12dz Chapter 15 Cleverly Breaking the Ancient Formation and Restrictions
Chapter 15 Cleverly Breaking the Ancient Formation and Restrictions
Next, Su Mixin's gaze was firmly drawn to the enormous tortoise shell.
The tortoise shell was dark blue-green and several times larger than any spirit tortoise shell he had ever seen. It was covered with ancient and intricate patterns, resembling a naturally formed array totem. Under the light of the luminous pearl, it faintly shimmered with a spiritual glow.
There's a common saying in the cultivation world: the higher the level of a demon beast, the more terrifying its physical strength, and the longer its body can remain intact after death.
The Xuan Turtle, as a type of demonic beast, possesses the most outstanding physical body among demonic beasts. The indestructible body, one of the top supernatural powers, is most common within this type of demonic beast clan.
He carefully examined the tortoise shell, his suspicions growing: "The original owner of this tortoise shell must have perished countless millennia ago."
Apart from the intact tortoise shell, there was no trace of the Xuan Turtle's flesh or blood tissue around it. Even the demon core, which should have been the essence of the entire body, had long since disappeared, as if it had been deliberately taken away or had completely dissipated into the world over time.
"Could it be that the original form of this Xuan Turtle was actually the spirit beast that guarded this cave back then?" This thought suddenly flashed through Su Mi's mind, and the more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
The fact that such a massive tortoise shell could be left in this ancient cave suggests that the original owner's strength was far beyond ordinary, perhaps even that of a powerful spirit pet at the Nascent Soul stage or higher.
If it weren't for guarding the cave, how could it have perished here, leaving only a tortoise shell standing guard in the center of the plaza?
"Is this Xuan Turtle a fully-formed demon or an even higher-level Nascent Soul cultivator?"
The tortoise shell exuded a terrifying aura of pressure that had not dissipated even after tens of thousands of years, causing this Foundation Establishment cultivator to feel a slight weight in his heart.
He couldn't resist reaching out and gently touching the surface of the tortoise shell.
The moment my fingertips touched it, I felt a surge of powerful spiritual energy flowing slowly inside the tortoise shell, like a long-silent river or sea, not turbulent, yet containing earth-shattering power.
"Such a profound heritage." Su Mixin withdrew her hand, her appreciation for the tortoise shell growing even stronger.
"Feng Hou, please help me put this tortoise shell into my world ring."
"Yes, Master!" Feng Hou's voice was filled with pleasure.
He secretly let his thoughts wander: If the Xuan Turtle's corpse were intact, and he used the Demon Refining Pot to refine it into Demon Essence Liquid and consumed it, would it explode and die, or would it meditate for more than ten years and usher in the Nascent Soul stage?
Next, Su Mixin slowly walked around the entire square, carefully examining it to ensure there were no oversights or traces before heading towards the cluster of buildings behind it.
He used his divine sense to carefully scan the damaged area, leaving no detail unchecked, but ultimately found nothing.
I originally intended to search through the ruins, but considering the sheer scale of the project, I decided to give up for the time being.
In this vast secret realm, only the intact main hall remains, making it the only unknown place.
Su Mixin frowned slightly, her face showing a hint of headache.
This main hall has survived the ravages of time thanks to the ancient array formations that have protected it for so long.
Although tens of thousands of years of time have eroded the spiritual light on the surface of the restriction, which has long since dimmed and lost its magnificent power, the profound barrier that it faintly reveals still tells him that it is by no means something that a Foundation Establishment cultivator like himself can easily shake.
Moreover, some restrictions also have countermeasures, so taking action rashly could be dangerous.
After much deliberation, Su Mixin decided to take a risk and try it. He summoned the Blue Nether Shield and activated it with all his might to protect himself.
Immediately following, he pinched his fingertips, activating the Blood Sword Talisman. A chilling crimson sword light shot out, carrying a fierce momentum, and heavily slashed at the restrictive light barrier of the main hall.
"Buzz..." A deep tremor resounded, and the dim barrier light only rippled slightly, the spiritual light was not diminished in the slightest, and there was no sign of weakening.
"What a pity, alas!" Su Mixin sighed inwardly. Sure enough, this treasure land protected by ancient formations and restrictions was not something a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like him could covet.
He has only been practicing for a short time, spending most of his time on meditation and diligent cultivation. His understanding of formations is superficial, only scratching the surface.
He couldn't even identify the name or attributes of this ancient and mysterious restriction before him, and had no other way but to forcibly break it.
After a moment's hesitation, Su Mixin finally decided to return to her sect and seek help from her father.
Judging from the clues revealed so far in the secret realm, the opportunities hidden here are absolutely worth a visit by a Nascent Soul Ancestor.
Just as Su Mixin was about to turn and leave, Feng Hou's voice suddenly rang out.
