Another Supreme

"Tribulation-Avoiding Incantation? You know quite a few."

Cai Kun, the Wealth Connects to the Divine, had a small golden statue hanging to the side. His gaze fell on the dark blue tattoo on Qi Yun's wrist, which revealed ancient patterns, and he looked slightly surprised.

They clearly recognized the unique aura of this ancient incantation.

Qi Yun brushed his fingertips across the incantation mark on his wrist, which sent shivers of pain through him. A faint blue light flickered beneath his fingertips. He frowned and said, "The Tribulation-Avoiding Incantation is registering—have those True Lord in the South already sensed the strangeness of the Imperial Weapon's loss of spiritual power and begun to investigate?"

This is his most immediate concern.

When True Lord has a thought, Heavenly secrets resonate, and cause and effect are traced back to their source.

They could even capture him directly from millions of miles away.

The deduction of such an existence is by no means child's play.

"No." Cai Shen shook his head, his tone firm.

"If True Lord were to truly investigate, his thoughts would be as vast as the net of heaven, and his power as overwhelming as the Great Dao. Not to mention your superficial understanding of the Calamity Tribulation-Avoiding Incantation, even Great True Person specializes in divination might not be able to detect it in advance."

What your curse seal can sense is the calamity energy that has already taken shape and is gathering towards you.

The True Lord's calculations are formless and traceless, therefore they are not included here.

As it spoke, it raised its tiny golden palm, its five fingers kneading in an ancient, rhythmic motion, with faint golden shavings falling from its fingertips, as if it were divining something.

A moment later, a sharp, insightful glint flashed in its eyes, and it whispered, "So that's how it is—it's not an external enemy; the root cause lies within yourself."

You stirred up storms in the Lifeless Valley, condensed wondrous things of the Four Seasons, and became entangled in a vast and complex web of cause and effect.

Such a violent disturbance of cause and effect causes your supreme energy to leak out.

It was sensed by another supreme being.

"Another supreme being?" Qi Yun's gaze suddenly sharpened, his heartstrings tightening.

He didn't notice, but the other party did.

Then wouldn't the opponent's realm be...?

"Hmm," Cai Shen nodded, his spiritual fluctuations carrying an analytical tone, "But you don't need to be too nervous."

Judging from the intensity and characteristics of the reaction to the Tribulation-Avoiding Incantation, the other party must have only vaguely sensed the appearance of a similar "energy" in the the Unseen, which was extremely weak and brief.

He tried to deduce your exact location and origin, but without any basis, like searching for a specific speck of dust in a vast sea of stars, and failed.

On the contrary, the calamity aura stirred up by his deduction was precisely detected by your [Tribulation-Avoiding Incantation], hence the warning."

"I see—" Qi Yun suddenly realized, feeling somewhat relieved.

The vague sense of presence and inability to lock on indicates that the other party cannot find you yet.

But this also serves as a wake-up call.

The prelude to the battle for supremacy may have already begun without anyone realizing it.

With a thought, the light of the azure curse mark on his wrist slowly receded, and the tattoo patterns gradually faded, disappearing back beneath his skin.

Only a faint, chilling warning lingered deep within his Divine Sense, reminding him that his impending doom was not far off.

"The matter of the other supreme being is not urgent for now."

Since he failed to lock us down, we should be fine in the short term.

Qi Yun quickly cleared his mind, and his eyes regained their composure.

"The most urgent task is to return to Lifeless Valley as soon as possible, set up the [Cause-Settling and Effect-Resolving Grand Formation], and sever the causal link between the Imperial Weapon's spirituality and our escape."

If this problem is not eliminated, and any True Lord from any side follows the clues and finds even the slightest trace, then it will be a true catastrophe.

"That's exactly right." Cai Shen's little golden figure agreed, transforming into a beam of golden light and disappearing back into Qi Yun's sleeve.

Qi Yun didn't delay any longer. His magical Law Power surged, and his deep blue Daoist robe billowed in the wind, transforming into an extremely condensed cyan-gray rainbow light that tore through the sky and sped towards the direction of Lifeless Valley at an even faster speed than when he arrived.

Where the rainbow light passed, the clouds dispersed, leaving only a straight, faint trail of light behind.

The Lifeless Valley, compared to the clamor and destructive fluctuations of moments before, is now shrouded in a deeper, deathly silence.

The once monotonous gray-white rock formations have been completely transformed; as far as the eye can see, the earth appears as if it has been repeatedly ravaged by a furious giant.

The enormous pits are bottomless and often stretch for dozens of miles.

The twisted rock layers were lifted by tremendous force, forming ferocious waves of stone that froze in mid-air.

The air was filled with lingering dust, a mixture of Buddhist light, Sha Qi, Sword Intent, and the deathly aura of reincarnation, which slowly drifted down, making the light appear murky and dim.

Qi Yun's figure appeared above the ruins, concealing his escape light and standing in mid-air.

His expression was solemn, and his Divine Sense spread out like a net, carefully sensing every trace of residual energy in this place.

"Right below, at the last place where my original body was sealed away," Cai Shen's spiritual sense transmitted, indicating the location.

Qi Yun's body sank down, landing on a relatively flat, black, glass-like ground.

This was formed by the instantaneous burning of rock layers by extremely high temperatures and energy.

