MOF Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Arrays Within Arrays, Setting Up Arrays, Attracting Array Masters – One Stroke Creates Myriad Demons, a Dot of Ink Becomes…

Xie Yiling saw the crazed look on Fan Qiujin’s face and his behavior that was far from normal. He probed with his spiritual power and, as expected, there was a problem.

“His soul is damaged, and his mind is incomplete.”

Nangong Ci asked, “Is this the doing of the painting?”

Xie Yiling was silent for a moment. “Most likely. His three souls and seven spirits were incomplete long ago, but because he was being controlled, he didn’t realize anything was wrong. Now, after being controlled by my spiritual incantation, the two forces fought against each other. His body realized this, and it began to collapse.”

In other words, Xie Yiling’s spiritual incantation shattered Fan Qiujin’s self-deceptive dream, allowing him to regain control of his mind. However, once he regained it, the consequences of his incomplete mind came to light.

Nangong Ci said, “If he’s still alive, see if we can retrieve his soul.”

“Okay.” Xie Yiling nodded and used a talisman to calm Fan Qiujin down. “The Rain Flower Goddess he mentioned should be Hua Jieyu. I didn’t expect them to have already implemented their plan in Wei City.”

Out of the corner of his eye, the painting on the wall seemed to move. Xie Yiling turned his head and saw a blue shadow appear on the painting. The blue was not particularly vibrant, but it was exceptionally eye-catching in the entire ink wash painting.

The blue shadow in the painting was only the size of a bean, and it was constantly moving, its trajectory suggesting that it was fighting something.

Xie Yiling narrowed his eyes and recognized that it was Gu Huanzhi. However, he was not in a hurry to save him. Going in now would only result in another chaotic fight without any clues, like the previous two times.

Xie Yiling decided to treat the array as a breakthrough point. With a primary goal, he quickly thought of something. The array at the alley entrance was different from the array at Bai Cheng’s tomb.

He told Nangong Ci about this and speculated, “The array at the alley is the entrance to the painting, and within the painting is another type of array. I think the functions of these two arrays are different. The one in the painting is probably to imprison Bai Cheng.”

Nangong Ci listened to his analysis and raised an eyebrow, saying, “That makes sense. So, what do you plan to do?”

Xie Yiling looked around warily, leaned close to Nangong Ci, and whispered a few words in his ear.

After listening, Nangong Ci lowered his eyes and saw the familiar cunning glint in Xie Yiling’s eyes. He curved his lips and said, “Okay.”

The only light source, the Jianchun Tower, seemed to be eternally imprisoned in a long night. The sky above the tower would never seem to brighten.

Xie Yiling and Nangong Ci groped their way back to the alley entrance in the night. This time, he cautiously did not step forward but stopped a distance away.

When he was trapped in the array before, although he was a little panicked, Xie Yiling still spared some attention to identify the array. Upon closer inspection, he discovered its secrets. It was a teleportation array that did not belong to the Immortal Sect.

If other Immortal Sect disciples encountered it, they would have no choice but to find a way to break the array. However, Xie Yiling, who had studied demonic and ghostly arts extensively, was the one who encountered it. He quickly memorized the array’s layout in his mind, as well as the various spells used to layer it. He immediately had an idea.

Xie Yiling turned his head and asked, “Nangong Ci, can you try to unlock this array?”

On the ground, the array was faintly visible. Nangong Ci nodded, and white light from his fingertip transformed into a ribbon-like wisp, entering the array. The moment he broke the array, Xie Yiling quickly chanted an incantation, setting up a new teleportation array.

“Okay,” Xie Yiling breathed a sigh of relief. “Now, this array won’t force us to teleport in.”

Nangong Ci glanced at him and made a hand seal, flicking it toward the array. Xie Yiling looked at him in surprise, “What a telepathic connection, Daoist Priest.”

His original intention was to copy the array and then use it to transmit a message to Gu Huanzhi. He didn’t expect Nangong Ci to guess his intention before he even spoke.

Xie Yiling also made a hand seal, but it was simply used for illumination. The spiritual incantation crossed the array, clearly displaying the painting on the alley wall in their eyes.

There was indeed a blue dot shadow on the painting, but it was no longer moving.

Xie Yiling and Nangong Ci waited patiently for a while, and a bit of blue spiritual light flew out of the array.

Nangong Ci raised his hand and took the spiritual light. A line of words appeared in mid-air.

“Array found.”

Xie Yiling said, “Junior Brother Gu is at the Bai Cheng tomb?”

Nangong Ci nodded. “I’ll teach him how to break the array first, but I don’t know if it will work.” After saying that, he transmitted another spiritual incantation.

Xie Yiling said, “There’s no harm in trying.”

The change in the alley entrance array quickly alerted Bai Zhe and the others.

Xie Yiling was waiting for Gu Huanzhi’s reply when he suddenly felt a chill rise behind him. Without even turning his head, he pushed Nangong Ci aside.

A giant python rushed into the array. If Xie Yiling hadn’t dodged it, he would probably be in the python’s belly by now.

The array was activated due to the intrusion of an external object, emitting a blinding red light. Bai Zhe narrowed his eyes, sensing that there was a problem with the array. Behind him, the woman wearing a cyan veil also arrived at this time.

“The array has been changed.” The woman saw the problem at a glance.

Bai Zhe frowned, and his smile disappeared. He said to Xie Yiling, “You really know how to stir up trouble.”

The woman said, “You take the one with the sword, and I’ll take the one next to him.” As she spoke, she attacked Xie Yiling.

Bai Zhe waved his brush, one stroke creating myriad demons, a dot of ink becoming a spirit. The alley, which could barely accommodate three or four people walking side by side, was instantly filled with evil spirits. The walls on both sides of the alley were also covered with evil spirits emitting black smoke.

