At one's wit's end

  Yun Liu and the other two were not seriously injured. Seeing that Mo Tian Ge and Fang Zheng Dao did not hide their dislike for them, they did not dare to say anything more. After all, it was a fact that the cultivation of these two was higher than theirs, and earlier, they had also seen the real strength of these two people. They were both female cultivators who were not good at fighting, if they were to fight, either one of them would be enough to put them to death.

  At this time, the two of them obediently bandaged their wounds and didn't dare to say another word, following Mo Tian Ge and Fang Zheng Dao as they left.

  Mo Tian Ge had learned a lesson from this experience, but he didn't intend to harm them. After casting a simple healing spell, Yun Liu's injuries were not severe.

  After watching this farce, the four of them silently searched the remaining road, as expected, found nothing, and headed back to the stone statue.

  Walking down to the valley, turning around the corner, the stone statue was right in front of him, but Mo Tian Ge was stunned.

  The platform was empty and desolate, with no one around. Yan Ruoshu was not here either.

  Moye Song was already powerless at this time. Although she did not deny that due to the xìng格, the overall combat power of female cultivators was lower than that of male cultivators, but since she started cultivating, she had met many female cultivators who were not inferior to men. Except for Jing and Dao Jun's side, those few shì women with high vision, whether it was Wang Qianyi or Murong Yan from the Yunwu Sect, or Luo Fengxue and Han Qingyu from the Xuanqing Gate, their means and xìng情 were not inferior to male cultivators. It would never happen that someone would be dragged down like this.

  At the moment, she encountered three female cultivators from Bi Xuan Ge, which really made her angry. One was timid, and two were jealous of each other - could it be that in their sect, there were only women and no male cultivators to compare with, so they indulged themselves and didn't strive for improvement?

  Mo Tian Ge's expression turned solemn as he said, "I previously told Yan Dao that we would meet here, but I don't know where she went."

  Upon hearing this, Fang Zhengdao's face also sank. As a loose cultivator, seeing these women as disciples of the sect yet so useless made him even more angry. These loose cultivators wanted to reach the foundation stage, how much thought and hardship did they have to endure? These sect disciples had masters to guide them and were supported by their sects, yet they were so disappointing.

  "Let's just wait here. It won't be easy to disperse again." Fang Zhengdao said, "Continuing to search like this isn't a solution either, if we lose someone else..."

  Fang Zhengdao stopped talking at this point and didn't say anything else. Mo Tian Ge had already understood his meaning, they weren't the teachers or relatives of these few women, for now he couldn't take care of them, let them fend for themselves then.

  This may sound cruel, but it's also reality. If she had the energy to spare, Mo Tian Ge wouldn't mind lending a hand, but with this current illusion array, even she herself can't make head or tail of it, let alone being killed by them.

  As a loose cultivator, he was able to live until the middle of the foundation period without any mishaps. Fang Zhengdao was not one to show mercy when it came to matters of the heart, and he was afraid that Mo Tian Ge would be too soft-hearted. Seeing her silent and unresponsive now, he knew she had tacitly agreed, and his tense heart relaxed a little. From their earlier battle, Fang Zhengdao had already seen Mo Tian Ge's strength, and if he wanted to get out of this alive, it was only natural that he would want to join forces with her.

  At this time, Yun Liu and the others couldn't hear anything, and Mo Tian Ge saw their confused and ignorant expressions. In her heart, she felt both pity and hatred. She steeled herself and pretended not to see them, although she had the power of the Void Sky Realm at her disposal. However, she was currently in someone else's illusion array, and even if she entered the Void Sky Realm, if she couldn't leave, it would be futile. Therefore, being able to safely leave this illusion array was the most important thing for now; other people's lives and deaths were not her responsibility to bear.

  Four people waited for a while on the stone statue altar, and finally, the two monks of Lu Wang returned.

  When the Song of Heaven noticed them, he deliberately paid attention and found that there were only two people, without any sign of Yao Zixiao and Shang Ruyan. He felt both lucky and disappointed in his heart. Lucky was that these two people came back smoothly, and disappointed was that she had a good impression on Shang Ruyan, if Shang Ruyan disappeared like this, it would be somewhat sad.

  The two of them arrived and looked around, asking: "Where are Mr. Yao and Miss Yan?"

  Fang Zhengdao and the two men had a fight. At this time, he didn't want to bother with them, so Mo Tian Ge answered: "We haven't found Mr. Yao either, Yan Daoyou was originally here, but when we came back, he disappeared, I don't know where he went."

