Chapter 1053 - 882: Discussing Something in Private

At this kind of distance peeping on them, Wu Jinliang wasn't afraid of being noticed. The grand Array cut off Mana fluctuations, and the environment on Yanfu Continent made sounds hard to hear. As long as he was careful, sneaking up this close still wouldn't get him caught.

Most importantly, the grand Array was there to protect him. Even if they did discover him, so what? There was nothing they could do to him.

And because he was close, he could hear the group talking as they cast their skills, which he found pretty amusing.

As for practicing and imitating Yu Yifu's appearance, it was because he wanted to get close to Li Hongjiu and get the intel.

And right in the next moment, the chance came. A whole bunch of people huddling together here doing nothing wasn't a solution, so Yu Yifu first dispersed everyone and had them circle the Protection Array to search. The cloaked men were still leading the teams, checking whether the group under Shi Chun's command had escaped from another direction, in case this place was just a feint and they'd already slipped the shell like a cicada.

Searching such a huge area, and deep underground at that, was no easy job.

They even sent people down from the surface lookouts to help.

The troops split up into several groups. Luo Yuanfeng stayed put; seeing him still studying the Array, Yu Yifu told him to keep at it and guard Li Hongjiu in the meantime.

Seeing people scatter, Wu Jinliang's mouth crooked into a grin. He quietly used Escape Technique to leave, and slipped back to Qilin A San, who wasn't far away.

San had already been buried by sand from every direction. It didn't know Earth Escape Skill and had no magic power; waiting here could only mean getting packed tight by the sand and dust.

Once Wu Jinliang came back, he parted the sand layers, and San came back to life at once.

"It's me." Knowing his appearance had changed drastically, Wu Jinliang gave a quick reminder.

San let out a "Huh?", looking him up and down, apparently not expecting him to have this trick.

Wu Jinliang had nothing else to do on coming back, so he had it help with reconnaissance, to see if those people had really spread out and gone far, guarding against any trickery.

For San, this was nothing. After checking, it confirmed that only Luo Yuanfeng and Li Hongjiu were in this area. Wu Jinliang was instantly relieved, pulled out the golden Command Arrow used to pass through the grand Array, and burrowed back into the sand.

San's mouth twitched. Seeing the sand layer squeezing back in, it shut its eyes again and let itself be buried, unable to move.

Close to the Array boundary, the Command Arrow in Wu Jinliang's hand burst into golden waves of light. He directly forced his way out of the barrier, then quickly stowed the arrow and cast a skill to split the sand layers, tunneling toward where Li Hongjiu was.

He didn't dare go straight to him at close range and took a bit of a detour.

Very soon, he broke through the sand layer and appeared in the hollow space where Luo Yuanfeng was reinforcing the sand.

Sensing the sand layer shudder, Luo Yuanfeng was staring warily in that direction. When he saw that the one emerging was "Yu Yifu," he relaxed his guard—after all, he'd heard there was a demon cultivator who could one-versus-four.

This "Yu Yifu" didn't say a word, just crooked his finger at Li Hongjiu, signaling him to come over.

Li Hongjiu couldn't refuse anyway. Right now he was putting on a complete "submit to whatever comes" attitude, relying on his background as protection—as long as he obeyed, he shouldn't suffer any abuse.

He drifted over honestly. Luo Yuanfeng was going to follow as well, but "Yu Yifu" raised a hand to stop him. Luo Yuanfeng paused, a bit taken aback, and halted, watching "Yu Yifu" take Li Hongjiu into the sand layer without overthinking it.

Following "Yu Yifu," Li Hongjiu vaguely sensed something off. He found that the skill "Yu Yifu" used to part the sand was somehow different from before.

The two didn't go very far before stopping; there was no helping it, Wu Jinliang's Transformation Technique wasn't fully mastered yet, and he could only maintain it for half a stick of incense. He couldn't afford to waste too much time along the way.

However, as his cultivation grew, the interval between his transformations had shortened a lot.

Stopping with him, Li Hongjiu's gaze on "Yu Yifu" grew more and more puzzled. He noticed "Yu Yifu" had suddenly lost the air of a big shot and instead seemed rather sneaky.

After casting a skill to scan the surrounding sand layers, "Yu Yifu" finally used a spell and spoke in a low voice, "Lord Jiu, it's me."

