Now that Old Man Ning and Fatty Duan were dead, and six others had left heading north earlier, only seven members remained at Stone Lake. This was a number Wang Yu could handle.
He took out the set of high-grade formation flags obtained from Old Man Ning. This formation was different from the **[Blood Mist Spirit Concealment Array]** he had purchased to protect temporary dwellings; this was a trapping formation.
It was called the **[Eight Directions Spirit Confusion Array]**. The 'Spirit' in the name referred to spiritual sense, not deities. Its effect was to confuse the spiritual sense of Qi Refining cultivators, making those within the formation unable to discern direction. It was an illusory-type trapping formation.
With a flick of his wrist, using a clever application of force, Wang Yu sent the eight flags, each the length of a forearm, flying to land around Stone Lake. The air rippled briefly, then everything returned to silence. To the naked eye, there was no sign a formation had been laid.
After confirming the setup, Wang Yu tore his ordinary clothes into tatters, rubbed his cheeks to create a panicked expression, and began panting heavily.
A moment later, as the night grew even more still, Wang Yu descended from mid-air onto the surface of Stone Lake, his voice penetrating into the water below.
"Disaster! Disaster! Fellow Daoist Ning has been discovered by the righteous path!"
"Someone, come quickly! Hurry..."
The surface of Stone Lake immediately began to churn. Seven figures in black robes broke through the water, standing atop it. Seeing Wang Yu's disheveled state, they asked urgently, "What happened? Where's Boss Ning?"
"Quick, follow me! Fellow Daoist Ning sent me to get reinforcements."
"Explain on the way."
"Alright—"
In this moment of crisis, there was simply no time to judge the truth of Wang Yu's words before having to make a quick decision. It was undeniably difficult. No one could have imagined that Old Man Ning had already been recklessly killed by Wang Yu.
Once everyone had stepped into the formation's range, Wang Yu approached the cultivator with the highest cultivation—one who had recently entered the ninth level of Qi Refining—and spoke rapidly.
"The City Lord of Stone Lake was captured by a righteous sect! Fellow Daoist Ning was just negotiating this year's spirit slave prices when a fight broke out. So many people... so many cultivators."
"And then?" The man couldn't help but grab Wang Yu's shoulder.
Before he could receive an answer, his body began to tremble uncontrollably. He stared at Wang Yu with shocked, despairing eyes!
*Squelch—*
Wang Yu casually pulled out the still-warm heart. Wang, an expert in ambushes, certainly wouldn't pass up such a perfect opportunity. Even if he could win a direct fight, why not take the easy, one-shot kill? Having done this often, his skill was naturally refined.
"Wang Yu!"
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"He killed Senior Brother Li! Traitor... Kill him!"
"Heh—"
The remaining six were all elites at the late Qi Refining stage. But everything happened too fast. Under normal circumstances, Old Man Ning wouldn't return to assign the next tasks for at least three days. They knew the dangers of infiltrating the Taihu Spiritual Domain and were always vigilant against exposure. Even having bribed the guards at Black Mountain Pass didn't allow for relaxation, because both righteous and demonic paths had internal factions.
Within righteous sects, there were both corrupt elements colluding with the demonic path and upright, righteous cultivators filled with moral integrity. Getting caught by the latter meant certain death.
Wang Yu's actions followed the principle of "speed." Before they could even begin to ponder the "reasonableness" of the situation, it was all over.
The **[Eight Directions Spirit Confusion Array]** quietly took effect. The six, acting in默契 (tacit understanding), launched a combined attack. The chaotic, explosive energy of their spells converged and blasted directly onto Wang Yu.
As the colorful lights faded, Wang Yu stood perfectly unharmed, a mocking expression on his face directed at the group.
"Useless. You can never kill me."
With that, he pointed his right hand forward.
A giant ice sword materialized abruptly and shot towards an eighth-level Qi Refining cultivator. His two companions nearby, seeing this, looked grim and jointly summoned defensive artifacts to try and block it.
But bizarrely, the ice sword seemed to teleport, piercing through two of the three from behind. The ice sword was so massive that what should have been a stab achieved the effect of a cleaving strike.
The artifacts, deprived of spiritual power, plummeted towards the lake surface. The four halves of the two bodies splashed into the water with a dull thud.
Seven remained, now four. The survivors' faces changed dramatically. Fear, terror, shock, anger, suspicion—their emotions varied, but all were displayed in exaggerated expressions on their faces.
"Impossible... Impossible!"
"You're just at the Qi Refining stage! How could you possess spatial translocation abilities, let alone apply them to spells... No, this is an illusion!"
They were, after all, disciples of a major sect. After just one attack and paying a heavy price, they immediately understood the reason.
But—so what?
From Wang Yu's perspective, different from the four, he had just stored his spoils. In this area by the edge of Stone Lake, the eight formation flags were emitting a faint, shimmering fluctuation. Eight ancient characters representing the eight directions appeared on a complex spiritual pattern array diagram. The spiritual power consumption required to maintain this formation was higher than he had imagined.
Meanwhile, the four were cursing incessantly at the sky, standing back-to-back with over five meters between them, completely disoriented, their senses completely different from his.
The formation's effect was almost too outstanding.
Was this really just a high-grade Qi Refining stage formation? A sliver of doubt arose in his mind, but his hands didn't waste a single moment, mercilessly pressing the attack.
The ice sword continued its sweep, annihilating all seven with almost no effort.
The killing intent and ferocity between Wang Yu's brows grew even more intense.
After gathering all the spoils, he finally withdrew the formation and landed by the shore of Stone Lake, carefully examining the eight formation flags.
"East, South, West, North, Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, Southwest."
These were the traditional eight directions, like a plus sign dividing the world. But earlier, aside from the spiritual pattern array diagram, only the eight ancient characters served as the pivot.
Wang Yu removed the Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest flags from the set and quickly noticed signs of repair on them. If the original patterns on the flags were exquisite works of art, the later repairs resembled a child's clumsy scribbles. Even someone ignorant of formations could see the difference.
"So the four cardinal direction flags were re-forged, only first-tier. The other four directional flags were merely repaired..."
Judging by this, Wang Yu felt this was likely a severely damaged third-tier set of formation flags, immensely valuable. No wonder the effect was so potent. Strictly speaking, it should rank as a top-grade first-tier formation, capable of affecting even Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Its only drawback was the need for prior setup—a common weakness of all formation-flag type treasures. In the heat of fierce combat, unless an opportunity arose, it was rare for someone to successfully deploy formation flags mid-fight.
"That makes sense. Old Man Ning had been in this line of work for a long time, his face aged. He should have accumulated some assets."
Fortunately, he had chosen to directly storm their hideout. If he had waited, allowing Old Man Ning to finish his tasks and focus his attention on him, the old man might have struck first.
**(End of Chapter)**