Chapter 70
Yu Sui held her breath and dove down. Water pressure and countercurrents had little effect on her. As she approached, the clear river water in her eyes was ignited by the golden light of the Number Mountains. When she swam into the golden light's range and entered the barrier, the river water dispersed, the air became dry, and she landed steadily.
After landing, Yu Sui looked up at the Number Mountains, finally feeling their immensity, standing majestically like towering peaks. Beside her ears was the slightly ethereal yet rhythmic subtle sound of the Number Mountains operating, like the rustling of wind through leaves.
Above was flowing water, rendered golden by the Number Mountains' light, revealing circles of golden ripples blooming overhead.
Yu Sui raised her hand to wipe water traces from her face, snapped her fingers to test whether she could use Eight Trigrams Life Arts. Surrounding Heaven Fire burned beside her, then was quickly extinguished.
It worked, not restricted by the river water.
She examined the Number Mountains before her while walking deeper inside.
Each Number Mountain underwater was larger than those she'd seen in Qingyang Imperial Capital, about the same as those at Taiyi Academy's Communication Courtyard, except the golden Number Mountains had more strange curse patterns on their rotating horizontal bars.
Such curse patterns symbolized some kind of Nine Schools Art in operation.
Yu Sui had previously found it strange that the Number Mountains contained countless recorded Nine Schools Arts attached to them. When she was still an Ordinary Practitioner, she could decipher their meanings. Later she learned it was due to Divine Mechanism: Heavenly Eye.
Small Number Mountains arranged in a circle around three large Number Mountains, with the central three being Tianyuan, Jiguang, and Changsheng.
Yu Sui came before the three central Number Mountains, watching their dense horizontal bars and ribbons rotating constantly. Magnificent light appeared in her dark eyes as she took out her Wind-Listening Ruler, pressed it against Tianyuan Number Mountain, extracted countless encrypted texts from within, then infiltrated the communication array before her.
The communication array was built through cooperation between Taoist School, Yin-Yang School, and Technical Arts School.
Yin-Yang School handled sun, moon, and Five Elements matters. Taoist School managed the operation of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches numbers. Technical Arts School was responsible for stellar changes.
When three schools united, they could unleash the most wondrous effects of Nine Schools Arts.
Yu Sui rolled her eyes, noticing the rotating symbols on the horizontal bars. Last time she couldn't enter Taiyi Academy's Communication Courtyard and hadn't contacted the Number Mountains, so she had to rely on encrypted text infiltration, which took considerable time.
Now standing before the Number Mountain cluster with all information flowing into her eyes, Yu Sui was already familiar with every aspect of the Number Mountains. At this moment, Divine Mechanism: Heavenly Eye ruthlessly cracked all defenses, materializing everything in Yu Sui's mind:
In the depths of her consciousness where only she existed, heaven and earth were vast. Beneath her feet, dense curse patterns rotated. All of Dragon Slaying Cave's mountain stones and forestland appeared before her eyes, winding and twisting, both massive and tiny. Roadside flowers and trees, transmission arrays buried in cave entrances, Five Elements energy flowing in rivers, even the wind blowing and rain falling outside at this moment were all sensed and recorded in the Number Mountains.
The communication array before her only recorded changes in Five Elements energy within Dragon Slaying Cave.
The Wind-Listening Rulers worn by patrolling Thirteenth Realm instructors were positioned. In Yu Sui's mental map of Dragon Slaying Cave's terrain, she could see where all the Thirteenth Realm instructors were.
When disciples were injured and could no longer continue the challenge, destroying their own Mechanism Exquisite Hearts, these disciples would be positioned by the Number Mountains and transmitted to Thirteenth Realm instructors, who would take the challenging disciples away.
Heavenly Eye opened a new world for Yu Sui.
Within Dragon Slaying Cave, Five Elements energy cycled endlessly, forming its own world. With assistance from various schools' Nine Schools Arts and Mechanism Arts construction, it presented its current appearance.
Every corresponding node, transmission array, Military Formation, trial ground, and so on were marked with their names by School of Names Nine Schools Arts.
Yu Sui could see the academy's public information and also what the academy hadn't made public.
Number Mountains existed by absorbing and connecting Five Elements energy. When Divine Mechanism: Heavenly Eye made Yu Sui's consciousness merge with the Number Mountains, she too became part of the Number Mountains, part of Dragon Slaying Cave.
But Yu Sui wanted more than just this.
Yu Sui went back once during her research, afraid of staying too long and making Yan Xiaochuan worry enough to come looking for her.
Yan Xiaochuan, guarding in the cave, kept looking at the water surface and then at Su Tong, his face full of worry. He calculated the time in his mind. If Yu Sui didn't return, he'd have to find a way to search for her.
