Cultivators Are So Weak in This World

Chapter 583: Investigation 5

"That is splendid." Zhang Rongfang seemed convinced. "Next, the outside ritual and such are all prepared. How are things on your side, sir?"

"The same, just missing the final step. Young friend, please follow me."

Xue Tong smiled, turned, and led the way.

Zhang Rongfang followed closely behind.

The two moved like shadows, traversing hundreds of meters through the mist in the blink of an eye. They arrived at the opening of a dark cave.

Torches emitting a faint blue flame were lit on both sides of the cave entrance, their material unknown.

Inside the cave, from the entrance onwards, numerous bone fragments formed line segments, creating various patterns that extended deep into the cave.

"After you, young friend." Xue Tong gestured with a smile.

At this point, he had already set up many things inside the cave. As soon as Zhang Rongfang stepped in, everything was ready to activate.

No matter how many Residual Gods he carried with him, they would all be completely isolated.

Xue Tong knew very well that Zhang Rongfang’s greatest reliance was the marking of several Residual God’s Divine Buddha Powers on him.

A single Divine Buddha might not mean much, but with many, even he found it tricky to handle.

After all, the powers of the Gods and Buddhas are varied and peculiar, coupled with the Void, which changes with the number of followers. Who knows which God might whimsically decide to stir up some trouble?

However, Zhang Rongfang was unaware of his many thoughts.

He simply stood at the cave entrance, looking inside, feeling a sense of novelty at the patterns on the ground.

"Are these patterns array patterns, sir?" he asked curiously.

"Certainly, these are lock words." Xue Tong smiled, "Let’s go inside, there’s more to see, you can take your time."

"Lock words? Aren’t they the praises used specifically for worshipping Gods?" Zhang Rongfang asked in surprise.

"Lock words do serve that purpose, and that is their origin.

But as time progressed, people discovered that lock words correspondingly affected certain powers of the Gods and Buddhas, guiding some of those powers. Thus, they began to use them as tools to communicate Divine Buddha Power."

Xue Tong explained.

"The ceremony I am setting up with lock words serves to guide the power of the Wish Girl. To make everything that happens here unseen. Young friend, you have learned some lock words; you should be able to see that many words inside mean isolation, right?"

He spoke openly.

The highest form of deception is to make the truth false.

The array ritual he was setting up indeed produced the mentioned effect, but... the purpose of isolating the Divine Buddha wasn’t for himself to escape.

Instead... he had other plans.

"I see." Zhang Rongfang nodded in realization.

"So, can we begin? Honestly, I am somewhat impatient. A little lack of composure might have amused you." Xue Tong ’confessed.’

"Not at all, sir. Being confined here for decades, now there’s hope to see the light of day again; joy and anticipation are natural." Zhang Rongfang nodded.

"Shall we proceed?" Xue Tong asked.

"Please." Zhang Rongfang nodded.

"Please."

The two walked into the cave in succession.

"By the way." Suddenly Zhang Rongfang halted at the cave entrance, just a few centimeters from stepping into the ritual array.

"Are the materials for this ritual array bones?" He displayed a look of doubt.

Xue Tong paused, turned around, his gaze slightly deep as he looked at him.

"Indeed, they are bones. Moreover, human bones."

"Are there that many human bones in Wish Girl Gorge?" Zhang Rongfang frowned. "They shouldn’t be from innocent people, right? If they are the bones of innocents, frankly speaking, Zhang wouldn’t bear it in his heart. After all, I have always been kind to others, frequently harboring compassion."

"Are you joking, Observer? These are from those in the gorge who were deceived by poisonous mist and met untimely deaths. I’ve been detained here for years; could I have gone outside to kill, then brought back bones for my escape ritual array?" Xue Tong replied earnestly.

"What are you saying, sir? I wasn’t doubting you, just... feeling a sudden sense of sentimentality." Zhang Rongfang sighed.

"The times are tough, young friend, indeed you’ve had a difficult time." Xue Tong’s face once again displayed a smile.

"Please."

"Please."

The two entered the cave together.

The cave was dark, but the ground was densely covered with an array of various white bone rituals.

They traveled a hundred meters inside, arriving at the center of a massive wide bone circle.

Blue candles scattered around illuminated the cave with a cold chill.

"This will do." Xue Tong breathed out, turned, looking at Zhang Rongfang.

"Young friend, is there anything you wish to say before the ritual begins?"

"Why do you say that, sir? Wouldn’t it be better to speak after you’re out?" Zhang Rongfang questioned.

"That is true." Xue Tong smiled. "Then let’s begin."

He walked to another position, standing in another core within the array.

Instantly forming a series of various hand seals.

"Heavenly Pool, Thunder Light, Earth Fire, Deep Valley, the place of united light, the shadow of the Heart Demon, all images caress the traces, complete my residual body!"

Xue Tong suddenly combined all the hand seals, forming a blossoming lotus-like seal.

Everything returned to silence.

Nothing happened.

He was slightly taken aback and looked up at Zhang Rongfang.

"Why isn’t the array ritual you set up outside working?!"

"Could something have gone wrong?" Zhang Rongfang was equally confused.

