Chapter 17: CH 17

The Golden Core stage senior in charge of reading out announcements turned back to the Nascent Soul stage Heavenly Dignitaries in the pavilion.

Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable and Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable paid this turn of events no mind. The other Heavenly Venerables exchanged glances, seemingly hesitating.

Just a few decades ago, the demonic faction reached an armistice with the righteous sects. As a result, all fighting stopped and peace was restored across the land.

The righteous sects were the ones who declared then that all cultivators would be equals in the future and how neither side should be overly hostile towards the other.

And now, at the opening of this Grand Array, how could the righteous sects go back on their words and kick these demonic faction disciples out? Especially since Xi Huai was among them.

The rumours surrounding Xi Huai had taken a strange turn lately. Despite being the Young Sect Master of the number one sect of the demonic faction, he’s spent the last two years doing all sorts of good deeds. He even saved a notable number of their righteous sect’s disciples.

Barring him from entering would incite criticism.

However, everyone present felt that something was off about the way Xi Huai conducted himself. They heard that this Young Sect Master was violent and unruly in the past. How could such a person turn over a new leaf so suddenly and drastically?

The possibility of a deep scheme brewing beneath the surface was more than likely.

What did the Qing Ze Sect aim to accomplish by sending their young sect master here? Unifying the three realms??

The Golden Core stage senior could only turn back due to the lack of instructions and continue to recite, “Only Foundation Establishment cultivators will be permitted to enter the Grand Array this time. There will be several Golden Core stage disciples acting as leaders and protectors to you all. After the Grand Array opens, there is only a two hour window before it closes again. Opening the Array requires a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators to input their spiritual energy simultaneously…”

Before the Golden Core stage senior even finished speaking, he saw Xi Huai walk up to the entrance of the Array and raise a hand. An inferno of fire engulfed the entrance a moment later.

By the time everyone reacted, it was too late to stop him. Xi Huai had already input enough spiritual energy to force the Array wide open through brute force.

Didn’t you say a hundred people were needed?

Or did this mean one Xi Huai was equal to a hundred people…

The Golden Core senior looked absolutely dumbfounded. He could only look down at his checklist and continue reading, “The changes the interior of the formation has undergone are unclear. Do not fly using artefacts lest you have an accident. Walking is recommended.”

Yet right after he said that, Xi Huai took out a flying artefact from his Myriad Treasure Bell.

This artefact was in the shape of a beautifully intricate kite. It flew just like the stringed kites the mortals had.

Xi Huai manoeuvred the spiritual artefact to take flight, after which his friends also boarded. The three of them flew into the formation together.

After the Xi Huai trio left in style, the gathered righteous sect disciples were dead silent.

Chi Muyao secretly glanced at Xi Zihe, only to find that he was looking at the Grand Array entrance and spacing out. He didn’t seem to be acting strangely.

Since the Grand Array had already opened, time was a-ticking. The disciples needed to quickly make their way inside before it closed off again.

A commotion rose among the sects at the sudden appearance of Xi Huai’s group. They originally wanted to forbid the disciples from bringing any treasures that could let them cheat in order to make things fair for everyone, but now those treasures could be the difference between life and death.

The various shifus of the other disciples all erred on the side of caution and came over to give their students some talismans or artefacts to use as a last resort

Hao Xia was also uneasy because Xi Huai was here, but he didn’t have anything on him to give away.

He squeezed over and stuffed a gourd and a bag of Hundred Flavour Grains into Chi Muyao’s hand. “Be careful in there. Hide if you have to and quickly leave the first chance you get. If you get trapped in there, you might not be able to leave for three or even five years.”

"En. Alright." Chi Muyao quietly put away the gourd. Instead of hanging it off his belt, he hid it.

The team he was in was the second to enter the formation.

The first to enter was another team led by a Nuan Yan Pavilion Golden Core stage disciple. Their average cultivation level was a little higher than Chi Muyao’s team. That’s why they took the lead, in case Xi Huai’s group was lying in wait within.

Chi Muyao followed Yu Yanshu into the teleportation formation. After Yu Yanshu input his spiritual energy, they were teleported into the Grand Array.

Nothing about their surroundings was the same as before.

What had been a relatively normal environment was now a steep cliffside. The group had ended up near a stream in the mountain. The howls of the vicious wind sounded almost like the cries of a man. In this desolate place, the only thing surrounding them were the winds traversing the valley below.

Yi Qianxi was almost blown off her feet by the wind. Lucky for her, Chi Muyao was there to steady her with a hand to her back.

Yu Yanshu looked around before addressing everyone. “We are here to look for Jilingshou, which like to roost in the woods. Our next course of action is to leave this stream and look for forests.

No one had any objections to that. They all followed Yu Yanshu, who walked ahead.

