Chapter 147: Chapter 148: Each Displays Their Divine Techniques
Countless small footprints were scattered about, some of which were clearly from the shoes of mountain folk.
Pei Xinyong and Lui Yao each harbored ulterior motives, walking for quite some time without a word.
Finally, Pei Xinyong broke the silence. "So, according to you, General Wu fell for that man Hee’s scheme to sow discord, and that’s why you killed him?"
’Wu Shaoyi wasn’t the only one who fell for it—so did you!’ Of course, Lui Yao kept this thought to himself. After all, Pei Xinyong’s forces outnumbered his by more than two to one, and their primary objective was to hunt down the officials.
"I didn’t kill him. The Crocodile God devoured him personally!"
"Speaking of which, why would the Crocodile God come with you to Immortal Spirit Lake?" This was something that deeply unsettled Pei Xinyong. Wu Shaoyi had been a formidable fighter, yet he had fallen into Lui Yao’s ambush. Pei Xinyong couldn’t help but feel a pang of dread, fearing he could be next.
’What did this scoundrel Lui Yao plan to do by bringing the Crocodile God to Immortal Spirit Lake?’
"I asked it to come and bear witness for us!" Lui Yao sighed. "After the Saint Master passed away, it wanted to find a new lair. When I told it that Immortal Spirit Lake was rich in fish and had an extensive water system, it was tempted to come."
Pei Xinyong nodded, not believing a single word. ’The Yuan Kingdom has so many lakes and rivers. Why would the Crocodile God choose this one? Besides, I know it’s from the Northern Kingdom and unfamiliar with the waterways of the Yuan Kingdom. It never would have come if Lui Yao hadn’t spun it some tale.’
’So, Lui Yao’s original plan was to use the Crocodile God to coerce the other two factions into submitting to him when the three armies were supposed to rendezvous?’
’Now that Wu Shaoyi is dead, his men have either scattered or surrendered to Lui Yao. What should I, Pei Xinyong, do?’
’Kill Lui Yao and seize all his troops?’
Pei Xinyong sneered inwardly. ’Lui Yao is probably thinking the exact same thing!’
Lui Yao tilted his head to look at him and said suddenly, "Wu Shaoyi had no ambition. I knew he just wanted to go back south, find some mountain, and hole up as a petty king. Now that he’s dead, we don’t have to go through the trouble of meeting and forming an alliance. I, Lui Yao, will recognize General Pei as our leader. Only by uniting under you will we have a path to survival!"
Pei Xinyong was stunned. "You... you want to recognize me as the commander-in-chief?"
"Precisely!" Lui Yao laughed heartily. "From now on, this body of mine belongs to Grand Marshal Pei, to command as you please!"
Pei Xinyong was moved. "Brother Lui, you’re too kind!"
But he never followed up with a "How could I accept?"
The two men looked at each other, smiled, and clasped each other’s arms, all while cursing each other in their hearts.
A little further on, several broken dawn redwood trees blocked their path.
The thick trunks were piled together, impossible for their mounts to jump over. The bandits had no choice but to dismount and move them.
Hee Chunhua had specifically chosen massive trees to chop down. The felled logs were dead heavy and piled up haphazardly. Even with their large numbers, it took the Pei and Lui Alliance Army over half an hour to move the behemoths aside, leaving them all huffing and puffing from exhaustion.
Neither Pei nor Lui had the arrogant airs of official generals; they both jumped down to lend a hand. Pei Xinyong picked a splinter from his palm and turned to Lui Yao. "How are you holding up?"
Lui Yao had fought Wu Shaoyi earlier, suffering multiple bleeding wounds that had long since reopened; he was now walking with a limp. He had also led the charge against the West Mountain Car Array, then galloped all the way here, only to have to do manual labor. Even an iron man would be exhausted. At this moment, he wasn’t just panting heavily; his temples were throbbing, and his head was spinning.
But facing Pei Xinyong, whose forces were twice the size of his own, he knew he couldn’t show any weakness. He forced a casual smile. "Couldn’t be better." He then pointed ahead. "The fog’s rolling in. We need to hurry, or we’ll lose them."
The moment Pei Xinyong turned his head, Lui Yao secretly popped two Pills to restore his energy and blood.
The mountain fog appeared without warning.
The bandits had just mounted their horses when a white fog washed over them. Their faces felt slightly damp, like the fine, misty spring rain of the third month.
The wilderness looked like a fairyland, but soon their clothes were soaked through. A vast expanse of white surrounded them, and they couldn’t see anything more than ten feet away.
The two generals’ hearts grew heavy. The thick fog obscured their vision and slowed their horses.
"This fog is a huge help to the officials."
The bandits hurried down the slope in pursuit, passing a crooked-neck locust tree.
A quarter of an hour passed like this.
In the misty landscape, they had to get very close to realize their surroundings looked familiar.
Then, another quarter of an hour went by.
The horses trotted on, CLIP-CLOP, before stopping by the locust tree again. Lui Yao looked at the slash mark on the old tree’s trunk. "We’ve come back here again. This is the third time!"
His men dragged over a villager they had captured from Xianling Village to act as a guide.
"What’s going on?"
The villager, pale with fright, stammered, "I-I don’t know, Great King—I mean, General! I’ve walked this path for decades. I should be able to do it with my eyes closed."
"It’s a Ghost Wall." Pei Xinyong’s expression darkened. "This is a Bewitching Array set up by the officials."
Simply put, it’s a maze.
The way to escape pursuit is actually quite simple: if you can’t run fast, find a way to slow down your pursuers.
