Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

Chapter 1477: Chapter 550: Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, Leading the Wolf into the House

”Is the area ahead Mysterious Rock Island?”

Above the Nine Heavens, clouds enveloped the sky, filled with rolling dark clouds, as a storm seemed imminent.

A dark cloud lies hidden among them.

Luo Chen stood atop the clouds, with the miniaturized Tianxuan Fighting Bird perched below his feet, nodding like a pecking chicken.

A sea chart fell into his hands, and Luo Chen scrutinized it carefully, his lips pursed thoughtfully.

The Mysterious Rock Sea Area was vast, its size even far surpassing the Yu Ding Realm he was familiar with, roughly two to three times as broad.

However, the Mysterious Rock Island that gave its name to this area was actually not that large.

As he gazed down from a height with his Spirit Vision, a chain of islands shimmered on the azure sea like stars, scattered around this vicinity.

Centered around the smallest island in the heart of them all.

Overall, it seemed to form a labyrinthine structure.

One, two, three... seventy-two!

Counting down, there were actually seventy-two islands of various sizes, closely packed around Mysterious Rock Island.

Comparing the sea chart with the actual scenery, Luo Chen suddenly let out a light gasp.

”An array?”

With his current proficiency in arrays, he could already see some clues.

The islands below, combined with the water currents and reefs, vaguely formed a natural Big Formation.

However, Luo Chen could only roughly understand the overall picture.

Thereupon, he took out the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and summoned Han Zhan.

After Luo Chen shared his conjectures, Han Zhan carefully observed for a while and finally gave his verdict.

”It is indeed an Array, but it’s not naturally formed. Someone has manipulated it, and it must have been set up by at least a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator.”

Nascent Soul True Masters possess infinite Qi Power.

They are the true beings capable of moving mountains and seas, and demolishing cities.

With such ability, relocating islands and arranging special terrain arrays is not challenging.

Luo Chen humbly asked for guidance, ”Senior, can you discern what kind of Big Formation this is, and what its effects are?”

”Eight Trigrams...” Han Zhan shook his head, ”No, it should be the Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation, subtly incorporating the number seventy-two. As for its effects...”

After pondering for a long while, Han Zhan slowly added, ”It gathers wind and accumulates water, channels Qi and gathers spirits; it’s the most common method for gathering veins. Although the Mysterious Rock Sea Area is vast, the Spirit Veins are scattered. The master of this area set up a Big Formation to concentrate the Spirit Qi of the region, forming a Fourth Order Spirit Vein over thousands of years, now indistinguishable from natural Spirit Veins.”

Continuing, he added, ”Moreover, this Nine Palace Eight Trigrams Formation also possesses defensive and offensive capabilities. The seventy-two islands are interconnected, strong on the outside but weak inside. However, if one ignores the outer islands and directly attacks the core, it would trigger a desperate counterattack.”

”If I were the master of this place, I would assign my capable generals to the outer islands, with one person stationed at the Central Palace.”

Hearing this, Luo Chen felt puzzled.

”Wouldn’t this leave the center empty, allowing enemies to directly break through and execute a decapitation strategy?”

Han Zhan simply smiled, ”What if the strongest person is at the Central Palace?”

Luo Chen suddenly realized.

Indeed, this way, the so-called outer strength and inner weakness become a balanced situation.

If a strong enemy directly attacks, not only will they be struck hard by the powerful occupant of the Central Palace, but they would also be trapped within the encirclement of the seventy-two islands, creating an awkward situation of being unable to advance or retreat.

If a Nascent Soul being sits in the Central Palace, even if an enemy of the same level attacks, without a significantly larger force, they would likely not be able to break through Mysterious Rock Island.

After this analysis, he also finally understood why, under the siege of the Five Great King Crab Clans for many years, the Ring-Headed Turtle Clan could still remain as stable as Taishan.

”That Mysterious Rock Demonic Emperor truly acts meticulously, leaving no flaws!” Luo Chen remarked.

However, Han Zhan held a different opinion.

”An array is inanimate, people are alive. From what I see, although there is the breath of a Demon Emperor on Mysterious Rock Island, it is extremely faint and filled with a strong scent of death.”

Luo Chen was startled.

”The Mysterious Rock Demonic Emperor is already dead?”

”At least, he is not in this territory. Otherwise, the scent of death would not be leaking out.”

Now Luo Chen understood why the Five Great King Crab Clans dared to attack Mysterious Rock Island.

It’s the scenario of the mountain lacking a tiger, making the monkey consider itself king.

The Demon Crab Side plans to overthrow their superiors and achieve the real domination of Mysterious Rock Sea Area.

However, this presents him, Luo Chen, with an opportunity!

The Ring-Headed Turtle, after all, is a clan that has produced a Demon Emperor; even if the Demon Emperor has passed, their essence is still not something ordinary Demon Clans can compare to.

With their mutual strife, there must be damage.

This provided Luo Chen with the perfect chance to benefit as the third party.

But for now, finding a foothold remains the priority.

Since Han Zhan was already summoned, naturally, Luo Chen would not miss out on utilizing such an assistant.

”With senior’s proficiency in arrays, and your broad perspective, could you help me find a concealed and suitable landing spot?”

Han Zhan yet smiled and said, ”Why bother me with this, you have a powerful tool in your hands, and you can solve it yourself.”

Luo Chen was stunned.

Then he saw an object floating out from the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

It was the Array Disk that he had previously given to Han Zhan.

He had intended for Han Zhan to modify it slightly, to facilitate setting up arrays that suit him.

Seeing the Array Disk flying out now, he was somewhat puzzled.

Han Zhan immediately explained, ”It contains nine small arrays and three big ones. Besides the Seal Sea Eight Diagrams Array and the Lanyun Mist Cloud Formation, I have thoroughly studied the last array.”

”Oh, please enlighten me, senior,” Luo Chen’s eyes flashed, intrigued.

”This array is called ’Search God and Seek Spirit’, apparently Third Order, but its efficacy is no less than that of an ordinary Fourth Order Array.”

”Search God and Seek Spirit?”