Qin Xuan nodded slightly. Few dared to brave the mountain at night, making it the very hour when the guards would let down their vigilance.
"If their leader returns in the dead of night, have you thought about how we'll respond?"
"You still have spirit dew, Young Master. We can simply flee deeper into the mountain's evil qi—he most likely wouldn't dare pursue us there."
"And if he does?"
Mei'er gave a mysterious smile, fetched a small purse from her hundred-treasure pouch, and drew out a bamboo talisman, waving it before Qin Xuan's eyes.
"My grandfather picked this up from beneath the cliff carved with the Nine Palaces Shifting Array Chart."
Qin Xuan was astonished. "A Shifting Talisman!"
Such a talisman was exceedingly precious, capable of shifting someone a hundred li away in an instant—a veritable lifesaver.
No wonder Old Man Gu never worried about the little fox running all over the place.
Judging by how bulging her purse was, she must have quite a few treasures stashed inside.
She truly was a little wealthy mistress.
Without hesitation, she placed the Shifting Talisman into Qin Xuan's hand. "You can rest easy now, right? If real danger strikes, we can just run."
Reassured, Qin Xuan remarked offhandedly, "If an opportunity presents itself, we'll seize that great medicine along the way, so you won't have to keep coming back to such a perilous place."
Beaming as though her scheme had succeeded, Gu Mei'er giggled. "Young Master, being so considerate makes you quite charming."
Qin Xuan spoke with utter sincerity: "I am known for my honest nature. My fellow disciples, senior and junior alike, all know it—it's widely praised."
After a few more lighthearted words, they cast banter aside.
With their night journey settled, Qin Xuan caught two sleeping zha beasts just to be safe. He had Mei'er control their souls and send them into the array one after the other. Just as she had said, no one activated the formation.
That night, the wind blew high under a moonless sky. Thick mountain fog veiled everything, blotting out star and moon alike.
Qin Xuan and Gu Mei'er captured two more zha beasts and let them scurry ahead, using the rustling noises they made in the dark to mask their own barely audible footsteps.
"Young Master, we're about to enter the array. In a moment, we must seize the chance to kill the guard watching the formation eye—the one holding the talisman—so they can't activate it."
"Understood. Leave the strike to me."
"All right..."
Advancing a hundred paces, they stepped into the evil-gathering formation. Turbulent air currents swirled around them, and mist danced like phantoms before their eyes, making it impossible to navigate by sight alone.
And this was merely the array in an inactive state.
This band of people was indeed formidable.
On high alert, Qin Xuan began searching for the sentry guarding the formation eye.
Mei'er guided the zha beast to dart through the formation, its scampering noise sharp and distinct.
After a while, footsteps finally approached from the southeast. The darkness obscured the figure's features, revealing only a tall, imposing silhouette.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."
The zha cried out, immediately catching the man's attention. He fixed his gaze on where the sound had come from, listening intently, and soon picked up the scurrying of the second zha.
Letting out a cold snort, the man was just about to turn back.
Suddenly...
A spine-chilling sensation welled from the depths of his heart.
He tried frantically to look back, but out of the dark, a flash of emerald light burst before his eyes. Before his neck could even pivot, his head spun a full circle atop his shoulders. His body collapsed, and the severed head rolled to the ground.
This man possessed only a Qi Gathering cultivation and had failed to survive even a single exchange against Qin Xuan's sword talisman.
Qin Xuan swiftly recalled the talisman, darted to the corpse, and searched out the talisman that activated the grand array.
Driving such a talisman required specific incantations that Qin Xuan did not know, but that did not stop him from destroying it on the spot.
"Who's there?!"
"Huo Yu! Answer at once! Are you still alive?!"
Qin Xuan had made little noise, yet the cultists were already alerted. Their reactions were remarkably swift; several voices rang out in quick succession, and seven or eight plumes of mist were violently torn apart as silhouettes flashed into view.
*Boom! Boom!*
With a thunderous roar, several spells struck the spot where the sentry's corpse lay, blasting open a crater over a zhang deep.
Qin Xuan and Gu Mei'er each cast the Nine Palaces Shifting. Mei'er moved a step faster, raising her wrist bell high and channeling her demonic power to shake it vigorously.
*Ding-ring—*
The chime was crisp and melodious, yet it seemed to hook and snatch the very soul.
Eight or nine men in black martial attire, all at the sixth level of Qi Refining, stumbled as they heard the sound. Their eyes turned slack, and their sabers, swords, and magical artifacts clattered to the ground.
Two among them possessed slightly higher cultivations. Forcing themselves to bite their tongue-tips, they tried to use the pain to clear their minds.
The moment awareness returned, they let out a horrified shriek: "Ah—!"
The cry cut off abruptly.
Heads flew into the air one after another beneath the Clear Water sword talisman. A downpour of blood showered down as the two shifted to evade it, darting forward along their chosen path.
A furious roar echoed from afar: "Daring to slaughter my flock—you court death!"
"Kill!"
That low roar was merely a distraction. The instant it faded, six figures who had been lying in ambush silently closed in, moving in strict formation to envelop them.
Serpentine streaks of black light flickered with sinister evil qi, converging to trap Qin Xuan from all directions.
Unexpectedly, Mei'er's Soul-Snatching Wrist Bell rang out once more.
Though these six had means of defense, they still froze for a fleeting instant before the bizarre ghostly technique.
Spotting the opening clearly, Qin Xuan formed a hand seal and raised his arm, sending the Clear Water sword talisman flying once again. Emerald light spun through the air, plunging into their midst like a falling star.
A series of dull thuds echoed. Wherever the sword light swept, blood burst forth, and bodies tumbled. Within two breaths, all six were struck down!
