Hiss, hiss, hiss...
By the shore of the vast lake, a giant python flicked its long tongue, slithering in rustling circles along the water’s edge.
Under normal circumstances, such behavior would hardly be strange.
Yet at this very moment, all the mirage beasts were charging toward Three Rainbows Falls. For this massive serpentine mirage beast not to follow the herd stood out as downright bizarre.
Suddenly!
A shudder ran through the giant python. Its eyes grew dazed and unfocused, and it slowly swayed its immense body as it departed the lakeside.
Only after it had traveled several li did the confusion in its eyes gradually disperse.
It cast a bewildered glance back toward the great lake, but its attention was quickly seized by the stampede of its brethren, and it plunged headlong into that raging horde of behemoths.
Across the surface of the vast lake, turbid waves surged as though stirred by the surrounding tremors.
Beneath the waters, Luo Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
“Strange. I clearly dismantled the array yesterday, so why are there still so many mirage beasts being drawn in without the slightest sign of letting up?”
“Could it be that across tens of thousands of li around us, there were really this many mirage beasts lurking all along?”
He was utterly baffled.
Though hastily laid, this scheme had still cost him considerable thought and effort.
To avoid detection by Gu Daosu's Dao Protector, Madame Xu, he had dismantled the array the moment seven or eight mirage beasts were lured in.
Furthermore, he had pushed his concealment arts to their absolute limit!
Even though the situation had spun somewhat out of control, there was still plenty to gain.
Luo Chen looked up toward the surface. The lake water was murky, blinding to the naked eye.
“Far too indistinct!”
Luo Chen muttered under his breath, channeling a stream of pure magic power and beginning to convert it steadily.
Abruptly, he touched a finger lightly against the rippling water before him.
“Cloud Chess Water Mirror, Reflecting Heaven and Earth!”
Buzz...
Ripples visible to the naked eye spread gently through the water.
In the sky above, the clouds seemed to part into fissures as beams of celestial light broke through the cloud layers, casting down upon the expansive surface of the lake.
In an instant, this nameless great lake took on a magnificent, otherworldly beauty!
This technique was not particularly advanced.
Yet when it came to sheer ingenuity, it was rare in the world!
It was something Luo Chen had derived by merging the low-rank Water Mirror Art with the cloud patterns fundamental to arrays, drawing a hint of inspiration from the Peach Garden Chess Array as well.
At this moment, the clouds in the sky were like Go stones scattered above the battlefield, gathering every scene together and imprinting them upon this mirror of lake water.
Every shifting spectacle of the outside world fell vividly into Luo Chen’s bright, perceptive eyes.
A furious noblewoman drove her jade hairpin to hover high in the air.
A gathering of True Persons held their ground, remaining still while watching like tigers eyeing their prey.
And more than a dozen mirage beasts, led by a colossal white eagle, launched a simultaneous charge toward Three Rainbows Falls.
Far off in the distance, billows of dust could be seen rolling incessantly across the horizon, as if even more formidable mirage beasts were on their way.
“Things are getting quite lively!”
Luo Chen pursed his lips. Instead of worry, an inexplicable excitement danced in his eyes.
The greater the risk, the greater the harvest.
Above all, he was not exposed out in the open—he was the oriole waiting behind the mantis!
Smack!
Luo Chen brought his palm down upon the small gray cauldron before him.
The Hunyuan Cauldron transformed in an instant. From roughly a zhang across, it expanded into a hundred-zhang behemoth, sprawling upon the bed of the great lake.
The cauldron’s cavernous maw gaped wide toward the outside world, like the bloody, ravenous maw of a titanic beast.
Luo Chen closed his eyes and snapped them open!
Whoosh!
A split soul, indistinguishable from his main soul, flew out from his sea of consciousness.
Without the shelter of the sea of consciousness and without the vessel of a Nascent Soul, this split soul felt exceedingly uncomfortable the moment it emerged, even submerged in water.
