Chapter 1026

The night of early autumn was like ink, slowly staining the sky.

Deep within the ocean of clouds and mist, a young man with the air of an immortal and eyes like glaze was revealed.

He looked across the distance at the old and young pair, Li Canghai and Luo Chen, his face devoid of the slightest emotion.

"I wondered who it was that dared to offend my Tianyuan Dao Sect? So it is you two, Li Canghai, Luo Chen!"

The moment Li Canghai saw the opponent, his brow furrowed slightly. "Lian Cheng, have you been well?"

While greeting the opponent, he sent a divine sense transmission to Luo Chen.

"Be careful, Lian Cheng's spirit is full and his aura is sufficient; there is no sign of any injury."

Luo Chen's eyes flickered; he could understand the meaning behind Li Canghai's words.

There were two possibilities for Lian Cheng to be injured.

One was the great battle at Broken Soul Cliff a hundred years ago, where the Five Elders of Tianyuan faced Qixia Yuanjun, paying the terrifying price of four people falling to severely injure Qixia Yuanjun, who remained unable to move even now. Lian Cheng was the only survivor of the Five Elders of Tianyuan and was also severely injured. But over the past hundred years, he had already recovered.

The other possibility was that the Tier 6 great array, the Heaven Vault Land-Gathering Array, had been forcibly destroyed by people sent by Luo Chen; logically, Lian Cheng, who led this array, should have suffered a backlash. However, looking at him now, there was no sign of backlash, his aura was upright and peaceful, with no sign of injury.

The former was within Luo Chen's expectations. And the latter was somewhat beyond Li Canghai's expectations.

Such a terrifying array was forcibly terminated, yet the opponent was completely unharmed?

Could it be that he was not the main array controller?

"This seat is naturally well, but Li Canghai, you came uninvited today; is that not a bit too rude?" Lian Cheng's expression was indifferent, still sitting cross-legged on the broken Heaven and Earth Peak, with clouds and mist gathering around him, gradually forming a phantom Dharma image with features identical to his own.

Seeing this scene, Li Canghai's expression changed slightly. "A virtual image? You are only at the early Soul Transformation stage; how could you condense a virtual image? No, that's not a virtual image!"

He looked at the giant cloud-sea giant with shock and uncertainty, struggling to think about the purpose of such a method.

Luo Chen, on the other hand, felt a sense of familiarity.

It seemed he had seen such a method somewhere before?

By this time, Li Canghai naturally didn't need to hold back anymore; after confirming that what the opponent condensed was not a virtual image, he simply assumed Lian Cheng was bluffing.

He said loudly: "I did not come here for much; I only ask Fellow Daoist Lian Cheng to grant me one thing to help me achieve complete success!"

When he said this, Luo Chen, who was beside him, became somewhat more grave.

Lian Cheng glanced at Luo Chen and then said: "What thing?"

Li Canghai smiled freely: "It's very simple. I obtained a method for refining a spiritual treasure from a certain ruin and need to search through famous mountains and seas to refine it into a treasure. And in the world today, in terms of the greatest famous mountains, there are the North Sea Magnetism, the Western Desert Green Screen, the Eastern Wasteland Cangwu, as well as the Central Plains' Lanke Mountain and Heaven and Earth Peak. Magnetism suppresses the five elements and is not for me to take. Green Screen is sealed by a high monk, and one cannot even see its true face. As for Cangwu, I naturally dare not go and disturb them."

A fierce look flashed across Lian Cheng's face. "So, you set your sights on my Central Plains?"

Li Canghai said as a matter of course: "Spiritual mountains and precious lands are for those with virtue. The current Tianyuan Dao Sect is no longer the number one holy land that dominated the world. Since you have Lanke Mountain, and also Tiannan, Libei, and even the Heaven and Earth Island—four Tier 5 spiritual veins in total—this is too extravagant. I don't ask for much; I only want that one-acre-three-fen plot of Lanke Mountain!"

After Li Canghai revealed his true purpose, Luo Chen, who was walking side-by-side, felt a sense of relief in his heart.

He was truly afraid that what the other party wanted was something Lian Cheng could afford to give.

Lian Cheng would certainly not give away Lanke Mountain.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Lian Cheng was so angry he laughed.

After laughing, his entire voice became cold and stern.

"Fellow Daoist Li, do you not know that Lanke Mountain is my Dao Sect's ancestral grounds, the foundation of Tianyuan for ten thousand generations!"

"I know, and I am clear that you will not give it, so I came to take it myself; I won't trouble you to deliver it to my door."

"Just by you? And, that little fellow beside you?"

