This Red Cloud Grand Array had a total of seven layers of curtains, each with its own power. Layer upon layer overlapped, with thunder and fire complementing each other, and its might was extremely formidable.
After Liu Bai activated the array, vast amounts of red rain drifted down from the canopy above. The moment this red light rain spread out, it immediately formed a series of thunderous booms as dense as strings of beads, while clusters of blazing flames descended from the sky.
At the same time, the Azure Lotus Sword Array was activated. Azure sword light swept across the heavens, and earth shaking sword cries resounded through the world.
Then, the figure flicked a finger. The boundless azure light converged and transformed into a gigantic Azure Lotus sword that pierced through heaven and earth, charging straight toward Liu Bai's Red Cloud Grand Array.
It had to be said that the power of the Azure Lotus Sword Array was terrifying. The sea of crimson flames was shattered through a layer almost instantly.
However, the Red Cloud Grand Array possessed seven layers of curtains, so Liu Bai was not overly worried for the moment. With a change of hand seals, he immediately activated the second layer. The flames filling the sky transformed into divine thunder, striking the Azure Lotus sword like a continuous rain of beads.
Although this layer still failed to stop the advance of the Azure Lotus sword, it greatly depleted its power. At this moment, the sword had already begun to dim.
Thus it went on. The second layer, the third layer, the fourth layer.
All the way until the seventh layer, with only a single layer remaining between the Azure Lotus sword and Liu Bai.
As if expending its final strength, the Azure Lotus sword ultimately failed to break through the seventh curtain. At the instant it collided with the boundless red clouds, it exploded right before Liu Bai's eyes, violently tearing apart the surrounding space.
Puchi.
The shockwaves ravaged the heavens and earth. Liu Bai's body was blasted away in a sorry state, and when he landed, he carved a deep ravine into the ground.
Liu Bai leapt out of the ravine. Obvious traces of blood stained his body, clearly the result of being injured by sword energy during the explosion of the Azure Lotus sword.
However, the powerful recovery ability surrounding Liu Bai restored these superficial injuries in the blink of an eye. Even the sword energy that had invaded his body was dissolved by the radiance of the Ice Jade Divine Lotus.
"I forcibly enhanced the power of the Red Cloud Grand Array using the realm of the Void Heart Eye, yet in the end I only barely managed to block the opponent's normal performance. It seems the level of that Azure Lotus Sword Array is higher than my Red Cloud Grand Array."
Still, he had managed to block it this time. Next, it would depend on what the opponent intended to do, whether to continue the array duel or announce that he had cleared the stage.
"The first array. The challenger wins."
A strand of consciousness transmitted into Liu Bai's mind.
"The second array. Dispel the array."
As the words dispel the array fell, thousands of spiritual seals appeared around the figure in an instant, and a grand array enveloped the area.
"Damn it. Instant array casting?"
Liu Bai was shocked. Even with his current attainment in the Dao of arrays, he could at most instantly cast a Fifth-Rank array.
Yet the array set up by that figure was definitely not limited to the Fifth-Rank. It was even comparable in level to the Azure Lotus Sword Array, likely a Seventh-Rank grand array.
Dispel the array. As the name implied, Liu Bai had to personally unravel the array before him.
This step was familiar to any spiritual array master. Regardless of how high the level of the array was, the method of dispelling arrays followed the same path. One needed to locate the core, sort out the veins, and then dismantle the array along those veins.
The difference between dispelling an array and breaking an array lay in the fact that the former could not involve violent destruction and required completely dismantling the array itself, while the latter had no such restrictions and allowed any means necessary to destroy the array.
The difficulty of these two approaches was entirely different.
As for Liu Bai's earlier encounter with the incomplete Nine Heavens Locking Dragon Array, where he directly seized control of the array core and turned it to his own use, that was yet another approach altogether.
Thus, the Dao of spiritual arrays was equally profound, and battles between spirit array masters were far from simply smashing others with arrays.
Looking at the light curtain that had already taken shape, Liu Bai took a deep breath and stepped forward, slowly placing both hands upon the light curtain.
An array could be dispelled from outside, which was safer, as mistakes would not trigger attacks from the array. Alternatively, one could enter the array, making it easier to locate the array core and even use the shortcut of actively triggering the array.
Each method had its own advantages and disadvantages. It all depended on the choice of the one dispelling the array.
Liu Bai could not determine the exact power of the array before him, but he could be certain that it was an Earth Grade high level array, stronger than all arrays he currently possessed. Therefore, he chose the more cautious approach.
