Chapter 24 Broken Origin Array
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Outside the Tai'an City, the sound of horse hooves thundered as several carriages sped along the mountain road.
This time, Xie Xuanyi did not let Deng Baiyi accompany him.
He sat alone in the compartment at the back of the hall.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Xu You had arranged lodging, and they had pretended to check in. As soon as Xu You's men had left, they had packed up and left Tai'an immediately, this approach of leaving without saying goodbye… did not calm Xie Xuanyi's heart; instead, the unease pressed heavily on his mind, growing ever more intense!
"It seems this trap was laid out quite some time ago, waiting for me, wasn't it?"
Xie Xuanyi's face was expressionless.
He sat cross-legged, a green medicinal pill floating before him.
After taking a deep breath,
Xie Xuanyi adjusted his spirit, energy, and mind to their peak states, and then, without any hesitation, he crushed the pill in his hand.
Boom!
The Green Yuan Pill shattered, and its vast primordial energy gushed forth!
What should have burst the carriage compartment, at this moment, was perfectly controlled by Xie Xuanyi. He stretched out his hands, forcefully compressing thousands of strands of overflowing primordial energy into a fist-sized orb of light!
This light orb was highly unstable, but in just a few breaths, it obediently floated before Xie Xuanyi.
"This Green Yuan Pill could probably burst seven or eight Qi Refining Masters all at once…"
Xie Xuanyi stared at the brilliant energy before him, his focus sharper than ever.
He couldn't help but chuckle lightly.
All five Green Yuan Pills were of high quality. It was no wonder Xu You felt such pain when giving them away.
"Alright, let's see how many strands of golden primordial energy this Green Yuan Pill can condense."
Xie Xuanyi held his breath.
A normal Qi Refining Master, in the process of cultivating primordial energy, would also cultivate the Divine Soul!
The stronger the Divine Soul Power.
The easier it is to control the primordial energy…
Now that Xie Xuanyi had lived a second life, though he had lost all his primordial energy, his Divine Soul Power had not only remained intact but had increased. His eyes blazed with brilliance, and the orb of primordial energy before him was instantly crushed—
"Boom boom boom!"
The sound of thunder reverberated through the carriage!
The horses neighed wildly, as if sensing the terrifying energy behind them, and for a moment, the carriage sped up tremendously!
Xie Xuanyi's eyes grew brighter!
He was doing something against the common sense of cultivators, something crazy: he was forcing control of the Green Yuan Pill's primordial energy, compressing it further and further…
In less than five breaths!
A strand of golden primordial energy was born within the carriage!
Xie Xuanyi drew it into his chest, lighting up an acupoint there, followed by a second strand, and a third!
This "frail" body finally welcomed the long-lost strength!
At this moment, Xie Xuanyi knew his previous conjecture was correct.
As long as there were enough high-quality primordial energy pills, the process of cultivating golden primordial energy would greatly accelerate!
What a pity…
The primordial energy from the Green Yuan Pill was not enough!
What a Qi-controlling Realm cultivator needed to digest in three to four weeks, under Xie Xuanyi's frantic extraction, lasted less than a hundred breaths before dissipating like smoke!
A Green Yuan Pill, condensed eleven strands of golden primordial energy!
Although this was countless times faster than absorbing Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi… it was still not enough, for a Qi Refining Master to advance to the second realm required lighting up one hundred and eight acupoints.
This also meant.
Xie Xuanyi's advancement required one hundred and eight strands of golden primordial energy!
"Thirteen acupoints have been lit…"
After absorbing the golden primordial energy, Xie Xuanyi's state of spirit, energy, and mind changed once again!
His pupils flashed with golden brilliance!
It's not only through advancement that one becomes stronger.
If the original body was a dried-up pond, then after consuming a Green Yuan Pill, there was finally a thin layer of water in said pond... belonging to Xie Xuanyi himself!
"Very good! Let's continue!"
Xie Xuanyi's aura climbed higher; confirming that this method of cultivation was viable, he completely let loose, crushing the second and third Green Yuan Pills!
His Divine Soul Power surged out.
He multitasked, controlling two orbs of light into his body at the same time!
"Boom! Boom!"
The quality of these two Green Yuan Pills was slightly inferior to the first, and after condensation, they produced a total of only nineteen strands of golden primordial energy!
Counting the previous ones.
Xie Xuanyi had now lit thirty-four acupoints, nearly one-third!
If he were to consume all five Green Yuan Pills, roughly half would be lit.
"Not enough, still not enough…"
Xie Xuanyi did not crush the remaining two Green Yuan Pills.
He quietly felt the faint strength in his body, then lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked back at Tai'an City.
The night was pitch black, Tai'an City growing more and more distant.
But the chill in his heart grew heavier.
…
…
"Baiyi, just keep going forward, don't look back, and don't stop."
A message passed into the foremost carriage.
Deng Baiyi, holding Jiang Huang, looked anxious, finally hearing the voice she had so eagerly awaited.
"What's wrong with our benefactor?"
Ever since leaving Tai'an City, Deng Baiyi had been nervously looking back at the carriages, fearing some mishap.
But she noticed.
The last carriage suddenly stopped.
A figure in white stood alone on the mountain road, showing no intention of catching up.
Deng Baiyi was stunned: "Why isn't our benefactor moving?"
"Hey, stop for a bit…"
He subconsciously wanted the coachman to halt the carriage.
"No, we can't stop!"
Deng Baiyi clenched her teeth, word by word, she said: "We'll go ahead and wait for him there."
Although she didn't know what had happened.
She knew that since meeting in Yuzhu Town, Xie Zhen had never harmed her—
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From Northern County to Qing State.
