Chapter 513: Chapter 383: Screwing Over the Heavenly Armor Sect
The members of the Daxia Delegation had only walked a few steps when the ground suddenly exploded. From what initially appeared to be a flat surface, hundreds of Cow Hair Needles burst out.
Xiahou Qi, composed as ever, quickly used his spiritual power to refine new Alchemy Beasts to replace any that were destroyed in ambushes, immediately joining back in the march.
Thus, along the way, they managed to avoid countless traps, and the personnel of the Daxia Delegation encountered dangers but remained unscathed.
Turning to look at the North Fork, the people of the Heavenly Armor Sect had walked a short distance.
Their luck was not necessarily any better than that of the Daxia Delegation; several disciples of the Heavenly Armor Sect accidentally tripped the traps and got wounded.
Zhuge Yi found that there was still no sign of Ye Lingyue and the others, and he couldn’t help but feel suspicious.
Logically speaking, the team with Ye Lingyue and the Prince Feng, who knew no martial arts and could not move faster than them, should not have outpaced them.
He had long heard that the sneaky girl from the Ye Family was cunning. Perhaps she had used some other means.
"Stop."
Zhuge Yi became suspicious, wondering whether he should turn back.
While he hesitated, suddenly a dismal scream was heard. A disciple from the Heavenly Armor Sect cried out miserably as his body violently flew up and was nailed to the wall.
Two cold arrows were stuck in his chest.
A trap?
Zhuge Yi immediately became alert.
He had been so focused on killing Ye Lingyue that he almost forgot that they were now in Xingxiu Cave.
This place was full of dangerous mechanisms, and one careless move could cost them their lives.
Zhuge Yi scoffed a few times and pulled out a small mouse from his sleeve. Upon closer inspection, the mouse, which was covered in copper skin and iron bones, was clearly not a real mouse but a cleverly designed Alchemy Beast.
"Sky Armor Rat, now is the time for you to display your great divine powers."
Inside the Heavenly Armor Sect, most were Alchemists, different from the Alchemist Tower and Dan Palace of Daxia who specialized in refining various spiritual artifacts or war armor.
This type of Sky Armor Rat possessed a special ability to detect traps, hidden weapons, and even find various spiritual treasures.
Despite its unimpressive appearance, the entire Heavenly Armor Sect only had one. This time, it was given to Zhuge Yi by the Sect Master of the Heavenly Armor Sect because of the Nine Revolutions Reincarnation Elixir, in hopes that he could successfully retrieve the elixir.
True to its reputation, the Sky Armor Rat squeaked twice as soon as it hit the ground.
Its small body shot out like an arrow.
Following its path, the people from the Heavenly Armor Sect closely followed and, indeed, this time they did not encounter any traps or hidden weapons.
Ye Lingyue, watching from behind, was secretly amazed; it seemed that the Heavenly Armor Sect had some tricks.
"What’s so extraordinary about that? Our Prince, in recognizing traps and hidden weapons, is far more formidable than that idle object. Our Prince can also break arrays; if that little creature encounters a powerful big formation, it would be helpless," Sword Slave murmured softly, seeing the look of admiration on Ye Lingyue’s face.
Hearing Sword Slave say this, Ye Lingyue recalled their journey following behind the Heavenly Armor Sect; Feng Xun had earlier reminded them about several spots not to touch.
Those spots were exactly where the disciples of the Heavenly Armor Sect had been killed or severely injured earlier.
"How do you know the locations of the traps and hidden weapons?" Ye Lingyue asked curiously.
"Natural intuition. That little creature can only pass through the middle section; deep in this fork, there is an array," Feng Xun smiled, having never studied hidden weapons or mechanisms but did have some research on formations.
He had noticed along the way, next to the pathway, signs of arrays being set up. It couldn’t be more than two thousand steps away; there definitely was a significant array ahead.
The people from the Heavenly Armor Sect were bound to suffer heavy casualties.
Feng Xun’s words made Ye Lingyue half-believing and half-doubting; this guy, clearly a sickly individual, was sometimes surprisingly astute.
Several hundred steps ahead, Zhuge Yi was indeed caught by surprise.
"Not good, it’s the Gale Sword Formation!"
Inside the cave, suddenly a gust of wind rolled in, bringing with it the sound of the wind, knife lights, sword shadows, and several streams of Sword Qi, sweeping through.
Ye Lingyue glanced over and saw that several of Zhuge Yi’s disciples had already been injured by the powerful Sword Qi, and even Zhuge Yi himself was somewhat caught off guard.
"This sword formation is just a small one. With Zhuge Yi’s strength, it would take at most three minutes to break it. However, I’m afraid his subordinates will suffer heavy casualties," Feng Xun said.
"No, I actually think that this time, the Heavenly Armor Sect will suffer heavy losses," Ye Lingyue said with a soft laugh.
Feng Xun was slightly startled.
"Tell me, where else nearby are there traps and hidden weapons?" Ye Lingyue narrowed her eyes, her face calculating.
Feng Xun was at a loss for words, then chuckled lightly.
Just after Ye Lingyue had finished speaking, she remembered that everyone had taken the Invisibility Elixir. Feng Xun probably didn’t know her position. Unexpectedly, she suddenly felt a warmth by her ear, as if someone had leaned over.
Warm lips touched her ear, whispering a few words.
Ye Lingyue was stunned, not knowing how Feng Xun had discovered her exact location.
The warmth by her ear had already disappeared.
Ye Lingyue withdrew her attention.
Her gaze swept around the spacious cave.
Feng Xun told her that there were at least six traps and hidden weapons around the sword formation.
She chuckled twice, then stooped to pick up a few stones.
Zhuge Yi and the others were still trapped in the sword formation.
"The Array Eye of the sword formation is in the northwest direction, break the formation!" Zhuge Yi, after all an Outer Sect Elder, quickly regained his composure after a moment of panic, instructing his disciples to defend against the Sword Qi while he, along with two of the more skilled disciples, charged towards the Array Eye of the sword formation.
Just as they were approaching the Array Eye, things changed again.
Suddenly, a large number of deer horn spikes sprung from the ground, and behind, hundreds of cold arrows shot towards them.
Zhuge Yi was shocked. With a thought, a Spirit Shield instantly formed in front of him, blocking the cold arrows.
But the two disciples beside him were not so lucky.
Caught between attacks, as they were defending, two Sword Qi streaked like guillotine blades, and the heads of the two disciples instantly rolled on the ground.
Zhuge Yi clenched his teeth and punched towards the Array Eye of the sword formation.
Once the Array Eye was broken, the entire Sword Array was instantly shattered.
Zhuge Yi wiped the cold sweat from his brow; he had lived for decades and had never encountered such a perilous situation.
But when Zhuge Yi turned back, his body stiffened sharply.
Behind him, the disciples of the Heavenly Armor Sect were all dead, with only one or two barely breathing, all severely injured.
Looking at the cave again, the five or six traps on the ground and walls had all been activated.
What made Zhuge Yi even more dismayed was that in the chaos, the Sky Armor Rat had also disappeared.
For Zhuge Yi, this was undoubtedly a double blow.
The Sect Treasure was gone, and the disciples were all dead. The situation in the cave was too complicated, and he hadn’t realized that Ye Lingyue had been meddling secretly.