Melee I

'Ten Directions Thick Earth Array: Gathers the power of ten different types of thick earth to form a defensive system against powerful enemies. Tests show that it can withstand a single Tier Five cultivator's attacks for thirty days, or the attacks of one hundred Tier Four cultivators for thirty days. When inactive and at rest, it can circulate on its own to recover and heal. When attacked, if the force remains within its limits, it can generate an equal rebounding force and return it to the attacker. Price: six thousand points.'

"This Thick Earth Array... seems rather interesting."

Lin Xin examined the array patterns of the Thick Earth Array.

He decided to buy this one.

He then checked his current Contribution Points. He still had more than one hundred and twenty thousand.

Give me twenty sets straight away!

His consciousness sent out the request.

Buzz!

A beam of white light descended from the Sentient Life Tower and landed before Lin Xin, transforming into a whole stack of array disks.

They were all earth-yellow stone disks resembling compasses, covered in strange symbols and patterns, with green oval gemstones embedded at their centers.

"So this is the Ten Directions Thick Earth Array?" Lin Xin lifted the stack of array disks and felt his hand sink slightly. The stack actually weighed seven or eight hundred jin.

He casually picked up one array disk. It was densely engraved with Human Realm runes, some of which Lin Xin recognized.

No matter. There was no time to worry about that.

Lin Xin took the pile of array disks and walked directly out of the courtyard, arriving outside the Dao Palace.

"Prepare the materials for setting up the array."

He instructed the little dwarves and the others in his mind to bring over the materials.

The key catalyst materials had already been incorporated into the array disks. The materials required for the setup were merely meant to amplify the effects of the disks.

In truth, the arrays from the Sentient Life Tower were all semi-finished products. One only needed to complete the final few steps for the array to take shape completely. They had been designed this way so that even some Void Territories poor in resources could use them.

Taking out an array disk, Lin Xin rapidly formed hand seals according to the activation formula recorded on it, drawing upon the underground Supreme Clarity Water.

Then he tossed the array disk forward.

Boom!!

In an instant, a deafening boom rang out. The array disk exploded, and a thick yellow stone pillar rapidly rose from the ground, blue symbols flickering across it.

Ten different colors of soil emerged from the void and revolved continuously around the stone pillar.

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, gold, silver, white.

There was only a tiny amount of each color of soil, yet the colored light they released was as dazzling as miniature suns.

Lin Xin raised his hand and simultaneously sent out the Magma Core Heart.

The earth-yellow sphere instantly fused into the surface of the stone pillar and vanished.

A thin film of earth-yellow fluorescent light soon covered the inner walls of the array.

The lights of the ten soils gradually calmed as well, returning to normal.

"The Thick Earth Array is complete."

Lin Xin carefully sensed it. The array essence of this Thick Earth Array was indeed extremely dense. While standing within the array, he could clearly feel immense quantities of Earth Attribute essence being drawn in from all directions and merging into the array.

The supply from the Magma Core Heart also gave the Ten Directions Thick Earth Array even greater strength.

Because its attribute unexpectedly matched the Magma Core Heart, the entire array was barely raised by one small level, from Tier Five Level One to Tier Five Level Two.

"Not bad. It's comparable to an ordinary Tier Five defensive array. For something mass-produced, reaching this level is already quite impressive."

Lin Xin continued by taking out the second Ten Directions Thick Earth Array and repeating the earlier process.

Very soon, the second Ten Directions Thick Earth Array was layered over it as well.

Then came the third...

As the Thick Earth Arrays continued to pile up, the array film surrounding the Wasteland became increasingly dark in color. It gradually changed from translucent into something like frosted glass, making it impossible to see what was inside.

All that could be seen was a grayish-brown curtain of array light wrapping around the entire Wasteland and trembling slowly.

Yet as more and more arrays were layered together, the entanglement and friction between them during setup grew increasingly intense. The flow of essence and the resulting radiation interference became increasingly severe as well.

By the time he layered on the sixth set, Lin Xin's speed had clearly slowed. He had to concentrate completely, isolating the interference radiation produced when the arrays activated so that it would not affect the other arrays already in place from within.

However, it was also faintly apparent that when enough identical Thick Earth Arrays were set up, they actually formed a tremendous resonant vibration of essence.

The seventh Thick Earth Array transformed into a yellow streak of light and shot from Lin Xin's hand.

He let out a slight breath of relief and took out the eighth set.

He raised his head to look above him. The sky over the Wasteland had now become a thoroughly earth-yellow spherical shield.

The enormous shield resembled glazed glass and was exceptionally thick. Within it, colored liquid essence could vaguely be seen flowing slowly.

The Sacrifice to the Gods Land concerned his Earth Immortal Foundation, and it was also because he was now at his weakest point in all his life. Lin Xin did not dare be careless in the slightest.

After carefully checking whether conflicts and interference between the arrays had caused any explosions, and confirming that everything was fine, he slowly tossed out the eighth set of Ten Directions Thick Earth Arrays.

Very soon, the eighth set was slowly completed. By the ninth set, Lin Xin had figured out the rules for setting up arrays in this special state and was gradually becoming more proficient.

His movements began to speed up again.

The tenth set, the eleventh set... the twelfth set...

The more Thick Earth Arrays were layered together, the more invisible Earth Essence was drawn in like tides, gathering around the Wasteland.

Lin Xin did not know what level the array had reached by now, but he knew one thing: if his Sacrifice to the Gods Land was breached this time, then he would definitely die beyond all hope of revival.

