Chapter 495: Barging into Inner City
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Sacred Flame Sect and Intentionless Sect both had hundreds of years of history. Mo Wen would not believe it if they claimed that they had not gained anything good from Huatian Palace In such a long period of time.
“It’s a tough situation indeed. I hope there’s nobody who understands the stratagems in Sacred Flame Sect.” Mo Wen’s brows knitted slightly. The technique of stratagems relied on the Power of Heaven and Earth. Other than the level of the stratagem itself, the power that could be exercised also depended on the abilities of the person who set up and managed the stratagem.
Even if someone who did not have a thorough understanding of stratagems could set up one, the power of the stratagem would be discounted by at least half and it would be very difficult for it to be used to its full potential. However, if it were someone who understood stratagems very well, even an average stratagem would have exceptional power.
Mo Wen was a person who had a very good understanding of stratagems. Back during the years when he had he cultivated alchemy arts, he had also simultaneously cultivated simple stratagem techniques. Although the standard was not high, he was still comparable to an average Immortal Cultivator.
If there was nobody in the Sacred Flame Sect who was familiar with stratagem techniques, he was very confident about sneaking into that stratagem undetected.
After thinking for a while, Mo Wen retrieved the straw cape spiritual weapon from within the Medicine spiritual ring. A cloud of fog surrounded his body, causing his figure to appear blurry. One could not tell if his body was truly there and it seemed as though it had morphed into the surrounding night sky.
Mo Wen did not actually harness the power of the Invisible Talisman. On its own, the straw cape spiritual weapon had the ability of concealment. Against some of the usual ancient martial art practitioners, it was more than enough. If he used the Invisible Talisman just for himself, it was a waste of resources.
A faint cloud of smoke silently weaved about the night sky. Within a thousand meters of the outskirts of the inner city, there were police tapes in place. Group after group of ancient martial art practitioners from the Sacred Flame Sect were holding torches as they continuously patrolled the surroundings. From time to time, ancient martial art practitioners with the Embryonic Breathing realm would appear. The security was so tight that it was hard for even a fly to enter.
However, in Mo Wen’s case, it was as though he was in a dimension with nobody around. The straw cape spiritual weapon’s concealment effect had caused the ancient martial art practitioners with a Cultivation lower than the Golden Elixir realm to not be able to detect him at all.
In a moment, Mo Wen had progressed to under one of the city walls. He glanced upwards to notice that the city wall was at least 30 meters high. Surrounding that were some that were even higher. If he flew into the city directly, it was possible that he would be noticed by the Golden Elixir realm ancient martial art practitioners.
He retrieved the Invisible Talisman from the Medicine spiritual ring and it immediately made him invisible. Then, he flew up along the city wall.
Indeed, on the sentry posts 500 meters away, there was an old man in white sitting cross-legged. A pair of fierce eyes swept across the night sky. It was as though even the thick darkness could not hinder his vision.
He was an ancient martial art practitioner with the Golden Elixir realm and was in charge of preventing people from entering or escaping the city.
Mo Wen gracefully drifted through the night sky. The power of the Invisible Talisman had prevented the old man from seeing him totally. Even if Mo Wen passed right by him, he would just think that it was a gust of wind.
As he flew into the inner city, Mo Wen scanned his surroundings. The buildings of the inner city looked just like a palace. However, it had already been split into two sections. The outer circumference had evidently fallen into the hands of Sacred Flame Sect. That stratagem had the entire inner city under it tightly locked.
“Psychedelic stratagem.” Mo Wen noticed that the moment he entered the inner city, everything in his vision had been distorted. The continuously changing environment was like a dream, causing one to be unsure whether things were true or false. One moment it was a garden, the next it was a street, and then it became a palace.
There were many types of stratagems and the psychedelic stratagem was one of them. Other than that, there was also the attack type, defense type, support type, seal type; all the different types of stratagems. There were many effects of the psychedelic stratagem and it was actually very suitable for trapping large numbers of people.
If people of the inner city intended to break out, they would trigger the stratagem. The moment the stratagem got triggered, they would fall into the psychedelic stratagem and would be unable to escape quickly. In this period of time, it would be enough for them to be discovered by the Sacred Flame Sect people. They would also be easily tackled and killed within the stratagem.
It was no wonder that such a long time had already passed but nobody had been able to escape from the Intentionless Sect. When normal ancient martial art practitioners were faced with such an odd situation, they had no choice but to live according to the tempo of the Sacred Flame Sect.
Mo Wen analyzed the stratagem and noticed that this psychedelic stratagem was the most basic of stratagems. It was not very complex and he would actually be able to resolve it without worrying about being discovered by the Sacred Flame Sect people. Ultimately, Mo Wen was also a partial Immortal Cultivator. Even if those ancient martial art sects had some sort of understanding of the world of Immortal Cultivators, they would never experience things as Immortal Cultivators themselves.
The key to resolving the psychedelic array lay in one’s walking path. It was very similar to walking in a maze. If one orbited along with the power of the psychedelic array, it would be very easy to get through. However, if one did not proceed in the same way as the orbits did, it would cause a trigger and they would face multiple obstructions.
Mo Wen was in the psychedelic array as he walked all over the place. It was as though he was strolling but the Sacred Flame Sect people had actually not noticed him and seemed to treat him as part of the stratagem since they were unable to detect anything unusual.
About half an hour later, Mo Wen finally walked out of the psychedelic array. The scene in front of him had changed and a huge palace building appeared before his eyes. The false images had currently all disappeared.
However, the scene before his eyes was also extremely unusual. Under the night sky, there was a cold wind blowing and snow falling. Snow was piling up into thick layers, covering all the buildings. From time to time, there would be snowstorms, so strong that they could cause a Qi Nucleation realm ancient martial art practitioner to waver after being blown.
