As Sun Liao was setting up his Isolated Gate of Torment array formation, he heard a scream behind him. Turning in its direction to see what was going on, he saw a Silver Tailed Wolf. It was a 3-core demonic beast with a fur that looked like metallic spikes made from pure silver. The beast looked like a wolf but was at least twice their usual size. Behind it, there were three tails ending as terrifying pikes. As the beast was baring its fangs, Sun Liao realized that its mouth was full of blood. On the ground, Long Huafang was lying dead, her head had been devoured by the beast.

Sun Liao did not understand how such a demonic beast could have appeared in the middle of the Wubei Sect. Looking around, he also saw that the three guards were lying on the ground, covered in blood. He had no time to think about what was going on. Grabbing his bow, he nocked an arrow. While reciting a mantra, he loosened the arrow on which a small array formation was engraved. "One Sun from Tang valley". The arrow started to ignite and a pure light blinded the wolf. It instinctively tried to dodge but the moment it was close enough, the arrow exploded.

The blow from the explosion pushed the beast further back, giving more breathing room to Sun Liao. As long as he kept the beast at bay, he knew he had a chance. After all, such a breach in the Wubei Sect should have been detected.

For his next move, he targeted the sky with three arrows. "From the East, the Vault rises". The arrows caught on fire as soon as they flew upward. While the wolf was running toward Sun Liao, the three burning arrows fell down and exploded all around the battlefield. The wolf was too agile and evaded all of the explosions. However, it allowed Sun Liao to gain a bit more distance.

Sun Liao tried to nock three other arrows, but then the wolf stood its ground and from its mouth, a powerful roar erupted. Its roar was so strong that Sun Liao thought that his ear-drums were going to rupture. The world around him started to spin and the wolf charged forward. Still disoriented, Sun Liao decided to try a move he had just mastered, the fourth mantra of 'Houyi's Nine Suns'.

"The winged Longma pulls". The arrow he took was a lot larger than the others. Its shaft was four times wider and the tip was a flat metallic piece. Sun Liao circulated a lot of Qi in his hands and his arms to draw his bow and get enough strength for this heavier arrow. When he loosened it, it traveled as fast as his other projectiles.

The wolf was charging at full speed and was not able to change its trajectory in time. Thus, one of its tails went to block the arrow while still running forward. The arrow got crushed against the tail but it pushed back the beast. The force of the arrow was entirely sent through the beast's body who got completely halted in its course. It felt as though it had hit a steel wall.

Very uncertain of his next move, Sun Liao took a bit of distance and fired a barrage of exploding arrows accompanied by vertical ones who targeted wider areas. He kept thinking about his possibilities but he had not mastered the fifth move yet. Thus, he reverted back to his usual tactic. While using his martial art to keep the beast away from him, he fired array formation flags all around the battlefield. This way, he created many temporary array formations that would hinder the beast's moves.

Being able to breathe a little, Sun Liao got perplexed. Why wasn't anyone from the Wubei Sect coming? A 3-core demonic beast should have been detected the very moment it entered the sect. And where was Cao Yun? He wasn't the kind of coward who would stay hidden. Then, he looked back at the four corpses all around. Something wasn't right there.

-

Long Huafang was waiting for Sun Liao to be done. Deep down, she realized that she may have gone a bit too far, but that was done. She had been too impulsive and she couldn't back down now. Instead, she had even tripled down on her rashness. Now that she was forced to wait patiently, she was feeling more and more awkward. Her older brother was maybe right about her...

Then, a screech echoed from the sky. Several projectiles flew in her direction. With the sun pretty high in the sky, it was difficult to discern them, but they looked like feathers. Long Huafang rolled to the side. However, the three guards were not so lucky, they got impaled by those feathers at least half the size of a human. Realizing they were all dead, she turned immediately toward Sun Liao. As he was busy setting up the array formation, he did not see the attack coming. He was also completely impaled.

And on the spot where he was standing, a bird landed. It was a red rooster with two majestic combs in the form of crowns on its head. Long Huafang knew this beast, this was a Sun Crowned Rooster, a 3-core demonic beast. Its wings were adorned with large feathers that it was able to throw as weapons. They could pierce through most materials and were deadly for Mortal cultivators.

How could such a beast fly above the Wubei Sect without being detected? What was going on here?

Unable to process what the hell was happening, Long Huafang immediately charged forward with her sword in hand. Against a flying demonic beast able to attack from the air, she had to shorten their distance as quickly as possible. 'Wolf Walks on the Moon'.

As she was running forward, the red bird opened its right wing and shot a feather in her direction. While she was trying to dodge it, it began to emit a powerful light that blinded her and she couldn't react when it exploded. Luckily, she had started to dodge and was not on its trajectory, but she was still pushed back. Before she could regain her focus, the bird had jumped in the air and shot several feathers from above. Long Huafang tried to dodge them while taking into account their range of explosion.

However, those feathers seemed to have a wider range and she got surprised once more. Sensing that she had to take the initiative, Long Huafang activated 'Wolf and Dragon's Howl'. A powerful roar erupted from her mouth. The bird fell back down to the earth and was visibly confused. Using this opportunity, she used 'Wolf Walks on the Moon' at full speed. She was extremely close from the bird when it flapped its wings. A ferocious gale of wind rose and collided with the young girl. To protect herself, she put her sword vertically in front of her head and chest, 'Baring its Fangs to the Moon'. The force of the wind almost seemed as if she had received a tree shot from a bow and the shock pushed her back.

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No matter what, she had to draw near the beast. Long Huafang didn't know if her 'The Moon in the Eye' could be effective against a demonic beast of such a rank, but this was her only way.

