As for dealing with real enemies… This formation didn’t have much killing power.
Its use was to activate the tokens on cultivators, so it could only be used on their own people.
It was only in front of Hua Jian that they had to use the name ‘exile formation’ to hide the formation’s true purpose.
“Then control her first! You few, use the Locking Spirit Formation!”
“Understood!”
Three black-clothed cultivators surrounded Hua Jian and threw several differently colored Spiritual Light Chains above her head.
The Spiritual Light Chains intertwined in the sky, transforming in an instant into a massive net of chains that crashed down towards Hua Jian.
Seeing this, Hua Jian instantly understood their intention. Since they couldn’t break through her defenses, they were resorting to other methods to deal with her!
She immediately used the Flying Flower Evasion technique to escape the net’s coverage.
However, the black-clothed cultivators outside were closely watching her movements.
The moment they saw her use the evasion technique, they unleashed a barrage of Spirit Techniques towards her possible escape routes, forcibly knocking her out of the evasion state.
Everyone understood the principle: evasion techniques weren’t intangibility; they couldn’t avoid damage.
Forced out of her evasion state, Hua Jian had no other choice.
After a series of frantic dodges and maneuvers in the air, she was still caught by the cultivators’ chain net over her head.
This chain net was exceptionally sturdy. Once ensnared, Hua Jian couldn’t break free despite using all her strength.
Even her vines struggled to pierce the chains to absorb their power. As for trying to snap the chains with her vines? That was pure fantasy.
Slicing at the net with her Spiritual Sword also caused minimal damage. The small gaps she managed to cut quickly repaired themselves automatically.
Hua Jian was utterly helpless against this net.
She could only watch as the black-clothed cultivators formed a circle around her and began performing a strange ritual.
The space around her seemed to start vibrating irregularly. She felt the Token hanging at her waist being stirred by some force, as if trying to pull her towards an unknown destination.
She remembered what the black-clothed cultivators had said earlier: this formation was an ‘Exile Formation’. So, they found her too tough to crack and planned to directly exile her?
To be honest, that was a very sensible choice. If you can’t chew a hard bone, you go around it.
But for the hard bone itself, this wasn’t very friendly.
The sense of spatial separation grew heavier. Hua Jian felt she would be completely sent away from this place at any moment.
Everything before her eyes seemed to split into two completely different halves: one half was the Secret Realm she currently saw, and the other half… seemed to be a tiny, round sphere.
In a darkness that seemed capable of devouring everything, this small sphere nestled beside a massive sphere, around which were many other similar small spheres.
But this particular small sphere seemed different. Its surface appeared to be covered with several pitch-black, vine-like shadows. Hua Jian strained to see them clearly but found it impossible.
Would she only see the true form of those shadows when she was completely exiled?
Hua Jian took a deep breath, resigning herself to the outcome of an early exit, when a wave of scorching heat suddenly rushed into her Array of Bewilderment from outside.
The black-clothed cultivators performing the formation never expected such a backstab at this critical moment.
Caught completely off guard, they were struck squarely by the sneak attack.
“Hahaha! This Li-Huo Grand Formation was prepared just for you!” A girl’s voice came from outside the formation.
The world before Hua Jian’s eyes returned to normal.
She quickly looked outside the formation and saw that Xia Hui, who had gone to fetch reinforcements, had returned with a group of people.
Behind Xia Hui was a massive, blazing formation.
Li-Huo… Grand Formation?
Standing on the scorched, burning plain, Hua Jian was momentarily stunned.
Then, she remembered the origin of this formation. Wasn’t this thing used to burn the vines on the stone pillars in the Flower Sea Forbidden Zone? How could it be used here?
Before she could figure it out, a streak of Thunderlight pierced into the Array of Bewilderment, charging towards the black-clothed cultivators who had been caught off guard by the Li-Huo Grand Formation.
Hua Jian only saw a flash of lightning instantly appear beside the black-clothed cultivators, followed by a massive barrage of falling thunderbolts from the sky.
The rumbling explosions completely blocked her view.
This combo was executed masterfully. Hua Jian was like bait used to gather monsters.
After she grouped the black-clothed cultivators together, her teammates, positioned behind her, unleashed various AoE attacks, bombarding the gathered enemies.
After the two large-scale damage spells were unleashed, Xia Hui led the Li-Huo Grand Formation forward to press the attack.
The Thunderlight also revealed its true form—it was our Saintess.
Because the black-clothed men’s spellcasting was interrupted, the chain net covering Hua Jian lost its Spiritual Power supply and quickly dissipated into spiritual energy.
Apart from feeling a bit dizzy, Hua Jian wasn’t harmed.
The black-clothed cultivators who survived the two waves of AoE glared helplessly at Linglong, who had disrupted things at the critical moment.
Just a little more time, and they could have completely removed Hua Jian, this unstable element, from the Secret Realm!
“No choice, retreat!”
Their power was currently restricted, and they had been struck first. It was already difficult to defeat the reinforcement team led by Linglong.
Moreover, this Li-Huo Grand Formation was no simple matter.
