MOF Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Array within Array, Setting up Array, Leading Array, Array Master

Xie Yiling nodded and said, “…”

Gu Huanzhi was certainly not foolish enough to test danger himself. He attacked swiftly, carrying a surge of anger, “When we were breaking the array earlier, if they hadn’t released those demons, forcing me to interrupt the process, I would have come out much earlier.”

Xie Yiling remained calm, fighting while distancing himself from Gu Huanzhi. Anyway, it was Bai Zhe’s fault; let him take the blame.

Bai Zhe’s mind was entirely occupied with his painting scroll, wishing he could withdraw immediately. Suddenly, a sharp pain tugged at his heart, and his expression changed drastically.

Bai Cheng had left the painting!

He whispered, “Go, stop fighting.”

Hua Jieyu snorted coldly, “That depends on whether we can leave.” Her plain clothes were soaked in blood, yet she seemed oblivious, continuing to fight.

Bai Zhe said, “If you hadn’t interfered, how would we be in this situation now?”

Hua Jieyu glanced at him coldly, “I told you, I only want the Huai Jie Bone.”

Seeing the two starting to quarrel, Xie Yiling raised his voice, suggesting, “How about this, the two of you fight, and the winner fights us.”

Bai Zhe looked at him and spat out two words, “Idiot.”

Xie Yiling pointed at him and turned to Nangong Ci, “He’s calling me names.”

Bìluò immediately flew over, and Bai Zhe quickly waved his brush, painting many birds and beasts, trying to escape. But Bìluò quickly caught up with those painted creatures, piercing through them all, and they vanished.

Looking at the spirit sword about to pierce him, Bai Zhe hardened his heart. His hand didn’t stop, outlining a figure, chanting a few incantations to summon a ghost. Once the figure took shape, he turned and left without looking back.

Bìluò was about to strike that figure, but Xie Yiling called out, “Nangong Ci, don’t!”

The ink dispersed, and Bai Cheng appeared in front of everyone, weak and confused, her heterochromatic eyes filled with panic, looking around helplessly.

Seeing Bai Zhe fleeing in a sorry state, Hua Jieyu sneered inwardly. She saw that Xie Yiling and the others didn’t want to harm Bai Cheng, so she summoned a red silk, wrapping it around Bai Cheng. With a pull and a push, she used Bai Cheng as cover to escape.

If conditions allowed, she would even want to abduct Bai Cheng.

After using Bai Cheng, Hua Jieyu casually pushed her away with a palm strike. Fortunately, Gu Huanzhi was nearby and acted in time, catching her before she hit the ground.

Because she was a ghost, Bai Cheng’s body was already showing obvious signs of fading after leaving the painting.

Gu Huanzhi held her, asking, “Xie Shixiong, is this, did we beat her until her soul is scattered?”

Xie Yiling said, “If you really wanted her soul scattered, why did you save her just now?”

Gu Huanzhi grinned, “She rushed out to block the injury for Bai Zhe just now, which was indeed infuriatingly helping the evildoers. But when Fufeng Daoren sent me a message before, he said she was just a ghost and hadn’t taken any lives.”

Xie Yiling also considered that she hadn’t done evil, so he saved her if he could, casually putting her soul into the “Wen” talisman that Nangong Ci had given him earlier.

He looked at the small talisman and asked, “Bai Guniang, what happened just now?”

After two seconds, Bai Cheng’s hollow voice came from the Wen talisman, asking, “I still don’t know the names of the three of you.”

Gu Huanzhi was the first to say, “I am Gu Huanzhi of Riyue Lingtai.”

Xie Yiling said, “Xie Yiling, a disciple of Southern Return Heavenly Pavilion.” After introducing himself, he also introduced Nangong Ci, then waited for Bai Cheng to answer the previous question.

“Just now, it was my brother who summoned me over.”

Hearing this, Xie Yiling dryly said, “Mm.”

