Great Emperor Mingwu heard Zuoqiu Gongye’s words but remained expressionless. He merely sat down quietly like a peaceful Buddha. His attack earlier had already consumed too much Celestial Chi and he finally understood Zuoqiu Gongye’s plan. Zuoqiu Gongye wanted to provoke them into acting and after they had consumed their Celestial Chi to a certain extent, he would come after them. Only by preserving their strength would they not be powerless to fight back when the battle occurred.
However, the Celestial Chi in Great Emperor Mingwu’s body continued to flow away. He could only delay this process but could not reverse it.
The Eclipsing Firebird had transformed back into the form of an old man. Hearing Zuoqiu Gongye calling him a birdbrain, his beard shook in anger. He was about to attack again.
“Great Ancestor, calm down. Zuoqiu Gongye is trying to provoke us into acting and consuming our Celestial Chi faster. We can only wait for now.” Nie Qingyun hurriedly persuaded.
“I understand.” The old man transformed from the Eclipsing Firebird snorted and closed his eyes.
When Zuoqiu Gongye saw that his provocation did not work, he scoffed coldly and began to follow Tuoba Yan’s example. He felt the chi movement in the array and slightly clenched his fist. In the middle of the array, a huge stone with the weight of a thousand kilogram shifted.
“I see, so Tuoba Yan used this method to move such a large rock!” Zuoqiu Gongye burst out in laughter. ‘Old Mingwu, let’s see how I deal with you later. Do you think that sitting there doing nothing will save your strength?’
After a few hours, Zuoqiu Gongye finally mastered some essentials of controlling the Binding Array.
Great Emperor Mingwu was sitting with his eye closed when he suddenly felt that something was wrong. He quickly opened his eyes and saw a huge stone flying toward him not far away.
“Oh no!” Great Emperor Mingwu was shocked and immediately jumped away. He gathered the Celestial Chi in his body and hit the thousand-kilogram boulder with one palm.
With a loud “boom”, Great Emperor Mingwu was pushed back. A crack spread on the boulder and it paused in the air for a moment before falling to the ground with a rumble.
A trace of blood overflowed from the corner of Great Emperor Mingwu’s mouth. If a peak Heavenly Venerable One faced such a situation, the boulder would be crushed with just one punch. However, Great Emperor Mingwu had already consumed a large amount of Celestial Chi, which was why this happened.
Moreover, the boulders inside this array seemed to have become extremely tough after being enforced with Celestial Chi.
Zuoqiu Gongye did not expect that Mingwu would end up so miserable. He was overjoyed. “It turns out that you’re only acting tough now. Watch how I deal with you!”
Zuoqiu Gongye’s right fist clenched and another boulder flew up again, crashing toward Great Emperor Mingwu and the others.
“Die, Mingwu!” Zuoqiu Gongye laughed maniacally.
When the boulder flew over, Nie Qingyun’s fat body suddenly jumped and his right palm chopped down at the boulder. With a “bang”, Nie Qingyun slapped the boulder into a two-meter deep pit.
“Many thanks,” Great Emperor Mingwu said. He secretly took out a Purple-gold Divine Pill and swallowed it down. Although his Celestial Chi had been completely consumed, he still had a trick up his sleeve. He had not eaten any medicinal pills yet. For a pill like the Purple-gold Divine Pill, only one was needed for him to recover seventy to eighty percent of his Celestial Chi. It seemed that Zuoqiu Gongye would be making his move soon.
“Conceal your strength,” Great Emperor Mingwu whispered to Nie Qingyun and the others.
Nie Qingyun and the old man transformed from the Eclipsing Firebird immediately understood the meaning of Great Emperor Mingwu’s words. If they hid their strength and appeared weak and vulnerable, they might be able to lure Zuoqiu Gongye out!
Seeing Nie Qingyun slapping the huge boulder into the ground, Zuoqiu Gongye snorted coldly. “Let’s see how long you can hold on!”
Zuoqiu Gongye focused and started to move the chi inside the array. Six large boulders flew up and suspended in the air.
“Die!” With a huge roar from Zuoqiu Gongye, the six boulders shot toward Great Emperor Mingwu and the others.
Boom boom boom!
Great Emperor Mingwu, Nie Qingyun, and the old man transformed from the Eclipsing Firebird quickly took out their respective weapons and chopped the boulders. The Golden Sun Condor cawed and waved its claws, catching the boulders.
Shockwaves spread everywhere and Celestial Chi surged as the fierce battle began in the array.
Outside the array was a group of Earthly Venerable Ones. They could only stand outside and worry. They knew that there was a fierce fight occurring inside the array. Some continued to attack the array from the outside but they still were not able to break it.
Great Emperor Mingwu and the others originally wanted to hide their strength but they gradually discovered that the array was too powerful. If they did not use more than eighty percent of their strength, they would not be able to protect themselves.
Zuoqiu Gongye smirked at seeing Great Emperor Mingwu and the others’ miserable situation. He could tell that they were not as vulnerable as he imagined. It seemed that it would take another day or two before they completely ran out of energy!
‘Just watch how I deal with you in two days!’ Zuoqiu Gongye thought coldly. Seeing Great Emperor Mingwu, Nie Qingyun, and the others trapped in the array and unable to move, Zuoqiu Gongye felt like he was a cat toying with mice.
“Mingwu, it seems like we can’t break through this array.,” Nie Qingyun said gloomily. He had consumed a lot of Celestial Chi after such a fierce battle.
Great Emperor Mingwu was also silent. They were powerless against this array. In another two days, their Celestial Chi would be completely spent. They would have no strength to fight against Zuoqiu Gongye. Were they going to die here? The Xiwu Empire was still in the midst of a storm. At this thought, Great Emperor Mingwu felt deeply helpless.
