Chapter 87: Apathetic
Gu Xiaoxue was surprised when Shao Mingzhen suddenly asked her. He calmed her down before she wryly smiled, “Your guess is correct, why you must ask me? Truth be told, his cultivation is far lower than yours. But… who could have thought that he would able to break through into the fourth layer?”
“It’s really the fourth layer?”
Shao Mingzhen was stunned. He only guessed it. But now after getting confirmation, he also shared the shocks. He was not a run of the mill person with good judgment abilities regarding other’s ability. But only now did he realize that he had been mistaken. He really couldn’t judge a person by looking only at his appearance, just like you couldn’t measure the depth of the sea with a pint pot. And this time, he was really wrong beyond reason.
Gu Xiaoxue added, “I don’t want to admit it but the fact is right before your eyes.”
Shao Mingzhen furiously swallowed his saliva and was unable to say anything for a moment. He had seen a genius cultivator before. But for a monster such as Tang Xiu, never once had he heard or encountered one.
“I suspect that he should be a formation Array Grandmaster!”
Gu Xiaoxue hesitated for a moment before she continued in a low voice.
“What the hell? Is this a joke?”
Miao Wentang reluctantly propped himself up from the ground and exclaimed out with a hoarse voice.
Gu Xiaoxue coldly glanced at him as she humphed and said, “Hmph! If he isn’t an Array Grandmaster, how could he easily break the first three layers of the array, then? I can see that his cultivation is not deep, I’m 100% sure about it. Your cultivation is much higher, but can you breakthrough to the fourth layer?”
“T-This…”
Miao Wentang was left speechless. He could only feel his face burning as though he was slapped with invisible hands, leaving him to feel a kind of dejected and ashamed feeling!
A few meters away outside…
Jia Ruidao looked at Tang Xiu’s figure dumbfoundedly. His mouth gaped, big enough that he could even swallow a duck egg. His first disciple at his side, Gong Dalong whispered, “Master, Master Tang seems like he’s very powerful! He’s even able to walk further into the center of the plaza compared to the two men before.”
Jia Ruidao slowly turned his head. The vacant expression on his eyes greatly diminished as he replied with a bitter tone, “But still, I don’t want him to continue rushing into a higher level right now. If he were to continue rushing, the possibility of him getting injured is also bigger. He could be seriously injured.”
Gong Dalong also froze and fell into silence.
His Master’s concern was true. If Tang Xiu was to be seriously injured, then tomorrow’s gambling match would have been implicated, even all of them would have been finished completely.
Inside the Thousand Revolution Array…
Tang Xiu kept observing as more Snow Wolves approached. The smile on his face was getting bigger. Had it been for others, they would have been trembling and scared shitless. But, he was not some other guys. He was the creator of this Thousand Revolution Array and knew everything about breaking this array.
“Aroooooo…”
The wolves’ howling voice turned into a stretch line of sound that filled and shocked the entire sky. But a strange thing happened. The group of wolves that came from all directions stopped tens of meters away from Tang Xiu, as their chilling greenish eyes tightly preyed on something else than Tang Xiu. It was the Mitsubishi army knife they were staring at.
The key point in a formation array was the knowledge of the pattern’s crux.
Not only did Tang Xiu know about the crux, but he also knew the pattern layout. The spot that was stabbed by his Mitsubishi army knife was exactly the connection point to the crux. As long as he didn’t pull the knife out, the Snow Wolves wouldn’t attack him. The key point in breaking the Winter Carnage of the fourth layer was to withstand against time. As long as one was able to withstand a burning incense stick’s worth of time, the fourth layer would eventually collapse by itself.
Shortly after, a burning incense stick’s worth of time had passed.
“Buzz…”
The surrounding scene changed as the world of ice and snow dissipated and was replaced with the yellow sandy pathway. There was an unceasing surging river behind the trail.
A man clad in a raincoat was holding an olden fishing rod as he sat alone on the small boat in the river. The boat turned and automatically approached Tang Xiu slowly the moment he appeared.
“Ferryman!”
Tang Xiu spoke calmly.
The old man smiled and said, “I welcome your arrival. It’s honor to serve you.”
Tang jumped onto the boat and calmly replied, “I want to cross the river.”
“At your service!”
The old man nodded and smiled.
The boat glided and slowly moved into the middle of the river. However, the old man suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a howling gale. The boat began to shake violently as Swordfishes unceasingly leaped up above the surrounding river water and aimed at Tang Xiu. At the same time, a group of Vermillion Birds blazing in fire suddenly flew in the sky as they swarmed over Tang Xiu with their sharp beaks and talons.
“Xiu’er, Mum misses you.”
An illusion appeared in Tang Xiu’s eyes. He was at home as his Mother shed tears as she rushed over at him.
“Hmph……”
Tang Xiu snorted coldly as his aura suddenly exploded and destroyed the surroundings scene in an instant. He had experienced this illusion in this dreamland countless of times. Had it been before, he could have drowned himself in this dreamland for a long time even though he was clearly aware that his mother was only an illusion. It was because he missed his mother deeply. But at present, since he had come back from the Immortal World and could see his mother in flesh easily, he didn’t need to suffer the again and did not have the slightest disturbance on him.
“Destroy!”
