Trap

In a forbidden zone like Zhujian Valley, shrouded in ghost mist and hostile to life, scouting methods through the Dao of Sound were affected as well, but faced far fewer hindrances than other techniques. Yet the moment he heard this coming from Tianyan in her solemn, girlish voice, Xu Yuan could not help letting out a quiet chuckle. Hearing him, Tianyan was bewildered for an instant before her face flushed red. Keeping a cold expression, she said, "Scouting methods of the Dao of... the Dao of Music possess immense penetration. I'm afraid we can't stay here any longer." Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow, a thoughtful look surfacing in his eyes. The musical scouting methods of this world were somewhat similar to bats from his previous life, using sound waves to map their surroundings—emitting acoustic waves and receiving the reflected echoes to discern targets. In a sense, such techniques were indeed formidable due to their vast range. Yet nothing in this world came without a price. Compared to Source Qi and intent-souls, while the range of sound Dao scouting was vast, its precision fell short. The wave of howling sound earlier had spanned an area several hundred li across; the returning echoes would be largely indistinct. Moreover, sound Dao scouting was limited by the speed at which a cultivator's brain could process information. Though cultivators far surpassed ordinary mortals, they still had limits. Receiving all the data across several hundred li in a single instant was a tangled flood that even a Saint of Music would struggle to fully process. Still, Tianyan was right: it truly was time for them to leave. On matters of life and death, he could not afford to gamble on the chance that the enemy had missed them. "..." Silence lingered for a moment. Xu Yuan let out a soft sigh. "I really am a jinx. I just asked what you'd do if we spent the rest of our lives here, and now..." "..." Tianyan pressed her crimson lips together and said nothing, looking back toward the cozy lakeside home that had finally taken shape. The drifting spray from the waterfall settled faintly upon her supple black hair, glistening and translucent, while a complicated reluctance flickered in her eyes. Xu Yuan watched from the side without rushing her. This was the first time they had stayed in one place for so long, and the first time they had tried to build and shape their own little home. Neither of them knew anything about architectural design. Even with Source Qi to assist, Tianyan had poured immense effort into creating this pavilion with its upturned eaves like flying swallows. The furnishings and layout inside went without saying. The bed, the desks, the carved window lattices—she had carved and crafted every piece bit by bit in her spare moments between cultivation sessions. After a long silence, Xu Yuan asked softly, "Reluctant to leave?" Tianyan exhaled gently, glancing toward the flower field before the pavilion, where buds were already preparing to bloom. "To not see them blossom is a bit of a shame..." Listening to her quiet murmur, Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment before raising a hand to gently pat the girl's head, smiling. "Tianyan, judging by that person's qi aura earlier, they should only be a Transcendent." Tianyan instantly looked up at Xu Yuan, surprise in her eyes. She naturally understood the implication of his words. "Are you out of your mind?" Xu Yuan grinned. "Well, you don't want to leave, do you?" Tianyan snapped in exasperation, "I truly don't want to leave, but that's a Transcendent. Do you think you can kill an expert with a Dao domain, or do you think I can?" Xu Yuan glanced toward the white-mist-shrouded east and said, "Over these years, the two of us have killed many grandmasters, and even our tally of Origin Realm foes has reached as many as twenty, but we've never killed a Transcendent." Tianyan's shapely brows furrowed even deeper, but she did not interrupt. Although the bastard before her was usually frivolous and spouted endless nonsense, his judgment had never once been wrong on matters of grave consequence. Seeing Tianyan quietly listening beside him, Xu Yuan gave a faint, unconscious chuckle. "I naturally know the gulf between the Origin Realm and the Transcendent Realm." During their seven years on the run, despite doing everything to avoid it, they had inevitably faced Transcendent experts head-on several times. Before the enemy deployed their Dao domain, Tianyan could generally fight them on roughly equal terms, while Xu Yuan could provide support from the flanks. But once the foe unfurled their Dao domain, the battle turned into a one-sided slaughter. Saying this, Xu Yuan gently rubbed the Sumeru ring on his finger, his tone faint as he continued, "The greatest divide between the Origin Realm and the Transcendent Realm is the Dao domain. If we slay them before they deploy their Dao domain, everything will be easy to resolve." Tianyan pondered for a moment, instinctively feeling it was impossible, but seeing his expression, she still asked softly, "What do you plan to do?" Xu Yuan smiled slightly. "First, they are in the open, while we are in the dark." "If you're thinking of an ambush, I'm afraid it won't work." Tianyan shook her head, shooting down the suggestion immediately. Xu Yuan's expression did not waver in the slightest. "That's not what I meant. Coming into a perilous dead zone like this, they certainly won't let down their guard." While high-level cultivators in this world were not exactly glass cannons, there was indeed an overflow of damage among top combatants. A full-power blow from an Origin Realm cultivator could indeed instantly kill an unguarded Transcendent. Provided they were entirely unguarded. As he spoke, Xu Yuan flipped his palm, and a half-zhang-tall sapling appeared in his hand. "I plan to use this." "..." Seeing the sapling, Tianyan's eyes instantly flared with vigilance, and she instinctively took half a step back in midair. In the