  The two of them exchanged a glance, somewhat anxiously: "What should we do then? If they get into trouble, will we be implicated too?"

  "I don't know." Mo Tian Ge said faintly. "We've already searched the entire valley, if you two fellow Taoists have any ideas, feel free to suggest them."

  On the Five-Colored Five-Element Stage, Lu Wang's two disciples had already demonstrated their mastery of formation techniques. In fact, Mo Tian Ge's family learning originated from a deeper source, and they also possessed ancient books from the Void Sky Realm, so naturally their knowledge of formations was more extensive than theirs. She deliberately hid her abilities and didn't plan to say much.

  When she said this, Lu and Wang were stunned for a moment, then the two of them went aside to discuss.

  Moyin listened to the song of the wild sky, these two people's formation skills were not bad, but this illusion array was too realistic, their methods might not work. She also sat down quietly beside them and pondered.

  All formations require the support of external spiritual energy. The real mountain valley, the formation on the altar, was easily broken by her after a long time, and the spiritual energy had retreated. This illusionary formation can not only transform into a second-order demon beast but also transform into a foundation-building cultivator. There is also the thousand-year-old spiritual grass that overflows with spiritual energy, which must have consumed a considerable amount of spiritual energy. It's strange, why has this formation existed for so long and still exert such power? Trapping them here and transforming those spiritually charged objects requires a tremendous amount of spiritual energy, far beyond what hundreds or thousands of spirit stones could achieve. Such an intricate formation would likely require high-grade spirit stones to activate.

  Ling stones also have grades, but ordinary ling stones that do not mention quality are all low-grade ling stones. There are also mid-grade ling stones and high-grade ling stones. Mid-grade ling stones and high-grade ling stones are extremely rare in the cultivation world, and cultivators who have formed their dan generally cannot obtain them. Mo Tian Ge has some mid-to-high grade ling stones due to her being a disciple of Jing He and Dao Jun, but even if she had them, she would only use low-grade ling stones normally, saving the mid-to-high grade ling stones for setting up high-level formations.

  The higher the formation, the higher the required spiritual energy density. This spiritual energy density, when it reaches a certain level, cannot be enhanced by simply increasing the number of spirit stones, and must use mid-to-high-grade spirit stones instead. The amount of spiritual energy required for this formation is so frightening that Mo Tian Ge roughly estimated that the required high-grade spirit stones would likely exceed one thousand, or even ten thousand.

  Tens of thousands of high-grade spirit stones! Mo Tian Ge thought for a moment, and felt terrified. As the personal disciple of Jing He Dao Jun, her allowance was only slightly less than that of a Dan-forming cultivator, but more than that of an ordinary foundation-building cultivator, or even elite disciples by several times. However, in a year, she would get at most around ten high-grade spirit stones. If she didn't advance in rank, to save up tens of thousands of high-grade spirit stones, it would take her over a thousand years! In the past few years, she had been managing all the affairs of the Supreme Clear Palace, and Jing He Dao Jun's annual offerings were only around a hundred high-grade spirit stones. If calculated like this, to save up tens of thousands of spirit stones, it would also take several decades or even hundreds of years. If added with the consumption of cultivating arrays and so on, her cheap master's wealth was probably just that much!

  What kind of identity would the hostess have? Her master was a top-notch Yuan Ying cultivator in Tianji, and her family's wealth in spirit stones was also considerable among Yuan Ying cultivators. It's unlikely that she would use tens of thousands of high-grade spirit stones to set up an array. Could it be a cultivator above Yuan Ying? This thought flashed through her mind, but Mo Tian Ge shook her head. She had seen Zhong Mu Ling and Yuan Bao, and from the look of the Fantian Array, this array was far inferior, not like the work of a Huashen cultivator. Moreover, Huashen cultivators were not that easy to find! According to Yuan Bao's words, in the vast world, Tianji was just one corner, and there were over ten places like Tianji, where it would take several thousand years for a single Huashen cultivator to emerge. How could she have such luck to casually enter the residence of a Huashen cultivator?

  Shaking his head, he continued to think of ways to crack the formation. Spiritual energy... right, such a large illusionary array wouldn't be able to exist for long, even if it wasn't cracked, being able to last a few months would be good enough!

