Chapter 145: Stealing the Array, Pilfering Power

A great fire raged before Sun Lingtong, and billowing thick smoke rose into the sky.

Shouts of battle also erupted.

The Triangle-Eyed man and the Hook-Nosed man were under siege.

These were the many subordinates of Sun Lingtong whom Ning Zhuo had contacted before launching the operation.

"Lord Qi Bai!"

"He is a dignified Jin Dan; how could he possibly be killed by this kind of explosion? We had better worry about ourselves."

"Where has Han Ming gone?"

"Not long ago, the setup we left in the underground prison was triggered, and she snuck over to investigate in secret."

"Damn it! The timing couldn't be such a coincidence. This is the enemy using our own plan against us, successfully splitting our forces!"

The Triangle-Eyed man and the Hook-Nosed man communicated via voice transmission, seeing through Ning Zhuo's methods, but it was already too late.

They were heavily surrounded and mired in a bitter fight.

"Interesting, very interesting." Amidst the raging flames, Qi Bai walked out unhurriedly.

The violent explosion just now had not injured him in the slightest.

A faint golden glow constantly enveloped him, keeping him safe.

Qi Bai’s face was gloomy, his gaze locked firmly onto the Disheveled Guest: "You actually dared to come and save people?"

"At your age, you shouldn't be unaware of the gap between the Jin Dan and Foundation Establishment realms."

"Heh, a mere peak Foundation Establishment—are you here to save someone, or to deliver yourself to death?"

Speaking of this, Qi Bai’s gaze fell upon the unconscious Sun Lingtong, a complex emotion appearing in his eyes.

"However, I can understand you a little bit."

Qi Bai revealed a cruel smile, like a venomous snake in the shadows flicking its tongue: "This makes me look forward even more to ruining the beautiful moment between you two."

"I will hack you into eight pieces right in front of him, hehehe, hahahaha!"

Qi Bai laughed loudly, his laughter incomparably wild.

Amidst the laughter, the surrounding crimson flames suddenly shifted, transforming into miserable green cold flames.

Ghost fire!

He pointed a finger.

The ghost fire condensed into a pack of wolves, charging toward the Disheveled Guest.

The Disheveled Guest’s black-rope hair split into several strands, binding Sun Lingtong and flying backward with him.

During the retreat, mechanical Thunder-Silence Birds flew out continuously from under the Disheveled Guest’s cloak.

The Thunder-Silence Birds struck the ghost wolf pack, occasionally erupting with thunder that shattered the ghost wolves.

Qi Bai’s figure soared, shooting toward the Disheveled Guest.

But the next moment, the Immortal City Array rose, condensing countless array patterns in mid-air like a cage, blocking Qi Bai’s attack path.

"Jin Dan of the Soul-Devouring Sect, deal with the array first before coming to find me." The Disheveled Guest sneered, taking Sun Lingtong into the shadows of the alleyway.

"Interesting!" Qi Bai looked at the array patterns intercepting him, which were tending to shrink, yet he remained composed and calm, without a trace of nervousness.

The Disheveled Guest took Sun Lingtong and leaped several times, crossing two or three streets before diving into the sewer.

The teleportation array activated, and they immediately entered an underground base.

Of course, this was not the base where Han Ming had been imprisoned earlier.

After some emergency treatment, Sun Lingtong still did not wake up.

Not only that, his flame of life was gradually extinguishing.

His injuries were too severe!

An elixir was placed into Sun Lingtong’s mouth, digesting rapidly with the help of magic power.

Late Autumn Life-Preserving Pill!

This pill was originally given to Yuan Er by Zhu Xuanji, intended to save Yuan Dasheng’s life.

As it turned out, after changing hands, it ultimately fell into Ning Zhuo’s possession.

What the royal family members bring out is indeed of excellent medicinal effect.

Once the Late Autumn Life-Preserving Pill was used, Sun Lingtong’s flame of life stabilized.

But before Ning Zhuo could breathe a sigh of relief, endless pressure bore down.

Then the earth trembled, and a figure pierced through nearly ten zhang of ground, killing their way into this underground base.

The Blind Judge Qi Bai’s spiritual sense quickly enveloped them.

"Where do you want to escape to?"

"I have planted a unique mark on Sun Lingtong..."

"Hehehe, Disheveled Guest, only if you abandon him do you have a chance to live. Otherwise, you will surely die!"

The Disheveled Guest’s voice was hoarse, filled with hatred and anger: "You sure talk a lot of nonsense!"

The next moment, the array patterns rose again, surrounding Qi Bai tightly.

"This trick again?" Qi Bai snorted, his expression disdainful.

But the next moment, the array patterns shone brilliantly, pressing Qi Bai until blood flowed from his nose, ears, and eyes.

The Disheveled Guest sneered: "That surface base was intentionally restrained to avoid exposure and implicating Boss Sun."

"But here, deep underground, even if discovered, Boss Sun cannot be dragged out, so naturally, we go all out."

"Enjoy it, Qi Bai!"

The array patterns shone brightly, crazily eroding Qi Bai’s body defenses.

"Damn it!" Qi Bai pressed his lips together, sweeping away his previous arrogant stance, resisting the Immortal City Array with all his might.

Time returned to several years ago.

In the underground base.

