Chapter 9, The Array’s Power

The row of people stuck together and held on to the red rope as they walked through the mist. Zhuo Fan went first with Steward Sun right behind him. Holding onto him with a firm grip on to prevent the boy from escaping.

Because of the thick mist, one couldn’t even see the figure of the one in front and relied on their hands to feel their neighbor.

At the heart of the Misty Forest, where it was impossible for anyone to escape, Zhuo Fan stopped.

“What is it?” Steward Sun was feeling apprehensive, tightening his grip on Zhuo Fan’s clothes.

With a snicker, Zhuo Fan said, “Steward Sun, we’ll be paring here. It’s best if you travel the Underworld River without me.”

With acute fear, Steward Sun discovered he fell in Zhuo Fan’s trap. He pulled Zhuo Fan close and slapped him.

The clothes were turned to ribbons, but instead of Zhuo Fan, they held a log.

‘W-when did he escape?’

He’d been holding tight on Zhuo Fan to prevent his escape, yet reality showed the opposite.

“Turn back, quick!” Steward Sun rushed from where they came.

As soon as he shouted, the men used the rope to retrace their path.

But then, a shout came from the mist, “The rope has been cut!”

It was as if lightning struck them and they all turned pale. How would they get out of this thick mist without the rope?

Steward Sun stomped as he gnashed his teeth, “Blast it! That brat got us.”

“Bring that damn Pang over.”

“Steward Sun, he’s gone.”

“Bastard!”

Steward Sun punched the ground and made a meter wide hole in rage. 

He was a schemer himself, yet he fell at the hands of a stinky brat.

“Damn punk, I’ve played this game longer than you. Don’t think a puny Misty Forest can trap me.” Steward Sun roared towards the sky. “Once I get out! I’ll tear you to pieces!”

“Ha-ha-ha, you’ll never have the chance.”

With Zhuo Fan’s mad laughter as the signal, the mist reddened.

“Why is the mist turning red?”

They were in shock by the sudden change. They were bandits that killed people for a living, yet these strange circumstances had them on edge.

“Steward Sun, you are wiser than most… Can you tell us what this is?”

Even though the bandit shouted, only silence echoed back. He felt around him yet touched no one, as if everyone around him vanished and left him all alone.

He wasn’t the only one. The people that hung on to the rope began to vanish one at a time.

Steward Sun could hardly believe what was happening, “C-can this be… an array?”

One as old as Steward Sun has seen many things and experienced even more, yet the more he knew, the more he realized how terrible arrays were and fear’s grip his heart.

An array worked using Heaven and Earth’s energy. As long as a man controlled it, it could wipe out a dozen equal to him in power. Even if tens of experts gathered, they still could not measure to its power.

Of all the possibilities he thought of, not once did he consider being trapped in an array.

“Zhuo Fan, w-who exactly are you?”

Steward Sun trembles from the feeling of dread.

He saw at last that Zhuo Fan wasn’t just any ordinary man, how could a simple man know how to use or set up arrays? If Zhuo Fan had taken out an array when they met, he wouldn’t have had the nerve to chase him.

Standing in the center of the array, Luo Yunchang was clear of the situation. Her eyes drifted to Zhuo, filled with intrigue.

Squinting, Zhuo Fan kept a cold and callous expression as he said:

“Kill them!”

She followed his order by following his hand signs.

The blood-red fog changed again, this time black, and swallowed all that laid within. Now they couldn’t even see themselves.

Only their ears picked the mournful wails of thousands of wraiths.

With fear as their only companion, they lost all their will to resist once the black streams of energy started burrowing inside them.

They felt their soul devoured yet were powerless to resist.

All succumbed to terror at this point.

Smirking, Zhuo Fan’s eyes shined with glee. He left Luo Yunchang and sat cross-legged in another center of the array.

The Nine Serenities Secret Records stated that the Demon Transformation Art user had a backdoor into all arrays.

The men in the array were driven mad, and all he needed to do now was to absorb their Yuan Qi.