Chapter 986

Out of caution, Luo Fu had no intention of doing so at this time.

Less than a quarter-hour had passed since the Five Directions and Five Elements Array was set up.

It took less than a quarter-hour to break the Five Directions and Five Elements Array.

It is foreseeable that Ancestor Hongjun will surely begin to suspect him, at least regarding his array cultivation realm.

The Five Directions and Five Elements Array can trap even a Saint, yet Luo Fu dismantled it in less than a quarter-hour.

And he did so while in the Quasi-Saint Realm.

It is hard not to suspect Luo Fu's true array cultivation realm.

Therefore, Luo Fu planned to wait a while longer before breaking the Five Directions and Five Elements Array.

Moreover, Luo Fu intended to design the method by which he would break the Five Directions and Five Elements Array.

A direct breakthrough would still arouse Ancestor Hongjun's suspicion.

An accidental breakthrough—such as using a certain explosive divine art to briefly disrupt the Five Directions and Five Elements Array's operation before dismantling it—would be relatively more plausible.

To achieve this, one thing was essential: magic power support.

Without magic power support, no matter how powerful the divine art, it could never unleash its full might.

Therefore, the first step toward a plausible breakthrough of the Five Directions and Five Elements Array was to find a source of magic power.

This was why Luo Fu secretly devoured Jin Guang and the massive dark-gold claw beams.

Within the Five Directions and Five Elements Small World, Luo Fu's internal magic power could barely be replenished; all surrounding energy came from the Five Directions Sacred Beasts' mobilized forces.

These forces happened to be ideal as a source of magic power.

Especially since the Sacred Beast Bai Hu was recklessly squandering Heavenly Dao energy.

Under Bai Hu's wastefulness, the surrounding space was nearly saturated with scattered Heavenly Dao energy.

As long as he could deceive the Sacred Beast Bai Hu, he could silently devour and convert this energy into his own magic power.

The Great Dao Sword Array could devour and digest even chaotic energy flows; absorbing and converting some Heavenly Dao energy was no challenge at all.

Deceiving the Sacred Beast Bai Hu's perception became even easier.

All that was needed was to add a touch of the Illusionary Dao's power into the Five Directions and Five Elements Array.

To merely obscure Bai Hu's perception slightly required an amount of power so negligible compared to the entire Five Directions and Five Elements Array that it was less than a speck of dust.

Even if one fully controlled the Five Directions and Five Elements Array, one could not detect it.

Moreover, the Five Directions Sacred Beasts' control over the Five Directions and Five Elements Array was barely sufficient to maintain its operation.

The Five Directions Sacred Beasts were not skilled in array cultivation; they could set up the Five Directions and Five Elements Array only because they possessed the method and perfectly met the setup conditions.

Without understanding array cultivation, their control over the Five Directions and Five Elements Array could not possibly be profound.

After slightly obscuring the Sacred Beast Bai Hu's perception, and since Luo Fu's devouring and absorption speed was slow, Bai Hu detected no anomaly.

Time slowly passed, and several hundred breaths quickly elapsed.

During this time, the Sacred Beast Bai Hu treated the dozen or so chaotic-colored Great Dao Swords as live targets, attacking them in various ways to gradually drain their magic power.

In several hundred breaths, Bai Hu himself could no longer recall how many claws he had unleashed.

For an ordinary peak Quasi-Saint, even a single one of Bai Hu's claws would drain their entire magic power; yet Bai Hu had launched at least tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of such attacks.

This revealed how immense Bai Hu's internal magic power was, and how absurdly fast his magic power recovery rate.

With the Five Directions and Five Elements Array's enhancement, Bai Hu's previous attacks consumed virtually zero magic power; the only cost was mental energy.

For a Sub-Saint, this amount of mental energy loss was negligible.

The higher the realm, the faster the recovery, the more resilient the life, and the longer the duration of battle.

To kill an opponent in just a few strikes, as in mortal combat, was nearly impossible unless the realm gap was enormous.

Not to mention Saints—even Quasi-Saints, whose Primordial Spirit had merged with the Dao, possessed certain indestructible traits.

If mortal cultivation sought immortality,

then cultivation beyond the Quasi-Saint Realm sought the Dao itself, aiming to become as eternal and unperishing as the Dao.

If becoming a Quasi-Saint in the Hunyuan layer meant one could still be killed in a few strikes by peers,

then cultivation would lose all meaning.

Of course, not being killed in a few strikes did not necessarily mean it was a good thing.

For the strong, death was a concept, not a state.

Sometimes, living was not necessarily better than being killed.

After hundreds of breaths of relentless, storm-like attacks, the Sacred Beast Bai Hu grew weary.

He loved battle, but disliked one-sided crushing.

To avoid arousing Bai Hu's suspicion, the dozen or so chaotic-colored Great Dao Swords, having endured hundreds of breaths of bombardment, were disguised by Luo Fu to appear dim and lifeless, as if nearing their final collapse.

Seeing such dimmed chaotic-colored Great Dao Swords, Bai Hu lost all interest.

Thus, Bai Hu ceased his attacks and prepared to flash around the chaotic-colored Great Dao Swords, swiping one claw per sword to eliminate them all.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Sensing Bai Hu's intention, the dozen or so chaotic-colored Great Dao Swords began to tremble.

Hundreds of breaths had been delayed—long enough. It was time to reveal their fangs.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a thought, Luo Fu caused the dozen or so chaotic-colored Great Dao Swords to suddenly ignite.

As they burned, an immensely grand force began to descend.

It was the power of the Great Vow Dao.

Luo Fu mastered all three thousand Daos, including the Great Vow Dao.

Although Luo Fu had accumulated vast power by devouring and converting Jin Guang and the dark-gold claw beams, he did not intend to reveal it directly; instead, he planned to conceal it beneath the Great Vow Dao.

The Great Vow Dao allows one to obtain power by prepaying a certain price.

These prices do not necessarily need to be paid now, but can also be paid in the future.

Of course, if payment is deferred, one must find a creditor.

This method is equivalent to borrowing from a bank.

The Great Vow Dao is merely a medium; it does not possess the ability to bestow power out of nothing.

To successfully complete a vow and borrow, one must find the party willing to bestow power.

The Two Western Saints made great vows and found the Dao of Heaven as their creditor.

Precisely because of the Dao of Heaven's backing, they were able to borrow power through their great vows.

Luo Fu could never borrow power from the Dao of Heaven.

The Dao of Heaven is controlled by Ancestor Hongjun; even if Luo Fu could contact the Dao of Heaven, it could never bestow power upon him.

Therefore, Luo Fu directly chose to borrow power from the Long River.