I Pick Up Talents on the Interstellar Battlefield Chapter 660 - 92: Ambush, Talent Acquired

Across the desolate ice field, the wind and snow howled, carrying shards of ice that carved a mournful melody.

Like four ink strokes against the horizon, Shengongsi Yuzuo and his companions descended, landing with practiced grace beside a snow-draped mound of corpses.

Shengongsi Yuzuo approached the immense, frozen carcass of the serpent first. Its scales were coated in a layer of white frost, only the black blood pooling at its severed neck retained a slight viscosity, refusing to freeze entirely.

He crouched, his fingertips tracing the cleanly severed neck—a cut so smooth and precise, it lacked any ragged edges, as if inflicted by the sharpest blade imaginable.

His gaze lifted to the serpent’s head, where the stark terror in its wide eyes remained vividly preserved.

"A direct strike to the main brain, killed in a single blow," Shengongsi Yuzuo murmured, his eyes narrowing. He recognized that the assailant was not only immensely powerful but also intimately familiar with the eight-branched serpent's bloodline vulnerabilities.

Beitiao Hezi, the woman in purple, and the burly man fanned out, beginning their examination of the remaining five corpses.

"The killing wounds are all sword marks, executed with clean efficiency. This must be the work of that man in black from the mirror image," Beitiao Hezi stated, rising to his feet. He brushed frost from his fingertips, his voice heavy with implication. "He single-handedly took down Hao Er and five golden bloodline warriors… such might…"

"Find him," Shengongsi Yuzuo commanded, standing abruptly, a chilling aura of killing intent radiating from him.

Beitiao Hezi nodded swiftly and retrieved an ancient bronze mirror.

"Mirror Demon, use the lingering aura at this site to trace the man in black!"

More essence blood dripped onto the mirror’s surface. A brilliant white-silver light erupted, and the spectral figure of the Mirror Demon materialized, its eyes swirling rapidly like miniature vortexes.

The faint traces of aura left at the scene, nearly erased by the wind and snow, were drawn into the bronze mirror by unseen threads.

The mirror's surface began to tremble intensely, rippling like a tranquil lake disturbed by a stone, and an image slowly started to coalesce.

The scene depicted a familiar ice field, with four figures standing near the pile of corpses—it was Shengongsi Yuzuo and his own group!

The serpent's corpse at their feet and the scattered remains around them were identical to the present tableau.

"He never left!" Shengongsi Yuzuo’s pupils constricted violently. Years of combat instinct instantly put his body on high alert, "Be cautious!"

"Buzz—!"

The very instant he uttered the warning, the ice layer beneath their boots suddenly illuminated, crisscrossed by intricate cyan-gold lines that spread like living tendrils, rapidly forming a colossal Eight Trigrams Array.

An unseen force of suppression radiated from the array’s center. Shengongsi Yuzuo and his companions felt an immense heaviness settle upon their bodies, their Spiritual Energy flow becoming sluggish, as if burdened by lead.

Concurrently, a series of thunderous booms echoed, and towering walls of ice, tens of meters high, ascended, interlocking like the walls of a vast ice maze.

Embedded within the thickest ice wall, at its very center, was an ice monument etched with complex runes, emanating a terrifying aura of suppression.

"Our Spiritual Energy… it feels frozen!" The woman in purple appeared somewhat pale, the flow of her Energy through her meridians becoming languid, her strength diminished by at least thirty percent.

The others experienced the same sensation, their faces etched with deep concern.

"It’s the Wuhou Eight Trigrams Array! Retreat!" Shengongsi Yuzuo recognized the formation instantly—a famed technique of the Zhuge Family, known to grow more potent the longer it was active.

While he, a seventh-tier being with Seven Star Holy Blood, could withstand the array’s confinement, his three companions would not last long.

Beitiao Hezi, the woman in purple, and the burly man immediately channeled their energy, attempting to break free from the array’s confines.

However, the Wuhou Eight Trigrams Array had earned its renown under the Zhuge Family precisely because it was not easily broken.

"Boom!"

The array suddenly unleashed a blinding cyan-gold light; the lines ignited as if with fire, and a pressure akin to a collapsing mountain descended upon them.

Shengongsi Yuzuo remained steady, but Beitiao Hezi and the others stumbled as if struck by immense hammers, their attempted ascent abruptly halted.

Following this, countless bolts of lightning, as thick as water barrels, surged from the array’s core. Crackling purple lightning erupted, engulfing the four figures.

"Do not panic!" Shengongsi Yuzuo’s voice rang out coldly as his Spiritual Energy burst forth, forming a massive shield around his three companions.

"Bang bang bang—!"

The ferocious lightning relentlessly battered the Spirit Shield, causing intense ripples to dance across its surface, yet it steadfastly refused to shatter.

Beitiao Hezi and his companions pressed against the shield's interior, their bodies slick with cold perspiration as they observed the tempestuous lightning raging beyond.

"A trap was laid for us... Thank the heavens for Lord Yuzuo!" the woman adorned in purple exclaimed, her voice still laced with apprehension. Had it not been for Shengongsi Yuzuo's swift maneuver, they would have undoubtedly sustained grievous injuries from the bolts of lightning that descended like pillars.

Shengongsi Yuzuo's fists were clenched tight, his frigid gaze fixed upon the quartet of figures slowly materializing outside the defensive formation.

Positioned atop the icy rampart, Qin Tian, Zhuge Yu, Taishi Feng, and Huo Yuansheng stood with their hands clasped behind their backs, observing those ensnared within the array from above, a subtle smirk gracing their lips.

"The Frost Realm Tablet and the Wuhou Eight Trigrams Array truly form an impeccable combination~"

Qin Tian could not help but express his admiration for the formidable suppression emanating from within the formation.

Without the Wuhou Eight Trigrams Array, the Frost Realm Tablet's potent freezing force could only indiscriminately blanket a restricted zone; once beyond its confines, the Tablet's influence would dissipate entirely.

However, the Wuhou Eight Trigrams Array meticulously contained the Frost Realm Tablet's power within a more confined perimeter, thereby amplifying the freezing suppression and rendering the Tablet exceedingly difficult to detect by external parties hidden behind the ice walls.

"You spineless cowards, who dared grant you the audacity to lay an ambush for me?" Shengongsi Yuzuo's voice sliced through the wind and snow like a sharpened icicle; he stamped his foot, causing the icy layer beneath him to fracture as his Spiritual Energy erupted with ferocious intensity.