bookbashuk Chapter 446 4 Spirit Shadows
Chapter 446 4 Spirit Shadows
Chapter 446 The Illusory Images of the Four Spirits
Luo Ming took a deep breath, feeling the vibrant life force within, and secretly praised it. This place is rich in spiritual energy and has a unique terrain. If he could fully control it, it would be an excellent choice to develop a medicinal herb garden or use it as a secret cave.
Unfortunately, most of the secret realm has now been divided and occupied by the Star Palace and the Reverse Star Alliance, forming their respective spheres of influence. Although the Bright Moon Pavilion was able to occupy a place here and receive a piece of land because of him, the number of its disciples is limited, and its development progress is far behind the other two.
However, since the teleportation array connecting Blood Crane Island was established, Jiang Rufeng and others have begun to trade by taking advantage of the resource differences between the two sides, and have also gained a lot of benefits from the resources of this secret realm, which can be regarded as opening up a new path.
Upon entering the secret realm, everyone simultaneously reduced their speed and suppressed the magical power and spiritual pressure emanating from their bodies. This was because the space here had become unstable over the long years, making it difficult to withstand the full-force battles or large-scale clashes of supernatural abilities between cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage or above. The slightest carelessness could tear the space apart, causing unpredictable spatial rifts or turbulence, making it extremely dangerous.
Luo Ming followed the group at a leisurely pace, while subtly scanning the scenery along the way with his divine sense.
After years of development, a large number of the ancient spiritual herbs inside have been harvested, and the rest have been transplanted to areas controlled by their respective forces for safekeeping. Now, it is extremely difficult to find spiritual herbs that are over a thousand years old inside.
Ten days later.
The group traversed the sky above the blood-red lake, which had once been teeming with bloodthirsty mosquitoes but had now been completely eradicated, leaving only a faint smell of blood, and finally arrived at the central area of the isolated island in the middle of the lake.
A large, circular altar, simple in design and built of gray-white boulders, stands silently. But now, the altar is dilapidated, its surface covered with cracks and charred marks left by battle.
The most striking feature is the huge black hole in the very center of the altar, about ten feet in diameter, with jagged edges and an unfathomable depth. It is like the gaping maw of the earth, emanating a chilling aura and a strange array fluctuation.
Luo Ming stood at the edge of the black hole, attempting to probe downwards with a wisp of his divine sense. His divine sense had barely penetrated a hundred feet into the hole when it seemed to strike an invisible yet resilient barrier, rebounding back with a gentle yet resolute force, unable to penetrate any further.
"Fellow Daoist Luo, there's no need to waste your energy investigating," explained the cultivator surnamed Yan beside him.
"The core area below is shrouded by an ancient Four Symbols Spirit Gathering Array. This array is profound, possessing protective, concealment, and spirit-gathering abilities, and is also connected to our earth's veins. It is difficult to penetrate with divine sense alone. Only if the four of us simultaneously attack the four corresponding "array eyes" nodes of the array from specific directions can we possibly shake or even temporarily break through this array and enter the core area it protects."
Luo Ming withdrew his divine sense, his expression calm, and nodded: "I see. I've also heard of this 'Four Symbols Gathering Spirit Array,' which is said to be a simplified variant of the ancient Sea King Sect's mountain-protecting array. I didn't expect to see it here."
Without further delay, the group set off according to their pre-arranged plan. Ling Yuling and Fairy Miaoyu were the first to take action.
Ling Yuling looked solemn as she took out a set of eight silver-white array flags with intricate star patterns from her storage bag.
Fairy Miaoyu then took out another set of eight banners, which were jet black and had cloud and mist patterns on their surfaces.
The two exchanged a glance, then tacitly took up positions on different sides of the altar's perimeter. With swift, graceful movements, they accurately struck the array flags into their designated spots.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The array flags disappeared into the ground in an instant. Immediately afterward, Ling Yuling and Fairy Miaoyu simultaneously made hand seals and chanted incantations.
"Buzz—!"
A deep, resonant hum of array activation emanated from beneath the ground surrounding the altar. Immediately following, an invisible, heavy, and solid force field rippled outwards like water, quickly enveloping the entire altar area and encompassing the black hole entrance.
Upon entering the force field, Luo Ming and the others immediately felt a significant pressure, as if the surrounding air had become thicker and heavier, and even the flow of their magical energy felt slightly sluggish.
At the same time, everyone could clearly sense that the stability of this space shrouded by the array seemed to have increased significantly compared to before, and the spatial structure had become more "solid".
"Hahaha! Great! With the blessing of this 'Dual Elements Reinforcement Array,' the stability of this space has greatly increased!"
Blood Fiend sensed the changes around him and let out a loud, boisterous laugh, his voice filled with satisfaction.
"Although we can't unleash our full power as freely as we can outside, at least we don't have to be so restrained and stifled like before! With this formation's assistance, breaking through the Four Symbols Gathering Spirit Formation will be much easier and faster!"
The Ninth Elder and the cultivator surnamed Yan nodded in agreement. This "Two Elements Replenishing Formation" was specially crafted for this operation by the three forces at great expense of resources. Its purpose was to reinforce the weak points of the secret realm space to a certain extent, allowing these Nascent Soul cultivators to use more power and reduce their concerns when breaking the core restrictions.
Luo Ming stood aside, feeling the spatial reinforcement effect brought by the "Two Elements Reinforcement Array", and a look of understanding and contemplation flashed in his eyes.
"I see—using gravity, suppression, or similar formations or supernatural powers to forcibly stabilize the local spatial structure, making it able to withstand stronger energy impacts—"
He suddenly realized that when he first came into contact with the "True Blood of Xuanwu," the terrifying pressure emanating from that drop of true blood did not cause a large-scale spatial collapse.
