In the silent dragon lake, everyone stared at the now empty central stone.

A satisfied smile bloomed on Feng Tianfei’s lips.

“Heeh… farewell, Mu Luyin. Although I regret that you died so easily, and would have particularly preferred that you had suffered more, this wasn’t so bad either. Even if, in the end, you found some interesting little friends, whose secrets I would’ve liked to uncover, perhaps they weren’t so great after all, if they died so easily,” she mocked, without a shred of remorse, her eyes gleaming with delight.

After mocking, she was about to fly back to her central stone when she felt a cold gaze beside her.

Turning her face, she saw Fang Shaotian, the young master in white, holding his closed fan pointed downward, his icy eyes fixed on her.

“What’s your problem? Don’t tell me you’re upset because your little crush died?” She raised an eyebrow, provocative.

The face of the young man in white grew even colder.

“You’re far too proud for someone who used the hands of hundreds of people to kill those you couldn’t face,” he spoke indifferently.

A scornful smile appeared on the girl’s face.

“Don’t be a hypocrite, Fang Shaotian. At the foot of the mountain you were very pleased yourself when slave seals were applied to all those 3rd-class cultivators.” Feng Tianfei rolled her eyes, unwilling to give him more attention.

But he didn’t think the same.

“It’s different. Against those stray dogs we could easily crush, our suppression was merely proof of our great strength and background. But what you did here, against someone you could never defeat, was nothing but cowardice and shameful weakness…” he spoke coldly, his words growing more fervent, the heat and anger in his voice rising with every sentence, before finishing with, “… Even if she is dead now, you will always be inferior to Mu Luyin!”

Feng Tianfei stopped in her tracks, her back to him as she heard his last words. Her face… incredibly dark.

Suddenly, she turned, becoming a red blur, a sword appearing in her hand as she struck a cruel, lethal slash toward Fang Shaotian’s neck.

Clink!

The sound of metal colliding echoed as the strike was hurriedly stopped by the young man’s white fan.

Even so, the blade still pierced slightly into his neck.

Fang Shaotian looked terrified and took a deep breath, his earlier anger replaced by dread. He had nearly lost his original body in that instant, and if that had happened, his future could have ended right there in his current cultivation realm, even if he managed to obtain a new body in the future.

The girl didn’t seem to care and merely stared at him darkly. Newest update provided by N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

“I hope you think more carefully about who you’re talking to in the future, or it may cost you dearly, Fang Shaotian. I can tolerate you standing still when the enemy was right in front of us, because of that pathetic, dog-like crush of yours on a woman who despises you. But I am not Mu Luyin, and I won’t hesitate for a second to sever your head from your shoulders,” she spoke coldly.

Shaotian trembled before the killing intent of that crazy woman.

“F-Feng Tianfei, don’t be rash! I may not be stronger than you, but my clan is by no means inferior to yours. Don’t do anything foolish!” He tried to threaten, but his trembling voice didn’t help much.

The girl simply continued looking at him with the indifference of someone gazing at an ant, before withdrawing the sword from his neck, causing blood to flow and stain his white robes.

She looked at the luxurious sword in her hand, now tainted with drops of his blood, and suddenly threw it into the golden lake as if it were trash, her face filled with disgust.

“What a shame, you dirtied a fine sword with your filthy blood. Well, little Shaotian, I’ve given my warning, and next time I won’t stop at just leaving a small cut on your neck,” Feng Tianfei spoke with amusement, and then, with her red dress billowing, she flew back toward the central stone.

Fang Shaotian remained there, fists clenched, his body trembling with rage and fear, as he watched the girl leave, filled with humiliation.

…

Mu Luyin opened her eyes and found herself underground, being dragged by someone.

Before the barrier broke, she had felt a hand rest on her shoulder and, when she realized it, she was already in that dark space.

She felt her body spinning, going to the right, sometimes to the left, up or down. It was a complex movement, without a fixed route.

Her face felt heavy, and though she couldn’t see anything, she looked in the direction where the figure dragging her into the depths with a hand on her shoulder should be.

“Senior… are you taking me to the underworld?” she asked, her voice low and sorrowful.

“…”

[‘Girl, can you stop spouting nonsense? I, Gu Jian, am no ghost carrying souls.’]

The man transmitted helplessly, making his identity clear.

Mu Luyin’s eyes widened in shock.

“W-We’re… alive?!” she exclaimed, in disbelief.

She seemed even more shocked than when she thought a ghost was carrying her to the underworld.

Gu Jian, though she couldn’t see him, rolled his eyes at such a reaction.

[‘Would you rather be dead? Why didn’t you say so earlier? I would’ve left you there. If you want, we can go back.’]

He teased, scaring the girl.