  Her face lit up with joy, but only for a moment, and then her smile froze. No, she had just thought that the illusion array would consume a lot of spiritual energy, but hadn't considered that the illusion might also distort one's sense of time, making a day feel like a year! If that were the case, perhaps these people who had been trapped here for months would find that it had turned into hundreds of years, hundreds of years during which they couldn't leave. But they wouldn't be able to cultivate as if they really had lived for hundreds of years either; probably by the end, they'd all go mad!

  Still no solution in sight, Mo Tian Ge let out a sigh.

  Fang Zheng Daoren noticed her expression and walked over to ask: "Ye Dao You, what's wrong?"

  Mo Tian Ge shook his head: "Nothing, just can't think of a way to break it." He turned around and saw that the two cultivators from Lu Wang were also shaking their heads and sighing, apparently they hadn't thought of a solution either.

  As for the two female disciples of Bi Xuan Ge, seeing their cautious expressions, they finally knew what kind of danger they were in and had long lost the heart to quarrel, instead huddling together with fearful faces.

  Six people were at a loss, sitting on the altar of the stone statue for a whole day, watching as night fell, still unable to think of a way out. The husband and wife, Yao and Yan Ruo Shu, also had no news.

  As the sky darkened, Mo Tian Ge found a place to sit on the altar and began to meditate. Not knowing if it was safe here, she didn't dare to cultivate, only regulating her breath instead.

  Everything around was quiet, and suddenly a sob was heard.

  Meng Tian Ge opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Yun Liu Er Nu.

  The one who burst into tears was Yun Hanyan. She sat with her knees clasped, her eyes brimming with tears, looking as if she wanted to cry but dared not.

  "Miss Yun." The Taoist priest with the surname Lu walked up to Yun and Liu, and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

  Yun Hanyan raised her head, her eyes brimming with hot tears, looking pitiful and trembling as she said: "I... I..." wanting to say something but not daring to.

  That Wang surname cultivator also walked over, seeing her like this, the two male cultivators both had comforting expressions. The Lu surname cultivator seized the opportunity to comfort her first, saying: "Cloud Miss, don't worry, I'm here! I... we will protect you."

  When she heard this, Yun Huan Yan blinked and a tear fell: "Really?"

  Two men nodded desperately.

  I thought that "Liu Shijie" would mock me, but unexpectedly she didn't. I handed it over and took a glance, only to find Liu Shijie sitting there blankly, her eyes unfocused, looking lost and forlorn. From time to time, a sweet smile would appear, but ultimately her expression was infinitely sorrowful.

  It seems that she is thinking of that Tang brother, but looking at her expression and recalling the conversation from this morning, it's likely that she's only thinking about sad things.

  Looking at Yun Huan's smoke-like appearance, like a small white rabbit, talking to the two monks Lu Wang, and then comparing this "Liu Shijie" with a face full of desolation, Mo Tian Ge couldn't help but feel some sympathy for her.

  No matter who was right or wrong between them, it's clear that one of them is more sincere. Yun Hanyan is probably used to winning men over in this way, but the woman with the surname Liu only has her Tang brother on her mind now.

  Actually, it's not strange that "Tang Da Ge" would like Yun Hanyan more. No matter whether it's a man or a woman, they think the other is weird. The women men like are usually not recognized by their peers, and the men women like are often considered to be useless. Whether Yun Hanyan acts weak or pretends to be pitiful, men just fall for that. But that person shouldn't be like that, right? In his eyes, men and women seem to be the same, except for cultivation, there's nothing else...

  For how long he had been thinking, in the darkness, Fang Zhengdao suddenly shouted: "Who?!"

  A stranger's song made him pause for a moment, and he immediately stood up to prepare for battle. His divine sense spread out, but the next moment, he was stunned again.

  In the darkness, a tall and slender man walked slowly over, with a majestic crown and a heroic aura, his whole body emitting a terrifying atmosphere.

  Others at this time have already changed their faces. This momentum is... Senior Jiedan!

  Look at this person, Fang Zhengdao habitually went to see Mo Tian Ge's reaction, but saw Mo Tian Ge staring tightly at the other party, wondering what he was thinking. He didn't have time to think much, and with a slight bow, he tried his best to speak calmly and respectfully: "This senior, I'm Fang Zheng, dare to ask how you got here?"

  He didn't even notice him, but walked straight towards the Heavenly Song Pavilion.

  Fang Zheng and the others were shocked, they had many people, but the other party was a Jie Dan cultivator! The gap between Jie Dan and Zhu Ji was too big, and it was unknown where this person came from. If he had malicious intentions towards them, with just a wave of his hand, they would probably...

  In their nervous and fearful eyes, he finally stopped several meters ahead.

