An illusory fog surged up, robbing Ji Wujiu and Nan Baicheng of their sight.
Nan Baicheng frowned. “Brother Ji, what’s going on?”
Unperturbed, Ji Wujiu casually replied, “That’s what I should ask you. I intervened to shift the formation into attacking him, but this was too targeted, causing him to notice, so he naturally has to hide his tracks so I won’t notice him. This child must possess some sort of illusion spell to do this, but as to how he did it? I’m a distant spectator, so it’s hard for me to tell.”
After some thought, Nan Baicheng nodded and said, “Yes, it was that sprite that kid is raising. It can lay down illusion formations to hide tracks—a simple trick that’s easily undone.”
But Ji Wujiu shook his head. “No, no. My mixing in illusory beasts with the real thing is already too much intervention. If I break his spell, then this won’t be a test anymore, but bullying a child.”
Destroying Tang Jie’s spells was the equivalent of directly attacking Tang Jie, and carried an entirely different meaning. He didn’t have much of a relationship with Nan Baicheng, and it wasn’t worth his time to do so much for him.
Suddenly, Ji Wujiu trembled, his eyes shining. “The Waxen Sea Illusion has been broken!”
Although Tang Jie had concealed himself with an illusion formation, Ji Wujiu was controlling the Waxen Sea, and so when the illusion broke, Ji Wujiu had immediately sensed it.
In this little while, Tang Jie had successfully broken through it.
Nan Baicheng gasped. “Brother Ji, you can’t just let him push through like this!”
Ji Wujiu sighed. “Since I promised Brother Lin, I have to help you out. This child is strong and understands quite a lot about formations. Level 2 of the Nine Palace Illusion Formation seems to have no effect on him. But raising it to Level 3 will also affect the others, and he will ultimately be the only one to benefit. However, Brother Nan, rest easy. I might not be able to stop him from breaking the formation, but I still have many ways of delaying him and preventing him from getting out first. Brother Nan, please look…”
Ji Wujiu raised his horsetail whisk.
Tang Jie had pushed out of the Waxen Sea Illusion and had returned to the wild plain from before. But compared to before he had entered the Paths of Reincarnation, he was now much closer to his goal.
He had only made it a few steps when the valley reappeared, as did the three Paths of Reincarnation.
Tang Jie was struck dumb, and Yiyi said in shock, “What’s going on here? Didn’t we already break through the illusion?”
Tang Jie replied, “There are many illusion zones in the Nine Palace Illusion Formation, scattered about all over the place. Even if you break through one illusion zone, if you keep going forward, you might run into a new illusion at any time.”
“So you’re saying this is normal?” Yiyi sighed in relief.
Tang Jie snorted. “Encountering new illusions is normal, but the problem is that we just came out of one and barely made it a few steps before running into another. This isn’t normal at all!”
There was a hint of savagery in his tone.
Wind Devil Island was vast, and not even an Immortal Platform Titan could make an illusion zone every step.
How many resources would this waste?
Wind Devil Island wasn’t worth that much.
This situation could only mean that he was being targeted.
Nan Baicheng was truly shameless. Since he couldn’t raise the difficulty of the illusions, he just increased the number.
If quality wasn’t enough, quantity would fill the gap!
While the illusion zones seemed vast, as these spaces were semi-independent, forming their own little worlds, running ten kilometers in the illusion might cover only one kilometer on Wind Devil Island. The spatial scales were completely off.
Running into illusion zones at every step meant that several dozen kilometers became hundreds to thousands of kilometers… and this was the shortest path.
These were methods used against powerful foes to buy time!
Yet they were being used on a little student. Tang Jie was so enraged that he almost wanted to laugh.
There was nothing he could do about this. He just nodded and said, “Good! Good! Since there are illusions at every step, I’ll break them with every step! Let me see what sort of tricks the multitudes of illusion zones of the Nine Palace Illusion Formation can produce!”
He once more charged through the middle path.
Your valleys can be as dangerous as you want. I’ll still push straight forward!
The moment he entered the path, he was surrounded by the swirling sands of a vast desert.
Tang Jie had gone from the ocean to a desert.
Before Tang Jie could test anything out, a sandstorm howled toward him.
“A sandstorm? The Mirage Sand Illusion!” Tang Jie couldn’t help but be surprised by this sight.
The Mirage Sand Illusion was one of the most dangerous illusion zones of the Nine Palace Illusion Formation. The test that those who entered it faced was none other than a sandstorm.
Unlike other kinds of formations, illusion formations were not rated on their strength, but their ability to simulate objects.
Low-level formations could produce lifeless objects, and high-level formations could produce living beings, and the best formations could even control the minds of those who entered the formation.
But this was precisely why controlling objects in an illusion formation was easier than controlling living beings.
While illusion formations didn’t focus on lethality, that didn’t mean they couldn’t kill. Rather, they achieved this by simulating nature.
Thus, when it came to illusion formations, true attacks didn’t come from illusory fiends, but in simulation of nature. They could reproduce natural phenomena, and the stronger the formation, the stronger the natural phenomenon would be.
It was said that the full power of the most powerful offensive illusion formation could create a world of stars, and those within it would have to deal with the terrifying impact of comets.
At that level, illusion formations were killing formations.
The Nine Palace Illusion Formation was meant to delay, so it wasn’t at that level, but this sandstorm blotted out the world, and its power could not be underestimated.
Upon seeing this sandstorm, Tang Jie knew that Nan Baicheng was anxious to cause him trouble. The Waxen Sea had been a problem, but the Mirage Sand was clearly meant to kill him.
But Tang Jie wasn’t angry now.
He couldn’t be bothered to be angry.