Yet without the slightest hesitation, it plunged directly into the Hunyuan Cauldron.
“With a split soul driving my natal magic treasure with full strength, its might should suffice.”
“However, if I am exposed, relying on this alone would still fall short.”
With a shift of thought, Luo Chen swiped his right hand forward.
Clang!
A blood sword quietly materialized. Luo Chen gripped it firmly, then drove it into the thick silt beside him.
“Now, all that remains is to wait for the good show to begin!”
Luo Chen tilted his head slightly, fixing his gaze upon the myriad scenes reflected upon the water’s surface.
***
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
In the sky, the jade hairpin conjured thousands of radiant silhouettes before abruptly converging into one, shooting forward to pierce a giant ape clambering up Three Rainbows Falls.
Boom!
In a single instant, the giant ape, which scaled sheer cliffs as though walking on flat ground, was shattered apart, dissolving into a boundless white mist.
Before Madame Xu could rejoice over her successful strike, she shot into the sky like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, her eyes fixed entirely on the white eagle.
Her flowing water sleeves fluttered, turning as rigid as forged steel in the blink of an eye.
With a flick of both sleeves, they shot outward like long spears.
The white eagle twisted nimbly, evading the two water sleeves by a razor-thin margin.
Yet just as it sought to break away, the two water sleeves instantly softened once more, wrapping securely around its body.
“Begone!”
Madame Xu’s willow brows arched in fury. Her surging mid Nascent Soul magic power flared as she whipped her sleeves, seeking to fling the white eagle away.
Yet in the next moment, her expression shifted again.
The white eagle spread its wings with all its might. A boundless, titanic force forcefully ripped through the water sleeves, whereupon it charged resolutely toward Madame Xu.
A brocade handkerchief materialized before the woman, glowing with a hazy, shimmering light.
Boom!
With a single clash, the white eagle was hurled hundreds of zhang backward.
Madame Xu, on the other hand, was smashed directly into Three Rainbows Falls like a fallen meteorite.
A heavy haze of dust billowed outward, and ripples of golden-yellow light rippled across the mountain.
“Is that the Mountain-Suppressing Equilibrium Array?” Gu Yuan asked.
Gu Chen nodded. “The Young Master has keen eyes. That is indeed one of our sect’s most renowned fourth-rank mountain-guarding grand arrays.”
Gu Yuan clicked his tongue in admiration. “To think that for this grotto-heaven competition, the Gu clan not only recalled Madame Xu and had Senior Brother Dao Yin obtain the Lanke Black Chess Piece, but even laid down a mountain-guarding grand array. With such immense capital invested, it is no wonder Gu Daosu has pulled ahead of the rest of us.”
Gu Chen’s expression remained indifferent. “Without anyone presiding over it, this array will not hold for long. Especially in this realm, where the spirit veins are ethereal and lack the support of earthly qi, the array’s foundation is inherently unstable. With that white eagle, comparable to a mid Nascent Soul cultivator, flanking it, I fear Madame Xu won’t be able to protect Gu Daosu.”
“It’s good that she can’t protect him!”
Gu Yuan chuckled softly.
Next, it was simply a matter of seeing whether Madame Xu would buckle first, or the grand array would collapse first.
Whichever it was, it meant Gu Daosu would lose his protection, and his state of epiphany would be broken.
When an array of the mountain-guarding caliber appeared, many of the watching cultivators gasped in astonishment.
Such grand arrays were extraordinarily difficult to set up!
Moreover, they consumed a staggering amount of materials.
For the Gu clan to expend one on a mere grotto-heaven competition trial was truly extravagant.
Yet this was the sheer foundation of the twelve great houses. For a prospective Soul Formation seed, they would gladly pay ten or twenty times more without hesitation.
Watching this scene unfold, Mingyan felt not only envy but also a trace of concern.
“Senior Brother, if even such an array cannot protect Gu Daosu, then when our turn comes...”
Before she could finish, Perfected Longyuan raised a hand to cut her off.