The dark water surface rippled as a black shadow floated upward, breaking through the water. The splash attracted Yan Xiaochuan's attention. He looked over warily as Surrounding Heaven Fire illuminated the area, the water surface reflecting the flame's orange-gold light.
Yu Sui's face was covered with water traces, wet hair clinging to her cheeks, her loose hair floating and sinking in the water. The golden hairpin's flower buds gleamed under the firelight, her snow-white skin appearing even smoother in the fire's glow, warm-toned halos colliding in the undulating waves.
She blinked at Yan Xiaochuan, crystal water droplets falling from her long black lashes.
At this moment, Yan Xiaochuan felt his heartbeat was more nervous and rapid than his earlier wariness at the splash.
She looked exactly like the beautiful mermaids living in the deep blue sea described in books!
If only her eyes were transparent water-blue, she'd look even more like one!
Beautiful and well-behaved, making one's heart race with the desire to keep her.
Yu Sui floated in the water, lifting her chin slightly toward Yan Xiaochuan, saying warmly: "How is Senior Sister Su?"
Yan Xiaochuan shook his head frantically to clear his mind, still crouching by the shore, looking at Yu Sui in the water: "She hasn't woken up yet, but the bleeding has stopped. Apart from the lightning marks, there's no major problem for now."
After answering, he asked with concern: "Little Princess, are you alright? Do the lightning marks burn painfully? Does it feel better in the water? What were you looking for? Did you find it? Do you need my help?"
Yan Xiaochuan fired off this string of questions without pause.
Yu Sui seemed confused by the questions, tilting her head slightly to express her puzzlement.
Yan Xiaochuan covered his mouth.
Damn it!
How can she be so cute!
"I need to stay in the water a bit longer. There are quite a few things to find, but they're very useful." Yu Sui raised her hand to gesture, trying to explain but finding it hard to explain. "Senior Sister Su's injuries are quite severe. We still need to return to the transmission point, then find Medical School disciples we know to help eliminate the lightning marks."
Yan Xiaochuan's brain instantly cleared: "Right, without the transmission point it would be too slow. There couldn't possibly be Medical School disciples at dragon tail skilled enough to eliminate lightning marks. But from what Wen Yanghui said, he seems to be guarding the transmission point, and we don't even know where the river carried us."
"I'll solve it." After Yu Sui finished speaking, she waved at Yan Xiaochuan again. "Watch Senior Sister Su here. Don't worry about me being in the water too long. I'll come back when I'm done."
Yan Xiaochuan also waved at her, then watched Yu Sui disappear into the water. Only after a moment did he come to his senses, looking at his own hand and muttering: "Strange, what method could the Little Princess have?"
But she seemed very reassuring.
Yan Xiaochuan couldn't figure it out even if he thought his head off, so he prepared to ask next time Yu Sui returned.
……
Yu Sui returned to the underwater communication array. The encrypted text continued infecting and infiltrating the Number Mountain cluster. Dragon Slaying Cave's terrain was too vast with too many complex things. She still needed time to understand bit by bit.
Especially the transmission array routes.
Yu Sui could confirm her current location was at dragon tail, while her target was dragon head Ye Pool.
There were many transmission arrays within Dragon Slaying Cave. Yu Sui didn't know which were already public and which weren't, but she was calculating which route was shortest.
The names and coordinates of transmission arrays were parsed by Heavenly Eye, densely packed together. Even at dragon tail, there were many unpublicized, undiscovered transmission arrays.
Dragon Slaying Cave's entire map materialized in Yu Sui's consciousness. This was too novel for her, with too many things she wanted to remember. Just looking at transmission arrays took an entire night. When the Strange Fire's burning subsided, she knew dawn had broken outside.
Yu Sui retrieved her Wind-Listening Ruler from Tianyuan Number Mountain. The encrypted text had completely infected and infiltrated this communication array.
One of the three core Number Mountains, "Tianyuan," was responsible for positioning.
Yu Sui slowly extended her hand, her eyes reflecting Tianyuan's rapidly rotating horizontal bars, section after section, cutting around the Number Mountain from top to bottom. Her slender fingers gently touched the horizontal bars, tracing the character curse patterns appearing on them, modifying partial commands.
Challenging disciples would only be monitored by Number Mountains when their Mechanism Exquisite Hearts were triggered.
This meant Number Mountains could detect the existence of Mechanism Exquisite Hearts. Yu Sui adjusted the commands so monitoring didn't require triggering Mechanism Exquisite Hearts.
Following her modifications, Yu Sui opened her Wind-Listening Ruler again. After connecting to the communication array, the obtained information projected in her mind's Dragon Slaying Cave map showed dense red markers.
Black markers roaming the map's edges were Thirteenth Realm instructors.
Dense red dots extending from dragon tail to dragon belly were Taiyi Academy disciples still alive in Dragon Slaying Cave.