As he looked at the sand sweeping toward him, he chuckled. “You want to kill me with that? You’re looking down on me too much!”
He grabbed some sand and blew on it. The grains of sand drifted in the air and turned into dazzling points of light. Tang Jie thrust out his finger several times, and the sand came together into an arrow that pointed toward the west.
Glancing at the arrow, Tang Jie chuckled and patted the tiger. “Let’s go.”
When an illusion formation focused on killing, its illusory power would weaken. It was hard to hide from the Eye of Heaven, and Tang Jie immediately found the correct path.
There was no need to fight in this zone, only to outrun the sandstorm.
Suddenly, a light flashed on Tang Jie’s waist.
Looking down, he saw a line of words appear on the jade amulet: “I’m at Wind Devil Island.”
A light ship sliced through the azure waters.
Manning the boat was a girl wearing a green dress, holding a long bamboo pole which she used like a punt to push the boat forward, making it seem like the ship was traveling on a little river in a city rather than on the open ocean.
Xu Miaoran was seated on the ship while the red-garbed Hong Yuan poured her tea.
The little ship was entirely unaffected by the high winds and surging waves, the tea dribbling into the cup with nary a ripple.
A paper crane flew out of Xu Miaoran’s hand, flapping its wings toward Wind Devil Island and vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Xu Miaoran faintly smiled. “He really is on Wind Devil Island.”
She didn’t need a reply from Tang Jie. She could tell he was there purely from the paper crane’s reaction.
Hong Yuan smiled. “The young miss is anxious to meet her boyfriend. Xian Tao, why don’t you row a little faster?”
The green-garbed girl glared at Hong Yuan.
But Xu Miaoran wasn’t provoked, coolly saying, “I’m still not even sure if he’s my boyfriend. We just met once, and we exchange letters from time to time, so it’s hard to not be worried about him. I just came to see how he’s doing. If he can truly make me fall in love, then I won’t deny it.”
“But, Young Miss, Horizon Ocean Pavilion can’t be said to have a particularly good relationship with the Basking Moon Sect, and besides, you’re the daughter of a True Lord while Tang Jie is just a student. How can he match you?” Hong Yuan immediately said.
“The relationship isn’t good, but we’re not sworn enemies. It’s only because they have to show some respect for the Thousand Passions Sect. Even so, don’t we still work together sometimes? As for matching me… he just needs to work harder. The Immortal path is long and the Great Dao is boundless. Marrying the daughter of a True Lord can’t possibly be harder than ascending to the apex of the Immortal path, right?” Xu Miaoran casually replied.
Only the fiend women of Horizon Ocean Pavilion could say such things. Elsewhere, these words would have been considered offensive to everyone and utterly reckless.
Hong Yuan was young and carefree, so when she heard these words, she immediately started poking Xu Miaoran’s face, laughing, “No shame, no shame! He hasn’t even said that he likes you yet.”
Xu Miaoran grinned. “If I like him, I’ll pursue him. What does him liking me have to do with it?”
She stood up, waving a silk sleeve, and the boat shot like an arrow toward the island, kicking up froth. From this one move, it was clear that Xu Miaoran was much stronger than before.
Someone from Horizon Ocean Pavilion was already waiting on the shore when the boat arrived. Upon seeing the three, a young man came forward and bowed. “Which senior sister from the school has honored us with your presence?”
While this light ship unique to Horizon Ocean Pavilion was small, it was an art relic that crossed the seas like they were flat land, among other wondrous uses. Not just any student of Horizon Ocean Pavilion could own one. Thus, the people of Wind Devil Island immediately knew that this person was not to be taken lightly.
Hong Yuan jumped out of the ship and said, “Sorrowgone’s outer disciple, the Pufeng County Lord!”
The group from Wind Devil Island immediately paled and dropped to their knees. “Paying respects to the Pufeng County Lord!”
“Sorrowgone” was the official name of Xu Guanghua, Xu Miaoran’s father. Because of his Sorrowgone Celestial Art, he was known as Sorrowgone Xu.
As for “Pufeng County Lord”, this was Xu Miaoran’s title.
Xu Guanghua was one of the supporting pillars of Horizon Ocean Pavilion, so his beloved daughter was naturally a big deal. The first thing the King of Endsea had done was grant her the land of Pufeng County. By law, once she became an adult, 15% of the local tax revenue would be hers, and she would have the privilege to appoint or dismiss any official below the county magistrate.
She had become a county lord before she was even one hundred days old, so most only knew her as the Pufeng County Lord.
Most bigshots were known more for their titles than their actual names. Thus, most of Endsea wouldn’t know who you were talking about if you mentioned Xu Miaoran, but everyone would instantly know that you were talking about the Sorrowgone True Lord’s daughter if you brought up the Pufeng County Lord. Compared to secular positions, True Lords were far more deserving of respect.
But even though Xu Miaoran was Xu Guanghua’s daughter, she could only call herself an outer disciple, not a real disciple.
The rules of Immortal sects all required True Inheritors to formally take a master, and not even one’s own sons and daughters were exceptions. The reason for this was that the Immortal arts they cultivated might not be suited for their progeny. Thus, it was common for their children to become outer disciples of other people. Nothing could be done without rules, which was why rules existed. While Xu Miaoran was the daughter of the Sorrowgone True Lord, she was not Sorrowgone’s True Inheritor.
It was said that Xu Guanghua hoped to have her enter the tutelage of another True Lord, Celestial Miaoyin, and that this was why Xu Miaoran’s name contained the word “Miao”.
This was why the Wind Devil Island group had immediately prostrated upon hearing this title, not even daring to raise their heads to look at Xu Miaoran.