Chapter 4279 — Could I Have Guessed Wrong?

"No... no, I didn't mean that, Brother Chang..." Luo Tuoxiang's face had gone white with fright. He waved his hands again and again. "Whatever you command, Brother Chang, of course I would never disobey—but this..."

He had followed Chang Daoping to these Odor Cultivation City ruins purely for the Star Ink Milk, and he had not so much as glimpsed a shadow of it before Chang Daoping was ordering him to stride blindly into the Moon Shadow Formation. Was that not marching a thousand miles only to deliver himself to his death?

A useless fool who understood nothing—just as expected! Watching the scene, Wei Zhao shook his head with a secret smile. But Cao Shishi and the others had no such discerning eye as his; every one of them looked tense with worry that, after Luo Tuoxiang, Chang Daoping's finger would point at them next.

"Hmph, do you really think I am sending you in there to die?" Chang Daoping gave a cold snort, and only then continued, "The Moon Shadow Formation cannot be entered rashly, it is true, but I hold the formation flag in my hand. Follow the position I designate, and so long as you do not wander about inside, nothing will happen to you at all. What is there to fear? A useless piece of trash!"

"Uh... so that is how it is..." Only now did Luo Tuoxiang understand. He no longer dared hesitate in the slightest, and hastily ducked his neck and ran off toward the spot Chang Daoping had indicated.

His heart was still pounding with fright, but after all, Chang Daoping needed everyone's help to break the formation. Luo Tuoxiang did not believe that Brother Chang would do him harm; there had to be a purpose behind this.

The Moon Shadow Formation possessed an effect that left people lost and disoriented. Everyone had assumed that once Luo Tuoxiang ran inside, he would vanish from sight—yet they waited until he had come to a stop, and still no abnormality appeared. Not only could he be seen as normal, but even sound was not blocked. It felt no different at all from an ordinary patch of wasteland.

Wei Zhao nodded to himself. To the naked eye there was indeed no visible change, but if one sensed carefully with spiritual sense, one would discover that between the distant Luo Tuoxiang and the formation flag in Chang Daoping's hand, there was a faint fluctuation of true qi linking the two together.

Among the acquaintances Wei Zhao knew, Di Xingdao had devoted considerable study to formations. Back when they had chatted idly on Middle Island, he had once heard him speak of it: though the methods of breaking formations were many and varied, strange and wondrous beyond measure, they all shared one trait in common—breaking a formation by means of a formation.

When several people broke a formation together, the formation flag served as the formation's eye, and the group temporarily formed a formation of their own, thereby breaking the formation with a formation. True, there were also cases of a single person breaking a formation alone, but even then a formation flag was required—one might understand it as one man forming a formation.

Just as at present: because of the formation flag, Luo Tuoxiang and Chang Daoping had in fact already become a temporary formation between them. So even though he had simply walked into the Moon Shadow Formation, he would suffer no interference whatsoever, for he was protected by the temporary formation. To all appearances he stood within the Moon Shadow Formation's bounds, but in truth he was not covered by it at all—it was the same as standing outside.

What came next was for everyone to join in one by one, until the power of this temporary formation reached its utmost, and at last the Moon Shadow Formation could be broken.

"Shishi, you go there." Sure enough, Chang Daoping immediately pursed his lips toward Cao Shishi. The position he indicated was, naturally, another of the stars of the Northern Dipper.

Cao Shishi opened her mouth, rather afraid. But at the sight of Chang Daoping's stern expression, and fearful of being scolded as Luo Tuoxiang had been, she dared not make another sound. After dawdling a moment, she finally mustered her courage and walked over.

Close behind, the other three were sent off by Chang Daoping one after another to their respective Northern Dipper positions. When at last it came to Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao's turn, Chang Daoping suddenly froze—for the two of them had actually walked off to one side of their own accord.

"Boy, now that the moment has come, do you mean to turn deserters?" Seeing this, Luo Tuoxiang immediately stamped his feet inside and mocked, "Hmph, cowardly yokels, rats at heart—I knew these two could not be relied on, good for nothing. When the critical moment comes, all they do is stab their teammates in the back!"

His tone was such that he had quite forgotten his own reaction moments before. When Chang Daoping had ordered him to be the first to enter, he had nearly wet his pants with fright—yet now, having found there was no danger, he had turned arrogant.

"Exactly! We are already inside, and these two still mean to slip away in secret. Are they not simply wasting our time and putting us all in peril?" Cao Shishi likewise sneered, and said to Chang Daoping, "Brother Chang, you cannot let the two of them just slip away like this!"

The other three chimed in as well, cursing and denouncing. After all, standing where they now stood, they were all taking a risk no matter how one looked at it; if Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao simply ran off, would their own risk not have been taken for nothing?

"What do you two mean by this? I have told you so much, and now at the last moment you want to back out—that hardly seems fair, does it?" Chang Daoping's expression had darkened as well. Breaking the formation required eight people; if Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao would not cooperate, then no matter how great his ability, it would all be in vain.

"Oh? Could it be that I have guessed wrong, Brother Chang—you do not intend for us to stand here?" Wei Zhao pointed at the spot not far before him: the remaining two Northern Dipper positions.

"Tch, shrinking from battle is shrinking from battle. You are plainly gutless cowards, yet you still dare put on a bold face and play the part? Truly laughable!" Luo Tuoxiang's mockery grew even more reckless at this. Pointing at Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, he laughed loudly. "A formation as profound as the Moon Shadow Formation—boy, you would not mean to tell me that even you know how it should be broken? Hahahaha!"

"Nothing but an early Golden Core yokel. If even the likes of him could break a formation, then sows could climb trees! For this trip to the ruins, for the breaking of this formation, even Brother Chang spent a good half year making special preparations!" Cao Shishi curled her lip and added.

She had not known of the Moon Shadow Formation before, but as Chang Daoping's dual-cultivation partner, she was perfectly clear on what he had been doing previously. To study the formation, Chang Daoping had gone into secluded cultivation for a full half year of preparation.

From their behavior earlier, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were plainly just like the rest of them—they too had never heard of the Moon Shadow Formation. And to break it, even Chang Daoping had gone to such great trouble. If those two could see through the mystery so easily, that would be utterly impossible—nothing but a fool's dream.

"So you see, these two yokels are certainly trying to desert on the eve of battle, and still they quibble here. Truly ridiculous..." Luo Tuoxiang sneered without cease.

There was no grudge between them, nor had they even met before, yet from the very first glance he had found Wei Zhao disagreeable in every way. Whether it was the warmth Chang Daoping showed him, or the calm air about Wei Zhao himself, it all disgusted him utterly, until he wished he could grind the boy beneath his heel. R1152