Chapter 261: The Strangest Formation

A soldier updated Draconic Seven with the current situation, then asked, “Young Master Seven, that’s the current situation. What should we do now?”

“Playing games with me, eh?” Draconic Seven’s scarlet red tongue licked his lips as he squinted his reptilian eyes.

It was already the fourth day, and Tang Ling finally made a move. The strange thing was that after they came out from hiding, the trio did not move together anymore. They split into two groups: the siblings were together while Tang Ling moved alone.

Originally, no matter how many groups they split up into, the Stardust Council had the power to suppress them. The soldiers could also split up into two and go after them separately.

However, to Draconic Seven’s surprise, both Tang Ling and the brother-sister duo moved with five of the black mantled monsters each which proved that the black mantled monsters were under the trio’s control.

However, there was a difficult problem that presented itself to Draconic Seven. Should they split up and go after them? That was unrealistic.

No matter how many normal soldiers were sent after them, they were nothing but cannon fodder for the black mantled monsters. He must send someone powerful enough to match the black mantled monster and chase his targets down, but those who fit the criteria were himself and several of his closest men, which totaled to less than five of them.

Tang Ling should not be underestimated as well.

If Draconic Seven ordered a split up, he would be giving his enemy the chance to strike back separately.

“Hmph.” Draconic Seven lit a cigar and the fumes blew out from his nose. “Who cares about Tang Ling now? Go after Ro Xin. Follow her until she reveals the starting point. Ignore Tang Ling for the time being since catching him is only a matter of time.”

That was the wisest choice. Deciphering the Ninth Ruins should remain the priority above all. As long as the Stardust Council could secure the Ninth Ruins, Tang Ling would be as good as captured.

Colo had already figured out that there were two formations in the Ninth Ruins. If anyone could clear the first level of the formation, there was a high chance to get a prize or even control over the formation. Could Tang Ling escape the Stardust Council’s pursuit then?

Moreover, with Draconic Seven’s intellect, it was not difficult for him to realize that the black mantled monsters were related to the Ninth Ruins. The might very well be the prize for deciphering the second formation.

They were strong. Albeit their offensive capabilities not being stellar, they were very effective against normal soldiers and they formed such a strong line of defense to hold the troops back. Therefore, he must beat Tang Ling and Ro Xin from reaching the third formation.

How important did Tang Ling think he was? Was he trying to buy time for Ro Xin? Impossible!

…

As expected, the Stardust Council went after Ro Xin and Ro Li, so Tang Ling was free for the time being. Tactic-wise, even Tang Long was not a match for Tang Ling, let alone a mere subordinate like Draconic Seven.

He sat in front of the stone tablet and started working with his hands. He estimated that Ro Xin might be able to buy him a lot of time, but he was not sure what would happen after he started. Would something unusual happen?

If something happened, his time would be limited and he had to decipher as much as he could within the stipulated time to beat the Stardust Council to it.

The stone tablet looked plain, dull, and was absent of any clues. However, after three days of observation and rearranging the information, Tang Ling came up with a certain mindset in order to decipher the last formation.

He scanned the stone tablet quickly. Although it seemed plain, upon a closer look, the bricks that formed the body of the tablet would change slightly every five minutes. For example, the bricks on the fourth row and the fifth column would magically shift to the third row and the sixth column at the five-minute interval. The changes were continuous and it was set up to conceal the true trigger of the formation.

Indeed, the last formation required a trigger, and not just locating the starting point to begin.

His first task was to locate the trigger, so that was the first hurdle that he had to overcome in deciphering the formation.

“Search for the trigger. You can’t just calculate it. You must get to the bottom of the tablet to be able to do so because according to the formation theory, there are a plethora of methods to conceal the trigger. A stone tablet might have over a dozen methods to hide the trigger.

“So, you must get to the bottom of the table and make sure which trigger it is within the given time. Only then can you analyze the pattern to find out which is the real trigger.”

That was what Ro Xin had told Tang Ling earlier and the task was nothing short of difficult. If it was just a normal deciphering method, searching for the trigger would already consume a lot of time, but Tang Ling had an advantage when it came to this because of his Precise Instinct.

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He was able to quickly spot the differences between each brick, and from there, he quickly figured out the shifting pattern.

With the pattern in hand, searching for the trigger was not that difficult anymore.

