Where Immortals Once Walked

Inside the Star-Plucking Tower, the very instant Juju’s fireworks ignited, the Chief Cloud Envoy, who had been kneeling before the Heavenly Tome and reciting all this time silently, suddenly opened his eyes and pointed into the air. “Reinforce the array eye!”

Footsteps immediately sounded. More than a dozen guards inside Star-Plucking Tower moved at once, but they did not rush toward Kaiyang Peak. Instead, they ran into the room behind the shrine.

That room itself was an array, and runes covered all six of its walls. The moment someone rushed inside and properly activated the mechanism, the runes lit up and teleported them into the array eye!

In truth, everything had happened so suddenly. With fireworks filling the sky and dazzling everyone’s eyes, no one could tell whether the figure who jumped toward the array eye had actually entered it or died.

But the Chief Cloud Envoy was extraordinarily cautious and still sent men into the array eye to inspect it.

Just as the guards rushed into the teleportation array one after another, several large words appeared upon the Heavenly Tome: “Enemy has entered the array eye. Engage!”

The Chief Cloud Envoy caught sight of them, and his heart sank. The god had already confirmed that the enemy was not dead and had successfully invaded the array eye.

In other words, neither the turbulence array nor the defensive array outside the array eye had succeeded in stopping the other party.

Most crucially, the enemy had already identified the array eye’s location and determined its movement pattern. Otherwise, he never would have jumped with such utter resolve!

The enemy had come prepared.

Although there were layer upon layer of restrictions and defenses inside the array eye as well, the Chief Cloud Envoy could not bring himself to be optimistic.

Who knew how many fallback plans this intruder had?

Several lamp guardians hurried over as well, and he ordered them to reinforce the array eye too. “Take the lamp spirits with you!”

“Summon the garrison below the peak up the mountain to defend Star-Plucking Tower!”

“Activate the restriction on Juju. Quickly!”

With this chain of orders issued, the entire Star-Plucking Tower became busy.

At that moment, however, the Chief Cloud Envoy hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself.

In the next second, a line of writing appeared upon the Heavenly Tome: “Awaken Chenyuan and Xiaoguang!”

Every word was blood-red, shocking to the eye. Clearly, the god also felt the situation was desperately urgent.

As expected, the god wanted to deploy Chenyuan as well. That showed just how grim the situation had become. The Chief Cloud Envoy was startled and quickly set about making arrangements.

Awakening Chenyuan alone required several preparatory steps.

If foreign enemies invaded, Lingxu City had many layers of support to rely upon. One had to remember that the last time the greater monster Chifeng invaded Mount Xu, it had spent more than eight hours circling and contending with the Heavenly Palace. Later, many mighty figures of Lingxu City arrived in succession, and resolving the matter was not difficult.

But this time, only a few breaths had passed since the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array had come under attack!

Only a few breaths! In the time it took to sneeze a few times, the enemy had already invaded the array eye.

Even if the Heavenly Palace had a thousand ever-changing methods, there was no time to use them.

How did he get in?

What they were facing today was truly strange beyond reason!

At this moment, Juju also answered the bell’s summons, its enormous form rising from the lava pool.

Bai Ziqi had already arrived at Star-Plucking Tower and rushed to the covered corridor, where he could look down at it.

“Who jumped into the array eye?!”

Juju scratched its head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

This was pure lying with its eyes wide open. Honestly, the moment Bai Ziqi saw it firing fireballs into the sky, he had understood everything. This creature that ate from their bowl had betrayed them!

“Where are his accomplices?” Invading Mount Xu and damaging the array eye were massive undertakings. It was absolutely not something one person could complete alone. Bai Ziqi warned the guardian spirit, “You will be punished severely for betraying the Heavenly Palace. If you turn back now and confess the enemy’s identity, I can still put in a few good words for you before the gods.”

“I didn’t see his accomplices.” Juju split its mouth in a grin. “Maybe they’re in the array eye?”

