Qin Ran's figure slowly became solid in the fog. He looked back and found that Su Changqing and Bai Ruoxi had not chased after him.
But he did not relax.
Just because no one was chasing him now did not mean they could not catch up later. After all, they did not catch up when he slipped away from the valley earlier either.
And before heading to the next array glyph's location, there was one problem Qin Ran needed to figure out first...
How did Su Changqing find him this time?
He had already thrown away the mother pearl, so theoretically there was nothing on him related to Su Changqing, and Su Changqing could not have obtained any of his personal belongings either.
"Unless..." Qin Ran looked at the array glyph in his hand, "Su Changqing discovered the array glyphs I left behind."
Even if Su Changqing found the array glyphs, he would have just destroyed them. After all, both he and Bai Ruoxi were sword cultivators, and supposedly would not understand arrays. Let alone reverse track someone else's already laid out arrays.
According to Qin Ran's understanding of sword cultivators, purity was what they valued the most. An outstanding sword cultivator should believe that one sword can overcome myriad dao techniques. To them, there was nothing a sword in hand could not resolve. They rarely delved into other domains, let alone attained high accomplishments.
And as a sword cultivator who had comprehended sword intent, Su Changqing was a peerless genius amongst sword cultivators. It was impossible for him to be well-versed in other disciplines...
"But based on the current circumstances, there is only one possibility—Su Changqing does understand arrays," Qin Ran murmured.
When all impossible reasons were eliminated, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
So regardless of whether Su Changqing understood arrays or not, Qin Ran could only assume that at each location where he had left an array glyph, a Su Changqing would be there waiting for him.
When he was exploring in the fog before, in addition to calibrating his direction five times, Qin Ran had left behind ten array glyphs in total. He had already been to the Blood Dragon Bone Tree, so there were nine places left. The next one was where he encountered the tentacle monster.
Was the tentacle monster still there?
Would Su Changqing be waiting for him there?
Qin Ran did not know. He could only go over to take a look first.
As usual, Qin Ran first utilized Like A Dream Like An Illusion to transform invisibly into his water form. Then he used Mirror Flower Water Moon to split into clones to scout ahead.
Unlike previously when the team advanced slowly and cautiously in the dark, now that Qin Ran knew which direction to go, his speed was incomparable to before.
Soon, he arrived at the second array glyph location...
There was no Su Changqing here, only the tentacle monster!
"Hmm?" A tentacle monster?!
Seeing the swaying tentacles in the fog from afar, Qin Ran was shocked. He quickly utilized his movement technique to madly flee.
The tentacle monster discovered him and lashed out with its tentacles...
Having barely shook off the tentacle monster, Qin Ran arrived at the mushroom space.
In addition to the giant mushroom at the very center, at the edge of the space, there was also a human-shaped mushroom with a missing leg...
Chu Batian was now just bones. Mushrooms had grown out from his bones, making him still resemble a human form. It was extremely eerie.
Not daring to linger in this mushroom space, Qin Ran only took a passing glance before swiftly departing.
Cautiously scouting one location after another, carefully inspecting each place, he had almost reached the edge of the fog after passing six or seven spots. But there was still no sign of Su Changqing. Qin Ran had almost believed he was overthinking it and that Su Changqing simply could not find his way around in this fog.
At the exit of the fog, also the location where the group of six first gathered and where Qin Ran first left an array glyph, Su Changqing sat there cross-legged.
He emanated a circle of silver-gray glow that dispelled the surrounding fog. Within this clean silver-gray glow, Bai Ruoxi hugged her sword while standing there silently. Ghost Monkey kept scratching himself restlessly, never keeping still.
They had been waiting here for a long, long time. So long that Bai Ruoxi began doubting if Qin Ran had slipped away from some other direction. That slippery man.
It was right then that a figure suddenly emerged from the hazy fog, transitioning from blurry to clear.
That person had a slightly lean figure, handsome features, wore green robes, and had quite the air of a scholar. He slowly walked out from the fog, a smile on his face, radiating some sunshine and warmth.
It was as if he was a learned man with ambitions, noble character, on his way to the capital to take the imperial examinations.
As Bai Ruoxi peered closely at him, she subconsciously frowned. She could not forget the disgusting feeling when fighting this man. Real body, fake body, hidden body, they exchanged blows for a few rounds yet she did not even know where he was.
...He really was too bright!
"Is this real or fake?"
That was her first reaction. A sword qi shot out, slicing that man into two halves which landed on the ground and turned into a puddle of water.
"I knew it was fake!"
Su Changqing laughed and called out loudly towards the other direction in the fog, "Why doesn't Brother Qin show himself? This Su has been waiting here for a long time."
It was then that Bai Ruoxi also looked in that direction.
After a while, about ten yards away, a figure suddenly materialized out of thin air. Qin Ran appeared smiling, looking at the halo of light around Su Changqing's body, and asked:
"What's so fearsome about this fog?"
Su Changqing smiled and said, "It devours the spiritual power within cultivators."
"Compared to mushroom spores?" Qin Ran continued asking.
"Mind your own business!" Having been displeased with Qin Ran for a long time already, seeing him bring up unwanted topics again, Bai Ruoxi sent out another sword qi.
Qin Ran dodged to the side, effortlessly evading the sword qi. Ignoring Bai Ruoxi, he kept looking at Su Changqing while asking:
"Do you still have strength to fight then?"
"Brother Qin is welcome to come over and try." Su Changqing smiled.
"No need..." Qin Ran shook his head. He pointed towards the direction outside the fog and said,
"I can just head out directly. To be honest, in the past I have had no grievance with you, neither do we have any recent conflict. Even if you want to destroy the entire Hengduan Mountains and kill all the people in North Chu Country and Xuanqin Country, that is unrelated to me. So why should I fight with you? I was born disliking fighting."
"So Brother Qin turns out to be this kind of selfish and self-interested person. To be honest, I am quite disappointed." Su Changqing said.
"Then what sort of person did you think I was? Upholding righteousness, caring for all under heaven?" Qin Ran replied. "Don't be silly, cultivator!"
Cultivators were inherently selfish and self-interested.
"Hmm..." Su Changqing raised his head looking towards the sky and smiled, "I thought Brother Qin was different."
Qin Ran momentarily had no words.
"How about it? Can you still move?" Qin Ran asked. "If you can't move, then I'm leaving!"
Seeing Qin Ran outright ignore her, Bai Ruoxi fumed: "Are you pretending I don't exist?"
Qin Ran glanced at her then looked back to Su Changqing. Arrogantly, he said: "I can't beat her! But if I want to leave, she can't stop me."
"Brother Qin, go ahead." Su Changqing nodded.
Qin Ran then headed towards the direction outside the fog.
After taking two steps, he suddenly stopped and turned back asking Su Changqing: "I'm very curious. As a sword cultivator who has comprehended sword intent, how do you also have profound attainments in arrays?"
"Who told you that I am a sword cultivator?" Su Changqing retorted.
"What?" Qin Ran was astonished.
Just then, Su Changqing suddenly raised his hand, fingers spread out, and patted down!
Qin Ran hastily raised his head to look. He only saw above him, a grey silky spiderweb was spreading out and covering down over him!