Vessel of Worlds

When Andy had first seen this girl at the Mystic Change Pavilion, she had worn a white veil, and he had never glimpsed her true face. But the swallow-song voice and the light, graceful figure were unmistakably the same.

Moreover, she had recognized him and spoken his surname, and she had entered straight through the Heaven-Covering Twin Poles Formation's defenses. Taken together, there could be no doubt: she was indeed the young mistress of the Mystic Change Pavilion, the Fairy Yun.

Since the girl came from such a background—her father a Core Formation senior, no less—the scraps of killing intent Andy still held became harder than ever to summon.

He had no wish to murder the beloved daughter of a Core Formation senior and spend the rest of his days in endless flight.

The ferocious face he wore was nothing more than a device to extract a better price. She was the young mistress of a formation house—whatever else, she would surely carry a few formations of extraordinary power!

So he pressed on, voice full of menace: "Both of these formations were purchased from your own hands—and now you pass through them as though they were nothing. I can only suspect the Fairy deliberately left flaws in them! Was this planned from the start—a scheme aimed at me?"

Where there's a will to condemn, evidence is never lacking. With a turn of thought, Andy heaped another charge upon the girl, the better to bargain from higher ground.

The girl's face changed, and she hurried to defend herself: "Fellow Cultivator Zhao misunderstands! Every formation has its formation eye and other weak points—these are no deliberately planted traps! I have been steeped in the formation path since childhood and know these two arrays like my own palm; that is the only reason I can come and go through them. Any other cultivator would find it nearly impossible! Were it otherwise, would I have borrowed your formation to shield myself from my enemies at all?"

"Mm. I'll take the Fairy at her word for now. But these formations are clearly less reliable than advertised. Might the Fairy have something more formidable on hand?" Andy's expression softened a shade as he came straight to his true object.

"Something more formidable?" The girl's thoughts spun rapidly—then a mysterious little smile appeared. "Has the fellow cultivator heard of the Beast-Extermination Grand Formation?"

"The Beast-Extermination Grand Formation—the legendary array of vast powers said to have existed only in ancient times? The Fairy possesses such a thing?" Even Andy's composure stirred at that.

The Beast-Extermination Grand Formation appeared again and again in the old texts—it had existed only in the era ten thousand years past, and its power had been terrifying beyond description.

By legend, every beast within ten thousand kilometers would be beguiled by the array, losing what little intelligence it had, scrambling of its own accord into the formation—where restriction upon devastating restriction slaughtered them all to the last. A single such array could, in barely a month, empty ten thousand kilometers of every beast alive. A Beast-Extermination Grand Formation in every sense of the name.

It was said the Star Sea had once belonged entirely to the beasts—until, tens of thousands of years ago, cultivators of vast powers used that very formation, anchored on the Three Immortal Islands, to sweep the beasts away and carve out the Inner Star Sea as it stood today.

Yet for reasons unknown, that heaven-defying array had not existed for over ten thousand years. Could this girl—early-stage Foundation Establishment—truly hold so mighty a treasure?

The thought flickered and died. If such an array truly existed, the great powers of the Star Sea would have seized it long ago. How could it possibly rest in the hands of a Foundation Establishment girl of the Mystic Change Pavilion?

Sure enough, the girl smiled winningly and said: "Of course I don't have the legendary Beast-Extermination Grand Formation. But I do have a Heavenly Fragrance Beguiling Formation—a simplified adaptation of it. It lacks the great array's devastating restrictions, but in luring beasts it retains a measure of the original's power. Fully deployed, it can draw every beast within several hundred kilometers to walk into the net of its own accord!"

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"The Heavenly Fragrance Beguiling Formation! It can lure beasts from several hundred kilometers around? The Fairy speaks truly?" Andy pressed, careful.

"Every word is true. If I give the fellow cultivator a complete set of its discs and flags along with the deployment method—might that serve as compensation for straying into your dwelling?" the girl said gravely.

"If it can truly lure beasts from several hundred kilometers around, I'll pursue this matter no further, naturally!" Andy answered with all sincerity.

The girl smiled, her lovely eyes lighting like flowers. "It isn't that I distrust the fellow cultivator—but I must ask you to swear a binding oath upon your inner demons. Otherwise my safety has no guarantee at all; I confess I am no match for you!"