That voice was naturally familiar. Li Hongjiu's eyes flew wide, and he instinctively took a step back, looking him over from head to toe, not daring to be sure.

What he could be sure of was that the temperament leaking out in this "Yu Yifu's" gestures was indeed very much like that Giant Wu, but he still worried it was a trap. Who knew what kind of freakish talents the Nanshan Royal Court had brought?

Wu Jinliang also didn't want to cancel the Transformation Technique—once dispelled, it wouldn't be easy to transform again, with a fixed cooldown in between. But given how familiar he was with Li Hongjiu, this was easy to solve. He raised his hand and cast a spell, pressing down on Li Hongjiu's body from a distance.

That Magic Skill, the method of suppressing and pooling the sea-surge of power, instantly let Li Hongjiu confirm who it was. He exclaimed in shock and doubt, "Giant Wu, what's your situation?"

Wu Jinliang didn't want to explain slowly; there was no time, so he fudged it. "Just an Illusion Technique."

Li Hongjiu: "Illusion Technique? You're not afraid that Demon Eye will see the trace of our contact?"

Wu Jinliang: "Relax, that Demon Eye Cultivator doesn't dare flaunt its power carelessly. When it gets close to you all, it'll rein itself in. Right, did Chun Tian get out smoothly or not?"

He'd taken on a certain amount of risk to meet like this just to confirm this matter, worried something unexpected had happened.

At the mention of this, Li Hongjiu immediately thought of his "Messenger" role and snorted irritably. "Get out my ass, he didn't get out…"

That line made Wu Jinliang jolt in shock. "What happened, how's Chun Tian?"

Li Hongjiu snorted, "He's fine, alive and kicking. That bastard, after running out of Yanfu Continent, didn't exit through the Protection Array at the gate. He just hid inside the Protection Array, neither entering Yanfu Continent nor leaving the exit, just squatting there. Yu Yifu and the others don't dare rush out of Yanfu Continent to hunt him down—he's still a Heavenly Court official, with so many guards watching outside. I'm really impressed with him. He actually pulled something like that, treating the entrance as a shelter. Trust him to come up with it."

"..." Wu Jinliang was dumbfounded for quite a while, at a loss for words. He couldn't figure out what Shi Chun was trying to do, so he asked doubtfully, "What's he standing guard there for? Isn't he supposed to be going out to get reinforcements?"

If Shi Chun didn't go out to get reinforcements, he'd be facing a serious problem: no matter how much Sandalwood Gold he dug out here, if he couldn't get it out, it was all useless crap.

Even with his heel he could think it through: once all parties failed to catch him, they would definitely mobilize forces to tightly seal off the exits. Without reinforcements, how was he supposed to get the money out?

Li Hongjiu said, "Who the hell knows what he's thinking. He's chilling outside at the entrance now, piling wood, digging holes, making fires. He even specifically told me to let you know about this, and stressed that I must tell you he's chopping wood and making fire inside the entrance Protection Array. He said once you heard that, you'd know what to do, and warned that time waits for no one, don't get too greedy."

"Chopping wood and making fire..." Wu Jinliang muttered, the confusion on his face suddenly freezing. Then he slapped his thigh hard, as if suddenly enlightened, and his gaze fell on Li Hongjiu, eyes full of burning heat as he sized him up.

Being stared at like that made Li Hongjiu feel uncomfortable all over. He faintly sensed something was wrong and immediately asked, "What do you mean? What exactly are you two planning?"

Wu Jinliang didn't respond. Instead, he frowned in thought, then actually pulled out a cloak and offered it up. "Lord Jiu, later find some excuse to put this cloak on, let them get used to seeing you in a cloak."

Li Hongjiu immediately took the cloak and flipped it over and over in his hands, examining it. He was sure there had to be something wrong with this cloak.

Wu Jinliang said, "Rest easy, Lord Jiu, there's nothing wrong with this cloak. If you're still not at ease, you can swap it for your own cloak and wear that instead."

Li Hongjiu still couldn't put his mind at ease and said in a low voice, "What kind of trick are you two trying to pull?"