Yet the man who had bellowed from within remained unruffled.
Even with his subordinates suffering catastrophic casualties, he had used the opportunity to discern his foes' foundation and deduce which spells to employ against them.
"Impressive, truly impressive! One versed in ghostly arts, and one master of the sword art."
"A pity that both of you will leave your bones buried here today."
His voice was still a ruse, for his actual position did not match the direction of the sound. Having sensed this early on, Qin Xuan drove his sword talisman to slash toward his rear.
This time, the strike failed to hit its mark.
Mei'er's wrist bell rang out. The enemy charging through the mist paused slightly, but the effect was minimal.
A furious shout erupted from him: "What an insidious ghost art! But your cultivation is far too low!"
Qin Xuan paid no heed to his words. The man was deceitful beyond measure, shouting at Mei'er while directing his assault straight at Qin Xuan.
From deep within the earth, a vine packed with formidable magic power swept out, howling violently through the air.
Weaving and dodging, Qin Xuan produced a fire talisman and hurled it toward the assailant's true body.
With a resounding blast, a vast spread of wooden shields burst into flames.
Elder Shi's fire talisman failed to harm the man's true body, but in the flare of the flames, the speaker's true form was revealed.
The monster stood about a zhang tall, dusky greenish-black all over and covered in woody grain. Its arms resembled massive logs, its fingers looked like tree branches, two boughs sprouted from its head, and its visage was grotesque and terrifying.
With every breath, it exhaled black qi—it was a wood xiao!
This had to be the 'mountain xiao' Captain Hong and the others had spoken of.
Embedded in the wood xiao's chest was a human face with contorted features, wide staring eyes, and a lingering smirk on its lips.
"A wood xiao yin body—you belong to the Renmao Sect."
Qin Xuan recognized his identity, for the Renmao Sect and the Huanyin Sect were the very demon sects Guanjiang Mountain had recently been contending with. Senior masters in the temple had long briefed them on these foes' bizarre arts.
"Jie-jie-jie..."
The man who had transformed into a wood xiao gave a sinister chuckle, sprouting locust serpents from his branches that slithered dozens of zhang in every direction.
Possessing a Foundation Building cultivation and reinforced by strange arts, he felt his opponents had no way of escape and sought to pry out information.
"Junior, to recognize our sect's Wood Demon Great Method shows you have some knowledge. Old Man though I am, I can't immediately name your sword art, but that talisman just now ought to be a Dao Sect Bingyang Fire Talisman. Since we are in Pingyuan Commandery, it must have been refined by Elder Shi of Yuansong Temple."
Qin Xuan was inwardly startled. Was Elder Shi, a mere librarian of the Scripture Pavilion, truly that famous?
This man could recite it all as though enumerating family treasures!
"Could it be that you, too, have sat in my Yuansong Temple listening to senior masters lecture?"
"Brat, trying to pry words from me? Wait for your next life! Hahaha!"
Certain of Qin Xuan's background, he struck immediately. Swarms of locust serpents burrowed out from underground, surging forward. Qin Xuan commanded his sword, while Mei'er produced a talisman shrouded in eerie ghostly qi.
Murmuring an incantation rapidly, the talisman ignited without fire, shooting forth a beam of ghostly green light that bathed the elder's wood xiao yin body.
Instantly, green flames erupted over him, blazing furiously.
"Ah—!"
He howled in agony. "Junior, I have already refined the wood xiao body! Your yin fire cannot burn me to death—die!"
In that moment, he deemed the little fox a massive threat and resolved to eliminate her first.
Evidently, enduring this ghostly fire was nowhere near as effortless as he claimed.
As several massive locust serpents snapped toward the little fox, Qin Xuan's sword light closed in on the elder's face embedded in the wood xiao's chest.
Yet the elder showed no fear.
Two appendages morphed into wooden shields, blocking the path of the sword light.
He mused inwardly:
*This is merely a Clear Water sword talisman, nothing like the Grand White, Geng Metal, Metal Spirit Origin Sword, or Western White Tiger.*
*A talisman sword condensed from the water soul of the Five Elements can never pierce my magic without Foundation Building magic power comparable to my own. That little girl is the far more dangerous one.*
Little did he expect...
As Qin Xuan's Clear Water sword talisman reached his face, a brilliant glint of gold suddenly flared at the sword's tip. In the next breath, golden light blazed before the emerald hue, and the blade hummed and trembled as if possessed of spirit, eager for the fray.
Metal Spirit Origin Qi was poured in completely. Metal conquered wood, rendering the strike utterly unstoppable. With a crisp crack, the two wooden hands were severed clean at the wrists!
"How is this possible?!"
The elder's eyes bulged in shock. He cried out inwardly that he had miscalculated, his face filled with sheer horror.
He had never imagined a mere Qi Refining junior could master such an esoteric technique!
Qin Xuan gave him no quarter, much less room to catch his breath. Letting out a low shout, he drove the sword downward with the full force of his magic power. The Clear Water sword talisman looped through the air and cleaved straight down through the wood xiao's crown!
With a wet tear, it split the monster in two from the human face on its chest all the way to its groin!
Wood splinters flew and black blood splattered everywhere. In midair, the sword talisman continued to circle, emitting a clear, melodious chime.
"Ah—!!"
The elder wailed in agony. Astonishingly, he was not yet dead and scrambled to flee. Gu Mei'er summoned another burst of yin fire with a ghost talisman, and Qin Xuan held nothing back, hurling yet another Bingyang Fire Talisman. Tormented by the combined searing of yin and yang fire, the gravely wounded wood xiao could resist no longer and was reduced to ashes...
Chapter 46