Chapter 232: Tang San's Wariness; Liu Yuan Is Not Easily Fooled
Huo Yuhao remained silent for a long time.
He stood frozen on the steep incline of the stone wall, his boots struggling for purchase against the slick, damp moss. Above him, the toxic green mist churned like a restless sea, casting an eerie, sickly pallor over his pale face. Liu Yuan's words were a heavy, suffocating weight—like a massive boulder pressing directly against his chest, making every breath feel shallow and labored.
The handwriting on that fateful letter belonged unmistakably to Tai Tan and Niu Tian. He had memorized the strokes; it was genuinely their work. The missive had explicitly stated that Wang Dong'er's affliction was an innate, hidden disease, one that could only be cured by a legendary miraculous plant—the Lovesick Heartbroken Herb. And that herb grew exclusively within the perilous depths of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. The letter had also strictly warned him to keep this a secret from Dong'er, insisting that she must not be burdened with worry.
At the time, blinded by panic and desperation after reading those words, his mind had tunneled onto a single, overriding thought: I have to save her.
But now, forced to look back through the lens of Liu Yuan's cold logic, the glaring inconsistencies began to surface.
Since Tai Tan and Niu Tian possessed such unfathomable strength, why hadn't they come personally to retrieve the herb? Even if the herb required a specific person to harvest it, why hadn't they offered to escort him? The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was undeniably a death trap for ordinary cultivators, but with their overwhelming cultivation bases, protecting him during the descent and extraction should have been effortless.
Huo Yuhao simply couldn't figure it out.
Yet, a stubborn part of his heart vehemently refused to question Tai Tan and Niu Tian. Those two were Dong'er's revered elders, acting as her guardians, and they were among the very few seniors he genuinely trusted with his life at Shrek Academy. They had always treated him with warmth, imparted valuable guidance, and had never shown even a hint of malice.
Thus, after a long, agonizing hesitation, Huo Yuhao finally managed to force a single, strained sentence past his lips.
"Perhaps... they have their own difficulties."
Ahead of him, Liu Yuan's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
The young man turned around, his piercing gaze locking onto Huo Yuhao. There was no anger in his expression, nor was there any overt mockery. Instead, his features settled into a look of deep, dry helplessness—a silent confirmation that screamed, I knew you would say exactly that.
"Is that all you have to say?" Liu Yuan asked, his voice calm but laced with an obvious edge.
Huo Yuhao lowered his head, his eyes fixing on the damp moss to avoid Liu Yuan's penetrating stare. He truly didn't know what else to say. Every single question Liu Yuan had posed was a direct, logical strike to the heart of the matter. Huo Yuhao had no answers, yet he desperately refused to admit that there was a fundamental flaw in Tai Tan and Niu Tian's narrative. They were Dong'er's family; doubting them felt like a betrayal.
"In any case, let's just find the medicinal ingredients for Dong'er first," Huo Yuhao muttered, his voice muffled and defensive.
Liu Yuan studied him in silence for a few heavy seconds. He gave a slight, dismissive shake of his head, opting to save his breath, and turned back to resume his trek down the treacherous path.
The group continued their descent into the abyss.
Huo Yuhao trailed at the very back, his steps noticeably heavier and slower than before. His mind was an absolute mess. Liu Yuan's pragmatic deconstruction of the situation kept echoing in his skull, but he forcefully suppressed those thoughts, burying them under a wall of willful ignorance. Right now, his sole purpose was to find the Lovesick Heartbroken Herb and cure Dong'er. Everything else—the conspiracies, the logical gaps, the hidden motives—could wait.
Far above the mortal plane, within the ethereal expanse of the God Realm.
Tang San sat regally upon his throne within the grand palace, the divine Water Mirror hovering before him, its surface rippling with continuous images. He had been carefully observing the unfolding events in the Lower Realm. From Liu Yuan's sharp, incisive questioning to Huo Yuhao's conflicted silence, right down to the boy's naive defense of "they have their own difficulties"—the Sea God hadn't missed a single, microscopic detail.