This process was somewhat slow. Liu Bai fully applied all of his understanding of the Dao of arrays, truly exhausting every effort.
Finally, after consuming more than half a day, the light curtain before Liu Bai began to gradually dissipate.
"Huff."
Letting out a long breath, Liu Bai raised a hand and wiped the sweat from his brow.
Although the process appeared simple, the strain on his mind had been immense. He had nearly failed in the end, but his experience in cracking the Nine Heavens Locking Dragon Array provided inspiration, allowing him to grasp the sole flaw in this grand array and dismantle it completely.
"This array shares many similarities with the Nine Heavens Locking Dragon Array. It feels as though it was derived from it."
The Nine Heavens Locking Dragon Array had been incomplete and activated through array flags, so even though Liu Bai had cracked it, he could not replicate it.
However, this time, while dismantling this nameless array, he gained immensely. He had already grasped most of the array's structure. Given enough time to deduce it in his mind, he might well be able to replicate it.
Unfortunately, time was limited, so he could only set it aside for now and leave it for the future.
"The second array. The challenger wins."
"Congratulations to the challenger for passing this stage of the trial."
A dizzying spin followed, and Liu Bai once again arrived in a place identical to the previous stone chamber. On the altar before him, there was once more a scroll.
Joy appeared on Liu Bai's face. It seemed he would obtain another powerful array.
He just did not know what level this array would be. After expending so much effort, if it turned out to be merely an ordinary Seventh-Rank spiritual array, that would be somewhat disappointing.
"Actually, the Azure Lotus Sword Array would be nice. Or even that trapping array afterward would do."
Muttering softly, Liu Bai stepped forward and took the scroll in his hand.
"Array Compilation. Volume One."
A string of ancient characters appeared before Liu Bai on the scroll.
Immediately afterward, a series of system notification sounds rang out by his ears, nearly deafening him.
"An array compilation. There must be quite a lot of arrays inside. No wonder the system notifications sound like they are going crazy."
Liu Bai rubbed his ears, though it did not really help.
Extending his spiritual sense, Liu Bai roughly browsed the contents recorded in the scroll, and the smile on his face could no longer be restrained.
"It truly is a grand compilation of arrays. There are actually eighty one spiritual arrays inside. There are even minor spiritual arrays, and each array comes with detailed analysis and annotations."
Not to mention someone like Liu Bai with his advantages. Even a complete novice with no prior array knowledge, as long as they were not an idiot, could embark on the path of a spirit array master after obtaining this compilation.
If it fell into the hands of array geniuses like Mu Chen or Ling Xi, then this single volume alone would be enough to let them rise as formidable figures in their own right.
"Eighty one spiritual arrays, starting from minor spiritual arrays up to Seventh-Rank spiritual arrays. Each level contains ten arrays, and it even includes a single Eighth-Rank spiritual array."
Sixth-Rank spiritual arrays are Human Grade grand arrays, Seventh-Rank spiritual arrays are Earth Grade grand arrays, while Eighth-Rank spiritual arrays are Heaven Grade grand arrays.
Each of the Heaven, Earth and Human Grades is further divided into low, middle, and high levels, perfectly corresponding to the nine Sovereign grades. A spiritual array master who has grasped these three grades and nine levels of grand arrays is known as a Spiritual Array Grandmaster.
"This Array Formation Compendium is only the first volume, yet it already contains every array level a Spiritual Array Grandmaster can master. Then could the second volume be Spiritual Array Scholar level arrays? And what about the third volume, Spiritual Array Ancestor Level arrays?"
At this moment, Liu Bai's eyes had already turned slightly red.
Looking at the teleportation array that had already formed on the altar, Liu Bai did not hesitate and stepped straight into it. He was extremely eager to know what the assessment of the third trial would be.
However
"The challenger's array cultivation realm does not meet the requirements. Entry failed."
A flash of light passed, and before Liu Bai could recover from the words that had just appeared in his mind, he found himself once again standing in front of the small mountain.
At the same time, Huang Xingshi had already been waiting here for who knew how long. Upon seeing Liu Bai appear, he immediately turned into a streak of light and rushed over.
"Lord Liu, you finally came out. I knew that with your array cultivation realm, you would definitely be able to pass more trials and obtain even more rewards."
"Oh right, Lord Liu, may I ask how many trials you passed?"
The corner of Liu Bai's eye twitched slightly.
"Two trials."
