Chapter 282: Trapped in the Dawn Sect’s Protective Formation Array!

Translator: Minotauruz

Ye Xiuwen was a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation with a wind-based spiritual root. Logically speaking, even if Jun Xiaomo applied a Windsail Talisman on herself, it should not have been a difficult thing for him to catch up to her.

However, despite having chased after her for some time, he still lost sight of Jun Xiaomo altogether.

Ye Xiuwen furrowed his brows. Having searched for Jun Xiaomo everywhere, he then attempted to use a Transmittance Talisman to get in touch with Jun Xiaomo, but to no avail. For some strange reason, Jun Xiaomo seemed to have simply vanished amidst the thick foliage within the forest – any message that he had attempted to send out through the Transmittance Talisman was like a tiny pebble that simply sank into the depths of the vast oceans.

A sense of unease washed over his heart. Ye Xiuwen had intended to personally hold onto the identity token given by Qin Lingyu. In the end, not only had “Qin Shanshan” denied him that opportunity, she had even vanished altogether. For all he knew, she might well already have been trapped by the Sect’s formation array by now.

Ye Xiuwen grimaced. After deliberating for another few moments, he began to muster the spiritual energy within his body and sprint towards Qin Lingyu and the rest.

At this moment, only Qin Lingyu had the power to bring “Qin Shanshan” out of the formation array. From his assessment of their relationship, he knew that as long as “Qin Shanshan’s” true identity was not exposed, Qin Lingyu would never turn a blind eye to Qin Shanshan if she were trapped by the Sect’s formation array.

In the very same moment that Ye Xiuwen lost sight of “Qin Shanshan”, Jun Xiaomo had similarly also noticed that Jun Ziwen, who had been hot on her tails, had simply vanished just like that.

Jun Xiaomo squinted her eyes and glanced about her surroundings with vigilance...

Something’s amiss. It’s too quiet here. It’s so quiet that I can’t even hear a single sound – even the winds have ceased blowing, and the rustling of the leaves have stopped.

As expected, the identity token that Qin Lingyu had handed over to be given to Jun Ziwen had indeed been tampered with. She was now trapped within the Sect’s protective formation array.

However, Jun Xiaomo was already prepared for this. Truth be told, she was rather excited by the prospects of being trapped by the Dawn Sect’s protective formation array. This way, she would roughly be able to determine the level of the formation arrays used by the Dawn Sect.

Jun Xiaomo slowly licked her lips as she released the restrictions binding her true cultivation level. Then, she released her divine sense into her surroundings, and her eyes gleamed with a sharp and eager gaze –

Bring it on, formation array! Let’s see whether you can overcome me, or whether I can breach your defenses and subjugate you!

On the other side, having waited for Qin Shanshan for an incommensurably long time, Qin Lingyu had begun to grow impatient and annoyed.

In his eyes, Qin Shanshan was simply a reckless, simple-minded little brat. As soon as she discovered Jun Ziwen’s disappearance, she would most certainly come running to him for help. At that time, he would take charge of the Dawn Sect disciples, pretending to search high and low for Jun Ziwen for the next few days, before finally releasing the protective formation array on the very last day in order to reveal Jun Ziwen’s corpse.

With that, no matter how upset Qin Shanshan was going to be, she would never be able to pin the blame for Jun Ziwen’s death on him. Then, over time, Qin Shanshan will gradually begin to forget the fact that she had ever met this man to begin with.

Qin Lingyu’s calculations were very thorough. If his target was the real Qin Shanshan, while Jun Ziwen was none other than who he said he was – a mere outsider that was a rogue cultivator, Qin Lingyu’s plans would most certainly have succeeded.

Unfortunately, Jun Xiaomo was not Qin Shanshan, and Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen already had Qin Lingyu dancing in the palm of their hands. Thus, things hardly went according to Qin Lingyu’s calculations.

Just as Qin Lingyu began to grow impatient, intending to lead the entourage of Dawn Sect disciples back down the path they came from to search for Qin Shanshan and Jun Ziwen, he noticed a figure speeding straight towards them.

Then, as soon as he noticed that the figure wore Jun Ziwen’s characteristic clothes, Qin Lingyu’s heart immediately sank, and a bad premonition surfaced at the forefront of his mind.

As expected, as soon as Jun Ziwen stopped in front of him, his expressions were incredibly sullen and dark, and Jun Ziwen cast a penetrating, frigid gaze on Qin Lingyu –

“Just what did you do to the identity token you gave Qin Shanshan?” Ye Xiuwen bellowed harshly.

Yet Qin Lingyu’s gaze was equally frigid as he rebuffed Ye Xiuwen’s allegations, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What do you mean by that?”

