Chapter 320 - Welcome To The Massacre Formation

Fairy Lake, it was Mingzhou’s most famous lake, and the third-largest lake in the entire country.

Countless people came here to play, and just so happened that it was also winter vacation at this time, so the number of people was even more than usual.

In the past, all the people who came here would chat among themselves while enjoying the scenery, but today, they were watching some people instead.

Obviously it was because these people were all handsome men and beautiful women.

“Amitabha.” The priest squeezed the new string of beads that Gu Xiqiao had given him that morning, reciting Buddha’s name as he closed his eyes.

“I say master priest, we’re already here, why are you still reciting?” Wu Hongwen grabbed a piece of grass, jumping down from the nearby tree, a grin on his face.

The priest finally opened his eyes, glancing at Wu Hongwen as he shook his head and laughed lightly. “To sit is to meditate, to walk is also to meditate. A flower is one world, a single leaf is absolute harmony.” (T/N: I think this is from a scripture, which in simple terms means that no matter what happens, just let it happen. Properly take care of it once it does, and if it doesn’t happen, don’t think so much about it.)

“Alright! Don’t recite it to me, I’m getting a headache just listening to you!” Wu Hongwen jumped away immediately as though he had been burned.

The priest merely laughed again, not saying another word.

As soon as Gu Xiqiao had gone out in the morning, she invited Zhuge Yan to play in Fairy Lake. Once Yao Jiamu and the others heard that there was something fun happening with Gu Xiqiao, they naturally came running. When Wei Chenxi heard something fun was happening, he also came out. The second elder and Murong Feiye were also obviously not far behind them.

Unexpectedly, even the two masters decided to follow them. One was this master priest, while the other was the priestess that had spoken to Gu Xiqiao in the morning.

The priestess stood beside the water, looking out at the vast lake. She then picked up some stones, placing them in certain positions on the ground.

“What did you find?” The priest walked up to the priestess, his hands still clutching his Buddhist beads.

“Nothing. I’m not as good as those from the Baili family, and I don’t know how they do it. It concerns divining our life and death, it’s not something that can be solved in such a short time.” The priestess sighed, then looked towards the beads that were in the priest’s hands. “I see you really like the beads.”

“It has holy power imbued in it.” The priest clutched the beads tighter. “Miss Gu’s actions were really extraordinary, I didn’t even have the courage to refuse it.”

Treasures that contain the holy power of Buddha was something all the Buddhist disciples dreamed of having.

“She is no ordinary person.” The priestess said in a low voice. Her insight and acting, it didn’t seem like something a person her age would be able to do.

“She is in fact not. You can show her this formation.” The priest looked back at where Murong Feiye, Mo Li and everyone else was, leisurely hanging around. Zhuge Yan, who had always been avoiding the world at large and staying at home was out of his hiding place with just a word of invitation from her. To be able to convince these proud, haughty children to come out, how simple of a person could she be?

Her skills in formation, and those caves that were at the edge of the ancient martial arts world. Even a formation wizard like Baili Bin had also been amazed by it, and was full of praises for her.

“Master, didn’t you say that gifts blind the eyes? You already took something from me, and now you’re talking behind my back, and to think you’re a disciple of Buddha.” The one who spoke was a woman lying in a wicker chair under the tree with a book on her face. The cover of the book was tattered, and it covered her face. The sun shone through the gaps between the thick layers of leaves onto her slender, white fingers, creating a soft, cold glow on her pale skin.

It was only her slender fingers, but it was enough to dazzle every passing tourist and local that walked past.

“It is not so, every word that comes out of my mouth, comes from the heart.” The old priest stood up, looking over to Gu Xiqiao. “You’re also awake now, Miss Gu. Why don’t you have a look at this formation?”

Gu Xiqiao took the book off, revealing an elegant, beautiful face. “Not interested.” She pulled out her phone, seeing whether Zhu Yuan was satisfied with the gift she had sent him or not.

The Taoist priestess looked at Gu Xiqiao with surprise on her face. The girl in front of her seemed to be a completely different person today. Last night, she was domineering, cold, sinister and made everyone tremble in fear, not daring to offend her.

