Chapter 628: Toyed By the Formation
When two sage realm cultivators reached their maximum speed, the distance they could cover was quite stunning. However, Cao Jin came to a sudden stop with a quick gesture.
“What is it, senior brother Cao?” Fatty Wu knew of Cao Jin’s strength. By now he’d already positioned himself as Cao Jin’s right hand man. Cao Jin was the conductor of all of their operations.
“I sense something’s wrong nearby. Stay on your guard.” As a peak ninth level sage realm expert, Cao Jin’s instincts were far superior to Wu Heng’s.
With his level of cultivation, the only time Cao Jin had been rebuffed was when he’d encountered the mysterious Miss Huang’er. Under normal circumstances, he should’ve been able to trample everyone in the Myriad Domain with his cultivation.
“Look over there!” Cao Jin arched a blue eyebrow as his eyes locked onto a bush beside the road.
The duo carefully approached the bush while preparing themselves for action. They would attack at full force the second they encountered even the slightest hint of resistance. They parted the bush, and found a corpse hidden behind it. More accurately speaking, it was Ding Tong’s corpse!
“Ding Tong?!” Fatty Wu cried out involuntarily. They both knew that Ding Tong was already dead, but they didn’t imagine that he would die in such a place! With a wave of his hand, Cao Jing kept Fatty Wu away while pointing at Ding Tong’s corpse from afar.
Pfft!
Struck by the finger’s force, Ding Tong’s corpse abruptly transformed into a wisp of green smoke and vanished completely.
“A crude smokescreen!” Cao Jin sneered before he raised his voice and yelled, “The same trick is worthless once you use it more than a few times, you scoundrel. I know you’re nearby. I may spare your life if you come out now like a good boy, but if I have to catch you, I’ll make you wish that you were dead!”
While he spoke, Cao Jin fully activated his eye arts and began searching the area. He’d obviously trained extensively in them, and a faint purple light sparkled stunningly in his eyes, continuously expanding outwards. Fatty Wu cooperated fully as well and started to make his preparations as well. However, his expression suddenly changed. A quick look around and he noticed that the ground beneath them had changed. Not only that, everything their eyes rested on had turned into yellow sand!
How could this be?
Cao Jin’s eyes shifted slightly and he asked lowly, “Another formation?”
Fatty Wu nodded with a tight expression on his face. “A formation indeed, and an exceedingly sophisticated one at that. Senior brother Cao, I feel that we’ve irritated those within the mountain. The level of this formation isn’t something that belongs to the Myriad Domain!”
These words also made Cao Jin start. “Someone within the mountain? Who could there be? How would the Myriad Domain sects dare enter if there was anyone here?”
Fatty Wu was also baffled. “I don’t know why, but this formation feels quite sophisticated, almost on par with our Ninesuns Sky Sect.”
Cao Jin snorted coldly. “We could crack open even the Rippling Mirage formation. How would this one here stump you or I?”
Fatty Wu nodded, “Right, and we have the formation splitting technique as well!”
This technique was a rare art, and even an expert like Cao Jin from the Sky Sect wouldn’t know how to utilize it either. It had been Fatty Wu who’d been lucky enough to learn this ancient art. The two were about to erupt into action when several arrows descended upon them.
Cao Jin didn’t grow angry when he saw this, but rather smiled instead. He caught all four of the arrows with a grandiose flourish of his sleeve. His mouth twitched as he restored his previous confidence. “Junior brother Wu, deploy the formation splitting technique, I’ll cover for you!”
The two split up their roles clearly.
“Alright!” Fatty Wu didn’t tarry and flung out a rune. He locked onto the edge of the formation amidst the light and struck out fiercely.
In the next moment…
The scene in front of them suddenly changed as the mounds of yellow sound turned into nothing, and then was replaced by an expanse of fiery ocean. The two discovered that their new surroundings had become a sea of lava. Fire dragons spat out gouts of flame from the sea of lava. The heat wave that hit them face first caused the two some difficulties in breathing.
“How can this be?” Cao Jin frowned.
Fatty Wu also felt quite depressed. “Senior brother Cao, this seems to be a live formation, unlike the dead ones on the outskirts of the mountain. The formation splitting technique is quite useful for a dead formation, but it’s tough to grasp if someone is actively controlling the formation.”
When it came to formations, a live formation was much more threatening than a dead one. A live formation could change and adapt at any time. When it shifts without warning, one wouldn’t be able to fully grasp the edges of the formation. How could they cast the formation splitting technique then?
Although Cao Jin wasn’t a formation master, he still understood the theory. He knew that the fault of this matter didn’t lie with Fatty Wu. It also wasn’t the time to blame his teammate. He nodded, “Don’t be depressed, feel it out slowly. The opponent has resorted to using a formation to deal with us, which proves that his strength is below yours and mine. The arrows just now also prove this point.”
“Don’t worry, senior brother Cao. Although this formation is strong, I will find its boundary without a doubt. As soon as I do so, I’ll definitely be able to open a crack in it unless there’s a special restriction on this formation that forbids the option of using the formation splitting technique.”
