Chapter 00207: Ding Huan's Calculations
# Ding Huan's Calculations
Chapter 207
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 207: Ding Huan's Calculations
Ding Huan left Zixia Valley with Yan Mei and Lao Liu without encountering any resistance.
"Brother Huan, where are we going?" Yan Mei asked as soon as they left the valley.
"No rush, let's find a place to rest first," Ding Huan chuckled.
Yan Mei frowned in confusion.
"Brother Huan, we just killed Gong Hua. If Sect Master Gu sends people after us, wouldn't it be dangerous to stay?"
Ding Huan waved his hand dismissively.
"You don't understand Gu Mo. He's a naive contradiction. If I hadn't killed Gong Hua, he might have actually taken action against me under Gong Hua's pressure. But now that Gong Hua is dead, he won't bother chasing me, even if he knows I did it. In his eyes, only those who can be of use to him matter. Dead people are meaningless, and he won't waste time on a dead Gong Hua."
Lao Liu glanced at Yan Mei impatiently.
"Just listen to Brother Huan. Stop talking nonsense."
Yan Mei snorted.
"What do you, a monkey, know?"
He used to fear Lao Liu, as the latter could easily crush him with a single slap.
But after cultivating the Great Desolate Divine Jade Technique, his strength had skyrocketed, and he was now at the seventh level of Qi Refinement.
Although Lao Liu was equivalent to the ninth level of Qi Refinement, Yan Mei no longer feared him.
Lao Liu sighed helplessly.
His spiritual roots had been fixed by Ding Huan, but he still couldn't break through to Foundation Establishment.
He was stuck cultivating a mediocre technique due to his poor aptitude.
He needed to find time to talk to Ding Huan about this.
He couldn't remain stuck at such a low level forever, especially since he could even speak now.
The reason Ding Huan wasn't in a hurry to leave was that, during his calculations, he had seen that Zixia Valley had no future.
Although the results were vague, the blankness in his vision was unmistakable.
If Zixia Valley had even the slightest influence in the future, there would have been some shadowy traces in his calculations, but there was nothing but pure emptiness.
This meant that even though he had given Liu Yinzhu a strategy, Zixia Valley still had no future.
And if Zixia Valley had no future, Liu Yinzhu might not have one either.
He had tried to calculate her future, but her strength surpassed his, so the results were even more blurred.
Still, he could see that her future was also a blank slate.
Now, he planned to visit the Nine Tones Sect to calculate their fate based on their location.
After that, he would return to the outskirts of Zixia Valley.
If there was a chance, he would save Liu Yinzhu.
If not, then so be it.
If it weren't for Liu Yinzhu, he wouldn't have become a third-grade array master, a third-grade artifact refiner, or even reached the late-stage Nebula Realm while quietly cultivating on Chaoxia Peak.
No matter how much he knew or how fast he learned, without resources, it was all for naught.
Liu Yinzhu had introduced him to a deal where he saved Gu Mo and earned 100,000 sect contribution points.
These points were all exchanged for materials, which became the foundation for his artifact refining and array studies.
Half the credit for killing Gong Hua went to his array skills.
Gong Hua's strength was immense, and if it weren't for his protective arrays, Gong Hua could have killed him before the poison took effect.
The Nine Tones Sect was only a few hundred miles from Zixia Valley, separated by the Purple Garden Mountain Range.
Ding Huan controlled the flying ship and soon arrived outside the Nine Tones Sect's gates.
Upon arriving, Ding Huan understood why the Nine Tones Sect was so eager to destroy Zixia Valley.
The sect's location was deficient in yin-yang energy, the five elements were inherently incomplete, and their fortune was shrouded in darkness.
Ding Huan wasn't sure if the Nine Tones Sect's members could see this.
Even if they could partially see it, he couldn't understand why they would place their sect in such a location.
"I didn't realize the Nine Tones Sect was so close to Zixia Valley. I've heard of this sect," Yan Mei remarked as he looked at the distant sect.
"Did the Nine Tones Sect recruit disciples from the mortal world?" Ding Huan asked as he pulled out array flags and began setting up a formation.
Yan Mei shook his head.
"No, this time, less than a fifth of the sects in the cultivation world went to the mortal world to recruit disciples. The largest sect that went was the Moonlight Sect, which isn't even in the top ten of the cultivation world."
Ding Huan quickly set up the calculation array.
His strength was limited, so to calculate the fate of the unfamiliar Nine Tones Sect, he had to rely on the Great Calculation Technique combined with the calculation array.
In less than half an hour, Ding Huan swiftly packed up the array and summoned the flying ship.
"Let's go, we need to move."
This time, Yan Mei didn't ask questions and quickly boarded the ship with Lao Liu.
Ding Huan controlled the ship and soon arrived at the foot of a barren mountain with no vegetation.
The spot he chose was at a fork in the road, shaped like a concave.
"This must be the Purple Garden Mountain Range. I've heard that cultivating here can yield twice the results with half the effort. I wonder if it's true," Yan Mei said as he looked at the bare mountain.
