ATPnovel Chapter 23 The Situation Reversed
Chapter 23 The Situation Reversed
In the black pine forest, there was a deathly silence.
Xiong Ye's pupils contracted sharply.
Was discovered.
How is that possible?
Although his concealment technique was crude, combined with the terrain of the Black Pine Forest and his decades of experience, even a true disciple of a major sect would not be able to detect him from dozens of steps away.
Moreover, the rock he hid on was carefully chosen.
The color of the rocks was similar to his robes, and the angle was tricky; looking up from below, the view was just blocked by a few pine branches, making it impossible to see him.
bluff?
Or... have they really been discovered?
Bear didn't move.
He forced himself to suppress his surprise and doubt, slowing his breathing and heartbeat, becoming as still as a rock.
He's gambling.
They were betting that the other party was bluffing.
Over the years, he has seen many self-proclaimed clever opponents who would deliberately shout a few words when entering dangerous places, trying to lure out those who were lying in ambush.
However, as long as the ambushers remain calm, the enemy will most likely think they are being paranoid and continue to advance.
One more step, and we'll be trapped inside the formation.
But the person didn't move.
He stood still, his gaze calmly fixed on the direction where Master Xiong was hiding, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Don't you believe me, Master Xiong?"
The man raised his right hand, bringing his index and middle fingers together, and a wisp of pale blue flame appeared at the tip of his finger.
The flame was only the size of a bean, yet it exuded a chilling aura.
It wasn't intense heat, but rather an indescribable, eerie feeling, as if it weren't flames, but some kind of black hole capable of devouring everything.
"Since you don't believe me, I have no choice but to ask you to come out."
Before he finished speaking, the wisp of dark blue flame flew out of his hand, transforming into a thin line of fire that shot towards the direction where Master Xiong was hiding.
Xiong Ye's pupils suddenly dilated.
He knew this wasn't just a bluff.
The flames were aimed at him!
"Let's do it!"
With a roar, Xiong Ye sprang up from behind the rock face, stomping his feet hard against the cliff and moving several feet to the side like a cannonball.
A pale blue streak of fire grazed the hem of his clothes and landed on the thick black pine tree behind him.
There was no explosion, no towering flames.
The flames licked the bark silently, then spread with a chilling speed.
The bark, trunk, and pine needles—everything touched by the flames—turned to ashes in the blink of an eye.
But the flames themselves did not spread; they simply and quietly engulfed the black pine tree, turning it into nothingness.
From crown to roots, the massive black pine, as thick as a person's embrace, vanished in the span of three breaths.
All that remained was a pile of grayish-white embers and an eerie, scorching heat lingering in the air.
Cold sweat beaded on Xiong Ye's forehead.
What kind of fire is this?
He had never seen such flames before.
It wasn't an explosion, it wasn't a fire, it was an engulfment.
It was as if the flame itself was a living thing, swallowing up everything that could burn, leaving not even ashes.
If he had been even half a minute slower...
Master Xiong dared not think any further.
"kill!"
He shouted loudly, suppressing the fear in his heart, and drew a broadsword from his waist. The blade was filled with spiritual light, and it was clearly a mid-grade magic weapon.
At the same moment, in the black pine forest, six figures suddenly sprang up from their respective hiding places.
Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!
Three jet-black throwing knives pierced the air and shot towards Zhang Lin in a triangular formation.
The throwing knife was coated with paralyzing powder, gleaming with a faint blue light in the morning light. It cut through the air silently, clearly a specially crafted weapon for sneak attacks.
Zhang Lin remained expressionless, his left hand forming a sword incantation, his internal energy surging.
The iron sword behind him was drawn with a clang, turning into a cold light, falling into his right hand, and drawing an arc in the air.
Ding!Ding!Ding!
Three sharp sounds rang out almost simultaneously as the iron sword knocked the three throwing knives away one by one, which then pierced into the trunks of the pine trees on either side, penetrating three inches into the wood, their blades still trembling incessantly.
When a low-grade magic weapon clashed with another low-grade magic weapon, Zhang Lin controlled the sword with his true qi, perfectly controlling the force, angle, and timing, slashing three times with a single strike without revealing the slightest flaw.
But he did not pursue them.