That massive fireball just now had severely burned several of them, and it took tremendous effort to extinguish the flames on their bodies.
With this formation on the opposing side, sending Hua Jian away was now impossible.
Since the situation was hopeless, it was best to retreat quickly and report the situation to the outside.
The black-clothed cultivators repeated their old trick, throwing out pitch-black smoke bombs to disrupt everyone’s vision.
By the time the smoke cleared, they had fled far away.
Their slippery escape disappointed Linglong.
She had hoped to capture a few more of the black-clothed men here, but the other side only lost some puppets and managed to retreat successfully.
What a pity.
“Trying to show off by yourself, you almost got killed, didn’t you?”
Walking up to Hua Jian, Linglong reached out and pulled the still-kneeling Hua Jian to her feet, letting Hua Jian lean against her.
“They only used that cheating method because they couldn’t handle me! If they hadn’t, I could have worn them down by myself!”
“My eyes aren’t blind. If it weren’t for the Spiritual Garment the Venerable gave you, you’d have died who knows how many times already.”
Supporting Hua Jian as they walked towards the Li-Huo Grand Formation, Linglong pointed a finger at Hua Jian’s chest, speaking without any courtesy.
Hua Jian fell silent for a moment.
Hadn’t Linglong just arrived? How did she know what Hua Jian looked like during the earlier beating?
Wait, something’s wrong!
“You were already here, weren’t you?!” Hua Jian looked at Linglong as if betrayed.
Linglong had been at the scene while Hua Jian was being ganged up on.
She had watched Hua Jian get beaten by these black-clothed cultivators and only came to the rescue at the last moment?
Wasn’t this trying to stage a heroic rescue to win her over?
“Xia Hui told me to wait a bit before acting, to let you gather all the black-clothed cultivators first, then use the Li-Huo Grand Formation to catch them off guard.”
As they spoke, they had already reached the front of the Li-Huo Grand Formation.
Xia Hui, standing in the main caster’s position, quickly ran out of the formation and took Hua Jian’s other arm from Linglong.
The grand formation automatically dissipated as the main caster left.
The cultivators who had formed the array were now looking at Hua Jian with rather strange expressions.
They had also seen how Hua Jian fought against the black-clothed cultivators.
One could only say Hua Jian’s fighting style was somewhat beyond their imagination.
Especially when fighting the puppets, Hua Jian’s stabbing attacks at the puppets’ chests made them feel a chill in their own hearts, as if Hua Jian wasn’t stabbing puppets but them.
Hua Jian was simply too strong, and her strength was so bizarre.
Linglong was also strong, but her strength was still within the human category. At least she fought with two arms and two legs.
But when Hua Jian fought… the number of arms seemed a bit excessive.
“What are you all looking at? This is Miss Hua Jian’s Special Constitution! Are people not allowed to be exceptionally talented?”
Seeing the cultivators’ impolite gazes, Xia Hui immediately stepped forward to speak up for Hua Jian.
The scolded cultivators quickly lowered their heads, but the murmurs in their hearts couldn’t be stopped.
“Alright, alright, all of you, quickly leave the Forbidden Land’s area. Staying here too long will cause poisoning.”
Seeing the cultivators lower their heads, Xia Hui continued to order them around.
This wasn’t a lie. Before leading these cultivators here, she had made everyone take Antidote Pills. But judging by the current situation, the pills’ effects weren’t very good.
She and Linglong weren’t affected by the intoxicating fragrance in the Forbidden Land and could stay here to protect Hua Jian.
This also meant there would be no one to supervise these returning cultivators on their way back.
So, what would they think on their way back?
And after returning, hearing the rumors from the other side that Hua Jian was a bad person, would they connect what they personally witnessed with the rumors?
Xia Hui thought it was highly likely they would.
And that was precisely her goal!
The cultivators who had been called over just to throw a big fireball felt somewhat dissatisfied, thinking this trip was a waste of effort.
They had originally hoped to achieve merit, but ended up accomplishing nothing.
They just formed an array and threw a big fireball—and even that fireball wasn’t thrown by them but by Xia Hui. Their role was merely as human batteries.
Although they previously had no friction with Hua Jian, this incident ultimately left them feeling a bit unhappy.
At this moment, the Sword Hero, who had been idling outside the Array of Bewilderment, finally showed up.
He first ran to Hua Jian’s side to inquire about her injuries, then volunteered to escort the people who had come to help on Hua Jian’s behalf.
“I wasn’t able to help you earlier, Miss Hua Jian, and I feel truly uneasy. Please allow me to escort these brave warriors for you!”
After saying this, without waiting for Hua Jian’s response, he ran towards the cultivators who had already left, shouting as he joined them.
Watching the Sword Hero’s joyful back, which resembled a dog seeing a feast, Hua Jian instinctively felt this person might be up to something.
“His behavior is a bit off…”
“Indeed. I’ll go see what medicine he’s selling in his gourd.”
Xia Hui immediately nodded, pushing Hua Jian into Linglong’s arms, indicating she could help Hua Jian investigate the situation.
“Her behavior is off too…”
Watching the two leave one after the other, Hua Jian felt that both of them were completely off.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.