This answer was truly a slap in the face to Bai Cheng’s recent statements like “Brother protects me” and “Brother is doing this for me.”

When the atmosphere eased a little, Xie Yiling asked again, “Now can you tell us, what caused your death?”

Before Bai Cheng could speak, the sky suddenly changed again. Still that pair of huge eyes, blatantly staring at them in the dark night.

Xie Yiling put away the Wen talisman and said to Bai Cheng, “Bai Guniang, stay put first. We’ll call you again later if we need you.”

Bai Cheng responded, and there was no sound.

Xie Yiling looked up directly at these eyes, and found that they were neither Bai Cheng’s nor Bai Zhe’s, but… Wen Liangchen’s.

What was going on? Xie Yiling couldn’t help but wonder, how could anyone’s eyes be hung in the sky?

Wait, hung in the sky…

When they saw the eyes in the sky belonging to Bai Zhe before, Bai Zhe found them not long after. Now this pair has turned into Wen Liangchen’s. If Wen Liangchen also finds them next, does that mean that there is a place where the entire false Wei City can be seen!

Where is it? Where could this place be hidden?

Fan Qiujin’s bedroom? No. Xie Yiling quickly rejected this guess, as that area was also being “peeped” at.

Where else did they miss? Xie Yiling now wished he could grow a few more heads. He thought through all the places he had been to, but still had no clues.

Seeing him frowning, Nangong Ci knew that he had thought of some key information, and gently touched his face, saying gently, “Don’t worry, think slowly.”

Xie Yiling’s heart eased a little, “We are now like being trapped in a black bottle, the mouth of the bottle is covered with a black cloth. Even if the black cloth is not removed, we are still being spied on from time to time.”

After listening, Nangong Ci thought for a moment, and said, “You suspect that the mouth of that bottle is not placed in the ‘mouth of the bottle’ position?”

“Right.” Xie Yiling clapped his hands, “So I’m thinking, where exactly is that mouth.”

Gu Huanzhi was confused, thinking that he probably didn’t collect enough information, so he couldn’t understand, so he didn’t ask any more questions.

“It doesn’t have to be a specific location, it can also be a person.” Nangong Ci’s voice was low, staring into his eyes, slowly saying, “Who can confuse our sight, and is the least noticeable. Who wanders through the entire process of the painting, but is the least suspicious.”

“The owner of the restaurant may not have seen every customer, but this person must have seen them.” Xie Yiling followed Nangong Ci’s line of thought, “So he can judge their identity based on the customer’s dress, demeanor, and speech, and then assign different dreams after entering the painting.”

At this point, Xie Yiling already had a candidate in mind, “So it was him.”

Overhead, Wen Liangchen’s eyeballs moved slightly. But now, Xie Yiling and the others had no time to stand there blankly looking up at him.

The three immediately returned to Jianchun Restaurant. But after a short trip out, the scene of Jianchun Restaurant was already very different from before, with none of the grandeur of Wei City’s largest restaurant.

The exterior of the restaurant was covered with thick dust, and the plaque with the three characters “Jianchun Restaurant” was teetering. Spider webs were hanging everywhere. On the faded red lacquered pillars, the mottled traces of peeling red lacquer were faintly visible.

The restaurant in front of them had also become only one story high. In the shop, there was only one person standing in front of the counter, motionless, with his back to Xie Yiling and the others.

Xie Yiling calmly walked into the shop, knocked on the table, leaving two fingerprints on the surface.

That person turned around, smiled at them, and said, “Three guests, are you here to eat or stay?”

Xie Yiling struck out with a palm, unceremoniously saying, “Go eat offerings!”

The waiter didn’t dodge or avoid, being struck in the center of his chest by Xie Yiling, leaving a sunken pit. Xie Yiling looked at his hand in surprise, clenched it into a fist, and struck again.

The waiter’s body was as soft as dough. He took Xie Yiling’s next few punches, his cheeks and body severely deformed, but he still stood steadily.

