Chapter 515 – This Damn Formation

That said, Kong Que waited a moment, yet no steel blade came slashing toward her. She understood at once and let out a cold laugh. “Hmph. If you all think you can capture this envoy alive and question me about the affairs of our Sect, you’re wasting your effort.”

As she spoke, she opened her eyes, intending to give them a look of contempt.

But the scene before her made her greatly startled.

The three men in green were not, as she had imagined, standing over her with steel sabers in hand and savage smiles on their faces. Instead, they had moved far away from her, each occupying a different direction and performing strange, unrelated motions.

She saw Liang Cangxu gripping his steel saber. Saber aura flickered along the blade as he repeatedly slashed at empty air, his face filled with terror. Then he suddenly sheathed the saber, spread his body as though to execute Qinggong, yet no matter how he pushed with his feet, he only circled within a radius of three to five chi, unable to leave even half a step beyond it.

The other two blue-green men, whose names she did not know, moved differently, yet both wore expressions of panic. From time to time, they fought against something in the void, dodging left and blocking right as if it were all real.

Kong Que, sitting collapsed on the ground, suddenly felt a chill rise from the depths of her heart. Th-this… could it be they’d run into ghosts?

At that moment, her strength was completely spent, and she could only lift her head and look around. The blazing sun hung squarely overhead, the three men’s shadows cast clearly upon the ground. Even she herself could feel the warmth of the sunlight.

Yet that warmth could not warm Kong Que’s ice-cold heart; she still shivered with dread.

Then, however, another question occurred to her. If Liang Cangxu and the others had encountered something inconceivable, something beyond explanation, what about her? Why hadn’t she experienced what they had?

Or could it be that what she herself was seeing now… was not real either?

In an instant, Kong Que’s lips trembled slightly.

She touched the ground she was sitting on, then looked again at the suspension bridge hanging in the distance—everything was undeniably real! Th-then what exactly was going on?

Could it be they had fallen into some legendary formation? But if it truly were one of those Immortal-Path formations spoken of in legend, why was she unharmed while the others were affected? She had been surrounded by the three of them just moments ago, right in the middle.

Just as Kong Que was panicking, at a loss for what to do, the scene before her changed again.

Liang Cangxu and the other two suddenly dashed off with all their strength in three different directions. At first, each of them was still darting and shifting within their own tiny patch of ground, but after a short while, their figures shot outward simultaneously in three directions like bolts of lightning, then all stopped at once. The expressions on their faces changed again—shock and fury mixed together—yet that anger could not conceal the deep fear in their eyes. Standing in separate positions, they exchanged glances with one another, then all turned their gazes toward Kong Que, who was still slumped on the ground.

When they saw that she remained exactly as she had been during the earlier struggle, they seemed to understand something. Nodding to each other at the same time, they leapt up—

Kong Que was greatly alarmed, thinking they were about to attack again. But to her surprise, the three of them each chose a direction, executed Qinggong, and fled, not daring to look back even once.

“Th-this… what in the world is going on?” Kong Que grew even more bewildered.

Kong Que was bewildered, but Zhang Xiaohua in the distance was even more so.

According to his original plan, he had never intended to let the three escape. However, he had wanted to conceal things from Kong Que, so he isolated her alone within the Flag Gate Three Talents Formation, replacing what she saw with the real surroundings, while using illusions to confuse Liang Cangxu and the others. That alone greatly increased the difficulty. Previously, Zhang Xiaohua had only seen the “Auspicious Three Treasures” use the small flags; he himself had never actually practiced it. After repairing the three little flags, he still hadn’t had a chance to use them. Today, he had employed them hastily, so while controlling the formation, flaws were inevitable.

Moreover, back then the “Auspicious Three Treasures” had used three people to channel vital yuan stones into the small flags. When Qin Shiyue broke the formation, he stirred the countless Heaven-and-Earth Yuan Qi within it, even exhausting the energy in one of the yuan stones. This showed how vast the Yuan Qi required by this formation was. Now Zhang Xiaohua was alone, relying entirely on the True Qi within his own meridians to sustain it; as for the Yuan Qi between Heaven and Earth, he had no way to draw upon it at all.

Therefore, from the very start of controlling it, Zhang Xiaohua felt his True Qi running short and had no choice but to immediately take out a yuan stone from his robe to replenish his energy. He did not know the method of directly infusing Yuan Qi into the small flags, so he could only absorb it into his own body first, then channel it from within into the flags. During that conversion, the control of the formation inevitably became sluggish in places, and since this was his first time operating it, mistakes were unavoidable.

Thus, when Liang Cangxu and the other two finally ran with all their strength in three different directions, Zhang Xiaohua could no longer hold on. The entire formation suddenly collapsed. The light curtain emitted by the small flags shattered, and in that instant, the three men rushed far from where they had been, finally seeing the mountain summit’s real scenery.

Already frightened out of their wits by the Flag Gate Three Talents Formation, Liang Cangxu and his companions assumed this was some secret technique of the Incense Spreading Sect executed by the injured Kong Que. Naturally, they did not dare take another step forward. Who knew how they had managed to escape just now? If Kong Que used it again, could they still be lucky enough to get out?

So the three immediately retreated in separate directions.

Watching their figures quickly disappear into the distance, Kong Que finally let out a breath of relief. She secretly rejoiced, feeling she had narrowly escaped death. At the same time, the pain throughout her body struck all at once.

