Chapter 341 - 221: Array? - Starting Cultivation in Wasteland - NovelsTime

Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Chapter 341 - 221: Array?

Author: Chen Fengxiao
updatedAt: 2026-01-14

CHAPTER 341: CHAPTER 221: ARRAY?

Faced with Charles’s response, Qu Jianlei simply left a comment.

"I’ve killed A-levels before, more B-levels... Your cultivation level didn’t come easy."

After saying that, he flashed away into the night.

Charles was stunned for a while, nearly thinking he had drunk too much at night.

However, the lingering cold air around reminded him that this wasn’t an illusion.

He couldn’t help but mutter softly, "That damn woman said she was only B-level Wood Attribute... almost got me killed."

Qu Jianlei was satisfied with the night’s communication. He really didn’t plan on killing anyone, feeling the mode of Zheng Weifang in Zone Zhou Character was decent.

And this Charles understood the subtleties and wasn’t the straightforward kind of Ultimate Warrior.

After returning, he recounted the communication process, and everyone was satisfied with the result.

Afterward, they rested for three days before the three set out again.

This time passing through Central City, it was purely just passing by. The three didn’t make any commotion and quietly entered the passage.

However, upon arriving at the gorge, someone at the entrance reminded Youyou, "You’ve already delayed the assessment task! Make it up quickly."

Youyou was momentarily stunned before realizing it was for the assessment of the person she was impersonating.

"Hmm," she hummed nonchalantly, "currently there’s a long-term task at hand."

The person responsible for passing the message, seeing her indifferent, merely said, "Then take care of yourself."

After leaving, Youyou quietly asked Xiao Moshan, "There’s an assessment task in the gorge?"

"Only for C-level," Xiao Moshan knew more about the gorge than she did.

"Don’t take it lightly; too long without response after notification will result in forced contact."

Youyou nonchalantly said, "Just obscure the wristwatch, right?"

Xiao Moshan shook his head, "It’s not that simple. If you can’t be contacted long-term, your identity information will be specially marked."

Youyou remained indifferent, "At worst, just change identity again."

Xiao Moshan chuckled bitterly, "There just aren’t as many people as you think to kill in the gorge."

In any case, it was a small incident. The three used their impersonated identities to find a hotel, stayed overnight, and went shopping the next day.

By night, the three quietly left the gorge, heading straight for the base.

The base was only over a hundred kilometers from the gorge, but there were many checkpoints along the way, guarded by B-level Warriors.

Xiao Moshan and Youyou knew how formidable it was, cautiously making their way while having Qu Jianlei use Illusion Technique and Ice Armor from time to time.

Qu Jianlei was already lacking a sense of security; their actions made him even more cautious.

The three only managed to cover over sixty kilometers by morning, decisively hiding somewhere before dawn.

On the second night, they reached the area filled entirely with tall trees.

Qu Jianlei then realized these trees weren’t just ordinarily tall and straight; their breast diameter wasn’t very thick.

Every tree had a minimum height of seventy or eighty meters, the tallest over a hundred meters, straight as arrows.

Just looking at the contrast between height and diameter, one could tell that the wood quality of these trees would certainly not be poor.

What particularly puzzled him was why these trees could affect his spiritual perception.

So he asked quietly, "These species of trees... is there some explanation?"

This forest wasn’t a single species; there were five major species, but the tree forms were similar.

"Quiet," Youyou gestured for silence, releasing some vines, then spoke softly, "What have you discovered?"

After hearing Qu Jianlei’s feelings, she was slightly stunned too, "Which of the five trees can affect your spiritual perception?"

Qu Jianlei carefully sensed again before answering softly, "All of them... that’s strange, how could it be like this?"

If a certain tree species could influence the mind, he felt it was rare but understandable.

After all, the world is vast and full of wonders.

But to say five different tree species not only have similar forms but can all affect the mind, that was definitely not coincidental.

Even Youyou was quite puzzled about this, but Xiao Moshan pondered for a while before speaking thoughtfully.

"I seem to recall hearing that this entire forest has some kind of method behind it, and it’s not naturally formed."

Qu Jianlei pondered for a while and finally couldn’t help but say two words, "Array formation?"

"Huh?" Xiao Moshan and Youyou simultaneously turned to look at him, their eyes full of surprise, "You actually know this term?"

Qu Jianlei was taken aback, helplessly chuckling, "This... just popped into my head out of nowhere."

Youyou nodded without speaking, but Xiao Moshan gave a thumbs up.

"I knew it, even discussed it with Youyou. You definitely aren’t a native of Hong District."

Qu Jianlei spread his hands, somewhat helplessly responding, "I don’t know either, is there really an array formation here?"

