Immortal Sword Master

Chapter 475: Chapter 471: Destroying the Meteor Array

As the crowd dispersed, news of the battle at the Meteor Festival began to spread throughout the Meteor Sea Region at top speed.

”I wonder if his name will make it onto the Hidden Dragon List?”

Everyone was intensely curious.

...

「At night.」

Inside a gloomy great hall.

”I refuse to accept this! Why did I lose!” Meng Zihao’s voice was filled with a boundless rage, a fire that threatened to burn everything to ash.

Proud as he was, he simply could not accept the fact that he had lost to Ning Jiang.

The blow from this battle had been too great.

”What is there to be upset about?” At that moment, a drifting, ethereal voice echoed through the hall, startling the furious Meng Zihao.

Meng Zihao was startled. He looked up and saw a pair of icy eyes staring at him from the darkness ahead.

”Black Envoy, what are you doing here?”

”Why am I here? Don’t you know perfectly well?” The Black Envoy gave a cold smile. ”The Master placed great hopes on you, yet you suffered a crushing defeat at the Meteor Festival and disrupted his plans. Tell me, what should the punishment for such a crime be?”

”This...” Meng Zihao’s expression changed, and he hurriedly tried to defend himself. ”Black Envoy, you can’t blame me for this. If it weren’t for that Ning Jiang, I wouldn’t have lost first place. It’s all Ning Jiang’s fault!”

”You certainly have a way of deflecting all the blame,” the Black Envoy said, his lips curling into a smirk.

”Please, Black Envoy, see the truth. I am utterly loyal to the Sea-Splitting King! I beg you to give me another chance,” Meng Zihao pleaded, sensing the cold indifference in the Black Envoy’s tone.

”Rest assured, you’ll have your chance. But this is the last one. You had better make the most of it.”

”Thank you, Black Envoy.”

Meng Zihao hurriedly cupped his fists in a salute.

But a cruel smile flashed across the Black Envoy’s face. In the next instant, an overwhelming Power erupted from his body and enveloped Meng Zihao.

”AH! Black Envoy, what are you doing to me!”

Meng Zihao let out a terrified scream.

”What am I doing? Didn’t you say you were utterly loyal to the Sea-Splitting King? Now is your chance to express that loyalty,” the Black Envoy cackled.

”No! Get out! You can’t possess me! The Sea-Splitting King promised me his daughter’s hand in marriage if I helped him complete his plan! Black Envoy, how dare you do this to me?”

Meng Zihao roared again and again. He could feel a Primordial Spirit Power slowly invading his mind, trying to possess him.

”HAHAHAHAHA! Meng Zihao, what do you think you are? Did you really think you were worthy of the Sea-Splitting King’s daughter? She’s a prodigy on the Hidden Dragon List. And you? You’re just a failure who was utterly defeated at the Meteor Festival. How dare you dream of marrying up?”

The Black Envoy’s voice was thick with disdain. ”Meng Zihao, for the Sea-Splitting King’s sake, offer up your body. After you die, I’ll even erect a tombstone for you!”

”No... spare me...”

Meng Zihao’s voice gradually grew weaker. A short while later, within his sea of consciousness, his own Primordial Spirit had completely vanished, replaced by a Black Shadow.

The Black Shadow cackled. ”Now, it’s time to put the Sea-Splitting King’s plan into motion.”

SWOOSH.

His figure flickered and he left the great hall.

「One hour later,」 he reappeared at the foot of the mountain of the Meteor Fragment.

There, at the foot of the mountain, was a cave residence.

At the entrance to the cave residence, two figures sat cross-legged. Their bodies radiated the aura of the Earth Martial Realm Peak, just one step away from the Heaven-Reaching Realm.

For such powerful experts to be acting as Guards here showed the importance of this place.

”Meng Zihao, what are you doing here?”

As Meng Zihao arrived, one of them opened his eyes and looked at him.

”I want to go in and have a look,” the Black Envoy said, controlling Meng Zihao’s body.

”Meng Zihao, you should know that this is a forbidden area. Only the champion of the Meteor Festival is allowed to enter. Otherwise, without the Meteor King’s command, no one may enter. Please turn back.”

The Guard was all business, rejecting Meng Zihao without a moment’s hesitation.

”Is that so? And what if I insist on going in?”

A wave of killing intent flooded Meng Zihao’s eyes, and the voice that came from his throat suddenly changed—it was the Black Envoy’s voice!

”Wait, you’re not Meng Zihao. Who are you?”

The two Guards’ pupils contracted.

”As for who I am, you can ask Yama when you get down there.”

The Black Envoy took a step forward, appearing before the two Guards in an instant. His hands shot out simultaneously, grabbing both their heads and squeezing hard.

SQUELCH.

The heads of the two Earth Martial Realm Peak experts were instantly crushed, leaving them with no power to resist. Even their Primordial Spirits were obliterated by that grasp, reduced to nothingness.

After killing the two men, the Black Envoy’s body moved, and he rushed into the cave residence.

’It won’t be long before the Meteor King notices what happened here. I have to act fast,’ the Black Envoy thought.

After he entered, the first thing that met his eyes was a pool. Within the pool, streams of starlight flowed like water, an incredibly mysterious sight.

”So this is the Power of Stars accumulated over five years.”

The Black Envoy glanced at it.

Every five years, the Meteor Fragment accumulates some Power of Stars, and this Power of Stars is the reward for the Meteor Festival.

Ning Jiang had won first place in this year’s Meteor Festival, so this Power of Stars belonged to him.

However, the Meteor King was currently in seclusion. To obtain the Power of Stars within, the Meteor King had to personally deactivate the Array sealing the pool. Therefore, the Power of Stars was still here for now.

”Forget it. This Power of Stars is useless to me. Besides, taking it by force would destroy the Array and alert the Meteor King.”

The Black Envoy shook his head, and with a flicker of his body, continued deeper inside.

After reaching the deepest part, a downward passage appeared. He jumped in without hesitation and only landed after descending a thousand zhang.

He saw that this was a wide, open space.

On the ground of this open space, countless runes were drawn, faintly forming the shape of an Array. And in the space at the center, a huge ball of light floated. This ball of light was like a small Meteor Fragment, emitting a vast Power.

”The Meteor Array! I’ve found it!”

A cold light gleamed in the Black Envoy’s eyes. ”This Meteor Array uses the Meteor Fragment as its core. Once activated, not even the Sea-Splitting King can do anything about it. Oh, Meteor King, Meteor King... in the past, you relied on this Meteor Array to keep the Sea-Splitting King at bay. But once this Meteor Array is gone, let’s see how you’ll fend off the Sea-Splitting King then!”

As the Black Envoy spoke, power surged through his body, rapidly concentrating in his hands.

”Break!”

He thrust his hands forward, forming a beam of black light that shot toward the ball of light at the center.

Every Grand Array has a core, and this object was the core of the Meteor Array.