Watching Huo Yuhao mentally torture himself only to squeeze out that pathetic, self-deceiving justification, the corners of Tang San's mouth curled upward into a faint, satisfied smile.
"At least he is obedient," he whispered, his voice echoing softly in the vast hall.
However, as the image shifted to Liu Yuan's dry, helpless expression and that dismissive shake of the head, Tang San's brow furrowed into a deep frown. Liu Yuan's sheer pragmatism made the Sea God distinctly uncomfortable. It wasn't overt provocation or blazing hostility; it was a chilling, calculated indifference. It was the look of someone who saw through the entire grand design, recognized the strings of the puppet master, yet simply didn't deign to waste energy pointing it out.
To a god accustomed to reverence and control, that kind of quiet, knowing dismissal was far more grating than a direct, screaming confrontation.
Tang San slowly shifted his gaze away from the Water Mirror, his eyes landing on the two towering figures standing respectfully behind his throne—Tai Tan and Niu Tian. His piercing gaze lingered on the two for a long, oppressive moment before he finally broke the silence.
"Is this how you handle matters?"
Tai Tan and Niu Tian immediately bowed their heads in unison. Tang San's tone wasn't loud or explosive, but the sheer weight of divine dissatisfaction woven into those few words was unmistakable. Having followed Tang San for countless years, both men knew that their Master rarely adopted such a dangerously quiet tone unless he was genuinely displeased.
"How exactly did you compose that letter?" Tang San asked, every syllable dropping like a lead weight in the silent hall. "I instructed you to subtly guide Huo Yuhao toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. I did not tell you to leave behind such a glaring, amateurish flaw."
Tai Tan hurriedly took a step forward, cupping his massive fists in a gesture of deep respect. "Lord Tang San, we followed your instructions to the letter. We only stated that the Lovesick Heartbroken Herb was the sole cure for Wang Dong'er's hidden affliction, deliberately withholding any further context. Huo Yuhao was in a state of absolute panic at the time; he didn't stop to ask for details."
"Didn't ask for details?" Tang San repeated, the ambient temperature in the palace dropping a few degrees as his tone turned glacial. "Look at Liu Yuan. He merely heard a brief recount of the events from Huo Yuhao, and within seconds, he dismantled the entire premise of your letter. If Huo Yuhao was too frantic to ask, did it never cross your minds to proactively fill in the logical gaps? Did you truly believe Huo Yuhao would remain blind to the inconsistencies forever?"
Tai Tan's expression twisted into an unsightly grimace. He lowered his head further, not daring to utter another word of defense. Standing to the side, Niu Tian opened his mouth, wanting to offer an explanation, but one look at the dark storm brewing in Tang San's eyes made him swallow his words instantly.
Tang San leaned back against his ornate throne, his slender fingers tapping a slow, rhythmic beat against the armrest.
"It is simply fortunate that Huo Yuhao is so easily manipulated," Tang San said, his voice returning to a smooth, placid calmness, though it carried a distinct undertone of calculating sentiment. "He is a boy ruled by his heart. He places immense value on emotional bonds and trusts blindly; he will never proactively doubt those he considers family. Anyone else with even half a brain would not have been so easily hoodwinked by such a sloppy setup."
He paused, his deep gaze shifting back to the Water Mirror, locking onto the calm, unbothered figure of Liu Yuan.
"As for this Liu Yuan... he will not be so easily managed."
Tai Tan cast a brief, wary glance at the Water Mirror before quickly dropping his gaze, remaining absolutely silent.
Tang San let the heavy silence stretch for a moment longer before waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Fine. I will let this transgression slide for now. But in the future, put actual thought into your execution. Although Huo Yuhao is easy to blind with emotion, he is not an idiot. If you leave such gaping logical flaws again, he will eventually piece the truth together."
"Yes, Lord Tang San," Tai Tan and Niu Tian responded in crisp unison.
Tang San said nothing more. His attention was fully absorbed by the Water Mirror once again. His fingers tapped twice more against the armrest before coming to a complete, ominous stop.
Meanwhile, back in the Sunset Forest, deep below the precipice.
