Chapter Twelve: Dark Array

  "Fourteen, you're an array master, shouldn't you be able to see that these stones and trees are in a yin position? Those evil things love to linger and make trouble in these places. Once the yin energy seeps in, it's not easy to get rid of!" As soon as he finished speaking, Kong Han took out a small bottle from his body and came to the stone with the heaviest yin energy. He lightly sprinkled some white powder on top of it, and instantly, in Wang Guanlan's spiritual awareness, he felt that the stone had produced strips of black gas. These black gases were most concentrated on the stone, but they didn't stop there. The black gas extended outward, faintly visible, all the way to the depths of the dense forest. With such an obvious target, Wang Guanlan's spiritual awareness also discovered that wherever there was black gas, there was yin energy similar to that on the stone.

  "Lu Tong leads the way!!" Wang Guanlan let out a light sigh, and didn't ask what was inside that small bottle. Lu Han gazed in the direction of the extending black air, seemingly deep in thought. After a while, he suddenly spoke up, "Fourteenth Young Master, this is a trap!"

  "A trap?!" Wang Guanlan raised an eyebrow, "How can you be sure?"

  "Look, the yin energy on this stone hasn't dissipated yet, which can still be explained. The yin energy in the air that's faintly visible might also be due to the opponent's limited abilities. However, the target of this yin energy is just too obvious - either the opponent is a complete newbie who doesn't know anything, or they're intentionally luring us into a trap!"

  "What does the leader of the Mongols mean?!"

  "I'll definitely go and take a look, but Fourteenth Young Master, you don't have to, you're worth a fortune..."

  "Lu Tongling laughed and said, 'It's come to this, do you think I still have a way out?' Wang Guanlan smiled lightly, 'If one doesn't enter the tiger's lair, how can one get the tiger's cub? I'd like to see what kind of person has such great audacity, daring to be so arrogant in my three southwestern states!!'"

  "How can one get the tiger's cub without entering the tiger's lair? It seems that Ruo has become sentimental!" Ruo Han's eyes lit up, and he didn't say another word. With a wave of his hand, he led two flower fox guards along the direction of the yin energy, and they plunged into the dense forest.

  Wang Guanlan and Chen Qingshan also refused to fall behind, closely following them.

  Luohan walked all the way, sprinkling the powder in the bottle along the way. As he had expected, although the black breath was intermittent, it pointed very clearly and never really broke off. After walking for more than twenty miles into the dense forest, Luohan finally stopped.

  "Fourteen Shao, look!!"

  Along the direction of Luo Han's finger, Wang Guanlan saw ten white skulls piled together.

  Ten skulls were piled up in a pyramid shape, divided into three layers. The bottom layer had six, the middle layer had three, and the top layer had one. This pile of skulls was majestically placed on an open space in the forest, emitting waves of eerie aura.

  "Array!" In Wang Guanlan's spiritual awareness, it wasn't just these ten skulls piled up in one place. Behind the ten skull bones was a piece of land completely shrouded in black aura. What was even more terrifying was that this black aura was spreading outwards in all directions.

  Compared to the few places with yin energy he found when he just entered the forest, the yin energy here was much denser. As the dense black yin energy churned, Wang Guanlan could feel countless vengeful spirits and malevolent ghosts wailing in the depths of the yin energy. Gradually, the wailing grew louder, the churning yin energy twisted and turned, transforming into ugly ghostly faces that seemed to be struggling free from the yin energy's restraints to charge at him.

  Wang Guanlan was shocked and suddenly retreated.

  "Ah!!"

  Just as he was panicking, a loud shout suddenly rang in his ears. This thunderous roar was like the heavenly thunder that exploded in Wang Guanlan's mind, and his somewhat bewildered soul suddenly cleared up.

  "Fourteen, this is a gathering of yin energy formation. Your spiritual power is too weak and can easily be affected. Please retreat!" As he spoke, Wang Guanlan felt his spirit soul ache again, this time more painfully than when he was at the county government office, because there were multiple sources stimulating his spirit soul.

  Apart from Chen Qing Shan, three Flower Fox Guards including Luo Han burst out with powerful auras.

  "Damn it, damn it!!" Wang Guanlan retreated continuously, although his spiritual awareness had already been withdrawn into the sea of consciousness at the first moment, but the powerful aura emanating from the three Hu Liang guards still made his heart and soul flutter, extremely uncomfortable.

  With the explosion of the three Flower Fox Guards' aura, the encroaching dark energy was instantly dispelled.

  Just like the warm spring thawing snow.

  Two Huā Lí Wèi with cultivation at the fifth layer of Qi Refining emitted an aura like two large fireballs, emitting scorching hot air. The yin energy couldn't even approach within a zhang (3.33 meters) of their bodies. Luò Hán was even more exaggerated, his body shrouded in a faint blue mist that rose and fell. Any yin energy within three zhangs of him would be frozen, shattered, and turned into visible powder that fell to the ground.

  "Daring to be so presumptuous, you actually dare to set up a shrine in the southwestern three states' border! You truly don't know life or death!!" The dark energy was forced to disperse, and with a swift and fierce movement, like an arrow shot from a bowstring, they directly charged towards that pile of skulls. The other two Flower Fox Guards followed suit, their powerful aura forcing the surrounding dark energy to scatter in an instant. In a loud crash, the ten skulls were scattered by the three people, but things didn't end so simply. Almost at the same time as the ten skulls flew out, a sharp and piercing howl, like a ghostly wail, rang out. Countless black vapors emerged from the skulls, releasing an intimidating dark energy.