This was the third day of the Dragon Slaying Cave challenge. Those who had progressed furthest had only reached the middle of dragon belly, with a large cluster of red dots following behind. Competition at the front was extremely intense, with some red dots disappearing as she watched.
Compared to the nearly motionless red dots at dragon tail, the battle situation at dragon belly was incredibly intense.
Mechanism Exquisite Hearts alone couldn't monitor disciples' identities, or Yu Sui could have searched for where Shi Yuezhen was.
Yu Sui confirmed her position, then looked at the distance between her and the leading disciples. The gap was huge. If she wanted to close the gap by using transmission arrays to reach the front, the transmission point guarded by Wen Yanghui was closest.
Number Mountains received all operations and changes of Five Elements energy within Dragon Slaying Cave. Though Dragon Slaying Cave formed its own world, the dragon was dead, this was fact. The current vivid scenery was half due to Mechanism Arts.
No matter what, this was still half artificial scenery.
Yu Sui lit up the extinguished Wind-Listening Ruler, having a hypothesis in mind. As long as it was artificial scenery, it could be artificially manipulated.
Number Mountains materialized changes within Dragon Slaying Cave as various character curse patterns, while Heavenly Eye materialized these character curse patterns as actual scenes in Yu Sui's mind. They already existed and were currently operating. Yu Sui only needed to find corresponding character curse patterns to modify and move them.
As long as something was artificially set, its settings could be directly modified through Number Mountains.
To prove her hypothesis, Yu Sui found the corresponding river symbols, erased the characters restricting Eight Trigrams Life Arts in the river, then left the communication array to go outside the barrier.
Cold river water enveloped her. Though it was now daytime, she was too deep underwater, only able to see white light faintly penetrating through the water waves above.
Yu Sui tried using Kan Trigram Life Art: Water Crossing, encountering no restriction from the river's Five Elements energy, moving freely like a fish.
After confirming that partial Five Elements energy of mountain stones and forestland within Dragon Slaying Cave could be modified, Yu Sui returned to the communication array barrier.
Yu Sui looked at new character curse patterns constantly generated on the horizontal bars, her eyes flickering slightly as she began modifications.
Though modifications were possible, she couldn't go too far, or it would reveal clues and alert the Thirteenth Realm instructors patrolling Dragon Slaying Cave. At dragon head, because some triggered secret realms were too dangerous with Saints stationed there, she had to be extremely careful.
……
Yan Xiaochuan had been waiting for Yu Sui for a long time.
If Yu Sui hadn't returned earlier, he would have jumped into the water to find her long ago.
Su Tong had also awakened now. Yan Xiaochuan hurriedly asked about her condition. Su Tong frowned. Though it hurt, she could endure it. Fortunately, she hadn't been struck by golden thunder causing Five Elements energy chaos, only leaving lightning marks.
"Where's Nangong Sui? How is she?" Su Tong vaguely remembered she had also been hit by golden thunder.
"She said her condition was better than yours." Yan Xiaochuan sighed, taking usable clean water from his mechanism box for Su Tong to drink. "Little Princess went into the water to find something and hasn't returned yet."
"Into the water?" Su Tong held the cup in a daze, her frown deepening. "Is it night or day now?"
"I estimate it's dawn. She went into the water at night but came back once, proving she wasn't washed away by the river current." Yan Xiaochuan consoled. "She promised nothing would happen and refused my help going underwater, insisting on going herself. I had no choice but to guard Senior Sister Su here and wait for Little Princess to return."
Su Tong feared Yu Sui would have an accident and be eliminated. This was only the third day. If she led Mei Liangyu's Junior Sister at dragon tail only to have her eliminated on the third day, she'd never have the face to enter Dragon Slaying Cave again.
"How long has she been gone without returning?" Su Tong took a sip of clean water to moisten her throat. When she raised her head, it pulled her shoulder wound, making her suck in a sharp breath of pain.
"Senior Sister Su, drink slowly, don't panic." Seeing Su Tong's face contort in pain, Yan Xiaochuan became increasingly anxious, rummaging through his mechanism box. "I have a new bamboo tube here for you to drink with."
He inserted the thin bamboo tube into Su Tong's water cup.
Su Tong bit the bamboo tube and finished the water. Only when her dry, itchy throat felt better did she say while still holding the tube: "I'll get you a new one when we get out."
Yan Xiaochuan waved his hand: "No need to return such small things."
Su Tong leaned against the stone wall, glancing at her bandaged shoulder. Yan Xiaochuan quickly said: "Little Princess helped with the bandaging."
"That Wen Yanghui," Su Tong frowned with a disgusted expression, "Usually we don't antagonize each other, and this is dragon tail where none of our schools overlap to compete. Yet he attacked first with elimination intent!"