The group continued their harrowing descent. With every dozen meters they dropped, the toxic mist grew exponentially thicker. The noxious green fog was no longer merely drifting through the air; it had become a dense, corrosive entity that actively sought to eat away at their defenses, pressing heavily against their spirit power barrier.
The protective shield maintained by Du Busi had been rock-solid at the top, but the deeper they ventured into the abyss, the more volatile it became. Subtle, rippling fluctuations began to mar its surface, as if an invisible, crushing pressure was trying to squeeze the life out of them.
Du Busi's thick brows knit together in a deep frown. With a soft grunt, he circulated his cultivation, slightly increasing his spirit power output. A fresh surge of emerald energy reinforced the barrier, stabilizing the trembling shield once more.
"This mist is far from simple," Du Busi remarked, his voice gruff, his eyes fixed dead ahead. "Keep close to me. Do not fall behind, not even by a single step."
"Understood, Sect Master," Long Aotian responded immediately, shifting his position to stay tightly knit beside Liu Yuan.
Huo Yuhao maintained his position at the very rear. His Spirit Eyes were fully active, glowing with a faint golden light, but the environment was incredibly hostile to his abilities. Within this suffocating, poisonous fog, the normally vast range of his Spiritual Detection was violently compressed. He could barely perceive anything beyond a meager radius of a few meters. All he could clearly make out was the steady, unbothered back of Liu Yuan walking ahead of him; anything beyond that was swallowed by the swirling green void.
After descending for what felt like an eternity, the steep incline beneath their boots finally began to level out. The jagged stone wall transitioned into solid, flat ground. Simultaneously, the density of the toxic mist reached a terrifying peak. It was a literal wall of green; one could hardly see their own hand if they held it up in front of their face.
Du Busi suddenly came to a halt.
Standing at the vanguard, the Body Sect Master narrowed his eyes, his formidable perception attempting to pierce the impenetrable veil of fog.
"We have arrived," he announced, his voice echoing dully in the damp air.
Liu Yuan stepped up to Du Busi's side. Within his eyes, the deep purple-gold light of his Double Pupils flickered with intense, rapid energy. He pushed his visual prowess to its limits, attempting to dissect the structural makeup of the mist, though even his mutated eyes found it difficult to pierce the dense miasma. However, he didn't need to see it to know they were close. He could feel the distinct, violently contrasting elemental energies radiating through the earth.
Just a short distance ahead lay the edge of the legendary Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Long Aotian leaned forward, squinting hard into the gloom, but his vision was completely blocked by the swirling green curtain. Huo Yuhao closed the distance from the rear, pushing his Spirit Eyes to their absolute maximum output. Yet, even with his formidable mental strength, his spiritual sea only fed him the sensation of a vast, terrifyingly empty expanse ahead. The specific details of the terrain remained completely obscured, hidden behind a wall of ancient power.
Du Busi was in no hurry to charge blindly forward. He stood rooted in place, staring intently at the thick, impenetrable mist, his seasoned instincts screaming a warning. He remained silent for a long moment, analyzing the flow of the ambient energy.
"This mist is highly unnatural," Du Busi finally declared, his tone grim. "This isn't a naturally occurring miasma. Someone has deliberately laid down a massive Formation here."
Liu Yuan remained perfectly calm. He knew exactly what the old man was sensing: the Jade Phosphor Seven Absolutes Formation. It was a lethal, grand-scale poison array established by Tang San ten thousand years ago. Even after the passage of millennia, which should have naturally eroded its core power, the residual toxicity and structural integrity of the formation meant it was absolutely not something a person could just casually stroll through.
"Master, can it be broken?" Liu Yuan asked, his voice steady and pragmatic.
Du Busi didn't answer immediately. He continued to stare into the swirling green abyss, pushing his immense spiritual perception outward, carefully probing the fog to locate the hidden nodes and energy pathways of the ancient array.
After a tense minute, he gave a slow, confident nod.
"It can be broken. But dismantling it safely will take time." Du Busi turned his head, casting a stern, commanding glare over Long Aotian and Huo Yuhao. "Stick close to me and do not wander off under any circumstances. If you get separated and lost in this mist, your bones will melt before you even realize you're dead."
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