When Golden Finger Meets Salted Fish

Su Hao and his companions never intended to lure out the demonic cultivators to defeat them one by one, or to draw the tiger away from the mountain in order to slip through the unguarded entrance and leave the Ice Plain. In fact, their target had been fixed on Chu Yang from the beginning. Their limited previous interactions had revealed his inherent arrogance, and they knew that continuous provocations would certainly enrage him...

Following the Little White Tiger's suggestion, Bei Luo was sent to "provoke" the canyon eight times out of ten. Even though each time was hurried, leaving no time for him to speak, the provocative effect remained excellent.

Sure enough, as soon as Chu Yang appeared, he was so angered that he led people in pursuit.

Wen Jin, who had been observing the canyon's situation, immediately brightened and said to everyone: "Get ready, Senior Brother Bei Luo has drawn Chu Yang out. He's only brought twelve demonic cultivators with him—we have a chance to take him down."

Though the group had taken turns appearing at the canyon numerous times, not much time had actually passed. The initial killing of those two demonic cultivators had occurred just two days ago. They then spent two days setting up their ambush, appearing unhurried but actually facing extremely tight time constraints—they had indeed left Wuxiang behind, but he had never lost their trail and was at most three days' journey away.

If they hadn't managed to lure out Chu Yang today, Su Hao and the others had decided to retreat and return to the Ice Plain. As for making the effort to break through the canyon and leave the Ice Plain... that was ridiculous. With the secret realm closing in less than a month, why waste such effort?

Everyone had their calculations, but after waiting two days without seeing Chu Yang appear, they thought their plan might fail. Who would have thought that he truly couldn't contain his anger? Even knowing Wuxiang would soon return, he wasn't willing to wait another day or two, insisting on chasing after Bei Luo. Now that they had received the news, how could everyone not be eagerly preparing for his arrival?

Su Hao first gave a few instructions to everyone, then asked Wen Jin: "Junior Brother Wen, is your formation ready?"

Although Chu Yang wasn't a beast and would probably not stupidly walk into a formation, since this was an ambush, necessary preparations still had to be made. Wen Jin smiled and replied: "It was prepared long ago. Can Senior Brother tell?"

Hearing this, Su Hao looked around and saw only the ever-present ice and snow; on this bare ice surface, everything was in plain view. He couldn't see any formation materials, nor formation flags or disks, and for the moment couldn't detect that a formation had been laid here. He raised his thumb in praise: "Junior Brother's skill is excellent. I can't perceive anything, so Chu Yang certainly won't spot it at a glance."

Adapting to local conditions was indeed commendable. After ensuring all preparations were in place, everyone naturally took up their ambush positions.

Actually, their hiding place wasn't very far from the canyon—with Spirit-Travel Talismans applied, they could reach it in less than half a quarter-hour. Initially, they hadn't been so bold, but as the demonic cultivators in the canyon ignored them, they gradually moved closer with each attempt.

Shortly after everyone concealed themselves, Bei Luo's figure appeared in their field of vision, pursued by Chu Yang and over a dozen demonic cultivators. Bei Luo practiced the martial dao, so his physical body was stronger than ordinary cultivators, making him a gust of wind when running on this flight-restricted Ice Plain. With Spirit-Travel Talismans enhancing his legs, had he not deliberately maintained a certain distance, he would have long since left Chu Yang and his party behind.

But Bei Luo wasn't foolish. He maintained his lead without being obvious and didn't waste energy turning back to taunt them. He just kept his head down and ran wildly, passing through Wen Jin's formation without the slightest pause.

He passed through like this, and the pursuing Chu Yang and his party obviously didn't imagine these people would be so daring as to set an ambush so close to the canyon. So without much thought, they followed in pursuit as before.

The first demonic cultivator chasing closely behind Bei Luo stepped over the formation with nothing happening.

The second demonic cultivator following closely also crossed the formation with nothing happening.

Then came the third, the fourth, until Chu Yang, who was deliberately or indeliberately protected in the middle, set foot into the formation and suddenly felt an extremely strong suction beneath his foot, as if he had carelessly stepped into a mud pit.

He instinctively looked down, but saw only smooth ice beneath his feet—where was any mud pit? However, because the ice was so polished, an image was reflected on its surface, showing a ferocious giant beast opening its mouth to bite him from behind.

