Chapter 71
Wen Yanghui hadn't expected to be eliminated at dragon tail, and on the third day of the Dragon Slaying Cave challenge no less.
Quite a few disciples had emerged from the transmission point.
Disciples who suffered instant fatal injuries and lost consciousness didn't need to wait for instructors to take them away, they were directly transmitted out.
Only disciples who were injured but not fatally, or who fell into dangerous places and couldn't leave, could destroy their own Mechanism Exquisite Hearts. The Number Mountains would then send positioning to Thirteenth Realm instructors, transmitting the instructors over to take them away.
This also applied within Dragon Slaying Cave when ill-intentioned disciples tortured and toyed with others, only attacking without killing them. When disciples were trapped, they had the ability to protect themselves and escape by voluntary elimination.
For Wen Yanghui, he was the one who tortured other disciples, not the one who needed to destroy his Exquisite Heart seeking relief through voluntary elimination.
The injuries brought from Dragon Slaying Cave made Wen Yanghui cough. An instructor came over to check on him, saying in surprise: "Hey, how come you're out so early too?"
Wen Yanghui's face was gloomy, unwilling to answer.
But the two instructors before him seemed unable to see his gloom, even taking out their Wind-Listening Rulers to check positioning, then laughing heartily: "How were you eliminated from dragon tail? What's a Class A disciple doing at dragon tail?"
This was even more impossible to answer.
Wen Yanghui, sitting on the ground, tilted back his neck: "Remove my lightning marks."
Even Taoist School disciples couldn't eliminate them themselves.
Many people at the academy's open transmission point recognized Wen Yanghui. Hearing the instructors say he was eliminated at dragon tail, some couldn't help but burst into laughter, mocking mercilessly and beginning to whisper among themselves.
Wen Yanghui kept a dark expression and endured it.
……
Inside Dragon Slaying Cave.
Yan Xiaochuan stood on the giant stone, the surprise in his eyes still hadn't faded.
He had heard Yu Sui mention the underwater mechanism array before, which could remove the Five Elements energy in the water that suppressed their Nine Schools Arts, making the river fierce and violent, able to devour people on the shore.
But he hadn't expected it to be this fierce. The seemingly gentle river raised towering waves and swallowed Wen Yanghui in the blink of an eye.
And struck him with golden thunder before swallowing him.
The massive waves brought sounds of splashing water. The dark clouds above also dispersed, Su Tong's Trigram Array: Landscape Diagram ended. Yu Sui used instant movement to land from the giant stone, hearing Yan Xiaochuan ask her: "Little Princess, did you see it? Wasn't there golden thunder that struck Wen Yanghui just now?"
Yu Sui looked back in surprise: "You saw it too?"
Yan Xiaochuan nodded repeatedly, rubbing his wrist that ached from fighting Wen Yanghui. He used instant movement to her side, pointing at where Wen Yanghui had been standing: "Right when he opened the scroll, golden thunder struck him. Strange, where did that golden thunder come from?"
"I don't know either." Yu Sui said puzzledly. "I just activated the underwater mechanism array, knowing he'd be pulled into the river, so I had him open the scroll to see what his Mechanism Arts would be this time."
Seeing Yu Sui as confused as himself, Yan Xiaochuan thought it over, stroking his chin: "Could he have triggered hidden Nine Schools Arts in Dragon Slaying Cave? That would be really unlucky for him. Or maybe it came from the riverbed mechanism array, using golden thunder to immobilize people first so they can't move, then dragging them into the water."
Yu Sui looked at him with slightly brightened eyes, carrying some novelty and praise: "Is that how it works?"
Being looked at with slightly worshipful eyes by a beautiful girl, who could resist that?
Yan Xiaochuan immediately grinned foolishly: "Haha! I'm just guessing randomly."
Yu Sui just blinked at him without speaking, but her dark pupils clearly conveyed "I think you're absolutely right."
Yan Xiaochuan's heart soared, completely unable to resist.
"Though Wen Yanghui is dealt with, Princess Shangyang is still around. We need to use the transmission before she breaks the trigram array and comes out." Yu Sui said. "You check the transmission point first, I'll bring Senior Sister Su over."
