Luring the Tiger into the Mountains

Chapter 42: Luring the Tiger into the Mountain

The small beast on the flying eave was a squirrel, crafted from gold and stone, so lifelike that it had transformed into a living creature capable of moving freely.

Its eyes darted around, and seeing that no one was nearby, it dropped to the ground.

Sniffing here and there, it chuckled strangely: "Such rich spiritual energy; I truly wish to cultivate here for a while."

Just then, it spotted a bowl of hazelnuts on a nearby pedestal and pounced on them, chewing greedily.

Unfortunately, it was a strange construct, so the food tasted like nothing. After eating a few, it spat them out, sighing mournfully: "I wonder when I will finally have the sensations of a human, to taste the seven emotions and six desires, and feel the warmth and cold of the mortal world."

A voice echoed within Tianji: "If you get any more mischievous, I will let you taste the ten most brutal tortures, and you will regret being born too late."

Tianji was startled: "I know, I know, I was just looking. To think you are even monitoring me; how does a disciple who hasn't even reached the mid-stage of the Cang Xiang Realm manage that?"

Ning Ye ignored it.

Tianji muttered to itself: "Hmph, I know, it must be through that thing you gave me. You brat, your cultivation is average, but you certainly have plenty of strange tricks."

"Enough chatter!" Ning Ye was getting annoyed.

"Got it."

Tianji stretched out its small paw, revealing a strange object—a small wooden box. It looked around, found a spot to place it, and following Ning Ye's instructions, tapped the box a few times. The box began to glow, emitting a buzzing sound.

It then ran to another corner and repeated the process, hiding another mechanism box.

After hiding several in succession and seeing them all activated, Tianji vanished into the ground with a flash, leaving quietly, with only those small boxes still pulsing with light.

Meanwhile.

At Ningxin Cottage.

Ning Ye was still chatting with Chi Wanning and the others, though he had no heart for it; he was simply waiting silently, counting the time.

"Forty-two, forty-three..."

As he counted in his heart, he heard Chi Wanning ask: "What does Junior Brother Ning think?"

Ning Ye was startled, wondering why she was asking him again, and looked at Chi Wanning with a blank expression.

Chi Wanning chuckled: "Junior Brother Ning is distracted again. We were just discussing the new geniuses of the Divine Palace over the past two years."

Discussions about geniuses were often hot topics among the major immortal sects.

The pyramid structure of cultivators dictated that only a few could ever reach the peak, and geniuses were undoubtedly the ones most likely to achieve it.

Judging a genius was, at times, a way of judging the future.

Because of this, the group of proud sons and daughters of the Divine Palace often heatedly discussed the new geniuses outside their own circle.

Hearing Chi Wanning say this, Ning Ye thought for a moment and said: "I have been focusing on my cultivation and rarely ask about outside affairs, so I am not very well-informed in this regard. If I must say, then I think the most outstanding genius in the Divine Palace in recent years is undoubtedly Young Master Xiao. After all, being able to reach the Hualun Realm in two years says everything."

Xu Yanwen had just recently promoted to the Hualun Realm. Entering the realm was a hurdle; even if the Hualun Realm was the lowest threshold, the fact that Xu Yanwen succeeded on his first attempt could be called exceptionally outstanding.

Yang Ziqiu snorted: "What a sycophant, that was a smooth bit of flattery. But he isn't the only one who reached the Hualun Realm in two years. Wen Xinyu the Heart-Severer, Yan Mo of Black Water, Long Xiangye of Purple Lightning—which of them didn't break through in two years?"

Beside him, Ye Tianshang added: "I heard that Wang Sen, the new disciple recently taken in by the Soul-Severing Human Demon, is also quite good. Although he wasn't much before, his cultivation and strength have progressed by leaps and bounds since becoming the Soul-Severing Human Demon's apprentice."

Oh?

Has Wang Sen started to make a name for himself as well?

Ning Ye knew this must be related to the merits he had previously earned and the help of the Soul-Severing Human Demon.

He had performed meritorious service for the Wood Puppet Sect, so they must have bestowed resources upon him, and with the Soul-Severing Human Demon's training, he heard he was already at the eighth level of his mental cultivation technique and was currently pushing for the ninth.

If he had enough resources, he might really be able to challenge the Hualun Realm within the next year, and if he were lucky enough to succeed on the first try, it would be a meteoric rise.

However, Ning Ye only said: "Our Black and White Divine Palace is full of talent; this is a good thing."

Chi Wanning looked at Ning Ye with a beaming smile: "I actually think that among the freshmen of the one-year term, Junior Brother Ning might also shine brilliantly."

Ning Ye shook his head repeatedly: "Fairy, you flatter me. Ning Ye hasn't even reached the fourth level of cultivation yet; how could I dare to call myself a genius?"

Yang Ziqiu snorted: "At least you have some self-awareness."

Just then, a loud boom erupted from the west wing, followed by a deafening alarm.

"Something happened?" Everyone stood up at once, seeing smoke swirling and flames shooting into the sky in the distance.

"It's the Xuanyu Pavilion!" Chi Wanning cried out, flying off, her sleeves fluttering like a dancing fairy.

But at this moment, no one had the heart to admire Chi Wanning's beauty; they all rushed toward the scene of the incident with her.

