The Mist Hunt Begins

“Patriarch, how did you think to set up the formation in advance?” Ji Liuzhen couldn’t help but ask.

This was also the doubt of Ji Ning and the others. No one had seen the Patriarch set up the formation beforehand, and the Zifu Disciples of Snowdragon Mountain had arrived… they simply hadn’t been given any time to prepare.

Ji Jiuhuo glanced at them. “You need to look further ahead. After a brief survey of the vein, I realized its scale was enormous. I feared it would arouse the greed of Snowdragon Mountain, so I began to be wary of them from that moment. I anticipated they might come to pressure us, so I set up a grand formation around our encampment long ago. If they made no move, so be it; but if they did, we would hold the advantage. As for not telling you? If I had told you that a grand formation was being set up in the area, would you still have been so furious and grief-stricken? You would have quickly revealed the flaw to Snowdragon Mountain’s people.”

“Mm.” Ji Ning and the others nodded.

He understood, though…

Saying it aloud was not really a secret; but earlier, when they had all been shocked by the vein, none of them had thought to first lay down the formation. That was experience and judgment!

“In any case, by doing this I have wronged the ancestors of the Ji Clan, placing our clan in danger.” Ji Jiuhuo’s voice was low. “I did not want to choose this path. By choosing it, we are now clashing head-on with Snowdragon Mountain. The Ji Clan must sign a contract with the Grand Xia Dynasty as soon as possible. Once the contract is signed, it will guarantee a thousand years of peace for our clan. And in a thousand years, I believe our clan can rise. Even if we remain weak, a thousand years will be enough time for us to lay our plans.”

“Now…”

“Let us kill. Every one we kill counts. The more we kill, the less pressure our clan will face.” Ji Jiuhuo’s gaze swept over them—Granny Shadow, Old Servant Axing, Ji Liuzhen, Ji Yichuan, and Ji Ning. These were the very peak combatants of the Ji Clan. “Myself, Little Shadow, Axing, and Ji Ning—the four of us will join forces to kill the He Fang and He Xing siblings! Liuzhen and Yichuan, you two will deal with Ju San.”

“Understood.”

“Yes.” Each acknowledged the orders.

Granny Shadow immediately asked, “And Dong Zilao? He is a great threat and must be eliminated as soon as possible.”

“He has already rendezvoused with Mu Si,” Ji Jiuhuo said. “We will deal with them last, slowly.”

“Let’s go. I will guide you through the mist.” Ji Jiuhuo advanced, followed by Granny Shadow, Axing, and Ji Ning… the four strongest of the Ji Clan moving as one. For Ji Liuzhen and Ji Yichuan, the mist in front of them parted automatically, forming a passage that they followed swiftly.

…

Within the grand formation.

Dong Zilao’s face was grim. “To have fallen into that old thief’s trap.” Around him, eight black crystal orbs had appeared out of thin air, each the size of a human head, with faint dragon shadows swimming within. His long black robe, emblazoned with a blood-colored Eight Trigrams pattern, immediately released a sanguine light.

The blood-colored light also enveloped the eight distant black crystal orbs.

“Aooooh!”

Eight enormous phantoms of blood-colored flood dragons materialized around Dong Zilao, frolicking and swimming ceaselessly within the grand formation.

“Junior apprentice-brothers and sisters, stay back and do not move,” Dong Zilao shouted, simultaneously manipulating his Eight Trigram Blood Dragon Formation to expand.

The formation kept expanding.

The range of the eight blood-colored flood dragon phantoms also grew, quickly extending to cover a hundred zhang, directly encompassing Mu Si, who was not too far away. This kind of indiscriminate, omnidirectional expansion from a grand formation… even a confounding formation could not hide it!

“Senior apprentice-brother Zilao.” The gray-robed man Mu Si was overjoyed, as he had already been enveloped within the Eight Trigram Blood Dragon Formation.

“What about the other junior apprentice-brothers and sisters?” Dong Zilao looked around.

“No,” Mu Si shook his head. “Only I have touched the Eight Trigram Blood Dragon Formation.”

Dong Zilao gritted his teeth and called out loudly: “I am together with Junior Apprentice-Brother Mu Si. He Fang, He Xing—you two be careful as well. And Ju San… protect yourself.”

“Rest assured.”

“My sibling and I are not afraid of them.”

“If they want to kill me, I’ll drag them down to die with me.”

Three voices came in reply.

“Damn it.” Dong Zilao was unwilling. “To have fallen for that old thief’s trick. Otherwise, with the five of us joining forces, how could the Ji Clan dare to bully us? I alone would be enough to kill most of them. Junior Apprentice-Brother Mu Si, your Woodvine Epoch Art is quite profound. If you cast it, can you break this confounding formation?”

