Chapter 696: Changes in the Formation's Key Point

Chapter 690: The Array Core Changes

Inside Zhaixing Tower, the moment Kuzhuo's fireworks ignited, Chief Envoy Du Yun, who had been kneeling in silent prayer before the Heavenly Book, suddenly opened his eyes and pointed to the air, shouting, "Guards, reinforce the array core!"

Footsteps echoed as over a dozen guards in Zhaixing Tower immediately sprang into action. Instead of rushing towards Kaiyang Peak, they ran to the room behind the shrine. That room was itself an array; its six walls were entirely covered with runes. Once someone entered and correctly activated the switch, the runes would light up, teleporting them directly into the array core!

The event was so sudden, and with the blinding fireworks filling the sky, no one could tell if the figure leaping towards the array core had made it inside or had been eliminated. Chief Envoy Du Yun, being exceptionally cautious, still dispatched men to enter the array core and inspect it.

Just as the guards were continuously entering the teleportation array, large characters appeared on the Heavenly Book: "Enemy has entered the array core. Engage!"

Du Yun's heart sank at the sight. The Sky God had confirmed that the enemy was alive and had successfully infiltrated the array core. This meant that neither the turbulent currents nor the defensive array outside the core had affected the intruder. More critically, the opponent must have already pinpointed the array core's location and understood its operational patterns; otherwise, they wouldn't have jumped with such unwavering resolve! They came prepared. The enemy came prepared.

Although there were multiple layers of protective restrictions within the array core, Chief Envoy Du Yun couldn't feel optimistic at this moment. Who knew how many more tricks the enemy had up their sleeve?

Several lamp-keepers arrived and were also dispatched to reinforce the array core: "Bring the Lamp Spirits!"

"Summon the garrison from below the peak to ascend the mountain and guard Zhaixing Tower!"

"Activate the restrictions on Kuzhuo, quickly!"

With this series of commands, the entire Zhaixing Tower became a hive of activity.

At this point, Chief Envoy Du Yun hesitated, on the verge of speaking but holding back. The next second, a line of text appeared on the Heavenly Book: "Awaken Chenyuan and Xiaoguang!"

The words were blood-red, a truly alarming sight. Clearly, the Sky God also perceived the extreme urgency of the situation. As expected, the Sky God wanted to deploy Chenyuan? This indicated a grim outlook. Startled, Chief Envoy Du Yun quickly went to execute the order.

Just to awaken Chenyuan, several preparatory steps were required. If an external enemy invaded, Spirit Vulture City certainly had multiple layers of defense to rely on. The last time the Great Demon Chifeng invaded Xu Mountain, it had contended with the Heavenly Palace for over four hours before many powerful figures from Spirit Vulture City arrived to resolve the situation without much difficulty. But this time, only a few breaths had passed since the Spirit Gathering Great Array was attacked! Just a few breaths! In the time it takes to sneeze a few times, the enemy had already infiltrated the array core. Even with countless versatile methods, the Heavenly Palace didn't have time to deploy them. So how did they get in? Today, something truly bizarre had occurred!

At this moment, Kuzhuo also arrived in response to the bell, emerging its massive form from the magma pool. Bai Ziqi had already reached Zhaixing Tower and rushed to the eaves corridor, where he could look down upon Kuzhuo. "Who jumped into the array core?" he demanded.

Kuzhuo scratched its head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

This was outright lying. Honestly, Bai Ziqi had understood everything the moment he saw Kuzhuo launch fireballs into the sky. This traitor!

"Where are his accomplices?" Invading Xu Mountain and destroying the array core was a massive undertaking, impossible for one person to accomplish alone. Bai Ziqi warned Kuzhuo, "You will be severely punished for betraying the Heavenly Palace. If you repent now and confess the enemy, I can still put in a good word for you before the Sky God."

"I didn't see his accomplices," Kuzhuo grinned. "Maybe they're already in the array core?"

Chief Envoy Du Yun, arriving from behind, heard this and rushed into the shrine, extending his long staff into the sand table and manipulating it a few times. This sand table alone occupied an entire long table, effectively a three-dimensional miniature map of the entire Xu Mountain. Even the array core, after its invisibility magic was removed, was displayed on the sand table in real-time. In other words, everything that happened on Xu Mountain in reality was fully depicted on the sand table. Even Kuzhuo appeared on the sand table, standing before Zhaixing Tower.

In fact, this treasure had another name: the "Mountain and River Tapestry," an immortal sect artifact left behind by the Great Return Sect. Using it as the master agreement for the entire Spirit Gathering Great Array was an idea personally proposed by the Spirit Vulture Saint Lord. It was also part of the great array, or rather, its command platform. Through this "Mountain and River Map," Zhaixing Tower could control the entire great array in real-time.

Chief Envoy Du Yun zoomed in on a section of the sand table, allowing everyone to clearly see that there was a person, a very much alive and lively person, within the array core! But there was only one, wearing a mask. Could one person truly intend to destroy the great array? That seemed outrageous. Previously, when the Great Demon Chifeng invaded Xu Mountain, it had accomplices. No, that wasn't right. The current intruder also had an accomplice: Kuzhuo!

Chief Envoy Du Yun didn't know how the opponent had persuaded the cunning Kuzhuo, but now wasn't the time to ponder that. He raised his long staff and thrust it directly into the bottom of the magma pool depicted on the Mountain and River Map, even poking it vigorously twice. This was punishment for Kuzhuo's defiance of the Heavenly Palace. Kuzhuo roared in pain, thrashing in the magma pool, "Stop, stop!" Twice it unconsciously struck the natural bridge in front of the tower, but the bridge surface shimmered, pushing all its force back. As long as the Spirit Gathering Great Array existed, Kuzhuo could not destroy Xu Mountain's buildings or terrain, nor could it harm anyone from the Heavenly Palace. It looked towards Zhaixing Tower, its eyes spitting fire. Literally spitting fire.