He slashed his army knife again and moved fast. With his low cultivation right now, he only had 3,000 pounds of strength, so it would be very difficult for him to kill theses Swordfishes and the Blazing Vermillion birds. A slight carelessness would get him severely injured or killed. But with his vast fighting experience, such a scene was easy for him to solve.
Besides, the key point to break through this layer was not to kill all of those Swordfishes and Blazing Vermillion birds, but to cross the river and get to the other side with the boat quickly.
Outside the Thousand Revolution Array…
The terrifying speed Tang Xiu had shown in breaking the array had constantly shocked Gu Xiaoxue to the point of numbness. She originally thought that the fourth layer would be Tang Xiu’s limit. However, the current scene made her flabbergasted and put her at a complete loss.
She was very strong, to the point that she could kill Tang Xiu with only a pat. But if she were to ask herself, she would never be able to achieve Tang Xiu’s level. She had been challenging the array since she was 10 years old for hundreds and even thousands of times. And never once did she break into the fifth layer.
What kind of world was the fifth layer?
She only heard about it but had never seen it!
“Even if one were an Array Grandmaster, they’d never be like him, would they?”
Regret filled Gu Xiaoxue because of the contempt and despise she had and did toward Tang Xiu. Such a heaven-defying ability Tang Xiu had shown to break the array had broken her common sense.
At this moment, Miao Wentang’s face was just like a sheet of paper. He looked at Shao Mingzhen and was barely able to hold the urge to pull Shao Mingzhen and run away due to his embarrassment.
This was a disgrace he brought upon himself and now he finally tasted this bitter feeling, which was even more bitter than goldthread rhizome medicine.
“Amazing!”
With vacant eyes, Shao Mingzhen murmured.
But his words were just like a sharp knife that ferociously stabbed at Miao Wentang’s heart, the pain even almost drove him to cry.
As for the spectators, although a few onlookers had left, but most of them still waited. They didn’t know what layer Tang Xiu had broken into, but seeing that Tang Xiu had walked further than Shao Mingzhen and Miao Wentang, they knew that Tang Xiu was stronger than the both of them.
“Impossible!”
A loud shout came from Gu Xiaoxue.
In the next moment, everyone also found that Tang Xiu was walking 7 or 8 meters forward toward the center of the plaza.
Shao Mingzhen turned his head and hastily asked Gu Xiu with an aghast expression, “Miss Gu, Tang Xiu, H-He… He succeeded again?”
“Yes!”
With mind already numbed with shock, Gu Xiaoxue nodded and answered.
Shao Mingzhen mumbled with a blank expression, “The fifth layer, he broke the fifth layer and not into the sixth layer. … Isn’t this way too inconceivable?”
“It’s damn appalling!”
A complicated expression filled Gu Xiaoxue’s eyes. An unfathomable feeling filled her heart looking at Tang Xiu’s figure. She recalled the moment she met Tang Xiu until now, only then was she aware that she couldn’t see through him. He was as though a moon reflected on the water, covered and shrouded by illusions.
Shortly after…
Tang Xiu came out from the Thousands Revolution Array. His complexion was slightly paler, but there were no hints that he was getting distressed as all eyes fixated on him the moment he came out.
“Now, I’m qualified to be an Honorable Guest of the Everlasting Feast Hall, yes?”
Tang Xiu calmly asked when he came in front of Gu Xiaoxue.
Gu Xiaoxue subconsciously nodded. But she sobered up immediately and hastily asked, “Tang Xiu, your cultivation is obviously very low, but how could you break into the sixth layer? My Master is the one who deployed this Thousand Revolution Array decades ago. Although only a few people have challenged this array, but even the most powerful from all of them were only able to break through into the fifth layer… Never once had it happened that anyone was able to get into the sixth. How did you do it?”
Tang Xiu said, “No comment.”
“You…”
Gu Xiaoxue’s heart was as though a cat being caught, struggling and unable to calm down. But, she was helpless even though she was angry at getting such an apathetic attitude from Tang Xiu.
Tang Xiu no longer looked at her and turned toward Shao Mingzhen and Miao Wentang, and said lightly, “I will give you the prescription later. But do remember your commitment.”
Having said that, he glanced at the surprised Jia Ruidao and his apprentices, and walked toward the elegant classic attic in the woods. Although he was afraid to confirm the possibility that Gu Xiaoxue’s Master could be his disciple, but he was absolutely sure that they should have a close relationship.
When he first heard his favorite disciple, he was ecstatic. But after having gone through to challenge the Thousand Revolution Array, his heart finally calmed down. Recalling that even his wife and trusted friend could betray him, then if…
Tang Xiu was afraid to delve down further. He couldn’t withstand such a traumatic blow again, so he directly chose to give up about it.
The most crucial thing for him right now was to cultivate himself. Giving his all to go back to the Supreme stage of the Realm he once was. For that time, for all those people who had betrayed him, they must pay a hefty and painful price.
His heart was neither made of steel or stone. But he was also neither a pushover nor softhearted person to begin with. He would never provoke others, but if others provoked him, they must pay 10 times the price.
He prayed. He prayed to the whole heavens, to the Gods and Buddhas for them to protect and bless those who had betrayed and injured him. For them to remain safe and sound until the time came for him to personally visit them, and ask for payment of their overdue debts.