Ning Ye's speed was not fast, so he shouted: "Brother Xu, help me."

Fortunately, Xu Yanwen still valued their acquaintance, so he grabbed Ning Ye and flew into the air, heading straight for the front.

As the distance closed, Ning Ye could perceive the exact location of the fragment more clearly—it was indeed in a room right here.

"Tianji, it's in the room thirty meters behind you." Ning Ye had already notified Tianji.

Underground, Tianji received the message and moved closer to the target.

Arriving in the courtyard of Xuanyu Pavilion, the place was already packed with people, though they were all palace guards and a group of servants.

At the same time, a man landed on the ground with a livid expression, his pale face flushed red as he roared, "What unmitigated gall! To dare destroy my Xuanyu Pavilion!"

Chi Wanning had already descended, arriving beside the pale-faced young man: "Senior Brother."

This man was Xuan Mulang, one of the disciples of Ancestor Qingmu, and this Xuanyu Pavilion was his residence. He had been cultivating in his quiet room earlier, never expecting that right under his nose, someone would blow up his courtyard. His heart was filled with fury; the loss was one thing, but the loss of face was the real issue.

Who on earth was it?

Xuan Mulang was naturally arrogant and had made many enemies. In that moment, countless names flashed through his mind, and he even locked onto a few of the most likely suspects.

Ning Ye finally understood that Ancestor Qingmu had given that precious bed to Xuan Mulang to use.

Just then, Tianji sent a message: "I've arrived. Which one is it?"

Ning Ye had only given vague instructions; without seeing it with his own eyes, it was impossible to tell Tianji exactly where the fragment was.

Ning Ye transmitted: "Don't worry about which one it is, just grab anything valuable!"

"Understood!" Tianji flashed, sprouting countless stone arms and sweeping away everything of value within his line of sight.

He had to give Tianji time. As his thoughts raced, Ning Ye quickly picked up the fragments of the wooden box from the ground, looked at them, and said, "An ordinary mechanism box, containing saltpeter, detonated with a talisman paper. There are some mechanisms I don't recognize."

"Siping!" Xuan Mulang barked.

A sharp-eyed guard in black walked over, picked up the wooden box in Ning Ye's hand, and examined it closely: "That's right, this mechanism caused it. The mechanism is simple, but the technique is very sophisticated."

"What do you mean?" Chi Wanning asked.

"It used a very special technique that allows for a delayed detonation."

Everyone was stunned: "The Black and White Divine Palace has no such secret art."

Everyone realized at once that this was undoubtedly the work of an outsider.

Xuan Mulang was also surprised. If that was the case, then it wasn't one of his usual rivals?

Chi Wanning then said, "The mechanism had little lethality, and it was placed in an empty area where no one was present. Could it be that the opponent's goal wasn't to kill?"

As these words left her lips, everyone was stunned, and even Ning Ye admired Chi Wanning's deductive ability.

Thinking of this, he knew he shouldn't delay any longer. While notifying Tianji to retreat immediately, he looked at Xuan Mulang and said, "Now that the explosion has happened, has everyone come over?"

Xuan Mulang's expression changed drastically at these words: "Oh no!"

He turned and rushed toward the back, with everyone following closely behind, arriving at Xuan Mulang's inner quarters. Xuan Mulang entered the alchemy room first—this guy didn't keep his treasures in just one room, so he hadn't thought of his bedroom at first. Seeing that the alchemy room was fine, he breathed a sigh of relief, but then remembered something, his face turning pale: "The bedroom!"

He had already rushed into the bedroom.

This was exactly what Ning Ye wanted.

He could sense that the fragment was still there—Tianji hadn't managed to grab it.

The moment he entered Xuan Mulang's bedroom, Ning Ye finally detected the location of the Thousand Mechanism Hall Fragment.

It was actually a vase.

To be precise, the Thousand Mechanism Hall Fragment was embedded into a vase, fashioned into an ornament. Its patterns were identical to those of the fragment, making it look like a single, seamless piece.

If Ning Ye hadn't had a connection to the fragment, he wouldn't have been able to find it with the naked eye in such a short time, so it was no wonder Tianji had missed it.

But for Ning Ye, who already possessed the Thousand Mechanism Hall, this was meaningless.

Seeing this, just as he entered the room, Ning Ye used the wooden door as cover and flicked his fingers, dropping several small pellets into a corner of the room.

These were Flame Burst Beads; as long as a small amount of spiritual power was injected, they also had the ability to detonate with a delay, though their stability was much worse. Now, however, Ning Ye was triggering them to explode instantly.

At that moment, Xuan Mulang had just rushed into the bedroom and was about to check his hidden treasures when he heard a bang. The explosion erupted again, and a wave of air billowed out, blasting everything in the room into fragments. Immediately after, the other mechanism boxes in various locations detonated one after another. Struck by this, the entire Xuanyu Pavilion began to shake.

The cultivators knew something was wrong, and their first reaction was to raise their spiritual shields to protect themselves.

Smoke billowed and thunderous roars echoed; every corner of Xuanyu Pavilion rose in smoke and flames, and countless objects shattered one after another.

The vase, in particular, instantly disintegrated into countless shards.

The fragments whistled through the air, passing through the flames and smoke, and automatically entered Ning Ye's body, vanishing without a trace.