Desolate Mountain Ancient Village

Pingyin County was shrouded in white mist, with a cold, sinister aura drifting in every direction. An ordinary person might start shivering from cold after just one glance.

However, ever since Pingyin County had been swallowed by anomalies, no ordinary people remained within dozens of miles of it. Those who could flee had all fled. Those who could not had been laid to eternal rest here.

Yet at this moment, twenty or thirty people stood ten miles beyond Pingyin County's eastern gate, watching the changes in the aura within the county from afar and silently counting the time.

"Elder Fang, can we go in now?"

Several dozen people gathered around an old man. Among them were several Aperture Refining Realm martial artists, while the rest were at the Organ Refinement Realm and Marrow Refinement Realm. Someone cupped his hands and asked for guidance.

The old man was named Fang Ziqiu. He belonged to no sect or school, yet his cultivation had already reached the Mid-stage Aperture Refining Realm. Among Rogue Cultivators, reaching even the Early Stage Aperture Refining Realm was as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns, let alone the Mid-stage Aperture Refining Realm.

After reaching the Early Stage Aperture Refining Realm, most Rogue Cultivators spent the rest of their lives treading water in place. Taking another step forward was harder than scaling the heavens, unless they encountered some extraordinary opportunity.

Fang Ziqiu had cultivated to the Mid-stage Aperture Refining Realm, so among the many Rogue Cultivators present, he naturally stood at the very peak. Moreover, Fang Ziqiu had once embarked on the path of array cultivation through a book called Preliminary Explanation of Arrays.

Among the Aperture Refining Realm martial artists present, Fang Ziqiu not only possessed the highest cultivation, but also the deepest understanding of arrays.

So