Chapter 187 Theft (1/2)

Yan Yu lowered the sun lamp, and the light instantly became as bright as day.

The animal hide map was fully unfolded on the kang table.

The moment the distorted array was fully exposed to the light, an indescribable sinister aura rose from the scroll and rushed towards us.

Despite the scorching heat of the heated kang bed inside, Ruan Tang felt a chill creep up her spine, causing her to shudder.

That's not cold.

It's the nausea of ​​having something dirty plastered on your face, the fear that seeps into your bones.

She had seen countless strange formations—light, killing, trapping—but this one was completely different.

This thing has no trace of righteousness; it was born purely for destruction and plunder, like a greedy maw silently opening beneath the texture of a mountain range.

There are always people more capable than you, and there's always something beyond your understanding.

This sentence is something she learned through countless painful lessons.

Only now, with her gaze fixed on this map so detailed it sent chills down her spine, did she truly understand the weight of those words.

This is not just a few enemy agents making small moves.

This is clearly a group of madmen who want to hollow out this land from where no one can see it!

The mountain ranges on the map are a hundred times more detailed than the two maps of An Sanchuan combined. The direction of every mountain ridge and the meandering of every stream are as clear as the lines on a palm.

This is not a painting.

This is the skeleton of the earth, dissected alive and laid out before you.

Ruan Tang felt a tightness in her chest, as if she were being gripped by an invisible hand, making it difficult to breathe.

She instinctively shrank closer to Yan Yu, her icy little hands gripping his hot, strong forearm tightly, her nails almost digging into his flesh.

Yan Yu noticed her stiffness, stretched out his long arm, and without the slightest hesitation, scooped her up along with the ruffled white mouse on her shoulder and pulled her into his arms.

His solid chest, burning with body heat, acted like an impenetrable wall, completely isolating the cold malice emanating from the map.

His strong chin rested gently on the top of her head, without saying a word.

But that absolute gesture of protection is more comforting than any words.

Ruan Tang's wildly beating heart calmed down a bit.

She stretched out her fair fingers, her fingertips lightly touching the red circles marked with vermilion on the map.

"Brother, look here."

Her voice was very soft, lacking its usual sweetness and softness, and carrying a hint of dryness from the chill.

These red circles, scattered throughout the depths of Mao'er Mountain, appear chaotic, yet secretly follow some kind of eerie pattern.

Their location was exactly where the black stones she had previously discovered on the mountain were hidden.

She initially thought the stones were some kind of ritual implements.

But now, when they are presented from this holistic perspective...

A long-forgotten array diagram suddenly exploded in her mind!

She'd seen this layout before!

Although the array in front of her was crude and simple, and many key points had been cut off, its core structure was seven or eight parts similar to a forbidden array in her memory!

She was indeed not proficient in formations, after all, she was the little princess of the Beast Taming Sect, not one of those charlatans from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion who kept saying "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed".

But her father had a good brother, who was the famously unreliable but incredibly talented old man from the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion!

The old man loved to go to the Beast Taming Sect. Every time he came, he would grab her and talk in a mystical way about "feng shui and astrology" and "finding the dragon's lair," insisting that she had extraordinary talent and was the perfect candidate to inherit his mantle.