Sweeping the Formations-What Do You Think They're After?

To be honest, this was the first time Xiao Chen had encountered Demon Beast like the Seven-Star Flowing Light Sea Bream. It possessed seven completely different abilities simultaneously; just hearing the description made it seem incredibly powerful. Although he hadn't encountered many Demon Beast before, he had read countless books, which mentioned at least tens of thousands of different Demon Beast. Most Demon Beast had only one Innate Ability. Mutated Demon Beast often had an additional bloodline ability. Only a small number of Demon Beast possessed a third, relatively powerful ability, and those beyond that were extremely rare. Before today, the most powerful demonic Demon Beast Xiao Chen knew of was a special bird called the Five-Hued Spirit Feather Sparrow. It possessed five-colored tail feathers, which could be used to control the Five Elements Spiritual Power in combat. However, this creature was extremely rare; apart from one confirmed to exist in the Three Mountains Grotto-Heaven, it was nowhere to be found outside. Xiao Chen had even thought that if he ever entered the Three Mountains Grotto-Heaven in the future, he should try to see it and broaden his horizons. He never expected to encounter the Seven-Star Flowing Light Sea Bream here today. It truly lives up to its name as the Endless Sea; who knows how many Sea Fish it teems with, or how many unique species have evolved within it? After hearing the introduction, everyone's expressions turned serious. Facing a special mutated creature, its exact strength currently unknown but brimming with abilities, theoretically, its actual combat power might not be weaker than Nascent Soul Late Stage Great Demon. They had to be vigilant and cautious. This was crucial to the outcome of the battle, and also a matter of their own safety. "In that case, we should act together and try to avoid anyone encountering the Seven-Star Flowing Light Sea Bream alone," said Gang Yuan True Monarch Gangyuan. "Before coming here, I heard that due to the vastness of the Shallow Sky Sea, the Sea Race have set up numerous formations to block safe routes." "Fellow Daoist Iron Fan also mentioned in her letter the day before yesterday that they seem to have retreated to their main formations." "Then let's proceed cautiously." "First, we should ascertain the Sea Race ' defensive layout, then clear out the relatively weaker formations one by one." "We'll leave this most troublesome Seven-Star Flowing Light Sea Bream for last." His suggestion immediately received unanimous approval. There were two main reasons. Firstly, since the start of the war, it has been the Sea Race attacking the Human Race from all sides. This is the first time the Human Race has taken the initiative to counterattack the Sea Race. Although there were counterattacks on the West Front before, the main force they faced was actually the Illuminating Void Sect, and most of the formations were also set up by the Illuminating Void Sect, making it more like an internal war among the Human Race. But this time it is completely different. The other side of the Shallow Sky Sea is now occupied purely by the Sea Race, and the formations set up are all Sea Race formations that are very unfamiliar to everyone. Faced with this completely new situation, everyone's attitude is naturally more conservative. Secondly, although the Human Race seems to have a strong army, in reality they are good at defense but seriously lack offensive capabilities. For example, there are a total of nine Nascent Soul True Lord present. But excluding Xiao Chen, there are still three Newly Promoted Nascent Soul. If you ask them to defend themselves in their own Formation Power -Mountain Protecting Grand Array, it might not be a big problem. But if you ask them to leave the formation, or even actively attack the Sea Race Grand Array, how much combat power they can still exert is a big question mark. The difference between this increase and decrease has already had a very serious impact. Besides these issues, they also face problems such as a shortage of Total True Essence and insufficient proficiency in Law Technique. To put it bluntly, the Newly Promoted Nascent Soul are unlikely to be of much use in offense; they can practically be ignored. This significantly reduces the number of available Human Race. On the other hand, it's currently unknown whether any new reinforcements have arrived from the Sea Race. If it's just the original four Great Demon, the Human Race still has a numerical advantage. But if more arrive, the situation becomes unpredictable. Even for Xiao Chen, he hopes the Sea Race Grand Array won't be too difficult to