“Very difficult,” Mu Si shook his head. “Even if I could break it, it would take a long time, and my ki is probably insufficient.”

“Go ahead and cast it,” Dong Zilao said. “I have a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills here for you to use.”

“Good,” Mu Si gritted his teeth. “Leave the defense to you, Senior Apprentice-Brother.”

Dong Zilao said confidently, “You are within my Eight Trigram Blood Dragon Formation. Even if several of them attack at once… I am not afraid. I am only afraid they will not come seek me out. Damn it, if I had known, I would have just killed them directly. Now I want to kill them but cannot find them.” He alone was worth the combined strength of his other four junior apprentice-brothers and sisters, but unfortunately, he had no one to use that strength on.

“Rise.”

Mu Si stood still, and a seed fell to the ground.

Whoosh!

The seed suddenly sprouted a massive amount of vines, frantically spreading in all directions.

“A confounding formation… it confuses the senses,” Mu Si said in a low voice. “The growth of my vines will also be affected by the formation, making direction difficult to discern. However, these vines will keep spreading towards new areas, covering more territory… if they could grow without limit, they would naturally cover the entire confounding formation, and even grow beyond its reach. My mind is also merged with the vines. As long as any vine leaves the formation, I will perceive it.”

“The only question is how large his formation is. If its area increases tenfold, my vines will need to grow a hundred times more. The further we go, the more staggering the ki consumption will be.” Mu Si was not confident.

“We have to fight,” Dong Zilao gritted his teeth. “Being trapped like this, we can only wait to be slaughtered.”

“Mm.” Mu Si said no more, and furiously cast his spell.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~~

Countless vines grew madly, but direction was lost within the confounding formation. These vines grew haphazardly. One thing was certain, however… they always extended towards areas without vines, continuously covering new territory.

Elsewhere.

Ji Ning, Ji Jiuhuo, and the others were present.

“The He Fang siblings are up ahead,” Ji Jiuhuo said. “I will attack first. Then the mist will part, and you will see them. Each of you must strike with lethal force.”

“Understood.”

Swoosh!

Over seven hundred sword-type artifacts appeared around Ji Ning in an instant. A hazy white light emerged from each one, rising and falling slightly, drawing upon the power of Heaven and Earth and continuously gathering. Ji Ning’s true ki, channeled through these sword artifacts, also converged unceasingly, condensing in front of him into a single bright, dazzling white sword-light.

The ninth layer of the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation!

“What a sharp sword-light.” Ji Jiuhuo, Granny Shadow, and Old Servant Axing were all startled. Though they had not touched it, they could all sense the sharpness of this sword-light.

Granny Shadow pointed into the distance, and three flying swords appeared before her, each faintly wreathed in firelight.

Old Servant Axing, beside her, raised his hand, and a massive black hammer appeared in his grasp.

“Go.” Ji Jiuhuo waved his hand, and a flying sword shimmering with five-colored light shot into the air. Ji Jiuhuo was famous for his poisons and formations… although this flying sword was a graded treasure, strictly speaking, it was a poisoned blade.

…

Thirty zhang in front of Ji Ning were the siblings He Fang and He Xing. They had both activated talismans, golden light shrouding their bodies. Around them, two magic treasures were hovering and circling—one shaped like an iron pestle, the other like a strange earthen jar.

“We can’t see our surroundings. They will definitely ambush us. Be careful,” the green-haired man He Fang growled.

“Mm.” His younger sister He Xing was also on high alert.

Suddenly—

A five-colored flying sword descended in a flash, incredibly fast, but the vigilant He Fang and his sister immediately unleashed their methods.

“Whoosh~” A large amount of green liquid suddenly sprayed out from the hovering earthen jar, forming a tough, watery curtain. When the five-colored flying sword stabbed into it, its speed was greatly reduced.

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!”

Three fire-wreathed flying swords also shot over—Granny Shadow’s trio.

The faces of He Fang and He Xing immediately changed drastically as they desperately tried to defend, but the watery curtain had already begun to buckle under the pressure.

“Boom!” An enormous black hammer, carrying immense force, directly pierced the unstable watery curtain, then smashed into the golden light around He Xing’s body. The golden light trembled violently, as if it were about to shatter.

“Not good.”

“We need to leave. We’re just a target here.” He Fang and He Xing, rattled by the relentless assault, began to panic. Clearly, there were multiple attackers on the other side.

Whoosh!

A streak of dazzling sword-light arced through the air, leaving a beautiful, tragic trail in its wake, and in an instant, it pierced straight through He Xing’s trembling golden light.