Chapter 1 Ancient Array

The ancient array surrounding the entire Mo Village began to operate fully, accompanied by Captain Lang Wu's roar.

The ancient array, previously hidden, now fully appeared before everyone.

Anyone still in Mo Village could look up and see a semi-transparent shield protecting the entire village.

On the ground, streams of light flowed like talismans.

At that moment, the entire village seemed to come alive, becoming the most dazzling light in the darkness.

Mo Village was now resplendent with color, like a radiant glazed jewel, dazzling to behold.

Above the village, these streams of light began to gather frantically at one point, emitting an unspeakable and terrifying power.

Ripples spread out in layers, the energy fluctuations growing stronger and stronger. When this energy reached its peak...

Rumble!

On the layer of flowing light, a terrifying pillar of light, large enough to cover the entire village's central square, descended from the sky at an extremely fast speed!

The earth trembled.

Violent energy impacted the ground, scattering in all directions.

However, this energy seemed to exist in a strange state.

It had no effect on humans, nor did it impact the buildings in any way.

If one didn't know about the enormous and frightening energy fluctuations, they might think it was just some kind of illusion.

But in reality, this energy had been arranged by experts and specifically designed. All of its destructive power would only affect the guiyi.

This was a very pure and powerful guiyi-killing array!

With the massive energy output, the entire array seemed to suffer from insufficient energy. The flowing light shield flickered unstably, but Captain Lang Wu didn't stop. He insisted on maintaining the huge pillar of flowing light for a while before slowly retracting it.

Because he knew that he only had one chance.

Their Mo Village's array couldn't support a second attempt.

Such a massive energy outpouring further depleted the already fragile array.

If this attack didn't work and failed to eliminate that guiyi, then there would be no other way to subdue it.

After all, it hadn't been long since Fang Yue and Captain Wu went over there before they issued a concentrated fire order resembling a distress signal. This showed that the guiyi's strength probably exceeded their initial estimates.

As Captain Lang Wu retracted the energy outburst, the huge pillar of flowing light gradually contracted, narrowed into a beam, and then disappeared.

The array that had appeared in the entire Mo Village, along with the various streams of light runes, finally slowly returned to its hidden state.

Everything returned to normal, except for the central square of the village, which was a mess, with a pile of corpses lying scattered about.

When Captain Lang Wu arrived with his men, he saw a scene of despair.

"Captain Wu! Captain Ye!"

He rushed to Captain Wu's side and tested his breath. His expression immediately relaxed.

There was still a faint breath, indicating he had only passed out due to lack of oxygen.

It was good that he wasn't dead.

He immediately ordered his men to take care of Captain Wu and ran to Fang Yue's side.

Just as he was about to check on Fang Yue's condition, he saw Fang Yue suddenly open his eyes.

"I'm fine."

Captain Lang Wu was startled, but he quickly reacted and showed a look of joy.

He was still hoping that Fang Yue would bring back the matter of Mo Village affiliating with Gu Yue Village to Lord Han's ears.

If Mo Village didn't really have anyone else available, he wouldn't even want Fang Yue to risk helping them.

"What exactly happened? Those two black-robed people really were a problem?"

Fang Yue nodded slightly and shakily got up from the ground.

Earlier, when he activated the concentrated fire order towards the night sky, the guiyi of the human bone kite had seen it.

It quickly reacted and ruthlessly attacked Fang Yue. Fortunately, the pillar of flowing light fell in time, preventing Fang Yue from dying directly at its hands.

The oppressive force exerted by that human bone kite guiyi was completely different from Ma Ling'er's human face kite from before.

It was a terrifying feeling of all-round suppression, as if the human bone kite could easily kill Fang Yue again with a flick of its finger.

In fact, if he hadn't relied on [Chronal Regression] to save his life earlier, he would have died, not even having time to issue the concentrated fire order.

As for Captain Wu...

Fang Yue frowned as he stared at Captain Wu, who had just been awakened and was now looking around in confusion.

This guy...didn't actually die?

Fang Yue was a little puzzled.

If he hadn't had [Chronal Regression], he would have died back then. Captain Wu had fallen even earlier than him, but now he was fine?

Could it be...that Captain Wu was possessed by a guiyi?

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Don't tell me that they risked their lives to activate the array to kill the guiyi, only for the guiyi to possess Captain Wu, avoid the attack, and make a big joke out of it.

After hesitating for a moment, Fang Yue whispered a few words in Captain Lang Wu's ear.

Captain Lang Wu's expression quickly changed, and he looked at Captain Wu, who was full of confusion, with a solemn gaze. He lowered his voice and said, "Don't move rashly. Our Mo Village's array can no longer be activated for such an attack."

"But if it's possessed, then now might be when the guiyi is at its weakest!"

