Chapter 1454 - 514: It Appeared
Guangzi hadn’t slept this soundly in a long time.
Strictly speaking, he was a light sleeper; that experience of being abandoned in Futu Heaven when he was young had left him with a deep lack of security.
After he became the controller of Futu Heaven, things only got worse.
Yet after coming to the Ancient Nine Provinces, he instead found himself able to fall asleep.
Leaning against Ye Lingyue, listening to the soft breathing at his ear, he felt as if he had suddenly returned to his childhood.
Back then, his favorite thing was to lie on Sister’s back and fall asleep.
Sister, you’re back, that’s great. Guangzi’s lips curved into a faint smile.
"This guy Guangzi."
Because of the Invisibility Elixir, Ye Lingyue couldn’t see Guangzi’s expression, but from his breathing, she could tell he had fallen asleep.
Toward Guangzi, Ye Lingyue had a kind of indescribably strange feeling.
Not quite sisterly, yet somehow deeper than that of sisters.
"Sister, don’t leave..."
Guangzi mumbled a line.
"Guangzi, what are you saying?"
Ye Lingyue tilted her head without thinking; when she heard Guangzi’s words, her heart gave a slight twitch, and she was just about to press him for details.
At that moment, from above the ancient well came some sort of sound.
The sound was very faint, but because it was extremely quiet inside the ancient well, even the slightest noise would be magnified countless times.
Ye Lingyue became alert; the sound was getting closer and closer, like something was flapping its wings, circling above the ancient well.
Ye Lingyue hurriedly fell silent.
At the bottom of the ancient well, the Water Spirit Array that had only emitted a faint fluorescent glow during the day suddenly burst into dazzling radiance.
The Array lit up the entire ancient well; the previously deathly still Array Talismans, those runes shaped like flowers, birds, fish, and trees, came alive.
Flowers bloomed, birds took flight, fish swam about, trees grew; the Water Spirit that had been absorbed from the ancient well became lively again.
The Water Spirit accumulated within the Water Spirit Array formed into tiny droplets; under the effect of a mysterious force, those droplets converged together, forming a mixed-origin Crystal Stone.
The Crystal Stone was about the size of a fist, and like a Luminous Pearl, it was crystal-clear and luminous, radiating a gentle Water Power.
Well, well, so the other side was using this method to steal away all the Water Spirit that originally belonged to Pan Village.
Watching from the side, Ye Lingyue’s anger surged.
A single Water Bright Stone had triggered the drought in Pan Village and nearly caused the entire village to be destroyed.
No matter how high this Array Master’s skills were, in Ye Lingyue’s mind, this was a dark Array Master.
For the sake of personal gain, he actually came to the village again and again to steal Water Spirit.
After the Water Bright Stone formed, with a swoosh, it flew straight toward the Ancient Well Mouth.
The light of the Water Spirit Array quickly dimmed, then went out completely; the bottom of the ancient well cracked dry.
Throughout the entire process of condensing the Water Bright Stone, that mysterious Array Master never once showed himself.
"Damn, he’s about to run."
Ye Lingyue didn’t even have time to wake Guangzi; she grabbed him, a flash of Spiritual Light flickered, and she stepped onto Nine Dragon Chant, riding the air upwards.
Wind howled past her ears; by the time Ye Lingyue reached the mouth of the well, the surroundings were utterly silent. There wasn’t even a ghost to be seen, let alone a person.
Guangzi blinked sleepily, looking around in puzzlement.
Realizing he had left the ancient well, he shuddered.
"That Array Master was here?"
"He was. It’s just a pity he slipped away again."
Ye Lingyue clenched her jaw and glanced around the ancient well.
To better capture the enemy’s movements, Ye Lingyue had previously spread a layer of grass-mixed lime around the ancient well; but to her disappointment, the enemy had been extremely cautious. The lime powder by the well remained undisturbed, without any footprints or hoofprints.
There was another possibility: that Array Master was also highly skilled and bold, coming by riding the air.
If that was the case, Ye Lingyue had no way of determining where he had gone.
"Looks like we can only hope people in other villages notice something. I don’t know if that Array Master is working alone or has other accomplices."
Ye Lingyue stared into the pitch-black night sky; stars were scattered across it. It was still far from dawn—maybe that Array Master would go to other villages.
Shou Village, a small village located a little over ten li north of Pan Village.
At the entrance of the village, beside a river, there were several huge boulders along the riverbank.
A few days ago, at the source of this river, Ye Lingyue and the others had discovered a Water Spirit Array buried along the riverbed.
Due to a shortage of manpower, the task of monitoring Shou Village had been handed over to the Tian Jun Representative Team.
Behind the boulders, two or three members of the Tian Jun Representative Team had already been standing guard for most of the night.
"team leader, it’s less than two hours till dawn, and we haven’t even run into a ghostly shadow of that so-called Array Master. We’re not being played for fools, are we?"
One member of Tian Jun complained.
After arriving in Lofang County, they’d been living easy, idle days. Over time, their skills as Demon Hunters had regressed quite a bit; they had little patience for this sort of waiting-by-the-tree-for-the-rabbit routine.
"Wait a bit longer. If even the Huangquan Team can wait, then so can we. If we’re lucky and actually catch him, all the credit will be ours. Haven’t you lot been clamoring about going to the real Central Plains Region to hunt demons?"
Captain An leaned behind the boulder, staring at the Water Spirit Array in front of him.
Though he said that, Captain An himself wasn’t entirely sure.
He didn’t understand Arrays, nor did he know what exactly a Water Spirit Array was. If Ye Lingyue really was stringing him along, there wasn’t much he could do about it, was there?
"Tch, with your three-legged-cat skills, if you actually went to the Central Plains Region, you’d only be marching to your deaths, got it?"
On the opposite bank of the river, a "owl" perched in a big tree rolled its eyes, which were full of mockery.
This owl was none other than Little Wuya in Illusion form.
On the surface, Ye Lingyue had entrusted the task to Captain An, but in truth, she hadn’t trusted Captain An and the Tian Jun Representative Team at all.
She had agreed to Captain An’s "earnest request" on the surface, but in secret she had sent Little Wuya, Little Zhiyo, Lady Qiu Tian, and the elite among the Three-legged Birdman to shadow the people of the Tian Jun Representative Team.
Because of her special Illusion ability, Little Wuya had been given an important assignment: she took up a hidden position in Shou Village to keep an eye on Captain An.
Most of the night had passed; aside from hearing the Tian Jun Representative Team’s constant grumbling, Little Wuya had discovered nothing.
Just when Little Wuya and Captain An both thought the night was about to pass uneventfully, a fiery red glow appeared on the horizon.
The fiery red light blazed like a raging fire, extremely eye-catching.
At first, Little Wuya thought dawn was breaking.
But she soon realized that the crimson light rapidly moving toward the river was not the rising sun.
Because it was swiftly moving toward the river, in the exact direction of the Water Spirit Array on the bank.
"He’s here!"
The people of the Tian Jun Representative Team realized this as well. They hadn’t thought their luck would be this "good"—that mysterious Array Master had finally shown himself!