200 Gathering Information

On the way to the City Lord's study room. Putri asked Alex, "Junior Brother. I don't know you have such knowledge. Are you an Array Master?"

Alex chose to be ignorant as he spouted nonsense, "No. My master only imparted me with some basic knowledge about Arrays. He taught me how to deal with Rank 3 Array or below. But for this Rank 4 Array, I should be able to do some tweaking in it and inactivate the array.

Since this array can only be activated at night, I'm sure the evil cult didn't have a high cultivation stage. If not, they won't resort to this and might take over this city. So, in the days, we won't face the enemy. We will retreat before night comes. We can do this for a few days. Or should we call some help from Senior Sister Song Yu?"

Putri pondered a bit, then shook her head. "It should be like you said. We will try to see if we can do something about it in the day. If we can't resolve it in three days, we will ask for help."

"Alright" Alex nodded.

Not long after, they arrived at the City Lord's study room. The city lord opened a book and browsed it. "I found it. This is the record."

Alex and Putri came closer and read the record.

"Around one and half century ago, there was an array master. He was famous for his Array ability, especially his Elemental Suppression Array, it is indeed as you said. With that, he made many crimes and resided in Nugget Village. Back then, it was called Memorial Village, and he was a Martial Grandmaster. The record said he was besieged by many peak Martial Grandmaster, and surprisingly he was victorious. Finally, the kingdom sent a few Martial Lords, and they succeeded in killing him, but they never found the array." Dennis said.

Finally, Alex and Putri got a clue about this incident. Putri asked, "Junior Brother, how confident are you in solving this array?"

"I don't know. Even though I have some prior knowledge, I need to browse my old knowledge first. I should be able to come up for an answer tonight." Alex said.

"Alright, we will try to scout the location tomorrow morning. If we can't do it, we will ask for help. Until the help arrives, we can try scouting the perimeter" Putri said.

"Understood"

"Please, Please help this town. I have sent a new request to Heavenly Sword Sect, but the requirement was only 6-Star Grandmaster. Since I thought it was enough. But if it was like the record said, I'm afraid it was not enough. I..."

"Don't worry, City Lord. It was almost night, so we will try to come up with a solution tomorrow. Since we are going in the day, we would be fine. If we can't come up with a solution. I will personally ask the sect for reinforcement" Putri assured him.

"Thank...thank you. Let me host you in this humble house." the City Lord said.

Alex and Putri looked at each other and nodded. Putri said, "Then, we will trouble you, City Lord."

The City Lord ordered the maids to clean up two guest rooms. Alex took out Maxwell's book after he got inside the room. According to Maxwell's book. This Elemental Suppression Array was one of the powerful array. Although it can only be used at night, its power was very powerful. It can be built by a Martial Grandmaster pretty easily. That was the strong point of the array.

This array can't be activated by the Spiritual Energy alone, it also needs some elemental Materials to use the array to its full potential. The more materials the array used, the more powerful the suppression was. Alex continued researching about the array.

On the last page about this array, there was a strong note left by Maxwell. Alex frowned.

'The array forces the element inside the material to its full potential. But the materials can also be changed with humans, whether they were alive or not. It will simulate the element inside their body, whether they have awakened their element or not. For the dead, it was unrespectful, and there was a possibility to destroy the soul of death and make them can't reincarnate. As for the living, it was a living hell for them. Even if they were alive after they became materials for this array. Ending their life should be the most respectful thing to do for them. That's why, If you, my disciple, read this note. Please make sure you do the right thing and use this array carefully. Master believes in you.'

Alex drew a cold breath. He was too shocked. He tried to compile the weakness of the array. He can destroy the array by destroying its core. Alex memorized the core. It was a tiny array. The array would remain active if he didn't destroy the core. So it would be his primary target. He drew the core in a piece of paper.

At night, Putri came to his room to discuss their strategy. Alex explained his strategy and gave her the picture of the core, he drew earlier. Putri nodded. As long as they can destroy the core, it should be easy to fight the evil cult's members. Or at least, they should be weaker than the city lord.

Alex would love to see the purple light. But the evil cult didn't use it tonight. It was a shame, he thought he could gather some information from it. They waited for the morning to arrive. Alex and Putri flew toward Nugget Village. It wasn't that far from the city, it was only a few minutes flying.

Upon entering the village, they can only see wrecked houses everywhere. Blood on the wall of the house and the ground symbolized there was killing spree inside the village. They can't see anything beside it.

They tried to stick together since this is the first time they entered the village. They searched for two hours, inspecting every nook and corner of the houses. But the array was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, Alex stopped.

"Alex?" Putri was confused. They were in the center of the village.

Alex actually found someone in the woods. Since this village was a bit small, he can see the woods from the village. He saw them because he activated his Spirit Eyes. There were two people in the woods, they were watching Alex and Putri. They hide pretty well, it can foul even his senior sister. But it can't fool his Spirit Eyes. Because what he saw was their energy.