When mentioning the words "little fellow," Lian Cheng stared contemptuously at Luo Chen.

"You have a lot of guts, the most courageous one I have seen in countless years, offending a Soul Transformation holy land with a Nascent Soul cultivation base."

"If I had no guts, would I have my life?" Luo Chen moved toward Heaven and Earth Peak at a steady pace, saying slowly: "If Senior is willing to return the life soul, then this sect can also lead people away."

As soon as the words "life soul" were uttered, Li Canghai, who was beside him, instantly understood; no wonder Luo Chen was making such a big fuss, not hesitating to risk his life to deal with the Tianyuan Dao Sect.

Without a complete life soul, a cultivator simply cannot break through to the Soul Transformation stage.

Even if they could forcibly enter that realm, they would be unable to stabilize their cultivation due to the incompleteness of their soul and would eventually fall.

It could even be said that falling would be a fortunate event. If, because the Primordial Spirit was incomplete, one were to get lost in the ocean of origin energy during daily cultivation, that would be a matter of life and death!

It was rumored that Luo Chen had once joined the Tianyuan Dao Sect and was a guest elder outside the Star Gate.

Thinking about it this way, it must have been at that time that his life soul was intercepted!

Thinking of this, Li Canghai became somewhat worried; if Lian Cheng were truly generous enough to return the life soul, then his temporary teammate would change his mind, and he himself would be in a dilemma.

However, Lian Cheng's reaction made him breathe a sigh of relief.

On Heaven and Earth Peak, the phantom cloud-sea giant's features revealed a look of contempt.

"Once you enter my Tianyuan sect, your life and death are no longer up to you. Alive, you are a member of the Dao Sect; dead, you are a ghost of the Dao Sect!"

Luo Chen's expression remained as usual. "This sect knows, so this sect has come to take it personally; I hope Senior will not take offense!"

Lian Cheng grinned. "One of you wants to take my sect's things, the other wants to retrieve his own things; do you have the capability to do so?"

Under the moonlight.

A speck of dust floated gently from Lian Cheng's palm.

Although the dust was tiny, it was like a mountain; the moment it appeared, the entire void had ripples fluctuating.

That cloud-sea giant stretched out its massive hands, gently holding the dust, and then closed its hands together.

The next moment!

The cloud-sea giant suddenly spread its hands.

A mysterious yellow light curtain suddenly pulled open a great curtain.

Passing by a mountain shrouded in clouds and mist, Zhou Feiyou paused his steps.

In just an instant, the entire Heaven and Earth Peak was shrouded within the light curtain.

"An array!" Li Canghai blurted out, his eyes glowing.

Then, he slapped out with a palm.

The massive palm force, drawing on the heaven and earth origin energy, whistled away and slammed fiercely onto the light curtain.

However, the reaction after the two made contact was eerily frightening.

Silent and soundless, there was no reaction at all.

That massive palm strike was like a clay ox entering the sea, vanishing without a trace.

"This..." Li Canghai looked shocked and uncertain, seemingly finding it hard to accept.

Luo Chen frowned, scanning Heaven and Earth Peak up and down, his gaze lingering between the mysterious yellow light curtains, and another sense of familiarity arose spontaneously.

This time, his memory gave him good feedback.

Luo Chen blurted out: "The Array of Absolute Heaven and Earth Communication!"

Back when he attended the Alchemy Saint's ascension ceremony on Heaven and Earth Peak, he had sensed a pervasive array that made even his Tier 4 physical body feel slight pressure.

At that time, someone told him that the array was the mountain-protecting array that the Tianyuan Dao Sect had been setting up for thousands of years—Absolute Heaven and Earth Communication.

However, this array did not stop Qixia Yuanjun.

Yet he didn't expect that, now through Lian Cheng's hands, it would reappear before the two of them.

Hearing this, Li Canghai realized. "So it is this array; I thought that after Heaven and Earth Peak broke, the Tianyuan Dao Sect would never be able to reproduce this array again. I didn't expect you, Lian Cheng, to have such array attainments."

"The things you want, wait until you break this array and face this seat before talking!"

After Lian Cheng activated the great array, he ignored the two of them and closed his eyes, sitting cross-legged as before.

His strange behavior was somewhat baffling.

Clearly, a great enemy was at the door, yet he did not take the initiative to attack.

Especially since the Tianyuan Dao Sect was still being attacked, he turned a blind eye to it.

If it were said that he feared the joint forces of Li Canghai and Luo Chen, that was even more impossible.

One was just someone who had obtained an opportunity and luckily achieved Soul Transformation. The other was still in the Nascent Soul realm, so there was even less need to fear.