Today, she was gentle and calm, an almost invisible smile on her face. The change between the short period of time was really too great.

“Wait, master priest.” Gu Xiqiao sat up suddenly, looking at the old priest. “I’ll look over the formation, do you want to recite the Rebirth Mantra?”

The priest was caught off guard at that, not knowing whether he should laugh or cry at that. How could something like a Rebirth Mantra be recited just by saying you wanted to?

The priestess also stood, smiling. “Miss Gu, getting an old monk to recite the Rebirth Mantra, it really is only something you can do.”

The old priest is the master of Buddhism with the deepest understanding of Buddhism in China currently, and the holy power he wielded could be described as a golden light. His techniques were incomparable, and even the higher-level people in the ancient martial arts world were respectful when they met him. And here Gu Xiqiao was, asking him to recite the Rebirth Mantra out of the blue?

Anyone could recite the Rebirth Mantra, but if the master priest were to recite it, his holy power would spread with the mantra, which would eventually also cause damage to his own body.

Therefore, when it was not necessary, he wouldn’t simply recite that particular mantra.

“Master Abott has been training for so many years, but he hasn’t cultivated the three wisdoms and six knowledge yet.” Gu Xiqiao pulled out another tattered book from her pocket. “If you want to cultivate the six higher knowledge, you need to first cultivate your mind. When you reach a certain level of clarity of your own mind, you will not be limited by your heart.”

The priest’s eyes had not moved from the moment Gu Xiqiao had pulled out the book from her pocket, his gaze not wavering from the book in her hands. “I can start reciting it immediately.”

Saying that, he sat down cross-legged beneath the tree, closing his six senses. He started chanting, a string of golden characters coming out of his mouth as he did.

No one else could see it, and after floating in the air for a while, the string of characters faded away into the lake quietly.

The Taoist priestess: “...” Where the heck is your backbone?

But then she turned her gaze towards Gu Xiqiao, then to the book in her hand, and felt even more that this person wasn’t some ordinary person.

Gu Xiqiao smiled at her, before turning around and moving the stone pieces that the priestess had been fiddling with, before returning to the wicker chair.

The priestess shifted her gaze back to the stones in front of her, giving is a passing glance at first, before stopping in stunned surprise. She ignored everything else, pulling out her communicator and sending a message with it with trembling hands.

Seeing Gu Xiqiao lying back down on the wicker chair in a disinterested manner, putting the book back on her face, Wu Hongwen hurriedly spat out the grass in his mouth. “Hey, Er Qiao, wait a sec! You’re the one who suggested coming here to play, why are you just lying there and sleeping?”

“Because I want to.” Gu Xiqiao turned the book around, and Wu Hongwen took the chance to see what it was about. However, all he saw was strings and strings of wiggly, twisted words.

This thing, when had she become like Master Jiang, falling in love with books that had wriggly words scribbled all over it?

Wu Hongwen browsed his phone, finding nothing interesting, so he leaned over at Gu Xiqiao’s front. “What’s wrong with this Fairy Lake?” He knew that Gu Xiqiao wouldn’t come to a place without any reason.

“The area above your head is a restricted flight zone,” Gu Xiqiao said with a smile on her face. “Also, rather than say this is a lake, it’s more accurate to say it’s a corpse land. Do you know what kind of place that is? It’s a place where they store dead bodies.”

F*ck! A corpse land?! Wu Hongwen turned to look at the bottomless lake once more. He had initially thought that there wasn’t anything wrong with the lake, but now that she had mentioned that, why did he get a foreboding feeling the more he looked at it?

“Fine, I lied.” Gu Xiqiao sat up, stuffing the book into her pocket. She then shoved both hands into her pockets, and walked to the other side.

Zhuge Yan was playing chess with an old man.

A group of people was watching them.

“Young man, your chess skills, you make one move while thinking of a hundred moves, I really can’t beat that.” The old man looked at the dead position of the chessboard, waving his hand. He accepted his loss wholeheartedly. He had once been a famous chess player in China, and he didn’t expect that he would meet a young man who was able to play chess with this much deliberation while traveling.

