A Sect from a Spirit Vein

Chapter 59: Chapter 16: The Five Elements Array Activates

The Cold Frost Sword Qi stretched over ten zhang, its brilliance surpassing moonlight, slashing straight toward Spirit Snake Peak.

The Four Symbols Grand Array atop Spirit Snake Peak instantly activated. The cyan dragon, white tiger, vermilion bird, and black tortoise phantoms appeared within the array. The form of the black tortoise swelled rapidly to several dozen zhang, its shell glowing radiantly, blocking the sword qi.

A loud explosion resounded!

The Cold Frost Sword Qi struck the black tortoise phantom, unleashing layers of frost mist. Within a hundred-zhang radius, ice flowers scattered poignantly, biting cold. The black tortoise let out a wail and was instantly sliced in half, dissolving into scattered points of spiritual light.

Qian Ruyi let out a cold snort, entering directly into the grand array.

He wasn’t an array cultivator and didn’t know array-breaking techniques. However, with his Foundation Establishment Cultivation, facing such an unattended death array with only a few variations in Qi Cultivation, breaking it with force wasn’t difficult.

The Four Symbols Grand Array trembled, frantically drawing spiritual qi from the spirit vein. The white tiger phantom roared at the sky, opening its mouth wide to bite down on Qian Ruyi.

Qian Ruyi’s expression remained unchanged. With a vertical lift of his longsword, a white streak of Cold Frost Sword Qi shot skyward, piercing the white tiger phantom through. Another swing cleaved the white tiger in two.

The grand array quaked as the cyan dragon roared and the vermilion bird flapped its wings, swooping fiercely. Nearby, as spiritual qi gathered, the white tiger and black tortoise phantoms slowly started to coalesce once more.

”Annoying,” Qian Ruyi frowned. Time was precious now; it seemed he needed to exert his full strength.

Very well, let them witness the vast gulf between a Foundation Establishment Feather Scholar and a Qi Cultivator.

He pointed with his finger, and the longsword in his hand floated up, swirling with cold frost. In the air around him, ice beads began to form rapidly.

At this moment, within his dantian, the blooming spirit bud gently shook, and crystalline ice patterns shone brightly upon it.

A dantian nurturing a spiritual root signifies Qi Cultivation. When merit and conduct reach perfection, and the opportune moment arrives, the spiritual root blooms into a flower, birthing a spirit bud. This spirit bud captures Dao Rhyme, inscribing Dao Patterns, marking the completion of Foundation Establishment.

Capturing Dao Rhyme signifies gaining a slight comprehension of the Great Dao. Inscribing Dao Patterns translates this comprehension into practice, allowing the display of unique power.

Once the spirit bud matures, forming spirit fruit and overcoming the celestial tribulation, as the fruit ripens, a Golden Core is achieved!

By then, Dao Patterns evolve into the renowned divine techniques of a Golden Core Master, envied by all—Divine Techniques!

The Dao Pattern inscribed by Qian Ruyi was ”Frost.”

At this moment, he unleashed his full strength, shouting aloud as the Dao Pattern radiated brilliantly. The flying sword in his hand covered in layers of solid ice, transforming into a ten-zhang long crystalline ice sword at once.

The cyan dragon and vermilion bird lunged toward him, Qian Ruyi pointed with his spell: ”Slash!”

The ice sword swung instantly, drawing a perfect circle, slicing through the cyan dragon and vermilion bird phantoms.

A faint cracking sound was heard, and from the point of impact, layers of cold mist erupted, freezing heavy ice over the bodies of the cyan dragon and vermilion bird, freezing the two phantoms mid-air.

Immediately, Qian Ruyi lifted his longsword vertically, the hilt twirling, a thunderous explosion followed. The ten-zhang ice sword shattered into a thousand ice shards, shooting in all directions.

In an instant, the ice shards, like a rain of arrows, pulverized the frozen cyan dragon and vermilion bird phantoms. The white tiger and black tortoise, attempting to reform nearby, were also disrupted and vanished without a trace.

Within a hundred zhang, space was instantly cleared, and within the grand array, the Four Symbols were completely destroyed!