"The possibility exists," Xiao Moshan answered solemnly, "but information about array formations is top secret."

Youyou shook her head, cynically smiling, "I’m not sure about this possibility either, his confidentiality level is higher than mine."

Qu Jianlei had shared life-and-death experiences with these two; their relationship wasn’t just built in a day or two, so he didn’t want to conceal too much.

So he slightly frowned, "If there’s an array, then it’s big trouble, we can’t go too deep."

"That’s a certainty," the other two nodded simultaneously, evidently aware of the situation.

Youyou added, "When I escaped last time, I had to stick to the main road, didn’t dare go deep into the forest at all."

Xiao Moshan frowned, "If we stick to the main road, there are too many surveillance and alarm devices nearby."

Youyou glanced at him, "There are quite a few devices in the forest too, don’t think just because we can’t go in, there aren’t any inside."

Xiao Moshan nodded upon hearing, "I know this, but there are more by the roadside."

Youyou looked at him speechlessly, internally snorted, do you really know?

But only the two of them were clear about their differences and similarities.

As for others... Don’t mention Qu Jianlei, even the people in the gorge didn’t know the difference in their identities.

No matter how they discussed, the three had fully refined their plan before coming.

They initially intended to stick to the main road, even the route had been planned, and they were executing it strictly.

The three were laboriously moving through the woods about two hundred and fifty meters from the main road.

At this time, Youyou’s wood attribute showed significant convenience.

The forest mainly consisted of five major tree species, but there were also some shrubs and other plants, she could manipulate vines and shrubs to cover herself.

Qu Jianlei could do this too, though not as skillfully as her.

But Xiao Moshan was quite pathetic, his wind attribute was also good at concealing, but couldn’t compare to those two.

Thankfully, Youyou and Qu Jianlei always took care of him attentively, avoiding any blunders.

It’s inevitable that their speed slowed down.

In the process, Qu Jianlei occasionally used his spiritual attribute to perceive the surroundings.

Because the trees interfered somewhat with his spirit, he was afraid the opponent might have means to perceive spiritual power, so he probed very cautiously.

However, Youyou and Xiao Moshan supported his idea, both agreed that extra caution wasn’t excessive at this moment.

As a result, their progress through the forest was considerably slow.

Proven by facts, caution was a good habit, Qu Jianlei found over fifty hidden surveillance or alarm devices along the way.

Through ten kilometers of forest, the three spent a full three days, but had little activity during the day, mostly at night.

Actually, after covering ten kilometers, they hadn’t come out of this forest — a river appeared ahead.

The river wasn’t too wide, but there were some mudflats, totaling nearly a hundred meters in width.

The riverbank was densely covered with surveillance, according to Youyou, this river was artificially dug to prevent intruders.

If following the main road, there was a bridge, but how dare the three cross the bridge?

They had several plans for crossing the river, the optimal plan was to wait for a rain.

Since there’s no water attribute warrior, it was only up to Qu Jianlei the attributeless to perceive.

He indicated the air humidity today was high, very likely to rain, so they might as well wait.

By noon, the rain began to fall, not too heavy, but not light either.

When the rainfall became stable, Qu Jianlei raised his hand, performing a finger technique, "Rain~"

Normally, manipulating water elements would easily trigger some devices detecting anomalies, but on rainy days, it’s no concern.

In the same rain, some places it rains heavily, in others lightly, isn’t this perfectly normal?

"No lightning," Qu Jianlei muttered lowly, "But doesn’t seem necessary to damage some electronic devices."

Xiao Moshan looked at him and spoke, "You plan to... cross the river during the day?"

"During the day," Qu Jianlei nodded, "When the rain gets heavy, it can also obscure the cameras..."

"As for those sensor alarms, we just need to be a bit careful."

They had discussed the ways to cross the river before, the current situation... still solely depended on Qu Jianlei.

Youyou could condense vines to carry everyone across the river, but the fluctuations of wood attribute could trigger alarms.

Qu Jianlei directly condensed a large patch of ice, the three stepped onto the ice, sliding towards the mudflats.

The ice attribute and water attribute aren’t exactly the same, but at this moment, they couldn’t worry about such differences, hoping the adversary wouldn’t focus on it.

After the ice was formed, Qu Jianlei devoted all his attention to managing the rain.

In this area, the rain poured more heavily, as if someone was dumping water from a basin above.

The ice block quickly slid into the river water, Xiao Moshan placed his hand on the river surface, releasing gusts of wind roll.

At times like this, Youyou could only watch big-eyed, rain with wind makes sense, wood attribute fluctuations would be odd.

Xiao Moshan’s wind roll output effect was excellent, after four or five minutes, the ice block reached the other side of the mudflats.

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