Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

How to talk to Iron Face is something that Dongyang Li and Xu Lingguang don't need to worry about.

Chai Feng led two cultivators to find the iron mask, while Dongyang Li and Xu Lingguang worked together to send the remaining rogue cultivators away with the other disciples.

On the afternoon of the seventh day, Chai Feng returned with seven or eight people. The leader was tall and wore an iron mask that covered his entire face. The person walking next to Chai Feng was probably Iron Mask.

Dongyang Li glanced at it and muttered, "He actually managed to persuade them."

Xu Lingguang secretly stared at the iron-faced man. The man seemed to notice his gaze and looked over sharply.

Xu Lingguang nodded and smiled at him in a friendly manner, and said to Dongyang Li, "He seems to be quite strong, having an extra helper is not bad."

In the last three days, the cultivators who are still alive all have special skills. It's not so easy to get them eliminated, so the more helpers the better.

Chai Feng led the seven or eight people over to greet them and introduce them to each other.

"Su Wen." The man in the iron mask sounded like a cold and hard-hearted person, and his introduction was very brief.

Seeing this, Dongyang Li followed suit: "Dongyang Li." Then he pointed at Xu Lingguang: "Guan Linxu."

After the group had gotten to know each other, they began to discuss their strategy.

Xu Lingguang stared at Su Wen's profile, feeling a sense of familiarity for some reason, but he couldn't quite put his finger on how familiar it was.

So I couldn't help but stare at him a few more times.

Su Wen noticed his gaze and suddenly looked at Xu Lingguang, asking, "Do you want to see the face under my mask?"

Xu Lingguang was taken aback, then shook his head. He didn't intend for Su Wen to take off his mask, in case the other person had some unspeakable reason.

"I was just curious, I didn't mean to offend you."

Su Wen was persistent. He stared intently at Xu Lingguang, took off his mask, and revealed the hideous burns covering half of his face: "If you want to see, you can just say so. Seeing the burns on my face can serve as a warning."

Xu Lingguang stared in astonishment at the horrific scars on his face, momentarily speechless, her face flushing with embarrassment.

Su Wen, however, put his mask back on and continued his discussion with Chai Feng.

Dongyang Li frowned and patted Xu Lingguang's shoulder: "This guy is acting strangely, let's ignore him and go outside."

Xu Lingguang quickly followed him and slipped away.

Behind him, Long Su glanced at his back out of the corner of his eye without making a sound, and sneered inwardly.

It seems the disguise pill the system gave him was pretty good; his appearance, figure, and voice changed, and Xu Lingguang indeed didn't recognize him.

With Su Wen's addition, the Nine Turns Manor's team expanded again, and the speed of clearing out the rogue cultivators was also faster.

In particular, Su Wen's expertise in formations perfectly compensated for the Nine Turns Manor's weakness—their own junior brother who knew formations was eliminated before he could even join them.

Su Wen modified all the traps he could find at the Hidden Edge Sect and Nine Turns Manor, turning them into a trap that could deceive the Sumeru Ring and lure the enemy.

Once a cultivator approaches the array, the Sumeru Ring will stop flashing continuously, indicating the presence of a magical artifact nearby.

Once these rogue cultivators set their sights on finding treasure and step into the array's range, they will be trapped.

This was a time-saving and labor-saving method. They divided into six groups, with three to four people guarding each magic array to prevent any cultivators who entered the array from escaping.

Dongyang Li volunteered to go with Xu Lingguang, along with another disciple from Jiuzhuan Mountain Villa.

They lay in ambush on a high ground near the formation, chatting while keeping an eye on it.

Dongyang Li didn't like Su Wen very much, finding him even more annoying than Chai Feng. Therefore, he was skeptical of the array Su Wen had set up: "Is this array really effective?"

Xu Lingguang had been keeping an eye on his surroundings. When he saw two cultivators traveling together following the guidance of the Sumeru Ring, he said, "We'll know by looking at their reactions."

So the three of them held their breath and waited quietly.

The two cultivators were clearly very cautious, taking two steps forward and three steps back, and it took them a long time to finally step carefully into the formation.

The instant the two stepped into the array's range, countless blades formed from spiritual energy suddenly shot out from within the array.