Yu Yanshu had been here once three years ago, so he could be considered experienced. It was no wonder everyone in the team relied on him so, especially since he had Golden Core stage cultivation.

Alas, something had to go awry during this expedition.

Chi Muyao’s team didn’t even catch a glimpse of a Jilingshou after three days, much less any fortuitous encounters.

Some even expressed doubts. “Is it possible that the seniors calculated the time of the opening of the formation wrong?”

Yu Yanshu was still scanning his surroundings with his divine sense as he answered, “That shouldn’t be the case. Jilingshou are still active when it’s not time to open the Array. They wouldn’t stay put and stop foraging. There was once a disciple who was trapped in the Array for five years. After getting out, he described how the conditions within worsened when the Array wasn't open, as well as the lack of fortuitous encounters. But everything else remained the same.”

Yi Qianxi sneakily tugged Chi Muyao's sleeve at that. She whispered, “So someone really got trapped in here, ah? I thought that was just Shifu trying to scare us.”

"En. If you’re injured or somehow get incapacitated when the Array is open, there’s a real possibility that you’ll get trapped inside until the next time the Grand Array opens.”

Yi Qianxi sucked in a breath of cold air. She was obviously starting to be afraid.

She wasn’t afraid of how hard the past few days had been—things were still passable because they were with a large group. She was afraid of being trapped here. She had no desire to stay here forever.

Yu Yanshu suddenly swayed. Then he turned to look towards the northwest.

Someone steadied him and asked, "What's wrong? Did someone attack your divine sense?"

"No, I just encountered a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation that repelled my divine sense. It wasn’t meant as an attack.”

"It's not some heaven-grade spirit beast, is it?"

"Don't worry, the other party wasn’t attacking me."

Many people looked over in the same direction as Yu Yanshu. Very soon they too saw the one who had repelled Yu Yanshu's divine sense.

Yu Yanshu and all the cultivators lowered their heads respectfully. Even those who were too busy staring dully at the giant spirit beast approaching had their heads forced down by Yu Yanshu.

That was proper etiquette for other Sects. When encountering this type of spirit beast, Yu Chong School disciples needed to kowtow.

Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi immediately dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves, looking very devout.

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The creature coming over was the Colourless Yunni Deer无色云霓鹿 - lit. 'colourless cloud fog deer'.. This deer was pure silvery-white from head to toe. The reason it was called colourless was its huge, nearly transparent antlers with silvery streams of light surging within. There was so much spiritual energy it became visible to the naked eye.

When it walked, its feet always trod on cloud-like fog, hence the name.

You could say it was a heaven-grade spirit beast, but you wouldn’t be wrong to call it beyond heaven-grade either.

The Colourless Yunni Deer had no attack power, but its healing abilities were so strong it could raise the dead or make life flourish from barren earth.

Of course major sects have coveted this type of spirit beast and tried to capture one to use as a guardian divine beast. Alas, Colourless Yunni Deer had a pride of their own. Upon capture, their antlers would instantly blacken and they would die shortly afterwards.

They would rather die than be enslaved—that was the pride of this type of spirit beast.

As a consequence of the past hunts and their already very specific needs, there were very few Colourless Yunni Deer left. It was estimated that there were at most three living ones in the entire cultivation world, and no one knew where any of them were.

The entire cultivation world treated these beasts with respect. After all, no one wanted to provoke a heaven-grade spirit beast that might save their lives one day.

Ordinary cultivators would salute until it left without bothering it, but Yu Chong School disciples needed to kowtow. After all, the Colourless Yunni Deer was their faith, the God they worshipped.

No one dared to move a muscle until the Colourless Yunni Deer left. The few that still wanted to sneak a few peeks were prevented from doing so.

Yu Yanshu and a few other cultivators noticed that there was a silver light circling above Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi's heads. It seemed that the Colourless Yunni Deer had seen the two of them while passing by and given them its blessing.

The silver lights circled them once more before finally entering their bodies.

Chi Muyao tried stretching a bit after getting up. Shocked, he turned to Yi Qianxi, who was overjoyed to the point of tears. “We didn’t come in vain…”

For other cultivators, fortuitous encounters took the form of stumbling upon a spirit fruit that only grew once in a millennia or a spirit spring.

For the Yu Chong School, their fortuitous encounter was to meet a Colourless Yunni Deer and be blessed.

Yu Yanshu was a little curious. He inquired, "What did the Colourless Yunni Deer give you?"

Chi Muyao patted down his clothes before replying, “It’s a little hard to explain. In simpler terms, it’s a kind of affinity that lets us tame difficult spirit beasts more easily."

The other members of the team were envious at first because they thought the Deer had given them spiritual energy or something. That envy soon morphed into disdain after Chi Muyao’s explanation.

They had no use for such a thing after all.

