Chapter 182: Collapse

Xu Chen was very puzzled; the great array had been quiet for months, and even the power of the black mist eruptions had been continuously weakening, with the number of Soul Beasts appearing becoming fewer and fewer. Why, then, would the Black Wind suddenly erupt again, not only spewing out so many Soul Beasts, but also producing one with such formidable strength?

If one or even several more Soul Beasts of such terrifying strength were to appear later, I fear that even if True Monarch Xuan Chen rushed back, it would be far too late.

Therefore, taking advantage of the brief rest, Xu Chen swallowed a mouthful of Spirit Liquid to recover his vital energy while racking his brains to think of a way to kill this Soul Beast.

The Thunder Fire Pestle itself had sufficient power, but he could not fully activate the entire array, so it was useless.

The Qinglan Light-Splitting Mirror was even more powerful, but it was even harder to control.

As for the Cloud Flow Step, it was a purely evasive Magic Spell, and its attack power was almost zero.

Besides these, his other Magic Spells and Magic Treasures were even more pathetic.

He had practiced very few Magic Spells, mainly because the Taiyuan Sect's inheritance of Magic Spells was trash, unlike the Yuqing Hall, which had thousands of years of deep accumulation. Moreover, most offensive Magic Spells were only practiced after reaching the Zhenyuan Realm. Although he had memorized a bellyful of various Magic Spells at the Yuqing Hall, he had never practiced or cast a single one. Firstly, he had no time, and secondly, he had no energy. After returning to the mountain, he had been busy the whole time. He had intended to wait until he had recorded them all on Jade Slips before slowly selecting a few to practice, but he hadn't had the chance yet.

And the Second-Grade Flying Sword in his hand couldn't even cut through the Soul Beast's armor.

After thinking it over, he focused his attention on the Blue Light Treasure Bottle in his Sea of Consciousness.

To kill this Soul Beast, he ultimately had to rely on this Immortal Treasure of unfathomable origin.

But with the Blue Light Treasure Bottle unable to be communicated with or used, only the Demon Refining Art remained as the only function he could utilize.

And the Demon Refining Art was not an offensive Magic Spell; it was merely a technique for refining demonic creatures, and it required them to be taken into the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

Thus, this became a vicious cycle, and he was completely unable to break the deadlock.

Xu Chen felt as if he had hit a dead end, and for a moment, he was at his wit's end.

"Roar—"

The Soul Beast suddenly let out a low roar at Xu Chen, and its dozen or so long and short tentacles suddenly spread out, as if it felt that the fixed rest period between the two sides had passed and it was time to fight again.

Xu Chen felt a moment of bitter laughter.

This thing seemed to have become addicted to fighting, but looking at the few half-severed tentacles on the Soul Beast's body that were still emitting black smoke like chimneys, his eyes lit up slightly.

He wondered if the Soul Beast and the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus were of the same species.

The Blue Light Treasure Bottle could refine the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus into white mist to strengthen the Three Spirits and Seven Souls as well as flesh and bones; he wondered what the effect would be if used on the Soul Beast.

Anyway, this thing was like an unkillable cockroach; if it couldn't be killed, it would infinitely repair or even resurrect itself. Even if the white mist could help it repair, if the amount was large enough, perhaps he could blow it up directly.

After all, the grade of the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus was far more powerful than this Soul Beast.

Thinking of this, Xu Chen no longer hesitated, wanting to test the effect before a large number of cultivators arrived at the breach.

So he immediately circulated the Demon Refining Art, and accompanied by a blue nebula spewing out of his body, under the guidance of his Divine Sense, a stream of white light fell directly onto the Soul Beast.

"Roar—"

The Soul Beast suddenly erupted with an earth-shattering roar, the sound carrying incomparable terror, yet seemingly also intense surprise. Its dozen or so tentacles, large and small, rolled and tumbled in the air, and it instantly fell into a state of chaos.

Seeing that it was working, Xu Chen immediately outputted the white mist with all his might. Instantly, white light surged on the Soul Beast, mixing with the surrounding rolling black mist, and with a crackling sound, it exploded with a boom, just like cold water poured into a boiling pot of oil.

A cluster of colorful, strange light shot straight into the sky.

The entire great array trembled and jumped along with it. Around the core of the array, the five Flag Mountains transformed from command flags shook violently and disappeared. Command flags with the five glowing characters for Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth soared into the air, hanging a hundred feet high and illuminating a radius of several hundred miles. Under the rolling black mist and the setting sun, they released brilliant and dazzling light like a rainbow.

At the center of the explosion, the Soul Beast let out a shrill scream and began to roll. Its body exploded densely like firecrackers, large chunks of armor and flesh collapsed, only to be wrapped up by the white mist, triggering a second, even more violent round of explosions.

In an instant, with the Soul Beast as the center, a radius of several hundred feet turned into an explosion zone resembling fireworks.

Xu Chen was both shocked and delighted, but his Divine Sense was also blocked by this colorful light, making it impossible to see the situation at the center of the explosion. He could only see with his naked eye a huge figure dancing crazily like fireworks, especially the dozen or so tentacles, which were rolling in the sky like sparklers.