deal with. Although he brought a Reinforced Formation Breaking Cone, it's important to remember that the Sea Race possesses more than one Defensive Formation! The most crucial trump card should be used where it's most important, such as the Sea Race's last and most complex formation. Therefore, the tactic proposed by Gang Yuan True Monarch —'testing and eliminating the relatively weaker formations first'—is quite good. The only drawback is that it takes a little more time. As Nascent Soul True Lord, they have plenty of time; there's no need to rush. After agreeing on the battle strategy, everyone also discussed some details. Then, they deployed scouts to confirm that the Sea Race had completely abandoned their harassment and had retreated to a defensive posture. They then met up with Thousand Machines Valley. Of course, they also sat down with Qian Shu True Monarch and Hundred Apertures True Monarch for a lively discussion. It was all polite small talk, with each side praising the other again. For the next ten days or so, the Human Race split into two groups. One group, led by Xiao Chen, Gang Yuan True Monarch Iron Fan True Monarch, and Silver Hair True Monarch, was responsible for clearing the formation from bottom to top. The other group, led by True Han Chuan True Monarch Hanchuan, True Monarch Qian Shu True Monarch, Crane Cry True Monarch, and Cloud Vortex True Monarch, was responsible for clearing the formation from top to bottom. As for the Newly Promoted True Monarch of each clan, they remained within the formation to guard the center and monitor the movements of the Sea Race Great Demon. This task could actually be done by one person, but the others weren't completely idle. Instead, he led his disciples to build the Array Foundation, refine the Formation Flag, and coordinate logistical supplies, making ample preparations for the upcoming fierce attack. The entire arrangement prioritized safety, leaving no opportunity for the Sea Race to exploit. However, on the first day of the operation, a small accident occurred. "Something's not right. How come there's a Defensive Formation here?" Gang Yuan True Monarch stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the Fourth-tier Grand Array shimmering with spiritual light ahead, his face showing obvious confusion. He looked down at the map of the Shallow Sky Sea in his hand, his confusion growing stronger. "Have we gone astray?" Gang Yuan True Monarch couldn't figure it out, so he shouted directly, "Daoist Iron Fan, please come over here." "There seems to be an error on this map." "You know this sea area better than I do. Do you know exactly what's ahead?" Their main purpose in coming out this time was to scout the situation and clear out secondary arrays, so the four of them were traveling together on the same spirit ship. Although Iron Fan True Monarch was inside the pavilion, he immediately heard the call and came out, "Hmm? This is the latest sea chart." "It was updated five years ago, and it guarantees the location of even a small island won't be wrong." Xiao Chen, standing beside him, was also very curious. He knew the quality of the Azure Sea Immortal Sect's internal sea charts very well; they were indeed extremely detailed. Although five years had passed, the geographical environment wasn't something that easily changed. It shouldn't be possible for there to be significant errors even after decades or centuries. "Let me think, that's Moon Spring Island ahead." Iron Fan True Monarch checked the map: "The name comes from the island's crescent shape and the spiritual spring in its center." "Look, this is the Sea Abyss we just passed. Following it leads here. The map is accurate." Gang Yuan True Monarch looked up and gazed into the distance. Indeed, through the array, one could vaguely see the island behind them, its two ends curved like a crescent moon. But he was even more bewildered: "That's really strange!" "This place has neither Spirit Vein nor any important resource output." "What is the purpose of the Sea Race setting up a fourth-order Defensive Formation here?" It's important to know that setting up a large array and its subsequent maintenance are costly, and continuous operation Spirit Stone Consumption. Especially in places without Spirit Vein, the Spirit Stone Consumption is even more severe. In such a remote waterway, normally adding a Surveillance Array to detect enemy movements would be sufficient. Yet the Sea Race is treating it like an important Stronghold, defending it with such seriousness. This unusual situation made Gang Yuan True Monarch subconsciously suspect that there might be something wrong. So he immediately commanded, "Stop the ship!" "Send a pair of