Yan Xiaochuan readily agreed, watching Yu Sui safely cross the river to the opposite shore using Wind-Riding Techniques before turning toward the pitch-black mountain entrance.
Su Tong was still in the forest grove where she'd set up the trigram array. As the array controller, she couldn't be exposed, or if someone attacked her while controlling the array, the trigram array would become unstable.
She had cast two trigram arrays tonight.
The first trapped Princess Shangyang and her companions in the forest, preventing them from participating in the fight against Wen Yanghui.
The second was the Trigram Array: Landscape Diagram targeting Wen Yanghui.
The range covered by dark clouds was the extent Su Tong could control Five Elements energy. She had drained Wen Yanghui's power, preventing him from sensing surrounding Five Elements energy while also absorbing his own.
Wen Yanghui's golden thunder power was thus weakened. He reacted quickly, and after discovering his Taoist talismans to break the trigram array were blocked by Yan Xiaochuan, he immediately switched to using mechanism scrolls, wanting to employ Mechanism Arts, but hadn't expected Yu Sui to enter at just the right moment.
Wen Yanghui hadn't expected Yu Sui to act.
He even thought he'd already shown mercy to Yu Sui for Gu Qian's sake.
Wen Yanghui considered Su Tong the greatest threat and had acted first because of her. Among the three, he only acknowledged Su Tong as his opponent.
Given enough time for Su Tong to set up trigram arrays in advance, she was indeed a powerful threat.
But Su Tong had been severely injured by golden thunder, and casting trigram arrays while severely wounded couldn't last long. The one who delivered the fatal blow to Wen Yanghui was ultimately Yu Sui.
Yu Sui had used the communication array to alter the operational rules of all phenomena within Dragon Slaying Cave.
The Five Elements energy within Dragon Slaying Cave cycled endlessly, so all Nine Schools Arts used by everyone inside were recorded on the Number Mountains.
Yu Sui extracted Nine Schools Art symbols that the Number Mountains had recorded as having existed, using Divine Mechanism: Heavenly Eye to capture Five Elements energy, altering the time point to make it reappear.
Within Dragon Slaying Cave, anything that was artificial scenery, meaning settings left by generations of Taiyi Academy Saints, could be altered through Number Mountain communication arrays connected to Five Elements energy.
For instance, the river before them that restricted disciples from using Eight Trigrams Life Arts was also artificially set.
All transmission arrays within Dragon Slaying Cave were also artificially created and constructed.
Though she could infiltrate Dragon Slaying Cave's communication array to alter partial Five Elements energy settings, because Dragon Slaying Cave trials had Thirteenth Realm instructors and Saints from various schools taking turns patrolling and guarding, Yu Sui had to use this ability carefully without drawing too much attention.
When Yu Sui used Wind-Riding Techniques to reach Su Tong, the sky was darkening. Su Tong supported herself against a tree trunk with one hand, standing up. Her lips were crimson red, with bloodstains on her sleeves.
Seeing Yu Sui, she asked: "Did we succeed?"
"Yes! Thanks to your trigram array, Senior Sister. We should quickly transmit forward and find someone to help eliminate your lightning marks." Yu Sui reached out to support Su Tong, but she shook her head in refusal. "It's fine, don't worry about me. It's just that casting trigrams consumed energy. I'll be much better after resting tonight."
Hearing that Yu Sui had dealt with Wen Yanghui, Su Tong was also happy, and even the painful burning of her lightning marks lessened somewhat.
Yu Sui brought Su Tong to the transmission point mountain entrance.
The pitch-black cave entrance was lit by Yan Xiaochuan's Surrounding Heaven Fire. The cave ceiling hung high, walls were smooth, the front stretched endlessly out of sight, but the ground was covered with countless small stones.
Yan Xiaochuan crouched on the ground with focused expression, his gaze sweeping over each small stone on the ground. As he formed seals and called out, the ground's stone fragments made faint trembling sounds, then slowly stood up and floated in the air.
"Little Flower, greet your good friends and politely ask what their names are."