  Dark energy spread out like thick fog in the mountains, affecting even Wang Guanlan and Chen Qingshan dozens of feet away from the skull. Wang Guanlan's body continuously retreated, while a powerful aura burst forth from Chen Qingshan beside him, protecting Wang Guanlan's side.

  The two retreated for over a hundred feet before finally escaping the range of the dark energy's shroud. However, after breaking free, Wang Guanlan didn't let out a sigh of relief; instead, his expression turned exceptionally ugly.

  "Fourteen is young, this is...!"

  Chen Qing Shan's face turned pale and he stared at the bizarre scene in front of him, his mouth agape and unable to utter a complete sentence.

  Less than ten zhang in front of the two, it was a dead land. The originally lush trees withered and died instantly, and there were withered branches and leaves everywhere, emitting waves of foul odor.

  "How did I know!!" Wang Guanlan shook his head, the matter had completely gotten out of his control, and apparently also out of Luo Han's control.

  "Lu Tong seems too confident in himself!" Chen Qing Shan muttered to himself, frightened by the scene before his eyes.

  "No, the commander is still able to control the situation!" Wang Guanlan took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed his spiritual awareness in the sea of consciousness. The dark energy in front of him seemed to have a kind of strange magic power, which also had a strong attraction to his spiritual awareness, making it restless and wanting to throw itself into the darkness, forcing him to spend a lot of effort to suppress this impulse.

  However, this did not make him collapse, because he could still clearly feel the momentum of Luohans, and in the endless dark energy, a burning flame was burning, like an eternal sun that never fell, and even the two Huashan guards were safe under his protection.

  He took another glance at Chen Qing Shan, whose soul was still shaken. "You immediately return to Nan Hua City. If you encounter reinforcements, bring them over directly. If not, hurry and send people to escort him over!"

  "Fourteen Shao, my mission is to ensure your safety!" Chen Qing Shan refused categorically.

  "Your task is to obey my orders!" Wang Guanlan's eyes turned cold, "Go quickly, otherwise we may all die here!"

  "Or I'll escort the young master out of here!"

  "It's impossible now!!" Wang Guanlan smiled bitterly, he also wanted to leave, but just a moment ago, he had recovered his spiritual awareness and escaped the yin energy, however, at the same time, he also felt a faint aura that was locking him in place.

  His breath was very weak, almost imperceptible, but Wang Guanlan's spiritual awareness had been amplified by the Wan Fa symbol, so although the symbol was now destroyed, his spiritual awareness was still more than ten times sharper than that of an ordinary person, which was how he could sense the divine thought that was locking him in place.

  He believed that as soon as he left and distanced himself from here for a while, what would await him would be the other party's ruthless attack.

  Only by being here, near Luohan, can one's life be guaranteed. The other side is only wary of Luohan alone.

  "But...!"

  "I've already been locked onto by the other party's divine sense, you can't escort me!" Wang Guanlan shook his head and said, "The difference in strength between me and the other party is too great. The reason he hasn't made a move against me is just because he's considering Rong Tongling. Once I leave with you, he'll have no more scruples. This array may be incomplete, but it can trap Rong Tongling for ten breaths' time without any problem. As for the other party wanting to kill me, it only takes one breath of time to do so, because not only can't I retreat, I must also advance!"

  While speaking, he ignored Chen Qing Shan's astonished expression, and with a flick of his wrist, five fist-sized fireballs shot out from between his fingers. At the same time, his body also charged forward with the fireballs, directly rushing towards the place shrouded in dark energy.

  "Go and get reinforcements, I don't want to die here!!" These were the last words Chen Qing Shan heard. After saying this, Wang Guan Lan's entire figure disappeared.

  That area shrouded in gloomy air seemed to have transformed into another space, completely engulfing all people and objects that entered.

  "Damn it!!" Chen Qing Shan cursed under his breath and didn't dare to delay any longer. At the first moment, he rushed out of the forest and dashed down the mountain.

  I thought it was a simple matter, but I didn't expect such a big mistake. If Wang Guanlan doesn't get into trouble, it's fine, but once he does, I'll have to die with him as his bodyguard, this is the fate of being a Huā Lí Wèi.

  Wang Guanlan followed his own fireball into the dark array, and as soon as he entered the array, he felt the surrounding yin energy was like a cold wind that made him shiver.

  Suddenly, as if responding to the yin energy, the crimson crystal on his chest flared up with a fierce heat, unexpectedly releasing a stream of warmth that enveloped his body, shielding him from the yin energy's assault within the dark array.

  "I didn't know the Red Flame Crystal had such a wonderful use!" Wang Guanlan was secretly delighted, but he muttered to himself that the Red Flame Crystal artifact on his chest was something he had made with his own hands. His abilities were limited, so this artifact could only be considered a pseudo-artifact, and its function was only one - it absorbed and stored the surrounding fire element energy, providing power for his spells, or rather, his fireball technique. In simpler terms, it was just a spare battery for his fireball technique.

  However, now this battery seems to have developed a new function. "It looks like it has absorbed the fragments of that 'One Thought Creates All Things' talisman and is taking effect!"

  After a moment's thought, he understood the reason for the change in Chi Yanjing. That mysterious idea of ??the Wan Fa Ming symbol, although broken, did not disappear, but existed in a unique way by his side.

  This made him feel inexplicably at ease for a moment.