The Chief Cloud Envoy hurried over from the rear. Hearing this, he rushed into the shrine, thrust his long staff into the sand table, and stirred it several times.

This sand table occupied an entire long table by itself and could be called a three-dimensional miniature map of Mount Xu. Even when the array eye was under the effects of their invisibility divine technique, it appeared on the sand table in real time.

One could say that everything happening on Mount Xu would, in reality, be fully displayed on the sand table. Even “Juju” appeared within it, standing in front of Star-Plucking Tower.

In truth, this treasure had another name: the Splendid Rivers and Mountains Diagram. It was a magical artifact left behind by the Grand Return Sect. Using it as the master contract of the entire Grand Spirit-Gathering Array had been a proposal personally made by Venerable Lingxu.

It, too, was part of the grand array—or rather, it was its command platform.

Through this “Mountains and Rivers Diagram,” Star-Plucking Tower could control the entire grand array in real time.

The Chief Cloud Envoy enlarged a portion of the sand table, and everyone could clearly see someone inside the array eye! It was a living, breathing person, and they were moving!

But there was only one, and he wore a mask.

One person alone wants to destroy the grand array? This is truly absurd.

In the past, when the greater monster Chifeng invaded Mount Xu, it had actually had helpers too.

No, wait. This intruder also has a helper, and it’s Juju!

The Chief Cloud Envoy did not know how the enemy had persuaded the sly and slippery Juju, and now was not the time to consider that question. He raised his long staff and stabbed it directly into the bottom of the lava pool within the Mountains and Rivers Diagram, even grinding it hard a couple of times.

This was punishment for Juju’s defiance of the Heavenly Palace.

Juju rolled in the lava pool from the pain, roaring again and again. “Stop! Stop!”

Twice, it unconsciously slapped at the natural bridge in front of the tower, but light shimmered over the bridge and pushed all its strength back.

As long as the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array existed, Juju could not damage Mount Xu’s buildings or mountains, nor could it harm anyone from the Heavenly Palace.

It looked toward Star-Plucking Tower, fire spraying from its eyes.

Literally spraying fire.

The Chief Cloud Envoy did not miss the hatred in its eyes. This ungrateful creature. Lingxu City has worshiped and supported it for hundreds of years, and yet that has not bought even a shred of loyalty.

A true thankless wolf.

“I’ll ask you one more time. How do these people plan to damage Mount Xu?” the Chief Cloud Envoy said furiously. “If you still refuse to explain, I’ll imprison you in the lava pool and forbid you from taking even a single step out for ten years!”

The lava pool looked broad, but that was only from a human perspective. To Juju, it was just a bathtub.

Being trapped in a bathtub for the next ten years would be worse than sitting in prison.

Juju, in unbearable pain, hurriedly begged for mercy. “Fine, fine! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

It rose from the lava pool again and slowly approached.

“Not good!” Bai Ziqi suddenly cried out. “There’s a change in the array eye!”

He had always been exceedingly composed and rarely lost his cool like this.

The Chief Cloud Envoy lowered his head to look at the Mountains and Rivers Diagram, and what he saw was utterly beyond expectation. “This...”

* * *

The turbulence was nearly gone. He Lingchuan gripped the wind-stilling pearl tightly in one hand while forming a hand seal with the other, his heart as still as water.

In the instant before he struck the defensive array, the substitution technique activated at exactly the right moment.

He and one of the ghost-shadow cicada shells that had fallen into the array eye swapped positions.

This step had been perilous to the extreme. If he had miscalculated by even the slightest amount, he would already be charcoal.

Yet throughout the entire process, He Lingchuan’s mind had remained as calm as an ancient well, his thoughts clear and serene.

The more dangerous it became, the calmer he was.

The more dangerous it became, the better he performed.

The second step of the invasion plan was complete!

After landing, He Lingchuan rolled and sprang to his feet. This was already inside the array eye, and the scenery was utterly different from that of the outside world. Even though Juju had described it to him beforehand, that first glance inside the array still struck him as deeply strange.

