Chapter 272: Teleportation Array and the Dead Silent Town

The small house in the forest looks tiny from outside, but upon entering, one discovers another world within.

It spans over ten square meters, with a Five Elements Array in the center; the surrounding walls are hung with all sorts of things—weapons such as swords, spears, halberds, and bottles, jars, mirrors, scissors, poisons, etc.

Heng Xian looked around, first squatting beside the Five Elements Array, curiously examining it; he saw that the formation's patterns, spirit stones, spirit markers, and spatial laws were all present.

This is a legendary one-way, single-use teleportation array; at first glance it seems simple, but the longer one looks, the more confusing it becomes.

The "Teleportation Array" is a Sumeru space formation; it is said to have been lost for tens of thousands of years. In the modern cultivation world, those lacking spatial spiritual roots and talent find it hard for ordinary cultivators to grasp spatial rules, let alone set up a "Teleportation Array".

Nowadays, the few existing "Teleportation Arrays" are all inherited from ancient times; often a small such array brings enormous profits, directly creating prosperity over a thousand miles and the enduring strength of a certain clan.

After looking away from the "Teleportation Array", he turned his gaze to the surrounding walls.

The weapons and items on it are all dilapidated, clearly not anything good at first glance, yet they are protected by the formation.

If it weren't for the divination showing these things are important, he would not have given them another glance.

At this moment he stepped forward two steps, reached out and touched the formation barrier, only to see countless strange characters mysteriously appear in the air.

These characters had no pattern and kept moving, leaving the viewer utterly bewildered.

Heng Xian, however, hesitated not; he reached out and tapped, and when he touched a character, it floated up and steadied above.

After tapping more than ten characters, a line of poetry appeared above: "Walking, qi faces the origin; each step bears a lotus!"

This was exactly the verse spoken by the scholar who left the Blood River earlier.

The verse had just been formed,

"Hum—"

The formation's restriction on an axe hanging on the left wall vanished, allowing it to be taken down.

Heng Xian did not take it, but chose to continue tapping characters.

After tapping more than ten characters, another line of poetry appeared: "Who says the path to immortality is late? Do not let the Shengong guard its honor in vain!"

This was precisely the chant sung by the disciple of the Overlord Sect, the scholar on the rope, before he vanished.

"Hum!"

The formation's restriction on a spear on the right wall vanished, allowing it to be taken at any time.

Heng Xian still did not stop, continuing to tap characters, intending to use all the scholar-poems of Lin Shuyu, Xu Wei, Huangfu Taiqing, and others from when they crossed the Blood River on the rope.

One poem after another, before long the formation's restrictions on both walls were largely undone, and weapons and items could be taken freely.

Heng Xian breathed a sigh of relief, unable to stop cursing inwardly: this test is too heaven-defying; those strange scholars' offhand verses, some simple, some obscure and bitter, he had deliberately memorized, yet probably few disciples of the various sects could remember them!

Without tapping the poems, just taking a few weapons from the wall and trying to rush through would be too difficult!

"Click click click..."

At this moment the house began to shake, about to collapse imminently.

He immediately went to the wall and selected three dull iron swords and several bottles of medicine and incense candles.

Just as he took them down, the room had already begun to collapse.

He immediately stepped into the "Teleportation Array".

The formation sensed him and activated; his vision blurred as if blown by a gust, and when it refocused, he was already elsewhere.

This is a plain with trees, grass, small animals, and houses.

The houses are rows of half-ruined ancient-style buildings, with small towers, brick-and-tile houses, and streets, densely packed without visible end, surprisingly vast.

On the marble-paved street, many wheelbarrow stalls are haphazardly placed, while the shops on either side remain open,

yet not a single person is in sight; the continuous buildings resemble a ghost town.

Heng Xian glanced behind; the "Teleportation Array" and the small house had vanished, and in the distance lay a desolate, lifeless expanse of architecture.

Not even a single disciple from any sect was seen.

This made him marvel at the power of the teleportation array—with a "whoosh" he arrived at another place, practically more miraculous than the legendary "Nascent Soul Instant Transfer".

After confirming the surroundings were safe, he walked toward the street.

Stepping onto the street, he saw grocery stalls, tea stands, and pancake stalls all around, lifelike as if the vendors had just left.

In the shops with doors open on both sides, there were bright silks, pristine restaurant tables, and even the pawnshop counter's paint still gleamed.

As he walked and observed, he casually took a string of candied haws from a nearby stall, smelled it—no taste—and instinctively took a bite, finding it like beeswax.

It seemed its moisture and sweetness had been dried by the wind for many years.

He tossed aside the candied haws, pondering what this place signified or what had happened there, when he saw a person crouched under the banner of a tavern ahead.

A woman in gray cloth clothing, her hair braided, appeared to be washing clothes.

Anyone there?

Heng Xian formed a seal, cast the Break Evil Technique, and focused his gaze.

Still a woman; he could not tell whether it was an illusion or a monster.

But he could be certain: she was definitely not a disciple of the Fourteen Sects.

He cautiously walked behind the woman and looked into the tavern; only a shop assistant stood behind the counter, head lowered, unknown what he was doing.

Inside the hall were seven tables; six were clean and wiped, while one table had four people sitting, eating, heads down, just eating vegetables in silence.

Suddenly on the dead-quiet street appeared this tavern, plus six silent individuals.

This gave Heng Xian an ominous premonition!

He turned toward the nearest woman washing clothes and furtively glanced at her face.

Before he could see clearly, the woman suddenly turned her head to look at him; about twenty years old, her complexion deathly pale, a vivid peach-blossom mark on her brow, her eyes devoid of any humanity, she gave a faint smile that made his skin crawl.

Heng Xian immediately tapped his foot and flew backward.

However, the woman moved even faster, exuding an indescribable foul odor, she lunged like lightning into his embrace, wielding a hooked weapon and slashing at his throat.

Such a silent, sudden attack was practically more venomous than a poisonous snake.

Heng Xian's scalp went numb; he immediately drew an ordinary spirit sword to block.

Clang!

The woman's strength was far too inferior to his; she flew backward face-up seven or eight steps, but as soon as she landed, she sprang back with an eerie arc, charging forward and swinging her hook to stab at his heart.

Heng Xian gauged her roughly; her cultivation wasn't that high, only around the fifth or sixth layer of Condensing Qi, but her body technique and killing methods were extremely vicious.

He then stopped holding back, turned his body, and unleashed three sword strikes.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The woman's body was sliced into four sections, falling limp to the ground in a clean, neat heap, motionless, yet no blood flowed out; the pale, bare cross‑section of flesh and bone seemed to exude a strange aura.

Heng Xian frowned, examining her closely.

At that moment, the woman's corpse suddenly began to move; the four sections slowly drifted toward each other and then eerily reassembled, the wounds gradually disappearing.

Swish!

The woman's closed eyes snapped open again; she picked up the hook weapon beside her, flashed forward, and thrust once more.

Heng Xian felt greatly surprised, yet he was not actually startled.

Seeing the woman approach, he put away his ordinary spirit sword, took down a gray‑iron sword from the cottage wall, flourished it, and unleashed three sword strikes.

Although the woman attacked ferociously, before Heng Xian she was like a child—she managed to block only one strike, and the other two cut her into three pieces.

The three sections of corpse fell to the ground again, this time instantly rotting and turning black into a puddle of decay, as if she had been dead for many years.

(End of chapter)