Chapter 412

Chapter 412: Gao Wen Feng Is Struck Dead

The seventh bolt of Tribulation Lightning faded, and the eighth and ninth fell one after another. No one cared about the woman lying in the deep pit who had gone still, nor about her body that had been blasted to a ruin with almost no intact skin left.

While Yu Zhi Yi was being struck by lightning, Gao Wen Feng not far away wasn’t doing any better. When the Tribulation Lightning came down out of nowhere, Yu Zhi Yi had no time to prepare, and he was left inside her Tribulation Crossing range. Yes, when she came to the Hidden Realm this time, she brought Gao Wen Feng along.

Ever since she obtained the Star Constellation Array and other formations, she had found a way to keep Gao Wen Feng obedient without killing him: trap him in an illusion. Later she upgraded the formations. She merged the Formless Thunderkill Array with the Star Constellation Array, using the power of the stars to boost the thunderkill’s might, creating an enhanced Star Constellation Thunderkill Array. Then she combined the Nine Heavens Mirage Array with the Hundred-Flower Slaughter and formed a brand-new formation: the Hundred-Slaughter Mirage Array. At last, she fused these two upgraded grand arrays into a final “ultimate” mirage-kill formation: the Hundred-Star Thunder Mirage Array.

She could set up each single array with ease, and the improved mirage and kill arrays were no trouble either. The ultimate Hundred-Star Thunder Mirage Array cost extra effort and a pile of spirit stones. But to keep Gao Wen Feng contained, she didn’t need anything that fancy-one small Hundred-Slaughter Mirage Array was enough. She tuned the formation’s strength so he wouldn’t die inside it.

After being tormented by the formation for so long, Gao Wen Feng was still alive but wished he wasn’t. He could no longer tell reality from illusion. She hadn’t killed him because she needed him to lead the way. She was new to the Hidden Realm and didn’t know the terrain. Once her divination ability got restricted, she needed a guide.

Even she didn’t expect Gao Wen Feng to be this unlucky. She hadn’t meant to kill him, yet he was struck to death by lightning.

After Gao Wen Feng died, the image of his death returned to the Gao Clan. Since Gao Yao Wen’s death and Gao Wen Feng’s disappearance, the clan had watched Gao Wen Feng’s Life-Testing Stone very closely, afraid he would meet the same end. They still hadn’t found the killer who murdered Gao Yao Wen, but when they remembered how Gao Wen Feng had rushed out in a hurry a short while ago, they guessed he might have learned who the killer was. If he also died, then the murderer was likely the same person. If he didn’t, all the better.

Nearly a month passed with Gao Wen Feng’s Life-Testing Stone standing there safe and sound. Today, the Gao clan junior guarding it slumped over the table, dozing. He felt the patriarch and elders were being jumpy. Gao Yao Wen was just a Qi Refining Realm good-for-nothing; Gao Wen Feng was a Foundation Establishment Realm expert. Gao Yao Wen died in the secular world. Yes, there were hidden cultivators in the secular world, but the spiritual energy there was so thin that most people could never get past Qi Refining in their whole lives. A Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator was already a top expert among them. Gao Wen Feng was also an Array Master, which made him even harder to beat.

As soon as that thought landed, Gao Wen Feng’s Life-Testing Stone gave a low humming buzz. The junior froze for a heartbeat, but his body reacted fast. He didn’t run to call people; instead, he took out an Image-Recording Stone. Unlike the stone attached to the Life-Testing Stone, this one was made to record and replay scenes.

The next second, the Image-Recording Stone bound to the Life-Testing Stone lit up, and a picture flowed across it. The Gao clan junior stared, confused. Weren’t they saying Gao Yao Wen might have been killed by an enemy? Then why did Gao Wen Feng look like he was struck dead by Tribulation Lightning?

The image lasted only an instant. When it ended, Gao Wen Feng’s Life-Testing Stone snapped with a crack and fell into powder. Only then did the junior truly feel it. Face going pale, he clutched the Image-Recording Stone and ran out in a panic, shouting: “Patriarch, Elders, bad news! Second Master is dead!”

Gao Wen Feng was the current patriarch’s second son. Before the words fully fell, a Daoist-robed figure appeared out of thin air and snatched the Image-Recording Stone from his hands. Moments later, several heavy auras dropped into the courtyard. A dozen pairs of eyes fixed on the image within the stone.

At first glance, everyone thought the same as the junior-that Gao Wen Feng had failed his own Tribulation Crossing and been struck dead. But a sharp-eyed elder said: “No, look there-doesn’t that seem like another person?”

The Image-Recording Stone tied to a Life-Testing Stone held only a very short clip-barely a single breath. If no one moved in that breath, it looked like a still picture. That was what this image was like: if you ignored the bold tree-thick bolts of Tribulation Lightning in the sky, you could mistake it for a frozen scene.

In that frame, about a few dozen meters from Gao Wen Feng, a deep pit scarred the ground where lightning had struck. Someone seemed to be lying face-down in the pit. Why “seemed”? Because everything within a hundred meters had been charred pure black by lightning. That figure was black too, blending into the earth. The only thing not black was the sword in that person’s hand. Most of the blade was buried in the soil, leaving just a short bit showing-so bright in all that black that it drew the eye.

The Gao clan head, a face full of lines, said coldly: “Looks like Wen Feng was just collateral damage.”

The Gao clansmen all started; none of them had expected Gao Wen Feng to have basically killed himself by wandering into someone else’s Tribulation Crossing range. “No,” said the same sharp-eyed elder who had spotted the other person, catching what was wrong: “Wen Feng wasn’t collateral-he was dragged in. Or…the one crossing the tribulation is the same killer who slew Yao Wen!”

He went on, voice level: “Wen Feng’s cultivation base isn’t high, but he’s shrewd. He wouldn’t make that kind of mistake. He went to the secular world to find the one who killed Yao Wen. This person is undergoing a Golden Core Tribulation. If she succeeds, she’ll be a Golden Core Realm expert. Then-not just Wen Feng-even we would have to think twice about avenging Yao Wen. Wen Feng must have realized that and took a desperate gamble.”

The clan head nodded slightly: “That makes sense.” He found no fault with the analysis and took no offense at the meaning hidden in those words, because it was the truth. Even with the Gao Clan’s decent foundation, they wouldn’t lightly make an enemy of a Golden Core Realm expert. So Gao Wen Feng had likely noticed the same and risked everything to attack while the other party was in Tribulation Crossing. Gao Wen Feng wasn’t like the elders and the patriarch-he had only one son, Gao Yao Wen; the elders and the patriarch had many sons and grandsons.

An elder asked, tone cautious: “Then…do we just let this go?”

The clan head reached out to stroke the phantom image and curled his lip in a cold smile: “Someone killed a member of my Gao Clan and thinks it ends there?”

The questioner hesitated: “But the other party is in Tribulation Crossing. If she succeeded, she’s now Golden Core Realm. If she didn’t, she’s already dead.” If dead, fine. But if she had survived…

The clan head laughed, his voice turning thin and icy: “It’s not as if we can’t deal with a Golden Core Realm expert, but…” He gently traced the short length of sword exposed in the image and said, amused: “If we can borrow a knife to kill, why rush to swing our own?”