Chapter 513: Crisis Approaches
With the surge of spiritual energy, a towering mountain began to emerge before everyone’s eyes. It appeared as elusive as a mirage, yet even more unreal. The ripples of spiritual energy made the mountain seem to fluctuate as well, its shape twisting constantly.
“Brother Long, lead the team. I’ll cover the rear. Follow Brother Long’s steps carefully and don’t step in the wrong place,” Ye Feng specifically instructed the few magical beasts. In fact, although Jin had never practiced formation magic, as a high-level ancient deity in his past life, he was familiar with most of the formations from the ancient divine realm. What lay before them was merely a simple decoy formation, which he could easily break. But the magical beasts were different—they knew nothing about formations at all.
Long Tian nodded and stepped forward. Shi Tou and the others followed, while Ye Feng stayed at the end of the group.
After Ye Feng and the others left, the remaining twenty-some people took action and entered the formation as well.
Long Tian’s mastery of formations was exceptional. In just a few breaths, they passed through the illusionary formation and arrived at the foot of the mountain where the Danquan Sect was located.
“I didn’t expect that what Danquan Sect hid wasn’t just their sect itself, but also the mountain where it was situated,” Jin said, looking around at the endless expanse of green trees.
“This place has such dense spiritual energy,” Shi Tou remarked differently.
“To cultivate pills, Danquan Sect chose its location at the exit of a fire vein. The fire-type spiritual energy, after being filtered through the pill furnace, emits pure spiritual energy,” Jin recalled more information about Danquan Sect from his memories.
“So the entire mountain is a volcano?” Ye Feng raised his eyebrows slightly. “But with such lush trees, it seems the volcano hasn’t erupted in a long time. Could it be that the main pill-making cauldron wasn’t taken away by the Danquan Sect members during relocation?”
“It’s also possible they sealed the volcano with a formation to avoid revealing their location,” Long Tian added after pondering for a moment.
“Anyway, once we enter Danquan Sect’s headquarters, everything will be revealed. Let’s head to the top of the mountain first. There should be many formation barriers along the way—caution is key.” Ye Feng realized that due to the numerous formations and barriers on the mountain, his mental energy couldn’t penetrate far, and his vision could only cover a few meters at most, and what he saw might not even be real.
Long Tian led the way, with Ye Feng covering the rear.
Along the way, there were endless arrays and restrictions. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the group had only advanced a couple of hundred meters. They dared not be careless at all, as these arrays and restrictions were set up by the people of Danquan Sect. After all, they were ancient restrictions, and those who created them had much higher cultivation levels than Ye Feng and the others. It would be fine if they weren’t triggered, but once activated, they could put everyone in mortal danger.
Ye Feng frowned as he watched the restrictions and arrays behind him slowly restoring themselves. If they didn’t break through quickly enough, they might encounter the restrictions and arrays further ahead. However, Ye Feng and the others didn’t need to worry about this. Although their progress in breaking through was slow, the restoration speed of the arrays and restrictions behind them was even slower. In terms of expertise in arrays, only Ye Feng in the entire Divine Realm could compare to him; no one could break through faster than him. Moreover, Ye Feng and the others didn’t have to worry about the restoration of the arrays and restrictions behind them either. If their progress ahead wasn’t fast enough, Ye Feng could always break through those restored arrays and restrictions again.
“So many restrictions and arrays—how much manpower and time would it take to set them up one by one?” Ye Feng shook his head helplessly.
“These minor restrictions and arrays are automatically generated using a method of derivation,” Jin immediately explained. “In the ancient Divine Realm, there were many array masters who specifically created array scrolls and restriction scrolls for sale. Using special techniques, they compressed the arrays and restrictions inside the scrolls. Once the scroll was torn, those arrays and restrictions would take shape on the spot and spread over a certain area. In fact, creating them is quite simple—just using some of the most basic arrays and inputting them into the scrolls one by one, without the need for combination. With your current level of array mastery, it wouldn’t be difficult to input tens of thousands of arrays and restrictions in a day.”
“Then those scrolls must be expensive, right? How many arrays can they hold?” Ye Feng couldn’t help but ask.
“Scrolls aren’t cheap; even the cheapest ones are roughly as expensive as top-grade ancient divine artifacts. The cheapest type can store a hundred restriction arrays, slightly better ones can hold five hundred. Even better ones, which are considered mid-grade, can accommodate a thousand arrays, and their price is about three to five times that of top-grade ancient divine artifacts. Top-grade scrolls can hold between three thousand and five thousand arrays, and their price is more than ten times higher. Those made from the finest materials can store tens of thousands of basic small arrays. Such scrolls are of top quality, and there are only a handful of them in the entire ancient divine realm. Moreover, these scrolls are usually used to create large-scale arrays like sect protective mountain arrays, and only top-tier sects can afford them.” Jin’s explanation made Ye Feng frown slightly.
He had already expected the scrolls to be expensive, but they were even more costly than he had imagined. Ye Feng, who had initially planned to buy a few to try them out, immediately abandoned that idea.
Long Tian continued to decipher the arrays, and as he grew more proficient, his speed improved. In fact, the arrays and restrictions here weren’t difficult at all—mostly basic arrays and restrictions from the ancient divine realm. For ordinary people in the divine realm, it might take some time to decipher them, but for those like Long Tian and Ye Feng with expertise in array cultivation, it wasn’t hard.
The reason Long Tian was slow at first was due to caution, fearing a mistake that might put everyone in danger. Many of the subsequent arrays were even repetitive of the earlier ones, so Long Tian could easily decipher them. After practicing for a while, he had already understood the level of the arrays and restrictions here, so there was no need to be so cautious anymore. Thus, in the time it took for a second cup of tea, Ye Feng and the others advanced more than a thousand meters.
Ye Feng also noticed that the recovery speed of the arrays and restrictions remained unchanged. During this time, they had left the arrays and restrictions behind them far behind. This gave him some relief.
However, not long after, Bai Yiyi in front of Ye Feng suddenly turned her head, frowning slightly. “Lord, there are several magical beasts approaching us.”
“What?” Ye Feng was slightly stunned. He had thought about this question when he was at the foot of the mountain. With such abundant spiritual energy, even a magical beast with little cultivation might easily reach the level of an Ancestral God after hundreds of millions of years. But later, upon discovering the numerous arrays and restrictions here, he set that idea aside. After all, in a place filled with such restrictions and arrays, magical beasts simply couldn’t survive. So when Bai Yiyi mentioned that a magical beast was approaching, he couldn’t help but freeze. “Can your mental power detect the situation around here?”
“My mental power is severely suppressed; it can only cover a range of less than a thousand meters. I can’t detect areas with arrays and restrictions—only the gaps between them,” Bai Yiyi explained.
“What kind of magical beast is it? What’s its cultivation level?” Ye Feng frowned slightly. If attacked in such a place, it would be easy to trigger the restrictions and arrays, which was not something he wanted to see.
“I can’t recognize it. Its aura is extremely powerful, seemingly beyond the level of an Ancestral God. It’s very likely a true Saint-class being.” Upon hearing this, everyone’s expression darkened.