Chapter 488: “…Then I’ll give you a hug for a bit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Tian Yan slightly frowned. She was really hoping Bai Feng wouldn’t run into trouble.
“Intuition.” Bai Feng casually replied.
Though it was a rather perfunctory answer, Tian Yan’s face subtly showed some pondering before she nodded. “Got it. I’ll try to say less from now on.”
Bai Feng: “?”
Wait, you just believe that?
Seeing his confusion, Tian Yan quickly explained, “People with strong luck usually have pretty accurate instincts. The Holy Land of Tian Yan once recorded a story: In a dangerous situation, a cultivator with deep luck had an intuition that wildly deviated from the calculations of the Holy Land. Nobody paid much attention at the time—later, it turned out his instinct was correct.”
“…So you’re saying I should probably shut up more in the future?”
“No, there’s an even simpler way.”
“What is it?”
Under Bai Feng’s inquiry, Tian Yan raised her head to look at him. Her expression was almost unchanged, but he swore her face carried just the slightest hint of a smile.
“As long as my strength is enough, such situations won’t happen. That matter ultimately boiled down to the Holy Maiden being too weak back then.”
“…Then I’ll give you a hug for a while.”
Bai Feng sighed with a hint of helplessness, then stretched out his arms toward Tian Yan.
And Tian Yan didn’t hold back; she plopped right onto his lap, then reclined into Bai Feng’s embrace and started cultivating.
…
In the virtual training realm.
Little Qi appeared in a city, taking on the PVE battlefield mode. Her enemies weren’t other disciples but simulated bl**d Snake Clan members.
She was part of a city siege—defend until reinforcements arrive, no matter how fierce the bl**d Snake Clan’s attacks.
“Our city isn’t just big; we’ve got a big boss array and multiple Refinement Stage experts guarding it. Plus, even the Transformation God Stage cultivators are clustered together. How can such a strong setup be breached?”
“Could there be a spy inside? Should we be wary of traitors stirring up trouble?”
“Wrong. According to news from the Southern Region, the bl**d Snake Clan has a special way to break our big formation. Not to mention, they’re incredibly brutal—don’t treat cultivators like humans, and many monster beasts rely on secret arts to forcibly devour demon qi and break through.”
“d*mn, isn’t that just magic cultivators?”
“Even more savage than magic cultivators. This fight won’t be easy. I think we should…”
Little Qi didn’t bother listening to other disciples’ chatter; she hurried toward a direction and soon arrived at what looked like a blacksmith shop’s entrance.
But inside, no one was there. Outside was a semi-transparent “board” listing various weapons and their descriptions.
This was Bai Feng’s little bit of laziness—he didn’t add weapons to choose before battle but let Tian Jian Sect disciples pick or swap their weapons here. If they didn’t like the newfangled weapons from the Southern Region, they could choose traditional knives and swords.
Little Qi looked around and picked a tall black weapon—she’d seen this in reality and thought it perfect for assassination. Unfortunately, the virtual realm hadn’t updated with such weapons yet. She could only feel it with her hands now. Today, she finally got the chance to try using it.
Besides that, she took several portable array devices and two smaller, more ladylike weapons. She wasn’t a pure Sword Cultivator anymore—after playing assassin in the virtual realm for a while, her mantra was: as long as it could k*ll, it was good.
“That’s all.”
She wasn’t sure if these weapons were good or not; she figured she’d try a few first and exchange them if they weren’t suitable.
After her selection, a few other Tian Jian Sect disciples arrived as guides, heading toward the blacksmith shop. Unlike Little Qi, they chose the biggest one—the Array Fortress.
“Haha, I’ve wanted to try this for ages.”
“The quantity is limited, lucky we came early.”
“Though, we probably won’t need this for defending the city, right?”
“We can survive without it, but we have to have it. Hurry, move this to the city gate.”
As the Array Fortress was transported away, others quickly realized the blacksmith shop existed. Soon, it was crowded.
Meanwhile, Little Qi had reached the highest point inside the city, observing her surroundings and waiting for the countdown to end.
The Southern Region War—Sun City’s defense battle begins!
Boom!
With the war starting, two crimson streams shot toward the city. Thankfully, the big formation inside kept them at bay, causing only slight ripples.
“Open the door without killing!”
A giant red snake appeared outside the city. Its eyes glowed with an evil-red light, and purple-black demon qi radiated from its body, making everyone tremble with fear.
“Whoa, that’s kinda scary…”
“Get ready, protect the big formation nodes.”
The city’s big formation wasn’t perfect; after its creation, countless array masters tried to crack it. On the other side, the defenders’ array masters kept repairing and maintaining it. Even today, many ways to counter the big formation existed.
But that didn’t mean it was useless. The big formation was still the best, most solid method to defend a city. Without insiders, attackers would find it headache-inducing. Though many ways to break it existed, they were costly. Without overwhelming strength, it was hard to crack it quickly.
The bl**d Snake Clan knew this too, so they had prepared well.
They summoned their family’s secret treasure—a pair of venomous fangs left behind by the Red Snake after ascending to the Great Ascension Stage. Under secret arts, the fangs slowly floated into the air and turned into a giant, ferocious snake head.
Next second, the bl**d-smeared maw opened wide, biting directly at the big formation. The formation rippled violently, but the bl**d Snake Clan’s attack didn’t stop. The tongue, holding the venomous fangs, secreted purple-red poison mist, continuously corroding the formation.
As the poison mist ate away at parts of the formation, those sections weakened.
“Attack!”
A strong member of the bl**d Snake Clan shouted. Emanating demon qi, their eyes glowing red with primal rage, they rushed toward the weakened points of the formation.
Facing the beast’s assault, city cultivators had no choice but to confront them, quickly forming a bloody melee.
Little Qi clutched her weapons, watching the chaos unfold. Since Tian Jian Sect disciples lacked city-defense experience, their situation wasn’t looking good—they probably wouldn’t hold out for long.
Disabling the snake’s head overhead was impossible; fortunately, the goal was merely to delay until reinforcements arrived. She retreated into the city, swiftly ran to the wall, and prepared her weapons.
Thanks to Bai Feng, she had learned some basics about the big formation. Bai Feng had told her much, and with his teachings, she judged that though the formation looked fragile now, as long as the formation’s nodes remained intact, it could hold for quite some time. The bl**d Snake Clan would likely send some monsters to force their way inside and damage the important nodes—that was her only chance to stall until help arrived.