Qian Ruyi took a gentle breath, moved his body, once more controlling his Flying Sword, charging toward Spirit Snake Peak. The grand array buzzed hollowly, continuing to gather spiritual qi and condense the Four Symbols, but it was already too late.

Qian Ruyi’s face showed satisfaction; in the blink of an eye, he could already see the various buildings atop Spirit Snake Peak and the cultivators who had just gathered, looking tense.

The longsword in front of him hummed lightly; just as he was about to charge through the array in one fell swoop, a sudden lightness overcame his entire body as the Four Symbols Grand Array vanished without a trace in an instant.

Eh? Are they giving up because they can’t stop me?

A mocking expression appeared on his face.

Suddenly, a roar boomed from the belly of the mountain, and a five-colored brilliance shot up to the sky!

Gold, wood, water, fire, earth—the spiritual qi of five elements surged violently as the Five Elements Grand Array unfolded, firmly guarding Spirit Snake Peak, and swiftly engulfed Qian Ruyi.

This is the Five Elements Grand Array! It’s the array cultivator who broke the Mountain Protection Grand Array of Liuhua Valley of Qingli Mountain, now taking action!

In the heart of Spirit Snake Peak, Lu Qian and Master Xuan Ji stood on either side, pressing their hands on the Array Map, sensing a powerful force suspended within the array, an invisible pressure bearing down upon them.

Is this the power of a Foundation Establishment Feather Scholar? This feeling, like being a spider weaving a web, waiting patiently for insects to arrive, yet a bird barges in instead.

Lu Qian and Master Xuan Ji had previously broken a Five Elements Array set by Li Zhenru, but that array was formed when Li Zhenru was on the verge of death, relying on an evanescing, withering spirit vein. The intensity and frequency of attacks were low, with the Bing Fire Divine Crow being the only true threat.

Confronting a true Foundation Establishment Feather Scholar now, the feedback from the Array Map made Lu Qian instantly alert, realizing their previous assessment was overly optimistic.

Can a spider web truly stop a bird?

Master Xuan Ji quickly instructed, ”Lu the Kid, give it your all! Remember, use the Wood, Water, and Earth Transformation I taught you before to interfere with the Foundation Establishment’s divine sense so he cannot discern directions...”

Lu Qian opened his divine sense fully, a faint light emanating from his Niwan Palace, as his divine sense surged in waves, channeling directly into the Array Map.

He manipulated the Water Element Command Banner, while Master Xuan Ji controlled the Wood-Earth Dual Command Banner, activating the array combination according to the mantra.

The spirit vein of Spirit Snake Peak is a First-Level High-Tier Spirit Vein, located in a cave within the mountain’s belly. Externally, it takes the form of stone milk dripping from a stalactite. As the stone milk fell through the air, it dispersed into pure spiritual qi, permeating the mountain.

At this moment, the Array Map was suspended directly below the stalactite, catching the falling stone milk.

Within the grand array, Qian Ruyi sensed something was amiss, let out an angry roar as his body shot forward, intending to break through the array.

Suddenly, thick mist arose out of nowhere, obscuring his vision in an instant. Naturally, he released his divine sense to probe, but upon contact with the mist, it felt viscous and dense, able to penetrate only one zhang, with an eerie feeling of dizziness, as if the directions of up, down, left, and right were all spinning.

To suppress my Foundation Establishment divine sense, could it be a Foundation Establishment Array Cultivator?

Qian Ruyi was taken aback; how could there be a Foundation Establishment Array Cultivator in the small Spirit Snake Peak, among the minor Qi Cultivating sects?

Various thoughts flashed through his mind; he almost believed he suffered an ambush.

But he quickly realized otherwise. If the Zhou Family truly had a Foundation Establishment Array Cultivator outside, they would have directly launched a surprise attack on Chaosheng Sect’s rear during the confrontation, instead of setting such a large trap here for an ambush.

So it must be a Qi Cultivation Stage Array Cultivator leveraging some secret technique, achieving a similar effect.

Very well, let me test whether your secret technique can trap me!