Suspended Array

"They went toward the back mountain."

Jun Ziyi watched the three departing figures with some concern. "If they manage to force their way up, will Ruo Shui and Little Silver be in danger?"

Qian Xin smiled inscrutably. "Don't worry. They probably won't even find the mountaintop. If they're lucky, they might just keep their lives and avoid falling into this ten-thousand-zhang abyss."

Shao Yang laughed heartily. "Let's go. The first wave of uninvited guests has been dealt with. We can go back and finish eating."

Jun Ziyi hurried after them, her face brimming with surprise and impatience. "Yue'er, tell me quickly—did our mentor leave some terrifying formation on the Back Mountain Cliff as well?"

Shao Yue giggled. "During this afternoon's training spar, give me three moves, and I'll tell you."

Jun Ziyi paused and hesitated. "At most two moves. I'm not confident I can beat you if I give you three."

Shao Yue chuckled. "Three moves."

Jun Ziyi gave a deliberate snort, then turned her gaze toward Man Zhongli. "A'Man, you tell me!"

"Four moves!" Man Zhongli grinned foolishly.

"You two!" Jun Ziyi puffed out her cheeks in anger, but unable to resist her curiosity, she finally yielded. "Fine, Yue'er. Three moves it is. Now hurry up and tell me what our mentor arranged."

Shao Yue's eyes curved into crescent moons with delight.

Screech—

A piercing, mournful beast cry came from the direction of the back mountain.

Jun Ziyi exclaimed, "What kind of beast could let out such a desperate, tragic cry?"

Shao Yue explained, "That is the first layer of defense our mentor set up."

"Could it be a Battle Beast our mentor captured?" Jun Ziyi froze, then cried out, "Oh no! That beast's cry was so miserable—it must have fallen victim to those mountain intruders!"

Roar—

Another resounding lion's roar rang out, faintly carrying the same hint of unwillingness and desolation.

Before Shao Yue could answer, Jun Ziyi stood rooted to the spot once more. "Our mentor captured more than one soul beast to guard the mountain?"

Howl—

A roar that sounded both like a bear and a wolf rang out, likewise steeped in mournful misery.

Jun Ziyi said anxiously, "No matter how many soul beasts there are, they can't withstand such slaughter by those intruders! We need to think of something!"

Shao Yue laughed merrily. "Don't worry. Those are formations our mentor arranged, not real soul beasts."

Jun Ziyi grew even more confused upon hearing that. Though her knowledge of formations was limited, she still knew quite a bit, yet she had never heard of any formation that could produce such utterly tragic, heartrending sounds.

Her curious gaze could not help shifting toward Qian Xin. "Xin Jie, Yue'er keeps dangling the bait and refusing to tell me. Why don't you tell me?"

Shao Yue was already covering her mouth, laughing nonstop.

Qian Xin smiled gently as she walked and explained, "Our mentor placed over a hundred beast cores obtained from the Beast Taming Manor's beast prison into the formations on the back mountain. Those miserable cries you heard were released by the full Beast Power condensed within each beast core. Under the influence of those strange and profound formations, every beast core could unleash the strongest attack it had possessed in life. It was like the final desperate counterattack of a dying beast, seeking to perish together with its enemy. That is why the cries sounded so tragic."

Jun Ziyi said admiringly, "Our mentor is incredible—and so willing to spend! So many beast cores could be exchanged for so, so many resources."

Qian Xin nodded softly, her expression touched. "Xiao Yan's matter affected our mentor deeply. When I watched him arrange the mountain's defenses, sorrow often surfaced on his face. I imagine he poured everything into this because he wanted to create a harbor from the wind for us, so that if we ever encountered a situation like Xiao Yanzi's, we would have a path of retreat instead of choosing to face it alone out of fear of dragging our companions down."

Those words made everyone's expressions grow heavy.

At the Back Mountain Cliff.

Shangqing Zhenren of the Upper Purity Sect, Pu Hongying of the Azure Hawk Stronghold, and Zuo Peixian of the Immortal Crane Mountain Villa had all sustained injuries.

Whether gripping the cliff face tightly with their hands, bracing themselves on protruding stones with their feet, or clutching at vines growing from the cliff wall, all three hung midway down the mountainside beneath the cliff.

Faced with sudden soul beast attacks coming from every direction, all three felt powerless, trapped between advance and retreat.

With their strength, they could naturally sense that these suddenly manifested soul beasts had been formed from beast cores through the aid of formations. Most of the beast cores were not of high quality; they were merely Earth Soul Beast cores, with Heaven Soul Beast cores appearing only rarely.

Yet there were simply too many of them, and every one of them struck with the full force of a dying counterattack, brimming with terrifying aggression. More crucially, they had no way of knowing where the next "soul beast" would pounce from. The formations were utterly bizarre, making them impossible to guard against.

At first, all of them assumed the formations had merely been attached to the cliff face. But as they climbed higher, they discovered that soul beasts could even manifest out of thin air several meters away from the rock wall and attack them.

Pu Hongying had been injured by one such sudden midair soul beast. His entire back had been ripped deeply open.

Relying on the advantage of her movement technique, Zuo Peixian had repeatedly dodged the attacks of soul beasts ambushing her from the air behind her. Yet she had not climbed very far. Never had she imagined that even a tiny hollow in the rock wall, no larger than a thumb, could conceal such a terrifying killing intent. At the instant her body passed over the small hole, an emerald Shining Spirit Snake suddenly shot out like an arrow. Not only did it pierce straight through her arm, it also left behind a terrifying poison.

"Damn it! How can the formations here be so strange and uncanny?"

Shangqing Zhenren, the only one who had not suffered too many injuries, wore a grave expression. Standing on a protruding stone, she no longer dared act rashly.

Others might not understand the terror of the formations here, but she had been deeply shaken. A soul beast attack condensed in midair outside the cliff face—such a method of arranging a Suspended Array undoubtedly involved the power of space. Unless one's own strength had reached at least Heaven Soul Realm Seven Breaths, it would be utterly impossible to set up a formation out of thin air and suspend it in empty space without any point of support!

The formation master who had arranged this formation possessed strength of at least Heaven Soul Realm Seven Breaths!

Having understood this, Shangqing Zhenren no longer had even a shred of courage to attack the mountain. Before such an existence, even if she overturned the entire Upper Purity Sect, she feared she would not be able to withstand a single move from the other party!

"You two, forgive me for no longer accompanying you!"

Shangqing Zhenren coldly called out to Pu Hongying and Zuo Peixian, then fled down the mountain as swiftly as flying.

Compared with the Sect Token, life was clearly more important.

As for her deduction that someone at the Heaven Soul Realm Late Stage was present, she had no intention of kindly warning Zuo Peixian and Pu Hongying.

Her Upper Purity Sect had always maintained only outward harmony and inner discord with the Azure Hawk Stronghold and Immortal Crane Mountain Villa. She would much rather see the latter two die here and have their strength diminished. If another chance to seize the Sect Token arose in the future, that would mean two fewer competitors.