Su Tong still didn't know about the antagonism between Gu Qian and Mei Liangyu, only remembering how Wen Yanghui politely called Mei Liangyu "brother" normally, though Mei Liangyu didn't much care for him. Apart from knowing he was the Wenyang family's Young Master, she'd had no interaction with Wen Yanghui.
Yan Xiaochuan nodded, joining her in criticism: "He even said he'd monopolize the transmission point! How dare he, does he really think there's no one at dragon tail who can punish him!"
Su Tong asked: "Can you beat him?"
Yan Xiaochuan tactically scratched his head: "In single combat, there's still a chance. Though I'm not a Class A disciple, I'm still Eighth Realm. But there are five of them, plus that Yin-Yang School princess and others."
"Wen Yanghui seems to be Ninth Realm, a Taoist School Class A disciple with decent strength." Su Tong pondered. "Setting aside his Taoist School Nine Schools Arts, what we should guard against most is his Mechanism Arts."
Yan Xiaochuan sighed: "If we're going back for revenge, we need to separate their numbers to handle them."
Just as he finished speaking, they heard splashing sounds ahead. Both looked toward the water surface simultaneously. In the water illuminated by Surrounding Heaven Fire, Yu Sui was floating closer.
"Thank heavens, Little Princess, you're finally back." Yan Xiaochuan crouched by the shore, extending his hand toward Yu Sui. "Are you injured? How are the lightning marks burning?"
"I'm fine, nothing wrong. How about Senior Sister Su?" Yu Sui floated to the shore, hearing Su Tong by the wall say, "I'm fine too. How did you get back from the water?"
Seeing Su Tong awake, Yu Sui came ashore and shook off the water, returning the divine wood sign to Su Tong. She crouched beside Su Tong obediently: "Thank you for the divine wood sign, Senior Sister Su. Only because of it wasn't I carried away by the river when I entered the water."
"Before coming to Dragon Slaying Cave, Master and Senior Brother told me many precautions, including that some places have river water with attached Five Elements energy that restricts certain Nine Schools Arts." Yu Sui wrung water from her clothes while explaining. "Master said Dragon Slaying Cave forms its own world with many places worth exploring. Where there are restrictions, there are ways to remove them. Earlier I saw a mechanism array underwater that seemed related to the river restricting Nine Schools Arts, so I went to find it and figure out how to unlock it. Now Eight Trigrams Life Arts and other Nine Schools Arts can be used in the water."
"Really?" As Yan Xiaochuan spoke, he reached into the water, sensing that the Five Elements energy in the water had decreased considerably from before. He tried using Surrounding Heaven Fire, and a large string of flames emerged from the water.
"Whoa!" Yan Xiaochuan turned back, looking at Yu Sui with complete admiration. "Little Princess, you're so smart!"
"I just remembered what Master said and tried my luck." Yu Sui said honestly. "After all, Senior Sister Su and you have been taking care of me this whole way. Last night Senior Sister Su was injured saving me, so I should do something."
Su Tong also praised her: "Fortunately you didn't overlook the details underwater and could unlock the Eight Trigrams Life Arts restriction. At least we can leave the water more gracefully and find our way back to the transmission point once on shore."
Yu Sui said: "Earlier when I tested whether I could use Eight Trigrams Life Arts in the water, I went up to look around and found we haven't drifted too far from last night's mountain entrance, just nearby."
Originally the river water had washed them quite far, but she had modified this area's terrain position so that exiting the river water would place them at the transmission point mountain entrance.
After hearing this, Yan Xiaochuan looked at Su Tong with hands clasped: "That must be thanks to Senior Sister Su's divine wood sign turning misfortune into fortune, avoiding the river current's trials."
Su Tong estimated Wen Yanghui hadn't expected them to be so lucky, so he didn't pursue into the water, or perhaps he had pursued but didn't catch them.
"I gave the divine wood sign to Suisui last night along with my blessing divination. This is her good fortune, much more effective than your jinx mouth." Su Tong said this while looking sternly at Yan Xiaochuan. "Say nice things from now on. Keep the bad words to yourself. I feel you really have some School of Names Living Word Spirit constitution."
Whatever he said came true.
But Yan Xiaochuan said sheepishly: "Senior Sister Su, jinx mouth and Living Word Spirit are two different concepts. Being a Living Word Spirit is every School of Names disciple's ultimate goal."
Su Tong: "So you admit you're somewhat of a jinx!"
Yan Xiaochuan silently covered his mouth.
Listening to their discussion, Yu Sui was still planning to return through the transmission point Wen Yanghui was guarding. Su Tong wasn't the type to just endure being beaten. Since Wen Yanghui had attacked first, she wouldn't maintain a harmonious coexistence attitude.
Moreover, Su Tong's abilities were suited for first strikes, requiring advance preparation.
Yan Xiaochuan went into the water first to scout. Yu Sui stayed to guard Su Tong while she rested.