…

Ro Xin and Ro Li took the soldiers from the Stardust Council to run around in circles.

Even though there were several times when Draconic Seven felt like Ro Xin was acting and wearing down his patience, he managed to hold his temper back. He continued following them with his men.

The one who would decipher the formation was Ro Xin, not Tang Ling, so her acting must be a provocation tactic to wear Draconic Seven’s patience thin.

Why not just capture Ro Xin right away? Draconic Seven thought of it multiple times but he held the thought back. If the black mantled monsters were not around, he would have captured her directly. No matter how strong the girl thought she was, Draconic Seven was confident about making her reveal the starting point.

However, the siblings were protected by the black mantled monsters. They might not be a threat to Draconic Seven, but they might be able to drag him out for Tang Ling to seize the chance to ambush him.

Compared to Tang Ling, Draconic Seven was not as decisive. Due to his high intellect, he was almost paranoid and was full of himself. Therefore, Ro Xin managed to keep him on her tail and bought Tang Ling half an hour’s time.

Half an hour later, Tang Ling finally locked his sights on to the trigger to the third formation.

“Second row, third column, this brick! According to the pattern, these formations which are designed for an outsider to decipher doesn’t require blood. Also, it isn’t activated by touching the special symbol. Instead…” Tang Ling stood up and walked to the stone tablet. He reached out his hand and touched the brick that he assumed was the trigger.

Then, he waited. If the trigger was correct, the third formation would be activated in five minutes.

The wait was designed to prevent people from accidentally touching the trigger, hence activating the formation. Based on common sense, even if someone accidentally touched the trigger, he would not touch the trigger for a full five minutes.

The pattern would change every five minutes, and if Tang Ling’s choice was correct, the formation would be activated. If he was wrong, according to Ro Xin, he would face a terrible punishment, probably a fatal one.

Tang Ling was not nervous at all as he was very confident with his choice.

One minute, two minutes…four minutes…

4 minutes 27 seconds…

Tang Ling’s hand maintained contact with the trigger until 4 minutes and 27 seconds had passed.

The ever-warm morning sun that shed its light over the town suddenly flickered like a lamp in the house when the electricity surged. Then, the morning sun disappeared and darkness shrouded the town. The people who were shuttling up and down the streets and minding their own businesses disappeared as well.

A raging wind started to blow and the trees in town swayed fiercely. A large area of tree leaves was blown off and the streetlamps started to flicker as the lamp posts started to shake with loud clanks.

“The wind is so strong!” The raging wind almost tipped Tang Ling off balance to the extent that he had to hug the tablet to keep himself on the ground, but his eyes were forced shut by the wind.

It was at this moment that the wind brought a strange and loud weeping plus a burst of muddled frantic laughter. The noises came from every direction and it carried a heavy sense of grudge to the ears.

“Am I only the one seeing this or has the whole town changed?” There was no one around him, except for the five black mantled puppets.

They were useless though. Ro Li, who controlled the puppets, was somewhere else and these puppets around him were only used as a decoy for Draconic Seven. These puppets around Tang Ling had zero offensive capabilities and had only followed Ro Li’s orders to stay with him.

While Tang Ling was feeling lost, a voice entered his ear. “Joshua, the wind is strong. Why are you still here?”

The wind settled down a little. He was able to open his eyes to look up and see a middle-aged man standing in front of him. The middle-aged man looked like a typical male from the Light Continent. His features were normal but seemed a little sinister while his tight lips made him look strict.

Who’s this guy? Tang Ling would never follow a stranger. Furthermore, he was in the middle of deciphering the third formation. He knew the drastic changes must have happened because he triggered the activation of the formation. What he had to do next was find the way out of the formation and decipher it based on the pattern, but…where would he find the way out?

Tang Ling felt lost.

In that instant, the middle-aged man grabbed Tang Ling’s arm. “What are you talking about? Don’t you don’t recognize me anymore? Come with me!”

Who the hell is this guy? As Tang Ling struggled, he realized that despite his current strength, he was unable to break free from the man’s grasp.

His Precise Instinct was working, so he could tell that the man’s strength was no stronger than that of a normal man’s or was maybe even weaker because he was only as strong as a man from the old civilization.

However, how could he not break free from the man’s grasp? Tang Ling looked up in surprise and realized that the wind might be strong that night, but in the night sky, there was a yellow moon.