Immortality Through Array Formations Chapter 2199 Chapter 1027: Shadows_3

"Let that arrogant and despicable brat finally face his retribution now!"

A voice rang out, praising, "Duanmu Fairy's abilities are truly unrivaled across the lands..." Another sighed with admiration, "Not just immensely powerful, but breathtakingly beautiful too."

"A vision of heavenly allure, pure and distant from the dust of the mortal realm."

"When will Duanmu Fairy ever cast her gaze upon me? A single glance would be my greatest dream..."

"Have you no shame at all?"

"Precisely..."

Yet some driven young prodigies voiced their aspirations with a mix of wistfulness and sorrow:

"In this lifetime, my sole desire is to challenge Duanmu Fairy during the Sword Discussion Conference, to display every bit of my cultivation before her, to face her in battle, and even if it means perishing by her blade, I would depart without a single regret..."

Their utterances held a flavor of reminiscence blended with poignant tragedy.

A cluster of sect disciples fantasized about clashing swords with the remote fairy who seemed perched upon an icy summit, free from the grime of the world.

They envisioned their Dao techniques merging in combat.

They pictured the stark yet hauntingly lovely image of falling to the fairy's strike, and couldn't suppress a flicker of jealousy and desire.

But shortly after, a voice delivered a stark reality:

"That dream of yours... it looks like little Mo Hua has gone and made it come true."

The revelation hit like a bucket of ice water, causing faces to sour instantly.

Mo Hua, the prodigy of their sect, had indeed crossed blades with the fairy.

He had even unleashed techniques against her.

And now, he was on the verge of meeting his end by her hand.

The very "dream" they coveted, that rascal Mo Hua only needed to "perish under Duanmu Qing's assault" to make it complete.

Certain young prodigies felt a nauseating twist in their guts, as if they'd swallowed a bug, a peculiar bitterness rising within.

Quite a few even pondered in silence:

"That Mo Hua kid could get slain by anybody, just not by Duanmu Fairy's hand, or it'd be far too merciful for him..."

Within the Sword Discussion arena.

Absorbed in the sword discussion, Mo Hua remained unaware of the emotional turmoil among the onlookers.

Still, he felt utterly baffled.

Wasn't she meant to be a "cold and aloof" fairy?

How come she was behaving like a "frenzied warrior", hounding him with lethal intent?

He muttered under his breath, wondering if it was truly worth it.

Could the impact of those mere four words really be so devastating?

Duanmu Qing ignored him completely, relentlessly bombarding Mo Hua's position with vast arrays of techniques, scouring the area clean.

Linghu Xiao yearned to lend Mo Hua support.

However, the more aloof a person's nature, the fiercer their resolve when provoked, defying all efforts to hold them back no matter the force applied.

Linghu Xiao's Sword Qi found itself completely overwhelmed by Duanmu Qing's barrage of spells.

In truth, he drew her ire as well, dragged into the expansive Wanxiao Magic onslaught with Mo Hua, pressed so hard he couldn't muster a counter.

Linghu Xiao truly grasped in that moment just how fearsome an enraged woman could be.

Cheng Mo and the rest fared no better, hammered by techniques from fellow Wanxiao Sect disciples, leaving them no breathing room.

As a result, the entire Taixu Gate lineup suffered utter suppression in the skirmish.

Meanwhile, Mo Hua tested various approaches, probing if techniques or arrays might shift the tide.

Yet every attempt only "infuriated" Duanmu Qing further, triggering even broader and more intense magical backlash.

As a premier talent among the Four Sects, Duanmu Qing possessed formidable strength to begin with.

Let alone in her current "enraged" state.

Mo Hua gave up, opting to simply endure.

As moments passed, Taixu Gate disciples fell one after another, drained and vanquished, ejected from the arena.

Linghu Xiao shot Mo Hua a final look filled with "resignation", before he too got "ousted."

Ultimately, Mo Hua stood alone.

True to his "unwavering resolve", Mo Hua saw no path to triumph, so he struck his brow, breaking the Dao Discussion Jade, accepting defeat and departing.

Duanmu Qing sought to snare Mo Hua with her spells.

A grand display of Wanxiao Five Elements Skill radiance swallowed Mo Hua whole.

Nevertheless, her invocation lagged just a fraction behind Mo Hua's speed. Prior to that, a blue glow enveloped him, his form blurred and vanished, already beyond the arena bounds.

Duanmu Qing fixed a frigid gaze on the void where Mo Hua had been, her tone profound and chilling:

"Next time, I will definitely end you...

"Mo Hua..."

