Chapter 102, Breaking the Devil Array’s Core

Translator: StarReader

 

Li Jiao, accompanied by Zhang Tieniu, Yang Dezhi, Qin Huihui, and roughly a dozen other martial disciple, desperately fled for several miles, finally reaching the rear of the allied forces’ main body. The sounds of slaughter and cries abruptly ceased, and they halted.

 

It was then that Li Jiao suddenly realized one person was missing from this small group of seven or eight.

 

“Where is Su Chen? Where did Junior Brother Su go?”

 

She quickly inquired.

 

It was only then that the rest of the team noticed the absence, exchanging bewildered glances and shaking their heads.

 

They had been too preoccupied with escaping, regretting they hadn’t been born with a few extra legs, and hadn’t spared a thought for who might have fallen behind. They didn’t know when Su Chen had disappeared.

 

“He’s done for! Left alone in Northern Swamp, he’s as good as dead, preyed upon by the White Lotus devils and pirates!”

 

Li Jiao stamped her foot in frustration.

 

But how could one penetrate the mist-shrouded Northern Swamp to save him?

 

…

 

Su Chen moved swiftly deep within Northern Swamp.

 

Though his eyesight couldn’t pierce this dense fog, his hearing was unimpaired; he perceived nearly every movement within a radius of a hundred paces.

 

He was searching for the Heaven Falcon Group’s team, but the thick fog of Northern Swamp obscured his vision, making it impossible to locate them.

 

Only by breaking this Devil Mist Array could one find someone.

 

All arrays had a critical focal point, used to trigger and control the entire formation, and this Devil Mist Array would be no exception.

 

“Where will the array core of the Devil Mist Array be?”

 

Su Chen stared at the misty Northern Swamp.

 

Even at normal times, finding someone within this dense Northern Swamp would be difficult. Let alone now, when the Northern Swamp was shrouded in devil mist, completely obscuring the view.

 

“The fog doesn’t appear out of nowhere. Since it’s a dense fog triggered by the Devil Mist Array… then the closer to the core, the thicker the fog should be!”

 

Su Chen carefully analyzed the situation and quickly moved in another direction.

 

For an ordinary person, distinguishing between thick and thin fog would be exceedingly difficult. But the power of Su Chen’s Divine Sense allowed him to clearly discern the density of the fog within a three hundred meters.

 

Soon, following the direction of the dense fog, Su Chen arrived at a small valley deep within the Northern Swamp.

 

This unremarkable small valley was precisely the windward location of the Northern Swamp.

 

Su Chen surveyed the valley and saw a man with the bearing of a White Lotus Society leader barking orders to roughly a hundred ordinary disciple who were hauling firewood, using cow manure, wolf dung, and wet wood to ignite ten large bonfires.

 

The damp cow manure produced dense smoke, and everyone desperately fanned the flames.

 

With the wind in the valley, these ten bonfires rose, their dense smoke mixing with the morning mist of the Vastest Lake, to trigger a rolling fog that enveloped over a league of Northern Swamp.

 

In addition to this group busy with the smoke-producing bonfires, ten White Lotus thugs, each wielding a saber and rattan shield, had a yellow talisman affixed to their chests and a faint yellow protective aura surrounding their bodies, sat cross-legged, guarding this small valley.

 

Su Chen instantly understood. The famed Devil Mist Array of the White Lotus Society – it turned out to be just that.

 

“Hmph, what Devil Mist Array? I thought it was some demon performing rituals. Turns out it’s nothing more than a trick to deceive people!”

 

Su Chen scoffed slightly, his figure shimmering, like a wisp of smoke, appearing on a small path within the valley, heading toward the bonfire.

 

“Who dares trespass within the White Lotus Society’s Devil Mist Array!”

 

“Intruder, death without exception!”

 

The ten White Lotus thugs, seeing a stranger enter the valley, were startled, but quickly reacted, and roared angrily, brandishing large knives and rattan shields, rushing toward Su Chen.

 

These White Lotus thugs were specifically responsible for guarding the Devil Mist Array’s core within this valley. Even a group of first rate expert accidentally entering this valley would be no match for them.

 

Another hundred or so White Lotus Society lower-ranking disciple were carrying manure and firewood, and when they saw a stranger enter the small valley, they were all stunned.

 

Su Chen’s spiritual power and talisman were limited, and he had no intention of wasting precious spiritual power to deal with these White Lotus thugs. He flipped a medicinal knife from his sleeve, swept his foot, and walked leisurely through the valley, a flash of sharp chill slicing through the air.

 

The ten White Lotus thugs roared and charged forward, but before they could react, they saw a smoky, faint shadow drift past them, piercing the pale yellow protective barrier. A sharp pain hit their throats, they gasped, blood splattered, and clutching their necks as they collapsed and died.

 

The gap in strength between them and Su Chen was too vast. They were merely cultivating external arts, and even encountering a Grandmaster would mean certain death.

 

Moreover, they were unlucky enough to encounter Su Chen, who was already touched by spiritual energy.

 

The White Lotus Society disciple scarrying firewood and manure, creating smoke, saw the ten invulnerable White Lotus thugs being instantly killed, and immediately panicked, fleeing in terror.

