Spirit Severing Array

Outside Taian City, hooves thundered as several carriages sped along the mountain road.

This time, Xie Xuanyi had not allowed Deng Baiyi to travel with him.

He sat alone in the rear carriage.

Everything was proceeding according to plan.

Xu You had arranged a residence. Their group had pretended to move in, then, as soon as Xu You's men left, they had packed their belongings and departed Taian. Yet this trick of leaving without saying goodbye... had not calmed Xie Xuanyi's Heart Lake. The unease weighing on his heart had instead grown ever stronger!

"So this trap was laid long ago, waiting for me?"

Xie Xuanyi was expressionless.

He sat cross-legged, a blue-green pill floating before him.

After taking a deep breath.

Xie Xuanyi adjusted his essence, energy, and spirit to their peak state, then crushed the pill without hesitation.

Boom!

The Azure Origin Pill shattered, and dense qi instantly poured forth!

This immense qi should have blown apart the carriage compartment, yet Xie Xuanyi controlled it perfectly. He extended both hands and forcibly compressed the thousands of wisps of escaping qi, condensing them into a fist-sized sphere of light!

The sphere was highly unstable, yet after several breaths, it obediently floated before Xie Xuanyi.

"This Azure Origin Pill could probably burst seven or eight Qi Refiners to death in one go..."

Xie Xuanyi stared at the brilliant energy before him, his focus sharpened to the utmost limit.

He could not help but chuckle.

These five Azure Origin Pills were all of excellent quality. No wonder Xu You had looked so pained when giving them away.

"Good. Let's see how many strands of Golden Qi this Azure Origin Pill can refine..."

Xie Xuanyi held his breath.

Ordinary Qi Refiners cultivated their souls while cultivating qi!

The stronger one's soul was.

The easier it became to command qi...

Xie Xuanyi had returned to life, and although all his qi had been lost, the strength of his soul had not diminished—instead, it had grown stronger. Brilliance burst from his eyes as the qi sphere before him was instantly crushed—

Rumble!

The roar of wind and thunder filled the carriage!

The fierce horses neighed, as if sensing the terrifying energy behind them. For a moment, the carriage sped up considerably!

Xie Xuanyi's gaze burned brighter and brighter!

He was doing something mad, something that defied cultivators' understanding: forcibly controlling the qi within the Azure Origin Pill, compressing it, then compressing it again...

In less than five breaths!

A strand of golden qi was born inside the carriage!

Xie Xuanyi drew it into his lungs and viscera, lighting up one acupoint. Then came the second strand, and the third!

This "frail" body had finally welcomed long-lost strength!

At that moment, Xie Xuanyi knew his earlier guess had been right.

As long as he had qi pills of sufficient quality, the cultivation of Golden Qi could be greatly accelerated!

Unfortunately...

The qi within the Azure Origin Pill was still not enough!

An Azure Origin Pill that would take a Qi Guiding Realm cultivator three to four weeks to digest lasted less than a hundred breaths under Xie Xuanyi's frenzied absorption before vanishing like smoke and dispersing like clouds!

One Azure Origin Pill had refined eleven strands of Golden Qi!

Though this was countless times faster than absorbing the qi of heaven and earth... it was still not enough. A Qi Refiner needed to ignite one hundred and eight acupoints to advance to the second realm.

Which meant.

Xie Xuanyi's advancement required one hundred and eight strands of Golden Qi!

"Thirteen acupoints have been ignited..."

After absorbing the Golden Qi, Xie Xuanyi's essence, energy, and spirit changed once more!

Golden light flickered in both his pupils!

Advancement was not the only way to grow stronger.

If his former body had been a dried-up pond, then after consuming an Azure Origin Pill, that dried-up pond... finally held a shallow pool of water that belonged to Xie Xuanyi alone!

"Very good! Again!"

Xie Xuanyi's aura rose. Having confirmed that this cultivation method was feasible, he completely let loose and directly crushed the second and third Azure Origin Pills!

The power of his soul swept forth.

He split his attention in two, guiding both spheres of light into his body at once!

Boom! Boom!

These two Azure Origin Pills were slightly inferior to the first. After refinement, they yielded only nineteen strands of Golden Qi in total!

Including the earlier ones.

Xie Xuanyi had now ignited thirty-four acupoints, nearly one-third of the total!

If he consumed all five Azure Origin Pills, he could probably ignite half of them.

"Not enough, still not enough..."

Xie Xuanyi did not crush the remaining two Azure Origin Pills.

He quietly felt the faint power within his body, then lifted the carriage curtain and looked back toward Taian City.

The night was pitch-black, and Taian City was growing farther and farther away.

Yet the chill in his heart grew heavier and heavier.

"Baiyi, keep going forward. Don't look back, and don't stop."

A voice transmission swept into the foremost carriage.

Deng Baiyi, holding Jiang Huang in her arms, wore a tense expression as she finally heard the voice she had been longing for.

"What happened to our benefactor?"

Ever since leaving Taian City, Deng Chicheng had been anxiously watching the rear of the convoy, afraid that something might go wrong.

But he discovered.

The last carriage had suddenly stopped.

A figure in white stood alone upon the mountain road, with no intention of catching up.

Deng Chicheng froze. "Why isn't our benefactor leaving?"

"Hey, stop—"

He instinctively tried to call for the coachman to stop.

"No, we can't stop!"

Deng Baiyi clenched her teeth and said, word by word, "We'll go first and wait for him up ahead."

Though she did not know what had happened.

She knew that ever since they had met in Jade Pearl Town, Xie Zhen had never harmed her—

From Northern Prefecture to Azure Prefecture.

Along the way, the two had gone from strangers to familiar companions. Though they had not exchanged many words...

