The trio advanced together and arrived at the first room. Qian Wangsun’s gaze flickered as he swept the Light Illumination Array Stone in the direction he looked, frowning, "What the hell is this?"
At the end of the room stood several enormous cages, inside which were vast patches of bloodstains, and beyond that, they were completely empty.
Finding no clues, the three swallowed hard and could only continue onward.
In the second room, the first thing that caught their eye was a small bed in the center of the room, with its bedding neatly folded on top, and a well-kept wardrobe, bookcase, and desk beside it.
Ah! Christina suddenly let out a piercing scream, "There’s a body! To the left!"
Zhou Bai followed the direction Christina pointed, controlling the Light Illumination Array Stone to drift over there.
Bathed in the light of the Array Stone, he saw neatly stacked rows of doll heads in a corner of the room not far away. The eyes and noses on the doll heads seemed to have been drawn on by someone, looking lopsided and mismatched, but all the mouths were bright crimson, large and curved, as if they were eerily smiling.
Zhou Bai wondered, "Someone lived here?"
"This isn’t right," Qian Wangsun felt a wave of goosebumps rise, his eyes stinging sharply, "I have a really bad feeling. It’s Gong Tu’s ’intuition’ at work. Let’s go, quickly."
Zhou Bai and Jian Xing exchanged glances. Gong Tu excelled at insight and searching, and even had the capability to enhance intuition and alertness to danger. Given Qian Wangsun’s words and the weirdness within the building, they decided to leave immediately.
But just as they stepped out of the room, a loud ’bang’ rang out and they quickly turned back to find that the door had been firmly shut, seemingly closed without their knowledge.
At the same time, countless blood-red talismans appeared, covering the entire corridor, ceiling, and floor, emanating waves of blood scent.
The moment the anomaly occurred.
Jian Xing, who had practiced the Dao Diagram and mastered several martial arts, reacted the fastest. Virtually the instant the door shut, he dashed forward and struck the door with a palm infused with the force of his Primordial Spirit.
With a thunderous boom, a faint halo flickered over Jian Xing’s palm, and a full 160 points of Primordial Spirit force burst out, yet the door before him remained unaffected.
"So hard!" Jian Xing exclaimed in astonishment at the door now completely covered with red talismans.
Qian Wangsun watched the unfolding situation with a wary look, with a faint light flickering in his eyes, the insight granted by Gong Tu aiding him to observe the changing patterns.
"It’s an Array," Qian Wangsun observed while sighing, "The entire Building No. 7 has been sealed by an Array. With our strength, a head-on confrontation won’t get us out."
Hearing the word ’Array,’ Zhou Bai immediately furrowed his brows.
In this world’s civilization of immortals, Arrays were a setup that took a long time to prepare, consumed a lot, and possessed formidable power and vast Divine Skills.
Among the nine basic Divine Diagrams, the ’Earth’ diagram represented the pathway to mastering Arrays.
According to Lv Chongyang’s introduction and Zhou Bai’s own learning, once a ’Earth’ diagram practitioner was fully prepared and had laid out a perfected Array, they were nearly unbeatable among their peers.
Such a practitioner could even manage to challenge those at a higher level, overpowering the strong with the weak, and the many with the few.
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However, Array Formation consumed a tremendous amount of resources. The more powerful the Array, the more preparation was needed, sometimes even at the cost of one’s lifespan, or by permanently reducing the strength of one’s Primordial Spirit.
At this moment, seeing the entire abandoned building sealed by an Array, the faces of the three were somewhat pale. Jian Xing, while looking at the eerie blood symbols on the wall, nervously grabbed his scalp and said, "This is troublesome."
"How could this happen?" Qian Wangsun wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "Why would an Array suddenly be activated in an abandoned dormitory building?"
Qian Wangsun suddenly thought of the six buildings he had visited before, a gleam flashing in his eyes as he said annoyed, "Damn, I didn’t even realize it..." He turned his head toward Zhou Bai and Jian Xing and asked, "Tell me about the details of the buildings you checked. I have some guesses."
After listening to the experiences of the two, Qian Wangsun sighed and said, "The fifth building’s dampness, the fourth’s lush growth, the third’s scorch marks and talismans, the second’s dust, and the first building so ruined that the steel rebars are exposed. Damn... nurturing, growth, fruition, decline, and demise; this is gathering the Five Elements.
"My side was the exact opposite, which relates to a Five Elements Array—positive and negative. We’ve been calculated."
Jian Xing scratched his head vigorously and said, "Who would set up a grand Array in such a place? The school couldn’t have failed to notice, right?"
Zhou Bai had a figure flash through his mind. He looked at Qian Wangsun and asked, "Who did you report the finding of this page to?"
"Xing Jun, that’s right—he must have known I’d come here tonight, so in that case..."
Zhou Bai’s face darkened as he said slowly, "There’s something off about Xing Jun."
Noticing the puzzled looks from them, Zhou Bai said, "It was Xing Jun who called you here, wasn’t it? Jian Xing? And the news about the comprehensive search hereafter was also leaked to you, Qian Wangsun, by Xing Jun."
"And from what I know..." Zhou Bai also mentioned the suspicion of Xing Jun silencing Ying Zi, "This person is highly suspicious."
Qian Wangsun crossed his arms and pondered, "Although the evidence isn’t sufficient, there indeed exists such a possibility. Teacher Xing Jun is a fifth realm powerhouse, and coupled with his status as a school teacher, he certainly had the opportunity to set up an Array here."
Jian Xing scratched his bald head, "But why would he do this?"
Qian Wangsun shook his head, unable to comprehend.
Zhou Bai, on the other hand, thought to himself: ’Is it because of the Tao Te Ching... Xing Jun was originally the examiner for the entrance exam, so he must have seen the first sentence of the Tao Te Ching I wrote on my exam. Maybe he thinks I’m connected to the Tao Te Ching? So after I enrolled, he even tried to befriend me?
It makes sense. If that’s the case, it explains it. He deliberately had Ying Zi approach me, to take possession of me, to learn the secrets of the Tao Te Ching? But she faked her death to escape a calamity, and later he forced Ying Zi to try and take possession of me again, only to silence her after failing?
Did he deliberately set this trap today, leading me into it?’
The more Zhou Bai thought about it, the more he felt the likelihood of Xing Jun’s guilt. But when he recalled the opponent being of the fifth realm, he felt discouraged.
He, along with Qian Wangsun and Jian Xing, were all zero realm cultivators, with their Dao Fusions not even reaching 10%. How could they confront someone whose Dao Fusion had surpassed 50% in the fifth realm?
At the same time, he harbored doubts.
’If it really was Xing Jun, why would he set up an Array in this abandoned building? If he wanted to capture us, there was no need for such elaborate preparations. Moreover... I remember Li Xiuzhu mentioned last time that Xing Jun was supposed to be of the Human Figure pathway, the fifth realm’s Colossus Figure, which isn’t supposed to be capable of setting up an Array.’
Jian Xing spoke from the side, "No matter what, we only have one path forward now." Looking at the corridor reflected in the bloodlight, he solemnly said, "I’m of the Knife Figure, Qian Wangsun is of the Bow Figure, and Zhou Bai, you’re of the Sword Figure. We’re all zero realm. We can’t just break this Array with our cultivation level; we only have one way to go."
Qian Wangsun nodded, "No matter who has laid out this Array, we can’t get out here so we’ll have to look for another way."
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