"You must be joking, young friend. Actually, even if the characters are wrong, as long as the items and the array diagram are correct, it will work. I checked before; everything was complete, with no issues." Xue Tong’s expression slowly turned cold.

"Then could the array diagram be wrong?" Zhang Rongfang still had a puzzled look on his face. He certainly wouldn’t say he had someone guard it and had just made changes to the array.

Xue Tong looked at him for a while, then suddenly laughed.

"It doesn’t matter, even if there is no array diagram outside, I can solve the situation alone, it’ll just take a bit more effort. Let’s try again."

"Are you serious, sir? Truly exceptional!" Zhang Rongfang bowed seriously.

Xue Tong no longer wasted words and stomped his foot.

Boom!!

The ground trembled slightly, and all the array patterns lit up brilliantly, shining with white light.

Circles of array patterns resembled a pool, with bright white lock texts swimming inside like school of fish, with Zhang Rongfang and Xue Tong standing in two circles in the middle.

"Heart of Clarity, conscious of Insight, open!!"

Suddenly, Xue Tong swiftly formed complex hand seals, and the white light under his feet spread upwards, dyeing his whole body white.

Just when he turned to look at Zhang Rongfang, the latter had already left the position within the array.

"What do you mean by this, young friend?" Xue Tong said calmly.

"Since you’ve already done it, why say more?" Zhang Rongfang countered. "This array ritual here probably isn’t to isolate the effects of the Wish Girl, right?"

Xue Tong raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Just as I thought, you are indeed clever. This type of lock text is rarely heard of by people, but you can recognize most of it. Truly knowledgeable."

"What are your real intentions, sir?" Zhang Rongfang no longer acted and said seriously.

"Intentions?" Xue Tong shook his head, "Your talent is rare in the world, yet now in these times of chaos, as the Great Dao Teaching declines, I see a Grandmaster like you confined to a small city, unambitious, and I can’t help but wish to take your place."

He paused.

"You have such extraordinary talent, reaching the Grandmaster Realm just in your twenties, creating the Human Immortal path, comparable to the great Imperial Tutor of the past. Now...if you’re content with mediocrity, why not give your place to me? You could do something great out there!"

"You are truly the Sect Leader of the Great Dao Teaching?" Zhang Rongfang sighed.

"Are you still relying on those Residual Gods behind you?" Xue Tong smiled. "Rest assured, no divine or Buddha senses can penetrate here, and even if you have special marks, they are useless."

"Sir, do you really think that without the help of divine or Buddha powers behind me, I’m just a worthless person?" Zhang Rongfang said in surprise.

"Care to try?" Xue Tong smiled.

"Alright." Zhang Rongfang also smiled.

At that moment, a dark shadow silently darted out from behind Zhang Rongfang’s shadow.

It looked like a creature made of pure shadow, wielding a pitch-black dagger that suddenly and fiercely stabbed into Zhang Rongfang’s heart from behind.

Squelch!!

The dagger plunged deeply, twisting.

Zhang Rongfang’s terrifying body defenses seemed like paper in front of it, easily pierced through.

"The magical weapon Crystal City; back in the day, I wielded it and slayed three Spirit Generals’ Spirit Cores from evil cults." Xue Tong sighed, "This weapon targets the heart, not the flesh. Dying under this weapon can be considered an honor for you."

"My...heart..." Zhang Rongfang immediately turned pale, clutching his heart tightly, blood flowing from the wound on his heart.

"Sir...you’ve been deceiving me all along!?" He looked at Xue Tong in disbelief.

"Not deception, just too much admiration for you, young friend, and I temporarily thought of changing my way of life." Xue Tong shook his head, smiling.

"So...you’re not really the Sect Leader of the Great Dao Teaching but have another identity?" Zhang Rongfang gritted his teeth.

"This kind of injury isn’t enough to kill you, young friend. Are you trying to get information out of me?" Xue Tong chuckled.

"You’ve seen through me, senior." Zhang Rongfang’s complexion returned to normal, and the hand covering his heart released, revealing a bloody, gaping wound.

However, there was no trace of a heart in the wound, just an empty, open wound.

"But that stab really hurt....." he said softly.

"Then why not give up?" Xue Tong suggested.

"Give up?" Zhang Rongfang suddenly laughed. "How can you be so naive, senior? If your reliance today is only that neither human nor ghost creature behind me, then...."

He lifted his hand.

"You can die now."

In an instant, countless thick red blood flowed like a waterfall, gushing from his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and entire skin, falling to the ground.

The ground was stained red, expanding, writhing, spreading.

Xue Tong’s expression changed slightly, and his body rapidly exploded, transforming into dozens of black shadows that scattered.

Each shadow that hit the ground automatically formed a pitch-black shadow monster like before.

All shadows held a black short sword, and the hilt of the sword was embedded with a dark gold vertical pupil-like gemstone, casting a shimmering glow in the dim cave.

"The Dao generates One, One generates Three, Three generates all things!" A long chant echoed as all the shadow creatures simultaneously lunged at Zhang Rongfang.

However, the moment they touched the blood near Zhang Rongfang, they burst like soap bubbles.

In the blink of an eye, half of the shadows were obliterated and disappeared.