Yu Yanshu was still very content. “It’s already extremely rare to see a Colourless Yunni Deer once in our lifetime. Moreover, we encountered a heaven-grade beast so soon after the Array was opened, which can only be a sign of the fortuitous encounters to come. Let’s all keep our cheer up and make the most of this expedition.”

This made the entire team perk up. The clouds cast by the fact that they hadn’t found a Jilingshou in three days were swept away. After all, if they could see an auspicious beast as rare as a Colourless Yunni Deer, then just how lucky were they?

At that moment, a voice transmission talisman appeared in front of Yu Yanshu.

Yu Yanshu input his spiritual energy and read it by himself. His expression immediately changed as he turned back to the team. “Change of plans. The demonic faction disciples have cheated and rounded up hundreds of Jilingshou in one place. Things over there have descended into chaos. We’ll be going over to help. You must all exercise caution.”

It was self-evident who these demonic faction disciples were.

After Yu Yanshu finished speaking, he turned to face only Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi. “Stay close to me. I can protect and take care of the two of you.”

Chi Muyao reluctantly nodded. He didn’t actually want to go, but it wasn’t safe to split up with Yu Yanshu here either. In the end, he steeled himself and followed.

They weren’t the first to arrive at the place where everything was going down. Many cultivators were already here, probably about seventy to eighty percent of all the disciples that entered the Array.

The chaotic battle waging between the disciples and the hundred plus Jilingshou was quite a sight to behold. Techniques belonging to all sorts of systems were used everywhere to the point where blazing wildfires were wreaking havoc beside humongous tree vines reaching for the sky.

It was impossible to distinguish who had shed the blood seeping into the ground. All the dust thrown into the air made it impossible to tell how many were actually fighting Jilingshou either.

Jilingshou were extremely unpredictable. They might be attacking that group now, but at any moment they could suddenly change targets and mindlessly charge towards other people.

Chi Muyao pulled Yi Qianxi back. He didn’t step into the fray.

Yu Chong School cultivators like them were not suited for large-scale conflicts. Their way of fighting required coordination with spirit beasts, experience that other cultivators lacked. The combined attacks of others had a very real chance of injuring their spirit beast.

So Chi Muyao could only take Yi Qianxi and hide on the sidelines. From behind cover, he secretly observed Xi Huai, who was sitting on a rock not far away.

Xi Huai was casually sitting back on a protruding rock. He scanned the battlefield with eyes bereft of emotion.

The wind lifted his hair, revealing his handsome visage in its entirety, including his full forehead and dragon horn. There seemed to be no one more suited than him to be in this position. The violent winds whipping up his hair and clothing only served to enhance his handsome bad boy charms.

To him, the tragic battlefield below where many righteous sect disciples were fighting for their lives was nothing more than an amusing show.

They, as well as the Jilingshou, were mere actors here to entertain him. The three of them were the only ones in the audience, coldly watching everything go down.

Xi Huai did this on purpose. After entering the Array, he used the treasure he had prepared in advance to lure in all the Jilingshou. The flying artefact could speed up the herding process even more.

After rounding up all the Jilingshou, he could just wait for the righteous sects’ cultivators to come to him on their own. That saved him the trouble of looking for them. Right now, all he needed to do was to sit on the sidelines and observe if A-Jiu was here.

Song Weiyue squatted next to Xi Huai and asked impatiently, “Is he here or not this time, ah? Can’t you focus for once?”

Xi Huai was frustrated too. “If I keep staring at any one person, A-Jiu will probably be unhappy when he finds out.”

Song Weiyue didn’t know what to say to that. “It’s been two years. He didn’t even care if you lived or died, so do you really think he cares if you glance at someone twice? I don’t know whether it’s A-Jiu who thinks too little of you or you think too much of yourself.”

Xi Huai pursed his lips instead of replying. With a wave of his hand, Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen were both thrown into the chaos below. Attacks rained down on them before they could even get to their feet. All they could do was woefully take out their spiritual artefacts.

Zong Sichen’s initial handsome scholar getup was in literal tatters. He cursed Song Weiyue out, “Can’t you keep your mouth shut?”

“You think I’m the problem?? Isn’t it our Young Sect Master who’s too sensitive and refuses to accept any advice?!”

As soon as the words fell, Xi Huai directed five Jilingshou to surround the two of them so that they were too busy to talk.

In ancient times, kites were called ‘鹞’ (yao). In the north, they were ‘鸢’ (yuan).

Rain

Qing Ze Sect Master: What has my unfilial son gotten himself into now?? And don’t try to blame me for his antics, you righteous blockheads!!

Sahl

Xi Huai: *Rounds up rare beasts for Chi Muyao*

Chi Muyao: “What’s this?”

Xi Huai: “Dowry.”

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