"I'll do a thorough check on him again, and you'll have to accept my check as well. But there shouldn't be too much of a problem..."

Captain Lang Wu glanced at Fang Yue meaningfully, obviously not completely believing Fang Yue's words. After all, if a guiyi could possess Captain Wu, it could naturally possess Fang Yue as well.

However, Captain Lang Wu still didn't quite believe that the guiyi could survive the array's bombardment and even possess someone.

That pillar of flowing light...wasn't just for show, but a comprehensive sweep specifically targeting guiyi. Even a possessed guiyi would die in that bombardment.

If Captain Wu was possessed by a guiyi, Captain Wu should have died back then, and so should Fang Yue.

So, in all likelihood, both of them should be fine.

After thinking about it, Captain Lang Wu briefly explained the matter of the array to Fang Yue, which made Fang Yue feel a little relieved.

After undergoing a comprehensive check together with Captain Wu, everyone felt relieved.

Neither of them had any problems. The guiyi had truly been eliminated.

But in this way, Captain Wu's figure became somewhat mysterious in Fang Yue's eyes.

He had personally seen Captain Wu die, suffocated to death.

But now he was acting as if nothing had happened...

However, Fang Yue didn't plan to investigate further. No matter what secrets Captain Wu was hiding, as long as he wasn't a guiyi and didn't oppose him, there shouldn't be any major problems.

He simply told Captain Lang Wu about what happened in the village's central square earlier, and he finally understood how terrifying that guiyi was. wΑp.kanshuwu.net

A Houtian third-rate realm cultivator who could exchange blows with a black-level intermediate guiyi, and a Houtian second-rate realm expert.

The two of them didn't even have the qualifications to make a move in front of that guiyi and fell directly.

This wasn't a matter of ability, but an absolute difference in strength.

What exactly was the origin of that guiyi?

Captain Lang Wu's expression became solemn. He felt an increasing sense of urgency about the alliance with Gu Yue Village.

Their Mo Village was becoming increasingly unsafe.

Even with the array still in place, guiyi were able to sneak into the village.

Now the array was even more damaged, and they couldn't even activate an attack like before. Mo Village's situation could be said to be precarious.

After dealing with the corpses of the other team members, issuing an official document to inform the villagers that the murderer who killed Captain Huo had been eliminated, and handling a series of other matters, things gradually calmed down.

Captain Lang Wu was obviously adept at handling these public opinion matters, very skilled, and handled them in an orderly manner.

By the time Fang Yue dragged his exhausted body back to the Lang residence, the sun had risen, and it was already dawn.

Tonight's several life-or-death crises had left Fang Yue feeling overwhelmed.

He felt an increasing sense of urgency to improve his strength.

If he had already broken through his realm and strength tonight, he might not have needed to use [Chronal Regression] and could have persisted until the concentrated fire order was activated.

Sighing, Fang Yue returned to his room, preparing to continue cultivating the Fiery Heart Sutra, striving to break through to the Houtian second-rate realm today.

Originally, last night's [Chronal Regression] had burned a full month of lifespan, causing Fang Yue to feel so distressed that he could hardly breathe.

But after Fang Yue collected the lifespan reward from the escort team, plus the assistance in killing that guiyi in Mo Village, he directly got a large recovery of lifespan, increasing instead of decreasing, which made Fang Yue breathe a sigh of relief.

The only pity was that his attributes were already at their maximum value, and assisting in killing the human bone kite didn't grant him any attribute increases. Such a strong guiyi, even if it was just an assist reward, should have granted him one or two attribute points...

Also, he didn't know if it was because the guiyi was killed by the array, but it didn't drop anything and directly turned to ashes, which made Fang Yue feel very regretful. If he had been allowed to finish it off, there would definitely have been a big drop.

However, with a guiyi of such terrifying strength, if he really went up to finish it off, he would probably be killed directly.

The only gain was...

"Name: Mistform Black Robe."

"Level: Good Grade Low-Rank."

"Type: Ghoul Item."

"Description: A well-made ghoul item refined by extracting the essence of the Fog Condensing Ghoul with auxiliary materials, a must-have for home travel."

"Effect: The wearer of the Mistform Black Robe can conceal their form and transform into a standard-proportioned humanoid black mist form."

"Note: Black mist face, black mist person, could you be... the murderer from the Case Closed!"

Of the only two sets of black robes, Fang Yue received one, and the other fell into Captain Wu's hands.

After all, the two had risked their lives in this operation and were considered great contributors.

The Mistform Black Robe, paired with the Human Face Mask, could basically disguise one's identity to the extreme.

Fang Yue had seen the effect of the Mistform Black Robe. The human face could also be misted into a black mist form. If this disguise was removed, there was still the second layer of disguise from the Human Face Mask, which could be said to be quite safe.