 

Su Chen was about to kill those White Lotus Society disciples who were setting fires and creating smoke, when he heard a White Lotus Society leader, with sharp eyes, hastily knelt with a thump on the ground, and cried out in terror: “Hero, spare my life! Does Hero remember me? I’m Zhu, the beggar in the dilapidated temple on the eastern outskirts of Gusu! Do you remember?”

Su Chen recognized the voice as familiar and, upon closer inspection, realized it belonged to Zhu, the beggar leader he had seen twice in Gusu City.

 

He never thought this fellow who couldn’t make it in Gusu City ended up as a low-ranking leader of the Lou County White Lotus Society.

 

Beggar Zhu kowtowed on the ground, crying and begging for mercy, “Hero, spare my life! I was just desperate, starving and freezing, so I joined the White Lotus Society! I’ve never done anything to harm the heavens or people.”

 

“Extinguish all the bonfire in this valley, and get out!”

 

Su Chen sheathed his herb-gathering knife and spoke coldly.

 

Although these beggars preyed on the weak and feared the strong, they were ultimately just destitute wanderers. Joining the White Lotus Society was simply a means to an end, and they weren’t inherently evil. He didn’t want to kill indiscriminately.

 

“Yes, yes, thank you, Hero, for sparing our lives!”

 

Beggar Zhu, along with dozens of his brothers, hastily covered the fires with mud, extinguishing all the smoke. Seeing that Su Chen hadn’t intended to kill them, they fled the valley in a panic.

 

Beggar Zhu and a group of brothers fled the small valley in a disheveled manner, gazing at the Northern Swamp shrouded in mist, looking around blankly, and let out a desolate sigh, “We’re done for! This person is too powerful; ten terrifying White Lotus thugs weren’t even a match for a single move of his.

 

“Every time our leader meets him, disaster looms. With this ill omen in the Wu Region, the Whale Gang and White Lotus Society might not be able to compete. This Wu Region probably isn’t a safe place to be!

 

“Brothers, let’s leave the Wu Region and head to Jiangzhou, let’s get as far away from him as possible!”

 

…

 

With the heart of the Devil Mist Array broken, the thick smoke and mist gradually dissipated.

 

The Northern Swamp began to see the light of day again.

 

Just as Su Chen was about to leave the valley, he noticed that the ten fallen White Lotus thugs all had a palm-sized yellow talisman stuck to their chests.

 

He casually picked up one and probed it with his Divine Sense, finding a small amount of spiritual energy within—a substandard Golden Warrior Talisman.

 

“These substandard Golden Warrior Talismans have less than five percent of the power of a true talisman. However, their defensive capabilities are still stronger than ordinary armor, capable of withstanding the slashes of ordinary knives and the piercing of arrows!”

Su Chen rotated a talisman in his hand, a look of suspicion crossing his face.

 

Even the most inferior talisman couldn’t be created by ordinary people; it required the skill of a Grandmaster or above. He recalled seeing a similar talisman on Daoist Qinghe’s desk.

 

Within Wu Region, only himself, Daoist Han Shan, and the leader of the White Lotus Society, Mao Ziyuan, could create these talisman; three people.

 

“All of these were refined by the leader of the White Lotus Society, Mao Ziyuan? So many subpar items. Could it be that his technique for crafting talisman isn’t up to par?!”

 

Su Chen murmured to himself.

 

He personally crafted a few, failing once or twice, and they were practically perfect. The only issue was the lack of necessary spirit materials, preventing him from producing more.

 

It seemed that even among Grandmasters, the standard for crafting talisman varied greatly.

 

Having broken the core of the Devil Mist Array, Su Chen didn’t linger, immediately going to search for the disciple of the Heaven Falcon Group.

 

The dense fog gradually dissipated, revealing the sky once more, and the main force of the allied army began to move quickly within Northern Swamp.

 

Su Chen searched near Northern Swamp, but was surprised to find no sign of the disciple of one of the four major groups in Wu Region, the Heaven Falcon Group.

 

Puzzled, he stopped a martial disciple rapidly moving through Northern Swamp to ask.

 

But many martial disciple shook their heads, following their respective groups and unaware of the status of the other groups.

 

Finally, one martial disciple seemed to know something and said, “The Heaven Falcon Group’s team? I heard that a batch of disciple from the Heaven Falcon Group already passed through this section of Northern Swamp. Behind them is the main force led by Daoist Han Shan, being hindered by this Devil Mist Array, delaying them by about an hour!”

 

“What? So they’re already left Northern Swamp, an hour ago?”

 

Su Chen was taken aback.

The White Lotus Society laid a Devil Mist Array within the Northern Swamp, deliberately allowing the vanguard force led by Han Pingshan and the Heaven Falcon Group to pass through easily. Then, they would intercept the main force led by Daoist Han Shan halfway.

 

In this hour they could easily cover ten miles, and the Heaven Falcon Group’s disciples might have already reached the foot of Misty Peak and clashed with the Whale Gang.

 

Su Chen’s expression darkened, and he immediately sprinted toward the foot of Misty Peak.