Chapter 60: The Array Fails

“Senior Brother! Senior Brother, how are you?”

The green-robed disciple’s voice trembled. The man on the ground looked even worse — black vine-like lines were creeping up his neck toward his face. Once the yin energy reached his heart meridians, he would die.

Panic spiked through everyone.

“Move!”

Yun Jiao shoved Tang Chen aside and pulled out her silver needles again.

“You— what are you doing?” Tang Chen blurted, startled. “He’s infected with yin, you can’t just—”

“Shut up.”

Yun Jiao turned and glared. For an instant a terrifying aura burst from her, pressing down like a storm.

Her voice dropped to an icy growl:

“If you want him dead, keep interrupting.”

Tang Chen actually flinched — and, without knowing why, shut his mouth.

(…also, somewhere in the chaos someone mumbled: “What’s Yi-Luo anyway? Some cultivation art? (⊙_⊙)?”)

Yun Jiao’s hands moved fast. Needle after needle pinned vital points, cutting off the yin flow before it could invade the heart.

“It’s… it’s stopped!”

The green-robed disciple gasped. The black tendrils froze mid-crawl.

The man was still unconscious, but no longer worsening.

“I only stopped it from spreading,” Yun Jiao said. “To purge it fully, you’d need spirit medicine. Get him down the mountain as soon as you can.”

“Right, right!”

Relief flickered as they carefully lifted the patient — but looked to Yun Jiao for confirmation.

“Just don’t jostle the needles,” she said.

Everyone exhaled and started down. Old Bai and the others helped carry him; this was life or death, and no one dared argue.

Halfway along, Shao Xian suddenly looked around, puzzled.

“Hey… where are the ghosts?”

Everyone froze.

Only now did they realize the entire horde was gone — not caught, not dispersed, just… vanished.

A chill pricked every spine.

“Get him down first,” the green-robed disciple urged.

No one argued.

---

“Hall Master! Bad news!”

A disciple burst into the main hall.

“The teleportation array for the third exam has suddenly failed!”

“What!”

Hall Master Xu shot to his feet.

“How could the array fail? Where’s Elder Jiao?”

“Elder Jiao went to check already.”

Xu used a movement talisman, racing to the main square.

Elder Jiao Hengyi was there — his face grim.

“What’s happening?” Xu demanded.

“I don’t know,” Jiao admitted. “The array itself is intact, but the individual teleport talismans inside suddenly lost connection to it. They can’t return.”

“Can it be fixed?” Xu’s voice was tight — over fifty disciples were still inside.

“The fault isn’t on our side.” Jiao’s brow furrowed. “It’s something happening at the exam site. Some unexpected interference cut the link.”

Xu’s expression darkened.

“That site was surveyed multiple times by three elders. Could there really be something even we didn’t detect?”

Frustration and dread flickered across his face. After a moment he barked new orders:

“Notify Elders Zhao and Shen — they’re to ride to Four Seasons Village immediately and investigate.

Jiao, keep trying to re-establish contact!”

Jiao nodded and returned to his calculations, lines of light flickering across the main array.

---

Yun Jiao’s group — ten people now — made it back to the huts unimpeded. Strangely, the mountain path was empty, not a single ghost in sight.

First thing, Tang Chen tested his teleport talismans again. Still dead.

He burned through several; none worked.

“I tried my Tang-family message charms too — nothing.”

Shao Xian showed the inert triangle talisman.

“But our senior brother can’t wait much longer,” the green-robed disciples fretted.

“Should we just carry him back to the Hall?”

“Impossible,” Tang Chen shook his head.

“It’s forty to fifty li from here. Even rushing on foot takes a day — and he can’t survive that bumping.”

“Then… borrow an ox cart?” someone suggested desperately.

“There’s no proper road here, and he’d never endure the jolting.” Tang Chen vetoed it.

Frustration rippled.

“Only choice left is to send someone to the Hall for help,” Tang Chen said at last.

“I have some long-distance talismans — maybe—”

“No need.”

Yun Jiao’s calm voice cut through.

Everyone turned.

She gestured to the patient lying on straw.

“He’s fine now.”

“Huh?”

Tang Chen: “…”

Green-robes: “…”

Everyone: “???”

They spun around — and froze.

The man’s breathing was steady.

The black, poisonous marks were fading.

Across his chest glimmered a delicate needle array, drawing wisp after wisp of black yin out of his body.

“That… that’s—”

Tang Chen stared.

“The yin is being extracted?!”

“Pretty much.” Yun Jiao spoke casually.

“Another five minutes… well, half a stick of incense, and it’ll be gone.”

“But… you said we needed spirit medicine!” Tang Chen spluttered.

“Oh.” Yun Jiao shrugged.

“I switched to a method that doesn’t need it.”

“…” (???)

(д)b — flex level: sky-high.

“Right!” Yun Jiao suddenly looked at him.

“Didn’t you have that Rejuvenation Pellet? If you insist on feeding medicine, wait till the yin’s gone, then give it. That’ll count as ‘using a tonic’ for your peace of mind.”

Tang Chen: “……”

(I didn’t want to feed medicine in the first place!)

╯°Д°）╯︵ ┻━┻

It was ghostly yin — the kind even top healers need days of painstaking work to purge.

And she’d just… done it in a quarter of an hour?

“You… you’re actually a healer?” he finally croaked.

“What else would I be?” Yun Jiao shot back.

“But… aren’t you an array master?!”

(Since when can you be both?!)

“Did I ever say I was only arrays?” Yun Jiao looked ready to roll her eyes.

“…”

Right. She never had.

○|￣|＿

Old Bai, who’d been silently handing her needles, clapped Tang Chen’s shoulder with a veteran’s sigh:

“You’ll get used to it. Don’t use mortal logic on a genius.”

Tang Chen: “……” MMP!

(Too many feelings. Nowhere to vent.)