Chapter 1742: Mountains Upon Mountains, Rain Upon Rain

‘The worst part is that my reaction was too late. According to the man’s memories, we stepped into their trap nearly seven minutes ago. I’m currently not in the core area of the array, but where Yang Zun and the others went… that is the most lethal “dead zone” of this formation!’

Though Li Yan’s face remained calm, his heart was sinking. According to the additional information he had gathered, the group sent to kill them was led by a late-stage Void Refining expert, supported by four late-stage Spirit Transformation members. This deployment was decided after they had refined their intelligence on the escort team.

Leading the charge with a late-stage Void Refining expert was a sign that they took the six of them very seriously; they wanted a guaranteed kill. Previously, when the Void Refining expert saw that he and Ming Qi were unwilling to enter the core of the array, he had dispatched two members to hunt them down. The expert himself and the remaining two members stayed at the core, waiting to slaughter Yang Zun and the other three.

‘How ruthless. That Void Refining expert alone could crush all of us. Not only did he bring subordinates, but he also utilized an array…’

From this, Li Yan could judge that these “Night Hawk” assassins were extremely cautious. They were using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, setting a trap that none of the six could detect. But as an assassination organization, they prioritized stability and completion above all else. They feared that Li Yan’s group might possess treasures capable of contending with a Void Refining expert. If they allowed anyone to escape this remote area, the mission would be exposed. With this mindset, once the six entered the trap, they would be locked in and killed one by one.

The array was controlled by the Void Refining expert alone. He likely hoped someone would drive the prey into the most ideal position—the core of the formation’s power.

‘I need to find the boundary of the array as soon as possible and see if I can break through!’

Since this grand array was laid by a Void Refining cultivator, even the black-robed assassin couldn’t leave unless the leader opened the restriction. Sensing the urgency, Li Yan realized the Stealing-Heaven Scarf might be his only chance to escape. But first, he had to find the boundary; otherwise, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to use it.

Li Yan planned to either move around the side of the Man-shaped Pass or push forward to find the boundary. According to the Soul Search, passing through the middle of the Man-shaped Peaks led directly to the core of the array. The distance across these two mountains was only a few hundred miles. If all else failed, he would consider retreating along the path they came from to find the entrance boundary.

He wasn’t under sustained attack yet, which meant the enemy was still busy. He had a small window of time. If he couldn’t leave before they finished off Yang Zun and the others, he would be in grave danger. He had no idea how to contend with a late-stage Void Refining expert, especially since he was trapped and couldn’t flee. Furthermore, he might have to face multiple opponents at once.

Thinking of this, Li Yan scanned the surroundings again. After a moment, as his magical power rippled, he curled his fingers into a claw and made a violent tearing motion toward the void above. He hadn’t found any trace of Ming Qi, which caused him a brief moment of hesitation. He wondered if she had fallen into a sub-trap during her fight. That would explain why he couldn’t sense her aura. However, in this situation, Li Yan couldn’t afford to worry about anyone else’s survival.

His first attempt was to tear open the void to enter the chaotic space.

Buzz!

Where his five fingers passed, the void only emitted a slight tremor, leaving five gray claw marks that quickly vanished.

‘As expected, the chaotic space here has been isolated!’

This didn’t surprise him; he had only wanted to try. It confirmed the information from the Soul Search. The six of them had entered a cage. Whether they tried to fly into the heavens or burrow into the earth, they were isolated by the array. Without delaying another second, Li Yan began flying rapidly toward one side along his previous route.

He soon reached the flank of the Man-shaped Pass. On the way, he encountered no other attacks. Li Yan became even more cautious; the possibility of an enemy appearing out of nowhere was impossible to predict, and he could be ambushed at any second. The thought of an ambush from a late-stage Void Refining expert made his heart race. In such a scenario, would he even have a chance?

However, when Li Yan flew around the side of the mountain, he suddenly froze. As he skirted the edge, his Divine Sense had previously scanned a vast expanse of void—a blank space where he could turn and continue flying forward. But the moment he turned the corner, the void ahead blurred for an instant.

Then, Li Yan saw a scene that left him in shock!

As he rounded the mountain, he saw a scene that was both familiar and strangely alien. In the darkness ahead, two peaks appeared, forming a Man-shaped gap. A dark, pitch-black passage led forward through the rain. It was almost identical to the passage the six of them had intended to take earlier.

The reason it was only “almost” identical was that now, hanging from the top of that Man-shaped entrance, was a person. The person’s limbs dangled limply, and a noose was tightened around his neck. His face was a deathly gray, and a pair of gray, soulless eyes stared fixedly at the approaching Li Yan.

Though layers of rain separated them, those eyes stared directly at him through his Divine Sense. The deathly gray eyes in the darkness were hollow and empty, yet they carried a look of terror, as if telling Li Yan that they had seen the most horrifying thing in the world.

The person was the youthful Xu Yihua. But now, he lacked even a shred of a young man’s vitality. In the cold world, he hung by a rope, looking utterly helpless as his body swung back and forth in the wind and rain.

In the gloomy downpour, Xu Yihua drifted like a wandering ghost. Rainwater continuously splashed from his swinging body, creating large arcs of wetness. Occasionally, the wind would catch him, making his body rotate slowly in a circle. It felt like a chilling draft was blowing through, or as if his swaying body was mocking Li Yan’s current hesitation and unease…

Only then did his gaze shift away from Li Yan, scanning other directions as if he no longer wanted to look at him, or perhaps he wanted people from other directions to see his fear as well…

Li Yan’s expression did not change. He looked at the edges of the Man-shaped Peaks; the scenery was identical to what he had seen when he first stood before the mountains. Without hesitation, he continued flying toward the peak on his right. This flight was very short, and once again, no one attacked him.

During this process, he still saw no sign of Ming Qi. It was as if she had never been by his side at all. Li Yan didn’t know if he and Ming Qi were isolated by the array or if she had fallen into another sub-formation and was currently fighting for her life.

‘No one has come to attack me. Aside from indicating that Yang Zun and the others at the core aren’t all dead yet, it also means the assassin chasing Ming Qi hasn’t succeeded. Otherwise, they would have come for me by now…’

Li Yan’s mind raced. His Divine Sense searched rapidly, but he couldn’t find a single trace of anyone else. It was as if he were alone in the darkness and the rain. He wasn’t worried about others, nor was he thinking of finding Ming Qi to rescue her; in this situation, the lives of others were irrelevant to him. He only hoped to find a clue, but every trace seemed to have been washed away by the rain!

Soon, just as Li Yan rounded the corner of the mountain again, the spatial passage in his Divine Sense blurred just as his sight touched it. The scene before him once again became the Man-shaped Pass and a dark, pitch-black void passage!

The scenery was still familiar, yet different. Because now, there were two corpses hanging there. Beside Xu Yihua, another person’s head hung at a bizarre, twisted angle. His face was turned toward his own back. Having lost his spiritual shield, his clothes were soaked and clung to his body, and rainwater pooled beneath his feet. A rope was coiled around his neck, and his tongue protruded far from his mouth.

What should have been a scarlet tongue had turned gray-white from the rain, as if he had been dead for a long time, leaving only the aura of death behind. His limbs also dangled, but his eyes held no fear. Instead, they held a strange look of hope—perhaps in the moment of his death, he had seen a possibility of escape. But death had come in an instant, and his consciousness hadn’t even had time to react. Li Yan recognized him; it was the quiet Jiang Tingye!

Forget finding the boundary of the array. He had returned to the starting point once again…