“Just be careful. I’ll cover for you, so don’t worry about it attacking you.” Cao Jin knew that his skill in formations was far below that of Fatty Wu’s and thus wouldn’t venture any ideas. However, it was a simple matter to protect Fatty Wu from being attacked by the formation. In actuality, Cao Jin had no fear in facing this formation, even if he wanted to break through it by force. However, Fatty Wu was just an earth sage realm cultivator. The power in the formation wasn’t enough to hurt Cao Jin, but was more than enough to kill Fatty Wu. Although Cao Jin didn’t have a deep relationship with Fatty Wu, he didn’t want another one of his teammates to die at this moment!
If another one died, he would be alone. Although he wasn’t afraid, his mental state would certainly be affected. This hidden opponent was obviously skilled in formations, so Fatty Wu’s value was obvious. He truly had stunning potential in the area of formations and was able to quickly grasp the edge of the formation again. “Over here, senior brother Cao!”
Fatty Wu tried the formation splitting technique again and shouted out softly, “Break!”
Yet, as soon as he spoke the word, the formation changed again to a wintry field of ice and snow. Every direction was covered in ice, as flakes of snow drifted through the air. A world of winter had seemingly descended upon the two.
“F*ck!” Fatty Wu couldn’t help but curse. He’d finally found the edge of the formation again, but the opponent had shifted the formation just as he was about to break through it!
“Senior brother Cao, this fellow is toying with us!” He huffed and puffed. Although he was a crafty, shrewd person, he couldn’t help but feel his anger rouse at the repeated setbacks.
It was rather Cao Jin who was calm and cold, “Be calm, the more he does thus, the more this proves that he’s afraid of us.”
Fatty Wu thought for a moment and felt that to be true. He nodded. “Then I’ll study this formation a bit more and see what’s going on.”
He was about to walk forward when all of the layers of ice in this world of winter shattered into icicles and rose into the air. The sky gleamed with the jagged edges of ice for a moment, and with nary a sign, they began to shoot towards the duo. Cao Jin laughed coldly as he traced an arc with one hand, forming a dome-shaped protective circle that enclosed him and Fatty Wu.
Pfft pfft pfft pfft!
Countless icicles crashed onto the shield but only penetrated a meter in, their momentum expended against the protective dome.
“Break!” Cao Jin spread out his hands and sent a gust of wind billowing out, swallowing all of the countless icicles and shredding them apart, sending them drifting to the ground as icy dust.
“Senior brother Cao is so amazing!” Fatty Wu exclaimed in admiration.
Cao Jin spread out his hands. “Keep working at the formation!”
……
Jiang Chen was also quite saddened as he manipulated the Ancient Slaughter Formation of Seven in the shadows. Although he was giving it his all to activate the disk, he was constrained by the abilities of his own body and so could only summon the lowest level formation. The Slaughter Formation at this level could possibly entrap the fatty, but was obviously insufficient in handling the blue browed youth.
“Is this blue browed youth the Yong Xingyun that Ding Tong spoke of? Only one of the ten great disciples would have this kind of ability!” Although Jiang Chen was slightly saddened, he wasn’t dejected. After all, he’d been able to use the Minor Artifice Formation earlier to kill one of them. Now that he was repeating the same trick, it was tough to get the same results when his opponents were prepared. He took his failure to kill an enemy in stride. He was merely using the formation to feel out their methods so that he could know the enemy as well as he knew himself. “Of the two, the blue browed youth is stronger, but the fatty is the formation master. If I can get rid of the fatty, the blue browed youth will be all alone and therefore much easier to take out.”
Jiang Chen also knew that it would be much easier to handle them if the two were separated. The power of his formation was greatly decreased when they were together. And of course, although Jiang Chen had the formation disk, he could only call upon the easiest level of formation. There were three levels, and Jiang Chen had just come into possession of the disk. It was difficult for him to call upon the second level.
“Sigh, I’d have much more confidence in facing off against these two if I could activate the medium level of the formation. If I could activate the advanced level, I could kill them within seconds!”
Jiang Chen knew he was only daydreaming about the most advanced level. He wouldn’t be able to unleash it before his strength reached sky sage level. Even then, the amount of spirit stones needed at that level was astonishing.
Each time Jiang Chen switched up the formation, it would distract the fatty just as he was about to make his move. This irked the fatty to no end, but what could he do? However, Jiang Chen also knew that it wasn’t a very sustainable tactic. There were only seven changes to the Ancient Formation of Slaughter. If he started the cycle over again, it would be easy for the opponent to grasp the core of the formation. For someone who knew the formation splitting technique, it would be easy for them to open a passage through this level of formation.
Thus, he had to use the next stage of his plan. If nothing else, Jiang Chen was a determined person, and when he knew that the formation wouldn’t be able to hold his opponent, he immediately moved onto the next step. He had to at least get rid of one of them first no matter what!