“No, no! Alive is good, alive is good!” Mu Luyin quickly said, frantically waving her hands, sighing in relief when she realized she was truly alive. But soon she thought of something. “Wait, where is Brother Yun?” she asked, worried, wanting to release her spiritual sense, but was restrained by another source of energy.

She furrowed her brows, opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped.

[‘Elder Yang is bringing him, don’t worry. You’ll see him when we arrive. For now, I’m preventing your body from releasing spiritual energy externally so it won’t disrupt the formation’s flow while we pass through. Although it wouldn’t cause much trouble even if you did, it’s better to avoid complicating things and making us waste more time.’]

He explained, and only then did she realize she had been conversing underground the whole time. She also noticed it was Gu Jian’s energy that prevented her from swallowing earth while speaking, allowing her to move through the soil with ease. Elder Gu could also hear her because his energy surrounded her.

Back in the sect, Aotian’s main body let out a sigh of relief as the nervousness left him.

That had truly been a delicate moment, and his avatars had almost lost their lives. He even wondered if the mission he had created had lied, saying it was “very dangerous” instead of “fatal.” But luckily, in the end, everything turned out fine.

Fortunately, he had many minds to help analyze the formation and identify the control nodes, especially with the aid of the inner elder of the Formation Pavilion, who was highly talented in formations.

With the addition of Lei Yun’s vast knowledge, combined with Aotian’s own powerful foundation in the art of formations—which reached up to Core-tier with synthesized inheritances—he ended up becoming slightly better at formations than an ancient Mahayana.

Thus, he managed to analyze the matrix much faster than the reincarnated boy, which saved them from being bombarded to death by spells.

Of course, the danger had been real, and some of them could have died. After all, the mission did say “very dangerous” and not “safe.” But in the end, everything finished well.

Setting those thoughts aside, Aotian continued controlling his avatars to navigate through the formation.

The control nodes he had searched for and analyzed earlier were something very common in the art of formations.

When matrices are created, the creators leave these nodes both so that, in case they lose the key to the formation when leaving, they can return safely without being attacked or needing to dismantle it, and also so descendants, having received the proper notes, can access it safely—provided they know how to navigate within it.

Of course, these nodes could be seen as security flaws, but they were extremely difficult to discover, as they were carefully disguised by the creators. Unless someone had an achievement much greater in formations than the one who created it, it was practically impossible to reveal such nodes.

And by default, someone with a much greater achievement usually meant possessing a superior realm in the art, and even then, sometimes just one realm above wasn’t enough.

Thus, one or two superior realms in the art of formations usually meant, in most cases, one or two realms higher in cultivation. And people with such cultivation, instead of looking for control nodes, could simply break the formation with brute force. In this way, in truth, the security flaw was minimal.

But it was precisely because of all this complexity that Mu Luyin was so incredulous when she heard the claim that they could find the nodes, considering it madness to do so in just one minute.

As for using the control nodes, great proficiency in formations wasn’t necessary to navigate through them, as long as they were perfectly known. But without knowledge of the art and without sufficient strength, it was only possible to enter and exit the matrix, not control it completely.

At this point, Aotian’s only problem was the lack of strength, so for now he could only navigate within it.

Fortunately, by following the control points, the matrix protected them from the intense fierce energy of the Dew of the Dragon’s Lament that filled much of the underground path, keeping them intact.

Soon, after following several complicated paths and activating some nodes to open passages, they finally reached their destination. Having descended so deep underground, they suddenly emerged and found themselves floating in a vast cavern.

Right below their feet was a large stone platform suspended in the air, protected by the matrices.

The twelve descended onto it, and barely had they touched the ground when Mu Luyin immediately ran to Lei Yun’s side, sighing in relief upon seeing him safe.

Lei Yun smiled gently when he noticed her concern, and after the previous ordeal, decided to accept the girl’s feelings, gently taking her hand.

Her eyes widened at the warmth of that hand enveloping hers, but her heart filled with joy, and she lowered her head shyly.

Gu Jian and the other avatars, watching from the side, pressed their lips in irritation as they were force-fed dog food by the couple. The only thing that eased Aotian’s heart was having his wife lying in his arms at that moment, dozing with him. Thus, he did not feel envy.

The avatars then approached the edge of the stone platform and looked down, analyzing the environment. Aotian’s composure faltered at what he saw.

“It seems the name Dragon Lake didn’t come from nowhere…” Gu Jian muttered, drawing the couple’s attention, who also approached the edge and were surprised by the sight.

In the gigantic cavern, as far as the eye could see, enormous skeletons of serpentine monsters spread in every direction, drenched in a reddish-golden Dew of the Dragon’s Lament, as if it had been stained with blood.

But those were not the skeletons of snakes, but of a far nobler creature.

Gu Jian softly spoke the creature’s name:

“Dragons…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep