Chapter 661: The Array Recognizes Its Master

The process of the crystal giant recognizing its master lasted about several dozen breaths. Without the strength of an immortal-level Yuan Shen, one would surely not be able to endure it. Fortunately, Su Che had taken the Da Luo Jiu Zhuan Golden Elixir in advance and incorporated his own aggressive enhancement methods during the transformation of his Yuan Shen. His current Yuan Shen strength was far greater than that of a newly ascended “Human Immortal.”

Thus, although the process of recognition was somewhat sudden, it passed smoothly without any danger.

After recognition, a series of informations naturally appeared in Su Che’s mind. He then learned that this crystal giant was the control core of the array guarding the elixir treasury:

“When the 136 floating crystal stones are scattered, they are not only used to display elixirs. Moreover, the protective array is in a maze state, merely trapping intruders within it without any offensive capabilities. However, once it transforms into the current crystal giant, the array can be adjusted into a lethal array…”

Upon receiving Su Che’s explanation, Lao He immediately asked, “So, can we use this lethal array to kill those two bastards outside?”

“The two bastards” referred to Lin Jiu and Guang Qi. Lao He assumed that, if nothing went wrong, they were still trapped in the maze. Although the master’s cultivation level had now reached that of an immortal, relying solely on his own abilities, it would still be impossible to defeat those two.

“I can’t be sure yet,” Su Che replied in his mind. “I still don’t fully understand the power of this array, but we definitely need to give it a try.”

Su Che could guess that Lin Jiu and the others, trapped in the array for dozens of days, must be extremely enraged. Once they saw him, they would most likely attack viciously.

It was now down to a fight to the death.

The ten-zhang-tall crystal giant stood silently in front of Su Che, saying nothing. After all, it was just an array hub, not a true intelligent being with real consciousness.

Lao He asked again, “Can we take this giant with us?”

“Yes,” Su Che replied. “As I said, everything valuable will be taken, including this protective array. It has a name: Qian Yuan Shuang Ji Xuan Array.”

“That’s good…”

Lao He seemed never satisfied. His detection abilities scanned the treasury several times more but found no other valuable items. He continued to mutter, “Is that all? Nothing else?”

“This is an elixir treasury!”

Su Che smiled inwardly. “Being able to obtain over a hundred kinds of elixirs that are extremely precious even in the Immortal Realm, one should know when to be satisfied. Besides, this treasure trove is part of the formation itself, so we must take it with us as well.”
The treasure trove itself could be stored in the Immortal Prison. Even if there were any valuable items yet undiscovered, Old Hei, who was obsessed with wealth, would search them out completely, leaving nothing behind.
“Let’s go take a look.”
Sure that there was nothing else of note in this cave, Su Che simply thought of it and vanished along with the crystal giant.
Outside the cave was the location of the “Qianyuan Dual-Pole Mysterious Formation.” Since the main control hub of the formation had recognized its master, Su Che could move freely within it, with everything clearly within his awareness.
As soon as he emerged, Su Che could clearly “see” Lin Jiu and the other person hundreds of feet away—one walking back and forth while the other sat in meditation.
There was already a distance of dozens of feet between them.
Don’t underestimate these few dozen feet; for those trapped, it’s like being worlds apart, utterly unreachable.
Su Che smiled inwardly. It was obvious that after being trapped in the formation for fifty days, not only had they failed to find a way out, but they had also gotten separated.
Completely separated!
Based on the layout of the formation, Lin Jiu was likely in an endless desert, seemingly without an end in sight. Even a supreme Immortal, capable of flying millions of miles in an instant, couldn’t escape the torment of this desert.
Guang Qi, on the other hand, was faced with an endless expanse of water. There was nothing but water!
Flying upward, the sky seemed infinitely high; diving downward, one could never reach the bottom.
Even though they both knew that whether it was a desert or an ocean, it was all just an illusion, as long as one couldn’t break the maze, these illusions would seem more real than reality!
“Kill Lin Jiu first!”
Su Che sneered inwardly. “There’s no doubt about that.”
As a cold smile appeared on Su Che’s face, Lin Jiu, trapped in the desert illusion, suddenly felt a chill rise from within him for no reason.
As a supreme Immortal, sometimes he could sense the hardships that awaited him.
“Tian Yu, you little brat! Are you the one behind this?” Lin Jiu shouted at Tian Yu with a fierce expression. “Don’t let me see you, or I’ll kill you on the spot—no second chances!”