He glanced at Zhuge Yan. The more he looked at him, the more joyful he felt.

He was handsome, calm, and good at chess. You can judge a person’s character by the way he plays, and the man wondered if Zhuge Yan had a girlfriend or not? Maybe he could introduce him to his granddaughter?

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask, he saw the young man smiling and looking up as he asked someone, “Miss Gu, is there a solution to this game?”

“Obviously,” Gu Xiqiao replied easily, her eyes already on the chessboard. She turned her gaze to the old man, and asked, “Could I have a try?”

The old man stood up immediately. “Miss, is there really a way out of this situation?”

Gu Xiqiao didn’t reply, picking up a black piece, dropping it in the position of the Tiger’s Mouth[1]. The old man didn’t react to her move, and everyone surrounding them didn’t react either. Placing the chess piece there, wasn’t that just digging your own grave?

Zhuge Yan was silent, staring intently at the piece that Gu Xiqiao had placed. He thought deeply for a long while, before laughing suddenly. “I’ve been at this game for half a day, and it’s just been destroyed by this one move that you made.” He had thought it was definitely over, since a chess game in a dead position was difficult to break out of.

Gu Xiqiao just stared at the chessboard, smiling without a word. A game in a dead position? You would also have to consider whose hands it was in!

The old man and the onlookers watched the game for a long while, and finally laughed while clapping their hands, pleasantly surprised. “Wonderful, just wonderful!”

By the time he returned to his senses and looked for Zhuge Yan and Gu Xiqiao again, he found that they had already left.

“Miss Gu, Great Elder sent a message saying that America’s power world has sent you a bunch of gifts, and he’s sent it over to the Jiang residence.” Yao Jiamu had finally come back after wandering around the place, letting her know this piece of news.

“America?” Gu Xiqiao stopped walking, narrowing her eyes, a hint of regret in her eyes. “Hm, they’re quite obedient.”

“Isn’t it because they’re afraid of getting targeted by you?” Wu Hongwen muttered quietly under his breath from where he was standing at the side. Now that Gu Xiqiao’s reputation had spread throughout all the power worlds, everyone was living in fear. They were afraid that if she were to be in a bad mood, they’d be her next target to play with. Thinking of those people, he felt his heart ache for them... Wait, no. He was happy, his heart didn’t ache for them at all! “But...I actually still want to go over to America and play a little.”

“What do you mean go over there and play.” Gu Xiqiao kicked his shin. “The matters here aren’t settled yet, and when that’s done, each and every one of you will go and advance your levels!” She couldn’t help but be worried at the little strength that they had.

As for America, it wasn’t like it was impossible to play with them, Gu Xiqiao sighed.

“Of course I know this.” Wu Hongwen tried to dodge it, but he ended up not being able to, and still got kicked for his efforts. “It’s such a peaceful day today, and I’m a little unused to it.”

“You’ll get used to it later.” Gu Xiqaio’s lips curled up. She turned to look at the calm surface of the lake, the light that shone on it made the water sparkle. “But a dead chess game, who knows? When it reaches my hands, I can make the dead live once again.”

Wu Hongwen: ... Looks like this person will be picking another target soon.

Still, it was something worth looking forward to.

Gu Xiqiao didn’t say anything further, leaning against a tree and pulling out her phone. As expected, Zhu Yuan had sent a message.

Zhu Yuan: I say, do you have anything against me?

For A Millenium: No? I’m just full of hope towards you.

Zhu Yuan: ... Your ‘hope’ is to send me a lifeless body that’s basically a corpse?

Gu Xiqiao tapped faintly on her phone to reply to his message.

For A Millenium: Don’t worry, the person is still alive. In her left pocket is a box with a white pill. She’ll come back to life after you feed her that. In the meantime, you’ll study the evil aura that’s in that body.

***

Zhu Yuan, who was currently in the Imperial Capital, had to read the message repeatedly before looking at Huangfu Xuan who was lying on the bed. He couldn’t help but hold his tongue when he finally stopped reading the message. Of all the people to provoke, you had to go after Gu Xiqiao? And you even offended her to such a high degree?

