"Go and break the array, I will rest for a while." Jiazi waved her hand and handed the task of breaking the array to Deng Chanyun. Then she went to one side and played with Dian Ting and Mo Qilin.
Deng Chanyu's foundation in cultivation was laid by the Lishan Holy Mother, with her being enlightened every seven days, which has greatly helped her.
Her skills in arrays, alchemy, weapon forging, and divination are all of excellent quality. Although they may not be particularly outstanding, she excels in none of them. This means she doesn't have any weak points.
At this time, after watching the jade tablet left by Yun Xiao for a while, she calculated the situation with her fingers and then checked the heavens, land veins, and distribution of mountains and rivers around. After another calculation, she started to solve the array.
On a steep cliff wall inside the southeastern direction of the ancient cave, a pair of eyes emerged, fixated intensely and greedily on the ancient cave, as the mist gradually dissipated to reveal its rough outline.
After a quarter of an hour, the owner of the eyes secretly merged with the cliff wall, becoming a young man dressed in a dark-colored robe. This person's appearance was extremely peculiar. From a distance, he looked normal. However, upon closer inspection, one would notice that he had eyes on his forehead, where his back should be. Additionally, he had another face with eyes on his shoulders and yet another face with eyes on his cheeks. Moreover, there were nine faces in total on his head, each with its own pair of eyes and mouths.
A whispering sound came from his throat, somewhat noisy, as if several people were chatting together.
The sound was not faint, but due to some innate divine ability, he did not emit any noise beyond three chi, confining all abnormalities to an extremely small area.
The young man's eyes glowed with fierce intent, as if he wanted to swallow Deng Chanyu and claim the treasures within the ancient cave for himself. However, he had some sense and knew that he was no match for a level-9 Golden Immortal like this. After thinking for a moment, he used his innate divine ability to stay far away from the ancient cave.
In the central area of Yunmeng Lake stood a towering palace complex that soared into the clouds.
Lianglou Yuyu, with carved balustrades and painted eaves, the majestic architecture seemed to have existed since time immemorial. The palace's design was solemn and imposing. From a distance, it exuded an aura of divinity. Upon closer listening, one could almost hear the joyous sounds of immortals clinking their cups in celebration amidst the wind.
Now, all of this has become the past tense.
The palace still stands, but besides a few main halls, the rest are in ruins.
Occasionally, one can hear the sound of immortals, but more often than not, it is a faint wail that remains in the world from the immortals in their final moments.
The young man with an abnormal appearance walked into the main hall.
He walked at a steady pace, with the same interval for each step.
The handsome male immortal who was reclining on the cloud bed drinking wine was about to finish his cup when the young man, five limbs on the ground, bowed deeply, with a proper posture. Only then did he open his mouth in a somewhat playful manner and asked: "Little bug, what's up?"
The young man harbored a deep resentment. He was a "Yinglinmaoyu Kun" feathered insect, actually a bird, a nine-headed bird, far from being those despicable insects! He also knew that the handsome immortal above could see through his thoughts, yet the other party still called him so carelessly.
He awkwardly smiled twice and said, "Your servant reports to the Lord, I sensed that there are some abnormalities in the cave of the Cloud-Plum Empress in the past. Therefore, I went to investigate, and found two external immortals attempting to break through the array to obtain treasures. Therefore, I have come to report to Your Lordship."
"Cloudflower Empress?" The handsome immortal's mind conjured an image of a graceful and dignified female immortal.
He smiled and spoke clearly, "What external immortals? More likely friends of Cloudflower. If they are friends, it's a common thing to rest in her cave. You, however, are a descendant of the ancient chaos, the notorious nine-headed insect. Could it be that you are greedy for Cloudflower's treasures and afraid of the power of those external immortals, so you connived me to go and stand up for you?"
The nine-headed insect smiled sarcastically, "I am a low-level insect with mediocre talent. I can only rely on Your Lordship's authority to survive. In my daily life, I am not good at disputes. However, when I was far away, I listened to what the external immortal said..."
This was an extremely crude goading tactic, but the handsome immortal was incredibly arrogant and fell for it.
"What did they say?"
"I am not worthy to say."
"Speak!"
"They said that the Cloud Lord is just a hollow name, a mere skeleton in a grave, and he is bound to die and have no place to be buried."
Cloud Lord was so angry that he crushed the jade cup in his hand. These words stirred up his mental illness, as if the previous shadows had once again enveloped him. His two eyes were reddish, and the feathers on his elbow stood up straight, like a set of swords.
He grabbed the nine-headed insect's collar by the neck: "I am going to kill all these external immortals! Kill them all! One by one, not a single one left!"
He was momentarily distracted: "Lead the way!"
"Yes!"
The nine-headed insect felt a sense of triumph in his heart. He led Cloud Lord to go plunder treasures. He had been staring at the ancient cave for more than a thousand years, but he couldn't break the array outside the cave, which drove him nuts for not being able to get what he wanted despite seeing it right there. Now he finally had a chance, and of course, he wanted to swallow it whole, bones and all.
He led the way, with Cloud Lord following closely behind. Suddenly, a faintly ethereal water screen appeared in mid-air, from which two dim figures emerged. The nine-headed insect noticed something first and looked up before Cloud Lord, only to see a rather ordinary fishhook swinging towards him.
The fishhook, luckily or unfortunately, caught on his side of the mouth. He let out a pained cry and then the line started to pull back, seemingly trying to drag him into the water screen.
"Ungrateful!" Cloud Lord was furious. He swung his elbow, sending numerous fierce and sharp wind blades enveloping the hundred zhang space, shooting in a seemingly mad but actually meticulous way.
The wind blade attack was fierce and had no blind spots. In a flash, it broke the water screen.
The fishhook and line disappeared with the breaking of the water screen. The nine-headed insect fell from mid-air.
"Thank you for your assistance, Lord. It must have been those two external immortals just now!" The nine-headed insect recognized the aura on the fishhook and quickly reminded Cloud Lord.
They hurried out of the main hall and saw a fishing-dressed Deng Chanyu and Jiazi in the heavily damaged square.
Deng Chanyu pointed at the nine-headed insect and said to Jiazi, "See, I wasn't wrong. I felt like something was watching me around. I don't know what abilities this creature has, but its skill in concealing its aura is quite good. It must have been this guy, not understanding the array, going around in a mess. A simple array that could have been unraveled in a cup of tea was disrupted by him, making me have to sort out the array's channels all over again."
Jiazi was a little angry. Looking at Cloud Lord and the nine-headed insect, she had a very unfriendly expression: "Alright, you win this time."
"What do you mean by 'Alright'?" Deng Chanyu flung her fishing rod, breaking through several hidden spaces with her hook. From an unimaginable angle, she instantly appeared at the nine-headed insect's nape. This time, Cloud Lord stood by coldly without intervening. The nine-headed insect's shoulder shook, he roared loudly and turned into a giant bird with nine heads and two wings on its back, its body several zhang long.
