Brother Hua actually was here. It seems I’ve been lacking in manners. It was merely a jest towards your sect disciples, how could I truly bully them?” His attitude had changed dramatically.
Wild laughter came from the side, and five white silhouettes suddenly appeared in a brilliant flash. “So it was Fellow Daoist Zheng Wei, the illustrious Master Scatterwind. Now that I see you in person, your reputation is well deserved!”
“The Unbreakable Cinque Devils, so it was the Yin Sifting Sect’s Brother Qian!” The cultivator coated in red light spoke out in great alarm.
“You flatter me, Brother Zheng. Your reputation is no lesser than my own!” Old Devil Qian spoke with a cackle.
Those words were true, Master Scatterwind was a famous figure in the Great Jin.
However, his fame wasn’t the result of anything good. He was known as a moralless deceiver as treacherous as they came. When faced with weaker opponents, he would act like an unsensible fiend and take advantage of them.
Such a character naturally offended many. Even a few Nascent Soul cultivators bore resentment towards him. Unfortunately, he was an early-Nascent Soul vagrant cultivator who used an easy cultivation technique to ascend to his current realm. But in the past, he happened upon an ancient grand treasure, the World Flying Boots. When fully used, he can escape even late-Nascent Soul cultivators.
In addition, he later cultivated many strange secret techniques focused on survival and avoided offending any cultivators at mid and late-Nascent Soul stage. As a result, he was able to travel freely despite being one of the most notorious figures in the Great Jin.
The Sacred Poison Sect’s Grand Elder Hua Tianqi had nothing good to say about him, but Old Devil Qian seemed quite interested.
In the face of the Yin Sifting Sect’s Grand Elder, Master Scatterwind smiled and began to slowly retreat like a mouse when faced against a cat.
When Old Devil Qian saw Scatterwind’s meek attitude, he lost interest and instead spoke again to Hua Tianqi with an oddly cheerful tone, “Brother Hua, could it be your sect is guarding this place to bar outsiders from entering?”
Hua Tianqi paused before replying with a flickering gaze, “Brother Qian must be joking. Our Sacred Poison Sect wouldn’t dare to block you, or any other sect for that matter. I merely wished to dissolve the formation covering this area to allow everyone else to head inside. This was to avoid having any Fellow Daoists fall prey to this malicious formation.
Old Devil Qian coldly chuckled and said, “Oh, I do apologize. It seems I’ve misunderstood your sect’s good intentions. However, this mere illusion formation is nothing against me. Do you mind if I head in right away?” As he spoke, his cinque devils slowly moved closer.
Hua Tianqi quickly replied, “It will be no problem. If Brother Qian can make it through, I will not block you.” He waved his hand and indicated for his sect disciples to clear a path.
Although the other sect members felt puzzled by this, they trusted him and said nothing in opposition. As a result, the Core Formation disciples obediently stood to the side.
“Then I will go on ahead.” Old Devil Qian let out a cacophonic and roaring guffaw before his cinque devils shot into the white light barrier. In the blink of an eye, blue light shined out and the colorless silhouettes disappeared into the void.
When the barrier calmed once more, Hua Tianqi turned to the surrounding cultivators as the green marks twisted on his face and he slowly said, “If there is anyone else who wishes to follow, I will not stop them.”
His actions had caused the aggressive group to look at each other in dismay. Even the devious Master Scatterwind now hid amongst the crowd and didn’t dare to accept their offer.
They felt resentment towards the Sacred Poison Sect for monopolizing the opening, but now that there was a late-Nascent Soul cultivator already inside, they hesitated.
Regardless of how quickly the illusion formation can be broken, if they entered and Old Devil Qian was to strike at them, they wouldn’t be able to protect themselves in the slightest.
When Hua Tianqi saw that no one had accepted, he sneered and no longer paid them any attention. He then turned around to his disciples and commanded, “You will no longer be guarding this location, so go ahead and return to the surface. The other elders and I will be heading in first.”
“Yes, Grand Elder!” The eight Sacred Poison Sect Core Formation disciples bowed and tunneled back up.
With a shout, the four Sacred Poison Sect cultivators then entered the illusion formation and disappeared without a trace.
Afterwards, an uproar broke out.
A majority of them didn’t belong to a group. At most, they came in groups of two or three Core Formation cultivators, but none were in nearly great enough force to head in.
As for the lone Nascent Soul cultivators, they all revealed a pensive expression as well.
Now that the entrance was unobstructed, the situation had become awkward.
Master Scatterwind discovered a bulky man in the crowd and said, “Fellow Daoist, how about we head in together.”
“Together? Please excuse my refusal. However, it is a joy to meet you, given your grand reputation!” The large Nascent Soul cultivator rolled his eyes and spoke with a sarcastic tone.
Master Scatterwind didn’t take his refusal to heart and pleasantly said, “Fellow Daoist doesn’t need to be so distant. In addition to us two, there should be three other vagrant Nascent Soul cultivators gathered here. How about we head in together? That way, we won’t have much to fear from the others already inside.”
The large man felt tempted, but Scatterwind’s reputation was far too damaging. He snorted and said, “How about you gather the others first before asking me again?”
“That’s fine, they will be sure to agree,” he slapped his chest in a pledge and flew over to an old man glowing in purple light, much to the bewilderment of the large man.
Before the old man could react, Scatterwind wore a beaming smile, “Fellow Daoist, would you like to head in together? I’ve already come to terms with the other Fellow Daoist to find three more people. Are you willing to join us?”
The old man frowned and coldly glanced at him before turning to look at the large man with a curious gaze.
When their eyes met, he suddenly realized something and he faintly smiled.
Not long after, the five unacquainted vagrants entered the illusion formation together and disappeared from sight.
…
Han Li was currently looking around him with blue light shining from his eyes.
He now found himself trapped in an illusory space where he was surrounded by various colored clouds. Besides these, nothing else existed here.
“This wicked place is far too strange. I can’t fly out, nor can I discover any restrictions. It doesn't seem to be an illusory formation. Could it be that I am truly trapped here?” Han Li muttered with a sour face.
Several days prior, his party discovered a boulder on the side of the stairs with a rare medicinal herb growing on it. Old Man Fu eager went out to pick it, but had stirred up a restriction of some kind. As a result, Han Li saw his surroundings light up before he appeared in this place alone.
The other two were nowhere to be seen.
Although he wasn’t on the same level as a spell formation grandmaster, he had done quite a bit of research on strange ancient formations and wasn’t very fearful at the start.
But it didn’t take long for him to have a change of mind.
He wasn’t even sure if this was an illusion. He only knew that no matter how far he flew, everything remained entirely the same. He had also made extensive use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, to no avail.
As for attacks from his treasures, he had used them all, but the strikes traveled incredibly far before disappearing. It seemed there was no use in trying even stronger attacks.
After spending so much time floating here, Han Li hadn’t made the slightest progress and eventually decided to stop for the time being.
He closed his eyes and sank into meditation as the many ancient spell formations he studied appeared in his mind, attempting to find a restriction that was similar to this one.
As time slowly passed by, his figure remained motionless. Eventually, he slowly opened his eyes to glare at the bright clouds that surrounded him.
He wore an odd expression and clicked his tongue, muttering, “So it was like that.”
