Fan Jianqiang: Have I Been Exposed?

"Let's see what other tricks you still have up your sleeve."

Lin Fan was rather expectant.

Just as the Second Elder set up another array and Fan Jianqiang performed his shit escape for the second time, someone drifted down into the area covered by Wu Xingyun's shattered array.

"So you came prepared?"

"These arrays are all utterly commonplace, like the work of an elder from some minor sect. They only barely managed to blast apart two little fellows who had just entered the Cave Heaven Realm."

He showed little interest as he strolled forward, moving so fast it was as though he were shrinking the earth to inches.

In only two or three steps, he arrived one or two li away. Looking at the forest before him, now utterly destroyed and reduced to a massive crater, and smelling the faint scent of blood in the air, he frowned slightly.

"There are more arrays?!"

He did not rashly approach, instead carefully inspecting the area around the crater.

Before long, he spotted something amiss.

"The array at the previous location was nothing remarkable. I could break it with a wave of my hand."

"But the arrays here..."

"Hiss!"

"The Seven Absolute Killing Array, the Endless Sword Array, the Sea of Blood God Annihilation Array, the Fifth Confinement Array... all are grand arrays with fearsome reputations. Even though they are all simplified, incomplete versions, they are still exceptionally formidable!

"Moreover, the various arrays are tangled and interwoven, you within me and I within you.

"Most astonishing of all, they were set up so covertly, so naturally that they seemed part of the world itself.

"Even if I had come in person, I might not have discovered them beforehand. And once triggered, even I might not be able to retreat unscathed."

"When did Wu Xingyun, the Second Elder of the Moon Embracing Sect... attain such profound accomplishments in arrays?!"

Gulp!

Liu Xun swallowed hard.

Though he was considered one of the Liu Family's foremost experts, with cultivation at the fifth layer of the Finger Profound Realm, he still felt his mouth go dry and a chill of lingering fear run through him!

The Liu Family had eyes and ears everywhere!

And since Fan Jianqiang had been their target from the very beginning, they had been keeping close watch on him all along.

Wu Xingyun had not been someone they particularly watched, but when Wu Xingyun went to speak with an ordinary fortune-teller, it became worthy of attention. Afterwards, someone had also witnessed Fan Jianqiang restore his original appearance. Naturally, the Liu Family received word and rushed over at once.

Yet they were still one step too late.

From afar, Liu Xun had seen the enormous shockwave shooting into the clouds. Worried that Fan Jianqiang had been killed, he hurried over as well.

But what he saw now was this scene...

He could not help sinking into thought!

This was the Moon Embracing Sect's temporary route. It was entirely possible to rule out the possibility that outsiders had set up arrays here to ambush and intercept them!

And with the two arrays so close together, it was also basically impossible that they had been set by unrelated parties.

In other words, these arrays had to have been laid by the Moon Embracing Sect.

Even if not by Wu Xingyun, then by whoever had come to meet her.

But since when had the Moon Embracing Sect possessed such methods?!

Gazing into the distance, Liu Xun muttered, "There should be other methods as well. I cannot let down my guard, or if I stumble into such an array again, even I..."

Hm?

He involuntarily stopped and looked toward his rear right.

A group of cultivators came racing over.

Upon seeing Liu Xun, they were only slightly wary, not afraid.

"The source of that violent disturbance just now was this place!"

"It was not a battle between two people. It looked more like a premeditated ambush and interception."

"One side is already dead."

"The other side... ran in that direction."

"Though we do not know why they clashed, one side must have something the other coveted. Catch up to them and kill them, and that item will belong to us."

"Even if they do not, hunting them down should still bring considerable gains!"

"Chase!"

They came quickly, and left just as quickly.

Liu Xun merely watched in silence, saying nothing.

Only after they had gone far away did he sneer. "Hunters."

"What a pity their eyesight is so poor."

"They cannot even make sense of these arrays, yet they still want to pick up scraps?"

"No different from going to one's death."

After saying that, he cast the great pit another deep look before lifting his foot to follow.

Sure enough, before long, terrifying roars rang out without end, accompanied by waves of agonized screams.

Liu Xun smiled.

"Foolish. Just as this venerable one expected."

He slowly drew closer, but the sight before him gave him a slight start.

"Hmm?!"

"No, it isn't an array?!"

He was astonished.

"It's talismans!"

"Though these hunters are lacking in strength, there are still cultivators among them at the seventh or eighth level of the Cave Heaven Realm. Yet they were so easily dealt with by mere talismans... the value of these talismans must be..."

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. He could no longer smile.

Looking at the severed limbs scattered all over the ground, he was even more astonished.

But then he spotted the hunters' blown-apart storage bags and the supplies littering the ground.

A smile reappeared on his face.

"Interesting."

"My luck is rather good today. Without even lifting a hand, I can pick up the entire fortune of a group of hunters."

With a sweep of his sleeve, he collected all the supplies into his own storage bag and resumed tracking...

"Hmm?"

"Another explosion?!"

Lin Fan and the other two had only just set off when distant booms and screams came drifting over from behind them.

"Who is fighting?!" Wu Xingyun frowned.

Fan Jianqiang began to "stir the waters": "Second Elder, didn't you set up an array in that area?"

"No." Wu Xingyun gently shook her head. "That area..."

She suddenly looked at Fan Jianqiang. "It rather resembles the place where you went to relieve yourself."

"Huh?"

Fan Jianqiang was dumbfounded, then hurriedly waved his hands. "Second Elder, what are you saying?"

"Could the filthy thing I excreted possibly be that terrifying?"

"Th-this-this, what does it have to do with me?"

Yet Wu Xingyun said nothing more, merely staring at him with a profound gaze.

"That's right!"

At this moment, countless thoughts surged through her mind, and she secretly berated herself for being foolish.

"He is someone who conforms to the eighth rule of the sect. How can he be judged by ordinary standards?!"

"He looks harmless, simple, honest, and guileless, but in truth, I fear he is far from as simple as he appears."

"Otherwise, why would the Sect Master place such importance on him?"

"It is only that I do not know what Fan Jianqiang's extraordinary quality truly is..."

Although she still did not know what was so exceptional about Fan Jianqiang, Wu Xingyun was already certain that this fellow was absolutely no ordinary person!

Just as she could not comprehend the sect rules established by the Sect Master!

Even if she could not yet see through Fan Jianqiang, this person was surely extraordinary!

She kept staring at Fan Jianqiang until his scalp prickled, only then slowly withdrawing her gaze.

"This truly has nothing to do with this disciple. This disciple is merely a minor cultivator who has just entered the Core Condensation Realm—what virtue or ability could I possibly possess?"

Fan Jianqiang spread his hands. "Perhaps some senior passed through earlier and left behind a few measures?"

Wu Xingyun chuckled. "That is not impossible."

Her reaction left Fan Jianqiang deeply uncertain.

Why did it feel like he had been exposed?!

But that shouldn't be possible!

He had always acted with caution. Besides, how could she begin suspecting him after such a short time? Her reaction was far too quick, wasn't it?!

He clearly had not revealed any flaws!

Could it be that this Second Elder was simply too clever?!

Unable to help himself, he looked at the calm-faced Lin Fan and thought, The Sect Master is still better. He has never suspected me at all.