Chapter 10: Cunning Villain

The old man, begging for mercy, slapped two treasured protective talismans onto himself.

Chen Mobai, who had just witnessed the old man's ruthless attack on his companion, hesitated for only a moment before gritting his teeth and activating both of his Green Arrow Talismans. Simultaneously, five colorful, glowing beads rose behind him.

"Behold my Green Arrow Talismans!"

Recalling the old man's cunning ambush on the brown-robed youth, Chen Mobai decided that the old man was a suspicious and treacherous villain, and thus attempted a feint. Ostensibly, the two Green Arrow Talismans erupted simultaneously, unleashing ten spiritual energy arrows towards the old man, who was now covered by yellow and blue defensive shields. Covertly, Chen Mobai also manipulated five glass beads, making them emit dazzling five-element spiritual energy fluctuations, making them look like magical artifacts.

As expected, the old man's face showed suspicion.

He hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth, trusting his many years of combat experience to make what he believed was the correct judgment. He thought Chen Mobai's overtly launched Green Arrow Talismans were a feint, and that the true killing blow would be the silent yet dazzling five-element spiritual energy emanating from the five bead-like magical artifacts.

In the end, he activated both of his life-saving, Mid-Grade Tier 1 defensive talismans, using them to withstand the ten spiritual energy arrows. Simultaneously, the old man flung out the black banner, activating the water spiritual energy that the Azure Water Grand Formation could still control. This energy transformed into surging currents that swept forth, enveloping the multicolored glass beads flying in from another direction.

"Eh!?"

But unexpectedly, as soon as Chen Mobai's flying colorful beads touched the spiritual energy currents, they crumbled like plaster powder, scattering into dust.

"Damn it, I fell for it! This kid is so cunning!"

No sooner had this thought crossed the old man's mind than the ten long green arrows, imbued with most of Chen Mobai's spiritual power, consecutively struck the two defensive talismans in front of him. The powerful impact force caused the old man, who was resisting the protective shields, to retreat step by step. The yellow and blue light shields flickered like light bulbs with insufficient power.

The old man was only at the third level of Qi Condensation. Although he had extensive combat experience and decent resources, without the enhancement of the Water Mansion Grand Formation, and having fallen into the trap of over-reliance on experience, he had been outmaneuvered by Chen Mobai. At this moment, the spiritual energy in his Dantian was nearly drained by the two defensive talismans. But at this point, even if he couldn't hold on, he had to endure.

The old man took out a bottle of spiritual energy recovery pills. Disregarding waste or side effects, he swallowed them all in one gulp. His face turned crimson, but his spiritual energy fluctuations suddenly increased by a significant margin. The yellow and blue light shields also seemed to have received sufficient spiritual energy and began operating at full power.

Bang! Bang! Bang! ...

Seven consecutive long green spiritual energy arrows were blocked, their power exhausted, and they dissipated. The yellow light shield on the old man's body also reached its limit, dissolving into a yellow glow on the ground and vanishing.

However, at this moment, the old man's face showed joy because, based on his many years of combat experience, he had calculated that his other water-attribute defensive talisman could completely block the remaining three spiritual energy arrows. He had, after all, previously managed to reverse the situation and kill a Fifth-Level Qi Condensation cultivator while only being at the Third Level.

Just as the old man began to ponder how to counterattack and kill Chen Mobai to claim the Water Mansion for himself, he suddenly realized something.

"No, wait! This kid was planning against me from the start!"

The old man tried to adjust his position, but it was too late. Chen Mobai's spiritual energy erupted, unleashing the remaining power of the Green Arrow Talismans. The three green arrows heavily struck the blue light shield on the old man's body, pushing him back another three steps. It was these three steps that caused the old man's back to brush against the stone door of the side hall in the center of the Water Mansion.

The dark blue lightning prohibition was triggered. To the old man's despair, it shattered his blue light shield, which still had most of its power, then penetrated his body without hindrance, tearing him apart amidst his screams.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Chen Mobai was breathing heavily, not only due to the exhaustion of spiritual energy within his body, but also because it was the first time he had witnessed a living person die right before his eyes. Although he had seen such scenes countless times in movies and TV shows, never before had he felt such an indescribable shock. His mind went blank. Although neither person was killed by him directly, he was indirectly involved in both deaths.

In a daze, Chen Mobai plopped down onto the ground.

He didn't know how much time had passed until a fish, eyes rolled back, landed at his feet with a splash, finally bringing Chen Mobai back to his senses. One of the formation flags of the Azure Water Grand Formation had been broken by his Green Arrow Talismans, creating a breach. The opening created by the old man now seemed permanent; it hadn't sealed itself. This particular fish, while drifting in the water, was lucky enough to dart into this opening. Then, deprived of the water's protection, it flopped with all its might to Chen Mobai's side, rolled its eyes, and died.

"I need to find a way to repair this defensive formation," Chen Mobai muttered to himself. He still didn't know where he was. According to the old man, it was a place called "Eastern Barrens," a lawless place. If others discovered this Water Mansion, Chen Mobai felt reasoning with them would surely be futile. Therefore, it would be best to repair the Azure Water Grand Formation and hide the Water Mansion once more.

However, the art of formations was notoriously difficult to master. Among the four cultivation arts—techniques, elixirs, artifacts, and formations—Chen Mobai had worked diligently on all of them, but his results were generally mediocre.

He walked up to the formation flag he had broken, wrapped it with rope, and set it upright again. However, it was useless. With a sigh, Chen Mobai spotted the black banner the old man had used to crush the glass beads. A flash of insight struck him. Using his levitation technique, he remotely manipulated the black banner, drawing it over to replace the broken formation flag.

He waited for a quarter of an hour, but there was still no reaction.

Chen Mobai racked his brain, recalling all the knowledge about formations he had learned in class. He finally remembered an example his teacher had given: a formation was like a precise machine; after fixing a problem and replacing parts, it needed spiritual energy to reactivate, much like new equipment needs to be powered on for a test run.

Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment. After all, he wasn't a professional formation master, and he feared that this activation step might be dangerous. But thinking of the immense benefit the Mid-Grade Tier 2 spiritual land of the Water Mansion had provided him for the past three days, he gritted his teeth and decided to risk it.

He infused a stream of spiritual energy into the black banner. Still no reaction.

"No, wait," he thought, "activation should be done at the main formation flag." Chen Mobai remembered another piece of knowledge. He walked to the central formation core in the front hall and poured in his spiritual energy. Then, to his delight, the opening in the Azure Water Grand Formation slowly began to shrink until it finally vanished.

It worked, just as he thought.