Chapter 6: Combat Intelligence

"Then what do you intend to do? Should Grandpa lower the difficulty of this Thousand-Mechanism Formation for you?"

Bai He suppressed his inner agitation and deliberately kept a straight face, wanting to see her reaction.

"No."

Bai Chenxiang shook her head. Her feet, which were glued to the ground, felt as if they had taken root. She simply sat down right where she was, tilting her head to look up at her towering grandfather. A cunning curve tugged at the corner of her lips, making her look like a little fox plotting some mischief.

"Not only should it not be lowered, it should be strengthened."

"Strengthened?"

"Yes." Bai Chenxiang extended her only free hand and pointed vaguely toward the corners hidden with murderous intent. "Right now, I am merely dodging, responding passively. But true speed should not be just a tool for running away."

"Grandpa, starting from tomorrow, I will not only break through this Thousand-Mechanism Formation, but I will also dismantle it while I am at it."

"Dismantle it?"

Bai He was truly stunned this time; for a moment, he could not comprehend the meaning of the word.

"For example, that tripwire hidden under the fallen leaves," Bai Chenxiang’s eyes grew brighter and brighter, like a child who had found a peerless toy, as she gestured excitedly, "The moment I avoid it, I can flick it up with my toe and, using the momentum, tangle it around those bamboo spears nearby that are primed for action. In one go, I can disable two traps."

"Or consider those poisoned blowdarts. Could I, at the very instant they are fired, use extreme speed to whip up a tiny vortex of wind, causing the trajectory of the darts to deviate, or even make them strike other mechanisms?"

Bai He stood frozen in place, a thunderclap seemingly echoing and buzzing in his mind. He had envisioned various ways his granddaughter might overcome the Thousand-Mechanism Formation—perhaps her speed would become faster, her reactions sharper, or her perception more powerful. But he had never imagined she would propose such a path, one that was nearly insane yet shimmered with the brilliance of genius.

This was no longer simple evasion! This was reverse utilization! It was dancing in the steps of death, borrowing the Grim Reaper’s scythe to sever other fatal chains! This had transcended the basic categories of "physical speed" and "mental acuity"—this was strategy! It was a combat wisdom unique to Bai Chenxiang, derived from the foundation of extreme speed!

"What kind of monsters and demons are hidden in that little head of yours?"

After a long while, Bai He squeezed these words out of his dry throat. His tone was filled with a helpless, bitter smile and a surge of ecstasy he had not even noticed himself. He leaned down and, with his calloused hands, ruffled his granddaughter's hair—somewhat roughly, yet with incomparable gentleness—and laughed as he chided:

"Fine! If you want to take it apart, Grandpa will keep you company and let you take it apart to your heart's content!"

"I want to see how you, a little swallow whose feathers haven't even fully grown, will punch a hole through this iron-clad formation!"

As he spoke, he scooped up his granddaughter and set to work dealing with the troublesome tree sap beneath her feet.

***

Bai Chenxiang rested on her grandfather’s broad, warm back, her gaze once again fixed on the forest of jagged rocks where she had tasted her first defeat. Her eyes no longer held the look of a challenger, but rather that of a chess player assessing a brilliant game that had only just begun.

The next morning, when Bai Chenxiang stepped into the back mountain again, her keen perception immediately told her that the rock forest had changed. If the Thousand-Mechanism Formation had been a beast filled with fangs yesterday, today it was a vicious creature with poison dripping from those fangs, its intelligence greatly enhanced.

Bai He had clearly been deeply provoked by his granddaughter's bold words. Having barely slept, he had rounded up several grim-faced clan stewards and spent the night renovating and reinforcing the entire formation. He had not only repaired every trap Bai Chenxiang had broken but had added many interconnected devices. Now, triggering a single vine might not just launch a row of bamboo spears, but could also unleash a cloud of toxic powder covering a ten-meter radius, or trigger a dual-layered net that descended from the sky and sprang up from the ground.

"Clan Chief, are you really training the Young Miss as if she were an opponent of equal standing?" one steward asked, wiping sweat from his forehead with lingering fear as he looked at his handiwork.

