8mi Ch. 520
Ch. 520
For three or four days in a row, Xiao Mochi and the other three moved about the outskirts of Black Hawk City.All four of them were searching for a way to deal with the formation.
At the beginning, the four of them all felt that this formation would be very easy to solve. They had even already figured out the operating nodes—how the formation flowed and functioned.
Xiao Mochi and the others thought that once they understood the operating nodes, they could try to break the formation on the second day.
But what they never expected was—
When the second day came, the formation had changed again.
All the formation nodes they had found the day before had shifted completely.
The entire formation had become something they didn't recognize at all.
It was like you married a wife, and yet after only a single night, when you woke up the next morning, you couldn't even recognize what she looked like.
Xiao Mochi and the others had no choice but to continue searching for the formation's key points, starting over again to summarize its operating nodes.
On the second day, they found the nodes once more.
But on the third day, the nodes changed again.
The fourth day, the fifth day—it was the same.
Every time they located the formation's core points, those points would change the very next day.
Xiao Mochi and the others had no way to begin.
They had never seen this kind of formation before.
Although Xiao Mochi and the others were not cultivators who specialized in formations, and they understood that every profession has its expertise, the problem was that White Deer Academy did teach formation courses.
And the formation curriculum at White Deer Academy was in fact not inferior to that of many sects that dedicated themselves to studying formations.
This made the four of them feel that something was wrong with this formation—it was absolutely not ordinary.
A normal formation could never reach this level.
They even began to suspect that the formation had been set up by Rouge Sect.
But Rouge Sect was nothing more than an ordinary Nascent Soul–level sect. How could it possibly deploy such a powerful and bizarre formation?
To set up this type of formation, at the very least it would require two or three sects of the same tier working together, and it would also require a large amount of rare treasures and precious materials.
Otherwise, it would have to be some Jade Purity Realm big shot coming here in person to lay down the formation.
If it was the former, it meant that the sects Xiao Mochi and the others would have to face were not limited to Rouge Sect alone.
If it was the latter, then for a Jade Purity Realm expert to wipe out a city would be effortless.
There would be no need to go through the trouble of coming here to set up a formation, wasting resources.
After arriving in Black Hawk City, ten days passed.
During these days, everyone waited anxiously, hoping to see the city's formation collapse so they could escape.
No one wanted a sword hanging over their head, never knowing when they might die.
But the citizens of Black Hawk City realized the formation showed no sign of change at all.
In order to calm the people's emotions, the city lord of Black Hawk City held another assembly.
Even if Xiao Mochi and the others told a well-intentioned lie, it would still be fine.
Xiao Mochi and the others thought so too.
No matter what, they had to stabilize the city's mood first.
Otherwise, if so many citizens in Black Hawk City fell into panic, the consequences would be extremely severe.
Xiao Mochi had seen many examples like this—often, destruction did not come from the disaster itself, but from people's hearts.
But when they stood before the high platform, looking at the mass of citizens below—
Looking at the hopeful, pleading expressions in their eyes—
The four of them swallowed, wanting to speak, yet stopping themselves, the words they had meant to say suddenly impossible to voice.
They realized that true heaviness was when people placed all their hope upon you, waiting eagerly for every word you spoke—
And yet you could not give them an answer.
In the days that followed, Xiao Mochi's group continued to study the formation.
Xiao Mochi, for the first time in a long while, became truly serious.
Every time Xiao Mochi closed his eyes, wanting to rest even a little, the only thing that surfaced in his mind was the gaze of the citizens—eyes filled with hope, entrusted entirely to him.
Gradually, Xiao Mochi discovered the pattern behind the formation's changes.
He shared the formation's mystery with the other three.
Wang Shenghan and the others felt what Xiao Mochi said made sense, and so they continued breaking the formation along the direction he pointed out.
Finally, the four of them stopped the formation from changing, and they all let out a heavy breath of relief.
When a formation no longer changes, that is when the real breaking begins.
What they had to do next was race against time.
During the period of breaking the formation, Lu Xiaoliu met a young woman.
She was the daughter of a wealthy family in Black Hawk City.
Because she would come from time to time to bring things for Xiao Mochi and the others, one visit led to another, and Lu Xiaoliu came to know her.
Moreover, the young woman was indeed very beautiful, and her temperament was gentle as well.
As time passed, Lu Xiaoliu began to fall for her.
Xiao Mochi and the other three also knew about Lu Xiaoliu and that young woman, and they didn't say anything.
After all, they were Confucian scholars—not monks.
A Confucian scholar having someone he likes—wasn't that perfectly normal?
Twenty days passed in total.
Just as Xiao Mochi and the other three were about to completely dismantle the formation, something unexpected happened again.
The formation changed once more!
"What is going on with this formation, exactly?"
That night, the four gathered together to discuss the formation. Nan Wenmo already looked extremely restless.
Wang Shenghan shook his head. "By all logic, we should have grasped the operating nodes of the formation. But I never imagined that even the core of the formation could change!"
Lu Xiaoliu looked at Xiao Mochi. "Mochi, do you have any thoughts on this?"
The others also turned their gaze toward Xiao Mochi.
Xiao Mochi was not the strongest among them in cultivation, nor was he the most learned.
But Xiao Mochi was the smartest.
In a situation like this, Xiao Mochi's flexible mind might be able to find a better way.
Xiao Mochi furrowed his brows, lifted his head, and looked at the three of them.
"I suspect there's a traitor among us!"
"…"
"Mochi, you're saying there's a traitor among us?" Wang Shenghan asked.
Xiao Mochi shook his head.
"What I said just now wasn't accurate—not among the four of us… but that there is a traitor in Black Hawk City!
Although this formation isn't something an ordinary Nascent Soul–realm sect could deploy, no matter what, it is still within the bounds of our knowledge.
The operating nodes we found before was definitely correct. And for a formation to change is by no means an easy matter."
Lu Xiaoliu's eyes suddenly lit up. "Unless it's—"
"Damn it!" Nan Wenmo stood up and slammed her hand onto the table so hard the table leg smashed a small pit into the ground. "What exactly is the Black Hawk City lord trying to do?!"