Mo Tiange paused, carefully examining the rock wall for a long moment, running her hands over its surface.
Qin Xi stopped beside her. "What is it?"
After another moment of close observation, Mo Tiange said, "Something's wrong here."
Hearing this, Qin Xi stepped closer, but the rock wall still displayed only its naturally irregular patterns.
Seeing his questioning look, Mo Tiange pointed at the lines of the patterns. "Do you remember what the other patterns looked like?"
Qin Xi shook his head. "I'm not well-versed in formations. I can't see it."
Mo Tiange explained, "They seem meaningless at first glance, but in reality, there's a layer of blurry spellwork on top. It's actually depicting the eight trigrams orientation."
"The eight trigrams?" Qin Xi frowned. "You mean the problem lies with this rock wall?"
Mo Tiange nodded. "Exactly. If I'm not mistaken, this is the Eight Gates Life-Death Array from Qimen Dunjia."
"The Eight Gates Life-Death Array," Qin Xi murmured, his brow furrowing deeper. Suddenly, he said, "Then, if we find the Gate of Life and the Gate of Opening, we can leave this array?"
"That's the theory, yes," Mo Tiange replied, "but it's not that absolute in practice. In high-level formations, the eight gates can even shift and become elusive. I only just noticed the clues of this array now, which shows it's not simple. Whether we can actually find the Gate of Life... I'm not confident."
"Regardless, we have to try."
Mo Tiange nodded. "True. Failure is better than being trapped here. Not capturing a single token wouldn't count as a victory anyway." After carefully confirming once more, she said, "This is the Zhen position. It seems to be the Gate of Injury, which belongs to wood. I cultivate wood-attribute techniques. Let me try."
Hearing this, Qin Xi stepped aside to give her space.
Mo Tiange positioned herself before the rock wall, summoned her Azure Wood Sword, channeled Spiritual Qi into the blade, and then fiercely directed the sword to strike the wall. The moment the sword met the rock, a layer of light shimmered across the surface, blocking the attack. Seeing this, Mo Tiange mobilized all the Spiritual Qi in her body and pressed forward without retreating. Finally, the layer of light was pierced by the sword and vanished. As the Azure Wood Sword touched the rock wall, the wall suddenly exploded. In an instant, the scenery changed, and they stood before another rock wall, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion, with the wall perfectly intact.
Mo Tiange, however, smiled. "The Gate of Injury is broken. This is... the Li position, the Gate of Scenery in the Li palace, belonging to fire." She frowned in difficulty. "I'm not proficient in fire-attribute spells; I only know a few fireballs. Senior Brother Qin, what about you?"
Qin Xi said, "I specialize in metal and fire attributes. I'll handle this one."
Relieved, Mo Tiange stepped back. She saw Qin Xi take a sword from his Qiankun Bag and draw it. Seeing this sword, Mo Tiange couldn't help but be startled. The sword was entirely golden, as if melted in fire, with an astonishing aura. Compared to her Azure Wood Sword, its presence was immeasurably stronger—it was actually a Magical Treasure!
It wasn't that she had never seen a Magical Treasure before. Back then, Ye Jingwen had given her the Spirit-Connecting Jade Pendant to conceal her constitution, which was a Magical Treasure. And over half a year ago, when she had killed that man from the An family in self-defense, she had obtained the Soul-Bewitching Lamp, also a Magical Treasure. However, that Spirit-Connecting Jade Pendant had no other functions besides concealing her aura and purifying Spiritual Qi, and the Soul-Bewitching Lamp was an illusion-type treasure that looked quite ordinary. It was nothing like this sword before her, which exuded overwhelming power.
Qin Xi channeled his Spiritual Qi, and the sword was swung out in a seemingly plain and unremarkable manner. Yet, with a "boom," the defensive spell on the rock wall was shattered without any resistance, and the wall exploded. Once again, the two found themselves back in the initial scene.