In the future, if he wanted to do something shady or frame someone, there would be room for manipulation.

In addition, after carefully studying the Mistform Black Robe, Fang Yue discovered that even when misting the face, it was possible to simulate empty facial features, but they were relatively stiff and uniform.

He opened his attributes.

"Name: Ye Se Liming."

"Realm: Houtian Third-Rate."

"Status: Ghoul Curse [Back of Hand]."

"Health: 200/200."

"Inner Force: 300/300."

"Control: 80 [Base: 100/Reached Realm Limit] [State/Bonus: -20]."

"Defense: 80 [Base: 100/Reached Realm Limit] [State/Bonus: -20]."

"Realm Breakthrough Progress: 5.5%."

"Talent: Breath of Night [Human Grade High-Rank]."

"Skills: Analysis Eye [Human Grade Low-Rank], Starlight Blade Art 1st Layer [Houtian Third-Rate], Water Heaven Blade Art 1st Layer [Crude Martial Art], Fiery Heart Sutra [Houtian First-Rate/First Layer], Starlight Heart Sutra 3rd Layer [Houtian Third-Rate/Max Level]."

"Lifespan: 3 Months 20 Days."

The realm breakthrough progress had inexplicably increased after killing the human bone kite guiyi.

Fang Yue suspected that if he had a few more of those, he wouldn't even need to study the Fiery Heart Sutra and could directly break through his realm.

Also, there was his lifespan, which had soared after receiving the escort team reward and the reward for being a major contributor to tonight's activities.

If it wasn't for the [Chronal Regression] taking a big chunk, Fang Yue felt that his three months of lifespan could normally last a long time before being exhausted.

He closed his eyes. Just as Fang Yue was about to cultivate the Fiery Heart Sutra in one fell swoop and break through his realm, there was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me."

"Captain Wu?"

Fang Yue was shocked.

He was somewhat wary of this guy.

Frowning slightly, he got up and opened the door.

"What is it?"

"Let's talk inside."

After hesitating for a moment, Fang Yue let him in.

He closed the door and looked at Captain Wu.

"What exactly is it?"

"I came to tell you a bad news and a good news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

A classic question...

Fang Yue said without hesitation, "The bad news."

"Captain Lang Wu thoroughly inspected the array just now and discovered that the wall above the south village entrance has a hole broken in it by something."

"A hole broken open?"

Fang Yue was stunned at first, then greatly shocked.

"The Mo Village array has been broken?"

"Calm down! It's not that serious. It's just a hole the size of a human head. Captain Lang Wu said that it can't be repaired in the short term, but he will send people to guard that location strictly, so there shouldn't be any major problems. However, if a guiyi enters the village through that hole, it's indeed the same as Mo Village being completely undefended... Fortunately, our wave of array bombardment earlier should have scared the surrounding guiyi. No guiyi should dare to invade our Mo Village in the short term."

Okay, if Mo Village could solve it themselves, that would be the best. Besides, they would be returning to Gu Yue Village in a few days, so what happened to Mo Village wouldn't have much to do with him.

If Mo Village really became an affiliated village of Gu Yue Village, that would be a headache for Lord Han and Lin Ling.

After thinking about it, Fang Yue asked, "Then what's the good news?"

"You said earlier that there were two black-robed people, but we only found one last night. And the other one has been missing. Now it can basically be confirmed that that guiyi was the one who caused the breach in the array at the south village entrance. Because according to Captain Lang Wu's inspection, that hole was smashed from the inside out, not from the outside into the village."

Fang Yue was silent, and hesitantly said, "This...counts as good news? Aren't you afraid that the one who escaped will make a comeback? If it can break through the array once, it can naturally break through the array a second time, and that hole is still there."

"That's not something we can control. At least we should be safe in the short term. If you're really worried about our Mo Village, then go back to Gu Yue Village as soon as possible and help us persuade Lord Han to agree to the affiliated village matter."

Fang Yue just shrugged at this matter.

At most, he would convey the message, but helping them say good things was impossible.

Moreover, the procurement of the village's core stone material hadn't been completed yet, so it was still early before they could return to Gu Yue Village.

Compared to these things, strength was the most important.

"Is there anything else? If not, I need to rest..."

"Wait, there is indeed one more thing I want to ask you."

"...What is it?"

Captain Wu stared intently at Fang Yue: "Who wanted to use [Icy Corpse Qi Poison] to kill Captain Huo?"

"What?"

"Don't try to hide it from me. Captain Lang Wu has already told me. Captain Huo was indeed killed by that guiyi, but besides that guiyi, there was also someone in Mo Village who wanted her life and was planning to use [Icy Corpse Qi Poison] to do it. You were able to mention this before, so someone must have contacted you. Tell me that person's name."