Not because it was too complicated, but because it was too simple.

The array eye was shaped like Saturn; he was met with the sight of a massive sphere at the center encircled by a full ring.

The entire thing was crafted from colorless glass. Because of that, it was completely transparent from inside to out, without the slightest impurity.

Apart from that, there was nothing else. The ring was empty, with not even half an item upon it.

An array with such a clean, minimal style truly did not seem like a product of this world.

Did the Heavenly Palace really not add anything to it over the past ten years?

At this moment, He Lingchuan stood on that ring.

And directly before him, at the very center of the sphere, was one of his targets for this trip: Zhu Erniang.

Or rather, her monster immortal molt!

Yes. The moment he raised his eyes, he met the gaze of that magnificent molt, which stood over thirteen meters tall.

It stood there quietly, lifelike in every detail.

The last time he had seen it seemed to be inside the underground cavern of Guizhen Stone Forest in the Panlong Soul Land.

Inside the sphere, there was also a strange light source. Somehow, it could shine straight through the spider molt’s thick abdomen and cast its light directly onto the star map upon its belly!

And so, that star map flew outward, floating in midair like a projected slide and even enlarged several times over.

At some unknown point, the dark clouds in the sky had scattered. Now there were two star maps in the night: one within the array eye, and one across the sky.

The stars in the two maps were completely identical, flickering in sync.

At one glance, realization stirred in He Lingchuan’s heart.

So that’s how it is.

Using the star map on the spider immortal’s molt, the Heavenly Palace had essentially made the stars above and the grand array on the ground into symmetrical counterparts.

The Big Dipper’s nine peaks on the ground, plus the array eye, were a mirrored replica of the Big Dipper’s ten stars in the sky. To put it plainly, it was as if the stars of the Big Dipper were looking into a mirror.

Through the constant shifting of the array eye’s position and angle, the Grand Spirit-Gathering Array could maintain coordination and unity with the stars above.

What it sought to achieve was a state in which heaven and earth exerted their strength together. Only then could it continuously draw in spirit qi for the capital’s use.

The spider monster’s molt had also been completely fixed within the sphere by eight enormous glass pillars.

The glass pillars had likely been melted, wrapped around its eight legs, and then welded firmly to the inside of the sphere. No matter how the sphere rolled, the molt and the projected star map remained perfectly unmoving.

What He Lingchuan had to do now was take the molt out.

Judging from the situation, once the molt left the sphere, the array would lose the ability to coordinate heaven and earth and would automatically fail.

It sounded rather simple.

At this moment, He Lingchuan also heard the bells ringing in the distance.

In the middle of the night, Star-Plucking Tower would not ring bells for no reason. The only possibility was that his and Juju’s actions had alarmed the enemy.

Considering the spectacle they had created, it would have been stranger if the enemy had not been alerted.

In other words, the guards would arrive any moment. Time was tight.

The little spider had been shrieking in his arms the whole time, meaning the spider molt was too far away. Closer, he had to get closer.

Seeing its precious hidden family fortune right before it, even the little spider could no longer remain calm.

He Lingchuan used the Swallow’s Return movement technique, but after rushing only two steps forward, he felt the ground beneath his feet soften. His legs seemed to sink into a quagmire, and he was actually unable to pull them free.

When he looked down, the originally solid glass surface had turned liquid. It was now thicker than water and carried a terrifying heat. He saw other tiny objects that had landed on the ring hiss with white smoke before vaporizing.

With a foreign object invading, another defensive array inside the array eye had activated on its own.

However, because he wore the divine bone amulet, he remained unharmed.

At that moment, transparent aberrant creatures began emerging one after another from the ring. Some had enormous heads and fins like sharks, while others resembled giant eels, but with mouths filled with sharp teeth.

The ring seemed to have become an ocean of glass, and they were the aberrant creatures swimming through it, surging fiercely toward him.

As for He Lingchuan? He was the prey.