Yan Xiaochuan tossed the small black stone from his palm onto the ground. The small black stone flickered with golden flowing light, and with a humming sound, began spinning rapidly, successively striking the stone fragments floating in the air.
The black stone's strikes rang out names, activating the transmission array. The stones blessed with names gathered into a door shape, standing before the three.
Yan Xiaochuan beckoned, and the small black stone flew back to be caught in his palm.
"Done." Yan Xiaochuan turned back to Yu Sui and Su Tong with a brilliant smile.
Yu Sui praised crisply: "Amazing!"
While saying this, she split off her Soul Control second-level consciousness to check the connecting point's situation. There were no other disciples nearby, with only two or three groups moving in slightly distant areas.
This was the evening of the third day. The red dots at the front had advanced quite a bit further.
Yu Sui led Su Tong and joined Yan Xiaochuan as they walked into the transmission array, going from dragon tail to dragon claw.
……
The Number Mountains divided Dragon Slaying Cave's dragon belly into twelve sections.
Taiyi Academy's challenging disciples, those moving fastest, were at the ninth section of dragon belly.
Sections seven and eight had many people, constantly increasing yet constantly having people disappear.
Before reaching the dragon throat, the front end was all transmission array battles. The known public transmission array routes only went to dragon throat, avoiding many troublesome trials.
Beyond dragon throat, there were no more transmission arrays, requiring honest progression through challenges.
Mei Liangyu was at the eighth section of dragon belly.
He had just finished clearing the mountain tea garden terraces, eliminating all disciples in that area. Tonight clouds and mist contained flickering lightning with rumbling thunder, an ominous night.
Xing Chun crouched on the field ridge, bending down to cup water and wash his face.
Zhongli Shan wiped his long sword clean. Mei Liangyu stood on the mountain peak, glancing up at the lightning behind the clouds and mist, then looked down when he felt an itching sensation on his hand.
An Agricultural School transmission beast crawled to his fingertip, bringing news from ahead.
Mei Liangyu told the other two: "Cang Shu says to take the south route to the ninth section. Military School's Pang Rong is at the ninth section, Liu Shan was eliminated."
Cang Shu and Shi Yuezhen's cooperation was their team's strongest combat power, so these two led the charge, responsible for clearing competing opponents ahead, then transmitting back the safest, fastest routes.
"Pang Rong could be this fast?" Zhongli Shan was somewhat surprised.
Mei Liangyu said: "He's cooperating with School of Names' Sheng Hao and Technical Arts School's Mu Mengbai."
Xing Chun wiped his face and turned around: "These three can actually cooperate together?"
Mei Liangyu raised an eyebrow slightly, as if asking why not?
"Both Pang Rong and Sheng Hao have fiery tempers and want to lead themselves. I'm curious who listens to whom when they cooperate." Xing Chun wiped himself dry and took out dry biscuits from his mechanism box to fill his stomach.
"I'd like to know too." Zhongli Shan pondered. "Sheng Hao definitely wouldn't listen to Pang Rong."
Xing Chun sat on the field ridge, his back neck touched by cool tea leaves. He looked back: "This is a virtualized Medical School medicine field, right? Every time I see familiar academy scenery in Dragon Slaying Cave I feel somewhat dazed. The virtual and real are made too realistically."
Zhongli Shan said: "You can understand it as truly existing, just similar to the Medical School medicine field in your memory."
But Mei Liangyu said: "It's the same medicine field."
Xing Chun gnawed his dry biscuit, raising his head with a consoling tone: "For brotherly harmony and no arguments, I believe what you both say."
"Some scenes in Dragon Slaying Cave are indeed evolved from various schools in the academy, but when the dragon corpse's wandering passes through a school, that school's real scenery merges into Dragon Slaying Cave, so virtual and real intermingle." Mei Liangyu tilted his head toward Zhongli Shan in indication. "What he said isn't wrong either. Based on the medicine field before us, we can confirm the dragon corpse's belly is currently passing through Medical School's area."
