Chapter 838: Absolutely Impossible!
The swirling mists of Baiwu Mountain Valley loomed ahead, thick and unnatural, carrying a suffocating chill.
"Shen Anyu, this valley is a death trap." Murong Jieyu stepped forward, her delicate features tightening with apprehension as she saw him approaching the fog line.
"The day before yesterday, I watched from the shadows as the men from the Tieshan Martial Arts School marched inside," she continued, her voice trembling slightly. "Barely a stick of incense had burned before they stumbled out. They went completely mad before my eyes, their flesh and bones crumbling into fine dust under the broad daylight."
A visible shudder ran through her slender frame at the memory. Standing nearby, Liu Ruyan and Zhong Lingyin wore matching expressions of grim solemnity. They had witnessed the same horrifying spectacle yesterday. If Shen Anyu hadn't been so adamant about coming here, they would have given this cursed place a wide berth.
"If it's spirit herbs you need," Murong Jieyu offered, biting her lower lip in hesitation before meeting his gaze, "I managed to harvest some near the outer perimeter earlier. Many of them have aged for over five hundred years."
Those very herbs were the reason the Tieshan martial artists had been hunting her down in the first place; she had simply claimed the prize before they could. Yet, if such priceless treasures grew merely at the entrance, the depths of the valley undoubtedly held unimaginable wealth. The risk, however, was simply too astronomical.
Shen Anyu glanced at her, a faint, surprised smile touching his lips. "Keep them for yourself," he said softly.
He turned his attention back to the churning white fog. "This valley isn't just a natural hazard. A cultivator laid down a deep formation here. The core is a Yin Wind Spirit Devouring Array, layered with several complex illusion and maze formations. Even a Martial Arts Land Immortal would find nothing but a gruesome end if they dared to step inside."
A Martial Arts Land Immortal would surely die?
Murong Jieyu's breath hitched, a cold dread washing over her. She had originally planned to invite her Senior Sister, Pei Changli—a renowned Female Sword Immortal at the Human-Heaven realm—to cautiously explore the perimeter later. The valley was dangerous, yes, but the opportunities hidden within were too tempting to ignore. To hear that even a Land Immortal would face certain death was utterly staggering.
Shen Anyu let out a dry chuckle. The late master of the Tieshan Martial Arts School, Tieshan himself, had delusionally planned to rob Murong Jieyu of her herbs, break through to the Human-Heaven realm, and conquer this very valley. The fool had no idea that without a deep understanding of immortal dao formations, even a true Land Immortal would have their body scoured by the yin winds until nothing but ash remained.
...
"Master Chen, is that Yin Wind Spirit Devouring Array truly that terrifying?"
Lin Qingqing's small, childlike face tilted upward, her dark eyes wide with astonishment. To think that even a Martial Arts Land Immortal would perish upon entering.
"It is merely a seventh-grade Golden Core array. Barely worth mentioning," Chen Yuhua replied, her tone flat and utterly indifferent. She stood tall, the voluminous folds of her robes doing little to hide the perfect, sweeping curves of her long legs and slender waist. Yet, beneath her aloof, disdainful aura, no one would dare harbor a single impure thought.
In the twilight of her previous life, during her final, apocalyptic battle, she had used the very sea of stars as her formation plate and collapsed black holes as her formation flags. She had laid down the Heaven Punishing Killing Array—a super-grade immortal formation that had made even descending True Immortals bleed and suffer.
Compared to that cosmic violence, a petty seventh-grade array didn't even warrant a second glance. At her peak, a single look would have shattered it into a million pieces.
"Then where are we going now, Master Chen?" Lin Qingqing asked innocently, skipping to keep up. Weren't they supposed to venture into the valley to harvest its hidden opportunities? Why were they walking in the exact opposite direction, leaving the valley—and Shen Anyu's group—further behind with every step?
"To gather materials. I need to refine a set of Formation Flags," Chen Yuhua answered calmly.
In this reincarnated life, she only retained a minuscule fraction of her former cultivation, currently sitting at the twelfth layer of the Qi Refining realm. To dismantle the Yin Wind Spirit Devouring Array cleanly, she required the proper tools.
"Oh! Wait, will Handsome Brother and the others wander inside and get hurt by the yin winds?" Lin Qingqing suddenly gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
Chen Yuhua's elegant brows knit together in a slight frown. Unbidden, the memory of those unbearable, muffled sounds echoing from the wooden house last night surfaced in her mind. She had been half-tempted to obliterate the structure with a single slap. Still, Shen Anyu was the chosen man of Yu Guannan, her closest friend in this life. If he died here, Guannan would be devastated.
"I carved a warning into the stone near the entrance," Chen Yuhua said, her voice cool and measured. "I explicitly stated that it is a Yin Wind Spirit Devouring Array, highly lethal, and that even a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment realm would perish inside. As long as he has eyes and a shred of sense, he won't step foot in there."
She had done her part. If he chose to throw his life away despite the warning, it was no fault of hers. He was a grown man; she couldn't exactly tie him to her waist sash to keep him safe.
Lin Qingqing exhaled a long breath, her dark eyes sparkling with admiration. "Master Chen thinks of everything! You truly predict things like a god." She paused, tilting her head. "But... what if Handsome Brother actually knows how to break the array?"
Chen Yuhua let out a soft, dismissive scoff, not even bothering to answer.
The array might be a trivial seventh-grade construct to her, but in this secular world, it was an impossible wall of death. Even in the proper Cultivation World, it would require at least a Golden Core formation master to unravel. Shen Anyu? Breaking it? The notion was absolutely impossible.
...
"Brother Shen, look. Someone carved words into the stone here," Zhong Lingyin called out, tracing the deep grooves etched into the earth just before the valley's entrance. The calligraphy lacked any soft, feminine grace; instead, it was bold, sharp, and imposing.
Murong Jieyu leaned in close, reading the harsh strokes aloud. "'This is the Yin Wind Spirit Devouring Array, a seventh-grade Golden Core grand array. Martial Arts Land Immortals and Immortal Dao cultivators in the Foundation Establishment realm will surely die upon entering. If you do not wish to perish, leave quickly.'"
"Heavens... this must be a warning left behind by some esteemed senior," Murong Jieyu murmured. She, Liu Ruyan, and Zhong Lingyin immediately turned their anxious gazes toward Shen Anyu.
Shen Anyu recognized the tone instantly. It was Chen Yuhua's handiwork. However, armed with the Heavenly Venerate's memory inheritance—courtesy of his Divine Duplication Card—he felt no fear toward a mere Yin Wind Spirit Devouring Array.
, he had already exchanged points within the System for a set of top-grade spirit artifact Inverted Five Elements Formation Flags. With the aid of those flags, an abandoned, unmanned array couldn't scratch him. The difference in lethal power between a grand array actively controlled by its master and one left to run on its own could be five, even ten times over.
"Step back a little," Shen Anyu instructed, his voice calm and steady.
Hearing his confident tone, the three women exchanged worried glances but obediently retreated a safe distance.
Shen Anyu extended his right hand. Seven miniature flags, barely an inch long, materialized above his palm, spinning rapidly. A brilliant flash of spiritual light erupted from them as they instantly expanded, growing to over three meters in length and swirling around his body in a tight, humming orbit.
"Go."
He issued the command with a soft, effortless breath. The seven top-grade spirit artifact flags—perfectly aligned with the natural laws of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Yin, and Yang—shot forward, piercing violently into the invisible void surrounding the valley entrance.
Instantly, a massive, unseen ripple violently swept through the thick white fog of Baiwu Mountain Valley.
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