“With me here, I am more than enough to protect you. And once you succeed and comprehend the source power, you will be able to stride without restraint, whether inside this grotto-heaven or out in the wider world. When the time comes for you to protect me, nothing will go wrong either.”
Mingyan nodded.
Yet looking upon the colossal beasts charging forward, she felt a restless itch.
“Senior Brother, with so many mirage beasts gathered here, should we...?”
“Wait a little longer. Let us see how the others act!”
Perfected Longyuan said calmly, his gaze unconsciously sweeping across their surroundings.
There were people in the forest, an elder and a youth, who ought to be from the Wang clan of Bo Chuan.
A few li away, a small hill seemed utterly unremarkable, but a wisp of aura had leaked out earlier by chance. If he remembered correctly, it belonged to Yu Xu of the Yu family. Since she had appeared, her Dao Protector would certainly be at her side; a Southern Border gu cultivator was never easy to deal with.
If it were only these people, it would be one thing.
However, Gu Yuan and Shi Ju of the three great houses were both watching hungrily from the sidelines. Attempting to snatch benefits right now was no different from pulling chestnuts from the fire.
He cast a glance toward the clouds, where Shi Ju and Qi Xiongcheng, the latter bearing the purple-gold gourd on his back, were standing.
As he looked over, the other party also glanced back at him.
Yet for some reason, Perfected Longyuan felt as though a third party were watching him as well.
“Could there be someone else above the clouds?”
Just as doubt crept into his mind, Madame Xu, who had previously been smashed into the mountain, reappeared.
The golden light of the array gently buoyed her up.
Her hair was disheveled, her expression fierce and grim.
An eagle’s cry rang out in the air, sounding like a provocation.
Yet Madame Xu ignored the mirage beast’s taunt. Instead, she released her divine sense and transmitted her voice outward.
“Fellow sect members, will you still not lend a hand?”
No one answered.
She gritted her teeth and offered her terms.
“I will activate the Mountain-Suppressing Equilibrium Array with full force to slaughter all the mirage beasts here. I will not take a single mirage core from the harvest; you may divide them equally among yourselves!”
“Furthermore, I have seven spare mirage cores on me, originally meant as backups for Su’er. If you help me resolve this predicament, those seven mirage cores will also be gifted to you!”
Finally, she said in a deep voice, “Whoever steps forward shall earn the friendship of my Gu clan!”
With that, she urged no further, throwing herself wholeheartedly into presiding over the grand array.
Ripples of golden-yellow light spread outward from Three Rainbows Falls.
Every mirage beast that entered within fifty li felt as though a mountain were pressing down upon its head, its movements slowing by several times.
Not only that, stone spikes condensed in midair, thrusting violently toward the mirage beasts.
Tremors erupted across the earth one after another.
She was actually driving the grand array with her own strength alone to attack every mirage beast!
Everyone knew this was unsustainable.
Just as they expected.
Madame Xu’s face grew paler and paler, and her mid Nascent Soul aura steadily ebbed as she maintained the array.
“In the end, she is no array master. Forcing the array with raw cultivation is far too strenuous.”
In the forest, the elder of the pair commented.
The youth beside him watched for a while before suddenly saying, “Clan Elder, please make your move!”
The elder glanced at the youth. “For what?”
The youth smiled faintly. “The mirage cores, the friendship of the Gu clan, and besides, Senior Brother Gu and I have a decent rapport within the sect. Helping out does no harm.”
“Very well, then we shall do as you say.”
The elder agreed, stepped out of the forest, and flicked his wrist. A verdant bamboo staff extended outward, striking toward a mirage beast.
His sudden intervention seemed to shatter the stalemate.
Before long, others began stepping forward to assist.
With the support of the grand array, these Nascent Soul cultivators moved like fish in water, slaughtering fourth-rank mirage beasts far more easily than usual.
Even Shi Ju’s pair descended from the clouds to enter the array and assist.