Chief Envoy Du Yun didn't miss the malice in its eyes. This ungrateful creature, Spirit Vulture City had revered it for centuries, yet it offered not an iota of loyalty in return. Truly an ungrateful wretch.

"I'll ask you one more time, how do these people plan to destroy Xu Mountain!" Chief Envoy Du Yun roared. "If you don't confess, I'll confine you to this magma pool for ten years, not allowing you to take a single step out!"

The magma pool looked vast, but that was from a human perspective. For Kuzhuo, it was merely a bathtub. Being trapped in a bathtub for the next ten years would be worse than being locked in a dungeon. Kuzhuo, unable to bear the pain, quickly begged for mercy. "Alright, alright, I'll talk, I'll talk!" It slowly stood up from the magma pool and moved closer.

"This isn't good!" Bai Ziqi suddenly exclaimed. "The array core has changed!" He was usually exceptionally calm and rarely showed such alarm. Chief Envoy Du Yun looked down at the Mountain and River Map and saw something utterly unexpected. "This..."

As the turbulent currents subsided, He Lingchuan gripped the Wind-Calming Pearl in one hand and formed a hand seal with the other, his mind as still as water. Just an instant before crashing into the defensive array, his Substitution Technique precisely activated. He swapped places with the Ghost Shadow Cicada Exoskeleton that had fallen into the array core.

This step was incredibly risky; if he had miscalculated even slightly, he would have been charred to a crisp by now. Yet throughout the entire process, He Lingchuan's mind remained as serene as an ancient well, his consciousness perfectly clear. The more dangerous it was, the calmer he became. The more dangerous it was, the better he performed. Invasion plan, second step: accomplished!

He Lingchuan landed and rolled to his feet. This was the interior of the array core, a landscape entirely different from the outside. Even though Kuzhuo had described it beforehand, the first glimpse upon entering the array still struck him as profoundly strange. Not too complex, but rather too simple. The array core was shaped like Saturn, with a massive sphere in the center surrounded by an entire ring. It was entirely constructed from colorless crystal, making it completely transparent from inside out, without a single impurity. Beyond that, there was nothing else. The star ring was utterly empty, without a single object. An array with such a minimalist design indeed didn't seem like a product of this realm. Had the Heavenly Palace not added anything to it in over ten years?

At this moment, He Lingchuan stood upon this star ring. Directly in front of him, at the very center of the sphere, was one of his objectives for this journey: Zhu Erniang's demon immortal remains! Yes, the moment he looked up, he found himself staring directly at the magnificent, four-zhang-tall remains. It stood there quietly, lifelike. The last time he had seen it was apparently in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest Cavern within the Pangu World.

A peculiar light source was also installed within the sphere, capable of shining straight through the thick abdomen of the spider exoskeleton, casting light directly onto the star map on its belly! As a result, this star map projected outward, floating in mid-air like a slide, even magnified several times over. The dark clouds in the sky had dispersed at some point. Now there were two star maps in the night sky: one in the array core, and one on the night sky itself. The stars in both star maps were identical, flickering in sync.

Upon seeing this, a flicker of understanding dawned on He Lingchuan. So that was it. Through the abdominal map on the Spider Immortal's remains, the Heavenly Palace had effectively created a symmetrical alignment between the stars in the sky and the great array on the ground. The Big Dipper Nine Peaks Array Core on the ground was a replicated mirror image of the Big Dipper Ten Stars in the sky—in essence, it was as if the Big Dipper constellations were gazing into a mirror. By constantly changing the array core's position and angle, the Spirit Gathering Great Array could achieve coordination and unity with the celestial stars. Its goal was to achieve the effect of united heaven and earth power, allowing it to continuously draw spirit energy for the capital city's use.

The spider demon's remains were also completely fixed within the sphere by eight enormous crystal pillars. These crystal pillars appeared to have been melted and wrapped around its eight legs, then welded firmly to the inside of the sphere. No matter how the sphere rotated, the remains and the star map projection remained perfectly still. What He Lingchuan needed to do now was to retrieve the remains. From the looks of it, as long as the remains left the sphere, the array would lose its power to coordinate with heaven and earth and would automatically deactivate. It sounded quite simple.

Just then, He Lingchuan also heard the sound of bells ringing in the distance. In the middle of the night, Zhaixing Tower wouldn't ring its bells without reason. It could only be that his and Kuzhuo's actions had alerted the enemy—after causing such a massive commotion, it would be strange if they hadn't been alerted. This meant the guards would arrive any moment; time was of the essence.

The little spider in his embrace was constantly screeching, signaling that it was too far from the spider exoskeleton and needed to get closer, much closer. Seeing its most prized possession right ahead, it too became restless. He Lingchuan activated the Swallow Return Movement Technique, but after just two steps, he felt his feet sink. His legs were as if trapped in a quagmire, completely stuck. He looked down and saw that the formerly solid crystal floor had turned into a viscous, solution-like substance, accompanied by terrifying high temperatures. He noticed other small objects that had landed on the star ring were hissing with white smoke, vaporizing on contact. With the intrusion of an external object, another layer of the array core's defensive formation had automatically activated. However, he was wearing the Divine Bone Necklace, which kept him safe and unharmed.

At this moment, transparent monsters began emerging on the star ring, one after another. Some had large heads and fins like sharks, others resembled giant eels, but all were bristling with sharp fangs and teeth. The star ring seemed to have transformed into a crystal ocean, and these were the monsters swimming within it, charging aggressively. He Lingchuan, he was their prey.