“Young Lord? Young Lord?!” Qiao San turned and cried out.

　　He suddenly realized that Zhuge Tian had disappeared as well, and only some trees remained before him. Zhuge Tian and the other man had vanished!

　　“Young Lord! Don’t try and play a prank on me!” Qiao San yelled.

　　The surrounding atmosphere had turned deadly silent.

　　“Young Lord? We really need to go… It isn’t the time to joke around. Let’s hurry!” Qiao San continued to cry out helplessly.

　　Qiao San turned to look at his surroundings and noticed that he was standing in a place that was completely different from where he was supposed to be. It was like his brain had malfunctioned for a brief moment, causing him to forget how he had arrived at this area.

　　Qiao San picked up his voice and yelled, “Young Lord!”

　　He felt something strange as his voice grew softer and fainter.

　　Then, he rubbed his ears and repeatedly said, “Ah! Ah! Ah!” Qiao San noticed his voice had really become softer.

　　He felt like his ears were malfunctioning and he could not clearly hear. Every sound felt soft and the area around him felt so quiet he felt like he was turning deaf.

　　Normally with his deep inner energy, Qiao San’s ears could hear the movement of the wind. If he concentrated hard enough, Qiao San could clearly hear a bug crawling from a meter away.

　　However, his current hearing capacity was different. Like something was blocking his ear canal and had muted the surrounding.

　　“Young Lord–!” he yelled out.

　　Normally, Qiao San’s voice could be heard throughout the whole Crouching Bull Mountain.

　　He tried to listen, and he felt his voice was too soft and could not make any loud noises. It was as if something had blocked his mouth as well.

　　“Young– Lord–!” Qiao San channeled his energy to his throat and screamed.

　　The area was still dead silent. His scream was as similar to Qiao San loudly talking during normal situations.

　　He raised his eyebrows and observed the surroundings with inquisitiveness.

　　He decided to try something foolish. Qiao San ran towards a tree and struck it with his palm. It created a loud sound as expected, but his voice was still too soft to travel far enough.

　　However, normally the Young Lord would have heard him. He was so strong; even if he only spoke slightly louder, the Young Master would have picked it up clearly!

　　Qiao San shook his head and flew on top of a tree to assess the terrain.

　　The whole area was full of trees, and he could not identify the end of it. Everything in his proximity was trees. If the sun was not setting, he would not have been able to differentiate the different directions.

　　Qiao San flew towards the setting sun with his Light-body Technique.

　　He was fast. However, after a minute of running, he felt that he was still in the same spot. He flew back to the ground and marked the spot. He flew back up and started running again.

　　After a minute, Qiao San flew down again. The mark meant that he was still on the same spot.

　　He should have covered a huge distance at that rate. How then was the marker seems as if it was following him and still there?

　　Suddenly he slapped his head and his expression changed.

　　A formation!

　　He recalled a legend about this weird tactic.

　　Rumor had it that a Formation Master was a dying occupation. The Tempest Temple and the Forbidden Palace had one each. Other than those two places, there were no other Formation Masters in the world.

　　What did he do to have to deal with a Formation Master!

　　Qiao San shook his head and laughed helplessly. He continued to run for two hours and landed back on the mark he made. He was getting desperate trying to figure out how to deal with the situation.

　　Suddenly Qiao San channeled his energy to his palm and struck a tree. His palm mark was visible on the tree, and he continued doing the same on the other trees. He planned to walk towards those trees without any mark. Regardless of how many trees were there, he would finish hitting every single tree!

　　Ha-ha, Qiao San thought he was very wise. Although this was a stupid idea, it was quite effective. He had somehow managed to think of such a good idea!

　　One tree, two trees, three trees… Qiao San hit twenty trees and looked up. The sky was turning dark and it was almost night.

　　He turned and looked at his surroundings, and his expression changed.

　　The mark on the ground was still there, and he was still not out of the area!

　　Qiao San turned to look at the trees, and his palm markings on the trees had disappeared!

　　It was as if there was a magical presence that had wiped away his markings and turned everything back to its original form.

　　Was this the true power of the formation? This was too strong!

　　Qiao San bit his lips and hit a tree continuously. He was focusing his energy on that single tree.

　　However, the tree was not breaking the way he imagined it would. There were not any broken pieces flying out and he never reached the core. No matter how hard Qiao San hit, the tree would only have a small palm marking. As he landed another hit, the previous marking would disappear. When he stopped, the palm marking slowly faded away.

　　No way, he was not going to give up. If he was trapped here, who else could save him? He was afraid that the Young Lord was also in a similar situation. He needed to escape as soon as possible!

　　Qiao San felt that a tree could only handle a limited amount of hits. If he hit the tree continuously, it would break. He did so until the sky was dark and soon enough he was drained.

　　The moon was up in the black sky to give him a sense of direction, but he felt it was pointless.

　　Qiao San regretted not carrying his sword. If he had it he would have chopped every tree away.

　　But he sighed with the knowledge that his attacks had the same power as using a sword. If his palm could not handle the trees, having a sword would be pointless. Would he be trapped in here forever until he dies of hunger or thirst? That would be horrible!

　　Qiao San started thinking about what situation the Young Lord was currently in. The Young Lord was highly trained and was as powerful as a spirit animal. A simple formation might not be able to trap him forever, and he would soon come and save him!

　　As he thought about it, Qiao San smiled and sat down on the ground, drained and breathing heavily.

　　—

　　When Zhuge Tian realized he was in a formation, he remained calm and stood on the spot. He began to listen to his surroundings.

　　He channeled his energy to his inner ear and heard the wind whistle from a distance. He was trying to determine his location through the movements of the wind, finding out what was around him through the smell.

　　Suddenly a shadow moved across his sight and stood around two meters away.

　　Zhuge Tian looked at the man standing in front of him. The man was wearing a white robe, and he looked rather handsome. He was in his twenties and looking at himself.

　　“Who are you?” Zhuge Tian asked lazily and looked at him.

　　Chu Li replied, “Chu Li.”

　　“You! I never imagined that you will come and find me!” Zhuge Tian smiled and looked at him.

　　Chu Li shook his head. “What kind of martial arts are you cultivating?”

　　“Oh? Of course the best technique from the Crouching Bull Mountain.” Zhuge Tian laughed.

　　“Is it the Slashing Cloud Treasure Manual? You destroyed it or you are hiding it somewhere?” Chu Li raised his eyebrows.

　　Zhuge Tian’s expression changed and his eyes became sharp, like two swords trying to pierce Chu Li.

　　Chu Li continued, “You started the rumor, you said I have the manual!”

　　“Not bad. How was it? Just a simple tactic and you are finished!” Zhuge Tian let out a slight smirk.

　　Chu Li shook his head. “Oh well, at least I’ve found the manual now!”

　　“Hehe… You think you’ve found it?” Zhuge Tian chuckled.

　　Chu Li replied, “It is with you.”

　　“Interesting! Very interesting! You are so creative. You think I have the manual? Haha!” Zhuge Tian grinned.

　　Chu Li looked calmly at him. “You are trying to frame me because of Mei Aoshuang?”

　　“Looks like Liu Chuan has betrayed me, he really isn’t on my side!” Zhuge Tian raised his eyebrows.

　　Chu Li said, “You want me dead, and I also want you dead. We shall see who is the true winner today!”