Lian Cheng was the ancestor of the world's number one holy land and had his own great arrogance; how could he be afraid?

The reason for this was necessarily that there were more important things than dealing with the two of them.

Luo Chen frowned and then looked at Li Canghai.

"Does Senior recognize this array?"

"Since you have said the name, I naturally recognize it." Li Canghai smiled slightly. "Because the manifestation was different earlier, and the power was not the same, I didn't recognize it. Looking at it now, it is indeed a variant of the Absolute Heaven and Earth Communication array."

He stopped probing and flew upward, floating outside the mysterious yellow light curtain.

In myths and legends, there is the term "Absolute Earth and Heaven Communication," meaning that heaven and earth, gods and humans, each perform their own duties and do not interfere with each other.

And after the word order was changed, in the hands of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, the power of this Absolute Heaven and Earth Communication array was completely different.

"According to the research of the Refining Heaven Demon Lord, this array is actually not complicated; it uses a Tier 5 spiritual vein as a base to isolate heaven and earth origin energy and suppress living beings. Below Tier 5, one finds it hard to move; above Tier 5, one cannot control origin energy."

"Therefore, my move earlier was like a clay ox entering the sea, with no reaction."

"This array has no great lethality, but it has an immediate effect on defending against enemies at the Soul Transformation level and above."

"If we break in, we will be deprived of our control over heaven and earth origin energy and can only use our own magic power to fight the enemy. The array owner, however, is completely unaffected, and every move they make will be blessed by the Tier 5 spiritual vein, with multiplied power."

"With the opponent growing and us shrinking, this array cannot be entered."

After some research, Li Canghai reached this conclusion.

Luo Chen asked hurriedly: "Can it be broken?"

"Yes!" Li Canghai nodded, but before Luo Chen could be relieved, he continued: "But it takes time! The opponent has been preparing this array for a long time, otherwise they couldn't have activated it instantly; I fear that the moment we stepped onto the island, the opponent could have activated this array at any time."

Time...

Luo Chen looked gravely toward Heaven and Earth Peak.

There, the cloud-sea giant was still holding up the light curtain, maintaining the operation of the Absolute Heaven and Earth Communication array.

And Lian Cheng himself was sitting on the flat mountain peak, with dense, crisscrossing patterns beneath his feet whose endpoints were unknown, and wisps of blood-red color were staining those patterns.

If there were no accidents, those patterns should be the foundation of another array.

The God-Descending Array!

This was the foundation of the world's number one holy land!

At the same time, three top-tier great arrays were activated simultaneously.

Using the entire sect's power to activate the Heaven Vault Land-Gathering Array, using ten thousand years of foundation to activate the Absolute Heaven and Earth Communication array, and finally, the ancestor Lian Cheng was still maintaining the operation of the God-Descending Array.

If he truly succeeded...

"Luo Chen, I have good news!" Li Canghai observed for a long while and suddenly said.

"Speak."

Li Canghai said quickly: "This Absolute Heaven and Earth Communication array has been broken before, and Heaven and Earth Peak itself broke into two halves, causing the array base to be unstable. Therefore, the array in front of us is actually broken. Apart from suppressing the control of heaven and earth origin energy, all other powers do not exist. So, I only need to attack the earth energy here, and I can shorten the time to break this array by more than half."

Luo Chen's eyes lit up. "Then I will trouble Senior!"

Li Canghai chuckled. "No matter, once this array is broken, I can also master another array, and in the future, I can set it up in my cultivation place to protect against external enemies."

While saying this, he began to get busy.

Array flags flew from his hands and sank into the ground.

Magic formulas were cast from his hands into the mysterious yellow light curtain.

As time passed, the mysterious yellow light curtain began to tremble slowly.

Seeing this scene, Luo Chen knew that Li Canghai's array attainments as a master were not fake; in just a short time, he could break a peerless array that a Soul Transformation holy land relied upon.

But was a short time truly enough?

On Heaven and Earth Peak, Lian Cheng had opened his eyes at some point, coldly watching this scene, letting Li Canghai break the array at will.

Luo Chen did not understand his intention and did not understand why the opponent was so steady as Mount Tai.

Feeling uneasy in his heart, Luo Chen had already prepared for a great battle between the two sides after the array was broken.

To be safe, he even bit his fingertip and smeared the purest source blood onto his eyes.

The complete Red-Eyed Golden Pupil, fully activated!

And at this moment, Luo Chen's heart shook.

In his line of sight, wisps of spiritual aura were gathering from four directions toward a certain place beneath Heaven and Earth Peak.