Yet unlike the others, Shi Ju was the one fighting, while Qi Xiongcheng assisted from the side.
Shi Ju’s performance was in no way inferior to the Dao Protectors hired by the various clans; in certain aspects, he was even superior.
With the opening and closing of his folding fan, a scorchingly tyrannical torrent of flames swept across the wilderness.
In an instant, numerous mirage beasts were shattered, dissolving into boundless white mist that dispersed into the air.
Mirage cores streaked through the mist at incredible speeds, while vast amounts of cloud and vapor continually surged toward them.
Qi Xiongcheng kept Shi Ju’s instructions firmly in mind, driving the Ziyang Gourd to absorb the vapor and capture those mirage cores to the best of his ability.
Divide them equally?
Impossible!
Since Shi Ju had stepped in, there was no way he would share equally with anyone else.
On the contrary, the others were merely doing his work for him—especially with the aid of an array of the mountain-guarding caliber, which made hunting mirage beasts as effortless as swimming with the current.
“Old Ghost, how many mirage cores have you gathered?”
Shi Ju asked as he fought the mirage beasts.
“One so far.”
Shi Ju frowned. “Why so slow? At least five mirage beasts were slain in this short time, and you’ve only collected a single mirage core?”
Qi Xiongcheng had bitter grievances he could not voice. For some reason, another force was pulling at the clouds and mist, making it exceedingly arduous for him to capture the mirage cores.
He merely assumed the mirage beasts were too strong and that he had spent too little time refining the Ziyang Gourd.
Shi Ju suppressed the irritation in his heart. “Do your best to gather the mirage cores. Let me know once you have five.”
Five mirage cores would make the trip worthwhile.
Yet would five cores truly satisfy the Young Master?
Qi Xiongcheng was puzzled, but his hands did not pause for a second.
Gradually, the crowd also began to notice something amiss.
The mirage beasts slain by the crowd began vanishing before anyone could even retrieve their mirage cores.
If it were just one or two, it might have been dismissed, but in a short span, several mirage beasts had dissolved without reconstituting their bodies or leaving a mirage core behind.
Finally, someone spotted Qi Xiongcheng, who had not joined the battle and had instead been constantly driving his Ziyang Gourd.
“What are you doing?” Gu Chen demanded coldly.
Qi Xiongcheng kept his mouth shut.
Shi Ju, however, pulled back from the fray. Qi Xiongcheng gave him a nod, signaling that he had gathered at least five mirage cores.
In that case, there was no longer any need to risk life and limb for others.
“The Shi clan’s business requires no explanation to you!”
Then, completely ignoring Gu Chen’s ash-white face, Shi Ju raised his folding fan and brought it sweeping down with all his might toward the nearby Three Rainbows Falls!
He laughed wildly:
“Gu Daosu, come out and see this scenery for yourself!”
A monstrous wave of fiery clouds, accompanied by howling winds, surged upstream.
Wherever it passed, the golden light of the array crumbled inch by inch.
Breaking a mountain-guarding array from the outside was always extraordinarily difficult, but attacking it from within...
Seeing this, Madame Xu, who was pouring all her strength into suppressing the white eagle, felt her eyes nearly split with rage.
“No!”
In the distance.
Gu Yuan, who had not joined the battle, nodded slightly.
“As expected, Shi Ju was never one to play by the rules. How could he be kind enough to help Gu Daosu? This works out well: I can reap mirage cores, while Gu Daosu will be forced out of his epiphany. What’s more, this grudge won’t fall on my head.”
Rumble, rumble...
A deafening roar erupted. The once breathtakingly beautiful Three Rainbows Falls was instantly severed, and countless boulders tumbled down.
The entire mountain began to quake.
Furthermore, deprived of the array’s assistance, Madame Xu—whose cultivation had long since deteriorated—could no longer withstand the white eagle.
The creature turned into a streak of light, plunging straight toward Three Rainbows Falls.