Qin Xi sheathed his sword and glanced at her. "I obtained this sword with great difficulty. If others were to know about it, I would have no peace. Please, Junior Brother Ye, help me conceal this. Don't tell anyone."
Mo Tiange understood perfectly well what a flying sword Magical Treasure represented. If she were to take out the Soul-Bewitching Lamp in her possession, who knew how many cultivators would covet it, let alone this sword. No wonder Qin Xi never took out this sword in front of others. A common man's innocence is his own crime when he possesses a treasure. If others knew, how could a mere Qi Refining cultivator protect such a Magical Treasure?
Mo Tiange nodded understandingly. "Senior Brother Qin, rest assured. We need to work together to escape. Once we get out of here, I'll act as if I saw nothing today."
Qin Xi smiled slightly, and this smile made Mo Tiange stare blankly for a moment. Having known him for so long, she had never seen him smile. He was already handsome, but with this smile, his elegance and grace were even more captivating, making it hard to look away.
Only when she saw his questioning expression did Mo Tiange hurriedly avert her gaze, inwardly annoyed with herself. Really, it wasn't as if she had never seen a man before. She had been disguised as a boy and mingling among men for a long time, yet she had stared at a man until she was dazed.
To cover up her lapse, she quickly turned her attention back to the patterns on the rock wall.
"Dui, the Gate of Shock, belonging to metal."
Qin Xi stepped forward. "I'll handle it."
It was still that same sword, now coated with a layer of metallic aura. Qin Xi activated the Spiritual Qi upon it, and in an instant, the Gate of Shock was broken.
This time, Mo Tiange was overjoyed. Because the rock wall before them had changed. The surrounding walls shifted rapidly, and in a flash, the passage sandwiched between the walls transformed into a stone chamber.
The two activated their defensive spells and cautiously walked inside.
Surveying their surroundings, they found the stone chamber to be very tall and quite spacious. Only in one corner stood a shelf with a few scattered items.
After circling the shelf once and finding no traces of any array restrictions, Mo Tiange reached out and took a book made of animal hide.
"Qimen Dunjia," she said, flipping it open. Sure enough, it was a book describing formations.
Qin Xi picked up another book and let out a soft "Huh?"
Mo Tiange looked at him. "What is it?"
Qin Xi showed her the cover. "This Golden Body Art is an advanced body-refining technique from our sect. I inquired about it before. This manual is kept in the most secretive room of the Wanfa Pavilion. It's said only Ancestors at the Core Formation stage or above are allowed to read it."
Mo Tiange recalled that he also cultivated body-refining techniques. It seemed he was indeed very interested in this.
Qin Xi flipped through it once and said to her, "Junior Brother Ye, this book is extremely useful to me. Regarding the things here, this book goes to me, and you can have everything else. How about that?"
This body-refining technique was of little use to Mo Tiange. On the other hand, the formation book in her hands was no less valuable to her than the body-refining art was to Qin Xi. She had originally been thinking that even if all these items went to Qin Xi, she would try to exchange for this book. Now, Qin Xi was willing to give up the other items, so she naturally had no reason to refuse.
Besides these two books, there were several other books and jade slips, as well as two jade bottles. One book was about alchemy, the others were cultivation insights. The jade bottles didn't contain any particularly good pills, just Spirit Cleansing Pills. Some pills leave pill poison when consumed, and Spirit Cleansing Pills are used to remove that poison; they aren't very valuable. Without a guilty conscience, Mo Tiange swept all the remaining items into her own Qiankun Bag.
"What kind of place is this, really? It's as if someone deliberately set up this array to leave these as rewards for us."
Qin Xi said, "It's possible it really was left behind by a senior from our sect. These things aren't important to them. It seems like a reward for disciples who break the array."
As they spoke, sounds came from outside the stone chamber, as if someone was approaching.
Mo Tiange and Qin Xi exchanged a glance, each taking out their spiritual weapons and activating their defensive spells, their eyes fixed on the chamber entrance.
At that moment, the sounds at the entrance became clear. Several cultivators dressed in yellow robes barged in.