Chapter 1563: Strange Array Pillars

Before setting off for the north, Bai Ziqi left two divine attendants in Xuncheng and ordered them to carefully investigate Nangong Yan's conduct before his death. "Assuming the person who killed Nangong Yan was the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds, then Nangong Yan and the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds likely had a personal grudge. Moreover, Nangong Yan and the others were just exposed at the city gate; the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds himself did not appear in public, did not wear that iconic battle armor, and did not publicly judge and execute Nangong Yan. What does this mean?"

Everyone was thinking, and Bai Qi had already said, "Is this the first crime scene of the Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds? In terms of time, the Luosheng Armor in the Kelin ruins hadn't come into the world yet."

"Correct! The Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds who killed Nangong Yan outside the city pass had no such gimmicks at all at this time, and it is not excluded that he fought Nangong Yan with his true face!" Bai Ziqi said solemnly, "So you must carefully investigate what Nangong Yan did in the five days before he was killed—no, the ten days before! What he did and who he offended!"

The coup in this country only happened more than half a year ago, so there should be many clues to pick up.

"The people around Nangong Yan in the past might even still be in Xuncheng." Bai Ziqi ordered, "Find them and get the information!"

"Yes!"

Afterwards, Bai Ziqi set off for Bai Mao Mountain.

That is the territory of the Xiaoyao Sect, and idlers are not allowed near. Bai Ziqi asked about the origin of the name Bai Mao Mountain and let Guide Liu wait at the small town at the foot of the mountain, while he only took a few divine attendants up the mountain.

For this kind of mission, taking too many people into the mountain is useless.

He originally looked down on the restrictions set by the Xiaoyao Sect at the entrance of the mountain road, but found that they had set them up quite covertly. Once triggered, it would not only cause a powerful counterattack but also alert the Xiaoyao Sect.

A Daoist sect in a small place can also set up such a high-level array? Bai Ziqi was not worried but happy.

He was originally worried that the god Puyin's intelligence was inaccurate, but there were such high-level restrictions upon entering the mountain, which meant there was truly something on Bai Mao Mountain.

Otherwise, why would the Xiaoyao Sect put in so much effort under an empty mountain? Oh no, the matter is of great importance; the one controlling the situation now is likely no longer the Xiaoyao Sect.

After figuring out the temperament of the restrictions, the divine attendants took out elixirs, each took one, and then flipped out a wolf-skin cloak and draped it over their bodies.

The efficacy of this medicine is very interesting; it can shrink the user's body size to half of their original body within fifty breaths, accompanied by intense discomfort. Bai Ziqi was six chi tall, and after taking the medicine, he quickly became three chi, a standard dwarf.

After putting on the specially made wolf-skin cloak, everyone lay on the ground and turned into living wolves!

Or rather, at least the appearance was similar to a wild wolf; they could run on all fours like a wolf, and even wag their tails like a wolf.

Looking closely, there were still many problems; it was a bit rough, and children would easily have nightmares at night if they saw it.

But there was no problem using it to deceive the restrictions.

Bai Mao Mountain is so big, with countless wild animals; if every animal that came over could trigger the restrictions, the Xiaoyao Sect would be busy all day long.

So no matter how this restriction operates, it must be lenient toward wild animals.

With the help of the Lamp Spirit to cover up the fluctuations of magic power on their bodies, Bai Ziqi and the others passed through the mountain gate restrictions very smoothly.

Bai Mao Mountain is very large, a quite magnificent mountain range. In the past, the White Bear King used this place as a lair, and the bear soldiers, wolf generals, and animal armies under his command numbered in the thousands, which shows the vastness of Bai Mao Mountain.

With such a large range, everyone doesn't need to worry about triggering the restrictions again, but how should they find the array of the Thousand Illusions True Person? This is truly hiding a tree in a forest.

"We must first find an array pillar, and the rest will be easy to handle." Bai Ziqi ordered, "The god Puyin said that there is one within eighty zhang to the due north of the mountain gate. Let's go quickly while the sky is still early."

Everyone bypassed the mountain gate and sneaked into the dense, impenetrable jungle.

Today is cloudless, and according to the position of the sun through the leaves, it is easy to distinguish the due north direction.

Before long, the scout Bai Qi ran back: "Found it, straight ahead!"

Actually, it was hard not to find it; the size of this thing is truly huge! With Bai Ziqi's experience, it was his first time seeing such a strange array base:

It is neither gold, nor stone, nor wood, but a large cluster of unimaginable fern-like curled leaves! Brownish-red, harder than stone, looking like a pile of giant question marks squeezed together from a distance, or like the curved tentacles of an octopus—they rose from the ground, reaching about fifteen zhang (nearly 50 meters) high!

There are many giant trees in Bai Mao Mountain, but such a strange giant fern tree still has a style of standing out from the crowd in the mountain.

No wonder the Thousand Illusions True Person wanted to disguise it; otherwise, it would look like an eye-catching bag no matter how you look at it.

This cluster of giant fern trees is as thick as thirteen people holding hands, and it is quite spectacular whether viewed from a distance or up close. The wood is covered with moss and strangler vines, as well as scarred moss spots, looking like it has weathered many storms.

Bai Ziqi stepped forward and knocked on the bark, which made a sound.

"The epidermis has fossilized."

Bai Qi wondered, "There are endless strange things in the world; why did the Thousand Illusions True Person use this kind of thing as an array pillar?"

Isn't it better to use strange stones that won't rot for ten thousand years?

Bai Ziqi leaned his ear against the tree body and listened for a long while: "Don't look at its epidermis having fossilized, but there is still activity inside; this giant fern tree is still growing."

"Perhaps, this state of being half-stone and half-fern, both living and dying, is closest to the earth's power of Bai Mao Mountain?" He thought for a moment and then said, "When immortals set up a spirit-gathering array, they must adapt to local conditions. The Thousand Illusions True Person's choice of materials must be most suitable for Bai Mao Mountain."

"Alright, the current task is to find the remaining array pillars of the spirit-gathering array."

Over so many years, the Xiaoyao Sect never discovered the existence of the spirit-gathering array, which must be because the Thousand Illusions True Person disguised all these giant fern trees, making them look like ordinary big trees, just a bit bigger and taller.

Now that the array has stopped working for no reason, the disguise has been broken, and the giant fern trees have finally revealed their true appearance.

Taking advantage of the daylight, Bai Ziqi took out a pale gold candle and shook it in the wind, and the Lamp Spirit appeared.

He pressed the candle against the giant fern tree: "Go into the mountain and find giant trees that look like this. Make a mark for every one you find."

The Lamp Spirit flew back and forth around the giant fern tree, as if observing carefully, and even drilled into the cracks.

After a good while, it returned to Bai Ziqi's side.

Reconnaissance complete.

He blew a long breath at the Lamp Spirit.

Being blown like this, the fist-sized Lamp Spirit exploded into thousands of small sparks, flying in all directions! This scene was like the arrival of a swarm of fireflies.

Every small spark is a clone of the Lamp Spirit.

They launched a carpet search in this mountain, not letting go of any giant tree.

Otherwise, Bai Mao Mountain is so big that even if there were a thousand more people, it wouldn't be enough.

"Let's look at their retrieval results." Bai Ziqi took a circular purple-gold shallow plate from the page boy, with a diameter of about five chi. ===== CHAPTER 1564 =====