Xie Yiling dodged the cyan-veiled woman’s attack, exchanged a glance with Nangong Ci, and jumped into the array. Countless evil spirits leapt up, baring their demonic teeth at him.

As soon as Xie Yiling entered the array, he immediately mobilized his spiritual power. The evil spirits disappeared the moment they entered the array’s range. He said silently in his heart, “I’m sorry, Junior Brother Gu.”

Nangong Ci slashed with his sword, sending all the evil spirits in front flying into the air. A few seconds later, fragmented limbs and arms fell like rain, piling up together.

The cyan-veiled woman stared at Xie Yiling. Beneath her killing intent was an urgent desire. Her figure was like a snake, escaping from Nangong Ci’s sword and arriving in front of the array.

Two red shadows shot out from her sleeves, forcibly entering the array despite the altered array.

Xie Yiling immediately recognized them and shouted, “Hua Jieyu!”

Azurefall emitted a clear sword cry, leaving its master and blocking Xie Yiling’s path.

Red silkEntangleXie Yiling’s left wrist, trying to drag him out of the array.

“What are you doing?!” Bai Zhe saw this scene and said angrily, “Why bother fighting over this at this time? Just kill him directly!”

Xie Yiling curled his lips, understanding that Hua Jieyu did not want to vent her anger at being knocked away by him earlier. She was after the monk’s bone.

He pretended to be dragged out of the array by the red silk, and when he was close to her, he suddenly transformed his spiritual power into a sword, stabbing Hua Jieyu’s pipa bone.

Hua Jieyu groaned, grabbing Xie Yiling’s wrist with both hands. The red silk tightened continuously, leaving purplish-red marks.

Xie Yiling endured it again and again, but couldn’t help but kick Hua Jieyu’s leg. Taking advantage of her pain, he summoned a talisman chain. However, before he could strike, a sudden earthquake shook the ground, and Xie Yiling was shaken by Hua Jieyu.

With a swoosh, Azurefall finally cut off the red silk. Xie Yiling pushed Hua Jieyu away with a palm, grabbed the hilt of Azurefall, and used a Southern Return Immortal Technique, injuring Hua Jieyu again.

Finally, he threw the sword directly, and Nangong Ci reached out and steadily caught it.

This violent shaking, as if the sky had fallen, originated from Gu Huanzhi in the painting. Using the array-breaking method Nangong Ci had just taught him, he continuously cracked the array, accidentally unlocking the array that imprisoned Bai Cheng.

Once the array was destroyed, Bai Cheng regained her freedom. However, she did not take the opportunity to leave. Instead, she looked at Gu Huanzhi with a somewhat dazed expression, “What did you do?”

Gu Huanzhi raised his chin at her, signaling her to look at the ground. “I just unlocked the array.”

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng felt as if the sky had fallen. In fact, it really had.

Outside the Jianchun Tower, the wind blew against the windows incessantly, and the painting on the wall emitted a faint rustling sound. The sky above Bai Cheng’s head was torn open with a huge crack, and the originally dim sky gradually became as bright as day.

Gu Huanzhi said, “I have to get out of here quickly, girl. You… you do as you please.” After saying that, he walked towards the array teleportation point that Nangong Ci had mentioned without looking back. As soon as he stood on it, he disappeared.

At the foot of Daoshun Mountain, from the yellow soil and mud, heads emerged one by one, rolling around with the shaking. The white bones on the mountain collapsed, and the bodies, after being dried by the wind, formed human trees planted in the soil, also collapsed.

Bai Cheng was stunned for a while, then hesitantly walked out slowly. When she stepped out of the familiar array range and found that she was not sent back, her eyes widened slightly.

She really could get out.

Bai Cheng ran towards the foot of Daoshun Mountain as fast as she could. The thatched hut where she lived with her brother was there, and she wanted to go home and take a look. Who knew that upon leaving the vicinity of the tomb, the scene before her made her freeze in place. The mountain full of white bones made her feel as if she were in a sea of corpses a hundred years later. Every step she took made a cracking sound of broken bones.

Bai Cheng suddenly lost her strength, her legs went weak, and she rolled down the mountain. The soil on her body was soft, and she didn’t feel much pain, but when she stopped, she bumped into a pile of hard and smooth objects.

Bai Cheng propped herself up. The empty eye sockets of the heads were facing her. Even a spirit like her, who had been cultivated for many years, was greatly shocked.

“It’s all fake.” Bai Cheng tried to calm herself down. “Brother said that these were all drawn by him, and they aren’t real.”

She raised her head and saw the snow-white sky, like a lake of ice or a silver mirror.

Inside the painting, the sky was breaking and the earth was splitting. Outside the painting, the wind and rain were coming.

Bai Zhe felt the yin-yang ink in his hand vibrating uncontrollably, and he understood that something was wrong with the array in the painting. He gripped the brush tightly and glanced reproachfully at the injured Hua Jieyu. The latter looked back fearlessly, her eyes cold.

Xie Yiling was wondering when Gu Huanzhi would come out when he suddenly heard a voice, “Daoist Fufeng, Senior Brother Xie.” In the next second, Gu Huanzhi fell out of the painting on the wall.

Xie Yiling quickly supported him. Gu Huanzhi steadied himself and thanked him. Then, he drew Frost Guest and, without saying a word, directly attacked Bai Zhe and Hua Jieyu.

Xie Yiling and Nangong Ci attacked at the same time, and the fight broke out again.

Amidst the turbulence of the earth and sky, the five of them fought back and forth.

“Can we keep fighting like this!” Gu Huanzhi shouted.

Xie Yiling replied, “This is a dream, so we don’t have to worry about destroying it!”

Gu Huanzhi asked again, “Can’t you kill people in a dream?”

Xie Yiling said, “Try it.”