  Moyan Qiyu let out a breath and glanced at him before saying, "This is an illusion."

  "Illusion?!" Fang Zheng and the others were taken aback, but they still looked at it cautiously, afraid that this illusion would also have the same attacking power as the ones they had encountered.

  "Heavenly Song." The illusion suddenly spoke up.

  Fang Zheng and others were startled again, let alone Lu Wang's two cultivators who had never seen a human illusion. Yun Liu and Fang Zheng had seen the illusion of "Tang Gege", but that illusion couldn't speak.

  The illusion stepped closer to Tian Ge and whispered, "Tian Ge, why didn't you say goodbye when you left?"

  Mò Tiān Gē closed his eyes, opened them again, and found the illusion still there. He couldn't help but bitterly smile: "Why do I have to say goodbye to you?"

  The illusion paused for a moment before saying: "Hmm, you shouldn't have come to say goodbye. I don't want to see you."

  Although she knew it was fake, An Tian still felt her heart tighten. For a long time, she slowly let out a breath and said softly: "Yes, although I don't know what the reason is, but you've already explained with your actions that you don't want to see me. I...I also don't want to see you again, go away, don't appear in front of me again." As she spoke, she closed her eyes and turned her head away.

  After hearing her words, the illusion stood still for a moment, then suddenly walked forward until it was right in front of her.

  The song of the wild sky heard his suddenly soft voice: "Actually I wanted to see you, I just...just..."

  His hand was about to come around, and Mo Tian Ge took a step back. Saying those words, she had hoped that the illusion would disappear on its own, but... But she couldn't control her own thoughts. She took a deep breath, raised her head, and looked straight at the illusion in front of her, which was almost indistinguishable from a real person, saying word by word: "You're fake, I don't want something fake."

  The illusion smiled, a smile rarely seen on real people: "I am real, you want me to be real."

  "I..." Mo Tian Ge suddenly realized that her emotions were in turmoil at this moment, she knew that such illusions would not disappear, but she could hardly control herself.

  "Yao Dao You!" At this time, however, it was Fang Zheng who shouted out loud and threw over a talisman, "This is the Heart-Calming Talisman."

  She took the Heavenly Song and stuck it on her body without hesitation. Although her mood couldn't calm down immediately, she was no longer flustered. She slowly smoothed out her breathing, but looked seriously at the illusion in front of her.

  "I confess, I have a crush on you, but the path I'm walking is that of becoming an immortal. If you love me, I'll be delighted; if you despise me, I won't be sorrowful—"

  The man in light blue Taoist robe slowly faded away in her voice.

  When the illusion completely disappeared, Fang Zheng and others finally let out a sigh of relief. The cultivators who had formed their dan, ah, the illusions here are truly powerful, if they really fought with this illusion, they wouldn't need to think of ways to get out, they would directly die here.

  "Yè Dào Yǒu." At this time, Fang Zhengdao's gaze towards Mò Tiān Gē had changed. Just now, he heard the illusion call out another name, and knew that the name "Yè Xiǎo Tiān" was probably fake, but it didn't matter. They were just passing acquaintances anyway, and perhaps after parting ways they would never meet again, so what did it matter what his name was?

  The key point is that the illusion just now was a Jiedan period cultivator, and this woman has an unusual relationship with the Jiedan cultivator, indicating that her identity is not as simple as imagined, so it's absolutely impossible to offend her.

  In addition, Fang Zheng noticed something. He had been in the Xianjie for hundreds of years and had seen countless cultivators, but at a glance, he recognized that the woman's attire was the Taoist robe of the Xuqing Gate, the second sect of Tianji. It seemed that this woman was also related to the Xuqing Gate.

  In an instant, relying on his rich experience, Fang Zhengdao had already analyzed these and had a plan in mind. No matter whether it was because of her hidden identity or the skills she currently displayed, he absolutely could not afford to offend this woman.

  Mo Tian Ge wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled at Fang Zheng Dao: "Thanks for the calming charm earlier. The calming charm is quite expensive, it's not cheap, I don't want to let you lose out, why don't we just exchange this charm with you instead?"

  Fang Zheng took it over, looked at it, and was overjoyed. This turned out to be a stealth charm for the foundation-building period! A quiet mind charm worth over 100 spirit stones, he originally thought it was a pity, but now he found that he had made a big profit! Stealth charms for the foundation-building period are priceless, even if you can buy them, at least several hundred spirit stones.

  "Thanks, fellow Taoist, I won't be polite!"