Because at the very moment the throwing knife was knocked away, a large plume of grayish-white mist suddenly surged out of the forest.
The fog arrived extremely quickly, surging in from all directions like a living thing, and in the blink of an eye, it enveloped an area of several dozen feet in radius.
The pine forest and the rocky mountain path were all swallowed up by the mist, leaving only a vast expanse of gray and white between heaven and earth.
The trapping formation has been activated.
Zhang Lin felt a sudden heaviness around him, as if an invisible hand was pressing down from all directions, slowing his movements by a third.
Unable to see, all that could be heard was the wailing sound of churning mist; even perception was greatly suppressed by this bewildering fog.
This is the terrifying aspect of the trapping formation: it does not directly kill, but rather deprives the five senses, suppresses spiritual awareness, and restricts movement, turning cultivators into blind and deaf people.
But Zhang Lin's lips curled up slightly.
The third-order Breath Concealment Technique operates silently.
His aura suddenly vanished, and he became completely devoid of any presence, like a boulder merging into the surrounding misty fog.
In the perception of the one who set up the formation, the target in the formation suddenly disappeared.
It's not moving, it's not hiding, it's disappearing completely.
It was as if that Danxia Sect disciple had never set foot in this black pine forest.
In the bushes, the cultivator holding the array suddenly changed his expression.
Where are they?
He let out a low roar, his hands forming hand seals in rapid succession, urging the array flags to sense the location of the people within the array.
But the information relayed back by the battle flags chilled him to the bone; the trapped formation was completely empty.
How is that possible?
He watched with his own eyes as the man stepped into the trapping formation and as the misty fog swallowed him up.
How could a living person just disappear into thin air?
unless......
Just as a terrible thought crossed his mind, he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.
An invisible blade of wind silently sliced across his neck.
The cultivator's pupils dilated suddenly, and he instinctively covered his throat with both hands, blood gushing out between his fingers.
He tried to shout, but could only manage a hoarse, breathy sound.
He tried to activate the array flags, but his fingers could no longer form the magic seal.
With a thud, he knelt down and fell straight forward, never to make a sound again.
The palm-sized array flag, having lost its owner, dimmed its light, sprang from the soil, and was steadily caught by a slender hand.
Zhang Lin's figure emerged from the mist, holding a battle flag, his gaze sweeping across the forest.
With the formation no longer under its command, the fog of confusion began to slowly dissipate.
As visibility in the pine forest gradually returned, the morning light once again filtered through the tree canopy, illuminating the woodland.
The remaining six figures emerged from their respective hiding places.
"Third brother!"
The man hiding in the treetop had bloodshot eyes, and he aimed his demon-hunting crossbow at Zhang Lin, pulling the trigger.
The armor-piercing crossbow bolts shot out with a sharp whistling sound, the armor-piercing runes engraved on the arrowheads gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
Zhang Lin didn't turn his head, and raised his left hand in a gesture at his side.
An invisible wall of wind appeared out of thin air beside him, the air currents swirling at high speed, like a transparent shield.
The armor-piercing crossbow bolts pierced the wind wall, the armor-piercing runes on the arrowheads shining brightly, desperately trying to tear through the barrier of the wind wall.
But how could a mere armor-piercing crossbow bolt break through the wind wall of a third-tier spell?
The crossbow bolt flew slower and slower through the wind wall, as if it had sunk into a quagmire, and finally, its force was exhausted, and it fell to the ground with a thud.
At the same time, Zhang Lin swung his iron sword in his right hand.
The iron sword unleashed a burst of sword energy, slashing swiftly towards the person in the treetop.
The man was shocked and abandoned his demon-hunting crossbow, drawing his curved sword from his waist to parry.
clang!
The sword energy clashed with the curved blade.
The man felt an immense force emanating from the blade, his hand trembled violently, and the curved blade flew out of his grasp.
He was so shaken by the force of the sword that he fell from the treetop and crashed heavily to the ground. His chest heaved with blood and qi, and he couldn't get up for a moment.
From the activation of the trapping formation to the death of the cultivator in charge of it, only three breaths passed.
From the moment the armor-piercing crossbow bolt was fired to the moment the person wielding it fell to the ground, only two breaths elapsed.
Within five breaths, two of the seven men's ambush formation had been broken.