Free Web NovelSu Ming did not leave. He remained seated cross-legged in the same spot, but his mind was racing at an almost unimaginable speed.
In his head, three completely different tactical simulations unfolded like three simultaneous chess games.
First option: Draw the snake out of its hole. Directly attack the external guarding formation to force the black-robed man out. But the risk was immense. If the opponent didn’t emerge and Su Ming exhausted his spiritual energy, death would be certain. If he did come out, a frontal clash against a Foundation Establishment peak would be highly unfavorable... ninety percent likely to fail.
Second option: Lure the tiger away from its mountain. Create a larger disturbance elsewhere to pull the black-robed man away, then sneak into the cave to sabotage from within. But this was Black Wind Mountain, deserted and isolated; where could he manufacture a bigger commotion? Fabricating the illusion of a high-grade spirit medicine appearing would take too long and might attract unrelated cultivators, introducing too many variables.
Third option: Encircle and defeat reinforcements. But right now he was alone — where would reinforcements come from?
Su Ming’s gaze flickered in the darkness. After a moment, he discarded all three conventional tactics.
A fourth plan surfaced in his mind — more complex, but truer to the essence of the Way of Survival.
First set the formations, then lure the enemy in!
If he could win, kill him. If not, trap him and retreat at leisure. Always keep the initiative of the battlefield firmly in his hands!
Decision made, Su Ming showed no more hesitation.
He rose silently, his figure ghostlike as he slipped through the rugged terrain around the cave’s entrance.
From his storage ring he produced one prepared formation flag after another, and formation plates.
On the first layer, he set up at the outermost perimeter within a radius of three hundred zhang a “Hidden-Traces Concealment Formation.” This array had no lethality; its sole function was to isolate inside from outside. Once activated, even if the black-robed man possessed tremendous skill, he would not be able to find the correct exit in a short time, effectively preventing him from fleeing if he could not win the fight.
On the second layer, along the only path a hundred zhang from the cave mouth, he buried twelve black formation flags and established a “Thousand-Silk Binding Formation.” Once triggered, this array would instantly release countless invisible threads formed from spiritual energy, layer upon layer, like a spiderweb that restricted the enemy’s movements.
After completing all that, Su Ming reached the “main battlefield” he had chosen for the black-robed man — a relatively open clearing.
He inhaled deeply and solemnly withdrew seven specially made formation flags from his storage ring, each faintly glowing with starlight.
These were his trump cards, the true manifestation of his formation path cultivation — a simplified corner of the Minor Heavenly Cycle Star Formation!
This formation could not summon the force of the stars, but it could draw the purest starlight from the night sky, exerting an innate, powerful suppressive effect on all malevolent spiritual qi!
He planted the seven flags in the ground following the positions of the Big Dipper, and used a drop of his Foundation Establishment natal true essence as the formation core to fully activate the weak resonance between this area and the starry sky.
Three layers of formations, each linked to the next — a custom-made cage for the black-robed man was now complete.
Standing at the center of the great array, Su Ming felt the spiritual energy fluctuations from those three formations, all completely under his control. A calm he had never felt before settled in his heart.
He lifted his head and looked toward the cave entrance still shrouded in darkness, a cold curve forming at the corner of his mouth.
“Now, it’s time to invite you into the jar.”
Su Ming took from his bosom a lowest-grade Light Burst Talisman. Such talismans sold in sect markets for a spirit stone per dozen and were usually used by Qi Refining disciples for illumination or signaling. Their power was roughly equivalent to a large firecracker.
He carefully injected into the talisman a trace of spiritual energy at his Qi Refining standard — not more, not less — exactly at the level of Qi Refining, Stage Five.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, the talisman, faintly pulsing white, arced through the air in a crooked parabola like discarded refuse and landed precisely at the entrance to the black-robed man’s cave dwelling.
Boom!
A dull explosion.
A blinding white flash detonated at the mouth of the cave, accompanied by a spiritual energy ripple so faint it was almost negligible, dispersing instantly into the air.
That single act was the most naked provocation and announcement to the powerful being deep inside the cave:
“Hey! Someone’s here!”
“And it’s a reckless, lowly Qi Refining nobody!”
Sure enough.
Only three breaths after the Light Burst Talisman detonated, a violent, bloodthirsty pressure of rage — the terrifying anger of a Foundation Establishment cultivator disturbed from slumber — erupted from the depths of the cave like a volcanic blast!
“You ignorant ant!” freewebnovel.cσ๓
Accompanied by a hoarse, savage roar, a black silhouette shot out of the cave with speed barely detectable by the naked eye!
The black-robed man had revealed himself.
He hovered in midair, a rolling black mist swirling around him. Two eyes hidden beneath the hood glowed like blood-red lanterns, fixed unblinkingly on the rough-clothed, apparently terrified Qi Refining disciple below.
When his divine sense swept over and confirmed that the fragile spiritual energy fluctuations on the other party were indeed only Qi Refining, Stage Five, his blood-red gaze instantly filled with unabashed contempt and cruelty.
“Ha ha ha... lucky break. I was worried tonight’s sacrificial blood wouldn’t be vigorous enough, and one has just walked through the door kicking and screaming. Kid, remember to keep your eyes open in your next life!”
The black-robed man emitted a grating, derisive laugh and moved to pounce.
However, the little Qi Refining disciple he expected to be trembling in terror and begging for mercy instead performed an action that surprised him.
Su Ming let out a sharp scream as if his courage had fled, spun around, and clumsily bolted down the mountainside, rolling and crawling as he fled.
He ran stumblingly, almost tripping over rocks several times, his posture utterly shameful.
His perfect acting portrayed a weak disciple who had accidentally wandered into forbidden ground and, discovering a horrifying secret, was now desperately trying to survive.
The black-robed man watched and began to laugh aloud, his voice full of the mocking amusement of a cat toying with a mouse.
He did not strike immediately, but followed behind Su Ming without haste, savoring the prey’s futile struggles and despair before death.
Step by step...
Su Ming’s “escape” route looked chaotic and random, but every step had precisely hit the nodes he had preset.
When he planted a foot onto the open area designated as the “main battlefield,” he knew the fish had... taken the bait.
The black-robed man laughed loudly and chased in without a shred of caution. To him, this was an unambiguous slaughter.
He was about to discover who was the cat, and who was the mouse that had been waiting far too long.
