Upgrading the Filthy Earth Immobilization Array

Upgrading: Filthy Earth Immobilization Array

And the core of this Five Elements Filthy Earth Array was precisely that Magic Toad Beast Core!

The Magic Toad was an earth-element soul beast that lived year-round in environments like marshes and swamps. It resembled a fusion of an ancient clam and a toad, reaching four or five meters at its largest. Influenced by its habitat, the Earth Element Qi contained within its body possessed exceptionally strong viscosity.

This sort of Earth Element Qi could not display much power if used directly to block attacks, but when used to dissolve and deflect force, it produced unexpectedly effective results.

Combined with special earth-element jade stones such as Ziwei Rock, Azure Rainbow Jade, and Neon Light Rock, this Five Elements Filthy Earth Array might not possess much imposing power or offensive capability, but it could bring the effects of that special Earth Element Qi to the utmost extreme.

The reason Chang Ning had not seen the three steps of inscription, Spirit Infusion, and Vein Connection was entirely because Lu Feng had not carried them out in the usual manner of setting an array. Instead, he had exploited the special nature of the Bone Blade engraving knife, subtly allowing the Earth Element Qi contained within it to complete those steps on its own.

Perhaps this method sounded somewhat like a fantasy spun from thin air, but it truly existed.

For inscription, Lu Feng had merely left intermittent Thick Earth Veins upon those jade stones—or rather, the small Jade Shards they had been divided into—enhancing their affinity and adaptability toward Earth Element Qi.

For Spirit Infusion, he relied on the viscous Earth Element Qi from the Magic Toad Beast Core, contained within the three strange Red Jades embedded in the Bone Blade engraving knife. As he etched the veins into those jade stones, the engraving knife secretly infused them with it.

As for Vein Connection, it relied entirely upon the peculiar Earth Element Qi of the Magic Toad Beast Core. This immensely viscous Earth Element Qi naturally possessed adhesive properties. Once two nearby jade stones were infused with it, there was no need for deliberate human control; they would attract and adhere to one another on their own until they fused into one.

All Lu Feng had done was toss the Jade Shards into designated positions. Once they fused on their own, the array veins upon them would connect along with them.

Under normal circumstances, setting up this Five Elements Filthy Earth Array with its force-dissolving properties could not possibly have been so easy. The Magic Toad Beast Core alone would never have been able to fuse the veins by itself. Yet by concealing the beast core, it could be accomplished with ease.

As for Lu Feng entering the array himself to block the Earth Wall Chang Ning had created, that was another array he had upgraded and laid atop the foundation of the Five Elements Filthy Earth Array.

It was a true heaven-grade Entrapment Array!

Array name: Filthy Earth Immobilization Array.

If he had maintained only the Five Elements Filthy Earth Array, it certainly would not have been enough to stop someone like Chang Ning.

Had Chang Ning not been hindered by that viscous array force and thus refrained from unleashing a Heaven Soul Realm attack from the outset to shatter this space, Lu Feng would not have had the chance to take control and enter this immobilization array.

But this was not luck. It had also been within his calculations and expectations.

Soul masters of Longevity Valley had always lived long lives, but for that very reason, they cherished their lives all the more. Chang Ning was no exception. Under the Five Elements Filthy Earth Array's viscous trapping force, he did not dare rashly shatter space. If he were carelessly caught and entangled, if he fled even half a step too slowly, he too risked being swept in and ground to pieces.

And so, he had missed his only chance to break the deadlock!

Now that Lu Feng had taken control, escaping would not be so easy for him.

The might of the Filthy Earth Immobilization Array was not something the Five Elements Filthy Earth Array could compare to.

If this were outside, Lu Feng entering the array himself and controlling it with his own strength might not necessarily have been enough to intimidate and trap someone like Chang Ning. But here, in an environment where Heaven Soul Realm strength was severely restricted, he could bring this array's power to its very limit.

After Lu Feng's domineering palm strike had injured his arm through the Earth Wall, Chang Ning had already realized that the situation was unfavorable. But seeing that no new attacks emerged from the array around him, he gathered his courage and attacked Lu Feng once more.

He knew that the key to breaking the array lay with Lu Feng!

Lu Feng naturally knew that as well. Thus, when Chang Ning attacked again, he no longer chose to meet him head-on. Though he would not have fallen too far behind by relying on his own strength, using that alone to kill Chang Ning would be exceedingly difficult.

With Exquisite Steps, he deftly avoided Chang Ning's palm force.

At the same time, Earth Walls rose from the ground one after another in every direction, closing in upon Chang Ning at the center.

Chang Ning's gaze sharpened. In an instant, he understood that Lu Feng intended to use the trapping force of the Earth Walls to encircle him.

Seeing those slowly closing Earth Walls crawl along like turtles, Chang Ning could not help but sneer.

Such a lowly Entrapment Array could never trap him!

He immediately charged at Lu Feng once more. Behind Lu Feng lay a gap left between several encircling Earth Walls.

Chang Ning thought that even if Lu Feng dodged this palm strike again, he could seize the chance to escape the array first. Once outside, he would subdue those two little girls and use them to force Lu Feng into submission!

Ideals were plump; reality was cruel!

Before Chang Ning could charge forward, he suddenly saw Lu Feng raise his palm high and strike toward him with a fierce shake.

In the next instant, Chang Ning felt the spiritual energy around him turn incomparably heavy. Even his forward speed slowed by several degrees.

It was that viscous Earth Element Qi from before!

