An Abandoned Project?

Yang Wu Huang sighed. "Is that so?" He fell quiet for a moment and then looked at Zhi Guan. "Back when we came here for the first time, I had the other disciples check the array over there and went to look around the perimeters with junior martial brother Ao and junior martial brother Di. There was no such thing as this array. It could be that the demonic practitioners came here later on to put some false traces. I'm afraid whatever we find here now might not be very dependable."

Zhi Guan looked at Yang Wu Huang and then over at Yuan Lei. He didn't say anything and finally just gave a hum, continuing to look around. In any case, this wasn't the moment to deal with that. He'd let his Master do that when they were back.

After thinking it over, he motioned back to the bigger array. "Let's carefully search this place over. Also, make sure that you keep vigilant. If there was one ambush before, there could be a second one." He fell silent again and then started to look around outside once more. Meanwhile, the others returned to the bigger array.

Among the group, Xi Ju Hai was actually the one who knew the most about arrays. She followed the lines on the ground, her expression pensive.

Mei Chao Bing glanced at her, wondering if he should say something. He knew quite a bit about arrays as well but it probably couldn't compare to her who had focused on them most of her life. Whatever he had to say might not be worth much in her eyes.

Xi Ju Hai finally noticed his gaze and looked over, slightly raising her brows. "Is something the matter?"

Mei Chao Bing didn't know how to answer at first but since she had already asked, it would also be strange not to give her an answer. "I was wondering … we already found one other array which was used to gather spiritual energy. It should have been able to take in all of the energy in the surroundings. So it is unlikely that they would have other arrays with the same effect. But I could imagine that they would try to use different arrays to achieve an overall goal. Could it be that this one and the other one are somehow linked?"

Xi Ju Hai looked back at the array, her brows furrowing. "That could be possible. But the strange thing is that … this array, it doesn't work."

"Doesn't work?" Mei Chao Bing repeated the words but everyone else gathered around.

Yang Wu Huang couldn't help but pipe up as well. "Could it be that this was tampered with as well?"

Mei Chao Bing gave him a look. If somebody had tempered with this, then it was definitely Yang Wu Huang himself. Saying something like this … wasn't he just trying to make himself look less suspicious? Unfortunately, this was actually a very safe bet. They likely wouldn't be able to find any traces anymore after what he or one of the others from his group had done so with this alone, he would be able to make people suspect him less. At the very least, it would be difficult for people to convince anyone that he had something to do with this. He had to leave him this much: Yang Wu Huang really knew how to manipulate others.

Xi Ju Hai also gave Yang Wu Huang a look. "In part." She motioned at the spot in the area where Yang Wu Huang and the other two had disrupted the array. "Over there, it was definitely tampered with, yes. But even if that spot was still in the original condition, the array wouldn't work."

Zhi Guan furrowed his brows when he heard that. "Why that? And what is the array for?" It didn't seem to make any sense that the demonic practitioners would take the time to draw an array in the border region that then didn't work. Unless … this one was a decoy and had only been drawn so that their disciples would stop and examine it so that they could attack them. But he didn't think that things would be that simple.

Xi Ju Hai's expression was complicated. "It is … a transmission array. The kind that you would activate with some spiritual energy and then you would be transported to a different place. If this was finished, it would likely work in both directions. So it could be used to get from one place in the border region to another."

When she said so, the expressions of the other disciples immediately darkened. If this was really the case, then it wouldn't be good. It would mean that the demonic practitioners had the ability to move from one place to another in a short amount of time which gave them quite the advantage.

Mei Chao Bing couldn't help but furrow his brows. "But at this size … who would be able to power it with the border region being lacking in spiritual energy? Usually, wouldn't you use the energy of the surroundings for this type of array? The amount that a single person would need to put into the array to make it work should be too big otherwise."

Xi Ju Hai nodded. "Yes. That is what is the other thing that is strange about this. But in any case, this one wasn't finished. So maybe they abandoned the project halfway. It could be possible."

Mei Chao Bing stared at the array, his thoughts churning. It might be possible but it sure wasn't likely. And knowing his Master, he didn't believe in such coincidences. No, there was more to this than just an abandoned project. There had to be.