The two cultivators had only just entered the Transcendent Realm and had no time to react. In an instant, they were riddled with holes and fell into the formation, their flesh and blood mangled.

The three men lying in ambush on the high ground were stunned for a moment, then looked at each other in bewilderment.

Dongyang Li frowned and said, "Didn't you say you were just going to trap them? Why does it look like you're aiming to kill them?"

Xu Lingguang peeked out and saw that the formation had returned to calm. The two cultivators were covered in wounds, their chests heaving very weakly, and they looked like they were about to die.

He took a deep breath to suppress his heart palpitations: "Shall we go down and take a look?"

Dongyang Li nodded: "Let's go take a look, maybe there's still hope."

The three of them quickly came down from the high ground, preparing to check on the two cultivators. If they were lucky, they could save their lives by sending them out in time.

But just as the three of them were about to step into the array's range, Xu Lingguang suddenly said, "Wait a minute."

"What's wrong?" Dongyang Li asked.

Xu Lingguang asked, "If we step into the formation, will we also be attacked?"

Dongyang Li said subconsciously, "No way? Didn't Su Wen say that the formation wouldn't attack its own people?"

However, he immediately realized that Su Wen hadn't said that the formation was full of deadly moves.

Ever since the awkward moment when he removed his mask, Xu Lingguang had avoided any contact with Su Wen. He didn't know why, but he always felt uncomfortable with the way Su Wen looked at him.

Just like the doubt that suddenly arose in his mind when he stood in front of the magic circle today.

It's all a matter of intuition.

Xu Lingguang always followed his intuition. After thinking for a moment, he asked Dongyang Li to try it at the edge of the magic array.

Dongyang Li is quick in his movements; if he senses something is wrong, he can retreat immediately.

Dongyang Li clearly had a blind trust in him, and upon hearing this, she actually did as he said.

He tentatively stepped inside, only to see the array suddenly light up, and countless spiritual energy blades swiftly pierced towards him. He immediately withdrew, thus avoiding the attack from within the array.

Even so, his clothes were torn in several places by the flying blades of spiritual energy.

Looking at his torn clothes, Dongyang Li gritted his teeth and said, "That Su Wen, he really has ulterior motives."

If Xu Lingguang hadn't stopped them, and they had stepped in unprepared, they wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed once the formation was activated.

They might end up like those two cultivators on the ground, lying dead on the spot.

"We need to inform Chai Feng."

Although casualties are inevitable in the Hundred Refinement Competition, there is an unspoken agreement among the participants to stop when the opponent has made a move, and they will not kill the opponent unless the opponent admits defeat.

Even between sects like Nine Turns Manor and Hidden Edge Sect, who are known to fight each other whenever they meet, no one has ever intentionally harmed the other's disciples during a competition, let alone cultivators who only participate in the competition for weapon forging quotas.

If you can't get a spot, you can find other ways. Why go on a killing spree in the competition and make a blood feud?

However, Su Wen's actions were extremely strange. Not only did he conceal the power of the formation and kill the rogue cultivators, but he also deceived them by saying that the formation would not attack his own people. It was obvious that he wanted to take advantage of the situation to eliminate them as well.

His heart can be killed.

Dongyang Li hated such underhanded and cunning people the most, and gritted his teeth, saying, "I'll go and kill him right now."

Xu Lingguang, however, considered things more deeply than him. Perhaps it was because of his own dislike for Su Wen. He felt that it was understandable for Su Wen to kill rogue cultivators, but there was no reason for him to kill the disciples of Nine Revolutions Manor as well.

If Nine Turns Manor loses so many disciples in a competition, they will surely investigate thoroughly. Offending the entire Nine Turns Manor will not benefit Su Wen at all.

Unless he has other purposes.

Xu Lingguang pulled Dongyang Li back and said, "Don't be impulsive. I have a plan. You should go and test his strength first."

Dongyang Li then calmed down: "What method?"

Xu Lingguang whispered something in his ear, then patted his shoulder: "Whether it works or not depends on how good your acting is."

Dongyang Li squinted and pondered for a while before saying, "Acting skills alone probably won't fool anyone. If you're going to put on an act, you have to make it look real."

He looked at his junior brother beside him, took out a knife from his storage ring and handed it to him: "Here, it's yours. Give me a few cuts and draw some blood."