"Master, according to the spiritual energy veins and directions shown on the Marauder's Map, this secret realm does not have any original spiritual veins; all spiritual energy is drawn outwards from the entrance."
Su Mixin was immediately stunned, and a sudden thought flashed through his mind.
"After the wind, retrieve the Marauder's Map."
"Yes, Master."
When the 3D image of the Marauder's Map reappeared in front of Su Mixin, he examined it carefully.
As expected, there was no sign of spiritual veins gathering within this secret realm.
Only at the entrance vortex, wisps of external spiritual energy slowly flowed in, traveling along the underground currents of the tunnel and spreading to the entire space behind the secret realm. The vast majority of the spiritual energy eventually converged towards the main hall.
Although Su Mixin's skill in array formations was rudimentary, she was well-versed in the basic common sense of the cultivation world.
No matter the level or how powerful the formation or restriction, it always requires energy to support it.
The energy source for ordinary formations can be activated by the spiritual power of cultivators or provided by spirit stones.
A more sophisticated approach is to build along the mountain's veins, on top of the spiritual energy, to absorb its spiritual energy.
The main hall of this secret realm has a more advanced array, directly absorbing the spiritual energy dissipating from the outside world.
As for the fact that there are spirit stones supporting the formation in the main hall, that is obviously a fantasy. What kind of spirit stones could support its operation for tens of thousands of years?
Upon this thought, a flash of inspiration struck Su Mixin, and a bold idea suddenly emerged: if the source of this continuous supply of spiritual energy were directly cut off, would this restrictive formation collapse on its own?
"Feng Hou, your observation is truly remarkable! If you hadn't reminded me, I would have almost missed this crucial point!" Su Mi couldn't hide her joy, her voice full of praise.
Feng Hou's voice was filled with obvious joy, no longer as cold as before: "It is Feng Hou's duty to share the master's burdens. The master's ability to see through the crux of the matter is truly remarkable!"
Su Mi was in a great mood and put away the Blue Nether Shield and the Blood Sword Talisman.
He turned around and strode quickly toward the entrance to the secret realm.
Upon arriving at the entrance to the passageway, this time he didn't expend his leg strength but directly used the disc-shaped magical artifact to fly swiftly all the way.
A quarter of an hour later, Su Mixin finally arrived at the void vortex at the entrance to the secret realm.
He stood in front of the whirlpool and observed it carefully.
The vortex continued to rotate slowly, and the hazy air currents carried in the spiritual energy from the outside world, forming a continuous energy channel.
If it were an ordinary cultivator, they would definitely think very carefully and dare not destroy this only passage for entry and exit.
However, Su Mi had Hearthstone with him, so he wasn't afraid of his escape route being destroyed.
After a moment's thought, Su Mixin returned to the outside world through the vortex passage.
On the surface of the Panlong River, Su Mixin took out her Hearthstone, deleted the coordinates of the passageway, and bound a new coordinate for this location.
Afterwards, Su Mixin returned to the passageway.
Standing not far from the vortex once again, Su Mixin took a deep breath, her eyes sharpening.
He raised his hand and flipped it over, taking out dozens of attack talismans of various colors from his storage bag. He stacked them densely in his hand, including fireball talismans, iceball talismans, lightning bolt talismans, fire cloud talismans, firebird talismans, and so on.
These are all the attack talismans Su Mixin currently has.
"Go!" Su Mixin shouted, her fingertips unleashing spiritual power to activate all the talismans one after another.
In an instant, dozens of talismans burst forth with dazzling light, and various attack methods intertwined into a net, crashing down on the void vortex like a storm.
"Boom...!" A deafening roar echoed at the entrance of the secret realm, continuous and unending. The vortex trembled violently, the hazy airflow became chaotic, and the surging spiritual energy instantly became stagnant.
However, this ancient passage was exceptionally resilient; despite being violently shaken, it showed no signs of collapsing.
"Not enough!" Su Mixin's eyes narrowed, and she summoned the Blood Sword Talisman again without hesitation.
The crimson sword shadow on the talisman had dimmed slightly after several uses.
Su Mixin was now going all in. He no longer held back on the energy of the Blood Sword Talisman, frantically channeling his spiritual power in an attempt to unleash the remaining power of the talisman all at once.
"Blood Sword, slash!" A sharp shout rang out.
The Blood Sword Talisman suddenly erupted with a crimson radiance far exceeding its previous intensity, its blade growing several feet larger and transforming into a crimson rainbow that stretched across the heavens and earth. With a resolute determination to destroy everything, it slashed fiercely down towards the crumbling vortex passage!
This attack exhausted all the remaining energy of the Blood Sword Talisman, and it was the strongest attack he could unleash at this moment!
"Sizzle—!"
The crimson sword light pierced into the core of the vortex as easily as cutting tofu, and the already chaotic passage collapsed instantly.