spiritual eyes over there." Immediately, Golden Core cultivator piloted two small boats carrying reconnaissance arrays into the sea to directly approach and assist in the investigation. The detailed investigation results were even more bizarre. The team discovered residual traces of Spiritual Power around the array, left behind when the Fourth-tier Grand Array was fully activated. This indicates that the Sea Race set up this formation not long ago, at most no more than half a year. This puzzled even True Iron Fan True Monarch. As the saying goes, something unusual is bound to happen. If they couldn't figure out the problem, it meant the other side was hiding it well. "Do we have a way to find out if there's a Sea Race Great Demon hiding inside?" Xiao Chen became interested. Since there was Fourth-tier Defensive Formation here, could there be a powerful Great Demon guarding it? After all, this place was relatively remote. In other words, if there really was Great Demon inside, it would be alone. Xiao Chen seemed to already see new spiritual materials beckoning to him. Unfortunately, Gang Yuan True Monarch shook his head. "My spiritual eyes didn't detect any strong Spiritual Pressure, and there's probably no Fourth-Order great demon guarding this location." After all, the Sea Race wasn't stupid; they probably wouldn't leave a single Demon Beast to die on the outskirts. "I see." Xiao Chen was slightly disappointed. "Then let the disciples retreat. I'll go see what's going on." Everything has two sides. Since there's likely no Great Demon guarding the island, what's there to be afraid of? Before the words were even finished, Xiao Chen charged straight into the array ahead. Instantly, a powerful Formation Power enveloped him. Streams of water immediately appeared around him, weaving together like silk threads to form several layers of a tight net. "Croak! Croak! Croak!" From the spiritual spring below, three Sea Frog at the peak of the Golden Core Great Perfection stage leaped out. Each had two blue and white array Formation Flag hanging on its back. At this moment, they all shimmered with spiritual light, then each emitted a stream of blue Spiritual Power that merged together to form a phantom of Sea Frog that was six hundred feet tall. Although it was a phantom, it exuded a pressure like Fourth-Order great demon. "Croak!" The Sea Frog phantom had just formed when it let out a loud cry, then opened its huge mouth and stuck out its powerful tongue. Judging from its posture, it clearly wanted to swoop down and swallow Xiao Chen like a flying insect. "Heh, trying to fool me with a fake Demon Beast." Xiao Chen's eyes narrowed, and he raised his hand to strike. The moment his true essence left his hand, it instantly transformed into raging flames, crashing directly into the demon beast. Although he was using a palm technique, it was as if he were wielding a sword, instantly slicing the tongue in two, and its momentum remained undiminished. With a loud "BOOM!", the exploding sparks ignited the entire illusory Sea Frog. The reason for such a significant effect was twofold: firstly, the Hextech Buff, and secondly, the fact that the opponent was, after all, a fake. Although, with the help of the formation, it was barely equivalent to a Fourth-Order great demon beast, it was still clearly no match for Xiao Chen's attack strength, which far exceeded that of an ordinary Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivator. After only one move, it was already crippled. "Croak! Croak! Croak!" The three Sea Frog below immediately became anxious, their cries becoming much more rapid. They hurriedly activated the Formation Flag on their backs, summoning another illusory Sea Frog. At the same time, the first illusory Sea Frog was surprisingly unaffected. Still struggling in the fire, it still retained some strength to resist. "Oh, interesting." Xiao Chen wasn't in a hurry. He could easily take on ten of these fakes, let alone two. Compared to that, he was more interested in the formation itself. Usually, such spirit-controlling formations could only summon one fourth-tier phantom at a time to assist in battle. However, this formation of the Sea Race could summon two phantoms simultaneously. Keep in mind, this was without Fourth-Order great demon presiding over it, yet it could obtain two Nascent Soul Stage combatants. If those Golden Core Lineage knew, they would probably be green with envy. At the same time, this also reflected that the Sea Race's mastery of formations seemed to be quite impressive, at least in the area of spirit-controlling formations. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance. Use all your tricks." Xiao Chen calmly opened the Four Symbols Suppressing Mountain Shield and looked at the three-headed Sea Frog below. "With these methods, you can't be saved." He was deliberately holding back here. The reason for doing this was to take advantage of the absence of the Fourth-Order great demon to help Gang Yuan True Monarch gather more information about the Sea Race Grand Array. As mentioned before, the Human Race is not familiar with the Sea Race's grand formation. Now that they have encountered a wild Fourth-tier Defensive Formation, it can be used as material for research. At this moment, it wasn't just Xiao Chen fighting inside the formation. Gang Yuan True Monarch Iron Fan True Monarch were also busy, having already begun to analyze the formation's structure and rules using secret techniques. This accumulated experience would play a role in the subsequent battles. Therefore, Xiao Chen was not in a hurry to break the formation, nor was he in a hurry to use the Mechanical Grappling Claw to grab a Sea Frog and deal with it. Instead, he deliberately gave them a chance to fight back. Of course, there were also hidden dangers in doing so, such as what if a Sea Race Great Demon was lying in ambush in the grand formation? However, while others might worry about this problem, Xiao Chen didn't need to. He had the newly upgraded Four Symbols Suppressing Mountain Shield in its complete form, and the Night's Edge to provide backup, so he was quite safe. The three Sea Frog below were already sentient, so they could completely understand Xiao Chen's meaning. Upon hearing this, he immediately commanded the two giant Sea Frog phantoms to attack again. However, it seemed that these were all the methods they had. Besides using their tongues to capture enemies, the giant Sea Frog phantoms could only unleash Water Tornado to try and destroy the Four Symbols Suppressing Mountain Shield. However, both of these attack methods were mediocre and posed no threat whatsoever. If it weren't for the fact that the manipulator's cultivation level was insufficient, then it could only be said that the Sea Race's spirit-controlling array, while impressive, was actually not very effective. It should be noted that the Human Race's spirit-controlling arrays, starting from the third tier, focused on how to make the summoned spirits as indistinguishable from True Person as possible. They could often cast several Law Technique and would try to prepare a powerful finishing move. Xiao Chen initially thought that the Sea Race would have a significant advantage in array formations. But now it seemed more like a difference in development paths. One side valued quality more, while the other valued quantity more, but there was no overall difference in technical level. This was good news. Firstly, it meant that counterattacking the Sea Race would be easier, and secondly, it meant that the Reinforced Formation Breaking Cone still maintained a lead in terms of skill. "Daoist Xiao, this formation has been almost completely analyzed." Gang Yuan True Monarch, Compass in hand, confidently charged in. "Next, please allow me to try and see if I can break the formation directly from the inside." Xiao Chen naturally wouldn't object. "Fellow Daoist, please go ahead, no need to be polite." There was no question of them vying for credit or taking credit. Besides, there were no Great Demon or spiritual materials here, so there was nothing to fight over. Three hours later. Gang Yuan True Monarch laughed loudly three times, "Hahaha, nothing special!" He made hand Method Formula, his feet seemingly moving with the wind, freely traversing the formation, treating the layers of restrictions as nothing. He actually walked directly to the Core Array Foundation and reached out to remove the Spirit Stone from it. Without the supply of Spiritual Power, the entire formation collapsed on its own. At the same time, except for a few Array Foundation damaged due to the sudden loss of Spiritual Power, most of the Array Foundation were perfectly preserved. "Excellent, a fantastic start!" Gang Yuan True Monarch carefully dug all the Array Foundation out of the ground in one go, checking them twice to make sure nothing was missed. Then, he happily returned to the spirit ship. "With these things, as long as I study them more deeply for a while, I'm 90% confident I can reconstruct this great formation." Iron Fan True Monarch was equally pleased: "Fellow Daoist Gang Yuan, why be so modest?" "Reconstruction is nothing. With this batch of complete Core Array Foundation, we can then reverse-decipher the Sea Race Array Dao's formation principles." "I believe that with your expertise in formations, you'll make progress soon." Upon hearing this, Gang Yuan