Three days remained before the official banquet of the Gu family's birthday celebration.
Shen Qingci sat in a private residence atop an unnamed mountain peak, a three-foot-square water mirror floating before her.
The image on the mirror was crystal clear. Fu Mingyuan sat in the seat of honor in the flying vessel's main cabin, leaning over to chat with the elder beside him. Even the steam rising from his jade cup could be seen clearly.
“Aunt, they're here.”
She peeled a grape and popped it into her mouth.
Shen Tinglan sat on the other side of the low table, holding half an ice-crystal pear, taking a loud, crisp bite.
Her divine sense swept over the clouds at the outer edge of the water mirror. A ring of gold-crimson array runes was coiled beneath the clouds; if an ordinary cultivator's divine sense swept past, they wouldn't detect the slightest anomaly.
“The Floating Light Dragon-Prisoning Array,” Shen Tinglan said, tossing the pear core aside and wiping her fingertips with a silk handkerchief. “A Tier 6 trapping array. Anyone below the Void Refining stage who steps inside will have their spiritual energy circulation slowed by seventy percent, and their divine sense can extend three hundred zhang at most.”
“The array is layered with twelve illusion corridors. One wrong step, and you have to start all over again. The array node is hidden in the crevice of the ninth illusion.”
“It's enough to keep them trapped for four hours.” She took another bite of pear. “This amount of time is plenty for Shuyan to set up all her talismans.”
Shen Qingci stared at Fu Mingyuan's warm and elegant appearance in the mirror, feeling a wave of disgust in her heart.
As the Sect Master of the Azure Cloud Sect, this man possessed a mid Soul Transformation stage cultivation. He had always been slow and deliberate with outsiders, speaking politely and considerately.
Yet it was none other than him who had twice splattered Wanjian Peak with slander.
When his schemes at Blood Thorn Ridge failed, he simply concocted another venomous plot, using a three-year-old child as a pawn and not hesitating to use the Soul-Severing Restriction to strike a fatal blow.
She had originally planned to boil the frog in warm water, but he had brought forward his own death date.
So be it.
Ending it early would bring peace and quiet.
“Aunt, should we order Aunt Shuyan to make her move?”
“No rush,” Shen Tinglan said, crunching the fruit pulp. “Wait until the entire flying vessel has completely entered the center of the array.”
“As the descendant of a Body Integration powerhouse, he must be carrying a few Earth-grade protective magical treasures on him.”
“Although the trapping array can suppress seventy percent of his spiritual energy, once backed into a corner, a desperate counterattack would still be troublesome. Let's trap them for an hour first to wear down his sharp edge.”
Shen Qingci nodded, reaching out to peel a few more grapes.
Within the water mirror, the bow of the Yunqu flying vessel cut into the array runes.
The cultivators on the vessel went about their business, none of them noticing anything amiss.
Fu Mingyuan set down his jade cup, walked to the side to gaze out at the sky, and sat back down a moment later.
Several miscellaneous disciples squatted at the stern sorting spiritual fruits, one of them sneakily taking a bite of one and quickly swallowing it with bulging cheeks.
The flying vessel continued to glide forward.
A thousand zhang, a hundred zhang, thirty zhang...
In an instant, the entire flying vessel was swallowed by the array runes.
The scene in the mirror suddenly flipped. The surrounding clouds completely vanished, leaving only a vast, white void.
Heaven and earth lost their order; it was impossible to discern any direction.
Fu Mingyuan stood up abruptly.
“Oh no, someone has set an array to ambush us.”
Before his voice could fade, the entire flying vessel shuddered violently.
Twelve doors cracked open in the white void. Each door looked identical, with the exact same spiritual light fluctuations, making it impossible to tell which one was real.
Several elders on the flying vessel released their divine senses at the same time, but as soon as their divine senses extended past the ship, they were bounced back by a barrier.
Beyond a hundred zhang, there was nothing but mist; they couldn't detect a thing.
“Sect Master, our divine senses are being suppressed by the array!” A mid Nascent Soul stage elder's face darkened.
Fu Mingyuan's expression turned cold. He flipped his hand to reveal a bronze mirror and poured spiritual energy into it.