The hazy, gray air currents scattered and exploded, and the void vortex let out a shrill shriek before shattering into pieces like broken glass, finally disappearing completely at the entrance to the secret realm.
The channel through which spiritual energy flowed in was completely severed, and the surrounding air instantly became stagnant, with no more external spiritual energy penetrating in.
Su Mixin turned her head to look towards the main hall deep within the secret realm, silently thinking: The array restrictions should have failed by now, right?
A quarter of an hour later, Su Mixin used the disc-shaped magical artifact to return to the spatial plaza.
At this moment, the spiritual light covering the main hall was seven or eight parts dimmer than before, and some parts even flickered like candles in the wind.
"Although it hasn't completely failed yet, it's almost done. Besides, at this point, the formation's restrictions are like a rootless duckweed; they'll eventually wear it down," Su Mi thought to herself.
Next, Su Mixin decisively summoned the Nine Mystic Sword Shuttle, which transformed into nine flying swords, and began to bombard and slash at the formation's restrictions.
This formation truly lives up to its reputation as an ancient cultivator's tool for protecting the main hall; even weakened to this extent, it remains remarkably sturdy.
Unfortunately, it no longer has a source of spiritual energy.
Su Mixin persisted in attacking for a full half day. When her spiritual energy was nearly exhausted, she sat down cross-legged on the spot, held a spirit stone in her hand, and circulated her energy to recover. Once her spiritual energy was almost replenished, she continued.
Finally, under another round of relentless bombardment from the nine flying swords, the precarious barrier above the main hall could no longer hold.
First, the light at the edge went out completely like a candle flame, revealing a gray void. Then, cracks spread rapidly across the light screen like a spider web, and the already dim light weakened drastically as the cracks spread.
"Crack!" A crisp cracking sound echoed in the air. As the final strike of the Nine Mystic Sword Shuttle landed, the barrier light shattered, turning into countless tiny specks of spiritual light that scattered in the air like stars and gradually disappeared without a trace.
Su Mixin abruptly stopped the Nine Mystic Sword Shuttle. The nine flying swords transformed into streams of light and returned to his palm. He staggered back a step, his face as pale as paper. His spiritual energy had been exhausted to the extreme, and even the fingers holding the sword shuttle were trembling slightly.
But a smile unconsciously crept onto his lips.
Half a day of frantic attacks, repeatedly exhausting spiritual energy only to forcibly recover it, ultimately paid off.
He took a deep breath, sat down cross-legged, quickly took out several mid-grade spirit stones and held them in his palm, frantically absorbing their spiritual power through his cultivation technique.
After more than an hour, when the spiritual energy in her dantian and meridians was fully replenished, Su Mixin finally got up.
His gaze was fixed intently on the main hall gate, which was made of black jade.
Su Mixin held the Blue Nether Shield in her left hand, ready to activate it at any moment, while her right hand gripped the Nine Mystic Sword Shuttle tightly. She slowly walked towards the main hall's entrance.
Without the barrier of the restrictions, this door, sealed for tens of thousands of years, now stood before him without any hindrance.
Su Mixin took a deep breath and placed her fists against the black jade door, but she did not put down the two magical artifacts in her hands.
Using both arms, he slowly pushed the door open.
With a deep, resonant sound, the black jade slowly opened to the sides, releasing an ancient and rich aura mixed with a faint spiritual energy.
Su Mixin calmed herself down, gripped the Blue Sea Shield and the Nine Mysterious Sword Shuttle tightly, and carefully stepped into the main hall, preparing to unveil the final veil of this ancient secret realm cave.
The interior of this ancient palace was completely devoid of the ornate carvings and magnificent decorations one might have imagined.
The ground is still entirely paved with smooth, flawless white jade bricks, just like the plaza outside.
Eight dragon-carved stone pillars stand tall around the hall, supporting the magnificent dome of the palace.
The upper part of the stone pillar and the dome are densely inlaid with large, round luminous pearls. Unfortunately, just like those in the passageway, most of them have dimmed after tens of thousands of years of erosion, and a small portion of them have been covered in dust and lost their luster.
Looking ahead, in the center of the main hall, hangs a huge portrait, which is the ancient cultivator with a sword in the mural, and most likely the original owner of this cave.
Not far to the left and right of the main hall, two square ancient steles of regular shape stand quietly, each one standing 1.5 feet tall, majestic and imposing.
The entire stele is a bluish-gray color, with faint blue inscriptions flowing across it.
Unfortunately, the light inside the hall was dim, and it was difficult to see clearly from a distance.
Su Mixin paused for a moment, sensing no danger.
He put away the Nine Mystic Sword Shuttle, took out the luminous pearl from before and held it in his hand, then slowly walked towards the stone tablet on the left.