Bai He stood on high with his hands behind his back, his chin tilted slightly, wearing a mix of pride and anticipation as he hummed:

"Didn't that girl want to take it apart? I want to see if she takes it apart faster than these old bones of mine can patch it up!"

"Go, go, all of you, retreat a hundred meters away and watch carefully! If you miss the show today, you'll regret it for half your life!"

The elders and stewards dared not disobey. They retreated to the safe zone with bitter smiles, their gazes collectively fixed on the slender figure standing alone before the formation.

This time, Bai Chenxiang did not close her eyes to concentrate for long. Faced with such complex chain traps, relying solely on the passive perception of "Wind Whispers" was not enough; it would overwhelm her brain with countless mixed streams of information. She needed to be in motion. In the process of moving, she would use her body to test, use her speed to verify, and let the entire Thousand-Mechanism Formation come alive before her.

She moved. Her silhouette was like an arrow released from a bow, yet it carried the fluid flexibility of flowing water as she instantly plunged into the forest.

"She's coming!" a watching elder exclaimed.

They saw Bai Chenxiang lightly tap her toe on a protruding rock, her body floating up like a feather, just in time to dodge three floor-spikes that had sprung up simultaneously. While still in mid-air, she flicked her wrist, and a pebble she had been holding—no one knew when she had picked it up—flew with a piercing sound, precisely striking the trunk of a large tree diagonally ahead.

*Thwack!*

The pebble did not strike a mechanism; it hit an unremarkable leaf. Driven by the stone, the leaf fluttered and flipped, landing perfectly on a trigger point hidden by loose soil.

*Boom!*

With a dull thud, a foul-smelling yellow toxic powder erupted from underground, completely covering that area. As for Bai Chenxiang, she had already used that momentary suspension in mid-air to land in a safe zone several meters away.

And that was not all!

She did not stop. Her figure flickered, sliding at high speed across the ground toward a narrow rock crevice. On both sides of the crevice, poisoned blowdarts had long been lying in wait.

*Swish! Swish! Swish!*

Sharp whistling sounds filled the air as dozens of blowdarts shot out from the holes on both sides, forming an airtight web of death that completely sealed the crevice. The hearts of the onlookers rose to their throats, and Bai He’s fists clenched involuntarily.

However, the instant before the darts reached her, Bai Chenxiang’s body spun violently during her high-speed slide, like a rapidly whirling top. Her petite body instantly generated a powerful vortex of air!

The vortex was small, but it precisely covered a one-foot radius around her. The incoming blowdarts plunged into this vortex, their speed suddenly stunted, and their flight trajectories deviated visibly to the naked eye. They clattered harmlessly against the surrounding rock walls, not a single one hitting its mark!

"Using her own speed to induce airflow and form the prototype of a 'Wind Shield'?!"

Bai He gasped, his eyes wide as copper bells and his beard trembling. This was a technique that a Spirit King-level agile-attack type Spirit Master could only hope to master after gaining a deep understanding of the wind element! Xiangxiang was only six years old and hadn't even obtained her first spirit ring! This could no longer be explained by talent alone—this was a monster!

In the arena, Bai Chenxiang showed no pride at this astonishing performance. Her expression remained focused, her brain whirring at high speed.

The next trap: a linked mechanism. To her left, a tripwire; to her right, sharpened wooden stakes; ahead, a deep pit. She chose not to leap, as that would make her a sitting duck in the air. She chose to charge.

The moment before she stepped on the tripwire, her right foot kicked out at an incredibly tricky angle. She did not kick the tripwire; she kicked a loose stone on the ground. The stone, driven by a clever flick of force, flew diagonally and struck the base of a row of wooden stakes on her right. The massive impact caused those already loosely fixed stakes to sway, and one of them toppled over, pinning the fatal tripwire down.

Killing two birds with one stone!

Bai Chenxiang’s figure passed calmly between the pinned tripwire and the tottering wooden stakes, tapped her toe on the edge of the pit, and floated away once more.

On the high platform, there was dead silence.