During the fight just now, she had exerted her full strength and had no time to tend to her serious injuries. Only now did she suddenly realize it. She hurriedly used her fingers to seal the acupoints on her arms and elsewhere, stopping the bleeding. But when she tried to stand, she discovered she had no strength left at all. Sighing, she took a medicinal pill from her robe, placed it in her mouth, closed her eyes, and began regulating her breath.

In the distance, Zhang Xiaohua released his divine sense and monitored Liang Cangxu and the others until they had gone far away. Only then did he withdraw it, form a hand seal, and burrow into the earth. He retrieved the small flags planted in three locations, glanced at Kong Que, who was still meditating, and, without lingering, went straight tunneling down the mountain.

This time, however, Zhang Xiaohua was more cautious. He kept far from the route he had used for earth-escape earlier, and he absolutely did not release his divine sense. Only after tunneling a great distance did he cautiously poke his head out. Fortunately, he returned safely. After thinking for a moment, Zhang Xiaohua released the Dream Chasing Sword again, letting it quietly fly to the opposite mountain and hover high in midair, guarding Kong Que from afar while she meditated.

Although this place was not far from where Kong Que was regulating her breath, Zhang Xiaohua had to take a detour to get there, didn’t he? Better to leave himself a fallback first, lest Liang Cangxu suddenly return for a counterattack and he be too late to help.

Looking again at the Incense Spreading Sect disciples, although they were still on guard, they had long grown impatient. All of them were craning their necks toward the suspension bridge, and even Steward Yang had climbed onto the carriage, shading his eyes with his hand as he looked that way.

Taking advantage of the disciples’ inattention, Zhang Xiaohua leapt out from the ground. Just as he was about to step toward the carriage, his heart stirred, and instead he walked forward steadily.

Hearing footsteps, the guarding disciple immediately became alert, gripping his treasured sword and turning around. Seeing Zhang Xiaohua, he showed a displeased expression. “Ren Xiaoyao, what are you getting off for? Go back and sit down.”

Zhang Xiaohua cupped his hands. “This disciple… Master, may I ask what’s happened ahead? Why have the carriages stopped for so long without moving? Did one break down? I used to repair carriages before—if needed, I could lend a hand.”

The disciple looked disdainful and waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. It’s none of your business. If you just go back and sit quietly, that’ll be helping us enough.”

“Um…” Zhang Xiaohua hesitated, then called out loudly, “Steward Yang, Steward Yang—”

Seeing him shout, the disciple’s face filled with anger. “What are you doing?”

Hearing Zhang Xiaohua call, Steward Yang turned his head in surprise and looked at him twice, frowning. When Zhang Xiaohua saw that he had no intention of letting him approach, he sighed inwardly. I want to hand you some merit, yet you won’t pay attention? Ah well, considering how you kept chatting with me earlier, I won’t hold it against you.

So he raised both hands and waved them, then pointed at his own nose, signaling that he had something to say.

Steward Yang was anxious, and seeing Zhang Xiaohua so tactless made him quite displeased. But Zhang Xiaohua kept gesturing insistently, so he had no choice but to wave at the disciple, indicating that Zhang Xiaohua should be allowed over.

Seeing this, the disciple snorted through his nose and strode off elsewhere. Zhang Xiaohua cupped his hands toward his back, then quickly ran to Steward Yang’s carriage and swung himself up in a single step.

Steward Yang saw Zhang Xiaohua climb up so rashly and became even more displeased. He snorted through his nose and said: “Ren Xiaoyao, what is it you want? If it’s nothing important, then stay inside the carriage and don’t go looking for trouble.”

Zhang Xiaohua cupped his hands. “Steward Yang, I just wanted to ask—the convoy has been stopped for nearly half a day now. Why hasn’t it moved yet?”

Steward Yang sneered. “That’s not something you need to worry about. Go back.”

After saying this, he ignored Zhang Xiaohua and lifted his head to keep watching ahead.

Zhang Xiaohua said softly from the side: “Is it that someone’s blocking the road and won’t let us pass? Lady Kong must have already gone over, right?”

Steward Yang glanced sideways at him. “How do you know?”

Zhang Xiaohua smiled. “Just now, Lady Kong’s voice was so loud. My ears aren’t deaf—how could I not hear?”

“Since you know the situation is urgent, you should be staying inside the carriage. This isn’t a place you should be.”

Steward Yang was still dissatisfied.

Zhang Xiaohua looked at the worry in his eyes and knew that inwardly he was extremely uncertain. If Kong Que had been killed up ahead, then all of them would certainly meet the same fate.

So he continued, “We’ve been cooped up inside the carriage for so long already, everyone’s scared to death. We don’t even know how things turned out for Lady Kong up ahead.”

“Sigh, who knows? Let’s just hope nothing’s happened.”

“It’s already been nearly half a day. I suppose there must be a result by now,” Zhang Xiaohua probed.

Steward Yang said disdainfully: “Lady Kong’s martial arts are superb. Anyone who could hold her off must also be an expert in the jianghu. How could people like us possibly know the outcome of their fight?”

Zhang Xiaohua thought for a moment. “If… Lady Kong had failed, then surely the other side would’ve come charging over long ago, right? But they still haven’t appeared. Maybe Lady Kong succeeded. And as for why she hasn’t returned yet…”

Zhang Xiaohua trailed off without finishing.

But Steward Yang’s eyes suddenly lit up…