“Stop acting, Qin Lingyu. If not for the fact that you’d tampered with the identity token, why would Shanshan disappear like that?” Ye Xiuwen barked back, particularly emphasizing the fact that Qin Shanshan had disappeared.

“What?! Martial sister Shanshan has disappeared?!” The other Dawn Sect disciples exclaimed as their eyes widened. They evidently had not expected Qin Shanshan to disappear into the Sect’s protective formation array.

Qin Lingyu’s expressions turned a sickly green and a pale white. How could he have expected his perfect plans to have such a massive loophole to it?

What he failed to consider was the fact that Qin Shanshan would hand her own identity token to Jun Ziwen and instead personally use the identity token which Qin Lingyu had given to her. He had indeed tampered with the identity token. To make matters worse, he knew that there was not a single chance that Qin Shanshan would be able to come out of the Sect’s protective formation array alive given her present abilities.

“And what about you? Why are you holding onto Shanshan’s identity token instead of using the one that I had given to Shanshan to be handed to you? Did you threaten her or coax her into handing her own identity token over to you, huh?!” As soon as Qin Lingyu considered the prospects that Qin Shanshan would perish, which in turn meant that his key to the Arcane Realm would vanish accordingly, a fiery inferno of indignation immediately consumed all measure of rationality in his mind.

He couldn’t resist the urge to cast aspersions back onto Ye Xiuwen. Yet, while he did so, he implicitly also admitted that he had in fact tampered with the identity token.

Ye Xiuwen coldly responded, “When you tampered with that identity token, you should already have expected something like this to happen. Anything you say right now is useless. If we dally any longer, Qin Shanshan might really perish in the formation array and never return.”

Ye Xiuwen’s tone of voice was incredibly calm and stoic. It was only through his tightly clenched fists and his slightly trembling hands that one could tell the amount of anxiety and fear on his heart right now.

He did not know why he would experience such an intense anxiety and fear, but he knew that these emotions were consuming him – if something really happened to “Qin Shanshan”, he would never be able to pull himself back from the darkness that was consuming him right now.

Nothing must happen to her! Nothing!

On the other hand, the similarly concerned and anxious Qin Lingyu hardly had any heart to observe Jun Ziwen’s reaction and expression right now. Jun Ziwen’s words had reminded him that there was no time to lose right now – they needed to make haste if they were to rescue Qin Shanshan.

Even though Qin Lingyu was able to tamper with the identity tokens, he had no means of accessing and rescuing anyone trapped within the Sect’s protective formation array. Thus, he was left with no choice but to seek his master and the Sect Elders for assistance, in the hope that they would be able to rescue Qin Shanshan.

Qin Shanshan hated Qin Shanshan’s idiocy; and he was at the same time incredibly frustrated by his own carelessness that was resultant from his eagerness to succeed. This was the only reason why Qin Shanshan had slipped straight through the massive loophole in his plans.

After sending an urgent message to He Zhang and the Sect Elders of the Dawn Sect, Qin Lingyu instructed the rest of the disciples to remain where they were and await the arrival of the Sect Leader and the Sect Elders.

Thus, everyone began to pick their spots in the forests as they sat down to rest.

Truth be told, not a single one of the disciples could be bothered with Qin Shanshan. If Qin Shanshan ended up with an undesirable outcome after exchanging her identity token with the one that Qin Lingyu had handed to her, it was her own problem – she had courted her own doom and demise.

Furthermore, when they turned their minds to consider how Qin Lingyu had tampered with the identity token, several disciples couldn’t help but sigh with resignation as they shook their heads.

Schemes don’t pay. After all, there’s bound to be a day when the schemes end up biting the schemer in the ass.

Qin Lingyu immediately retrieved Qin Shanshan’s Origin Locket and held it tightly in his hands as he gazed into the distant with a darkened expression –

Qin Shanshan. Don’t you die on me now!

Time trickled by slowly. Jun Xiaomo had already been trapped within the Sect’s protective formation array for one whole hour by now. During this period of time, Jun Xiaomo had already experienced several “gifts” prepared by Qin Lingyu for Jun Ziwen.

Jun Xiaomo squinted her eyes as she brandished the whip in her hands. As the spirit beasts pounced towards her, she struck the spirit beast with her whip that was immolating with an intense, fiery blaze. A single strike was all it took to split the skin of the spirit beast.

Roar! The spirit beast bellowed. The excruciating pain from its laceration caused it to fly into a fit of frenzy.

The most peculiar thing about all of this was how the injuries inflicted by Jun Xiaomo on the spirit beast healed at such a speed that it could be seen by the naked eye. In fact, despite the fact that its injuries had completely healed, the spirit beast’s frenzied state meant that its abilities had increased by a whopping onefold!

The spirit beast roared again as it pounced at Jun Xiaomo. However, Jun Xiaomo’s nimble reflexes meant that it had time and again failed to connect any of its attacks.

