Chapter 877: Eight Extremes Demon Sealing Array

Wind Rises Across the Nine Provinces

Searching through the stone houses, I occasionally found something.

I didn't know who used to live here, but they seemed to have a habit of making furniture from fire spiritual stones. Stools, tables, and other items whose purpose Lu Ye had no idea about, were all carved from fire spiritual stones.

Untouched for thousands of years, and with the fire spiritual energy here being extremely dense and active, the remnants were highly pure and of impressive quality.

Ying Wuji and his team were mining fire spiritual stones from the rock walls above, but they never imagined the real treasure was hidden within this dilapidated city. Compared to laborious mining, simply picking up ready-made items naturally yielded greater returns.

In such a vast city, searching alone was inefficient. Even though Lu Ye moved quickly, thoroughly searching the entire city wouldn't be easy.

After a brief ponder, Lu Ye took Amber out of his spirit beast pouch and summoned Yiyi.

"Lu Ye, where is this place?"

Amber had been kept in the spirit beast pouch for some time, so Yiyi naturally hadn't seen the light of day either. Suddenly appearing in such a strange place, she was naturally a bit confused about the situation.

"A treasure trove!" Lu Ye briefly explained the current situation.

Yiyi instantly understood. "I see," she said. This was asking her to help find the fire spiritual stones hidden within the city.

"Be careful. There's a group from Myriad Demons Ridge here, led by Ying Wuji. Don't let him discover you."

"Understood." Yiyi nodded and quickly vanished. Amber also followed her out.

With Yiyi's help, the efficiency of the treasure hunt doubled. The haul from this trip would undoubtedly be considerable.

Even in the collapsed structures, Lu Ye examined them carefully and occasionally made discoveries.

More than an hour later, Lu Ye held a fire spiritual stone disk in his hand, examining it closely.

The disk was palm-sized, and like the furniture he had collected earlier, it showed significant carving marks.

This was clearly not furniture; it looked more like a plate. But the dish was too shallow; it couldn't possibly be used to hold anything. It had a spiritual pattern carved on it, but due to its damaged state, Lu Ye couldn't discern its complete appearance.

After observing it for a moment, Lu Ye channeled spiritual power into it, attempting to repair the damaged areas by following the traces of the original pattern. This task wasn't difficult for him, similar to the formation-arranging trials he underwent in the Hundred Formations Pagoda. As for whether he could restore the complete appearance of this unknown spiritual pattern, that would depend on luck. After all, too much of the pattern was missing, and he didn't even know what it originally looked like.

A moment later, Lu Ye's expression turned peculiar. As he continued repairing, the damaged spiritual pattern gradually revealed its true nature. The more he looked, the more the pattern inscribed on the fire spiritual stone disk resembled a bursting spiritual pattern.

It was generally similar to the bursting spiritual pattern he knew, but with subtle differences in its internal structure. The construction of a spiritual pattern is not fixed. For instance, the spiritual patterns Lu Ye obtained from the Talent Tree differed from those he saw in books. He had also compared the effects of these differences and ultimately reached a clear conclusion. The same spiritual pattern, if constructed using the Talent Tree's method, would be roughly 10 to 20 percent more powerful than if constructed using the method learned from books. This was already a very significant improvement.

Therefore, during the repair process, Lu Ye could largely confirm that the pattern carved on this fire spiritual stone disk should be a bursting spiritual pattern, only its construction method differed slightly from what he knew.

Fire elemental energy is inherently volatile. Fire spiritual stones themselves contain pure fire spiritual energy, making them the most unstable type among all elemental spiritual stones. Normally, they must be handled with extreme care, as even a slight bump could easily cause internal spiritual energy to become chaotic and explode.

What would happen if a bursting spiritual pattern was added to it? A thought flashed through his mind as the repair of the spiritual pattern on the fire spiritual stone disk in his hand reached its final stage.

When the last basic element was successfully constructed and integrated, and the bursting spiritual pattern took shape, Lu Ye suddenly realized that what he held in his hand was not just a fire spiritual stone, but an extremely dangerous object that could explode at any moment. The enhancement from the bursting spiritual pattern made the already volatile fire spiritual energy show even more signs of becoming uncontrollable. Even Lu Ye, who now had True Lake cultivation, couldn't help but feel a tremor of fear. If such a thing were to explode in his hand, it would pose a significant threat.

This disk was a weapon! Lu Ye suddenly realized this. This object must have been used by the city's residents to kill enemies. No wonder many of the collapsed houses here showed signs of destruction. He had initially thought the collapses were due to years of disrepair, but now it seemed the self-detonation of these weapons was also a contributing factor. What kind of people used to live in this city? To build and survive in such a harsh environment and develop such weapons... They must have been a formidable group.

