The falling rocks seemed arranged according to a principle of “leave no survivors.” They came pouring down from every direction, leaving almost no gap through which to escape. But the “survivors” on the ground did not follow ordinary rules either.
The Myriad Buddha Seal appeared, and Buddhist verses poured out in succession, forming character seals that lit up the sky hidden by the boulders like stars. The Crimson Dragon King followed close behind. Crimson arcs streaked across the heavens, grinding falling rocks into powder in an instant.
The few stones that slipped through were knocked aside by Fireworks in an Instant, hovering in midair.
After an unknown length of time, the boulders finally stopped falling, revealing the night sky beneath the moon. Perhaps because the moon had moved west, its light was dimmer now, and a few stars were faintly visible.
The sheer cliffs that once stood on either side had grown considerably shorter, losing their lofty, sky-piercing grandeur. There were two reasons: part of the mountains had become falling rocks, and those rocks had become dust that raised the ground beneath their feet.
As one side diminished and the other grew, the distance between them naturally decreased.
Fu Xi Yan caught Song Lei Ming by the collar and asked with a smile that wasn’t a smile, “What else do you have in store for us?”
Song Lei Ming tried to tug his collar free, but couldn’t. He could only lower his eyes in embarrassment. “Nothing. That was the second layer of the formation. I originally planned to make a third, but there truly wasn’t enough time.” He even sounded a little regretful.
Fu Xi Yan held back somewhat out of consideration for Ren Fei Ying, but the others from the Immortal Treasury Palace had no such scruples. Qi Zhong’s face darkened. “You set up this formation?”
Song Lei Ming pursed his lips and refused to answer. Fu Xi Yan was eager for someone to teach the man a lesson, so he simply tossed him to Qi Zhong. “Ask him properly whether there are other formations besides this one. Then ask how to break the grand formation in Haojing.”
Before Qi Zhong could even make a move, Song Lei Ming cried out, “The Haojing grand formation is extraordinary beyond description, and you actually want to destroy it?”
Fu Xi Yan gave Qi Zhong a meaningful look. “Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures.”
Qi Zhong understood and seized Song Lei Ming by the back of his neck.
Watching Song Lei Ming being carried off like a chick, Fu Xi Yan surveyed the others and realized someone was missing. “Has anyone… seen Mei Xia Ying?”
Yan Xie was the first to reply. “I’ve been with Mister Jing the entire time.”
Jing Luo nodded slightly.
Fu Xi Yan had remained with Pei Yuan Jin the whole time.
Qi Zhong and the others had entered a day before they did, so…
Fu Xi Yan drew Fireworks in an Instant and laid it against Song Lei Ming’s neck. “Where is he?”
Once his overheated head had cooled, Song Lei Ming finally understood his situation. These people might recognize him, but they clearly did not regard him as important. If he kept putting on airs, nothing good would come of it.
“I don’t know the person you’re talking about,” he said, “but when you came, someone didn’t enter the formation. Instead, he used it to conceal his movements and left early.”
“Which way did he go?” Fu Xi Yan asked.
“Back the way he came.”
Fu Xi Yan’s heart gave a jolt. He glanced instinctively at Pei Yuan Jin, who was frowning slightly, then turned to Jing Luo. Jing Luo’s frown was deeper still. “By using the formation, do you mean he understood it?”
“I suppose he did,” Song Lei Ming said. After a pause, he added, “When I laid out the formation, I taught that long-faced fellow how it worked. I thought he’d stay, but he left before anyone else and only left a tower behind.”
“Where’s the iron tower?”
Song Lei Ming led them to it.
It was only a dozen or so zhang away, concealed among dense trees. It was difficult to make out at night, but in daylight they would have seen it from far off.
Pei Yuan Jin reached out and touched it. “It’s fake.”
Fu Xi Yan touched it too and didn’t ask why. Because… the tower was made of wood. Drawing a deep breath, he said, “Describe that long face to me again. Exactly how long was it?”
With Song Lei Ming cooperating, things became simpler. He described the length of the face, the width of the eyes, and even used Fu Xi Yan’s face to demonstrate the proportions.
After hearing the description, Jing Luo glanced at Yan Xie.
“He does sound rather like Martial Uncle Zheng,” Yan Xie said.
Fu Xi Yan was startled. “Zheng Jiao Jiao?”
Wasn’t Mo Xiao Ran the mastermind behind this trap?
Why had Zheng Jiao Jiao suddenly appeared too? Had the two of them joined forces? That would explain how Mei Xia Ying had been able to escape using the formation.
“This is bad!”
A trap of this caliber clearly could not have wiped out their entire party. The point of the formation, therefore, was not to kill them but to delay them.
“Haojing.”
Haojing’s city gates had already been tightly shut, without so much as a crack remaining. In the corner tower, a gate sentry on night watch stared listlessly beyond the walls. In the stillness of night, the same unchanging view always made people sleepy.
He yawned, rubbed his eyes, and was about to stretch when he noticed a party of people carrying several dozen crates on the far side of the moat, swaying as they approached the gate.
They appeared to be walking unhurriedly, but each stride covered two or three zhang. Within moments, they had reached the moat.
The sentry wasted no more time. He snatched up a drumstick and sounded the alarm.