"This kind of maze always has an Array Hub. If we can find it, we can break it. But that will take time."
Lui Yao mused, "I remember when the Saint Master fought someone in Little South Heaven. His opponent set up a Thousand Lamp Array, which should have been incredibly complex to break. But the Saint Master found an unconventional solution. Do you remember?"
Pei Xinyong nodded. "He used scent to find the way."
One of his capable men stepped forward and said, "We need an old item belonging to the person being tracked." Otherwise, it’s impossible to specify a target.
"An old item?"
Hearing this, a bandit presented a scrap of cloth to Lui Yao. "General, I ripped this from the clothes of Hee Gouguan’s youngest son. You were in the water, and he tried to sneak up on you, but I punched him back." He had pocketed it afterward, thinking the material was nice and could be useful when... er... squatting in the wilds. He never expected it would come in handy like this.
Luckily, his stomach hadn’t acted up since last night.
Lui Yao was overjoyed. "Well done! A reward of ten taels of silver!"
With the piece of Hee Yue’s clothing, they could proceed with the spell. Pei Xinyong’s subordinate poured some yellow powder onto the small scrap of cloth, rubbing it carefully while muttering an incantation.
After finishing the incantation, he held the cloth scrap upside down and shook it a few times. The yellow powder dispersed into the air, forming a misty yellow cloud.
The wind was light here, so the powder drifted forward without scattering.
It was working.
If all went well, this pinch of Guiding Powder would lead them to Hee Yue.
Pei Xinyong gave the order, "Follow it! Let’s go!"
Two thousand men marched forward.
And so, another quarter of an hour passed.
The thick fog still surrounded them.
Lui Yao frowned. "Something’s wrong. If we had left the Array, the fog should have cleared!" The officials they were chasing up ahead surely weren’t being troubled by the mist.
One of the bandits suddenly pointed at a locust tree. "General, we’ve passed this place again!"
The fourth time!
They still hadn’t escaped the Bewitching Array. Even the Saint Master’s method had failed? The men looked at each other in dismay, their morale shattered, unsure of what to do.
Pei Xinyong muttered, "That damn dog official Hee actually has such a capable person under him? Someone who can even distort tracking by scent?"
Just as everyone was at a loss, a clear cry echoed from the sky. The white fog swirled, and something descended with a RUSTLE of wings.
Lui Yao’s face broke into a wide grin. "Pidan is back!"
He pursed his lips and whistled twice.
The creature seemed to be locating him. A few moments later, a brown shadow shot out of the dense fog and landed on his arm.
It was the Red Falcon, returned.
Lui Yao said smugly, "This might just be the key to breaking this deadlock!"
He asked the Red Falcon, "Did you find the officials?"
The Red Falcon nodded.
"Can you show us which way they went?"
The Red Falcon spoke. "Not from here. But I can see them if I fly up high."
The bandits were overjoyed.
That’s right! No matter how powerful the Bewitching Array was, it was still on the ground. The Red Falcon soared through the heavens. How could an Array on the ground possibly fool its eyes from high above?
The Red Falcon continued, "The location I see from high in the sky is different from where I land."
"The moment you get close to the ground, you’re affected by the Array." Lui Yao mused, "That’s not hard to solve. I’ll tie a red string to you. You just fly up high and guide us in the right direction!"
The mountain path from here to Qianteng Town wasn’t actually complicated. It was just that the light and smells within the Array were distorted, causing them to unknowingly take winding paths, wrong turns, or even double back.
As long as the Red Falcon was flying high in the sky to guide them, the Array’s obstruction would be meaningless.
"Bring me some string!"
Awkwardly, there was no thread.
In the end, the bandits could only find a few unlucky souls to contribute their own clothes, which they tore into strips and tied together, end to end. They tied the final strip to the Red Falcon’s talon.
The Red Falcon immediately beat its wings and took flight.
It flew for a moment and realized something was wrong. Even flying upward, it couldn’t break through the dense fog.
’This Array can adjust itself in real-time?’
’Who’s watching this place?’
But this wasn’t enough to stop it. The Red Falcon tucked its wings, letting its body fall naturally. Then, it flapped in the opposite direction, which was naturally upward.
However, in its own field of vision, it seemed to be flying straight ahead.
Such was the power of the Array.
The Red Falcon simply closed its eyes and flew by sensing gravity. Before long, it broke through the fog’s blockade and saw the mountains and rivers again.
Looking down from fifty zhang in the air, the view below was perfectly clear. Not only could it see the forest, but it could even make out the caterpillars on the leaves. What dense fog?
It flew forward a short distance. ’Aha, the officials are... in that direction!’
However, the Red Falcon noticed a crescent-shaped cliff directly in front of its master. Leading them straight ahead would surely cause them to fall off. It would have to guide the entire group on a detour first.
Seeing the cloth strip in his hand begin to move, Lui Yao let out a sigh of relief and roared with laughter. "That dog official thought a mere Bewitching Array could stop us? Let’s go, boys!"
The direction indicated by the cloth strip changed in real-time, and the men set off, following it to chase their quarry out of the Array.
***
Lian Deng was from Qianteng Town and knew the local geography well. He led Hee Lingchuan along a small path for a few miles before they finally reached the main road.
Of course, the road was now completely deserted.
"West from here is Zhumapo." He then pointed east. "The other way leads to Xianling Village."
Hee Lingchuan turned his horse east. "If Pei Xinyong received General Wu’s message from the Mechanical Bird, he should be waiting for us at Thousand-Year Cliff."
The two rode side by side and soon arrived at Langming Cave.
Wheel tracks were still visible on the ground.
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