“This guy is quite sensitive; he can even sense my killing intent,” Su Che thought to himself with a smile, then said to Lao He, “It’s a shame to simply kill him. But we still don’t have the ability to capture him alive. Even with the power of the formation, it’s impossible.”
“Don’t even think about capturing him alive.”
Lao He shook his head and said, “As a Xuanxian, he’s at least three major realms and nine minor levels above you. Even if we manage to trap him in the Immortal Prison, it will be hard to subdue him, let alone enslave his soul. Capturing him would only bring trouble.”
“Yes, it’s already quite good if we can kill him inside the formation.”
Su Che nodded in agreement.
“But…”
An idea struck Lao He, and he asked, “Since this formation already recognizes you as its master, why can’t we bring the entire Xuan Formation into the Immortal Prison and use both the formation’s power and the Immortal Prison’s strength to suppress them?”
“No!”
Su Che replied in his mind, “Although the Qianyuan Dual-Pole Xuan Formation is powerful, it has one limitation: when there are living beings trapped inside, it cannot be moved or closed.”
“Oh, I see,” Lao He nodded.
A formation that’s active certainly cannot be brought into the Immortal Prison, even if it already recognizes Su Che as its master. Especially for such a top-tier Xuan Formation, its active state creates an infinitely vast virtual space, essentially simulating a large universe.
Only an infinitely large maze space can trap a Xuanxian-level powerhouse.
No matter how strong Su Che is, he can’t bring something this large into the Immortal Prison. To do so, it must be in a completely closed state.
The closed state of such a top-tier Xuan Formation might be smaller than a speck of dust.
It can be infinitely large or infinitely small, and it can be either a benevolent maze or a ruthless killing formation—this is one of the major characteristics of the ‘Dual-Pole Formation’.
At this moment, Su Che and Lin Jiu were only a few hundred feet apart, but Su Che could see every move Lin Jiu made, while Lin Jiu couldn’t sense Su Che’s exact location at all. He could only vaguely guess through his own intuitions as a cultivator that the boy might use the formation’s power against him.
Trapped for fifty days, Lin Jiu’s mind surely hadn’t been idle. While struggling to find a way out, he had also considered that the opportunities Su Che had obtained likely included this formation as well. In that case, this formation would become his powerful weapon…
“Tianyu, if you’ve got guts, let me out! I’ll slap you flat—do you believe it?”

Lin Jiu roared almost frantically, though in reality his mind was extremely clear—such shouting was merely a test. Sure enough, his guess turned out to be correct; he had indeed hit the mark. Su Che’s voice echoed throughout the desert-like space, making it impossible to determine its exact location: “Not bad. Slapping me flat would be very easy for you—I fully believe that. Conversely, if I wanted to slap you, it would take quite a bit of effort. I can guess that too. So, I’ll do my best.” “Tian Yu, if you’ve got the guts, show yourself! Let me see how I deal with you…” Floating high above the desert, Lin Jiu screamed desperately, yet his heart was filled with extreme caution: “So this brat really controls the formation! This is troublesome!” Hundreds of feet away, Su Che stood on top of the crystal giant, issuing commands mentally: “Activate the Yellow Wind Soul-Annihilating Formation!” Although the crystal giant wouldn’t speak in response, at least seventy-two of the 136 colored crystals making up its body began to emit a earthy yellow glow. This indicated that the Yellow Wind Killing Formation had been activated under its control. Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh… Inside the desert space, Lin Jiu immediately sensed sand and dust rising from all directions as fierce winds blew. Though he hadn’t yet suffered any actual attacks, it was easy to guess that Su Che must have activated some kind of deadly formation. Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh… Dozens of tornadoes formed in an instant and rushed toward him. Lin Jiu then saw that at the top of each tornado was the shape of a giant monster. These monsters had disproportionately large mouths and extremely fat bellies, clearly indicating that these tornadoes were formed by their frenzied devouring. “Yellow Wind Soul-Annihilating Formation!” Lin Jiu, who had some expertise in formations, immediately recognized this type of killing formation. Of course, recognizing it didn’t mean he could set it up or easily counter it. Swish! Swish! Swish! Not daring to slack off, Lin Jiu immediately activated one of the Three Thousand Great Defenses, deploying it at full strength this time. Three blue light shields appeared instantly, rotating steadily around him, protecting him completely. On the other side, Su Che could observe everything through the crystal giant as if he were there in person, though he only had a superficial understanding of the power of the “Yellow Wind Soul-Annihilating Formation.” In the Immortal Realm, this formation wasn’t considered a top-tier killing formation, but it was still fairly advanced.

Moreover, the power of the same killing array is also influenced by factors such as the controller’s mastery of array art, experience, and cultivation level. Since Su Che was quite poor in these aspects, he could only rely on the automatic operation of the crystal giant to control the changes in the array. If the crystal giant is compared to a mechanical puppet, its ability to control arrays is certainly far less flexible than that of a true master of array art, which is something unavoidable. As Su Che had said earlier, whether he could use the Qianyuan Dual-Pole Mysterious Array to eliminate Lin Jiu and the other person depended only on doing his best and giving it a try…