Zhongli Shan nodded: "So when the dragon corpse's wandering passes through Legalist School, Legalist School scenery will merge into Dragon Slaying Cave. What can merge into Dragon Slaying Cave are places where no one usually goes, or places that are off-limits, meaning various schools' forbidden areas."
"Oh! Like Inverted Moon Cave, right?" Xing Chun also understood. "So Gu Qian and his group are waiting for when the dragon corpse's wandering passes through Legalist School to explore Inverted Moon Cave?"
Mei Liangyu said indifferently: "The Inverted Moon Cave merged into Dragon Slaying Cave has no patrolling guards. Such opportunities are rare, he won't miss it."
"Should we go?" Xing Chun made a troublemaking gesture.
"We'll see later." Mei Liangyu indicated for him to get up, preparing to go down the terraces to the transmission point. "First deal with Pang Rong who's ahead."
They came to the cave entrance transmission point below the terraces, transmitting to the ninth section of dragon belly.
Mei Liangyu's group emerged from the star gate, blue starlight flickering and dotting the pitch-black cave. Thunder echoed throughout the night sky, with the sound of flowing water audible nearby.
Looking out from the cave entrance was a long, wide shallow water beach. The inner side had tall cliff walls extending forward, with gentle water flow falling from the cliffs, the thin water color concealing the dark cliff walls.
The shallow water beach was mixed with considerable bloodstains and parts of broken long swords.
Mei Liangyu's group slowly walked outward, meeting several distant figures standing on the shallow water beach.
Lightning flickered intermittently in the cloud layer. Military School disciple Pang Rong stood in the shallow water beach, his long sword still unsheathed, beside him stood Sheng Hao in blue robes, elegant and noble.
Mu Mengbai was crouching behind Sheng Hao cupping water to wash his face. Sensing something wrong with the atmosphere, he looked back to see Mei Liangyu's group emerging from the transmission cave and jumped in fright: "More coming?"
They just finished fighting!
Seeing Zhongli Shan, Pang Rong smiled without warmth: "What a coincidence."
"Really is a coincidence, just wanted to deal with someone and ran into them." Xing Chun said quietly. Both groups appeared calm but were secretly on guard.
Zhongli Shan stepped on the cool water flow, looking at Pang Rong not far ahead and asking: "You waited here specially?"
"Just dealt with a batch of people, hadn't had time to leave yet." Pang Rong gripped his sword with both hands, fighting spirit not yet completely faded from his eyes. "What, want to fight?"
Zhongli Shan said: "That really is quite a coincidence."
His expression was calm, showing no joy or anger. He drew his sheathed long sword, the blade's reflection dazzlingly bright.
Mei Liangyu's gaze swept over Sheng Hao and Mu Mengbai, Five Elements energy already igniting around him for protection. After fighting began, the key would be seeing whether Pang Rong or Zhongli Shan used Military Formations first.
Sheng Hao and Mu Mengbai would definitely stop Zhongli Shan first.
Mu Mengbai stood up, wiped his face, and said quietly to Sheng Hao: "Are we fighting? That's your sister's Senior Brother!"
Several black and white chess pieces floated around Sheng Hao as he said coolly: "He's my sister's Senior Brother, not my sister."
Why can't they fight?
Xing Chun on the opposite side also asked Mei Liangyu the same question: "Are you fighting? That's Nangong Sui's real brother!"
"Let her say that herself." Mei Liangyu raised his hand, black Five Elements energy already gathering at his fingertips to form talismans.
Xing Chun shrugged, formed seals with both hands, and a star chart appeared floating above his head. Stars connected into lines, and the Emptiness Mansion Star General had just emerged when those two Military School disciples attacked.
The originally calm water surface rippled. Sword energy clashed and sparkled, the sound of clashing swords drowning out the sound of water falling from the cliffs above.
Mei Liangyu and Xing Chun primarily attacked Mu Mengbai, not letting him cast trigram arrays.
Sheng Hao blocked in front of Mu Mengbai, black and white pieces spinning rapidly. When the pieces collided, the sound was like invisible sound blades piercing straight to others' hearts.
Mei Liangyu beckoned, similarly summoning several black and white pieces to clash, returning the sound blade.