"It seems that the reason that drop of Xuanwu true blood was able to remain intact without causing a spatial rift is probably related to the inherent properties of its naturally emitted Xuan Yuan Heavy Water, which invisibly reinforced the surrounding space."
A thought arose in his mind: "If I were to use seventy-two Profound Origin Pearls to set up a Profound Origin Heavy Water Grand Array, with its stronger gravity and suppressive field, could I—perhaps—create a safe area within this secret realm where I could briefly exert my full power?"
The idea stirred something within him. If it were feasible, it would provide him with another useful trump card, whether for exploring this place or for any potential future conflicts.
"Everyone, the formation is complete. Let's not delay any longer, let's go down." The Ninth Elder's voice interrupted Luo Ming's thoughts.
Without further hesitation, the group exchanged glances. Luo Ming, the Ninth Elder, Xue Sha, and the cultivator surnamed Yan, the four Nascent Soul cultivators, each chose a direction, and with a swift movement, transformed into four streaks of light. Without hesitation, they leaped into the dark cave entrance and plummeted towards the core area protected by the "Four Symbols Gathering Spirit Array."
Ling Yuling and Fairy Miaoyu remained on the altar, doing their best to maintain the operation of the "Two Elements Reincarnation Array" to provide stable spatial support for the four people below, while also being prepared to deal with any other possible changes.
In just a few breaths, the four of them passed through the not-too-deep vertical passage and landed on a relatively open underground rock platform.
Ahead, an enormous, radiant hemispherical light shield, like an inverted giant bowl, completely enveloped the deeper underground space behind. The surface of the light shield was a hazy gray color, flowing and emanating a perfectly round energy fluctuation, which was the main body of the "Four Symbols Gathering Spirit Array" mentioned by the cultivator surnamed Yan.
The cultivator surnamed Yan stood still, his gaze sweeping over the light barrier. Without saying a word, he pointed his right hand forward with fingers like a sword, and a condensed, solid stream of black light shot out from his fingertip, silently striking the surface of the light barrier.
"Thump!"
A deep, resounding boom, like the beating of a drum, echoed through the underground space.
The seemingly calm light shield did not shake when it was struck, but the hazy gray luster on its surface suddenly changed, and it instantly emitted four colors of spiritual light: blue, white, red and yellow, which complemented each other!
Even more astonishingly, within the four-colored spiritual light, four enormous and majestic phantoms vaguely emerged, slowly drifting and floating on the surface of the light barrier.
These are the four auspicious creatures: the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise.
Although the four phantom images were blurry, they exuded a strong primal aura and pure corresponding attribute spiritual power, which made people's hearts tremble.
"This is the manifestation of the Four Symbols Gathering Spirit Array." The cultivator surnamed Yan withdrew his finger, turned to look at Luo Ming, the Ninth Elder, and Xue Sha, and said in a low voice.
"The method to break the formation is detailed in the jade slip. The four of us must each select a phantom of a spirit beast and use the corresponding attribute magic power or supernatural ability to continuously attack and wear down its essence until the four phantoms of the spirit beasts collapse at the same time."
At that time, the formation's defenses will be at their weakest. We will then combine our strength to strike its core, the key to breaking through the barrier. Remember, all four spirits must be defeated simultaneously. If they are not defeated in sequence, the formation will automatically draw upon the earth's spiritual energy to repair itself, rendering all our efforts futile.
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the three men: "Gentlemen, please choose your targets. Attribute counters may make things much easier."
.
Luo Ming's gaze swept over the four illusory spirits, and a thought flashed through his mind. The four illusory spirits had slightly different strengths, with the northern Black Tortoise illusory spirit being the most solid and heavy, obviously the strongest in defense, and also the most troublesome.
As he was pondering, the Ninth Elder spoke first: "The Star Essence Technique I cultivate has a balanced and moderate magical power, slightly biased towards metal. I will choose this Western White Tiger phantom." With that, he moved to the position of the light barrier corresponding to the White Tiger phantom.
Xue Sha snorted coldly, his blood aura flickering around him: "My blood aura and this Vermilion Bird fire are somewhat mutually restraining. I'll take it." He strode towards the Vermilion Bird phantom in the south.
Upon seeing this, the cultivator surnamed Yan's eyes flickered, and he said to Luo Ming, "Fellow Daoist Luo, that Azure Dragon belongs to the Wood element, which is exactly the opposite of the Yin attribute cultivation method I practice. This Northern Black Tortoise belongs to the Water and Earth elements, and is heavy and stable. Judging from the treasures you used earlier, they seem to have a strong connection with the Water and Earth elements. I wonder if you are right—"
Luo Ming understood. The three of them seemed to have made a random choice, but in reality, they had tacitly left the most difficult Xuanwu phantom to him. He didn't point it out, but simply nodded calmly: "Okay." After saying that, he stepped towards the light barrier corresponding to the northern Xuanwu phantom.
Seeing Luo Ming agree, a hint of relief flashed across the eyes of the cultivator surnamed Yan, and he then walked toward the location of the Eastern Azure Dragon phantom.
The four men took their positions, said no more, and attacked almost simultaneously.
Facing the enormous, coiled, mountain-like Xuanwu phantom, Luo Ming did not rush to use his full strength. With a slight thought, two crystal-clear, azure-blue "Mystic Yuan Pearls," with faint ripples of heavy water, flew out from his sleeve and hovered in front of him. He made a hand seal and pointed at the Mystic Yuan Pearls.
"Splash—"
The surface of the Xuan Yuan Pearl shone with a bright blue light, instantly extending and transforming into a blue, crystalline chain condensed from pure water elemental energy. On the chain, fine runes flickered, emanating a heavy sense of restraint.