Despair filled Madame Xu’s eyes, yet her body moved resolutely to block the direct path of its charge.
Human and beast collided in an instant, plunging into the mountain without the slightest pause.
Dust billowed into the air as shockwaves rippled through the earth.
Everyone immediately disengaged, leaping high into the air to watch the scene unfold.
“Can Madame Xu survive this?”
“I fear not. She had already used a forbidden art to forcefully elevate her realm, and then suffered the backlash of the array being broken by Shi Ju. Struck directly by the white eagle like that, she has ten deaths and no life.”
“What about Gu Daosu?”
“With a commotion this massive, there is no way he could maintain his epiphany.”
Just as the crowd was abuzz with speculation.
Swoosh!
A brilliant pillar of light surged straight into the heavens.
Flung outward alongside it was the giant eagle.
The giant eagle tumbled several times through the air before finally steadying itself, glaring viciously back at the former site of Three Rainbows Falls.
Amidst the severed waterfall, a picturesque young man holding a bronze mirror stood at the moss-covered cave entrance. Behind him, Madame Xu was slumped on the ground; though her aura was feeble, she was alive after all.
At this sight, everyone was stunned!
Gu Daosu had awakened!
And he had personally taken action, forcefully repelling the giant eagle.
Could it be that he had already succeeded in comprehending the source power?
“Haha! In the end, he failed! He used the Gu clan’s Wuwang Treasure Mirror—that wasn’t his own power at all!”
Shi Ju laughed uproariously, utterly smug over his success.
The crowd turned to look at the bronze mirror, understanding dawning upon them.
The Gu clan’s Wuwang Treasure Mirror was renowned far and wide. Its marvel lay in its ability to store a cultivator’s full-power strike—and enough to store several such strikes.
Clearly, that earlier blow had not been Gu Daosu’s own ability, but the work of the Wuwang Treasure Mirror.
Within the shattered mountain.
Madame Xu asked weakly, “Did it fail?”
Gu Daosu sighed. “Just a sliver. Only a sliver away.”
Only a sliver?
Beside her regret, a fierce rage flared in Madame Xu’s eyes.
“It’s all that fellow Shi Ju’s fault!”
Had Shi Ju not turned traitor and broken the Mountain-Suppressing Equilibrium Array, she could have fought with her life to buy Gu Daosu enough time to complete his epiphany.
It was all his fault!
Once they left this place, their Gu clan would certainly demand an explanation from the Shi clan!
And yet!
“It is not his fault.”
Amidst Madame Xu’s bewilderment, Gu Daosu held the bronze mirror aloft, shining its light toward heaven and earth.
As the mirror illuminated the world, he spoke in a measured murmur.
“During my epiphany, I sensed something amiss with this land. Someone harbored malicious intent, using an array to disrupt my spiritual opportunity. That person is the true culprit; Shi Ju and the others were merely chess pieces in the game, manipulated by another.”
“Found you!”
Suddenly!
The clouds dispersed, and the sky rippled.
The Wuwang Treasure Mirror radiated a piercing azure light, coming to rest upon a distant, vast lake.
Gu Daosu called out in a clear voice:
“Fellow Daoist, have you seen enough?”
The crowd looked in that direction.
The great lake was unruffled by ripples, yet the clouds and mist gathered around it like a dreamlike marsh, ethereal and vast.
Had it not been for the illumination of the treasure mirror, no one would have noticed that mirror-still sheet of water.
And those wisps of vapor being continuously drawn into the lake were none other than the mirage beasts whose bodies had been shattered.
As they looked, they happened to see a mirage core being silently drawn into the lake.
This sight required no explanation; everyone understood the truth in an instant.
Setting aside what thoughts stirred in their minds—
Across heaven and earth, only a soft chuckle sounded.
Then, reflected in every pair of eyes was a streak of blood-red hue.
A beam of sword light rose straight toward the heavens from the cloud-like, dreamlike marsh!
Chapter 761