And this sudden commotion immediately made all the cultivators inside and outside the great array feel incomparably terrified.

The five Array Eyes of the great array were all activated, and the entire array was undergoing violent tremors; this seemed to be a sign that it could not withstand the impact.

And the Soul Beast's terrifying cries, like muffled thunder, penetrated the layers of black mist and the array's light and shadow, shaking a radius of several hundred miles.

"Run quickly, the great array is about to break!"

In the panic, a cultivator roared.

Consequently, the large number of cultivators who were about to charge into the center of the great array instantly scattered like a disturbed nest, riding their Escape Lights and racing wildly across the sky, fleeing frantically outside the great array.

Meanwhile, at the Yuqing Hall stronghold dozens of miles away, Yiyun Zhenren, Xuanhe Zhenren, and a group of Yuqing Hall Disciples, who had been resting for half a day, were all terrified out of their wits by this sudden change.

A moment later, Yiyun Zhenren roared: "Order everyone to retreat, the great array is about to collapse!"

"Boom—"

Just at this moment, at the breach in the center of the great array, the suddenly spewing black light stopped abruptly, followed by an eruption of blindingly bright five-colored light. The entire great array suddenly soared into the air, then slammed back down heavily. The five command flags hid back into the ground, transforming into five Flag Mountains, and the great array suddenly fell into silence.

Soon, the five-colored glow churning in the center also disappeared.

"What happened? Has the great array recovered?"

Everyone was dumbfounded, and those cultivators who were fleeing outward also slowed down and looked back in terror.

At this time, at the breach of the array, the Black Wind had stopped erupting, but the figures of the Soul Beast and Xu Chen were nowhere to be seen.

Large amounts of black mist drifted in from all directions, and soon completely covered the breach.

Xu Chen, however, was in extreme danger at this moment.

Just as he was frantically pouring white light into the Soul Beast, the Soul Beast suddenly charged headlong into the breach, and then a more violent explosion erupted.

He had originally been blown outward by the explosion, but in an instant, a huge suction force pulled him back and dragged him into the breach. Before he could even manage to cast the Cloud Flow Step, he felt his whole body tighten as he was tightly bound by a huge tentacle and dragged rapidly toward the depths of the earth.

The Soul Beast carried him as it plunged and raced downward, while also igniting the black mist within like a torch, exploding crazily all the way, sinking deeper and deeper.

In the blink of an eye, he could no longer sense the depth.

But at this moment, he dared not stop the circulation of the Demon Refining Art at all.

Because this was not outside the great array; once he stopped and could not break free from the Soul Beast's tentacles, he would inevitably be strangled to death. Therefore, he could only output the white mist even more frantically to ignite the Soul Beast's body.

And this Soul Beast's body was already incomparably huge, at least thirty zhang in size from head to tail, far from what the white mist could blow up in an instant.

He had been able to endure for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea back in the Kaiyuan Realm, let alone this terrifying giant beast that was powerful enough to reach the middle-to-late Danyuan Realm. Therefore, although it was constantly exploding amidst the interweaving of white light and black mist, and the Soul Beast's armor and flesh were constantly disappearing, it could not take the Soul Beast's life in a very short time.

Thus, he could only be rolled along by the Soul Beast, plunging crazily into the Black Wind cavern, which was as terrifying as a quagmire of icy water. Along the way, all the rocks collapsed completely like bean curd dregs, and the Soul Beast tunneled directly through the mountain rock to escape into the deep depths of the earth.

And as he released more and more white light, it directly ignited the black mist throughout the entire cavern. The five-colored light surged and churned in the underground cave, like a spark falling into a pot of oil. After a large amount of black mist was ignited and consumed, the pressure underground suddenly fell into a semi-vacuum state and began to collapse inward.

The breach in the Five Elements Array immediately became the only air intake channel, and the black mist drifting outside turned into a rolling torrent, being sucked into the breach, quickly forming a huge Black Wind vortex that poured frantically inside.

As time passed, the suction at the breach grew stronger and stronger, and the Black Wind vortex also grew larger and larger, gradually expanding to a scale of over ten miles in radius; the entire core area of the great Array had almost transformed into a terrifying, massive vortex, emitting thunderous sounds like a mountain collapse or a tsunami, swallowing all the Black Mist in the vicinity.

Black Wind Ridge, which had been permeated by Black Wind for several months, slowly began to become clear.

Not until the end, when the Black Mist for a radius of over a thousand miles had become incomparably thin, did this violent Black Wind vortex finally and slowly come to a stop.

Everyone was dumbfounded, witnessing this terrifying and shocking change.

Fortunately, a large number of cultivators had already fled outward when the shocking change began; at this moment, the furthest had already escaped to over fifty miles away, while those who ran slowly had also reached the vicinity of their daily temporary encampments.

Although the swallowing power of the Black Wind vortex was incomparably terrifying, due to the restrictions of the Five Elements Array and the distance, no one was actually dragged into the bottom of the Array, but a large number of Soul Beasts in the core area were sucked in, leaving only a sparse few Soul Beasts still fleeing in panic in the edge areas of the great Array.

(End of this chapter)