Chapter 168: Deep in the Mountains (1)

The flames from the battle had yet to dissipate. Dense smoke was dispersed throughout the forest.

In this quiet, calm-seeming forest, dangers were hidden everywhere.

No one dared to let down their guard, carefully scanning their surroundings for anything that might jump out.

He Yuandong and Cloud Leopard glanced at each other. Cloud Leopard stepped out of the group and walked some distance forward. After some time, he turned around and shook his head at He Yuandong, indicating that there were no more hidden Vicious Beasts in the area.

He Yuandong sighed with relief and said, “Let’s keep the formation the same and advance like this. Wei Yang, Jiang Hanfeng, Ma Xuan, and Yan Ling, you guys step out of the formation and deal with the Origin Formations. Leopard, you take point. Qingluo and Hanyan, you focus on protecting them. If any situations arise, use your ice to control it as best you can. Tang Ming, bring those Vicious Beast corpses over.”

“Understood!” Everyone began to carry out their assigned tasks.

As they watched the massive pile of Vicious Beast corpses being collected, Ye Qiming patted Wang Doushan’s shoulder. “Fatty, you’ll now have more than enough to eat.”

Everyone began to laugh, relieving the tension from the earlier beast ambush.

Only Su Chen continued to stare at the surroundings, deep in thought.

At that moment, they discovered another Origin Formation nearby.

The four of them were about to begin neutralizing the Formation when Su Chen suddenly said, “Wait a moment. You three back up. Wei Yang, you go and deal with this Origin Formation.”

“By myself?” Wei Yang was a bit surprised.

Su Chen nodded. “Yes, by yourself. Can you do it on your own?”

“I should be able to; it’ll just be slower than usual,” Wei Yang replied as he glanced at He Yuandong and Qi Weiyan.

He Yuandong’s eyebrows were furrowed, but he knew that Su Chen didn’t boss people around for no reason. There would be a reason for everything that he said, so he nodded. “Do it.”

Jiang Hanfeng and the others retreated. Wei Yang stepped forward.

Just as he entered the area of effect of the Origin Formation, Su Chen suddenly lifted his hand. A Meg’s Guardian appeared on Wei Yang’s body.

Simultaneously, a strike of lightning exploded right in front of Wei Yang, slamming into him. Wei Yang was sent flying in a ball of lightning.

“Wei Yang!” everyone yelled.

Just as he was about to hit the ground, Ye Qiming waved his arm. Wei Yang’s body stayed suspended in midair. Simultaneously, Qi Weiyan flew forward and grabbed Wei Yang. The lightning energy danced across her skin and was actually absorbed by her. She let out a low cry of pain, and her face grew visibly paler.

On the other hand, Wei Yang, who had been protected by Meg’s Guardian and then had the lightning energy sucked away by Qi Weiyan, was completely fine besides the fact that he had been frightened half to death.

Su Chen tossed a vial of regular Recovery Medicine towards Qi Weiyan.

Qi Weiyan caught it and drank it, and her face regained most of its color.

At this moment, everyone understood why Su Chen had told Wei Yang to deal with the Origin Formation on his own. It was because he could only have saved one of them. If all four had gone up in the first place, three of them might have died already.

Jiang Hanfeng and the others were scared half to death.

This was already the second time that the Origin Formation had activated on its own without anyone triggering it. This time, it would have cost Wei Yang and the others their lives, if Su Chen hadn’t said anything.

He Yuandong glanced at Su Chen. “How did you know it was going to activate on its own?”

Su Chen replied, “I just felt that if something like the previous attack had happened to us already, it could happen to us a second time.”

“What’s going on? Why are these Origin Formations activating without anyone triggering them?” Wang Xuan’an, who was easily aggravated, yelled.

“We don’t really know either.” Wei Yang and the others shook their heads. This was their first time running into something like this as well.

Su Chen thought for a moment, then suddenly said, “I remember you mentioning previously that these Origin Formations are controlled by a central control mechanism located within the research lab, right?”

Yan Ling replied, “We didn’t say that there was a central control mechanism for sure, only that a central control mechanism could be used to distinguish between Vicious Beasts and any other species.”

“What if the setup is even more complicated than we suspect?”

“You mean......”

“Not only can it distinguish between Vicious Beasts and us, but it can also automatically activate different formations.”

Everyone simultaneously sucked in a breath of cold air.

Yan Ling glanced at the research lab high up on the mountain. “It looks like that’s the only viable explanation. These Origin Formations were set up defensively; if that’s the case, of course they’re set up to prevent outsiders from entering. Since we’ve neutralized their defensive capabilities, naturally, they would attack us automatically. Doesn’t that make a lot of sense?”

Pi Yuanhong gulped. “Who cares if it makes sense or not? I don’t like that reasoning one bit.”

Ma Xuan said, “That’s definitely not something a normal central control mechanism could achieve.”

“Right now, I don’t care about what the central control mechanism is like. I just want to know how we can get there; we’ve still got a long ways to go,” Tang Ming said unhappily.

Jiang Hanfeng gestured helplessly. “I don’t know. If the Origin Formations activate as soon as we get close, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“No,” Su Chen suddenly said. “At the very least, you can tell us where the Origin Formations are and their strength tier. Since we can’t peacefully neutralize them, we’ll have to use direct force.”

Origin Formations could either be dealt with by skill or by brute force.

Since their opponent didn’t seem to intend to give them an opportunity to demonstrate their skill, then they would just mimic the Ferocious Race by relying on brute force to power through.

A moment later, Feng Yigu, who was brawny and thick-skinned, ran to the front, replacing the four-man team. He activated his Arcane Turtle Shield, Steel Battle Body, and covered himself with a magic barrier. Under the four-man team’s direction, he went to an Origin Formation. Without any activity of his own, an explosion sounded out, enveloping Feng Yigu in a ball of fire.

Feng Yigu resisted the impact and walked out of the flames like a steel god of war. Apart from the fact that his skin was somewhat blackened, he wasn’t injured at all.

“Hurray!” Everyone began to cheer.

“It seems like this is more effective than using you guys when dealing with Origin Formations,” Duan Jiangshan laughed as he patted Jiang Hanfeng on the shoulder.

Perhaps because he was dissatisfied with being looked down on, Jiang Hanfeng replied, “You can’t say it like that. Forcefully charging through Origin Formations is quite effective, but it expends a lot of energy, is dangerous, and there’s no way to regenerate the Origin Formations. If those Ferocious Race youths come chasing after us, we’re basically just opening the way for them.”

“Don’t worry about it. Those Origin Formations from before are still there; they should be more than enough to deal with them.”

Upon hearing this, Su Chen suddenly squinted and thought for a moment before saying, “Wei Yang, come over here for a second.”

“What is it?” Wei Yang came over.

Su Chen leaned in and whispered a few sentences in his ear.

Wei Yang’s expression slowly became one of shock. “Is that really necessary?”

“Don’t worry about whether or not it’s necessary. Just go and do it.”

“Okay!” Wei Yang nodded seriously. He handed his True Sight Mirror to Jiang Hanfeng, then walked towards the back.

The others were confused by his behavior. All Su Chen said was, “Don’t worry; I’ve given him a special task. He’ll be back soon.”

“What scheme have you come up with now?” He Yuandong asked.

“Nothing much. Just taking some precautionary measures is all,” Su Chen replied expressionlessly.