The Golden Sun Condor suddenly cried shrilly. Its voice rang out as it soared to the sky.
“What happened?” Zuoqiu Gongye was startled.
“His Highness is back. It’s His Highness!” Nie Qingyun said in pleasant surprise but felt slightly guilty. They were four Heavenly Venerable masters but they were trapped by just one Heavenly Venerable One. Would His Highness blame them for being incompetent?
Seeing the Golden Sun Condor’s weird behavior as well as hearing Nie Qingyun’s words, Zuoqiu Gongye frowned deeply. “His Highness? Who’s ‘His Highness?” Could it be that there was another combatant from the Xiwu Empire?
Zuoqiu Gongye leaped to the air and looked around. In the distance, a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy was flying toward them. The boy’s movements were swift and agile, and was approaching at an astonishing speed. To be able to travel through the air at that young age, it was a Heavenly Venerable Rank master!
Zuoqiu Gongye was slightly uneasy. However, this array would still be able to withstand it!
Ye Chen landed outside the array and looked at the Earthly Venerable masters gathered outside the array.
“What’s going on?” Ye Chen asked. He looked inside the array and discovered Great Emperor, Nie Qingyun, and the others inside. They looked around blankly and did not seem to be able to see him. Ye Chen immediately understood that they were trapped inside the array.
“We don’t know who made this array but it’s controlled by the Nanman Kingdom combatant, Zuoqiu Gongye. His Majesty, Sect Leader Nie and the others have been trapped inside for several days and have not been able to break out. This array is rather odd. No matter what we do outside, nothing can enter it, and the people inside the array cannot leave either. The array seems to have the effect of absorbing Celestial Chi. His Majesty and the others’ strength has been getting weaker as the days pass,” An Earthly Venerable master reported respectfully. When they saw Ye Chen fly over in the air, they already knew that he was an Earthly Venerable One. How would they dare to be disrespectful?
Array?
Ye Chen remembered the ancient array diagrams he took from Tuoba Yan’s hands. This array should be one of them.
Ye Chen took out the diagrams and had a look, and soon, found one of the drawings.
This array diagram was quite mysterious. If one could completely arrange the array, it would not be a problem to trap even someone the level of Tantai Ling. However, there were many materials needed and the person arranging the array also needed to have enough strength. Tuoba Yan only understood part of the array and since the supplementary conditions were limited, this particular array was made very roughly. It could only trap combatants around Mystique Venerable Rank. If a stronger combatant entered, they would be able to break it by force.
As for Heavenly and Mystique Venerable Rank masters, they had to go into the array and find the eye of the array before they could break it.
After memorizing the array diagram, Ye Chen thought for a moment.
Before, Ye Chen had encountered the ancient Chi-amassing Formation and gained some knowledge in regards to arrays, so he absorbed the new knowledge relatively quickly.
The eye of this array was hidden deeply. One had to break the concealment of the array. There were items at several locations that had to be destroyed first.
“Qian Kun Kan Li[1]…” Ye Chen looked around and muttered to himself. He determined the directions and turned to speak to the Earthly Venerable masters. “You stay here. If Zuoqiu Gongye runs out, stop him at all costs!”
“Yes!” the Earthly Venerable Rank combatants said respectfully. They did not know why but they felt that the aura on Ye Chen’s body seemed a little different from before. His strength had become more profound. For him to reach Heavenly Venerable Rank at such a young age, it was not surprising that Great Emperor Mingwu was so courteous to this young man.
Ye Chen walked to a position and took a few steps forward, and entered the array.
Seeing Ye Chen’s figure disappear, the Earthly Venerable Rank combatants were shocked.
“He entered the array?”
“This array is too mysterious. Once he enters, I’m afraid he won’t be able to get out!”
“That’s not necessarily true. That young man has great strength. We’ve been attacking from outside for so long but still could not enter the array but he managed to do so just by taking a few casual steps. He might know something about this array.”
In their hearts, Ye Chen’s background was becoming more mysterious.
In the eye of the array, Zuoqiu Gongye had been slightly afraid of Ye Chen. However, upon seeing Ye Chen walking into the array, he could not help but laugh wildly. “You refuse to take the stairway to Heaven and instead decide to charge in through the gates of Hell. Now that you’ve entered the array, don’t even think of going out again!”
The scenery in front of Ye Chen changed. He was already standing inside the array.
Nie Qingyun and the old man transformed from the Eclipsing Firebird hurried over to greet him, but Ye Chen motioned with his hand to stop them. He looked at Great Emperor Mingwu with a faint smile.
“Why did you enter, Ye Chen? This array is extremely dangerous…” Great Emperor Mingwu said urgently. If Ye Chen stayed outside, they might be able to work together from both sides. He had never thought that Ye Chen would so recklessly barge in.
“I’ve never thought that there would be another who would walk up to death’s door himself. Mingwu, you have another companion.” Zuoqiu Gongye burst out laughing. His voice echoed around, making it impossible to trace his position.
Nie Qingyun and the old man transformed from the Eclipsing Firebird looked at Ye Chen. Of course, they had absolute confidence in Ye Chen. How would an array be able to trap a Daemon King? Nie Qingyun thought maliciously, ‘His Highness the Daemon King hasn’t transformed to his primal form yet. If he does, it’ll scare you to death!’
[1] Qian, Kun, Kan, and Li are parts of the Eight Trigrams used in Taoist cosmology. These four points represent the North, South, East, and West points on the Eight Trigrams chart respectively