novelSneak Attack at Night
| ← Ch.210 | Ch.212 → |
Translator: Minotauruz
Jun Xiaomo was unaware that the Heavenly Peak had already become a target in the group battles. But her constant vigilance for the unknown meant that she would habitually set up a large barrier protecting their campsites during the night.
These formation arrays used by Jun Xiaomo at night prevented the spread of their spiritual energy beyond the boundaries of the array, which in turn allowed them to remain concealed from smaller and weaker spiritual beasts or demonic beasts.
It was also for this very reason the Eternal Summit Sect's disciples had not been able to locate the whereabouts of the Heavenly Peak disciples. Jun Xiaomo's formation array had coincidentally thwarted the Eternal Summit Sect's attempts to locate them.
"Martial sister Xiaomo, you're too amazing. How are you so well-versed with these formation arrays and talismans?" An enchanting and beautiful female cultivator with a loud personality pressed her hand firmly on Jun Xiaomo's shoulder as she exclaimed.
This female cultivator was called Meng Huanqiu, and she was the leader of the Purple Hut Sect. Just like the Dragontiger Sect, the Purple Hut Sect disciples had been rescued by Jun Xiaomo and her team on the first day of the competition. As soon as they had been rescued, they insisted on travelling together with the Heavenly Peak disciples and following their lead.
There was another reason why the Purple Hut Sect's disciples had insisted on following the Heavenly Peak disciples apart from the fact that the Heavenly Peak disciples were their benefactor – and that was the fact that they were curious with Jun Xiaomo's proficiency with her formation arrays.
The Purple Hut Sect was well known for their formation arrays. That said, their disciples did not possess spectacular levels of cultivation, and this was one of the main reasons why they did not generally place well within the Secondary Inter-Sect Competitions. Jun Xiaomo was five years younger than Meng Huanqiu. Yet despite how Meng Huanqiu had immersed herself into the discipline of formation arrays ever since she was a little kid, Jun Xiaomo's grasp of formation arrays was far, far stronger than hers. Thus, while Meng Huanqiu was filled with admiration for Jun Xiaomo, she also wanted to peer into Jun Xiaomo's mind and see for herself whether she was one of the legendary geniuses in formation arrays.
And that was exactly what Meng Huanqiu had asked.
"Genius?" Jun Xiaomo chuckled, before shaking her head, "I'm not any sort of genius."
If not for her previous life's experience, she would undoubtedly be confuzzled by the discipline of formation arrays right now.
Meng Huanqiu glanced back at Jun Xiaomo – She's being modest.
Regardless, Meng Huanqiu had always enjoyed interacting with people who were well-versed and knowledgeable with the discipline of formation arrays. Thus, she decided to stick close to Jun Xiaomo.
Jun Xiaomo did not mind this either. With Meng Huanqiu frank and boisterous personality, Jun Xiaomo found their exchanges rather pleasant and enjoyable.
Night fell once more. The darkness of the night engulfed the marshlands. Sparse constellations surrounded the moon as they all hung high in the sky. The cool of the night washed away all their frustrations of the day.
Nights in the wilderness were invariably more dangerous than the day. Jun Xiaomo and the rest had never prioritized placing well during the group battles, so they would always set up their campsite when dusk fell, and they would rest wherever they were for the night.
Jun Xiaomo lay on a clean fur rug made of animal skin. She rested her head on her arms as she gazed into the night sky, letting her thoughts wander aimlessly on its own.
Two days had already lapsed. Once tomorrow was over, they would be able to successfully leave these competition grounds with their lives intact. She reflected on how they were initially incredibly resistant to He Zhang's idea of forcing them to participate in the group battles. That said, when they took things in their stride, they did benefit quite substantially from the last two days of these group battles.
Most importantly, they had forged deeper relations with other sects and earned their gratitude and friendship.
