Those were the first questions that popped into everyone’s mind.


    But the moment he took his first step, Zhao Yunxiao froze and fell back to one knee, unable to resist his disorientating surroundings.


    He realised that even his spiritual sense was also starting to be affected by the illusion technique. And with his physical senses warping crazily, there was no longer a way to tell left from right, not to mention identify the direction of the entrance!


    His original plan had been to let his clone block the unknown boy while he temporarily escaped the scene, coming back to rescue Nie Hanchang and Lou Yuan after carefully analysing the situation.


    However, his clones relied on nothing but spiritual sense. Now that spiritual sense was being blocked, his clone had absolutely no way to make a move, either!


    “


    There were still a few moments before the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array ran out of energy, and Zhao Yunxiao was not about to let that go to waste.


    The illusion technique might have affected his senses, but it was much more difficult to deceive a killing array!


    Unfortunately, even that was all in vain.


    “Cute.”


    The boy simply remained nonchalant, simply watching on indifferently as the giant tortoise heads clamped down upon him, and the next moment revealed exactly why. Despite their menacing appearance, the giant tortoise heads bit down on nothing but air, as though the boy was a completely intangible figure that existed outside of reality.


    It would appear that even the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array was unable to cause any damage to the boy!


    Zhao Yunxiao could not help but break out in a cold sweat.


    Whoever this boy was, they were almost completely at his mercy right now!


    “Who are you? What do you want?” Zhao Yunxiao finally stopped trying to escape and asked.


    In any case, escape was impossible.


    With his vision distorted and his spiritual sense blocked, he could not even accurately locate the direction of the prairie entrance, so what chances of escape were there?


    Fine, he actually still had the spatial escape talisman that he had gotten from Elder He, but Zhao Yunxiao’s heart ached just from the thought of using it.


    Until the very last moment, he would definitely refrain from expending such a precious item!


    “You can call me Hua Xian. I guess you can say that I am a fairymist flower who gained enlightenment,” the boy answered with a faint smile. “That said, do you know how many of my friends have been crushed to death as a result of your fight? As their leader, don’t you think I have the responsibility to avenge them?”


    Zhao Yunxiao frowned at the unexpected situation.


    He had accounted for various scenarios that could possibly occur here in Ghost Fog Valley, but who would have imagined that a fairymist flower would have gainedenlightenment and turned into a flower demon that specialised in illusion techniques?


    This was something that would not have happened even once in thousands of years!


    Zhao Yunxiao recalled how Old Niu had been charging into bush after bush of fairymist flowers earlier, and it was not surprising that plenty of flowers had been crushed under his weight.


    Unfortunately, they could hardly absolve themselves from all responsibilities, either. After all, they had also been deliberately leading Old Niu into the bushes while dodging around earlier, hoping that doing so would delay him even one or two moments longer.


    We sincerely apologise. We truly did not know that this place is under your charge,” Zhao Yunxiao said with as calm a tone as he could muster. “However, the true culprit here is still Old Niu. We are willing to hand him over to you, and you can do whatever you want with him.”


    Oh? Those are some interesting words considering how you were just saying that Ghost Fog Valley is unclaimed territory,” Hua Xian snickered. “And don’t worry, I will definitely be taking him. However, you lot will be coming along as well.”


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    “


    “


    Zhao Yunxiao instinctively looked in the direction of Lou Yuan’s voice. He could barely make out Lou Yuan’s figure through his distorted senses, but the latter seemed to be standing straight up instead of kneeling on the ground for support like he and Nie Hanchang.


    Was his spiritual sense so strong that even the illusion technique could not block it completely?


    What a shame!


    If Lou Yuan had combat capabilities like a regular cultivator, he might actually be able to help them out in this situation!


    But then again, this was still something that could come in handy. He just had to come up with a way to use this to their advantage.


    Zhao Yunxiao probed his spatial pouch.


    Good, his spiritual sense might be blocked out in the open, but he was at least able to access the items in his spatial pouch.


    Next, he had to ensure that he was not under the threat of immediate danger.


    “Fertilisers? That does sound like a tempting offer, but what guarantee do I have that you will return after I let you go?” Hua Xian shook his head with a faint smile. “On top of that, what fertiliser could possibly be better than the corpses of cultivators? By absorbing your bodies, my companions might even be able to touch upon the brink of enlightenment, joining me in gaining sentience!”


    “W-What? Fertiliser? Us?” Lou Yuan staggered back in shock.


    What’s wrong with the inhabitants of this Ghost Fog Valley?


    Old Niu was crazy enough to covet their flesh and blood, but this Hua Xian was no different!


    “That might be true for higher ranked cultivators, but our cultivation level is not nearly high enough to have such a huge impact,” Zhao Yunxiao was significantly calmer despite being in a worse condition than Lou Yuan. “If you don’t believe me, I can prove it to you as well.”


    Zhao Yunxiao pulled a dagger out of his spatial pouch, then cut a small slit on his thumb.


    Drip-!


    What are you trying to prove?” Hua Xian scoffed. “If you are trying to let me sense the essence in your blood, I’ve already had plenty of chance to do so earlier. Do you think you haven’t bled enough?”


    If that’s the case, I’m sure you already know that our bodies will be far from nutritious enough to grant enlightenment to your companions,” Zhao Yunxiao answered.


    Thankfully, he could not only feel the touch of the dagger, but also an aching pain at the spot where he had cut his thumb, which indicated that his sense of touch and sensitivity to pain were still working properly.


    After all, who knew what this illusion technique was capable of?


    The last thing he wanted was to continue engaging with Hua Xian, oblivious to a plant root or any other weapon that was slowly drilling into his body and crushing his heart!


    On the other hand, had he not been able to sense any pain, Zhao Yunxiao would have used that spatial escape talisman without missing a beat!


    It’s not just him! My body is not nutritious as well!” Lou Yuan desperately added.


    That doesn’t matter,” Hua Xian shrugged. “There is a long road ahead. Even if you prove insufficient to close out the entire journey, you can still do your part by helping to bridge a dozen steps.”


    “


    The spirit stones shone brightly, and the light from the golden emblem on the ground intensified once again.


    As opposed to doing so through the array nodes, this was an extremely ineffective way of feeding energy to the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it.


    It was impossible for Zhao Yunxiao to locate the array nodes in his current state, so this was the best he could do to extend the duration of the array, which was quickly coming to an end due to its depleting energy source.


    Don’t you ever learn? That thing doesn’t work against me,” Hua Xian tilted his head in confusion. “You humans really aren’t nearly as smart as you think you are.”


    “


    Hmm, that does make sense,” Hua Xian nodded. “All right, I’ll let you go now as long as you promise to come back with all the treasures you have within a week’s time.”


    “


    Sigh, do you really think I am a fool? If I were to let you go, would I even see you again after a thousand years?” Hua Xian shook his head in disapproval. “All right, enough talk. It is time to act like the fertilisers that you are, and return to the ground in silence.”


    Thick plant roots broke out of the ground surface, slithering towards the trio like wooden snakes. Or perhaps it should be the quartet if one included the motionless Old Niu.


    But right now, the young trio could no longer even see clearly, so how could they ever avoid these roots?


    And just as the roots came into striking distance, they suddenly shot forward, wrapping around them in an instant.


    “


    “


    He was not a masochist, so he was definitely not feeling excited about being bound by the roots. Rather than that, it was just that being bound like this actually allowed him to realise something important.