Gu Huanzhi stared wide-eyed at this scene.

Being played around with by a waiter, Xie Yiling couldn’t help but feel frustrated. He vented his anger by beating him up, and said to Nangong Ci, “You do it.”

Nangong Ci waved Bìluò, the tip of the sword slicing from the waiter’s head to his feet. The waiter’s smile split in half, and black gas poured out from the cracks.

The light outside changed. They ignored the waiter’s body and went out of Jianchun Restaurant, looking up to see that the entire Wei City was enveloped in a blue light.

Wen Liangchen’s face replaced the dark sky. In his eyes, Xie Yiling and the others were no bigger than ants. He raised half of his arm, blocking half of Wei City. The blue light spread out from under Jianchun Restaurant, and when it passed through several array points, it all rushed into the sky.

Xie Yiling saw his intention and said, “He wants to rearrange the array, completely trapping us!”

Nangong Ci tightened his grip on Bìluò, saying calmly, “Let’s just knock this place down.”

Gu Huanzhi looked at Nangong Ci with a slightly surprised expression, feeling that Fufeng Daoren had undergone a significant change compared to before.

“It’ll collapse even if we don’t knock it down.” Xie Yiling said, “If the painting is the first level of dream, then where we are now is the second level of dream, then Wen Liangchen’s place is the third level.”

“I understand!” Gu Huanzhi finally understood a bit, “It’s like a tower. If the first level at the bottom has collapsed, the ones above will naturally collapse as well.”

“That’s right.” Xie Yiling snapped his fingers, “So now our main thing is–”

Gu Huanzhi quickly said, “Wait to die.”

Xie Yiling nodded, “Good comprehension, but too frank.”

“It’s too slow.” Nangong Ci frowned slightly, “Wen Liangchen wants to repair the painting scroll. If we continue to wait, he might really succeed in the end.”

“Then let’s fight.” Xie Yiling said, summoning the talisman chains, hearing a faint voice asking, “…Who is Wen Liangchen?”

Nangong Ci explained, “He is a fallen demon, colluding with several other villains, committing unforgivable mistakes, and his sins are monstrous. And he is ruthless, not even sparing his accomplices.”

“That’s right.” Xie Yiling very much agreed with this, “Bai Zhe is probably not going to have a good end from contacting them.”

“Fufeng Daoren and Xie Shixiong are right!” Gu Huanzhi quickly joined in, stating his position to increase credibility, “Bai Guniang, we will never deceive you. These things have spread throughout the entire Immortal Clan.”

When Bai Cheng spoke again, her voice was trembling, “My brother, did he really harm many people?”

Xie Yiling was silent for a moment, saying, “When we get out of the dream, the truth will naturally come to light.”

“No matter what my brother’s purpose is, the fact that the world in the painting was created for me will not be wrong.” Bai Cheng regained her composure, her tone sounding much firmer, “Because of me, it began, and only because of me, can it be destroyed.”

Xie Yiling felt the place where the Wen talisman was placed lighten. Bai Cheng floated out of the talisman.

“Several Xianjun, please use my soul to cast an array and destroy this heinous painting!”

Nangong Ci controlled her, preventing her from being sucked away by Wen Liangchen’s array. Xie Yiling didn’t refuse, nodded, and joined forces with Nangong Ci to set up the array.

Red and white lights covered the blue array all the way along. Wherever it passed, the blue array was suppressed and turned into fragments. The ground cracked upwards, and the sky fell downwards. In the blink of an eye, many houses and pavilions in Wei City shattered and collapsed.

A person fell from the sky, landing right near Xie Yiling and the others, and a few spots of minced meat splashed onto their clothes. It was the waiter from before.

On the edge of the high sky, Wen Liangchen was gone. The black sky fell, revealing the bright white sky. The entire painting finally turned from night to day at this moment, and then completely collapsed in the daytime.