Thus, the sword discussion reached its close.

Wanxiao Sect secured a decisive and gratifying triumph.

The spectators enjoyed a thrilling display of swordplay.

The sole imperfection was that the crafty, vile little Mo Hua hadn't perished yet again.

Reflecting on it, though, a mere Mo Hua didn't deserve to fall to Duanmu Fairy's blade, so most felt somewhat consoled.

Taixu Gate had been defeated.

The sect's cultivators experienced mild regret, yet not utter dejection.

Against a supreme prodigy like Duanmu Qing, their chances had always been exceedingly low, making loss inevitable.

They could only attribute it to misfortune.

They could only fault the Dao Discussion Heaven Instrument for dealing Taixu Gate such a poor draw.

Tallying it, they'd already faced three from the Qianxue Four Talents. These three earth-grade sword discussions were practically "doomed losses."

It felt like squandering three potential wins pointlessly.

Typically, fortune didn't sour this much.

But when luck turns that rotten, nothing helps; destiny can be so cruel that even sipping cool water risks chipping a tooth.

They surely couldn't blame the Dao Discussion Heaven Instrument itself.

Yet, what truly troubled Mo Hua about this sword discussion wasn't that.

Taixu Gate.

As night descended, within the disciples' quarters.

Mo Hua reclined on his bed, his thoughts lingering on Duanmu Qing.

Events from the day replayed vividly in his mind.

Particularly the instant he brushed past Duanmu Qing and met her eyes.

Duanmu Qing possessed striking beauty, and her eyes mirrored that allure.

Yet beneath their crystalline chill, upon deeper scrutiny, lurked a dense "darkness."

This darkness appeared somewhat hazy, as if imprinted upon the divine soul.

Mo Hua had been startled then, prompting him to warn her on impulse...

"Your Taoist Heart is corrupted."

However, Duanmu Qing's response proved excessively intense.

Those four words seemed to shatter her barriers.

Glimpsing some hidden truth in her psyche.

She even aimed to slay him right there... Utterly bizarre...

"What precisely is that shadowy darkness in her gaze..."

In the stillness of this late night, Mo Hua rested on his bed, meticulously reviewing the memory as his divine sense engaged in deduction, with threads of heavenly mechanism and causality stirring from his core.

After an indeterminate period, Mo Hua's heart jolted sharply; he bolted upright, face grave.

An idea struck him:

Yanzhi Boat!

The shadow beneath Duanmu Qing's eyes bore a striking resemblance to the Yanzhi Boat's essence, particularly the malevolent fetus's presence on the altar inside the Dragon King Temple.

Mo Hua's heart trembled:

"Has Duanmu Qing been aboard the Yanzhi Boat too?"

"Does she have ties to the Evil God as well?"

Such a pristine and austere fairy...

Mo Hua knit his brows, "Impossible...

But with causality at play, no matter how improbable the surface suggests, if the link persists, it demands recognition.

Furthermore, it didn't stop there.

Mo Hua pondered deeply, "Duanmu Qing ranks among the four elite talents of the Four Great Sects in the Qianxue territory..."

"If she's linked to the Yanzhi Boat, what of the other three?"

"Have Shen Linsu, Xiao Wuchen, and Ao Zhan also boarded the Yanzhi Boat?"

"Then... who might be the 'Young Master' referenced as the evil god's servant in the Valley of Ten Thousand Demons?"

"That Young Master entangled in the opium-like karmic bonds I witnessed by Mistwater River that night, who could he be?"

"Is he among these four?"

"Could it be... Shen Linsu?"

Mo Hua suspected Shen Linsu most strongly.

Especially given his Shen Family background and connections to the Qian Taoist Sect.

The other three, Duanmu Qing seemed likely tied to the Yanzhi Boat.

As for Xiao Wuchen and Ao Zhan, they probably harbored links too...

But...

Another doubt surfaced in Mo Hua's mind: "Why hadn't I noticed earlier?"

During the Sword Discussion Conference, he'd already encountered the three around Linsu.

And he'd met Shen Linsu before in Qingzhou City. If these four truly connected to the Yanzhi Boat, Dragon King Temple, or the evil fetus, they ought to carry the Evil God's aura.

With his own "origin" tied to the Great Wilderness Evil God, he should have perceived something.

Yet only now, by sheer chance, did he spot a hint in Duanmu Qing...

Why so?

Evil God... Or rather, what technique had Mr. Tu employed to mask these auras?

Masking them so thoroughly that even he, having absorbed the 'evil fetus' at Half-step God level, failed to sense them?

Mo Hua's forehead creased ever tighter.