Chapter 181: Deadlock

Deep in the core of the great array, the sounds of the battle between Xu Chen and the Soul Beast seemed to gradually weaken, and before long, they vanished completely.

Some cultivators who had charged into the great array began to retreat out of concern, falling back to the mountain ridges several dozen miles away to continue watching.

Yet, after about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, terrifying combat fluctuations suddenly erupted once more from the center of the great array; the Soul Beast's roar was low, like thunder shaking the earth for a hundred miles, and cyan lightning flashed and flared like bolts within the churning black mist of the array, illuminating the entire Black Wind Ridge.

The great array continued to tremble, and a large number of Soul Beasts, impacted by the aura, began a new round of frenzy, charging and crashing about wildly within the array.

The watching cultivators felt their spirits lift; not only were they not afraid, but their emotions grew fervent.

The battle was still ongoing, which meant the expert who had gone in was still capable of contending with this unprecedented Soul Beast; as long as this giant beast did not destroy the great array, the array would remain stable, and they could enter to continue slaughtering Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Beads.

Having been stationed at Black Wind Ridge for several months, all the cultivators had been in a state of never getting their fill of hunting monsters.

Today, with so many Soul Beasts suddenly appearing, covering the mountains and plains, and with the protection of the Five Elements Array, they could move about unimpeded by relying on the Jade Token from Yuqing Hall—it was the perfect opportunity to make a fortune.

Thus, this time, without waiting for the leading cultivators to issue orders, a large number of cultivators began to charge into the array in groups once again.

Yiyun Zhenren was both terrified and pleasantly surprised.

As long as Xu Chen could keep this terrifying giant Soul Beast contained, the Five Elements Array would remain relatively safe.

But Xu Chen was, after all, only at the entry level of the Zhenyuan Realm; how long he could drag this out remained an unknown.

Once Xu Chen could no longer resist or ended up dead, then no one in the vicinity of Black Wind Ridge would be able to contain this Soul Beast, and the collapse of the great array would be a matter of time—a time that would surely not exceed two days.

Therefore, Yiyun Zhenren had no choice but to arrange for several disciples at the True Essence Late Stage to enter the array and check the situation at the core, ensuring they found out the specific status of Xu Chen and the Soul Beast so they would have sufficient time to respond.

Once the great array could no longer hold, they would inevitably have to abandon it and retreat quickly.

As for what state things would be in after the great array collapsed and exploded, he could no longer concern himself with that; he would have to leave it to fate.

As for the life and death of mortals, that was not within his consideration at all.

At the center of the great array, relying on Spirit Liquid to replenish his True Essence, Xu Chen and the Soul Beast had finished a dark and dim battle, and both sides had once again paused to rest and recover.

The cultivators who had entered the array in groups began to panic again, with many starting to retreat, though some bold ones remained at the edge of the array, hunting Soul Beasts for Soul Beads while observing and waiting for news.

The Yuqing Hall disciples who had entered the array to find Xu Chen and the Soul Beast had by now penetrated over ten miles deep and were nearing the core area; hearing the sounds vanish, they could only discuss the matter for a moment in fear and trembling before retreating outward.

The current situation was a complete mess, far beyond the control of cultivators like them at the Zhenyuan Realm; saving their own lives was the priority.

Just a short while ago, after the giant Soul Beast broke through the seal and rushed out of the array, a large number of Soul Beasts had suddenly poured out of the gap, causing heavy casualties among the cultivators; although the numbers had not yet been tallied, at least twenty or thirty people had failed to escape.

It was said that a team from Wild Wolf Valley, belonging to the Yuqing Hall outer sect, had been completely wiped out; not a single person had come out.

Amidst the anxious waiting and watching, the battle at the center of the array suddenly flared up again; the roars of the Soul Beast and the lightning began to flash once more, and the entire array started to shake violently.

Everyone was delighted rather than alarmed, and they turned back one after another to charge into the array, frantically hunting Soul Beasts to harvest Soul Beads.

Wealth is sought in danger; this was the rarest opportunity to make a fortune in several months.

Many bold Zhenyuan Realm cultivators even began to enter the core area of the great array.

Because there were even more Soul Beasts there, almost covering the ground.

Although there was a risk of being surrounded by Soul Beasts, as long as they entered in teams—with some defending, some attacking, some supporting, and some distracting—and relying on the coordination they had grown familiar with over the past few months, these ordinary Soul Beasts were not very difficult to slaughter, and Soul Beads were naturally harvested in abundance.

Every single Soul Bead was a piece of Spirit Stone shining with spiritual light.

For the vast number of rogue cultivators and those from small and medium-sized Immortal Sects, this kind of opportunity to get rich was absolutely not to be missed.

Thus, under Xu Chen's containment, this thrilling defensive counterattack unfolded like a tug-of-war within the Five Elements Array.

Whenever the battle paused, a large number of cultivators would begin to retreat outward to wait and observe.

Once the battle started, they would immediately charge inside as if they had been injected with stimulants, their eyes completely bloodshot.

Even those rogue cultivators who usually lacked pills and cherished their lives above all else were now frantically popping pills, seizing every moment to kill monsters and snatch treasures.

With the support of the three major Immortal Sects—Yuqing Hall, Longmen Mountain, and Taiyuan Sect—in exchanging large quantities of pills and Magic Treasures, after several months, every rogue cultivator had their pockets filled with various Spirit Pills for replenishing Qi, and even their Magic Treasures had been completely renewed.

The once-scarce Spirit Pills and Magic Treasures could now be exchanged freely as long as one had Soul Beads.

And most of them were aiming for the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill, a miraculous Spirit Pill unique to the Taiyuan Sect.