“Sigh, Mr. Zhu.” The member of the Peace Squad who had been responsible for transporting Huangfu Xuan over couldn’t help but open his mouth. “Don’t pity this person, she didn’t even show any mercy for babies and toddlers in her underground lab!”

“I know.” Zhu Yuan found the box that Gu Xiqiao had mentioned in the girl’s pocket, which included an instruction sheet inside it. Zhu Yuan was well aware that Gu Xiqiao was an extremely lazy person, and she wouldn’t have used such a troublesome trick had the person not offended her to an extreme degree.

When he opened the paper, the handwriting on it was unyielding and elegant. Zhu Yuan took the time to admire the writing first, it wasn’t like he would ever be able to write so beautifully in this lifetime, before reading the contents.

He was in a daze for a long time after reading it, and after a while, he gritted his teeth as he typed furiously on the phone to send a text message.

Zhu Yuan: Ask you to come back to the labs for the sake of mankind’s benefit, you pull a disappearing act! But it’s fine to do these small playthings?! How long did it take you to make this medicine! Such waste! For such a scumbag!

He used countless exclamation marks to express his emotions at this time. This thing, this thing! You couldn’t not scold her, it got more and more serious every passing day!

Gu Xiqiao was extremely calm in her next reply, and only took seconds to come: You’re right. It took me about an hour to study and come up with it.

Zhu Yuan: “...” He felt himself being beaten by Gu Xiqiao’s words. The impact was too great, it felt like his entire life had been meaningless, and there was nothing left to live for.

Was it necessary to waste such a long time to study and produce such a medicine for a scumbag?

Zhu Yuan held the phone in his hands, suddenly feeling like studying her brain circuits wasn’t going to be such a simple thing after all. He stood in the same spot, staring at Huangfu Xuan’s darkened body, and something flashed in his mind. Before he could continue thinking, his phone started flashing again. It was a notification of an email that Gu Xiqiao had sent over.

He opened it and took a quick glance, his expression changing, and changing again before it finally settled on shock. He immediately gave a call to Professor Jiang and the people in the laboratory, muttering to himself at the same time. “Letting ordinary people treat malicious spirits, Gu Xiqiao, you’re really something else!”

***

Gu Xiqiao was still leaning against the tree, playing another round of her game before taking out a bamboo tube from her pocket.

A boy who was standing not far from her, stared at her with his mouth slightly agape. “Sister, how can your pockets hold so many things?”

Gu Xiqiao: “... My pocket is not a normal pocket.”

“Oh.” The boy nodded his head, a look of understanding on his face. “It’s not normal.”

Gu Xiqiao: “...” Now I think you’re more abnormal than my pocket.

She pursed her lips, looking at the boy before reaching into her pockets to pull out a piece of paper. She folded it into a shape of a crane, handing it to the child. “Here, for you.”

The boy looked at the vivid paper crane in his hands that looked alive, exclaiming in excitement. When he looked up, the older sister who had just been beside him had already left.

“Little Master, why are you still here, hurry, we must go!” A middle-aged man hurried over, pulling the boy away.

As the boy was being pulled away, he couldn’t help but shove the paper crane into his pocket, turning around to look at the direction that Gu Xiqiao had left in.

Gu Xiqiao left the place just like that, and she didn’t just leave, it was more accurate to say that she up and vanished from the face of the earth. Because not only the little boy, even Yao Jiamu and the others couldn’t find her anywhere.

Everyone gathered together to discuss where Gu Xiqiao had run off to, and at the same moment, they saw a robot slowly approaching them. It was wearing strikingly colorful clothes, with a flaming red, beautiful bird on its shoulder. As it walked towards them, it also greeted the passersby that it passed.

A few children circled around the robot, and Yao Jiamu’s mouth twitched. “Jiji?”

Hadn’t these two been left behind at Wei Manor by Gu Xiqiao?

