Chapter 160: Chapter 160 Half Devoted to Spiritual Cultivation, Half to You
Wang Chen felt his face hurting.

He had slapped himself.

He had thought that the Inner Sect was safe and exploring a small valley near an estate would be as leisurely as a spring outing.

However, as it turned out,

Wang Chen was wrong.

Terribly wrong!

As soon as he stepped into the valley, he was greeted by a large expanse of peach blossoms, their fragrant scent overwhelming.

These peach trees, bursting with pink blossoms, were undoubtedly the source that lured a myriad of fish to swim upstream.

But when Wang Chen walked through the small path in the forest, intending to go deeper,

The scene before his eyes suddenly changed.

The peach trees were still peach trees, but they filled his entire view, densely packed and seemingly endless.

And no matter which direction Wang Chen walked in, he could not find his way out of this peach forest!

What was even more unsettling was that after walking a certain distance in the peach forest, Wang Chen would come across a few familiar-looking peach trees.

He was actually trapped!

Realizing that something was off, Wang Chen immediately took out the Willow Leaf Flying Boat from his Storage Bag.

He tried to use this Flying Artifact to escape.

But no matter how much mana he injected into it, the Willow Leaf Flying Boat couldn’t take off; it was firmly suppressed to the ground.

This made Wang Chen realize that he had fallen into a powerful trapping array!

Who had set up the array in this Nameless valley?

Wang Chen had no interest in studying this question; he felt that his trouble was big.

Wang Chen did not know much about arrays but knew that one should not provoke a skilled Array Master lightly.

Their arrays were full of intricacies that could block and trap enemies, as well as kill invisibly!

Wang Chen put away the Willow Leaf Flying Boat and stopped running around like a headless fly.

An array was much more powerful than a maze; one might escape a maze by blundering through, but an array required finding the Life Gate to escape—or one might be trapped inside for a lifetime.

But how could he, someone who didn’t understand arrays, find the Life Gate?

After pondering for a moment, Wang Chen drew his Fire Crow Sword.

However, he forcefully suppressed the idea of breaking through the array with force.

Because up to now, Wang Chen was just trapped by the peach forest and couldn’t find a way out.

But he hadn’t encountered any danger.

If he forced his way through the array, the trapping array might very well turn into a killing array!

Wang Chen didn’t know who had set up the array and what powers it possessed. Without clear information, using force to break through the array could only be the last resort.

“Yiyi!”

Just when Wang Chen was at his wit’s end, Yuanyuan suddenly sprang out from the Spirit Beast Pouch.

It hopped onto the ground littered with peach petals, burrowed into the soil, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Wang Chen was stunned.

The little creature obviously sensed that he was in trouble and wanted to help.

But if burrowing underground could solve the problem, then the trapping array would be totally useless.

Array Masters would not leave such a huge flaw!

Wang Chen quickly discovered that Yuanyuan was persistently moving in the same direction underground!

He had a spiritual bond with Yuanyuan, and as long as they weren’t too far apart, they could sense each other’s presence.

With the mentality of a last-ditch effort, Wang Chen followed Yuanyuan.

More peach trees blocked the view ahead.

Flowers in a tangle were about to dazzle the eye!

Wang Chen simply closed his eyes and continued forward, relying entirely on his perception of Yuanyuan.

Surprisingly, the path under his feet became smoother and smoother; he never bumped into any peach tree!

After walking about four or five hundred steps, Wang Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

A clear space opened up before him.

He had actually walked out of the Peach Blossom Array!

This was the deepest part of the valley. In front, to the left, and to the right were steep cliffs. A waterfall, like a ribbon of jade, flowed down from the mountain in front, gathering into a crystal-clear pool at its base.

Beside the pool stood a Stone pavilion, surrounded by peach trees.

The mountain breeze blew, shaking loose petals that fluttered into the clear pond.

This was indeed the origin of the stream!

“Yiyi.”

Yuanyuan burrowed out from the ground and agilely climbed onto his shoulder.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Wang Chen patted the little fellow that had helped him out of a bind, “I’ll give you an extra meal when we get back.”

“Yiyi~”

Yuanyuan rubbed his palm, signalling its desire for meat, lots and lots of meat!

Wang Chen chuckled, “No problem.”

Without the little guy’s help in that situation just now, he would have been in big trouble!

It seemed that Yuanyuan possessed such a capability, probably a talent of the Spirit Mouse.

Wang Chen looked around before walking to the front of the stone pavilion.

It was only then that he noticed a stele standing within the pavilion.

Engraved were the seven characters “Grave of beloved wife Huang Yuqiu”!

Wang Chen was momentarily stunned.

He had not anticipated finding a grave hidden in this valley.

By its style, it was either a ceremonial mound or a cremation mound!

Because of the Evil Wraiths, the common practice for handling the deceased in this world was cremation, following which a ceremonial or cremation mound would be erected for tributes.

Burial in earth had only been popular a thousand years prior.

This grave in the stone pavilion looked quite new, probably constructed just a decade or two ago.

There was no signature on the tombstone.

However, the seven characters on the stone’s surface, with their steady brushwork laced with melancholy, allowed Wang Chen to discern feelings of deep lovesickness and sorrow.

The person who had erected the stele was undoubtedly a man of profound affection.

The pain and longing for his deceased wife in his heart were all revealed on this stone stele!

It even had a significant emotional impact on Wang Chen.

With feelings in mind, Wang Chen could not help but sigh inwardly: What is love in this world, that it commands the promise of life and death?

He straightened his robe and respectfully bowed to the tombstone.

The person resting here was, after all, his neighbor.

Then Wang Chen took out a brand new piece of talisman paper from his Storage Bag and channeled his mana, flicking it with his finger.

The talisman paper suddenly flew up and turned into specks of spiritual light in the air.

Rows of seal script coalesced and appeared.

As the spiritual light dispersed, Wang Chen bowed once again.

And then he prepared to leave.

“Good poem.”

Just as he turned around, a calm voice suddenly entered his ears!

Wang Chen immediately stiffened and said with a wry smile, “Disciple Wang Chen pays his respects to the Elder!”

The person before him was none other than Chang Chun!

By this time, Wang Chen had come to understand.

Both the grave in the stone pavilion and the Peach Blossom Array at the entrance of the valley had undoubtedly been set up by the Purple Mansion Superior himself.

Last time, when Wang Chen was practicing the Sword Control Technique in front of the valley, Chang Chun had suddenly appeared and told him not to practice it anymore.

He even mentioned that Wang Chen was noisy.

It was clear he found the disturbance Wang Chen caused too great, which had disturbed the tranquility of his deceased wife.

Now Wang Chen had directly run to the front of that man’s grave!

He braced himself and explained, “Elder, this disciple didn’t do it on purpose. Next time…”

“Who wrote this poem?”

Chang Chun interrupted Wang Chen directly.

The Purple Mansion Superior in white robes, holding a long flute, glanced past Wang Chen, his gaze resting on the tombstone inside the pavilion: “Having crossed the vast oceans for water, ‘Except Wushan is not a cloud,’ leisurely I pass the flowers but seldom glance back…”

His eyes were filled with immense world-weariness: “Half of my life dedicated to cultivation, the other half to you, my lord.”

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