-

The three guards were completely taken aback when they heard an explosion in the basin where Cao Yun was. Before they went to look down below, an Ebony Snake Dragon came out, another 3-core demonic beast. It was a snake the size of four men. Its head looked like the head of a strange reptilian horse topped by a very small mane. The scales on its body were entirely black with a shiny luster. The three guards were armed with polearm surmounted by two crescent blades. All of them were ready to fight the beast. A 3-core demonic beast was dangerous for a 9th-grade Mortal Warrior alone but three of them had a very good chance of killing the beast.

-

Hearing the sound of battle, Cao Yun stopped what he was doing and went to look what was going on above. He had paid three guards to protect this place so he was pretty confident that he was safe now, but he still remembered the attack by Luduo Bu. Maybe, the demonic cultivators knew about Sun Liao's investigation and wanted to silence them before they could talk with Chief Elder Baishen.

The moment he saw what was going on, Cao Yun got incredibly confused. Sun Liao was shooting arrows toward Long Huafang. And the girl was holding a sword with a clear intent to kill her opponent. Their relation was tensed but it shouldn't have escalated to such a degree. Just as he was about to look for the guards a painful headache almost split his skull in half. His mind cultivation was still activated as he was working on his array formation just a moment before. And it felt as though something was trying to penetrate his mind. It felt like a corrosive force, some kind of acid trying to burn away his sanity.

As he opened his eyes, he saw all kinds of images of beasts. But they were fluctuating and he saw that they were actually both his friends and the guards. This was certainly an illusory array formation. This was the worst kind of array formation according to many masters. As it was able to corrupt your senses, the moment you fell victim to it, deciphering the array formation became almost impossible. You had to first break free of its illusion.

It reminded him of the array formation used by Lu Meihan. He really was right before! The demonic cultivator in black and purple was probably behind this attack. Thankfully, Cao Yun had his mind cultivation activated at its fullest. His Shen was clarifying his mind and concentrating the other characters. His Yi sharpened his senses to see through the illusions. This effort required a lot a energy and both his Zhi and Po worked on it. His Zhi activated his will and enhanced his endurance while his Po allowed him a quasi-perfect control over his Qi to nourish his mind. Finally, the Hun seemed to protect his mind from the corruption.

Despite all of this, the illusions were still present. However, contrary to the others, he saw them a bit transparent and above all, he knew they were illusions. Usually, once you were in one, you would simply not realize that what you saw didn't make sense. This was kind of like a dream. Your mind would just accept what was going on around you, and forcing yourself to question it was arduous in itself.

However, it didn't save Cao Yun. He still had to defend himself against the three 9th-grade Mortals he had himself hired for protection. The irony was not lost on him, but he had no time to waste. He immediately activated 'Imperial Throne' and a wall of wind erupted all around him. Following by 'The Moon Grounds the Sun', he went toward Sun Liao. He was the expert on array formation. Cao Yun knew he could not break this one alone. He had tried to see through it, but he wasn't even able to detect anything. Without his mind cultivation being attacked, he wouldn't even know that there was an array formation.

However, he wasn't sure what he should do. For now, he was only dodging the attacks. Thankfully, the three guards were seeing a powerful demonic beast so they were not eager to rush toward it. In fact, seeing that the beast was leaving, they were ready to let it go. Instead of chasing after it, they descended into the basin to try and rescue their employer. He was maybe still alive...

-

Sun Liao was questioning the reality around him. The more he thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. Just as he was about to piece all of this together, an Ebony Snake Dragon headed toward him. Ready to shoot other arrows, Sun Liao realized something. There was no such demonic beasts in the surrounding woods. Neither the Ebony Snake Dragon nor the Silver Tailed Wolf were living in this part of the Hongchen Kingdom. As an array formation master, he was aware of illusory array formations and he had trained to resist them.

The only way he knew how to protect himself from them was 'Lifting the Fog of a Dream'. This technique was rather simple. Every single instant of every day, he had to question himself on the reality around him. Thus, the day he was either in a dream or in an illusion, his mind would unconsciously question the coherence of it. And it was beginning to work.

At first, Sun Liao was still in a troubled state of mind due to his bet. But now that he was calm, many things didn't make sense in this situation. Unlike Cao Yun, he couldn't see through the illusion yet, but he knew what was going on.

"Brother Chen, if you hear me, stop moving!"

As soon as he spoke, the black snake halted its charge.

"Brother Chen. It's you?! Fine, I don't know how but you're not affected by the illusions."

He quickly looked around himself. It was clear now that the Silver Tailed Wolf was in reality Long Huafang, but he had no hope at all of her realizing that. After all, she knew close to nothing about array formations. And even though he knew that this was an illusion, he couldn't see through it. So he had no way of stopping the array formation.

"Brother Chen, I can't decipher this illusion while I'm in it. You must set up an array formation around me and Sister Long. I hope you know about the Soul Waking Bell. It's a 4-star Earth array formation taught in the 'Sixty-Four Tribulations of Earth'. It won't be enough to extract us from the illusion, but it should give a portion of our senses back. I know it's hard, but without this, we have no chance!" The wolf was ready to attack again. "Brother Chen, do it! I'm still in the illusion so I can't count on my own senses to set it up."

Cao Yun's options were limited. He could try and fight against Long Huafang but he risked injuring her. If she was fighting with her life on the line, he wasn't sure he could even win without killing her in the end. Going to warn an elder could be a solution, but in the meantime, Sun Liao may not be able to survive his opponent. Finally, he could set up the Soul Waking Bell array formation. This array formation was rather obscure, but it was in the 'Sixty-Four Tribulations of Earth' book he had memorized.

Thankfully, the three guards were not attacking him and he had all his array formation tools and materials since he had come here for this very purpose. In the end, he decided to try it out. If he wasn't able to do it, he would have to try and deal with Long Huafang. In the worst case scenario, he could endure her attacks while Sun Liao went to find help.