Moo!!!

Suddenly, a deep cry that sounded neither like a cow nor unlike one came from one side of the void.

Lin Xin's expression hardened. He swiftly rushed out through the array film and looked in the direction from which the sound had come.

Within the dark void, a terrifying black monster dozens of li in size, resembling both a sea lion and a whale, was flapping its wings as it slowly swam toward the Wasteland.

"A Walrus Demon...!"

Lin Xin's heart sank. Walrus Demons possessed boundless strength. If one like this crashed directly into his Wasteland, no number of arrays would be of any use.

"This is trouble..."

In the void, the enormous black monster violently expelled two streams of air from its sides and shot forward toward its target.

Countless Void Demon Spirits swirled around it like black mist, dragged along by an invisible pulling force as they advanced together.

The Horned Demon General sat cross-legged atop the Walrus Demon's head, gazing from afar at the Wasteland plane ahead, which resembled an earth-yellow light bulb.

The entire Wasteland was not even as large as the Walrus Demon's body.

"So that's the place."

He sighed softly.

"So small. We might as well just ram it."

With a movement of his thoughts, the massive Walrus Demon beneath him let out a hum and a tremendous growl, swimming directly toward the Wasteland.

Its speed began to increase. It was clearly truly planning to crash headfirst into it.

With such a disparity in size, if the Walrus Demon really rammed into it, even if the Wasteland was not destroyed, it would be knocked deep into the void, to some unknown location.

Once it left human territory and entered the depths of the void, even the most formidable cultivator would likely face certain doom, surrounded and killed.

Wasteland

Lin Xin's expression was grave. Using the array on his robe, he floated in midair and watched the rapidly approaching Walrus Demon.

He had calculated everything, yet he had never expected his opponent to ignore everything else and simply charge with brute force.

"Junior Nephew, there is no need to worry. Leave this to me."

A rough, familiar voice came from below.

Lin Xin looked toward the voice, and delight immediately appeared on his face.

"Greetings, Martial Uncle."

He cupped his fists and bowed.

A massive blood-colored Dragon Turtle slowly floated up from below.

The Dragon Turtle swayed its head, several Elephant-Nosed People from among the Void Demon Spirits still clamped in its mouth as it chewed slowly.

"Your senior brother told me to come watch over you. It seems I truly came in handy. There is no need for such courtesy. This is merely one of my avatars, and it can only remain here for three days. After I help you deal with this batch, you will still have to handle what comes afterward yourself.

"The Sacrifice to the Gods Road will naturally bring about many tribulations. Some arise from karma, some are merely pure accidents, and some are man-made disasters caused by being caught in the crossfire. Yet all of them should be faced entirely by you yourself."

"Martial Uncle means... these tribulations are both calamities and nourishment for ascension?"

Lin Xin instantly understood what his Dragon Turtle Martial Uncle meant.

"It is good that you understand." The Dragon Turtle smiled. "All right, I'm going."

Its body was dozens of li long. A single dragon head floated before Lin Xin, and even one nostril hair was thicker than Lin Xin himself.

As it turned and charged toward the army of Void Demon Spirits, its entire body shuddered violently, and countless fire clouds emerged around it.

Within the fire clouds, countless flame-shaped figures carrying blood-colored tridents could faintly be seen drifting.

Lin Xin watched helplessly as his Martial Uncle's avatar crashed headfirst into the incoming Walrus Demon.

Rumble!!!

Nothing could stop it. The entire void burst apart, exploding into a huge mass of black flesh and blood.

Countless Void Demon Spirits screamed and wailed as the fire clouds engulfed them. In the blink of an eye, they were burned into white skeletal frames.

The Walrus Demon was struck once, and its entire body directly collapsed. It let out a single scream before completely exploding into countless pieces of black flesh that splattered in every direction.

Dragon Turtle Martial Uncle also seemed to have been affected by that collision. This avatar swiftly dissipated, soon fading completely, becoming transparent, and finally vanishing into the void.

Lin Xin looked into the distance. Many Void Demon Spirits had escaped disaster in that strike, but the greatest threat, the Walrus Demon, had been eliminated. The rest would have to be dealt with through slow, grinding effort.

Roar!!

With the Walrus Demon slain, another savage roar came from the direction of the Void Legion.

It seemed that the legion's leader was utterly furious.

The entire black legion hesitated briefly, then quickly gathered its badly depleted remaining demon spirits amid the roar. They formed into an enormous black cloud and pressed toward the Wasteland.

After taking one final look, Lin Xin slipped into the earth-yellow array above the Wasteland.

The entire Wasteland floated in the void like a giant earth-yellow egg, faintly releasing a pale yellow glow.

Lin Xin returned to the Wasteland, his face grim.

Even as an avatar, Dragon Turtle Martial Uncle had absolutely possessed Tier Six power. Yet after that single collision, the avatar had collapsed, and still failed to completely rout this Class C legion.

"It seems they've come with great momentum this time..."

His thoughts shifted in an instant, countless ideas flashing through his mind.

Even his Martial Uncle's Tier Six avatar had failed to defeat the legion. Lin Xin knew that even if this physical body of his charged in, he would only amount to a slightly larger common soldier, of little use.

Threads of pressure from the crisis of life and death gathered over his heart.

"It has been a long time since I felt this way..."

Lin Xin licked his lips. A trace of excitement that even he himself failed to notice flashed through his eyes.

Under the pressure, one plan after another rapidly flashed through his mind, but most were swiftly dismissed. (To be continued)