A beam of green light shot from the mirror toward the white mist, but it dissipated after penetrating a mere fifty zhang.
He put away the bronze mirror and said coldly, “The Floating Light Dragon-Prisoning Array. This is the work of a High-rank Formation Master.”
Watching this scene through the water mirror, Shen Qingci sneered inwardly.
Even if they recognized the array, so what? Trapped inside, they would never find a way to escape.
Shen Tinglan finished her pear, brushed the crumbs off her palms, and chin-gestured toward a spot on the mirror. “Look, your Aunt Shuyan has arrived.”
The perspective of the water mirror tilted to the left, focusing on the door on the left side of the flying vessel.
A woman walked gracefully out of the door, several Earth-grade talismans held between her fingers. Behind her followed twenty iron-masked Nascent Soul guards from the Shen family.
Shen Shuyan stopped ten zhang away from the flying vessel. She tilted her head to size it up, then fished a stack of talismans out of her sleeve.
The stack was thick, numbering at least a thousand. She casually flipped through them and picked out a few to place on top.
“Which one should I start with?” she muttered to herself.
The people on the flying vessel had already spotted her.
Fu Mingyuan stood behind a porthole, his face grim.
Behind him, several Nascent Soul elders summoned their magical treasures, spiritual light flashing and crisscrossing inside the cabin.
A peak Golden Core personal disciple lost his composure, drawing his sword and slashing a beam of sword light straight at Shen Shuyan's face.
Shen Shuyan flicked her finger, sending out a Mystic-grade Low-rank defensive talisman.
The talisman unfolded into a pale gold barrier half a step in front of her. When the sword light struck it, it shattered instantly.
The disciple was knocked back four or five steps by the recoil, his back slamming into the cabin wall, the hilt of his sword nearly slipping from his grasp.
“Young man, there is no need to be so impatient,” she said in a gentle tone, as if advising a junior on their studies.
“I haven't even made a move yet.”
She lowered her head to flip through her stack of talismans, pulled one out, held it between her fingers, and aligned it with the flying vessel for a moment before gently tossing it out.
The talisman transformed into golden flames the moment it left her hand, crashing against the flying vessel's protective barrier.
The entire flying vessel shuddered. The spiritual light of the protective barrier fluctuated violently, flickering repeatedly for a long time before barely stabilizing.
The second one followed immediately after.
Shen Shuyan's throwing motion was incredibly light and effortless as she sent them out one by one.
With each throw, she paused briefly to observe the effect for a few seconds. If the impact point was slightly off, she would follow up with a new talisman; if the power was insufficient, she would add a few more.
The flying vessel's barrier vibrated incessantly, and the hull shook continuously. Inside the main cabin, the jade cup by Fu Mingyuan's hand slid off the table and shattered to pieces.
“Sect Master!” a Nascent Soul elder cried out, holding onto the ship's side to steady himself. “This person's cultivation is already at the Void Refining stage! The barrier won't hold for long!”
Fu Mingyuan did not respond, his gaze locked onto the calm figure outside the protective barrier.
A moment later, his pupils contracted, and he muttered her title under his breath: “Fairy Yanyue.”
Shen Shuyan heard him clearly through the barrier.
She was about to reach for the next talisman when she paused, looked up, and the smile in her eyes deepened.
“Oh? So Sect Master Fu recognizes me.”
She temporarily put away the talismans in her hand, resting her hands in front of her with a relaxed posture.
The twenty Nascent Soul guards behind her remained motionless, though the eyes behind their iron masks coldly locked onto everyone on the flying vessel.
“What a coincidence. Since you know me, Sect Master Fu should also know that I have a certain habit...”
Her smile remained unchanged, but her voice dropped. “I protect my own!”
“When you splashed the first bucket of dirty water on Wanjian Peak, I already wanted to pay a visit to the Azure Cloud Sect. When you splashed the second, my talismans were already fully prepared.”
“If the Eldest Young Lady hadn't stopped me, do you really think you would still be sitting peacefully in the Azure Cloud Sect, drinking tea for a whole year?”
Fu Mingyuan's face turned ash-pale, and he pressed a hand against his storage ring.
Shen Shuyan acted as if she didn't see his subtle movement, slowly flattening the talisman between her fingers.
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