Chang Ning reacted in alarm and hastily gathered his Qi to shake apart the array force around him. But when he came back to his senses, Lu Feng was nowhere to be seen. Even the two rows of Earth Walls that had initially contained gaps had now closed together, overlapping as they moved and merging into a seemingly sturdier Earth Wall.

Lu Feng had already arrived behind Chang Ning. His face was cold as he stared at the latter, seemingly quite pleased by the terror and shock written across Chang Ning's face.

The power of the Filthy Earth Immobilization Array did not lie solely in those Earth Walls. The word "immobilization" was its true essence. That move just now would have left someone like Chu Youwei utterly unable to move, temporarily frozen in place, had Chang Ning not possessed such formidable strength.

Unfortunately, because the foundational Five Elements Filthy Earth Array lacked its array core, more than half the power of the Magic Toad Beast Core it contained had already dissipated. It could no longer maintain that slowing, even congealing immobilization force from before. With the remaining viscous Earth Element Qi, it could at most delay Chang Ning for another two or three waves of attacks.

Facing Chang Ning as he charged at him once again, Lu Feng's thoughts raced as he raised his palm again.

Chang Ning's gaze turned stern. Now that he was prepared, he immediately circulated Qi over the surface of his body. The moment he touched that slowing array force, he would be able to shatter it at once and exploit that opening to close in on Lu Feng unexpectedly and blast him to death!

But this time, what Lu Feng controlled was no longer the array force containing viscous Earth Element Qi. Instead, he pressed his palm directly against the solid ground.

In the next moment, the array force containing viscous Earth Element Qi surged across the ground toward Chang Ning's feet like ocean waves.

Affected by this array force, even the ground beneath Chang Ning's feet seemed to soften, making him feel as if he truly stood atop a swamp and was about to sink into it.

Chang Ning's previous guard had been focused almost entirely on his upper body. He had never expected Lu Feng to pull such a move. With his lower body caught off guard, Chang Ning instinctively tried to leap away from the wave-like array force on the ground.

Yet at the instant he rose from the ground, an Earth Wall also rose high from the earth. Before Chang Ning could land, it suspended itself beneath his feet.

Chang Ning could not help but freeze. Could this array really be so considerate?

Afraid he would have nowhere to land, it had deliberately raised a patch of earth to support him?

But when he saw that Lu Feng was also standing upon another floating patch of land not far ahead of him, he could not help realizing that things were likely not so simple.

Before Chang Ning could react, Lu Feng launched his attack. The muddy array force gathered into two enormous palms that smashed and clawed toward Chang Ning, as though they intended to crush his entire body like a walnut.

Assaulted by this array force, Chang Ning had no time to consider the ground beneath him or his surroundings. He hurriedly raised both hands to block, striking out with a palm force to either side and colliding with the two giant palms.

Bang!

The Filthy Earth Immobilization Array's force was ultimately weaker by a fraction. The two enormous palms formed from the remaining viscous Earth Element Qi were effortlessly scattered on the spot by Chang Ning.

At the sight, a pleased expression surfaced uncontrollably on Chang Ning's face. Just as he was about to sneer that such a lowly array could not deal with him, he suddenly discovered that Lu Feng's figure had vanished from sight once again.

Looking at his current position, he found that the floating patch of land beneath him had somehow moved him to the very center. The Earth Walls that had originally stood layer upon layer around him, closing in from all sides, had somehow all gathered and fused into solid masses, without the slightest gap remaining. They were now only several meters away from him.

There was no path in any direction, while a floating patch of land separated him from below.

Chang Ning instinctively raised his head toward the sky. He could vaguely see the lingering glow of the setting sun spilling over the tops of the nearby Earth Walls. He immediately stomped the ground and leaped up, intending to jump out of this predicament before the Earth Walls fully enclosed him.

Bang!

But just as his head rose above the towering Earth Walls around him and he caught sight of that golden, radiant sunset, darkness suddenly descended over his head.

It was another solid Earth Wall!

Not only that, Lu Feng was standing atop that descending Earth Wall, pressing down madly upon it with the force of a Thousand Catty Drop.

Chang Ning had originally intended to smash this obstructing wall apart with one palm, only to be violently knocked back by the force Lu Feng sent through the Earth Wall—just as before.

Only this time, the wall between them bore no trace of damage whatsoever.

Clearly, as the array continued to operate, the thickness and resilience of the Earth Walls were steadily increasing.

By now, they had evolved to the point where they could withstand Heaven Soul Realm attacks!

And this was the true terror of the Filthy Earth Immobilization Array!

After falling back onto the floating patch of land, Chang Ning's face finally revealed fear and panic. Seeing the Earth Walls closing in from all sides, he desperately unleashed attacks against them, hoping to shatter them and escape.

But even after erupting with an attack at the first-breath level of the Heaven Soul Realm, he left only a few palm-print marks upon the Earth Walls. He could not break them at all.

And if he increased his attack further, even if he managed to shatter these Earth Walls, he would inevitably shatter this space as well.

Deep within such peril, Chang Ning understood that if that happened, he would have no chance of escaping the fate of being torn apart by the force of collapsing space at the instant the array broke.

The array itself was not terrifying. What was terrifying was that it had exploited the environment it occupied, adding another restriction outside the array itself.

What a ruthless calculation!

Chang Ning finally realized how terrifying Lu Feng was!

As the six Earth Walls closed in, darkness swallowed the surroundings, and Chang Ning's face was filled with deathly stillness.

He knew that this time, he had likely fallen into the pit!