Chapter 419: Chapter 241: Encountering Taiheng Again
Locust Tree Forest!
The ten-mile journey for Chu Qing and Wu Qianhuan was no more than the blink of an eye.
In the blink of an eye, they had already arrived.
Standing outside this Locust Tree Forest, looking at the shadows of the grotesque trees, they couldn’t help but think of the story told by the bandits of the West Mountain.
For a moment, an odd feeling arose in their hearts.
Wu Qianhuan’s gaze was deep, and she spoke softly:
"It seems there’s truly an Illusion Array hidden in this forest."
"Oh?"
Chu Qing’s eyes brightened. He knew little about arrays, but Wu Qianhuan was a disciple of Master Ye Tan, whose teachings were extensive. Judging by her stance, she had some understanding of arrays, so he asked immediately:
"Can it be broken?"
"It’s hard to say. We must delve deeper to understand what kind of array it is."
Chu Qing immediately took Wu Qianhuan’s hand:
"Then let’s go in."
The two of them took a step into the forest, and after walking just a few paces, Wu Qianhuan whispered:
"Wait a moment."
Chu Qing immediately halted and turned to look at Wu Qianhuan. He saw her surveying the area, and after a moment, she picked up a stone from the ground and handed it to him:
"Your aim is good, throw it twelve meters to your left with enough force to pierce through."
Chu Qing looked over as instructed, but saw nothing there.
However, without hesitation, he held the stone between his fingers and casually flicked it.
With a snap, the seemingly empty space suddenly revealed two locust trees, and in the middle of the two trees, a pole was broken by Chu Qing’s flying stone.
"That’s the position of Xun... The array eye belongs to wood, I see."
Wu Qianhuan smiled and said:
"Brother Qing, this array isn’t hard to break; it’s just an Illusion Array based on the Eight Trigrams.
"But there are a total of eight array eyes.
"The array eye at Xun position has been destroyed by you. To completely break this array, we only need to destroy three more of the remaining Qian, Kun, Zhen, Dui, Kan, Li, Gen positions. The other array eyes will lose their meaning.
"However, the Eight Trigrams and the Five Elements are interconnected, so there should be corresponding objects for these remaining array eyes."
Curious, Chu Qing asked:
"What’s the relationship between the Eight Trigrams and the Five Elements?"
"Xun and Zhen belong to wood, Li to fire, Kun and Gen to earth, Kan to water, Qian and Dui to metal.
"In the Five Elements, the directions are designated as east for wood, south for fire, west for metal, north for water, and the center for earth."
Wu Qianhuan casually explained the basics to Chu Qing, then smiled and said:
"But in practical application, even just a single Five Elements Eight Trigrams is a lifetime of study.
"My master’s school didn’t originally include array teachings; it was my master, Master Ye Tan, who gained some knowledge in arrays after being guided by a master during her early travels in the Martial World.
"The Five Elements Eight Trigrams are one aspect, while the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching are even more profound and complex.
"What I’ve learned is just the surface... If you’re interested, once we leave here, I’ll teach you everything I know.
"But the method is tedious, with many key points. I don’t know if you’d be willing to learn it?"
"If you have the skill to teach me, how could I not be willing to learn?"
Though Chu Qing said this, he thought of Gentle... As the eldest daughter of Luochun Manor, she naturally had the opportunity to learn about arrays.
But unfortunately, just hearing about these things would make her sleepy, and she ended up learning nothing.
After casually chatting for a couple of sentences, they had already stepped into the depths of the forest.
With Wu Qianhuan guiding them, the Illusion Array couldn’t trap them, but as they explored, they didn’t see any sign of Prince Xue.
As they were about to move forward, Chu Qing’s ear twitched slightly:
"Someone’s there."
"Is it the Prince Xue you mentioned?"
Wu Qianhuan asked softly.
Chu Qing frowned slightly:
"It doesn’t seem like it... There is more than one person... Over there."
He pointed in the direction, but saw no figures as far as his eyes could see.
Evidently, there was still an Illusion Array blocking the way.
Wu Qianhuan scanned with her eyes and pointed in a direction, prompting Chu Qing to immediately pick up another flying stone and hurl it fiercely.
The sound of the stone cutting through the air was followed by voices from afar:
"What’s that noise?"
"Someone’s here!"
"Be careful!"
In the midst of speaking, they heard another snap, as the object serving as the array eye was shattered by Chu Qing’s flying stone.
Unexpectedly, several figures appeared in the distance.
Although it was already night, the sky was brilliantly starry tonight, so when this array eye was broken, not only did Chu Qing and Wu Qianhuan see the others, those on the opposite side also saw them.
However, this array seemed to have some sound-absorbing and illusory effects, so the opponents didn’t hear Chu Qing and Wu Qianhuan’s movements.
Only the sharp wind-breaking noise caught their attention.
As the array eye was broken, those few people were suddenly shocked:
"Demon appears!"
"Prepare to die!!"
In a hurry, one person leaped into the air, with his long sword raising hundreds of sharpness, aiming straight for Chu Qing and Wu Qianhuan.
Chu Qing and Wu Qianhuan were slightly stunned.
Then, Wu Qianhuan’s long sword swiftly unsheathed, with a full moon rising behind her, buzzing... Moonlight as a Sword, a myriad of sword qi surged forth from the full moon, like the chill of the Nine Heavens’ water, ready to cleanse the earth in the blink of an eye.
"Oh my goodness!"
The newcomer was clearly startled. He might have been a bit overexcited, and he certainly moved a bit too fast with that strike, but was it really necessary to unleash so much Sword Qi on him right off the bat?
He quickly flicked his sword tip upward, leaping up along with it.
This clearly didn’t bother Wu Qianhuan; she only needed to turn her sword’s edge, and the sword qi from the full moon would skew off toward him.
But it was Chu Qing who gently held Wu Qianhuan’s wrist, preventing her from going for the kill.
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