“Tch. Is that all you’ve got? You’re a far cry from some of the spirit beasts I’d encountered in the past!” Jun Xiaomo chuckled coldly. It was unclear whether Jun Xiaomo were mocking the spirit beast in front of her right now, or whether she was mocking the sorely lacking “gifts” that Qin Lingyu had prepared for her.

After “teasing” the spirit beast for a little bit more, Jun Xiaomo retrieved an Origin Thunderbolt Talisman from her Interspatial Ring and shot it straight into the spirit beast’s abdomen.

She had earlier already discovered that no matter how the spirit beast attacked her, it would never allow her to get anywhere close to the upper right portion of its abdomen. Thus, she had reason to believe that this was the spirit beast’s most vulnerable spot on its entire body.

Just as she had thought, as soon as the Origin Thunderbolt Talisman exploded on the upper right portion of the spirit beast’s abdomen, it let out a miserable cry. Moments later, its massive body flopped over and collapsed onto the ground, completely lifeless.

Jun Xiaomo walked over to it and swept her gaze across its entire body. In the depths of the pool of blood and gore where the heart of the explosion earlier was, she noticed the core of the spirit beast peeking out from where the spirit beast’s heart had earlier been.

Jun Xiaomo made a grabbing motion, and the saffron-coloured core appeared in her hand just like that.

“Thanks.” Jun Xiaomo stored the spirit beast’s core into her Interspatial Ring, shut the spirit beast’s eyes for it, before moving on.

She had nearly figured out the laws of this formation array. If she had another one hour’s time, she would even be able to unlock and alter the Dawn Sect’s protective formation array on a fundamental level. At that time...

Qin Lingyu was completely unaware that he had just trapped such a dangerous opponent within the Sect’s protective formation array. At this point in time, he was still stressing over how he was going to rescue “Qin Shanshan” in the shortest time possible. How could he have known that “Qin Shanshan” was still well alive and kicking, and she was even planning to help the Dawn Sect refurbish its protective formation array?

As Qin Lingyu and Ye Xiuwen’s anxiety continued to escalate, He Zhang and the Sect Elders finally arrived.

“What’s the matter? Did that brat Shanshan get trapped by the Sect’s protective formation array?” The Second Elder got straight to the nub of the issue as he sized up Ye Xiuwen. He had noticed that this was the only person around that was not a Dawn Sect disciple – But why does his aura and disposition seem so familiar?

“That’s right. I’d hoped that the Sect Leader and the distinguished Sect Elders could lend disciple a hand and rescue Shanshan. She’s disciple’s last surviving kin...” Qin Lingyu spoke with an anxious tone of voice, inadvertently interrupting the Second Elder’s intense gaze on Ye Xiuwen’s body.

A long time had passed since he last sent out the message, and he could no longer suppress the anxiety in the depths of his heart. Even though the Origin Locket in his hands had not continued to crack further, Qin Lingyu was nevertheless incredibly worried that everything would be lost in the very next moment.

“Lingyu, you’ve got to pull it together. Shanshan is the Dawn Sect’s disciple after all. There’s no reason that we wouldn’t be rescuing her.” He Zhang patted Qin Lingyu’s shoulder as he assured him.

“Thanks, master...” Qin Lingyu gave a polite fist and palm salute, before he discreetly stored Qin Shanshan’s Origin Locket back into his Interspatial Ring.

He could not afford to let He Zhang discover the Origin Locket’s existence. Even if He Zhang was unaware that the two Origin Lockets could be forged into a key to an Arcane Realm, Qin Lingyu simply couldn’t afford to take any such risks.

His only hope was that with the arrival of his master and the various Sect Elders, Qin Shanshan could be rescued post-haste.

Unfortunately, the Fifth Elder immediately dashed his hopes in the next moment –

“Unfortunately, the Sect’s protective formation array cannot simply be deactivated and reactivated. Rescuing that little brat Shanshan isn’t going to be easy, and it’s going to take some time. We can only hope that the little brat Shanshan can hold out until then.” The Fifth Elder sighed.

Qin Lingyu’s heart sank, and he hurriedly asked, “Fifth Elder, how much time does she need?”

“With your master and us Sect Elders around, we will need approximately three hours’ time...” The Fifth Elder did a quick estimation of the total time needed.

Three hours’ time...will Qin Shanshan still be alive after three full hours...? Everything in Qin Lingyu’s eyes began to fade to black. He felt as though the plans that he had clung to for such a long time were on the brink of going to waste.

At the same time, Ye Xiuwen also reacted with a gasp, and he suddenly stood up – This won’t do! I’ve got to find “Qin Shanshan”! I can’t just sit here and wait for her to perish within the Sect’s protective formation array!