Yu Sui asked Su Tong what to do about the lightning marks, whether to find Sister Yuezhen for help.
"Yuezhen should be at the very front. We can't catch up, and it's impossible to have her come back." Su Tong shook her head, her gaze consoling Yu Sui. "Don't worry, I can endure it. But for you, these lightning marks are quite burdensome for First Realm. You..."
"I can endure it too," Yu Sui said seriously.
Though she had lightning marks, it wasn't as painful as the moment she was struck by golden thunder.
Su Tong knew how painful lightning mark burning was, but seeing Yu Sui's insistent appearance, she couldn't help sighing that this little Junior Sister could really endure.
Both Yan Xiaochuan and Su Tong's understanding of Yu Sui came from fragments heard from others. They had no participatory sense of Yu Sui's eighteen years as an Ordinary Practitioner, only remembering she was First Realm and a Ghost Way School Saint's disciple.
These two were deeply impressed by Yu Sui's Senior Brother Mei Liangyu, having witnessed how incredibly powerful Mei Liangyu's abilities were. So they weren't too surprised by Yu Sui's ability to solve the underwater mechanism.
Dragon Slaying Cave was full of dangers and opportunities, blessings and misfortunes interdependent.
Moreover, Su Tong had given Yu Sui the divine wood sign. Having "good luck" and "favorable" results occur to Yu Sui was quite normal.
Yu Sui looked at Su Tong's two divine wood signs: "Senior Sister Su, will missing one divine wood sign affect you in any way?"
The third divine wood sign had been split by golden thunder when Su Tong resisted it last night, falling into the water and disappearing.
"It's fine. After we get out, I'll just go to Technical Arts School's High Tree Garden to find divine wood branches and make another one." Su Tong moved her neck, her complexion slightly better than last night. "I often change my divine wood signs because frequent divination greatly depletes their stored power."
Yu Sui consciously guided Su Tong to say more about Technical Arts School divination: "Senior Sister Su, can Technical Arts School's prediction see specific scenes?"
"No, predictions can only vaguely sense related things, but it also depends on the practitioner's realm and strength." Su Tong said. "Some people are naturally gifted and can innately sense partial 'prophetic things,' like having certain feelings and omens before crises arrive."
Yu Sui supported her face with both hands, seeming to sigh: "That sounds so vague, still requiring guesswork. What if you guess wrong? It would be great if you could directly see what specific things will happen in the future."
Su Tong was amused by her words: "Directly seeing, even Saints probably couldn't do that. Current predictions can only achieve guessing and prejudging stages, unable to directly see what will happen in the future."
Yu Sui said innocently: "Can't Technical Arts School's Heavenly Mechanism Arts do it either?"
"As far as I know, there's no such Heavenly Mechanism Art." Su Tong thought for a moment. "Divine Mechanism Arts might be possible, but there are too few records to be certain of their actual capabilities."
"What are Divine Mechanism Arts?" Yu Sui maintained her innocence.
Su Tong patiently explained what Divine Mechanism Arts were: uncultivable, innate mystical abilities without school divisions, only judged by their materialized skills to determine which school they might be closer to.
"Like Nine Schools Arts and Heavenly Mechanism Arts, they can be obtained through personal cultivation but cannot be seized by others. However, Divine Mechanism Arts can be seized." Su Tong said. "For instance, the prophetic specific scenes you mentioned, the fifth-ranked 'Divine Mechanism: Blessing Heart' might be able to do it."
She turned to lean her uninjured shoulder against the stone wall, reminiscing: "Once there was someone from Dan Kingdom who possessed Divine Mechanism: Blessing Heart without knowing it. He discovered he could see others' futures and made a living by charging for divination."
Yu Sui reached up to cover her mouth in surprise, saying softly: "Could it be that he was discovered and had his Divine Mechanism Arts seized?"
But Su Tong smiled: "Not at all, because this person's divination was too accurate, becoming increasingly legendary. Dan Kingdom was in internal chaos with warring lords. He used his prophetic divination to back the future emperor, helping him clear obstacles, quell rebellions, and ascend the throne."
Yu Sui blinked, about to express her surprise, when she saw Su Tong's eyes curve mischievously: "The emperor trusted him greatly, but one day this person told the ministers he had foreseen that he would be Dan Kingdom's future emperor, that only he could lead Dan Kingdom to prosperity. So the ministers believed him and killed the emperor, making him emperor."
What a dramatic story.
Yu Sui widened her eyes, clearly showing shock.
Su Tong found her dazed appearance both obedient and amusing, laughing: "But this was all hundreds of years ago. You might hear it again from instructors when you take external Technical Arts School courses. Historical records of Divine Mechanism: Blessing Heart are quite interesting, and this person really did serve as Dan Kingdom's emperor for a long time, finally dying of old age. His entire life was smooth sailing."