On this journey, the two of them grew from strangers to acquaintances, although they did not engage in much verbal communication…
But in Deng Baiyi's heart, Xie Zhen was definitely a person worthy of trust.
He asked her to walk forward, not looking back.
So she would not look back.
…
…
Xie Xuanyi stopped the carriage and stood alone on the mountain road outside Tai'an City.
All around was pitch black.
The night sky this evening was particularly profound, with stars cloaked by clouds, making one feel as if standing in the center of a dark ink scroll.
East, south, west, north, nothing but silence as far as the eye could see.
No matter which direction one looked, darkness was all that could be seen.
Xie Xuanyi led the horse by the reins, taking several steps before stopping completely.
He patted the horse's head, smoothing its mane for the animal that had been traveling for many days, then spoke softly.
"Go on."
The horse snorted loudly and walked away at a leisurely pace.
The carriage advanced only a few yards before it seemed to blend into the ink of the scroll… disappearing from Xie Xuanyi's sight, as even the sound of the horse's hooves was "swallowed".
Xie Xuanyi stood in the midst of dark heaven and earth, and smiled.
"The Broken Origin Array, the pride of Qin Baihuang, head of the Refining Department, can sever the connection between Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and cultivators."
A second laugh echoed in the dark world.
"Young Master Xie has quite an eye, and it seems you also have insights into formations, yes?"
Xie Xuanyi smiled faintly, clasping his hands behind his back, "Talismans and array patterns are intertwined, since I have some understanding of talismanic technique, naturally I should also understand a bit of the art of array patterns."
"That's right," came the sigh from the darkness. "However... knowing the Broken Origin Array, you shouldn't have stepped in."
"A true Broken Origin Array is indeed terrifying. Once trapped inside, it's like entering a heavenly prison, not easily escaped."
Xie Xuanyi observed the darkness before him.
He reached out a finger to touch it, and chuckled lightly, "But your setup is somewhat lacking, covering only a radius of a hundred paces… If it was set by Qin Baihuang personally, the continuous ten mountains around would be enveloped by the array, achieving complete isolation from the natural world."
No sooner had he spoken.
Standing atop the high mountain, Xu You couldn't help but freeze.
Furrowing his brows, he instinctively took another look at the white-robed youth before him, confirming that the latter had no Primordial Energy.
"Continuously mentioning Qin Baihuang…"
Xu You mocked coldly, "Just a mere Qi Refining Master, and you dare address him so directly?"
Upon hearing these words, Xie Xuanyi smiled wryly.
Indeed…
Given his current status and position, calling the head of the Refining Department by name was indeed a bit presumptuous.
"The hundred-yard Broken Origin Array is more than enough to kill you ten times over!"
Xu You, gripping his great spear, stood at the peak of a hillock, looking down indifferently.
To ensure nothing would go wrong, he had brought this great spear and had personally come here.
But after confirming Xie Zhen's cultivation realm, Xu You couldn't be bothered to charge down himself.
He simply raised two fingers, flicking them upwards slightly!
In an instant, the earth shattered!
Xie Xuanyi lowered his head.
Where he stood, within a ten-yard radius, was instantly engulfed by a vast expanse of pitch-black killing intent!
"Boom!!!"
The ground broke apart, and a colossal shadow, like a whale leaping out of the sea, engulfed Xie Xuanyi whole!
It was a large box that had opened early and lay dormant under the ground—
Upon receiving its master's order, it rose like a gaping maw, breaking through the earth, and then snapped shut abruptly, swallowing Xie Xuanyi whole!
Qi-controlling Realm cultivators are capable of condensing Lifebound Artifacts… The precise number depends on different cultivators' talents, aptitudes, and their cultivation path.
Some cultivators spend their entire lives condensing a single Lifebound Magic Artifact!
Others, the more, the merrier. For example, Sword Cultivators, the vast majority have more than one Flying Sword.
Xu You had condensed two Treasures in total!
One of them was this sixth-grade Treasure "Cloud-breaking Spear"!
The other was the fifth-grade Treasure "Devouring Element Box" currently hidden under the earth of the Broken Origin Array!
"But that's all."
Standing at the summit of the mountain, Xu You watched this scene and couldn't help but sneer: "All smoke and mirrors, I thought you had some real skills…"
The next moment.
The smile on Xu You's face stiffened.
He suddenly felt something amiss!
The Lifebound Artifacts were connected to the cultivator's spirit. He could sense the state of the Devouring Element Box at any moment. The "closure" of the box was now ninety-nine percent complete, just a hair's breadth away from being perfectly shut!
But it was precisely stuck at this hair's breadth!
Dust and debris swirled around the levitating dark box.
The huge dark box, which was just a sliver away from being completely closed, began to violently tremble beyond the control of its master.
Crack!
Xu You's pupils contracted, and he heard a very faint cracking sound…
Xu You's Heart Lake trembled.
A crack had unexpectedly appeared on the surface of his Devouring Element Box. The sound of it breaking continued to spread, with the crack growing longer—
A streak of golden light burst forth from the crevice of the dark box!
"…What?!"
Xu You couldn't believe his own eyes.
The rupture of the Devouring Element Box was now irreversible. Within moments, more cracks appeared, with the golden radiance growing more intense!
Finally, with a bang, a complete, gleaming golden Qi barrier, like a grand canopy, unfolded and closed over—completely bursting the Devouring Element Box from within!
Below that canopy of golden light.
A white-robed youth was seated cross-legged, his body free of any Lifebound Magic Artefacts.
All he had was a crushed Green Yuan Pill.
And over a hundred gleaming Primordial Energy swords!
Each sword seemed to have its own soul—
At this moment, all the Flying Swords, with their tips trembling, turned together, aiming at Xu You!