Inside the sub-array, Pei Ling sat quietly for a while. Then he listened carefully and, hearing no sound from the surroundings, realized that Chen Huan and the others seemed to have left.
His eyes flickered. He put away the Aversion to Life Saber, picked a direction, and slipped into the woods.
The forest was much like the Mountain Forests he had passed through on his way here, except it was eerily quiet. There were no insects chirping or birdsong—only the rustle of grass and fallen leaves beneath his feet.
Pei Ling hurried onward for a while. Suddenly, the scene before him brightened!
He immediately quickened his pace, but as soon as he emerged, he found himself back in the clearing from before!
No matter what he tried next—whether he attempted to break his way out or scrutinized the details—he always ended up back in the clearing soon after entering the woods. Even the marks he made by various means returned to their original state, without leaving a trace.
"Looks like I can't get out, but for now, this grand array doesn't seem to have any harmful effects."
"I'll cultivate the Blood Snail Evasion Technique first. Once I learn it, I can ask Miss Wu Liu to come out and check!"
"If Wu Liu isn't here, then I'll use my last resort..."
With that, Pei Ling sat cross-legged and silently recited, "System, I want to cultivate."
At his current level, even if he weren't trapped in the array, he would probably only be able to fight Zhang Zhongqin to a draw if he gave it everything he had.
And aside from Zhang Zhongqin, there were four others!
Leaving aside Chen Mei, the weakest of them, the other three—Huang Xian and Xiao Tasha—were both at the fifth level of Qi Refinement and could sway the battle. And then there was Chen Huan, at the sixth level of Qi Refinement, holding the line.
In a head-on fight, he had no chance of winning.
He could only wait for an opportunity.
For now, Chen Huan and the others had left temporarily, so he could carry out his original plan.
Still, he had to prepare for the worst. If all his plans failed, having one more skill at his disposal could only give him a better chance of survival.
System: "Ding-dong! The Intelligent Cultivation System is at your service!"
Pei Ling immediately said, "Select [Blood Snail Evasion Technique], [Temporary Cultivation · Intelligent Duration], and [One-Click Hosting]!"
That familiar feeling of losing control over his body came over him. Pei Ling felt his blood and qi circulating in an entirely new way. They went from slow to fast, until a sound like a river surging through his body began to rise. His steps grew quicker and quicker, and a faint blood-colored afterimage gradually stretched out behind him!
Pei Ling was secretly astonished. He was moving far faster than before.
And he had only just begun cultivating the technique.
It was a pity that City Lord Duanmu, a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, was stationed in Luoshan City. Otherwise, after Wu Liu left, he would have found a corner and cultivated this evasion technique through the night. When Chen Huan attacked just now, he would never have been able to rescue Chen Mei from Pei Ling!
Just as he was thinking this, his body suddenly stopped.
Pei Ling's thoughts stirred. Sure enough, the familiar prompt rang out: "Ding-dong! Continuing cultivation of the Blood Snail Evasion Technique requires blood food. A lack of blood food has been detected..."
"Blood food?" Pei Ling scoffed inwardly. Unlike the previous times the system had taken over, he wasn't the least bit alarmed. Blood food? He was flat broke and had nothing at all.
He had also confirmed that inside this array, there was nothing but him and all kinds of trees and flowers.
If the system wanted blood food, it could go find some itself!
As soon as he thought this, the system let out another "Ding-dong." "The system will provide you with a number of high-grade blood foods for free..."
At once, Pei Ling's body moved.
As before, he was astonishingly fast.
Even faster than when he had just started cultivating the Blood Snail Evasion Technique!
He yanked the Aversion to Life Saber from the ground and charged into the woods without hesitation. After a series of left and right turns that Pei Ling couldn't follow at all, he suddenly slammed into the trunk of a large tree!
"System?!" Pei Ling cried out in alarm, ready to demand an explanation. But the expected pain never came. Instead, his vision blurred, as if he had suddenly been released from some kind of dead silence. The sound of flowing water and birds chirping filled his ears—he was out?!
Pei Ling froze for a moment, then burst with joy. "System, I'll give you a four-star review later!"
After what had happened with Fairy Li, he didn't dare give it a five-star review just yet.
Who knew what kind of review cashback this Idiot System would give him?
But considering how well the system had done this time, four stars seemed fair enough.
The system ignored him and continued controlling his body as it raced through the woods. Pei Ling watched for a while and saw that the system was clearly heading toward a specific destination. He didn't know what was there, but it had to be better than staying trapped in the array.
Since activating the system, this was the first time he'd felt so at ease while being "gifted" by it.
But that ease vanished as the system traveled over mountains and across rivers, pushed through vines, and crawled through holes... until it finally arrived at a lair underground!
"I knew it..." Pei Ling looked at the spiderwebs that appeared here and there, as well as the spider eggs piled across nearly half the lair. It felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him. He immediately thought of the Human-Faced Spider City Lord Duanmu had mentioned.
Pei Ling sighed and watched numbly as the system stepped forward, using the Aversion to Life Saber to stab each of the little spiders still hatching to death, then circulated the Blood Snail Evasion Technique and drained them dry.
"Ding-dong!" the system reminded him mechanically. "A number of high-grade blood foods have been provided! The system will continue cultivating for you..."
As the unhatched spiders vanished one after another, more and more power was drawn into Pei Ling's body. He felt a surge of powerful spiritual energy rush from his tailbone straight to the back of his head. Then the blood and qi throughout his body seemed to catch fire!
A roar like crashing waves surged through him!
The next instant, he felt as if his body were about to explode. Blood mist billowed from his pores, cloaking him like a veil of scarlet. He shot forward with a thunderous leap, darting around the entire lair several times in the blink of an eye. The blood-colored shadow behind him had grown so dense it seemed almost solid.
At a glance, it looked as though several people were racing back and forth, their overlapping afterimages blurring together until it was impossible to tell what was real!
Pei Ling silently gave the Blood Snail Evasion Technique a thumbs-up.
If he had mastered this evasion technique sooner, Chen Huan and the others wouldn't have stood a chance of catching him.
"Fairy Li is really so nice..." Pei Ling felt a rush of gratitude, but when he thought of everything that had happened, he hurriedly suppressed it.
The disciples of the Chongming Sect were downright twisted. And this was only the Outer Sect. When he thought of the Inner Disciples and even the true disciples, all of whom had fought their way up in this very environment, he really didn't dare give Fairy Li a good-person card just yet.
Who knew what Fairy Li was thinking...
At any rate, so far she seemed to have left him a way to survive. Since that was the case... he'd leave it at that for now.
Pei Ling steadied himself and focused on feeling the Blood Snail Evasion Technique circulate.
He didn't know how much time had passed when his body abruptly stopped. At the same time, the system chimed: "Ding-dong! This cultivation session has ended. Thank you for using the Intelligent Cultivation System. One-click management, worry-free ascension! We look forward to hearing your cultivation review. If you're satisfied, please give us a five-star review!"
Without a word, Pei Ling didn't even bother to examine the lair. He grabbed the Aversion to Life Saber and turned to run!
As he ran, he gave the system a one-star bad review!
Trash!
You deserve nothing but one-star reviews for the rest of your life!
Do you hear me, trash?!
In every life, in every incarnation, you deserve nothing but one-star reviews!!!
Before you continue