"As long as you master this power and use it well, whether you become a hunted vagrant or a national ruler, both are possible."
This Dan Kingdom emperor from hundreds of years ago had perfect timing, favorable location, and people on his side.
Yu Sui nodded in confusion, but kept Divine Mechanism: Blessing Heart in mind.
……
Yan Xiaochuan was gone for quite a while before returning. He surfaced with splashing sounds, grinning at the two on shore: "Senior Sister Su, Little Princess was right. Not far from the water exit is the transmission point mountain entrance, and Wen Yanghui's mechanism painting from last night is still there with the bridge intact."
Su Tong asked: "Where is Wen Yanghui?"
Yan Xiaochuan emerged from the water: "Probably in the cave. Didn't see him, but I saw Princess Shangyang and her little followers."
Su Tong thought and said: "I can use trigram positioning to set up an array to trap Shangyang. Though she's from Yin-Yang School, as long as she doesn't use star arrays but trigram arrays, I should be able to hold her for a while."
"If Wen Yanghui is guarding inside the mountain entrance, we'll still have to fight." Yan Xiaochuan wiped water from his face, pondering with Su Tong. "I can withstand his golden thunder, but I'm afraid he has other methods, like throwing out more projection paintings."
Yu Sui slowly raised her hand: "Perhaps we don't need to defeat him completely, just lure him to the riverside."
"Riverside?" Yan Xiaochuan and Su Tong, one standing and one sitting, both looked at Yu Sui.
"Yes!" Yu Sui gestured as if explaining: "The mechanism array I found underwater can adjust the Five Elements energy covering the water. After strengthening the coverage, he won't be able to use any Five Elements energy to materialize Nine Schools Arts in the river water, and the water will become fierce and actively attack."
"Such mysteries do exist, that's indeed good." Yan Xiaochuan rubbed his chin. "Just luring someone to the riverside reduces the difficulty somewhat."
"How do you trigger the underwater mechanism array?" Su Tong asked.
Yu Sui said: "After I trigger it underwater, I'll come up and tell you."
"Good! Let's go for it!" Yan Xiaochuan was full of energy. "Let's first cooperate with Senior Sister Su to trap Wen Yang in a trigram array."
Yu Sui consoled: "If something goes wrong, don't panic. At worst we'll jump in the water and run. He can't catch us."
Su Tong supported herself against the stone wall with one hand, Five Elements energy igniting around her for protection as she looked toward the river: "Let's go."
Three people entered the water, following the river current upward.
Yan Xiaochuan led the way, surfacing and coming ashore at a considerable distance. Since everyone used Five Elements energy for protection, they weren't soaked.
Surrounded by concealing forest, they hid behind trees observing their surroundings.
Su Tong's array setup would take some time, extended due to her injuries affecting trigram positioning.
She drew a simple landscape diagram on the ground with her divine wood sign, encompassing their location. Strange character curse patterns were distributed throughout the landscape diagram. Yan Xiaochuan and Yu Sui glanced at it occasionally, then looked at each other, both their eyes showing complete incomprehension.
Su Tong studied military divination, able to alter Five Elements energy proportions within the trigram range, controlling wind, water, and terrain in that area.
"To resist Wen Yanghui's golden thunder requires strengthening Kun and Gen trigram powers. How well do you two grasp this?" Su Tong asked.
Yan Xiaochuan said confidently: "Don't worry, Senior Sister Su. I know many Kun and Gen trigram Life Arts, plus Nine Schools Arts beyond the sixty-four trigrams."
Yu Sui couldn't do it. Due to Breath Soil competing with her to devour Five Elements energy, the powers related to these two trigrams were sealed. She couldn't perform any of them.
"Senior Sister Su, my skills are inadequate," Yu Sui said pitifully.
Su Tong said: "It's fine, leaving it to Yan Xiaochuan works the same."
Yan Xiaochuan encouraged Yu Sui: "Little Princess, you still have a long time to cultivate. You're so smart with a bright future. Later we'll still depend on you to activate the key mechanism array underwater."
Yu Sui nodded.
Su Tong was very focused on trigram division. Given enough time, Wen Yanghui would definitely fall into the water and be eliminated today.
Originally clear skies gradually became overcast, dark clouds covering the sun, instantly darkening. Under the dark clouds lay her Trigram Array: Landscape Diagram's range.
In Dragon Slaying Cave, sudden weather changes were common, usually symbolizing changes, ominous changes.
Princess Shangyang stood on the red wooden arch bridge, chatting boredly with her companions, pointing at the river water asking where Nangong Sui could have been washed, whether she'd been struck by golden thunder and couldn't endure the lightning marks' pain, voluntarily eliminated.
Jin Zhi and the others didn't know what she wanted to hear, only guessing various endings for Yu Sui.