Jun Xiaomo was not an expert in personal relations. In fact, it could be said that none of the Heavenly Peak disciples were any good in this regard. This was also why the Heavenly Peak had established a reputation of harbouring cultivation fanatics to the outside world.
But she knew that if they were to establish their own sect, then it would be important to start building relationships with other sects. Otherwise, it would be difficult to properly establish themselves if they find themselves all alone when the time comes.
These group battles were a prime opportunity for them. Having experienced a lifetime of being on the backfoot, she no longer had much compassion or sympathy left for others. That said, she still could not find herself standing idly by and watching innocent people lose their lives in front of her very eyes.
Thus, if she could help it, she would help them. Fortunately, apart from their first encounter with the Crescentfell Sect, the other sects were far more normal. At the very least, they still knew how to show their appreciation and gratitude to their benefactors.
After rescuing some of these sects, they would thank the Heavenly Peak disciples before taking their leave. On other occasions, these sects that had been rescued would choose to stay behind and follow the Heavenly Peak disciples, just like the Dragontiger Sect and the Purple Hut Sect.
Jun Xiaomo did not mind them tagging along as long as these sects did not harbour any ill intentions towards the Heavenly Peak. In fact, their kind act might inadvertently sow the seed for a friendship between their sects and their promise for help in times of need. This would be an unintentional benefit to their sect as well.
I wonder what He Zhang and his old fogeys would think about this. Wouldn't they be so infuriated that they would be kicking themselves? A smile crept up the corner of Jun Xiaomo's lips.
He Zhang was indeed infuriated. He had not sacrificed his dear disciple Qin Lingyu's right to participate and just so that the Heavenly Peak disciples could stand out during this competition.
As things were right now, the Eternal Summit Sect stood at first place, while the Dawn Sect stood at second place in the standings. If other sects were in their shoes now, the prospects of obtaining second place in the group battles would almost certainly leave them overjoyed.
However, He Zhang could hardly find any joy in his heart to celebrate these achievements. The only thing he wanted to know was why the Du Clan Head had not made his move yet. He was anxious to see the Heavenly Peak disciples perish in the course of these battles.
He Zhang tapped his hands anxiously, and his brows were knitted tightly together.
The night grew darker, and Jun Xiaomo slowly drifted off into sleep amidst her layers of thoughts and considerations. Only a few disciples remained standing guard at the edge of their campsites as they observed their surroundings for any peculiarities or causes for concern.
Shk shk shk... The rustling sound of parting grass rang out, and one of the disciples standing guard immediately stood up vigilantly as he looked in the direction of the sound with furrowed his brows.
But he did not see anything with his naked eye in the dark of the night.
With soft steps, he slowly and cautiously approached the source of the sound to investigate just what was going on. Just then, a tiny spirit beast crept out from the foliage, shivered slightly, before scampering past the disciple.
"So, it's just a spirit beast. I was still concerned that it would be something more." The night guard muttered to himself before turning back to where he was and taking his seat once more.
The tiny spirit beast hardly possessed any offensive abilities, so it was fine letting it live and run freely wherever it wanted.
With that, the foliage was completely still and silent once more, as though nothing had happened at all. However, any members of the audience observing the water screen would discover that there was a team hidden in that foliage right now.
This team had been rescued by the Eternal Summit Sect on the second day of the competition and had from then on followed the Eternal Summit Sect's disciples. At this moment, they had been sent on a search and reconnaissance mission by Du Yongxu.
After all, it was about time that these sects that were tagging along be put to good use.
"Whew... that was close. We were almost discovered by that cultivator standing guard." One of the disciples hidden in the foliage patted his chest as he exclaimed in a soft voice.
These disciples had applied on themselves a high-quality Invisibility Talisman that concealed both their appearances and their voices. Thus, their exchange could not be heard by the disciples in the Heavenly Peak's campsite. That said, the Invisibility Talisman did not go so far as to block out the sound of the rustling grass when they walked through the foliage.