White mist spread through the water, temperature dropping suddenly. An ice frost giant python appeared circling from behind, its crimson forked tongue right above Mu Mengbai's head. His back turned cold, and he used instant movement to dodge as the ice frost giant python charged to bite.
Sheng Hao waved his hand, sending black and white pieces to circle behind Xing Chun. The black and white chess pieces arranged in long lines exploded in succession, the raised air waves and sound waves causing earth to shake and water to splash, destroying all Five Elements energy operating around Xing Chun and forcing him to retreat.
Xing Chun used instant movement to retreat repeatedly, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Sheng Hao. Truly worthy of being among School of Names disciples' elite, able to use Word Commands without even opening his mouth, making it impossible to guess what moves he'd use.
He had just finished praising Sheng Hao in his mind when he saw Mei Liangyu use the same move, using black and white chess pieces to destroy the Five Elements energy around Mu Mengbai, forcing Sheng Hao to turn back and rescue.
What's a Ghost Way School disciple doing using School of Names Word Commands?
Xing Chun landed on the water surface and stood steady, sighing inwardly: Looks like my brother is still more impressive.
The combat speed here matched that of the two Military School disciples beside them, all happening in split seconds. Sheng Hao had just drawn three pieces in front of Mu Mengbai to raise a barrier when the transmission door opened again behind them.
The commotion of the star gate opening attracted everyone's attention. Zhongli Shan and Pang Rong each pulled back after exchanging a blow, looking toward the cave entrance.
In the vast night with low rumbling thunder and flickering lightning, Qian Ying emerged first from the cave entrance, widening her eyes slightly as she surveyed the people in the shallow water beach. Then came Xun Zhiya and Li Jin Shuang, with Gu Qian walking to the center of the group last, slowly raising his eyes to look ahead.
All familiar faces.
Li Jin Shuang's gaze swept over the two Military School Senior Brothers, her pale hand lightly resting on her waist sword hilt, hesitating inwardly. It looked like a battle was unavoidable.
Xing Chun's position was closest to the transmission point. Looking at Gu Qian's group, he thought this was really delivered right to their faces.
The few who had originally been fighting, in this instant of sparking tension, all redirected their Five Elements energy toward new opponents.
The floating black and white chess pieces rearranged, targeting Gu Qian's group at the cave entrance, even Zhongli Shan slightly turned aside.
Pang Rong looked at Gu Qian's group at the cave entrance, then at Zhongli Shan's group, lowering his voice to tell Sheng Hao: "Should we leave?"
Let them fight.
Sheng Hao's expression was cold, giving no answer.
Gu Qian also hadn't expected this transmission point to gather so many troublesome disciples. Though he found it bothersome, he couldn't show weakness. He and Sheng Hao both came from School of Names, naturally competitors.
Xing Chun and Xiang Feifei were both from Yin-Yang School.
Xiang Feifei had been seriously injured helping him last time. In this Dragon Slaying Cave challenge, he had to protect Xiang Feifei into dragon head Ye Pool and let her obtain a Yin-Yang School Heavenly Mechanism Art.
Gu Qian looked toward Xing Chun, having made his choice in his heart. But before he could act, dozens of black and white chess pieces had already flown over.
……
Yu Sui had just exited the transmission point when she heard a thunderclap outside.
Yan Xiaochuan said: "Resting at the transmission point isn't safe. People might come anytime. We should take Senior Sister Su somewhere safe to rest."
Su Tong pressed her temples, her head already somewhat dizzy, but still persevered.
Yu Sui shut down all connection points of this transmission array, ensuring no one could transmit from dragon tail, and said to Su Tong: "Let's rest here for the night. Senior Sister's condition isn't good, we need to hurry and rest."
"There's still Senior Sister Su's trigram array at dragon tail. Ordinary people can't easily pass through, plus the underwater mechanism array is still active. They'll have great difficulty crossing the river alive to reach the transmission point."
Yu Sui spoke with reason and evidence. Yan Xiaochuan listened in a daze, then thought it made perfect sense.