Suddenly Jin Zhi exclaimed, pointing toward the opposite forest: "Princess, look!"
Princess Shangyang turned to see Yu Sui using Wind-Riding Techniques in the forest, exclaiming in surprise: "She's still here!"
So Princess Shangyang pursued without hesitation. Jin Zhi and the others shouted "Princess" while following.
After Yu Sui lured Princess Shangyang away from the riverside, Yan Xiaochuan crossed the river via the red wooden arch bridge. The mountain entrance faced directly across the river, its dark opening crawling with thick green vines hanging densely above like a green curtain.
Wen Yanghui, who was inside studying the transmission array, heard Jin Zhi and the others shouting "Princess" outside and walked out, coincidentally meeting Yan Xiaochuan entering, surprise flashing in his eyes.
"Well well." Yan Xiaochuan smiled with squinted eyes, greeting him. "Last night we didn't settle things, let's continue now."
As soon as he finished speaking, both ignited golden Five Elements energy for protection and attacked simultaneously.
Wen Yanghui wasn't one for idle chatter. His opening move was Taoist School Heavenly Mechanism Art: Heavenly Gang Five Thunder. Golden thunder shot skyward with deep, intimidating rumbling.
Before his attack arrived, Yan Xiaochuan took a deep breath: "Heaven Wind Thunder Fire."
One Word Command using four powers, showing his extremely precise control of Five Elements energy.
Similar golden thunder exploded as two golden thunders clashed, the explosive sound bringing fierce winds, while the other golden thunder carried vicious flames.
Yan Xiaochuan used instant movement to appear behind Wen Yanghui with a clenched fist. But Wen Yanghui reacted first, turning to block. Their golden thunder flickered on and off with their combat speed, dazzlingly fast, requiring defense against both physical attacks and accompanying golden thunder.
Dark clouds appeared above their battle range. Wen Yanghui could clearly feel his Wind-Riding Technique speed being suppressed. Glancing at the clouds above and his golden thunder's instability, his expression darkened.
Su Tong's Trigram Array: Landscape Diagram.
He'd thought she was already eliminated, not expecting her to dare continue expending Five Elements energy for trigram arrays while enduring lightning mark burning!
Staying in the trigram array would have all his Five Elements energy drained away.
Su Tong hid behind trees across the river, where pink and white flowering trees seemed timelessly peaceful, being from projection paintings, forever frozen at one moment without changing with time.
Now she gripped her divine wood sign, making a horizontal cut in the ground's landscape diagram, continuing to drain Five Elements energy from Wen Yanghui's side, suppressing his power.
Wen Yanghui's golden thunder flashed brilliantly, temporarily repelling Yan Xiaochuan. He threw several thunder talismans to counter Su Tong's trigram array, the talismans flickering as their released power connected and shot skyward, briefly illuminating the dark clouds.
Su Tong coughed, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. When using Five Elements energy, the lightning marks burned even more fiercely.
She pressed one hand on the lightning lines appearing in the landscape diagram, maintaining the trigram array.
Having already fought this far, she couldn't let all their efforts be wasted.
Yan Xiaochuan waved his hand, thin fire lines surrounding the suspended thunder talismans. Wen Yanghui used instant movement to stop him from destroying the talismans. During their clash, he sneered coldly: "I underestimated you indeed."
"Underestimating enemies is truly taboo." Yan Xiaochuan attacked forcefully while Wen Yanghui's power was being reduced by the trigram array, sweeping his leg horizontally at his opponent's lower body. Wen Yanghui retreated to create distance but was pursued again by Yan Xiaochuan.
Fierce winds carrying sparks raised heat waves, igniting all the thunder talismans Wen Yanghui had thrown.
Giant stones rose from the ground forming a long stone corridor, receiving Wen Yanghui's golden thunder yet standing firm.
Trapped in the stone corridor, Wen Yanghui's expression changed slightly. A scroll slid from his sleeve. Yan Xiaochuan, sharp-eyed, reached to seize it with his backhand, not giving him a chance to use the mechanism scroll.
Su Tong couldn't hold out much longer.
After Yu Sui shook off Princess Shangyang, she returned. To prevent accidents, she modified the forest paths, ensuring that even if Princess Shangyang broke the trigram array, she wouldn't find her way back. By the time she escaped the trigram array, she'd already be sent to the farthest part of dragon tail.
The river now flowed gently, its water clear and bright, reflecting even the dark clouds above and flickering lightning with perfect clarity.
Yu Sui lightly touched her Wind-Listening Ruler with her fingertip, her consciousness connecting with the underwater Number Mountains. As several people's Nine Schools Arts operated, the Number Mountains also materialized these powers as character curse patterns recorded within.
She found the character curse patterns representing Wen Yanghui's golden thunder and extracted them.