True Monarch quickly waved his hand: "Daoist Iron Fan, don't tease me. Reverse deciphering is still too difficult." "Unless we can obtain more samples, even a thousand years wouldn't be enough." The two acquaintances were joking with each other when suddenly they smelled a fragrant aroma. Turning their heads, they saw Xiao Chen sitting by the stove at the bow of the ship, taking down the Spirit Wine and replacing it in a large basin. Inside was a basin full of snow-white meat broth, and the shadows of the three Sea Frog could be vaguely seen. "Mmm, it smells so good!" Gang Yuan True Monarch leaned closer and took a deep breath. "Daoist Xiao, your soup-making skills are quite impressive. There must be a secret to it." "Where did you learn it? Teach me, please." These kinds of culinary tips are different from Cultivation Method; they lean more towards enjoyment. Therefore, unless you're facing a stranger or Spirit Chef who makes a living from this, asking directly wouldn't be considered presumptuous. Besides, Gang Yuan True Monarch and Xiao Chen were already acquaintances, so there was no need to be so cautious. "You guessed right. My soup-making method was learned from... well, from a friend." Xiao Chen smiled. "However, it's a closely guarded secret, so I definitely can't teach it." "I'll give you a few more bowls later, so you can try it yourself." Iron Fan True Monarch also sat down beside him. "Since Fellow Daoist Xiao has said so, I'll have a few more bowls later too, and I'll definitely try to figure out your secret." Amidst their conversation, the spirit ship passed Moon Spring Island and continued deeper into the region. Strangely enough... After traveling for only about a day and a half, they encountered another fourth-tier Defensive Formation. Moreover, it was in the same strange location, without Great Demon guarding it, and its setup time was just like the previous one—within the last six months. This was very strange; what was the point of setting up such a formation? Filled with curiosity, Xiao Chen and the others, as before, first tested it, then dismantled the formation from the inside. They collected another batch of Sea Race Core Array Foundation. "Hey, isn't this just a coincidence?" Iron Fan True Monarch spoke again, "We've only been out for three days, and we've already got another batch of Array Foundation." "The Sea Race is cooperating so much, Daoist Gang Yuan, shouldn't you prepare a surprise for them?" Gang Yuan True Monarch was also a little confused at this point: "Why do I feel like something's not right?" "The Sea Race is practically giving us formation Array Foundation for free; these things aren't cheap to manufacture." "What do you think they're after?" Refining Core Array Foundation requires fourth-tier spiritual materials, and the cost is indeed considerable. Unfortunately, the spiritual materials here cannot be completely recycled; only fragments remain after dismantling. It's not that they have no value, but they can only be reused as scraps. On the fifth day, they encountered another Fourth-tier Defensive Formation, the situation unchanged from before. This time, neither Gang Yuan True Monarch nor Iron Fan True Monarch could laugh. Even if they were slow to react, they had clearly sensed something was wrong. However, they couldn't analyze the problem from the current situation alone. "There must be some conspiracy here. No, I have to ask Junior Brother Han Chuan what's going on." Gang Yuan True Monarch activated his Sound Transmission Spirit Sword, trying to gather more information. Iron Fan True Monarch was also puzzled. "What could be wrong here? Could there be a hidden trick in those Array Foundation?" Silver Hair True Monarch suggested, "Senior Brother, to be on the safe side, should we dismantle another one?" They had already dismantled one Core Array Foundation, but to no avail. Then they randomly selected a second one, but still didn't get any useful clues. Continuing to dismantle it seemed a bit wasteful. While the three were discussing, Xiao Chen wasn't idle either. He carefully sliced the newly acquired Thunderclap Golden Tuna into thin slices. Then they distributed the food fairly: "Daoist Gang Yuan, one jin for me; Daoist Iron Fan, one jin for me; Silver Bristle Fellow Daoist, one jin for me..." "No matter what schemes or tricks they may have, let's finish eating first and then talk." "It won't be fresh later." Seeing Xiao Chen's composure, Silver Hair True Monarch's anxiety was greatly relieved. "Yes, yes, Senior Brother, let's eat first too, it won't take up much time." Gang Yuan True Monarch also sighed inwardly, Daoist Xiao was indeed composed, calm and unhurried in the face of adversity.