“Oh-ho.” On the distant mountain peak, the sword cultivator by the cliff spread his hands. “She actually figured it out.”
The white-haired man smirked, a bit proud but also curious. “I’ve been curious until now, but how could her skill and talent in arrays be so ridiculously high?”
“She’s also a medical cultivator,” the sword cultivator laughed nonchalantly. “You medical cultivators should be thrilled to have such a freakish talent among you.”
The white-haired man, however, frowned slightly. “The path of medicine is arduous. With her talent and skill in arrays, her Dao heart…”
“Hey.” The man by the cliff stood up, stretching lazily. He was much more relaxed than the white-haired man. “Young people have their own fortunes. In the past, many cultivators of spell, sword, and array dual-cultivated and still achieved the Great Ascension stage. Why are you medical cultivators so pedantic?”
“What do you know?!” the white-haired man snorted. “We medical cultivators…”
“Yes, yes! I don’t understand!” The man by the cliff stomped his foot, casually stretching his limbs. “I bet that little girl not only figured out that there’s a large array waiting for them to break but also identified what kind of array it is.” He grinned at the white-haired man. “Shall we make a bet?”
“You’re saying she recognizes the Seven Emotions Array?” The white-haired man said, “But isn’t it…”
“It’s the Seven Kills Array, not Seven Emotions. Even if you give it a gentle facade, you couldn’t hide its cold and ruthless nature.” The sword cultivator protested loudly.
“Shut up!” The woman in red stepped forward. “Do you think emotions are gentle?” She scoffed. “Killing with emotions is the most bloodless and cruel way.”
“I can’t win against you two.” The sword cultivator grumbled, looking into the distance, suddenly smiling with schadenfreude. “The little girl first needs to find seven people… Damn!”
Before the sword cultivator could finish his sentence, the entire Ten Absolutes Mountain suddenly began to shake, and even the peak they were on started to tremble. The shaking lasted for almost the time it took to burn a stick of incense, then abruptly stopped. Though the three at the mountain peak weren’t shaken off, their expressions changed slightly.
“This is…” The white-haired man looked down the mountain, his eyes flickering. “They actually activated the entrance to the Seven Emotions Array!”
“…” The sword cultivator was uncharacteristically silent for a moment. “That little girl looks delicate and frail, but she acts decisively. She’s quite a talent; I can’t help but admire her.”
“However…” He shook his head, “The people she has now are not the optimal combination. Let me see, the little fox specializes in defense, the Xingluo Pavilion kid is an attacker, the little girl and that other kid are medical cultivators. That’s four people. They still need three attackers, preferably two spell cultivators and one sword cultivator.”
The sword cultivator grinned. “The kid from Jingyuetian who can summon the crescent moon counts as one spell cultivator. But they’re still two people short.” The sword cultivator chuckled. “Otherwise, even if they find the entrance and go in, it will be tough for them to break the array.”
…
In the small city, time seemed to come to a halt. The city wall, which had been filled with the sounds of battle just moments ago, suddenly fell completely silent. The spells that had been cast and the natal swords were all frozen mid-air, creating a surreal scene. It was as if a massive block of ice had descended, freezing everything and bringing an eerie stillness to the mountaintop.
“What, what’s going on?!” Sikong Xing looked around, bewildered, and grabbed Meng Qi’s arm. “Meng Qiqi, what’s happening?”
Meng Qi softly murmured, “Hmm,” but didn’t say anything.
“What’s going on?” Li Che also asked. He stood cautiously beside Meng Qi and Sikong Xing, instinctively positioning himself to protect the two girls despite being a medical cultivator. He looked around warily. “Why aren’t they moving?!” He looked at Meng Qi, then at Sikong Xing and Pei Mufeng, his face full of confusion. “Why are we the only ones unaffected?”
Pei Mufeng nodded, appearing calmer than Li Che. “There should be others,” he said.
Just as Pei Mufeng finished speaking, a solitary, aloof figure emerged from the thick fog below the city wall, slowly walking towards them. Above his head, a crescent moon lingered, casting a faint glow and enveloping him in a gentle halo of moonlight, lessening the chill on his blood-stained face.
“Yan Xuan.” Seeing the person, Sikong Xing almost jumped in excitement. She waved at him. “We’re over here.”
“Five now,” Meng Qi muttered, “we need two more.” She turned to look at the base of the city wall. Just moments ago, there had been a tall man in white standing there, as firm and unmoving as a pine tree or the moon. Now, that spot was empty, filled only with loneliness.
“What do you mean by ‘two more’?” Sikong Xing asked, not understanding.
“To break the Seven Kills Array, we need seven people,” Meng Qi explained.
The mention of the “Seven Kills Array” immediately drew the focus of the four pairs of eyes onto Meng Qi.
“Meng Qiqi?” Sikong Xing was the first to react. “Seven Kills Array… what is that?” As a demon cultivator, she was somewhat familiar with arrays, as each demon cultivator was born with an innate cultivation array within them. Yet, she had never heard of the Seven Kills Array.
Before Meng Qi could respond, another voice came from the city wall. “Damn!” someone cursed, then shakily stood up from the wall.
“Chu Tianfeng!” Sikong Xing almost jumped up again. Since she and Chu Tianfeng had found Meng Qi, they had been helping to bring the injured to the medical cultivators for treatment. They didn’t always act together, and Chu Tianfeng had just gone to the wall alone to look for injured people.
“Here!!! Over here!!” Sikong Xing quickly waved at him.
“What’s happening here?” Chu Tianfeng asked, rubbing his forehead as he walked over, carrying a young man in his arms. “I was just trying to help him up and take him over there when a spell hit me in the back…” He groaned in pain.
Li Che quickly took the person from Chu Tianfeng’s arms, performed a quick examination, and sighed. “It’s not due to injury. It must be the same as the others. He suddenly just… stopped.”
“Let me check your wound,” Meng Qi said, moving behind Chu Tianfeng and placing her hand on his neck.
“I…” Chu Tianfeng began to speak, but her cool fingers, with a faint medicinal scent, touched the back of his neck. Immediately, a soothing aura spread from the slender fingertips, easing the burning sensation on his skin.
“Your injury isn’t severe,” Meng Qi said, taking out a porcelain bottle and sprinkling some medicinal powder on the wound. She then formed a seal with her left hand and pressed it onto the wound. “I’ll treat it for you first, it will heal in a few days.”
“I-I see.” Chu Tianfeng stood rigidly, not daring to move, as if he were sealed in place.
After a while, Meng Qi withdrew her hand, and Chu Tianfeng seemed to be released from a seal, his body swaying slightly. “Six people now,” Meng Qi said.
“What six people?” Chu Tianfeng quickly asked. “And…” He looked around, his gaze finally landing on the young cultivator he had saved, who appeared to be in a coma, and asked again, “What’s happened to them?”
“There’s a huge array here,” Sikong Xing explained quickly. “Meng Qiqi said we need to break this array, but it requires seven people to do so.”
“Except for us, everyone else suddenly can’t move!” she added.
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Translator’s note:
I have added a new novel, Three Years After Falling Off A Cliff. This is a historical romance novel similar to Greetings Ninth Uncle, by the same author of Eight Treasures Trousseau and To Be a Virtuous Wife. The release schedule follows Daughter of the Dao and Devil Venerable (Monday and Wednesday). Hope you will enjoy it!
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