Alex tried to look like a fool, looking at his surroundings. He said to Putri while giving her a wry smile, "No, that must be my imagination."

Putri relieved, she thought there was something wrong. But suddenly, Alex moved a few steps from his place. He positioned himself behind his Senior Sister. So, those two people in the woods can't see any of his expressions or Putri's expressions.

"Alex?" Putri was confused by this sudden action.

Alex only said, "Senior Sister. Whatever I said, act naturally. Can you do that?"

Putri became tense, she calmed down herself for a bit and nodded to him.

"I warn you first. Don't turn your back. There are two people, possibly only two 10-Star Martial Master Stage. It should be easy for Senior Sister to kill them. But since we are in an unknown place. I want to be careful. Those two were in the woods precisely on your back. That's why I positioned myself like this. It was so they can't read mine or your's expression. We will try to interrogate them. But for now, I want Senior Sister to act naturally like before. Then, after we got off their vision, we will ambush them with our fastest speed." Alex explained.

"Understood" Putri didn't nod. Instead, she said it with her mouth. After all, they might be able to understand her gesture.

Finally, they acted naturally like they were searching for a clue. After they disappeared from the scouts vision, Putri, who had the fastest speed among them, immediately disappeared.

Alex followed suit. But the moment he arrived, He saw Putri grabbing her spear in front of two lifeless corpses. Putri said, "The moment I arrived in front of them. They immediately committed suicide. I'm sorry I can't get any information from them."

Alex sighed. Their only clue to lead to this was disappeared. Alex and Putri were pondering for their next step. After checking the surrounding was safe. They decided to split up to search for a clue. Putri searched the woods while Alex searched the village again.

...

There were only two hours before the sun set. Putri said she would come back in another half hour. Alex was pondering all the clues he had at the moment. He only found two scouts in the woods. Two scouts...

'Wait! What if they were not a scout?' Alex tried to view it from another respective. He immediately went to the previous spot he found the two people. He searched the surrounding with his Spirit Eyes. But the Spiritual Energy was flowing like normal in his surroundings. Did he miss something?

An absurd idea flashed in his mind. It was unrealistic for him to do it since it was unbelievable. It was the thing to do for someone who overcautious. But for Alex, who didn't have any clue, he decided to try it. He plugged his ears using Spiritual Energy. He drew an array with his Spiritual Energy. The symbols appeared one after another in front of his hand.

When the array finished, he flicked his finger. 'Death Song Array'

With the flicker of his finger, the sound was amplified as the ringing will come to everyone's ears. It can disrupt the Spiritual Energy for those who heard it. But since Alex had plugged his ears with Spiritual Energy first, he was fine. He immediately activated his Spirit Eyes. And to his surprise, there was a disruption of energy around him. But there was one spot very noticeable. He immediately understood the reason, 'Concealment Array.'

He immediately checked the spot and found an entrance to the underground. It was either the array was in the underground or the evil cult base was in it. But it should be the former, he felt the Spiritual Energy came from the array. People would be disturbed if they made this place their base.

Alex slowly descended to the ground. He needs to be very careful around here. After he reached the floor. Alex activated his Spirit Eyes and found five mass of energy. It was humans, probably the cult members. Alex also saw a ball of energy, which he felt weird. Alex felt it was coming from humans but not a single person. He decided to focus on the possible threat, which was the five people.

They are currently separated, two in a room on his right and three in the room in front. Alex decided to ambush the two people in his right first. According to the energy he saw from them. These two people were only 10-Star Martial Master. Alex was planning to summon Sherry to take care of one of them while he killed the other. As for the people in his front, there was a 1-Star Martial Grandmaster along with two 9-Star Martial Master.

Sherry should be able to take on a 1-Star Martial Grandmaster with her overbearing flame. So, it should be fine if he didn't summon Anna first. He could summon her if the situation were bad enough. But hopefully, it won't.

"Pentagram Slash" Suddenly, five streams of light flew toward one of the Martial Master. They were wearing a black creepy long robe. Alex sent his attack to one of them. Since they were a 10-Star Martial Master, they were able to react, especially Alex's target. He was able to pull his sword and destroyed Alex's attack. "Bitter Slash"

As expected of 10-Star Martial Master. His sword was glowing, and in an instant, all of his attacks were destroyed. It left a ring in front of the black robe person. The black robe person suddenly made the yellow ring flew toward Alex. The other one also closed his distance and trying to attack him with his spear. "Haha, Do you think you can kill us with an ambush. Don't push your luck! A mere 7-Star Martial Master like you won't be able to. I don't know how you can find this place, but this is the place you are going to die."

Alex glanced at the spear user, "Sherry."

Suddenly Sherry came out in her battle form, in other words, her big form. Alex raised his sword and swung it down. "Seven Stars Cut"