"The Fairy is too modest!" Andy said, smiling in turn. Then he raised his right forefinger, pointed it at his own chest, and spoke with solemn gravity: "I swear here upon my heart: upon receiving from Fairy Yun the complete deployment set of the Heavenly Fragrance Beguiling Formation, capable of luring all beasts within several hundred kilometers, I shall allow the Fairy to depart this place freely and place no difficulties in her way. Should I break this oath, may inner demons invade my heart and my cultivation never advance another inch for as long as I live!"

The girl was well satisfied with the sincerity of his oath. She produced several dozen formation flags, discs, jade pearls, and other deployment implements and tossed the lot to Andy. Then she took out a jade slip, swiftly copied a portion of its contents onto a blank slip, and moments later threw the copy to him as well.

In so short a span, any tampering with the slip could hardly have escaped Andy's eye—so he picked it up without hesitation, sank a portion of his spiritual sense into it, and read.

Moments later his expression turned to delighted surprise—then his brow creased—and at last his face settled into cold, simmering indignation.

His voice carried an unmistakable edge of displeasure: "Just as the Fairy said, this Heavenly Fragrance Beguiling Formation can indeed lure beasts—but only low-ranked beasts of rank two and below! To draw high-ranked beasts of rank three and above, it requires high-grade spirit stones to deploy! How could I possibly spend a dozen high-grade spirit stones on this array? I couldn't lay hands on a single high-grade stone if I spent my whole life trying! The formation is worthless to me—I've been badly cheated!"

The girl said, with a trace of apology: "The array is simplified from an ancient grand formation—unleashing its full power was never something mid-grade spirit stones could achieve. Consider, fellow cultivator: if mid-grade stones sufficed, wouldn't the Heavenly Fragrance Beguiling Formation have swept the entire Star Sea long ago? Let me do this: since the array is of little use to you, as further compensation I will add two formations of considerable offensive power—they will serve you well when hunting beasts!"

Perhaps fearing that anger might curdle into hatred and drive him to break his oath, the girl hastily threw Andy two more sets of formation implements and two jade slips of her own accord.

Andy swept every last piece into his pouch without ceremony and said flatly: "Though I've swallowed a bitter loss this day, I won't violate my oath. Tell me briefly how you came to Luojia Island, and then you may go."

The girl complied, recounting the day's events.

On her way back to West Star Island, she had been ambushed out of nowhere by the two Demon Gate cultivators. Outmatched even after spending every trick she had, she could only pick a direction and flee. Passing over Luojia Island, she had recognized the Six-Wheel Spirit-Severing Formation at a glance and slipped inside, hoping to use its subtleties to shake her pursuers and escape.

But the two Demon Gate cultivators had followed close behind—the Six-Wheel array was built for concealment, not defense, and both men passed into it with ease. Fortunately she had then spotted the Heaven-Covering Twin Poles Formation, found its formation eye, and entered directly. The two Demon Gate cultivators could not follow her through—so they had deployed their artifacts and set about grinding down the array's power.

The Heaven-Covering Twin Poles Formation, however, was built precisely for defense and endured punishment exceptionally well. After more than two hours of furious bombardment, the array stood undamaged, its power only slightly depleted. The girl knew the formation inside and out, but without its control disc in hand she could not turn it against her enemies—she could only hide within and wait. Had Andy not arrived, the pair would sooner or later have broken the array, and her prospects would have been grim indeed.

Andy nodded along as she spoke—it matched his guesses closely. As for why the two Demon Gate cultivators had targeted her, since she chose not to say, he couldn't be bothered to ask. So long as the affair had nothing to do with him, that was enough. His thoughts turned to seeing his guest out.

"Fellow Cultivator Zhao—do you have any artifact that conceals the face? If so, might I borrow it?" the girl asked suddenly, just as she was turning to leave.

Andy smiled. "I do have one. Consider it a gift. With the Fairy's celestial looks, traveling unveiled would likely set off a riot on West Star Island." With a light shake of his sleeve, a hooded cloak trailing black gauze drifted slowly toward her.

The flush on the girl's cheeks deepened, making her lovelier still. "You mock me, fellow cultivator," she said, a little shyly. "My thanks—for saving my life, and for sparing it. Until we meet again!" She donned the cloak and flew off toward West Star Island.

Andy stood gazing after her receding figure for a long while before he finally reactivated the formations.