early days when they did not trust each other, this bastard Xu Yuan had used this thing against her more than once. Even now, the moment the Meishen sapling was brought out, the dormant charm poison within her showed signs of stirring. "The Meishen sapling? What are you bringing that out for?" Xu Yuan shrugged and pointed toward the east, chuckling softly. "Relax, this is meant for that Transcendent." "How?" "What do you think I've been doing these past six months?" "Eating, drinking, and fooling around." "That was just on the surface." "Heh." Tianyan gave him a look reserved for a con artist. Xu Yuan did not mind in the least. "Within books lies a house of gold. Most of the books I perused were related to Dao Charm, ghost mist, and yin ghosts, teaching me many obscure secrets. Yin ghosts are monsters formed of pure soul power, and their attacks mostly manifest as illusions. I plan to take advantage of this." With that, Xu Yuan reached out and snapped off a small section of a branch from the Charm God tree seed. The moment it broke, wafts of exotic fragrance diffused from the fracture. Without hesitation, Xu Yuan wrapped the strange fragrance with Source Qi. While this substance was a great tonic for him, if Tianyan caught even a whiff, she would probably have to go back to her room and change her undergarments before they left. Casually storing the Charm God tree seed back into his Sumeru ring, Xu Yuan twirled the foot-long twig in his fingers, chuckling. "The Charm God tree seed truly is a wonderful treasure. The charm effect throughout its entire body is barely less potent than the Meishen flowers borne by an adult plant." Tianyan stared for several breaths at the slender twig spinning between his long fingers. "So, how do we deliver it to them?" Xu Yuan gave a wry chuckle, a flame igniting in his other hand. "We don't need to deliver it anywhere. We just wait here for them to come find us." Tianyan's eyes flickered for a moment as she grasped Xu Yuan's intention. Meishen flowers were colorless and odorless, and naturally the Charm God tree seed was the same. Once the twig was burned to ashes, the smoke would blend seamlessly into the surrounding white ghost mist, making it completely undetectable. As long as the enemy drew near this place and inhaled the burnt smoke, they would succumb. As a victim who had suffered from it for seven long years, Tianyan knew the effects of this charm poison all too well. This plan actually seemed feasible... As she pondered, *Buzz—* Far to the east, another surge of Source Qi roiled. A few breaths later, another barely perceptible sound wave pierced through the sea of ghost trees, sweeping past the two of them. Sensing this qi aura, Xu Yuan glanced sideways and chuckled softly. "Heh... seems that person isn't very sharp. They actually failed to detect us the first time." Saying this, Xu Yuan stroked his chin and grinned. "I recall that Yaoyue Sect near Zhujian Valley was founded on cultivation arts of the Dao of Sound. The person who came should be a female elder; wonder what she looks like..." "At most half a day, and they'll discover us." Tianyan coldly cut off Xu Yuan's speculations, turning around to tread through empty air toward the pavilion. "Instead of wasting your thoughts on such things, you'd better make preparations quickly." Xu Yuan watched the girl's retreating figure and asked with a laugh, "Prepare what?" Without pausing her steps, Tianyan turned her head with a frown, speaking as if it were obvious, "Arrays, of course." Though Tianyan's mastery of the array Dao could not compare to Xu Xinyao's, as the Saintess of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, she dabbled in all these auxiliary cultivation paths. Half a day would be enough for her to lay down some simple arrays to aid them in battle. Xu Yuan shook his head gently. "You intend to stay here and defend?" "Otherwise? If we don't stay here, how do we create an opportunity to poison that Transcendent?" "..." Amidst the splashing roar of the waterfall, Xu Yuan chuckled, shook his head, and quickly caught up with her. "They've hunted us for seven years. They know basically everything they should about our methods. With scouting like that earlier, the enemy surely knows we would notice it." Saying this, Xu Yuan reached out and took hold of the girl's shoulder. "Under such circumstances, if we remain behind, don't you think they'll become suspicious?" Tianyan froze upon hearing this, raising a soft, delicate hand to rub between her eyebrows. "So using that musical scouting technique was merely to roughly ascertain our general direction before tracking us with other means... What do you want to do?" "Set a trap." "An array?" "No, no, no." Xu Yuan shook his head, his eyes as calm as a deep pool, speaking in an unhurried drawl, "Tianyan, the most sophisticated traps often require only the simplest methods of preparation." As they spoke, the two had already arrived in front of the pavilion. Xu Yuan smiled and pushed open the door, pointing inside the simple yet cozy building. "Didn't you already carve a Sound-Muffling Array and a Soul-Warding Array inside to keep me from peeping on you?" Tianyan shot him an annoyed glare and huffed softly. "Those arrays only serve as an early warning. Against a Transcendent, they're practically useless." "Doesn't matter." Xu Yuan shrugged, a meaningful smirk playing on his lips. A searing blood flame ignited in his palm, instantly setting the Meishen twig ablaze. "All that matters is locking the smoke from burning the Meishen twig inside this house. "After all, this is where we've lived for so long. They'll definitely want to come inside and have a look around, won't they?" With that, Xu Yuan lightly tossed the twig into the house. Under their watchful gaze, the slender branch whirled through the air enveloped in blistering flames. Before it even touched the floor, it was completely consumed, dissolving into a colorless wisp of smoke that merged into the white mist filling the room.