Dispelling his spiritual power and disengaging the bursting spiritual pattern, the unsettling sensation vanished. He put the fire spiritual stone disk away and contacted Yiyi, instructing her to be extremely careful if she found anything similar, and to avoid bumping them.

As he continued searching, he found that the number of such weapon-like fire spiritual stone disks was not small, though not abundant either. This suggested that the residents here, long ago, had indeed mastered a method of refining fire spiritual stones into weapons.

Time passed. After spending half a day in this underground city, Lu Ye had already made abundant gains. Fire spiritual stones were of great use to him. Not only could he cultivate with them, but the Talent Tree could also absorb their spiritual energy to ignite its leaves. This way, he wouldn't have to worry about the Talent Tree's resources for a while.

Although he had spent half a day, he had searched less than ten percent of this vast city, demonstrating its immense size. Such an opportunity was rare, and this place held such immense benefits, so he naturally couldn't miss it.

Just as Lu Ye was about to redouble his efforts and continue searching, a wave of spiritual energy suddenly emanated from afar. Lu Ye looked up and saw continuous flashes of light and surging spiritual energy in that direction. That direction was precisely where Ying Wuji's team was located.

Under attack? Lu Ye frowned. He and Yiyi had been searching for half a day without seeing a single soul. What could Ying Wuji's team have encountered? It couldn't possibly be people from the Vast Sky Alliance attacking. This area was considered part of Myriad Demons Ridge's territory, near Lonemountain City. The closest Vast Sky Alliance pass was Azure Flame Mountain Pass, and apart from Nian Yuexian, there were hardly any other cultivators there. And Nian Yuexian, a dignified Divine Sea Realm cultivator, would naturally not come all the way here to kill a group of Cloud River Realm cultivators.

Filled with suspicion and unsure what was happening over there, Lu Ye quickly sent a message to Yiyi, asking for her location, and immediately rushed towards her. In a short while, he found Yiyi and Amber, and Lu Ye quickly put Amber back into his spirit beast pouch.

Just as he was about to rush over and rendezvous with Ying Wuji's team, a sudden, massive hum resonated, followed by the earth trembling violently. Above his head, gravel sifted down.

Lu Ye stood suspended in the air, looking down. He saw that in the ruined city below, the crisscrossing trenches, through which hot lava flowed, had completely boiled. Numerous bubbles burst, and lava splattered everywhere. Numerous stone houses collapsed one after another, creating an impression that the world itself was collapsing.

Gazing at the numerous crisscrossing trenches, Lu Ye suddenly realized something was amiss. He quickly ascended, flying to a higher point, and looked around. His pupils involuntarily constricted. At this height, he finally realized what was wrong.

The crisscrossing trenches, spread throughout the entire underground city, were interconnected. These countless trenches were in fact the foundational elements constructing a grand formation, and the lava flowing in the trenches was the energy source for the grand formation's operation. He hadn't noticed this before, mainly because the city was too vast to see its full layout. Furthermore, who would have thought that such a city secretly concealed a grand formation?

What kind of formation is this? Lu Ye fixed his gaze, trying to match it with the vast amount of formation knowledge in his mind. Soon, the name of a grand formation appeared in his mind.

Eight Extremes Demon Sealing Formation!

The grand formation hidden within the city below bore a seventy percent resemblance to the Eight Extremes Demon Sealing Formation. However, considering its ancient age and the many changes in formation paths over time, the formation below should be an ancient version of the Eight Extremes Demon Sealing Formation. This formation was extremely complex to set up, so even Lu Ye had never set it up before, as he had no need for it. The core of this formation lay in the character 'seal'; it naturally possessed a sealing and suppressing effect.

What was this formation sealing? And judging by the current situation, even after many years, this formation was still operational because the ceaselessly flowing lava within it continuously provided energy for its operation. Regardless of what this formation was sealing, the situation was not good. Perhaps due to years of disrepair, or perhaps due to their various actions since arriving, the grand formation showed signs of collapsing. Regardless of what this formation was sealing, once the grand formation collapsed, it would inevitably be revealed.

What had Ying Wuji's team encountered? There was no time to ponder further. Lu Ye turned and flew towards the entrance. This was a place of trouble; it was not wise to linger.

However, just as he made his move, the lava in the trenches below suddenly erupted, and columns of lava soared skyward, reaching a hundred zhang high. The direction of the entrance was completely submerged by the rising lava, no longer visible.

"Brother Niu!" Ying Wuji's voice came from not far away, sounding somewhat panicked. Lu Ye turned his head and looked, seeing Ying Wuji leading a few people fleeing awkwardly towards him. Behind them, a group of humanoid figures followed. Flames blazed on the surfaces of those humanoid figures. Their forms twisted and shifted, and as they pursued, they continuously shot out fiery blasts, making Ying Wuji and his team utterly miserable. What had just engaged Ying Wuji's team must have been these things.