Huang Xingshi fell silent.
Two trials This was exactly the same as himself.
"That should not be right…" Huang Xingshi muttered inwardly, feeling that his flattery had landed squarely on the wrong spot.
With his own limited ability, he had managed to pass the second trial as well, but he could not even enter the third one. Could it be that the difficulty of the third trial had increased by an enormous margin compared to the first two?
"Well then… it must be that the third trial is simply too difficult. Lord Liu, there is no need to mind it. With proper preparation next time, it should not be a problem."
Liu Bai shook his head again.
"No. I was unable to enter the third trial."
Huang Xingshi fell silent once more.
'Brother, this is really not how a conversation is supposed to go. How am I even supposed to respond now?' Huang Xingshi thought in utter despair.
"All right, let us return. There is still a great battle waiting for us."
Liu Bai waved his hand and took the lead, turning into a streak of light and soaring into the sky.
Huang Xingshi's face immediately turned bitter upon hearing this. He truly did not want to oppose the Demonic Lightning Sect. However, now that he was a surrendered general, if he dared to hold back in the coming battle, he had no idea what Liu Bai would do to him.
"This person has terrifying talent in Spiritual arrays, and his cultivation and battle strength are both at the level of a monster. Following him might not actually be a bad thing."
Huang Xingshi silently comforted himself before hurriedly following after him.
Five days later, when the encirclement army of the Great Heavenlaw Domain stepped into the territory ruled by the Demonic Lightning Sect, they did not encounter the expected resistance. What surprised everyone even more was that all the cities along the way had completely withdrawn their defenses.
This did not surprise Liu Bai at all.
From the moment they displayed an overwhelming momentum capable of sweeping everything aside, the Demonic Lightning Sect had already understood the strength and determination of the Nine Nether Palace. Moreover, there were so many surrounding forces following behind them.
If they were to disperse their strength, then the Demonic Lightning Sect would truly have no chance at all.
At present, they had only lost a single third grade Sovereign level deputy sect master, and their overall strength had not suffered much damage. Therefore, as long as they concentrated all their forces, it was not impossible for them to put up a fight.
"It seems they plan to have a decisive battle with us beneath Demonic Lightning Mountain."
Jiu You smiled faintly. Her long and narrow beautiful eyes were filled with confidence.
"That works out perfectly. I was worried they might just pack up everything and run. If that happened, would we not suffer a massive loss?"
Liu Bai's words were even more arrogant than hers.
Jiu You let out a light laugh. Previously, she had not expected Liu Bai to break through earlier than herself.
Now that both of their strengths had risen to a new level, taking down the Demonic Lightning Sect would be nothing more than an easy task.
"Let us go. Do not make them wait too long."
The army advanced.
In less than half a day, they had already arrived at the end of the Thunder Flame Plain. Beyond that point stood rows upon rows of pitch black mountain peaks.
It was as if two stitched together paintings met at the boundary of the two regions. To the right lay the sunlit Thunder Flame Plain, while to the left stretched a dark toned region of black mountains devoid of any lush vegetation. All that existed there was the constant resounding roar of thunder.
These thunderclaps did not come from the sky. Instead, they originated from deep underground. The rumbling thunder caused the earth itself to tremble slightly.
Deep within the mountain range, a towering black giant mountain stood between heaven and earth like a colossal figure. Its dark mountain body gave off a feeling of being utterly indestructible.
Whoosh Whoosh
When the Nine Nether Guards quietly stood before that giant mountain, behind them vast numbers of light figures swept in at high speed. In the end, they formed a fan shaped encirclement that sealed off the entire area without leaving any gaps.
"It seems the Demonic Lightning Sect is quite formidable."
Liu Bai carefully sensed the surroundings. Although the rampant lightning aura obscured much of it, he was still able to detect quite a number of powerful presences on the opposite side.
In particular, there was one aura that, purely in terms of presence, was even stronger than Jiu You who had just broken through.
"No matter how strong it is, today it will still be trampled beneath the feet of my Nine Nether Palace."
A trace of icy coldness flashed through Jiu You's beautiful eyes. Her crisp and cold voice then spread across the heaven and earth.
"You have hidden yourselves for so long already. Are you still going to keep hiding like turtles?"
"Hahaha, worthy of being Nine Nether King. Truly a heroic woman among heroes."
As Jiu You's voice fell, a thunderous roar exploded across heaven and earth. Immediately afterward, everyone saw massive lightning light erupting from Demonic Lightning Mountain.
....
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