"That person earlier looked like he was from the Heavenly Peak, right?" The companion beside him spoke softly.
"It should be right this time. The emblem on his clothing is unmistakably the Dawn Sect's emblem."
Every sect possessed a unique emblem to identify them with, and the Dawn Sect was no exception to this. Apart from their respective sect's emblem marked on the identity token around their wrist, some disciples would even have emblems embroidered on their clothing.
It so happened that the disciple that came by earlier was from the Heavenly Peak and he wore the Dawn Sect's uniform with its emblem embroidered on it, and this was noticed by the scouts sent by the Eternal Summit Sect.
"This trip hasn't been wasted after all. Let's quickly report this news to the Eternal Summit Sect."
These scouts came from the Ashen Flats Sect, which was a Secondary Sect that was neither large nor small. Their overall abilities could be considered no more than average among all of the Secondary Sects, so they were naturally extremely content with becoming runners for the Eternal Summit Sect. In fact, it they firmly believed that it bade well for their future.
Thus, when they encountered Jun Xiaomo and the rest, they saw them as an opportunity to stand out and curry favor with the Eternal Summit Sect.
"Hang on. Let's report this to them tomorrow morning instead." One of the other members of the Ashen Flats Sect suggested.
"Why not now?"
"Don't you think that this is the prime opportunity to launch a sneak attack and seize them by surprise? All of them are asleep right now. We can capture all of them under the cover of the night, before giving the Eternal Summit Sect a pleasant surprise tomorrow morning. That would be even better, wouldn't it? This would save the Eternal Summit Sect some trouble from personally handling the matter as well."
His martial brother deliberated for a moment, before nodding his head in affirmation, "You're right. After all, the present team sent by the Dawn Sect only comprises only weak cultivators, the strongest of which is only at the eleventh level of Qi Mastery. On the other hand, we have two cultivators in the twelfth level of Qi Mastery – it should be more than enough to round up and capture all these cultivators here."
"Isn't that so? That's why I believe there's no need for the Eternal Summit Sect to personally move against these opponents to begin with.
They looked at each other before nodding at each other in tacit affirmation.
Both disciples that had just exchanged words were in the twelfth level of Qi Mastery, and they were both co-leaders of the Ashen Flats Sect. Once they had made their decision, they expressed their opinion to the rest of their team and made sure that nobody had any objections to that.
After all, none of them believed that the Dawn Sect's team would be difficult to deal with. And besides, they possessed some talismans that the Eternal Summit Sect had handed to them within their Interspatial Rings.
They believed that these talismans would essentially multiply their efforts and make the capture of their targets that much easier.
Thus, each of them began to retrieve and apply these talismans on themselves. Then, under the cover of the night, they slowly snuck out from the foliage and made their way discreetly towards Jun Xiaomo's campsite discreetly and cautiously.
In the still of the night, Jun Xiaomo turned around in bed. She suddenly felt fidgety as a stifling feeling pressed heavily on her chest. She furrowed her brows as she tossed and turned in bed.
As the Ashen Flats Sect's disciples drew closer to the campsite, they began to muster and gather their spiritual energy within their palms. Under the aid of their talismans, the intensifying spiritual energy on their body did not spread out into the surroundings, and nobody in the Heavenly Peak's campsite discovered their approach.
One hundred meters... fifty meters... thirty meters...
They gazed intently at the disciples who were sleeping within the campsite, completely oblivious to their approach. At this moment, the Ashen Flats Sect's disciples looked like a pack of hungry wolves staring down helpless sheep.
In their eyes, these "sheep" would very soon be in their grasp.
Jun Xiaomo turned around again, and she lay on her back. She was practically on the brink of arousing from her shallow sleep.
Just then, she felt the ripple of spiritual energy in her surroundings.
Jun Xiaomo's eyes opened ferociously, and a cold gleam flickered at the depths of her pupils – someone had entered the domain of her formation array!
| ← Ch. 210 | Ch. 212 → |