"Little Zhuo, your mother is quite impressive as a mechanical cultivator." Sun Lingtong looked around the underground base and sighed.

When Ning Zhuo was practicing mechanics, he accidentally opened a map hidden in the underground workshop.

Following the map, they passed through a section of the sewer and finally arrived at the underground base.

"Your mother had good intentions."

"She specifically hid this mechanical map; only when your mechanical attainments reached the standard could it be opened."

"This place is indeed not very safe!" Sun Lingtong evaluated.

"I understand." Ning Zhuo nodded, "Inside and outside Fire Persimmon Mountain is the Immortal City Array; it is very difficult to open a secret space underground in the city."

"Once you touch a certain array pattern of the main array, you will be discovered."

"I am actually quite surprised that this underground base has been hidden for so many years without being discovered."

Sun Lingtong giggled: "I understand now."

Ning Zhuo: "What?"

Sun Lingtong: "Under normal circumstances, the Immortal City Array must be replanned and redeployed every so often. Although the cost is extremely high, it ensures the reliability of the array, preventing enemies with ulterior motives from probing its secrets over time and causing the array to paralyze at a critical moment."

"The situation here in Fire Persimmon Immortal City might be special, perhaps related to the Lava Immortal Palace, which has led to the immortal array never being adjusted."

"Or perhaps, a certain City Lord was corrupt and didn't actually carry out the work of modifying the Immortal City Array."

"Then again, Fire Persimmon Immortal City is located in the hinterland of the South Bean Immortal Kingdom. Even if a national war occurs, it won't reach here for a while."

"Perhaps the successive City Lords thought: when the smoke of war burns, there will be enough time to adjust the array."

Ning Zhuo’s eyes suddenly lit up: "In that case, we can completely set up several more such underground bases."

"We just established a gang, and to maintain expenses, we have to do business."

"We can use the underground base for transit and do smuggling business. This can also serve as a warehouse for our stock."

Sun Lingtong clapped his hands in praise: "Wonderful! This way, only we can raid other forces' warehouses, and they won't be able to find ours!"

"However, once this place is found, it cannot hold out for long; the defense is too weak."

The underground base cannot add defensive magic arrays.

Because the operation of any magic array will interfere with the Immortal City Array. The City Lord’s Mansion will also get clues because of this, eventually following the vine to find this place.

Sun Lingtong touched his chin: "Later, I will set up some talismans of the No-Empty Gate to minimize the presence of this place as much as possible."

"When I reach peak Foundation Establishment, I will be able to barely use the magic treasure left by my master to set up some array patterns here."

"These array patterns can be weakly connected to the Immortal City Array, so even if the Immortal City Array discovers them in the future, it will mistakenly think they are part of itself."

Ning Zhuo stared, very surprised: "So powerful?"

Sun Lingtong smiled proudly: "Our No-Empty Gate has deep skills in studying arrays. Because in this world, the most valuable treasures are almost all under the protection of heavy magic arrays."

"This method of mine is called stealing the array and pilfering power."

"When we have our own gang base in the future, I will use this method in the base to steal a lot of spiritual power from the Immortal City Array, while paying very little in fees."

In the process of controlling the black market and eliminating those who refused to submit.

The two led their subordinates to heavily surround the enemy gang’s base.

"Little Zhuo, are you sure?" Sun Lingtong transmitted his voice.

"Boss Sun, just watch." Ning Zhuo was very confident.

With a wave of his hand, the mechanical vehicles charged over. Each vehicle was loaded with many explosives.

Boom, boom, boom!

The enemy gang raised their defensive magic array, and the explosion did not kill a single person.

The enemy gang members mocked them one after another.

Ning Zhuo watched with his arms crossed, counting down clearly: "Three, two, one!"

When he counted to one, the enemy’s defensive magic array suddenly collapsed, and the gang high-level officials who controlled the main array all suffered backlash, either seriously injured or dead.

Sun Lingtong shouted "good" and asked curiously via voice transmission: "Little Zhuo, how did you do it?"

Ning Zhuo said: "It's simple. Boss Sun, didn't you teach me the method of stealing the array and pilfering power?"

Sun Lingtong was even more curious: "But, limited by the sect's laws, I didn't teach you the relevant spells or talismans at all."

Ning Zhuo shrugged his shoulders: "It's simple. You told me the relevant principles, and I used other means to achieve the same effect."

"In practice, is it okay?"

Ning Zhuo looked at Sun Lingtong inquiringly.

Sun Lingtong’s expression was calm, nodding slightly: "Hmm, it's okay."

Finally, they became the controllers of the black market.

Sun Lingtong’s face turned pale: "Little Zhuo, is it necessary to bury so many explosives under my residence?"

Ning Zhuo shook his head: "Boss, it is very necessary. We must be cautious, humble, and prevent all possible bad situations."

"For example, cultivators with cultivation bases far exceeding ours come to find trouble."

"Nascent Soul level and above cultivators, we won't calculate against them; the gap is too big."

"But Jin Dan cultivators, we can work hard."

"That Fei Si is insidious and vicious, not a good person. Perhaps one day, he will personally take action to eliminate our black market forces?"

"We must make full preparations!"

Sun Lingtong could only nod helplessly: "If a Jin Dan comes, can't we run?"

"Fine."

"Making more preparations is always good."