The still night finally stirred.
From below, one could see torches shifting on the city walls as arrows in the towers were aimed at the visitors. In an instant, the two sides were poised for battle.
“Who goes there?”
The defending commander stood atop the wall and called out loudly.
The party remained on the far side of the moat, looking at the dark water as though debating whether to swim across. But the cold night wind quickly helped the man at their head decide.
His answer was no.
It was too cold to plunge into the water. Since swimming was out of the question, he decided to try crossing the bridge openly, and said sincerely, “I am Mu Kai Sen of Longevity Mountain. I’ve come expressly to deliver an item. Once it’s delivered, we’ll leave immediately.”
To the commander, both Longevity Mountain and Mu Kai Sen were utterly unfamiliar names.
He raised a hand and said coldly, “The gates are shut. Leave at once! Otherwise, don’t blame us for showing no mercy!”
At his signal, the bows in the arrow towers were drawn taut.
Mu Kai Sen shook his head. “I agreed to deliver it inside the city tonight. It wouldn’t be right to break my word.”
The commander decisively swept his hand down.
Arrows poured down like rain.
Mu Kai Sen did not move. His companions brought out every variety of weapon to defend themselves, and those who had energy to spare protected him as well. For a moment, moonlight flashed on their weapons in the darkness.
The immense rain of arrows failed to leave even a single hole in their clothing.
Realizing that these were martial arts experts, the commander felt his scalp prickle. He ordered someone to race into the city and report the situation, while also lighting the beacon fire.
But the fire had barely been lit before it was extinguished.
An unremarkable old man stood beside the beacon platform. Not only had he put out the fire, he had forced the soldiers who lit it back to the stairs, then given a gentle push that sent them tumbling down like rolling gourds.
The old man clasped one hand behind his back, while his right hand held a broom picked up from who knew where. With the ease of an autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves, he swept his way from the upper floor down to the lower one.
The commander personally led men to stop him.
But there were too many defenders and too few enemies. As they surged forward, many soldiers could not even reach him and could only watch their comrades in the front ranks fly backward one after another.
The commander’s martial arts were somewhat better. He blocked two moves, yet suffered the worst defeat: the broom handle struck his head, and he died on the spot.
The old man dispatched so many men so quickly that fewer and fewer dared charge. He walked unimpeded behind the city gate, then gave it a kick. The gate toppled outward, landing across the river and becoming a bridge.
Mu Kai Sen promptly led his men inside, shouting as he ran, “I’m just here to deliver something! Don’t panic! Don’t panic!”
The surviving gate soldiers formed a semicircle around them, but did not attack again.
Seeing the old man, Mu Kai Sen immediately bowed. “Greetings, Master!”
The old man glanced at him. “You abandoned the Profound-Breaking Essential Arts?”
Mu Kai Sen gave an awkward laugh. “Your disciple and his descendants are untalented…”
He wanted to offer all sorts of explanations, but the old man impatiently waved him off. “As you wish.”
Mu Kai Sen’s cheek twitched, revealing a touch of grievance, but he did not dare say more. He simply urged the others to keep carrying the cargo.
Seen earlier from atop the wall, the people and their crates had looked slim and small. Now, up close, the crates were enormous and clearly very heavy despite being carried by pairs of men. With each step, a little cloud of dust rose beneath the bearers’ feet.
They proceeded along Vermilion Bird Gate Street. By the time they reached the area around Daode and Kaiming Wards, Hu Yu and Cen Bao En had finally arrived with the Firefighting Brigade, Yulin Guard, Jinwu Guard, and some of the city’s defenders.
The dense ranks of troops blocked every street until no passage remained.
Hu Yu stepped past the others and cautiously approached the old man. “Sect Master Mo?”
The old man smiled and hurled the broom in his hand with all his strength!
The broom swept across the ranks like an army. Hu Yu struck it with his palm, only to be driven back to the ground. Even a close bodyguard of Emperor Jianhong could not withstand a single exchange. The old man’s martial arts were evidently formidable.
Everyone felt a chill of fear.
A man with such skills had to be Mo Xiao Ran himself.
“He isn’t Mo Xiao Ran.”
Wang Yu stood in his dragon robes before Yan Ying Hall, looking toward Vermilion Bird Gate.
He was speaking to Zhang Cai Fa, whose mind was blank. Unable to think of a reply, Zhang Cai Fa simply put on an expression of bewildered eagerness to be enlightened.
Wang Yu had not expected him to provide an answer anyway. He continued, “Mo Xiao Ran would never wield a broom as a weapon. For all that he wears a mask every day, deep down he considers himself the most handsome man in the world. Every movement he makes must be elegant. A broom would never enter his calculations.”
Zhang Cai Fa hastily said, “Your Majesty is wise.”
“I am not wise. If I were wise, I should have stopped Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin from leaving the capital.”
The tactic of luring the tiger away from the mountain was not particularly clever, but it had exploited their blind spot.
Because no other iron tower had appeared anywhere except in the direction Fu Xi Yan’s party had gone, they had naturally assumed that one must be the real tower. But now that he had heard the man called Mu Kai Sen had brought many crates, Wang Yu understood: an iron tower could be dismantled into pieces.