“Earthquake,” Jiji said to Mo Li as soon as he reached the group. “An earthquake is going to happen here.”

Mo Li: “...”

“But your charmspeak is nothing special.” Jiji sighed, pulling out a black guitar from its chest, sitting down by the lake as it started to pluck the strings. “I guess I can’t count on you then.”

Xixi glanced at the few of them before raising its head to look up at the sky, flapping its wings and flying away.

With the sudden arrival of Jiji and Xixi, Yao Jiamu and the others didn’t understand what Gu Xiqiao intended to do.

Night came gradually, and just when Yao Jiamu felt that there wouldn’t be anything to see today, the ground shook a few times suddenly. Some rocks fell from the nearby mountain, but fortunately no one was hurt. Despite this, the crowd was still flustered.

“Everyone, please do not panic. Please follow the soldiers and evacuate in an orderly manner. Experts have predicted that an earthquake will hit this area.” A group of soldiers had appeared suddenly. There were military trucks, helicopters, and their rumbling could be heard overhead. The panicked crowd was settled down quickly by the loud horns that were sounded and left in an orderly manner after being reassured by the personnel.

Wu Hongwen looked up at the helicopter in the sky, they had circled around the surface of the lake when flying here.

He suddenly recalled the legend of the Fairy Lake that Gu Xiqiao had told him that morning. He didn’t know why, but he felt uneasy on the inside when he did.

The crowd was evacuated quickly, while Yao Jiamu and the others stood in a line. They wouldn’t believe if someone told them that this hadn’t been prearranged. The earthquake had just happened, and the army arrived right at the same time?

“The sky is abnormally dark tonight.” The priest had finally finished reciting the Rebirth Mantra. He stood up, looking up at the sky that was gradually turning dark. He muttered under his breath, the beads in his hands were still spinning at a fast speed, and his golden holy powers were flowing.

As if trying to verify the priest’s words, a hole chose this moment to open suddenly in the dark sky! A ray of white light shot out from the hole, and everyone had to cover their eyes.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Hundreds of human figures flew out from the opening, and each one of them were solid and real. These were not illusionary figures that were made from condensed malicious aura like before, but humans who were exuding the powerful, evil aura!

“Those... those are all the most wanted criminals across the power worlds.” The priest’s hands that were holding the beads shook, shock on his face. It was hard enough that there were hundreds of them, but each of them also seemed to have powers that were out of this world!

How? How did they become so strong?

“Formations.” The Taoist priestess looked up at the sky. “It took decades... the Sky Destructing Formation. Once this formation is used, the entire Mingzhou will never see the sun again, and the city will shrivel up and die. It’s no wonder, no wonder countless plants and trees had already withered on the path when we came here.”

The old priest and Taoist priestess were calm people, but when they saw the scene in front of them, all they could feel was shock. Just these hundreds of these thugs who surpassed Houtian level masters would be enough to crush the entire ancient martial arts world, who in the world would be able to stand against them?

“Everyone get ready.” Yao Jiamu’s voice was calm and powerful. “Xixi, protect Mr. Zhuge. I’ll notify the Peace Squad.”

“Young Master Yao!” Just as Yao Jiamu finished talking, a group of people appeared out of thin air, falling behind him one after another.

“Miss Gu asked for me to wait until 7 o’clock before coming here.” The leader said loudly. “I have followed her command!”

“So many people, it’s enough for all hundred of us to break through into the realm of Enlightenment.” The hundred thugs who were hovering in mid-air looked at the group of people underneath them, smiling coldly. They didn’t say much after that, and a black flag slowly rose from somewhere among them.

The Scarlet Soul Banner! The refining of a million souls! Surrounded by a void black hole, it could swallow everything in its path, be it heaven or earth!

“Everyone, get back! That’s the Scarlet Soul Banner! You won’t be able to get out alive if you get devoured by it!” The priest took a step back quickly, his face turning horrified.

“Gravity Shield!” Wu Hongwen ran forward to meet it head on, and the Scarlet Soul Banner shook in the air, descending suddenly at a fast speed.

