Chapter 775: Heaven Dao Emerges from Seclusion

After receiving news about Shi Xuan, Zhen Wu and the others ordered all the powerful figures from the human faction in the Meteor River to retreat to the higher planes. Ye Feng, along with eleven others including Long Tian, spent several days searching every corner of the Meteor River area. That guy Shi Xuan was extremely cunning—after each massacre, he would leave quickly. Even without the powerful human fighters, he didn’t stop killing; instead, he grew more and more enthusiastic about it. Ye Feng and his group were always just one step away from catching up, which frustrated them greatly.

It was then that Ye Feng and his companions finally received good news: Heaven Dao had emerged from seclusion. This brought them some relief. Although they had heard earlier that Heaven Dao had no idea how to make a breakthrough, after all, he was cultivating inside a forbidden treasure, which granted him a time acceleration of trillions of times. One day outside meant over 2.7 billion years inside the treasure. So, just a few days outside could equate to hundreds of millions of years inside. A breakthrough wasn’t surprising. There was joy, but not much shock—mostly relief. If Heaven Dao reached another level, Shi Xuan shouldn’t be such a big problem anymore.

Ye Feng and his group immediately rushed back to the human stronghold. The moment Ye Feng saw Heaven Dao, he frowned. Although Heaven Dao’s aura had become much stronger, even surpassing theirs, Ye Feng knew clearly that he hadn’t reached another level. His state actually resembled the one described by Long Tian for Shi Xuan.

He turned to look at Long Tian, who appeared deep in thought, with no sign of joy on his face. Ye Feng knew his guess was likely correct.

“You’re back?” Heaven Dao naturally knew that Ye Feng, Long Tian, and the others had noticed something, but he didn’t say much. As for Zhen Wu and the others, the huge gap in their divine powers meant they couldn’t detect any anomalies at all.

“Heaven Dao Master, could we talk in private?” Ye Feng stepped forward with a smile, then said to Long Tian, “Brother Long, come with us.”

Heaven Dao nodded and followed Ye Feng away, while Long Tian also left without showing any expression.

Seeing Ye Feng’s smile fade and his expression turn serious, Bu Xiu felt uneasy.

In the corridor outside the room, Ye Feng set up a restriction to enclose the three of them before asking, “Heaven Dao Master, during your seclusion this time…”

“It failed,” Tian Dao nodded. “Your powers have also reached level 1,000, so it’s natural you couldn’t hide it from us.”
“What happened?” Ye Feng asked further. “I feel that your power integration level is slightly higher than ours.”
“Hmm, I used some special methods to force my power integration level to 1,020. With the boost from the forbidden treasure, it could reach 1,060. But that’s my limit—there’s no way to go any higher,” Tian Dao said, his expression turning somewhat grim.
“The special methods you mentioned must come with a cost, right?” Long Tian finally spoke up, still expressionless, seemingly confident in his guess.
Without lifting his head, he took a deep breath. “The cost is that my power integration level can’t improve further. The last ring of the secret pattern will never be unlocked…”
After saying this, he seemed to lose all his strength. His lifelong goal had been to reach a higher level, but now, for the sake of the human faction and to fight Shi Xuan, he had to pay such a price.
Both Ye Feng and Long Tian fell silent.
Tian Dao shook his head with a bitter smile. “It’s a pity that even at this level, we still can’t kill Shi Xuan.”
“Among our faction right now, the ones with the highest attack power are Brother Long and Master Tian Dao. Both of you can achieve an attack effect of level 1,060. But Shi Xuan’s power integration level is already at 1,060, so it’s very difficult to kill him. Therefore, we must find a way to boost your attack power, even if it’s only temporary,” Ye Feng continued along his line of thought.
“That idea is indeed feasible,” Long Tian nodded as well. “But boosting our attack power again isn’t that simple. At our level, no more pills will work…”
“I suddenly thought of a method!” Tian Dao spoke up again. “If it’s just about boosting our attack power, it’s not hard. A ‘Enlightenment Array’ can do that.”
“Enlightenment Array?” Ye Feng and Long Tian looked at Tian Dao curiously.
“I forgot—although you two now have the same level of mastery in secret patterns as me, your understanding of arrays is still far behind mine. This Enlightenment Array is a method to boost cultivation, similar to imparting enlightenment to someone,” Tian Dao explained. “But this enlightenment is only temporary. The duration of the boost depends on how long the enlightenment lasts.”

“It sounds feasible,” Ye Feng nodded after hearing this. “Please explain it in detail to us.”
After Tian Dao’s explanation, Ye Feng and Long Tian finally understood the principle and method of operating this formation, as well as its effects. In fact, this so-called “Enlightenment Formation” involved someone outside the formation continuously transmitting their own divine powers to the strong individuals inside the formation, thereby raising their divine power levels. Since all of Ye Feng’s group members were at level 1,000, together they could raise Long Tian and Tian Dao’s divine power levels by eleven more levels. This would allow both of their attack abilities to reach level 1,071—a level sufficient to defeat Shi Xuan.
After coming up with this plan, Ye Feng gathered Luo Yan and the others and explained it to them, receiving their unanimous approval.
Tian Dao spent just a short while teaching Ye Feng and the other ten people how to set up the formation.
Subsequently, Ye Feng led Luo Yan and the others to take turns enlightening Tian Dao and Long Tian. They would enlighten Tian Dao for one day and then Long Tian for one day. In this way, while enlightening Long Tian, Tian Dao had a day to search for Shi Xuan outside, and while enlightening Tian Dao, Long Tian could go out to search for Shi Xuan as well. This allowed them to alternate their efforts while ensuring that someone was always chasing after Shi Xuan.
Days passed by, and news of deaths continued to arrive in the Meteor River, though all the victims were from other regions. Long Tian and Tian Dao still hadn’t caught up with Shi Xuan once, giving the impression that he was playing hide-and-seek with them.
An even more worrying piece of news soon arrived: people were starting to die in the outer areas of the Meteor River… Shi Xuan had fled to those outer regions…