The odd thing was that, even with such harsh weather conditions, those buildings remained unaffected and continued to stand tall in the snow and wind.
“Snow Storm Stratagem.” Mo Wen’s mouth curled up into a bitter smile. He had just resolved one stratagem and now another had appeared before his eyes. Moreover, it was the Snow Storm Stratagem which was a combination of the attack and defense types. With the Power of Heaven and Earth, it would cause very frightening fatal attacks and strong defenses.
Roar! There was a loud sound and 200 meters to the right of Mo Wen, a person’s figure flew out of the snowstorm, fiercely landing onto the ground and causing the snow to spray through the air. The person simply struggled for a bit before his body stiffened and he died on the snowy ground.
Mo Wen’s figure flashed as he flew over. He noticed that the person was wearing a red robe. There was a golden flame sewed on to the chest which was the logo of the Sacred Flame Sect. The higher the number of flames sewed on the chest, the higher the person’s position was. A single golden flame was only something that an Embryonic Breathing realm ancient martial art practitioner could attain.
The person was completely dead and there were hundreds of injuries on his body. Each and every one of them was deep, to the bones. The injuries crisscrossed one another, probably as a result of the attack from the Snow Storm Stratagem. He had died under the strong winds.
Mo Wen’s eyes sparkled. From what could be seen, the Snow Storm Stratagem was probably not a technique by the Sacred Flame Sect, but rather by the Intentionless Sect. It was no wonder that the Sacred Flame Sect was still unable to take down Intentionless Sect even after half a month. Intentionless Sect’s foundational powers were not that simple after all.
“Who are you?” Just as Mo Wen was deep in thought, another person had flown out of the snowstorm looking haggard. He appeared not even ten meters away from Mo Wen. He seemed to have sustained some injuries but they did not seem too serious.
After he had noticed Mo Wen, his expression changed immediately. He immediately gave a loud shout because this youth was not in the Sacred Flame Sect attire, which meant that he was not a person of the Sacred Flame Sect.
“I am a good person.” Mo Wen turned to look at the person. Then, he revealed a very gentle and radiant smile. He looked just like a cheerful youth.
“You’re looking for death.” The person from Sacred Flame Sect flew into a rage. This youth had actually dared to mock him. Moreover, his origin was unclear. He was neither from Sacred Flame Sect nor from Intentionless Sect, so he was actually an outsider! But how could an outsider possibly appear inside? It was definitely an abnormal situation.
The person did not bother about the injuries on his body and lunged straight at Mo Wen. He wanted to pin this lad down and interrogate him, thinking he would be successful in his attempt.
“If I were you, I would turn and run now.” Mo Wen sighed and looked as though he was talking to a fool.
“Shameless,” the person laughed coldly. He completely ignored Mo Web’s threatening words. What abilities could a mere youth have? He could kill him easily.
Roar! A loud sound rang out. Before the person was able to lunge at Mo Wen and push him to the ground, a fist was already heading close to his face. Then, with a bang, his body flew backward and fell onto the snow. He only struggled for a bit before he died. Just before he died, it finally occurred to him. A youth appearing in the inner city without being detected by anyone meant that…
Mo Wen did not even give the person a second glance. He directly headed into the snowstorm with a flash of his figure. The further ahead he walked, the snowstorm became even stronger. He had only walked a hundred meters but the snowstorm had become ten times stronger. Even a Qi Nucleation realm ancient martial art practitioner would find it difficult to walk in such a strong snowstorm.
Along the way, he had actually encountered quite a number of people from Sacred Flame Sect. They were all like headless flies, going about in all directions. Some people had simply died under the frightening snow.
However, Mo Wen noticed that those Sacred Flame Sect people did not have very high Cultivations. There was not a single ancient martial art practitioner with the Embryonic Breathing realm and the majority of them were of the Qi Nucleation realm. Ancient martial art practitioners of such Cultivation would find it difficult to even withstand the Snow Storm Stratagem, much less break into the inner city.
“Sacred Flame Sect is vicious indeed.” Mo Wen scanned his surroundings and immediately understood Sacred Flame Sect’s intentions. Those Qi Nucleation realm ancient martial art practitioners were not of key importance. However, they could be used to wear down the power of the Snow Storm Stratagem. They were simply cannon fodder.
Although stratagems had to rely on the Power of Heaven and Earth, in order to maintain the power of the stratagem, especially for such a huge Snow Storm Stratagem, there were quite a lot of spiritual stones used each day. The Intentionless Sect had hundreds of years of history, but they were only an ancient martial art sect after all. There was definitely a limit to the number of spiritual stones they had in their possession. Once the spiritual stones were used up completely, the Snow Storm Stratagem would be destroyed.
Currently, the Sacred Flame Sect was using the lives of Qi Nucleation realm and Sea of Qi realm ancient martial art practitioners to wear down the power of the Snow Storm Stratagem.
Along the way, quite a number of people had discovered Mo Wen. However, each of them who had noticed Mo Wen did not come to a good end. As he proceeded further, Mo Wen had already reached the central region of the stratagem. The power of the stratagem was becoming even stronger. The cannon fodder of Sacred Flame Sect could not be seen anymore. Closer to the center of the stratagem, even Embryonic Breathing realm ancient martial art practitioners would find it difficult to persevere.
The level of the Snow Storm Stratagem was significantly higher than the psychedelic stratagem. Its destructive power was sufficient to make ancient martial art practitioners below the Golden Elixir realm tremble in fear.
Roar! A gust of wind and snow blew past and even Mo Wen’s clothes started flapping wildly. Not far away, there were three figures trying their hardest with their hands interlocked. They were actually all Golden Elixir realm ancient martial art practitioners and the ripples they created caused chaos even in the Snow Storm World.