Even a cultivator with the most ordinary aptitude could improve their aptitude by a large margin if they could get their hands on a few Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pills.

In these past few months, the number of cultivators among the small and medium-sized sects and rogue cultivators who had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment was not small; almost every three to five days, rumors would spread of some cultivator or other achieving Foundation Establishment.

Such rapid improvement in cultivation naturally stimulated all the cultivators, driving those with poor aptitude to complete madness.

The Soul Beasts of Black Wind Ridge were perhaps the only opportunity in their entire lives to improve their cultivation realm; once missed, it would never come again.

Especially in a situation like today's, with no one to steal their kills, no one to hold them back, and no need to search everywhere for traces of Soul Beasts—as long as one wasn't afraid of death, there was only one word: charge.

Many even hoped that the battle between Xu Chen and the Soul Beast would last as long as possible.

If they could keep fighting and stopping like this for half a year or a year, everyone's net worth would likely skyrocket a hundredfold, making them filthy rich.

Time flew by, and half a day passed.

The sky grew dim.

At the center of the great array, Xu Chen fought and paused with the octopus-like giant Soul Beast; both sides could be said to have exhausted their strength, yet neither could do anything to the other.

Moreover, the two sides seemed to have gradually developed a tacit understanding.

Whenever Xu Chen felt his True Essence was about to be exhausted, he would quickly retreat to a distance of a hundred feet.

And the Soul Beast would immediately stop its attack, curling up near the gap to rapidly absorb Black Mist to recover its body, which had been riddled with holes by the Thunder Fire Pestle.

Overall, however, Xu Chen's condition was better.

Because after several consecutive major battles, the Soul Beast had lost two more tentacles.

Although the other three tentacles were slowly growing back, compared to before, they were much shorter, looking like the arms of an adult and an infant; not only was the length insufficient, but their power was also greatly diminished.

But even so, Xu Chen still had no ability to finish it off completely.

He felt somewhat frustrated now.

If he currently had the strength of the middle or late Danyuan Realm, he would have likely beaten this Soul Beast into a pulp long ago.

But unfortunately, he did not, and the battle could only continue to remain deadlocked.

The only good news was that this Soul Beast was completely contained by him and had no way to destroy the seal at the gap, so the Five Elements Array was temporarily in no danger.

Meanwhile, the cultivators outside were continuously attacking toward the core area; the roars of a large number of Soul Beasts and the sounds of exploding Magic Treasures and Magic Spells had already begun to appear less than two miles from the gap, and Xu Chen's powerful Divine Sense could clearly see the scenes of these battles.

Xu Chen slowly began to grow anxious.

The bottle of Spirit Liquid that Lan You gave him was almost finished, and it could replenish his vital energy at most two more times.

Once the Spirit Liquid was gone, he would absolutely be unable to continue holding off this Soul Beast.

Furthermore, he did not want his situation of fighting the Soul Beast to be known by outsiders.

After all, his current strength was too inconceivable; if it spread, he feared too many people would pay attention, which would invite countless troubles.

As the saying goes, hearing is believing, but seeing is reality; this battle of his would certainly spread eventually, but the effects and results produced by seeing it versus hearing about it were completely different.

Keeping a low profile and exercising restraint was the only way to live longer.

Everyone was a practitioner of the Dao of Survival, it was just a matter of who was more cautious; Xu Chen felt that before he had the strength to unlock the secret of the Blue Jade Bead, it was better to keep lying low.

Being in the limelight today was something he was forced into.

If he had not taken action, the situation in the entire Black Wind Ridge would very likely have spiraled out of control.

By then, if the people from Yuqing Hall and Longmen Mountain saw things going wrong and just turned tail and left, Taiyuan Sect would bear the brunt and would definitely suffer heavy losses, and it was highly likely they would not even be able to protect their mountain gate.

And what made him most unwilling to stand by and watch was the news Yuyang Zhenjun brought back after going out to investigate, which made him extremely uneasy.

The Eastern Wasteland had completely fallen, the mortal realm of Dongwu was in ruins, and the Ming Kingdom, Shu Kingdom, and Xiang Kingdom were all being ravaged by the Black Wind; a large number of Soul Beasts had caused immense destruction, countless mortals had died or been injured, and even experts of the Danyuan Realm had fallen in significant numbers.

Although Xuanchen Zhenjun had warned him not to stick his neck out and make pointless sacrifices.

Xu Chen felt that regarding the matter of defending against the leakage of Nether Qi and the Soul Beasts, he still had to step forward whenever his abilities allowed it.

When it came down to it, this matter still had some connection to him.

If it were not for the fact that he, Lan You, and Xu Wen had fallen into the Nether Rift during their wager, that Ancient Fierce Beast would not have escaped, and naturally, there would not have been this outbreak of Black Wind and the Soul Beast disaster that swept through the countries surrounding Great Song.

Regarding such a great disaster for the Immortal World and the mortal realm, Xu Chen was actually very guilty.

After all, if he had not appeared, that Ancient Fierce Beast might still have been imprisoned for dozens or even hundreds of years, mortals could have multiplied and lived for several generations, and many cultivators in the Immortal World could have even broken through to Golden Core or Nascent Soul.

But it was precisely this incident that caused this peace and tranquility to be thoroughly shattered.

The sky was currently turning dark.

Although being inside the Black Wind made it difficult to clearly perceive the situation outside.

Xu Chen also knew that he could not continue to delay any longer.

He had to find a way to kill this Soul Beast and completely end this turmoil.

Because the longer it dragged on, the more unpredictable situations would arise later.

(End of this chapter)