Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts

Ch. 521

"Bastard! What the hell is the Lord of Black Hawk City trying to do?!"Nan Wenmo was furious beyond words.

The young girl's pearly teeth clenched tightly into her tender lips.

Although Xiao Mochi hadn't spelled it out, Nan Wenmo completely understood what he meant.

Once a formation was set up, its core principles would never change.

Even if the formation was said to be "ever-changing," that was only on the surface.

In truth, what changed was merely its outward appearance.

At the beginning, the four of them really had been fooled by the shifting illusions of Black Hawk City's formation.

But later, when they began breaking it, the formation stopped changing—this meant they had already grasped its core.

At that moment, Xiao Mochi and the others had seen through its essence.

So why had the formation changed again afterward?

There was only one possibility.

The Lord of Black Hawk City had intervened!

Even though Black Hawk City's treasured town-protecting artifact had been severely damaged, the city's formation itself was still intact.

Fang Ran could completely connect Black Hawk City's formation to the array that Rouge Sect had laid down.

In fact, the city's protective formation and this so-called Six Gods Formation established by the Rouge Sect had already merged into a single system.

That meant the "eyes" of the two formations could be swapped through some kind of link.

When Xiao Mochi and the others were dismantling the formation, the city lord would occasionally come by to "check on them."

And Xiao Mochi and the others had explained every detail of the formation to him—sometimes even asking him to assist.

After all, who would have imagined that the Lord of Black Hawk City was the city's greatest traitor?

Who would ever be on guard against him?

So once the formation-breaking reached a certain stage, the city lord could sabotage things.

All he had to do was swap the formation eyes between the two arrays, and then use one formation to maintain the other's original function—creating exactly what they were seeing now.

As for why Xiao Mochi suspected it was the city lord, it was because to pull this off, both formations had to be of the same level.

And in all of Black Hawk City, the only other formation of equal level was the city's protective formation.

And the only person who could fully control that protective formation…

was the city lord himself.

"Why would Fang Ran do something like this?" Lu Xiaoliu frowned deeply.

He truly couldn't think of any reason.

If Fang Ran really wanted to sell Black Hawk City out, did he need to go through all this trouble?

Wouldn't it have been as simple as one sentence from him?

"We'll know once we ask him!"

Nan Wenmo turned and flew straight toward the City Lord's Mansion.

Even though she had no concrete evidence, in Nan Wenmo's eyes, the traitor could only be the city lord.

As for his reason?

Beat him into the dirt, and they'd find out.

"I'm coming too!" Xiao Mochi flew after her.

"Mochi! Wenmo! Sigh…" Wang Shenghan pinched the bridge of his nose, helpless inside.

Those two were still as hot-headed as ever.

Even if the city lord truly was behind it, they couldn't just turn hostile immediately—there was still time. They could've planned carefully.

"Shenghan, at this point there's no time left for careful planning. We're going too." Lu Xiaoliu stood up.

"Let's go."

Wang Shenghan could only nod. He couldn't just abandon his two friends.

"Fang Ran! Get the hell out here!"

At the gates of the City Lord's Mansion, Xiao Mochi shouted.

No one answered.

Xiao Mochi struck out with a seal technique and blasted the mansion gates open!

The commotion was enormous. The guards thought enemies were attacking and rushed out at once—

only to see two immortals from White Deer Academy standing in rage atop the collapsed gates.

No one knew what was happening.

Had the city lord fallen out with these White Deer Academy immortals?

"Cough, cough, cough…"

A few coughs drifted down from above.

Several attendants carried a sedan chair down through the air.

They set it on the ground, lifted the curtain, and Fang Ran stepped out.

At the same time, Wang Shenghan and Lu Xiaoliu arrived as well.

Fang Ran looked at the four of them, utterly confused.

"Why are you acting like this, honored guests? Has Black Hawk City done something to offend you?"

"City Lord Fang, stop pretending!" Nan Wenmo strode forward and demanded.

"Fang Ran! Let me ask you—why are you colluding with the Rouge Sect to slaughter the entire city?!"

The moment her words fell, the crowd erupted in uproar.

Some stared at their lord in disbelief.

Others raised their weapons and pointed them at Xiao Mochi's group, shouting:

"Don't you dare slander him! Lord Fang treats the people like his own children—how could he ever collude with the Rouge Sect to massacre the city?!"

Fang Ran lifted a hand, signaling the attendants around him to be quiet, then spoke slowly:

"Honored guests, accusations require evidence.

Besides, the Fang Family has guarded Black Hawk City for generations.

I, Fang Ran, as its city lord, how could I possibly commit such a vile and monstrous act?

There must be some misunderstanding here.

Don't fall for the provocation of the Rouge Sect's undercover agents!"

Xiao Mochi sneered.

"Whether we've been provoked… or whether City Lord Fang intends to sacrifice the whole city to gain some benefit of his own—

we'll know as soon as we take a look at Black Hawk City's protective formation!

If the city's protective formation has not been linked to the Rouge Sect's Six Gods Formation, then today's offense—

no matter how City Lord Fang demands compensation, I will not complain even a word. (But if it has…) Heh."

Fang Ran's brows tightened.

"Honored guests, that won't be convenient.

The protective formation was greatly weakened after the last battle. Right now it's under maintenance."

"Oh?" Xiao Mochi's gaze turned cold.

"And what if I insist on seeing it anyway?"

With a sweep of his sleeve, two surging waves of scholar's qi spilled from his robes, forcibly carving a path forward.

"You've gone too far!" Fang Ran looked utterly enraged.

"Soldiers of Black Hawk City, hear my command—seize them!"

"Yes!"

The mansion's troops charged forward on orders.

Xiao Mochi and the others did not strike to kill.

In their eyes, these soldiers were merely being kept in the dark.

Battle erupted within the City Lord's Mansion.

After all, Xiao Mochi's group were all Nascent Soul cultivators, while the enemy side had only Fang Ran at the Nascent Soul realm.

Seizing an opening, Xiao Mochi sensed where the protective formation was located and summoned his life-bound treasure.

The Collection of Heavenly Questions expanded endlessly, then smashed down toward a palace hall.

In an instant, buildings collapsed. A cloud of dust several meters high billowed into the air.

And then—

a woman's voice drifted out, soft and eerie:

"Oh my~ oh my~

The esteemed schoolers of White Deer Academy… what a temper you have~"