Su Tong was also convinced by Yu Sui. She leaned against the wall and sat down, saying weakly: "Then I'll rest a bit. Sorry to trouble you both with guard duty."
Yu Sui said gently: "Sleep."
Yan Xiaochuan wanted to send Five Elements energy to Su Tong to stabilize her body, but she shook her head in refusal, telling him to conserve his own strength.
Only after the two watched Su Tong fall asleep did they quietly walk forward.
Yan Xiaochuan lit Surrounding Heaven Fire and said: "Little Princess, you should rest too. I'll keep watch."
Yu Sui shook her head: "You guard Senior Sister Su here. Maintaining Surrounding Heaven Fire all night also consumes considerable energy. I'll go find some firewood to burn."
"I'll go, I'll go!" Yan Xiaochuan said hurriedly.
"You need to guard Senior Sister Su." Yu Sui stood outside the cave, waving to Yan Xiaochuan at the cave entrance. "You're more capable than me, and Senior Sister Su is injured. If something unexpected happens, leaving me would ruin things."
Yan Xiaochuan scratched his head, still somewhat hesitant.
Yu Sui added: "It's just picking up some firewood. I'll also scout the area while I'm at it. Don't worry, I have Senior Sister Su's divine wood sign, I'll have good luck."
Seeing her holding the divine wood sign, Yan Xiaochuan felt mostly reassured.
"Alright then, but you must be careful. When in doubt, just run. Don't try to tough it out. Come back and find us to figure out solutions together." Yan Xiaochuan chattered like an old father instructing his daughter leaving home for the first time.
Yu Sui waved to him in the night, walking toward the dense forest ahead.
There really were no people nearby. The red dots in this area were scattered sparsely. This should be the tail end of the dragon claw region. After three days, most people had moved forward, with only a small portion lingering in this rear area.
Thunder rumbled overhead. Yu Sui was completely unaffected, walking along the river before the heavy rain fell, collecting some dry firewood.
The surroundings were so quiet only the sound of flowing water could be heard. As Yu Sui gathered firewood, she pondered: Senior Sister Su's lightning marks look quite serious and affect her considerably.
Though Yan Xiaochuan could fight, he was also simple and easily fooled. But he mainly trusted Su Tong's abilities more. With her own First Realm strength and first time in Dragon Slaying Cave, if she suddenly pointed out shortcuts and undiscovered transmission arrays, she'd have to tell too many lies, which would be troublesome and easily raise suspicion.
Even claiming Master or Senior Brother told her, they could just ask Mei Liangyu and expose the lie.
But Shi Yuezhen was definitely at the front. If they didn't take the closest transmission arrays, Su Tong would have to suffer more.
Yu Sui also wanted to take shortcuts to the front. If she were acting alone it would be fine, but she couldn't suddenly abandon Yan Xiaochuan and Su Tong, at least not before Su Tong's injuries healed.
As she pondered how to avoid suspicion, she discovered a red dot approaching through the river.
Still quite far away for now.
Yu Sui stood up holding the firewood, emerged from the forest, and came to the riverbank. She looked down at the dark water surface. The red dot moved from far to near, just one.
It looked like someone had accidentally fallen into the water, restricted by the Five Elements energy in the water and unable to use their power, could only go with the flow.
Yu Sui prepared to see which unlucky soul this was.
As the red dot approached, the water flow became turbulent with loud rushing sounds drowning out the thunder above.
A figure surfaced from the water, struggling to look toward the shore. As the current swept him away, he caught a brief glimpse of Yu Sui on the bank.
Yu Sui clearly saw who the unlucky person in the water was and reached out to intercept him.
She removed the fierce Five Elements energy from the water, making the river peaceful. Xue Mushi, who had been pressed down by the waves, surfaced again. Discovering the now gentle current, he could finally stop steadily in place, looking up at the shore in a daze.
Yu Sui set down the dry firewood she was carrying on the bank, crouched down, and extended her hand toward Xue Mushi in the water: "Come up."
The moment she saw Xue Mushi, she thought:
Taoist School, divination.
Now she had a way to convince Yan Xiaochuan and Su Tong.