While Jing Yi was already fearing for his fiance's sanity a certain dragon king wasn't that desperate yet. It hadn't even been a day and disregarding that first time of shock he was quite calm about all this. His beloved was just locked in some other dimension. How difficult could it be to get him out? He only had to find out how to open the dimension again.
Since the old geezer he had wanted to ask wasn't in the Yun Zou Sect anymore and his own master didn't know anything about that array, he could only turn to the next best person for this job.
As fast as he could he returned to the Leyuan region where the secret realm had opened. As for the task of notifying the sect master about the things that had happened … That task was long forgotten.
Qiu Ling didn't go back to his human master when he returned and instead landed behind a group of trees, his gaze locking onto his target.
An Bai smiled wryly. "Your Majesty." He had come over to the human realm's Hei Dian Sect with Qiang Wei just to have to journey to another place immediately. He didn't mind complying with his king's orders but … he was a scholar, not a warrior. This kind of task, why couldn't it be left to people like Qiang Wei and Fu Heng?
"You come here." Qiu Ling grabbed An Bai's shoulder and unceremoniously dragged him toward the array without caring for An Bai's uncomfortable expression.
At least he remembered to hide his figure from the disciples although at least Zhangsun Xun Yi could perceive that they had guests.
Qiu Ling didn't care. He pointed at the array before turning to An Bai. "Figure that out."
An Bai's brows slightly shifted. "Your Majesty's meaning is …?"
"Look at it and tell me how to open it. It's something the humans made so I have no idea how it works." He wasn't embarrassed at all to admit that. He didn't know about human arrays. What was the big deal?
An Bai looked at his king's face and sincerely prayed that he would marry the Son of Heaven soon. Only a young gentleman like him could turn this beast into a decent person. Ah, he really missed those conversations he had had with him back then. Unfortunately, he had been banned from getting close to him for the rest of his life.
Qiu Ling furrowed his brow when An Bai didn't move. "What? Don't tell me all those books you read were for nothing. You can't even solve this?"
An Bai told himself not to condescend to his king's level. If he did, he would certainly lose. He didn't have enough practice in being shameless to contend with him. Instead, he turned around and observed the glowing lines on the ground.
The formation didn't seem completely unfamiliar. In fact, the base was more or less the same one that was used in the lowest level arrays of the immortal realms. It was just … What was with the rest of the array?
He furrowed his brow and stepped closer, his gaze following the thin lines. The way they spread out from the base was completely different from the way they were doing the formations in the dragon realm and who knew how they had originally been placed down there anyway?
An Bai lifted his hand and closed his eyes, concentrating on what was below the earth. As a dragon, he was susceptible to water and air and everything that got its power from these two elements. If the humans who set this array up had used anything like that, he should be able to feel it.
He slowly walked around the array to make sure he didn't miss out on anything. When he arrived back at his starting point and opened his eyes again there was a trace of uneasiness in them though. He couldn't feel anything. It actually seemed as if no anchor had been placed at all.
Qiu Ling had already become impatient long ago. When he saw An Bai return he really couldn't take it any longer. "What have you found? How do we open this?" He stared at that subordinate of his with bright eyes. Just a bit more and he'd be able to embrace his beloved again! Mn, he'd give him an especially sweet welcome back-kiss.
An Bai turned to his king and gulped. He wasn't sure what would happen if he said the truth now. Unfortunately, there was no way he could keep quiet. "Ah, Your Majesty, I might need the help of the gods for this."
"Hah?"
An Bai motioned to the array. "This array is somewhat different from the ones we use."
"You don't say." Qiu Ling frowned at him. Argh, he had always hated this guy! Wasn't he just shamelessly exploiting his good-looking face and scholarly aura to have people lower their guard? Even his Jing He had nearly fallen for it!
An Bai forced himself to keep a straight face. "The difference isn't just in the way it was drawn. Such a large formation and even one whose owner most likely isn't around anymore, it needs something to keep it going. Unfortunately, I'm unable to perceive what exactly was used in this case so I reckon that it might be something using another element than ours."
Qiu Ling who had just prepared the next nasty remark shut up at An Bai's last sentence and stared at the ground with a contemplative gaze. Just how dragons were creatures of water and air, the demons were creatures of the earth and fire. Thanks to his cursed, mixed blood he had no problem at all to perceive anything related to these two elements.
Looking at the ground below the array … There was no fire element at all and the earth element was just at a normal level. Well, it was as strong as one would expect when looking at a huge lump of earth. But something used for setting up an array should be richer in spiritual energy so … Those two elements most likely weren't used.
Ah, the hateful guy was right. They really needed the help of the gods for this.