"It definitely is. I'm going to set up an array here. You and Lao Liu will each hold an array flag and follow my instructions to ambush," Ding Huan said.
"Who's coming?" Yan Mei asked curiously.
"I don't know, but someone might come. There's a good chance you won't even need to act," Ding Huan replied as he began setting up the array.
If it came down to Yan Mei and Lao Liu having to fight, then his plan would have failed.
During his calculations, the future of the Nine Tones Sect was also blurry.
It hadn't reached complete blankness yet, but it was close.
This meant that the Nine Tones Sect and Zixia Valley would clash, resulting in mutual destruction.
Since that was the case, there was no need for him to leave.
If Zixia Valley was destroyed, he could take advantage of the situation and stay to cultivate there.
The Nine Tones Sect would be too busy with their own destruction to care about Zixia Valley.
However, he needed to set up the arrays properly, especially figuring out how to activate Zixia Valley's mountain-sealing array.
Otherwise, if others coveted Zixia Valley, he wouldn't be cultivating there but hiding like a trapped turtle.
As for whether the Nine Tones Sect would be destroyed, Ding Huan didn't care at all.
The reason he was setting up arrays here was solely to save Liu Yinzhu's life.
After Zixia Valley was breached by the Nine Tones Sect, countless sect disciples were killed or injured.
Liu Yinzhu had fled the sect, but in Ding Huan's calculations, she wouldn't escape.
She would be chased down and killed, her future disappearing into a blurry mountain peak.
The mountain with no vegetation—wasn't that the bare Purple Garden Mountain Range before them? He chose this concave spot because, from the outside, this was the only escape route.
Anywhere else would lead directly up the mountain.
Even if Liu Yinzhu was foolish, going up the mountain would only hasten her death.
Escaping into this concave area offered two paths: one leading up the mountain and the other to a different route.
Ding Huan knew that both Lao Liu and Yan Mei's concealment techniques were mediocre, so he had them stay in a hidden spirit array he set up at the rear.
He himself set up trapping arrays, killing arrays, illusion arrays, fire arrays, defensive arrays, and poison arrays at the fork.
All these arrays were then concealed within a hidden array.
Ding Huan had been influenced by the Cold Corpse to set up the illusion array and inspired by the Hidden Sword Mountain to create the poison array, using the mountain's toxins.
By the time Ding Huan finished setting up all the arrays, four days had passed.
He wasn't in a hurry.
According to his calculations, the battle should happen today.
Liu Yinzhu would arrive in a few hours, giving him time to study the arrays further.
After killing Gong Hua, Ding Huan became even more certain that his strength wouldn't improve quickly.
He could only rely on arrays to survive in this place.
...
Zixia Valley, Sect Hall.
Nearly ten thousand disciples, elders, and deacons had gathered here.
This included almost the entire sect, with only a few kitchen staff, herb caretakers, and miscellaneous workers absent.
This was a pre-battle mobilization meeting called by the sect master.
Gu Mo stepped onto the temporary altar and looked at the sea of disciples, feeling a mix of emotions.
If Elder Pu Jun hadn't been killed, the Nine Tones Sect wouldn't have dared to wage full-scale war against Zixia Valley.
And then there was Elder He, who consumed vast amounts of cultivation resources every year but was nowhere to be found during this critical moment.
How selfish.
Fortunately, Ding Huan had saved him once.
Otherwise, Zixia Valley wouldn't just be fighting the Nine Tones Sect—it would have been easier to merge with them.
"Disciples of Zixia Valley, since the founding of our sect, we have never bullied smaller sects. Back then, the Nine Tones Sect was much weaker than us, but we never oppressed them. Now, they have schemed to kill Elder Pu Jun and seized our Purple Garden Mountain Range. Not only that, they want to take our home, Zixia Valley. Can we tolerate this?"
"No!" the ten thousand voices roared in unison.
Gu Mo raised his voice.
"That's right! If they want to take Zixia Valley, they'll have to step over the corpses of every disciple here, including mine. Otherwise, we will not retreat a single step!"
The crowd's morale soared.
Gu Mo waved his hand.
"Light the incense, and let our ancestors protect Zixia Valley."
Jia Sha and Liu Yinzhu, who had already received their orders, quickly lit thick incense sticks on both sides of the hall.
The hall was large, but the sheer amount of incense filled it with dense smoke in no time.
Fortunately, everyone here was at least a Qi Refinement disciple, or else the thick smoke might have suffocated them.
"I, Gu Mo, promise all disciples of Zixia Valley that after this battle, every participant will receive generous rewards. Disciples at the peak of Qi Refinement who earn enough merit will be rewarded with a Foundation Establishment Pill. Similarly, disciples at the peak of Foundation Establishment who earn enough merit will be rewarded with a True Star Pill to condense their True Core."
Just as Gu Mo was boosting the disciples' morale, the sect's protective array suddenly let out a deafening boom.
Gu Mo was stunned for a moment before realizing that the intelligence he had received was false.
The Nine Tones Sect had attacked a day earlier than expected.
(End of Chapter)