Wu Jinliang cupped his fists and said, "Lord Jiu, you'll know in due time. My Illusion Technique can't last too long. I have to send you back now. Once I've figured out exactly how to play this, I'll contact you again."

As he spoke, he moved his hands to part the layer of sand and dragged Li Hongjiu along.

Li Hongjiu was a bit pissed. "If this keeps up, I'll get sold off by you lot and still help you count the money. If you don't make things clear, don't even think about me helping you again."

He complained all the way, but when Wu Jinliang made a hand gesture indicating they were close to Luo Yuanfeng, he hurriedly shut up and conveniently put the cloak away.

Right before breaking through the sand layer to push Li Hongjiu out, Wu Jinliang leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Smooth it over a bit, don't let that guy slip up when he's with Yu Yifu."

Li Hongjiu let out a cold snort, and the two of them once again burrowed out from under the sand layer.

The "Yu Yifu" who escorted Li Hongjiu out gave Luo Yuanfeng a slight nod with a blank expression, then turned his head and disappeared back into the sand layer.

Luo Yuanfeng was human too, and had his curiosity. He asked Li Hongjiu, "Back so fast? Where did you go?"

Though dissatisfied, Li Hongjiu still had to help cover for them for now. "We talked about something in private."

Since it was something discussed in private behind his back, he believed Luo Yuanfeng wouldn't go ask Yu Yifu about it later.

Sure enough, Luo Yuanfeng's lips pressed together slightly, but he said no more and continued studying the Protection Array.

Li Hongjiu, however, turned his head to look at the patch of sand he had just emerged from. He had a faint premonition that those two bastards were about to do something outrageous again.

Only now, thinking back on everything, did he finally start to see some things clearly. Those two, no matter who they ran into, as long as they ran into them, they'd dare to go against them.

Back inside the Protection Array, Wu Jinliang dug Qilin A San out again, then started leading A San in a large circle around, wanting to confirm the patrol routes of the Nanshan troops and see from which point slipping out would be best.

Time was tight. He had to find more veins as quickly as possible and dig out more Sandalwood Gold as quickly as possible.

Right now only the Nanshan troops were watching. There was still a chance to get the money out without going through inspections. Once other forces caught wind of something and also sent people to seal the exits, there'd be no chance left.

When they circled to the area diagonally below the barrier, A San suddenly called out, "Over there, about twenty li away, there's another vein."

"Hm?" Wu Jinliang stopped and looked in that direction. Naturally he couldn't see anything, practically blind, so he asked, "You sure?"

A San said disdainfully, "What do you think?"

Wu Jinliang chuckled and didn't dare talk back, feeling more like A San's mount. Still, he slapped his hands excitedly. "Good, once we finish this one, we dig that one."

His eyes lit up as he realized something: why insist on looking for veins from the surface? It was the same to search underground, and much safer.

Though the search would definitely be much slower, nowhere near as efficient as flying in the sky.

He put that aside for now. Since they'd already found one, maybe they could use the same method to find another. So he took A San on more loops around inside the barrier to scout.

That bit of luck didn't continue. He circled near the edge of the barrier for two days and didn't find another vein. Probably the distance played a part, since A San's sight couldn't stretch infinitely. If the vein wasn't big enough, A San couldn't see a vein from dozens of li away either.

For example, a person dozens of li away was something A San definitely wouldn't be able to see.

Two more days later, the current vein was exhausted and it was time to move. Wu Jinliang first brought A San close to the barrier for repeated checks. After confirming there was no one nearby, he produced the golden Command Arrow and opened a passage through the barrier, sending the Golden-haired Rat Clan ahead to the next vein while he himself did not withdraw yet.

If he took down the big Array now, it would easily alert the enemy. The cultivation of these Golden-haired Mouse Demon clan members wasn't that high, and he was afraid they might not flee fast enough underground and get caught.

After Huang Yingying came back with the news that the clan had safely reached that vein, Wu Jinliang finally put away the Beidou Refusal Array and gripped the umbrella in his hand, while Huang Yingying immediately took him and A San and fled at full speed.

Luo Yuanfeng, who had been pacing before the grand formation's barrier, pondering and studying, suddenly felt the sand layer inside the barrier lose its restraint and surge toward him. He cast a skill to block it and shouted urgently, "The Array's been withdrawn, they're making a run for it!"