In Deng Baiyi's heart, Xie Zhen was absolutely someone worthy of trust.

He had told her to keep moving forward and not look back.

Then she would not look back.

Xie Xuanyi stopped the carriage and stood alone on the mountain road outside Taian City.

Darkness stretched in every direction.

Tonight's darkness was especially deep and secluded. The stars overhead had been swallowed by overcast clouds; standing here felt like standing in the very center of an ink-black scroll.

North, south, east, west—silence met his gaze everywhere.

No matter which direction he looked, he could see only darkness.

Xie Xuanyi held the reins and walked several steps before coming to a complete stop.

He patted the fine horse's head, smoothing the mane of the big fellow that had traveled tirelessly for more than ten days, then spoke softly.

"Go."

The horse snorted loudly and slowly departed.

The carriage had moved only several yards before it seemed to melt into the ink of the painting... vanishing from Xie Xuanyi's sight, even its hoofbeats swallowed up.

Xie Xuanyi stood amid the black heavens and earth and smiled.

"The Spirit Severing Array, the prized work of Qin Baihuang, chief of the Weapon Forging Division. It can sever the connection between heaven-and-earth qi and cultivators."

A second laugh rang out in the darkness.

"You have sharp eyes, Young Master Xie. It seems you are quite knowledgeable about arrays as well?"

Xie Xuanyi smiled faintly and clasped his hands behind his back. "Talismans and array patterns are of the same family. Since I know a little about talisman arts, naturally I should understand something of array patterns as well."

"That is true enough."

A sigh arose from the darkness. "But... since you recognize the Spirit Severing Array, you should not have stepped inside."

"A genuine Spirit Severing Array is indeed terrifying. Once one enters it, it is like entering a heavenly prison—ordinary means cannot escape it."

Xie Xuanyi examined the darkness before him.

He stretched out a finger and touched it, then laughed softly. "But yours is still lacking. It only covers a hundred-yard radius... If Qin Baihuang had arranged it himself, the ten mountains around us would all be enclosed within the array, completely severed from heaven and earth."

At those words.

Xu You, standing atop the mountain, could not help but freeze.

He frowned and instinctively scrutinized the young man in white again. After confirming that the latter possessed no qi.

"You speak Qin Baihuang's name so casually..."

Xu You sneered coldly. "You're merely a petty Qi Refiner. Is that a name you can call directly?"

Xie Xuanyi laughed silently at that.

Indeed...

Given his current identity and status, calling the chief of the Weapon Forging Division by name was rather arrogant.

"A hundred-yard Spirit Severing Array is enough to kill you ten times over!"

Xu You gripped his great lance and stood at the peak of the small mountain, looking down indifferently.

To ensure nothing could go wrong, he had brought this great lance and come personally.

But after confirming Xie Zhen's cultivation realm, Xu You could not even be bothered to charge in himself.

He merely raised two fingers and flicked them upward!

In an instant, earth and stone shattered!

Xie Xuanyi lowered his head.

The area within thirty yards of where he stood was instantly drowned in a vast expanse of black killing intent!

Boom!!!

The ground broke apart, and a massive black shadow leaped from the earth like a whale breaching the sea, swallowing Xie Xuanyi whole!

It was an enormous box that had been opened in advance and lay dormant beneath the earth—

Upon receiving its master's command, it rose in an instant like the gaping maw of a gluttonous beast, burst through the ground, then snapped shut, directly "swallowing" Xie Xuanyi into its belly!

Qi Guiding Realm cultivators could refine Lifebound Artifacts... How many they refined depended on their talent, aptitude, and cultivation path.

Some cultivators refined only a single Lifebound Artifact in their entire lives!

Others believed the more the merrier. Sword cultivators, for instance—most sword cultivators possessed more than one flying sword.

Xu You had refined two treasured artifacts in total!

One was this sixth-grade treasured artifact, the Cloud Piercer Lance!

The other was the fifth-grade treasured artifact hidden beneath the Spirit Severing Array, the Essence Devouring Box!

"Nothing more than this."

Watching the scene from the mountaintop, Xu You could not help sneering. "Putting on a mystical act—I thought you had some great ability..."

The next moment.

The smile at the corner of Xu You's mouth froze.

He suddenly sensed that something was wrong!

Lifebound Artifacts were connected to a cultivator's mind and soul, so he could sense the Essence Devouring Box's condition at any time. Its "closure" was now ninety-nine percent complete. Only the final sliver remained before it could shut with perfect seamlessness!

Yet it was stuck at that very sliver!

Dust rolled and billowed around the black box that had burst out of the earth and hung in midair.

The enormous black box, which needed only the tiniest bit more to close completely, began to tremble violently on its own, beyond its master's control.

Crack!

Xu You's pupils contracted. He heard an exceedingly faint sound of breaking...

Xu You's Heart Lake trembled.

A crack had actually opened across the surface of his Essence Devouring Box. The crackling sound continued to spread, and the fissure grew longer and longer—

A streak of golden light blossomed from the crack in the black box!

"...What?!"

Xu You could scarcely believe his eyes.

The rupture of the Essence Devouring Box had become irreversible. Several breaths later, more and more cracks spread across it, while the golden light bloomed ever brighter!

At last, with a bang, a complete, golden qi barrier descended and closed like a splendid canopy, bursting the Essence Devouring Box apart!

Beneath that canopy of golden light.

A youth in white sat cross-legged in midair, carrying nothing on him—not a single Lifebound Artifact.

Only a crushed Azure Origin Pill.

And over a hundred tiny swords of vital energy, gleaming with golden light!

Every sword seemed to possess a soul of its own—

At that moment, the tips of all the flying swords trembled as they turned in unison, pointing at Xu You!