Yan Xiaochuan and Wen Yanghui were fighting over the mechanism scroll. With Su Tong's trigram array weakening his power, Wen Yanghui's golden thunder was gradually becoming weaker, but his protective Five Elements energy remained unbroken.
The mechanism scroll flicked from his sleeve spun and fell from above, rotating continuously.
Wen Yanghui flicked his five fingers, sending another Taoist talisman flying to repel Yan Xiaochuan. After retreating several steps, Yan Xiaochuan burned the talisman and used instant movement to appear before Wen Yanghui.
Wen Yanghui caught the falling mechanism scroll just as he was about to unfurl it, when from the corner of his eye he saw a golden flash. Yu Sui approached from behind, black curse patterns flickering at her fingertips:
"Qian Fixed."
Wen Yanghui's Five Elements energy was briefly frozen for an instant. Yu Sui used instant movement to take the mechanism scroll from his hand. Seeing Yu Sui appear and Wen Yanghui's Five Elements protection rendered useless, Yan Xiaochuan struck with wind and thunder power in his fist, sending him flying.
The stone corridor limited Wen Yanghui's evasion routes, so Yan Xiaochuan's punch sent him flying directly to the riverbank.
Yu Sui's Qian Fixed ended, and Wen Yanghui reignited his protective Five Elements energy. His abdomen ached from the earlier punch.
Yan Xiaochuan and Yu Sui stood on tall stones respectively, with thunder flickering and fire lines coiling behind them.
Wen Yanghui looked up at the two, lightning reflecting on his porcelain-white skin. His dark pupils stared at Yu Sui who had taken the mechanism scroll, then turned to Yan Xiaochuan: "Tactics of outnumbering opponents aren't bad."
Yan Xiaochuan didn't care about such things, raising an eyebrow: "What kind of talk is that? Last night weren't you also five against three? Besides, last night Little Princess and Senior Sister Su hadn't even acted yet."
"Su Tong is severely injured. Her trigram array won't last much longer." As soon as Wen Yanghui finished speaking, a gap appeared in the dark clouds above, with sunlight breaking through.
Yan Xiaochuan's expression changed slightly.
Wen Yanghui smiled enigmatically, unhurriedly taking another black mechanism scroll from his sleeve to play with, his gaze meaningfully sweeping over Yu Sui: "Will you return it now, or shall I take it back?"
But Yu Sui said: "I'll give you a chance to open it."
Wen Yanghui frowned, clearly not understanding where Yu Sui's confidence came from.
Yan Xiaochuan said quietly: "Little Princess, aren't we being a bit premature with our bold words?"
Yu Sui spoke gently, without malice, her dark pupils even carrying hints of laughter: "Open it. I also want to see what will happen."
She seemed genuinely just curious.
Wen Yanghui thought to himself that even if Gu Qian cared deeply about Nangong Sui, he wouldn't be polite to her this time. At most he wouldn't hurt her, just eliminate her with one decisive strike.
He gripped the scroll and suspended it open. As the crisp sound of the unrolling scroll began, Yu Sui put back the character curse patterns representing Wen Yanghui's golden thunder.
Before the scroll was fully opened, a golden thunder bolt appeared without warning above Wen Yanghui's head, striking his back with deep rumbling, making his body tremble. When he looked up, his eyes were filled with disbelief.
His eyes reflected Yu Sui's regretful expression as she looked at him.
The river water rushed, raising giant waves that crushed the red wooden arch bridge. The projection painting was destroyed, the crimson flowering trees on both shores collapsed, flower branches trembling as the raised flower rain was swept into the clear river water.
The giant waves swept Wen Yanghui into the river. The heavy impact of falling nearly shattered every bone in his body.
He uncontrollably spat blood from his throat, shocked beyond measure as he was pulled and dragged down by the mighty river water, completely unable to sense any Five Elements energy, powerless to resist. Before losing consciousness, his Mechanism Exquisite Heart also shattered.
Wen Yanghui was ejected from Dragon Slaying Cave, falling at the academy's external transmission point. The open area had many injured disciples who had been eliminated, some conscious and cursing angrily. Many Thirteenth Realm instructors were helping with treatment.
The time outside matched that inside Dragon Slaying Cave - no dark clouds covered the sun, but it was already evening.
As soon as Wen Yanghui sat up, he felt intense pain on his back and the burning of lightning marks. He couldn't help but frown tightly, covered in sweat, yet no matter how he thought, he couldn't figure out what had happened. Whose golden thunder was that?
Had someone else arrived?
Or was it Su Tong's trigram array?
Or had he unluckily encountered Nine Schools Arts within Dragon Slaying Cave?
Most importantly, he had actually been eliminated from Dragon Slaying Cave by Su Tong's group.
Thinking of this, Wen Yanghui's refined face, still bearing water droplets, showed only gloom.