Yao Jiamu appeared on the surface of the lake in an instant, a whirlwind building beside him, smashing right into the black hole that surrounded the Scarlet Soul Banner!

The colorful profound energy that shot out from Murong Feiye’s body also slammed into the Scarlet Soul Banner!

“Formation!” The remaining hundred Peacekeepers split into ten teams with a shout, forming the Nine Heaven Eight Trigrams Array without hesitation.

These hundred Peacekeepers were only at Fleet Foot level, and once the array was formed, the energy that emitted from it was not any weaker than those at the Houtian level. It even surpassed the aura that was emitted by those in the Enlightenment realm!

Boom!

When the two sides collided, a loud explosion sounded out. More importantly, the Peace Squad didn’t fail and fall!

The entire scene happened in just a short ten seconds, but it made the priest and priestess widen their eyes in shock. Forget about how Gu Xiqiao was a monster, why was it that everyone that was under her was equally monstrous? Those thugs were all nearing the level of Enlightenment, ones who could contend with all the power worlds across the globe.

“Your Miss Gu has died pitifully beneath the lake, and has become part of this Scarlet Soul Banner. You don’t have to struggle so futilely.” The hundred thug masters of the Enlightenment realm were scattered around the sky. “Sky Destruction Formation, activate!”

They stood in mid-air, admiring the alarmed expressions that appeared on the face of these people. Gu Xiqiao was dead at the bottom of the lake, these people were not a threat to them anymore, but playthings. They had thought that the plans would be a bit difficult to carry out this time, but they didn’t expect it to be so simple in the end, and that the two people would fall so easily.

The hundred thugs sneered and laughed, setting off the formation quickly.

In the dark skies, malicious spirits that were mixed with flames around them started to descend, falling like a small meteor rain.

Every flame sent shivers up their spines. Yao Jiamu watched as the fire fell, slowly stopping his own attack. These flames that were falling had no solid shape nor soul, all his attacks were useless! Useless!

“No!” The old priest shouted in horror, raising his head as golden light shone from his body!

As soon as the formation was released, every ordinary person in the city would shrivel up and die, leaving only bones behind.

How could the Peace Squad admit defeat? They had stopped all their attacks, and had formed a defensive barrier together. There were millions of ordinary people in this city!

The priestess looked to the communicator in her hands. Fortunately, the solution to dispel this formation had already been passed to one of the other disciples. Even if she were to die here, she wouldn’t have any regrets. She pulled out her horsetail whisk, a tranquil expression on her face as she muttered a Taoist chant under her breath, before saying, “Benefactor Yao, myself and master priest will be able to hold them off for a while. If you can escape, make your escape now. As we aren’t sure of Miss Gu’s state right now, the ancient martial arts world and everything else is in your hands. The calamity has finally come.”

Yao Jiamu looked up at the falling flames in the sky, his eyes hard as steel. “I’ll wait for Miss Gu to appear, even if it means I’ll die!”

The Peacekeepers refused to believe that Gu Xiqiao would have died like this.

“Annihilate all beings!” Strong bursts of lights shot out from the thugs in the air, and one of them laughed coldly as he said, “None of you will be able to escape.”

“I think it’s better if you get annihilated first.” A clear, melodious voice sounded, echoing around the area.

Boom!

A huge whirlpool appeared in the middle of the Fairy Lake!

A humongous dragon bathed in golden light rose from the vortex, devouring the Scarlet Soul Banner from the air!

At the same time, a pale, glowing figure was making her way out of the whirlpool. There was obviously nothing underneath her feet as she walked, and purple lightning was crackling in her hands as she played with it. Under the glow of the purple light, her delicate features stood out all the more.

Yao Jiamu and everyone else watched this figure and exclaimed in surprise and shock, and let out roars that were even stronger than before, pushing back the flames that fell from the sky by at least twenty meters!

Gu Xiqiao looked up at the hundred thugs, a light smile on her lips. “Do you remember what I said previously? I’ll kill every single one of you that comes. Welcome to my massacre formation.”

[1] T/N: A chess reference on the Go board where its form resembles the mouth of a tiger.