Chu Yang's pupils contracted as he instinctively dodged to the side, only to remember that six or seven subordinates were following behind him. If there truly were some beast sneaking up on him, these people would certainly have blocked it for him—how could it happen silently? And how could they, as seen in the ice's reflection, allow a beast to attack him unhindered?

But just as this thought arose, he suddenly felt a fetid wind sweeping toward him from the side. He quickly looked over to see a hideous beast with a bloody maw biting down—the putrid stench hit him head-on, and it was fortunate he had dodged quickly, as the bite almost grazed his arm. Though it bit only air, those blood-smeared, sharp beast teeth were enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Chu Yang's heart tightened as his gaze quickly swept forward and backward, discovering that the subordinates who had surrounded him were now completely gone. On the vast Ice Plain, the blizzard continued, but only he and the beast before him remained.

In an instant, Chu Yang realized he had fallen into a formation.

But before he could think further, the beast, having missed its strike, immediately turned and pounced on him again.

Chu Yang dared not avoid dodging, because even within illusions, there is a distinction between virtual and real. Completely false illusions leave one unharmed upon exit, even if seemingly mortally wounded. But real illusions are far more terrifying—all injuries sustained within them become actual wounds, and if gravely injured or dying, one emerges in the same condition.

He didn't believe those righteous path disciples would show him mercy, so when he drew his sword to face the beast, he didn't dare be the least bit careless. After expending considerable effort to slay the beast before him, he found that killing one only led to a whole group emerging.

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Wen Jin's formation was designed for Chu Yang. When he stepped into it, several nearby demonic cultivators were also drawn in.

The originally rushing group suddenly stopped, their eyes vacant as they stood motionless. After a while, something happened—a deep sword mark appeared on one person's neck, followed by a great splash of blood gushing out... The person suddenly opened his eyes and regained consciousness, but it was too late. In the instant his eyes opened, he also fell.

In a flash, a Nascent Soul wreathed in demonic energy escaped from his body, fleeing toward the canyon without looking back. The flight prohibition on the Ice Plain seemed ineffective against Nascent Souls, and it attempted to escape at rapid speed.

But in the next second, a sword light came even faster. The Nascent Soul only had time for a miserable scream before being cleaved in two.

Beginning with this person, the other demonic cultivators trapped in the formation also began showing injuries one after another, including a cut that appeared on Chu Yang's hand. Blood dripped down, dyeing the ice layer with a splash of bright color, but their injuries weren't immediately fatal. As their wounds increased, these people's expressions gradually became ferocious, as if they were about to break free from the illusion.

Everything happened in a flash, so quickly that Bei Luo, who had run far ahead, hadn't even had time to return. The Little White Tiger, seeing this, ground her claws, very much wanting to rush forward and finish off these unconscious people, but entering the formation now would trap her as well.

She had to retract her claws and asked: "System, who gets credit for these people who are dying now—us or Chu Yang?"

The system answered her with a notification sound: "Congratulations to the host for killing one Nascent Soul demonic cultivator. Reward: 100 points."

The Little White Tiger's eyes brightened, but before she and the system could marvel at how easily these points came, the situation suddenly changed—Wen Jin, who had been effortlessly controlling the formation, abruptly changed expression. Before anyone could react, he spat out a mouthful of hot blood. The formation, losing his control, lasted barely two breaths before emitting a loud "BOOM" and shattering completely.

With the formation broken, Chu Yang and the trapped demonic cultivators broke free from the illusion. Many were already covered in wounds, and upon awakening, they could hardly stand, collapsing and kneeling in droves.

Chu Yang's expression also showed some weariness, but compared to the others, his condition was clearly much better.

"Quite a skillful technique," Chu Yang looked grimly at the wound on the back of his hand, immediately recognizing it was inflicted by one of his own accompanying subordinates. This wasn't evidence of betrayal, but rather because they had fallen into the illusion and mistaken each other for enemies.

The formation breaking so quickly was beyond everyone's expectations, but Su Hao and his group clearly had no intention of chatting with Chu Yang, nor any interest in hearing his comments. Taking advantage of the injured demonic cultivators, these righteous disciples showed no mercy—Su Hao and those with the highest cultivation rushed toward Chu Yang, while Bai Xu and others charged at the wounded demonic cultivators, determined to leave none alive.

However, in the next second, there was a clear "ding" as Su Hao's sword thrust toward Chu Yang was blocked. The slender blade reflected a cold light, revealing a black silhouette, starkly contrasting against this world of pure white.

This sword strike wasn't parried by Chu Yang himself.