Chapter 847: Seven Vendors and Six Yamen Runners
His pupils shrank sharply, becoming as small as mung beans, surging with boundless vigilance and fury.
Someone had discovered him.
He didn't know who it was, nor what method they had used to pinpoint his location within such a vast estate. But as a descendant of the Yellow Spring Sect, he was extremely sensitive to danger. Even Zhe Xiu and Nan Ke were slightly inferior to him in this regard. He clearly sensed an ill omen.
Without any need for thought, he acted on instinct like a wild beast, immediately attempting to escape using the Earth Escape Technique.
A dull thud sounded deep within the rockery. The moss-covered stones cracked apart and tumbled down.
Chu Su failed to leave. He remained standing in place, his head, face, and body covered in stone chips and dirt, a faint look of bewilderment on his face.
What was going on?
...
...
The moment those two fortune-tellers confirmed Chu Su's identity, the attack had already begun.
On the wrists of the seven vendors were strings of copper coins.
The thin cords broke without any wind, carrying fragments of snow, falling onto the sand table, crashing down upon those miniature pavilions, towers, and buildings that seemed real, only shrunk countless times.
At the same time, the banner in the other fortune-teller's hand suddenly straightened.
The wind and snow howled fiercely. The large banner fluttered and flapped wildly.
It was like a great flag.
Countless waves suddenly surged in the Wen River. Even the deepest aquatic plants began to writhe wildly, and countless fish fled in terror in all directions.
A tremor originating from deep underground rapidly transmitted to the surface. The ground on both banks of the Wen River shook violently.
Strangely, the estate buildings on the surface suffered no damage.
...
...
Countless screams erupted within the estate.
People who had been cursing incessantly moments before were now clutching their heads and running wildly in all directions.
Second Master Tang stood before the ruins that had been burned to scorched earth, imagining the serene beauty of Tonglu just moments earlier, still not moving a muscle.
He knew this tremor signified the activation of the formation.
Then he turned his head to look at a certain spot and muttered to himself, "They even sent the Five Kinds of People. Father, what exactly are you thinking?"
It seemed he didn't care at all about Chu Su's life or death, nor even whether Chu Su would be captured. Why was that?
...
...
The intricate formation left dormant for years by the Tang family on both banks of the Wen River was activated. Layers of ancient and weathered auras rose from beneath the ground, enveloping the estate.
Finding himself unable to escape via the Earth Escape Technique, Chu Su reacted with incredible speed, transforming into a gray shadow and darting swiftly towards the distant edge of the estate.
He had pushed his speed to the absolute limit. Even if Nan Ke were here, she could at most keep pace with him, not surpass him. Yet he still couldn't outrun the expansion speed of the formation. When he reached the estate's perimeter several li away, that luminous surface had already risen from the ground to the sky, forming a complete hemisphere with no gaps remaining.
Without a second thought, Chu Su slammed into that luminous surface, intending to break through it with his immensely tough body and lightning-fast speed.
With a soft hissing sound, a cloud of greenish-yellow smoke burst from the surface of his body.
Chu Su let out a pained grunt and retreated. He lowered his head to look at his body, seeing a deep gash where it had contacted the formation's luminous surface. Thick, viscous fluid was constantly oozing out, dripping onto the bluestone slabs with a sizzling sound, quickly corroding small holes into them.
He looked up at the luminous surface before him, realizing it would be difficult to break through directly, and let out a furious howl.
Since it was hard to breach the formation head-on, how could he break it? Naturally, by killing the one controlling it.
A fierce wind howled. The greenish-yellow smoke was blown away, dispersing in all directions, already diluted countless times.
Yet the flowers still blooming in the harsh winter withered upon contact, instantly poisoned to death.
Chu Su vanished from his spot.
A moment later, he appeared on the other side of the estate.
That is, by the Wen River.
He stared at the vendors and fortune-tellers on the opposite bank, a flicker of surprise passing through his cold, sinister eyes.
Their auras were clearly ordinary and unremarkable, so how could they control such a terrifying formation, break his concealment technique, and trap him here?
In this tense moment, he had no more time to ponder this question, only thinking about how to cross the Wen River and kill those people.
The formation covered both banks of the Wen River. That light barrier separating heaven and earth was deep within the estate, several li away.
In theory, he could easily cross the river and attack those controlling the formation.
But he saw it very clearly, and perceived it even more clearly: the most powerful Light Formation Eye was located precisely above the Wen River.
He was a descendant of the Yellow Spring Sect, the incarnation of the evil thoughts left behind after the previous Eternal Life Sect Master severed his corpse. His entire being was steeped in yin poison, his body and soul both filthy. Crossing the river would inevitably trigger the Light Formation Eye.
At that point, he would have to withstand the full force of the formation's power.
No matter how arrogant and cold-blooded he was, he wouldn't dare to pit his own body against the Tang family's grand formation.
He had to think of another way.
For any other school, a figure as inherently yin-poisoned and filthy as him would have absolutely no way to deceive the Light Formation Eye.
But since his birth, he had cultivated the most orthodox, most ancient Daoist orthodox divine arts, which precisely granted him this ability!
A string of words, vaguely resembling a Daoist gatha, with an ambiguous meaning, slowly emerged from between his lips and teeth.
He sat down cross-legged, forming the Lotus Seal, his expression solemn.
His hands, covered in black fur and scales, reached towards the sky where the wind and snow raged.
An indescribably sacred aura gradually seeped from his deformed, shriveled body, until it completely enveloped him.
It was like scorching magma encasing a black, cold stone.
No matter who looked, they would only see a bright, red-hot, supremely luminous surface, absolutely unable to see the true picture within.
Chu Su vanished into the infinite light above the Wen River.
Like a snowflake falling onto a snowy plain, a drop of water flowing into the ocean.
Thousands of rays of light scattered across the river's surface. Even though the wind and snow outside wailed mournfully, the Wen River seemed to have arrived at dusk, warm to the extreme.
But Chu Su's disappearance added an indescribable change to this scene.
The feeling was eerie, like a ghost entering the deepest darkness, impossible to find again.
More terrifyingly, if Chu Su used the thousands of light rays as cover to silently approach the opposite bank, how could those vendors and fortune-tellers possibly escape his ambush?
For some reason, even though those vendors and fortune-tellers had clearly seen the blood spot on the sand table disappear, and simultaneously watched Chu Su vanish into the light, possibly heading their way, their expressions remained indifferent, or rather wooden, showing absolutely no sign of concern.
Perhaps it was because one of them was also a ghost.
A ghost enters the deepest darkness, extremely hard to find. What if the one searching for it was also a ghost?
There are no true ghosts in the world, but to many, the yamen is hell, and the yamen runners are the ghosts who claim lives.
Six yamen runners appeared by the riverbank, standing about ten zhang apart.
Their bodies were wrapped in iron chains, and in their left hands they held water-and-fire staves.
Both the iron chains and the staves were very old, showing signs of countless years of use, covered in rust marks and bloodstains, exuding a murderous aura while also being incredibly sinister.
The thousands of light rays on the river fell upon them, yet still could not dispel the sinister killing intent emanating from the yamen runners.