Lan Sheng Zhe was standing near the Yun River as the chief of the village explained the situation. “Thank you for coming for this humble one’s request, the mountain beasts took over the entire river and not a single boat passed through the river without sinking. Everyone in Moru Island has been stuck there for the past 2 weeks, no sailors are willing to take the risk anymore”
Lan Sheng Zhe looked pensive as he asked “Has anyone ever seen those beasts?”
The village chief started to grow agitated with so many questions but he still remained calm on the surface as he explained “Ayo, where should I start? It all started a month ago when the array formation was damaged. In the beginning the beasts would only create chaos if one were to go near Mist Mountain but after destroyment of the whole array they took over the whole river!”
Ever since the Red Night, no mortals dared to go to the mountain except for some cultivators, who would treat it as a training field. There were few spiritual beasts which weren’t affected by the fire on the Red Night and survived the catastrophe. They were all trapped on the mountain along with the resentful energy by the array.
Lan Sheng Zhe, “Who was the first person to find out about the array?”
Village chief, “Ah good sir, can you please look at the situation first, plus there are so many cultivators from different origins that come to Mist Mountain for night hunting, how am I to remember them all?”
Lan Sheng Zhe could hear footsteps of someone approaching as he heard that person speak, “I have the answers to your questions but why should I tell a rude person like you?”
That distinct voice, Lan Sheng Zhe knew who it was without even looking back, it was the mysterious guy he talked to after arriving.
In a flash Lan Sheng Zhe unsheathed his sword and held it against Zhao Cheng Yin’s neck causing Zhao Cheng Yin to retreat three steps hitting his back against a tree. The second their eyes met, Lan Sheng Zhe felt a tightness on his chest, this immense nostalgia feeling looking at those sea green eyes and thin lips with straight nose bridge. It reminded him of that person. But that person is already dead, died in front of him, so how could it be him? He’s just a fake who looks similar to him. Thinking of this made Lan Shengzhe very agitated.
“Speak, one word of nonsense I’ll cut you in to pieces”
Even though Zhao Cheng Yin was facing such a heavy killing sword intent, his heart was still calm like a frozen river. However Zhao Cheng Yin looked terrified to death, “ I offered to help but got bullied in return! Don’t you cultivators swear to protect the common people and never kill on will, some shit like that!?”
Lan Sheng Zhe’s killing intent got stronger as the tip of the sword almost divulged into the skin! Looking straight into the eye “Try me”.
“Boring!” After saying such Zhao Cheng Yin took out a talisman from who knows where that turned the whole scene foggy, in the moment of Lan Sheng Zhe’s inattentiveness Zhao Cheng Yin had disappeared towards the Mist mountain!
Lan Sheng Zhe followed behind and fled towards Mist mountain. Clearly this unknown man was someone with cultivation but no matter how much Lan Sheng Zhe tried he couldn’t sense even a hint of spiritual power in his body, was he mistaken? Maybe the man was a mortal with no cultivation? But how many cultivators can run away so easily from Lan Sheng Zhe’s sword? In the entire cultivation world he couldn’t think of one, let alone a human without cultivation.
Following very close behind Zhao Cheng Yin, who was leisurely rowing his boat towards the mountain.
Beast? chaos? The water was so calm as if even fishes didn’t live in the river, Lan Sheng Zhe reached the foot of the mountain.
The mountain is filled with trees and bushes, the sound of birds can be heard, as if the place was never burnt to ruins.
“Stop! Why did you come here?”
“Immortal gege, if you are here to restore the array formation, do it and go. Whatever I am here to do, what is it to you? But looking at the state of the array looks like you’d first have to catch the beasts escaping to the river first. Have fun fishing!” with that another flash of dust came and he disappeared.
This insanely annoying human! Forget it, what he said is correct, Lan Sheng Zhe is indeed here to restore the formation, he’ll deal with this mysterious guy later.
Lan Sheng Zhe cautiously made his way through the dense foliage, his steps light and deliberate. The air grew cooler as he ventured deeper into the Mist Mountain, guided by an innate sense of direction. Remnants of the past memories surged through his mind, the beautiful smile of that person, the calming tune that person always hummed. The promise the person once made. The horror of that night, burning of the beautiful place, burning it all down to ashes.
Finally, Lan Sheng Zhe arrived at the entrance of a cave where the formation was located. The cuts on the vines in front of the entrance are uneven, clearly someone made several attempts with a blade to cut these. The walls were scarred with blade strikes, remnants of burned marks lined the edges. It was evident that the destruction was caused by a human.
Pressing forward, Lan Sheng Zhe delved deeper into the cave, after reaching a certain point Lan Sheng Zhe performed a series of intricate hand gestures, channeling his spiritual power into a particular part of the wall. The air crackled with energy, and the surrounding space seemed to come alive. A hidden compartment within the cave was unveiled.
Inside the secret compartment lay another formation, intricately crafted and finely preserved. It was the heart of the formation that activated in the Yun river. Looks like whoever destroyed the mountain seal formation did not know about this. Wait a minute… Something is wrong, the Vault Stone which trapped the resentful energy and kept it within range is missing!
Vault Stones are extremely rare, and it’s safe to assume that this stone is the only Vault Stone in the entire world. Originally it was an heirloom of the Jin clan sect, during the Red Night siege, they offered to use it. The stone can observe resentful energy and purify the air, it has no other functions and the resentful energy it traps is slowly dissolved over time. Whomever broke through the formation their main goal was to take the stone, but why? Was their goal to unleash the resentful energy to the village? That makes no sense because most of the strong resentful energies were already observed by the stone over the ten years and the ones that are still left are too weak to leave the mountain.
Even though the Yun River formation was strong enough to trap all the beasts within the Yun River, it can’t hold out for too long. Lan Sheng Zhe kept the matter for later to discuss with shifu and xiongzhang.
Carefully observing the formation Lan Sheng Zhe modified the formation such that every hour the range of the formation would get shorter forcing the beasts to retreat slowly. While that takes place he restored the destroyed array and added an illusion array with it, anyone other than himself tried to come here would be misguided.
By the time he was done the sun had already set, and the moon was glimmering in the sky. It’s been so long, where did that guy go? Was he the one who destroyed the formation? When he was rowing, not a single beast was to be seen, at first Lan Sheng Zhe thought it was because of himself being a strong cultivator so the beasts didn’t create chaos but upon a deeper thought, it seems the beasts weren’t scared of him but that strange guy! Anyhow the guy is very suspicious, he must find him!
