Chapter 113: Conspiracy?
On his part, Yu Nianzhen moved towards Jiang Yue, escaping from the approaching young woman.
When he saw this, Xuan Ke chuckled.
He felt the situation was even more entertaining than the famous plays performed in the entertainment houses.
He took a sip of wine and chuckled again before moving closer to the others.
"Let’s go." Yu Nianzhen said when the five were close enough to each other.
"Focus your minds, and everything should be fine."
As Yu Nianzhen said, when they focused their minds, they could feel a clarity that was not tainted by disorientation.
With this, the group made their way across the canyon.
Although they had to navigate around boulders, they did not encounter any enemies.
When they emerged on the other side of the canyon, people from the BlueStar Treasure pavilion and the border guards were already gathered.
"We still have half an hour before it’s dark. Let’s continue moving." A voice came from the front, and no one disagreed.
As they travelled, Jiang Yue couldn’t help but frown.
"I have a bad feeling about this." He said.
"So do I." Yu Nianzhen said and also frowned.
After a full day, the Death Flower Ascension Front should have been able to regroup.
Considering the randomness of teleportation talismans, they had enough time to set up an ambush at the most optimal place.
However, the group hadn’t.
Yu Nianzhen wanted to believe that the group’s vitality was damaged and that mounting an attack was too difficult at the moment.
However, he wasn’t convinced by this thought.
He felt the more likely reason was that the group was planning something bigger.
"We need to be even more careful." He finally said.
"You are right." Xuan Ke agreed.
After half an hour, the group made camp for the night.
Everyone was arranged to patrol the area at different intervals, and Yu Niazhen was on shift on the first night.
Fortunately, nothing happened on the first night or every night after that.
When the group arrived outside the base camp of the allied forces, everyone was in a state of confusion.
They had all been ready to fight along the way, but nothing so exciting had happened.
"It’s a little anticlimactic." Xuan Ke said when they landed outside the base camp.
"En." Jiang Yue agreed, but his attention was on the camp.
Even without checking, he knew the area was covered by a defensive array.
Although the array couldn’t be compared to a mountain protection array, it was still impressive that such a formation could be erected in the secret realm.
"Why are there corpses outside the array?" Wang Xue’er observed.
The other four looked around and saw several bodies strewn around the array.
From where they stood, they couldn’t see any injuries on the bodies, but the people were undoubtedly dead.
"Could it be..." Jiang Yue was a little excited, and he turned to Yu Nianzhen.
"I think so."
Yu Nianzhen tried to feel the defensive array but felt nothing special about it.
However, the bodies told him there was definitely something special about the defensive formation.
"So this is why the two leaders didn’t mind collecting everyone we met along the way?" Xuan Ke observed.
"Looks like they know something we don’t."
At this moment, a border guard walked to the array.
When his body touched the array, it shimmered with golden light, and he walked into the camp.
"I want to wait and see." Yu Nianzhen said.
If his thoughts were correct, the array was set up to differentiate between allies and the Death Flower Ascension Front.
However, he didn’t know what the differentiating factor was.
By watching others enter the array, there was a chance he would figure it out.
"I want to go in and find others from my Great Artisan region." Bai Ruyue said unexpectedly.
Xuan Ke, Jiang Yue, and Wang Xue’er looked at her in wonder, and she couldn’t help but feel a little resentful.
From their reactions, she knew they knew about her feelings for Yu Nianzhen.
However, the involved person acted like he didn’t notice any of it.
She resisted the urge to stomp her foot and forced down the harsh words that almost formed in her mouth.
"I will come to find you after I reunite with my people." She finally said.
"Fellow Daoist Bai can take her time."
Jiang Yue wore a fake smile when he said that.
In other circumstances, he wouldn’t necessarily dislike Bai Ruyue.
Although she was cowardly and always wanted to run when confronted with a difficult situation, the young woman was not stupid.
When she worked her mind, she could analyse a situation well and come up with smart solutions.
However, she was infatuated with Yu Nianzhen.
For this alone, Jiang Yue couldn’t stand her.
He disliked how she looked at Yu Nianzhen and hated how she was always wanting to touch the other.
With these thoughts in mind, he was happy to hear she wanted to separate to find her people.
If it was up to him, he hoped she wouldn’t find them later.
He wanted their fates to never intersect again, but he didn’t know how large the base was.
If the camp was large enough, there was still a chance they wouldn’t meet again.
After leaving the secret realm, it was even more unlikely for them to meet again.
"I wish you luck, fellow Daoist Bai." Wang Xue’er cupped her fists and said.
However, before Bai Ruyue could react, a commotion attracted their attention.
"How did he die?" Jiang Yue asked as he looked at the new body a few metres from their position.
He was a little annoyed that he missed the important part, and felt resentful towards Bai Ruyue.
It wasn’t rational to blame her for grabbing his attention, but no one could be rational all the time.
Fortunately, his resentment was only momentary and was quickly replaced by curiosity.
"A red light covered him when his body touched the array. He died a moment after." Yu Nianzhen answered.
While everyone was talking to Bai Ruyue, he was still observing the surroundings.
"Red light..." Xuan Ke muttered.
As they were thinking about it, a young woman came out of the array. She stood next to the body and sneered while a malicious look flashed in her eyes.
After that, she collected the body’s storage ring and kicked the body before retreating into the array.
Soon after, more people entered the array. All were covered by a golden light and were allowed to enter.
Meng Zihua and her group were among the last to enter the array, and they all entered without incident.
"Can this array check the dantian?" Xuan Ke wondered.
However, he didn’t believe his guess even as he said it.
Other than the incredibly powerful fruit tree, everything else was restricted in the secret realm.
No matter how he thought about it, an array that scanned the dantian wasn’t ordinary.
It wouldn’t be lower than a class three or four array.
However, this thousand herbs garden could barely tolerate a class two array.
Given that, it was unlikely that the array could scan the dantian.
In that case, it meant there was another factor that differentiated ordinary cultivators from those in the Death Flower Ascension Front.
"I want to check the bodies." Yu Nianzhen suddenly said.
"That’s the only way." Xuan Ke agreed.
The two looked at each other and immediately moved toward different bodies.
Yu Nianzhen arrived at the newly dead body and bent down.
He injected his consciousness into his sword intent and then forced the sword intent into the body.
Like Jiang Yue had done previously, Yu Nianzhen examined the body.
"Low-rank heaven meridians." He said and then manoeuvred the sword intent into the other’s dantian.
However, he gasped in surprise when the intent entered the dantian.
"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yue asked.
Yu Nianzhen didn’t answer.
Instead, he spent a few more moments on the body before he moved on to the next.
’What’s going on?’ He wondered after examining the fifth body.
With confusion on his face, he released Chen Nian’s body from the storage bag and examined it.
When he was done, a solemn look crossed his eyes, and he turned to Xuan Ke.
From the other’s expression, Xuan Ke had also noticed the oddity.
"This is not good." Xuan Ke said, and Yu Nianzhen nodded.
"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yue asked through gritted teeth.
He hated being ignored, and Yu Nianzhen had ignored him several times now.
Although he could check the bodies himself, he was still annoyed at being ignored.
Yu Nianzhen sighed and gave the bodies a complicated look before he turned to Jiang Yue, "the changes have reversed."
"Reversed?" Jiang Yue was at a loss for a moment.
When it eventually came to him, his eyes widened in horror, and his hands shook slightly.
Since they arrived, he suspected the dead bodies were members of the Death Flower Ascension Front.
What he couldn’t understand was why the allied forces had not collected the bodies for study.
Now when he heard Yu Nianzhen’s words, he finally understood.