That place is...

"The entrance to the Mirage Dragon Cave Heaven!"

Luo Chen said coldly, a chill rising on his body.

"Luo Chen, the array has been broken with a gap, give me a little more time... what did you say?" In the distance, Li Canghai seemed not to have reacted yet.

Blue-white flames had already appeared on Luo Chen's body.

"The Tianyuan Dao Sect is not trying to reunite the Central Plains at all; that was just a convenient matter. What they want to do is to swallow the three continents—no, even the Western Continent that has already sunk into the sea is included. They want to take back all the spiritual energy that was once scattered across the Central Plains, use it to rebuild Heaven and Earth Peak, and activate the God-Descending Array!"

Li Canghai was somewhat disbelieving. "Collecting spiritual energy is not something a Soul Transformation Great Expert can do; that is a method that can only be done by a Void Refinement True Monarch after condensing a virtual image. Lian Cheng absolutely cannot!"

"No, they can do it!" Luo Chen shook his head, the heaven and earth origin energy outside was frantically gathering into his body under the manipulation of his divine sense, and an extremely terrifying power was about to erupt.

Not to mention whether collecting spiritual energy can only be done by a Void Refinement True Monarch, at least Luo Chen knew that the Alchemy Saint Chu Yan had long ago researched an alchemy technique called "Refining Heaven Energy," which could capture small amounts of spiritual energy and refine it into pills.

And within the Tianyuan Dao Sect, there was such a spiritual treasure that could both suppress the spiritual energy of a continent and collect it.

Luo Chen had personally seen the Tianyuan Sect Master Mo Shouzhuo use that treasure back then to open the Mirage Dragon Cave Heaven.

Its name—the Lanke Chessboard!

Mo Shouzhuo had already fallen, but the owner of this spiritual treasure was still alive; it was the Central Plains Chess Saint Ke Lianshan.

If he ascended to the Soul Transformation stage and fully activated the Lanke Chessboard, the effect would be even better than Mo Shouzhuo's back then!

At this moment, Ke Lianshan was nowhere to be seen.

But the Mirage Dragon Cave Heaven opened a year ago, and a large number of Nascent Soul True Persons entered it; it must not have been just a simple cave heaven competition.

"He is breaking through to the Soul Transformation stage inside, while simultaneously controlling the Lanke Chessboard to absorb a large amount of spiritual energy for Heaven and Earth Peak!"

As if to verify Luo Chen's conjecture.

A vortex appeared out of thin air at the entrance of the Mirage Dragon Cave Heaven, and a large amount of heaven and earth origin energy was pouring into it.

And on Heaven and Earth Peak, Lian Cheng had already drifted slowly from the mountain, his entire body merging into the giant composed of clouds and mist.

At this moment, the giant seemed to have a physical body.

The giant stretched out a massive hand and grabbed toward the low but straight mountain ridge nearby.

No!

That was not a mountain ridge!

That was the upper part of Heaven and Earth Peak; it had just fallen onto the earth after being broken, and after a hundred years, it had formed a low mountain ridge.

The massive mountain ridge was grabbed by the giant as if it were weightless and then pressed toward Heaven and Earth Peak.

"Heavy Mountain!"

Lian Cheng's massive voice resounded through the void.

The moment Heaven and Earth Peak reunited, everything returned to normal, as majestic as the mountain Luo Chen had seen back then.

The next moment!

"God Descend!"

A pillar of light shot into the sky, heading straight for the star sea universe.

Within the majestic pillar of light, an extreme killing intent began to gradually permeate into this world.

All this took a long time to say, but it happened in just a moment.

Li Canghai stared blankly at this scene, feeling that extreme killing intent, and felt like an ant.

"Luo Chen, go!"

Without hesitation, Li Canghai turned and left.

The God-Descending Array had already been activated, and the descent of an Upper Realm True Monarch was inevitable.

Staying here meant certain death!

However, Luo Chen did not follow.

Li Canghai looked back and saw Luo Chen, radiating blue-white flames, charging into the gap of the Absolute Heaven and Earth Communication array he had just broken.

A mayfly shaking a tree, a mantis trying to stop a chariot!

At this moment, similar thoughts surfaced in Li Canghai's heart.

He did not stop at all, directly escaping the Heaven and Earth Island, and then activated the teleportation array left outside, vanishing into the distance.

As long as the green hills remain, there is no need to worry about firewood; he could not die here with Luo Chen.

Perhaps, only a two or three-point admiration was the respect he left for this little friend.

"Fellow Daoist Luo, take care!"