Beneath his feet lay the core of the Imperial Weapon, where the powers of the Great True Person had intertwined and sealed.

"Let's begin." Cai Kun's golden figure reappeared, hovering in front of Qi Yun, his expression extremely solemn.

The "[Cause-Settling and Effect-Resolving Grand Formation]" aims to confuse, sever, or even fabricate specific causal lines.

It is necessary to establish the foundation with the four symbols, anchor the eight poles, accept the Residual Cause fuel, and ignite the False Effect as flame.

This place has the strongest karmic influence, making it the focal point of the formation.

I will first teach you the formation diagram and the key points, and you can set up the Formation Deployment according to my instructions.

I will use my spiritual light to help you stabilize the core of the formation.

After he finished speaking, a golden ray flew out from between Cai Kun's eyebrows and disappeared into Qi Yun's forehead.

In an instant, an extremely complex and mysterious three-dimensional array diagram surged into Qi Yun's Sea of Consciousness.

Such a vast array of information would require even a True Person of array Formation Art to study thoroughly.

Fortunately, his [Formation Art 3.0] allows him to directly control an Formation Art.

Qi Yun closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. When he opened them again, the illusory image of the array diagram was reflected in his eyes, and he understood it clearly.

"Rise!"

He gave a low shout, and suddenly raised his hands, instantly forming hundreds of complex hand seals.

The [Great Luo Heaven] Law Power within his body surged forth, no longer concealed, transforming into streams of chaotic yet powerful light capable of evolving into myriad laws, spreading outwards in all directions from his base.

The first step is to establish the foundation of the Four Symbols.

Qi Yun pointed his fingers like a sword, connecting the dots in the void in the four directions of east, south, west, and north.

"Azure Dragon of the East, Wood Spirits Gather!"

A hundred miles to the east, amidst the ruins of a collapsed rocky mountain, countless rubble and broken rocks moved without wind. Rolling earth-elemental Spiritual Qi was forcibly extracted and refined, transforming into a thick, mountain-like azure pillar of light that shot into the sky, within which a faint dragon-shaped phantom could be seen swirling.

"Southern Vermilion Bird, fire spirit ignites!"

In a glazed pit in the south, scorched by flames, the remaining intense heat was stirred up. Combined with the crimson magic Law Power unleashed by Qi Yun, it transformed into a blazing pillar of crimson light, the flames twisting and turning like dancing sparrows.

"The White Tiger of the West, its metal energy condenses!"

The western area was scattered with numerous fragments of metallic Law Treasure and remnants of Sword Intent. A chilling and sharp aura converged, forming a silver-white pillar of light. The clanging sound resounded throughout the heavens and earth, like a tiger roaring in the mountains.

"The Black Tortoise of the North, concealing the essence of water!"

In the northernmost part of the land, where the cold and desolate energy was heaviest, the dark essence of Gui Water was extracted and transformed into a black pillar of mysterious water light, heavy and dense, with the shadows of tortoises and snakes coiled around it appearing and disappearing.

Four beams of light, each with distinct attributes yet equally massive, stood guard in the four directions, echoing each other and subtly forming a huge framework covering an area of hundreds of miles, thus solidifying the space.

The second step is to establish the anchors of the eight extremes.

Qi Yun's figure flashed, as fast as a ghost, appearing in eight secondary directions including southeast, northeast, southwest, and northwest. Each time he appeared, he would draw with his fingers, forming eight ancient array symbols the size of a bushel in mid-air, which he would then forcefully "press" into the depths of the void.

The array symbols entered the void, like eight invisible giant nails, firmly "nailing" this ravaged world down and stabilizing its structure.

The third step is to use the Residual Cause wages.

Qi Yun returned to the center of the formation, facing downwards.

He held his hands together loosely, making a "gathering" motion.

In an instant, the faint causal remnants of his and Cai Shen, which permeated the entire Lifeless Valley, transformed into countless strands of "causal threads"—thinner than a hair, of various colors, and shimmering with blurry light and shadow—like rivers flowing into the sea, converging from all directions.

It swirled and condensed on his chest, gradually forming a chaotic mass of energy that constantly rotated and whose internal light and shadow shifted.

This is the [Residual Cause] that needs to be eliminated.

At the same time, Cai Kun's little golden figure flew above the array plate, his expression focused, chanting incantations, and pressing his palms downwards.

Fine, intricate golden lines, imbued with unique Daoist meaning, flowed from its palm, clinging to and engraving themselves onto the formation as if they were alive.

Light the torch, and ignite the great battle.

Qi Yun carefully inserted the chaotic energy ball containing the "Residual Cause" from his chest into the groove at the center of the array plate.

As the energy cloud entered, the array plate trembled violently and emitted a brilliant light.

Countless threads of cause and effect roamed wildly within the array, like trapped beasts.

"Now!"

Guided by my inspiration.

"Ignite the False Effect, cover up the Residual Cause!" Cai Kun shouted in a low voice.

Without hesitation, Qi Yun flicked the bit of dark golden spiritual light that Cai Kun had given him into the array plate.

The moment the dark golden light entered the chaotic energy mass, "Boom!"

The light on the array plate changed from chaos to a strange, grayish-white that seemed to absorb all colors.

Centered on the array plate, a gray-white halo silently spread out, instantly sweeping past the Four Symbols Light Pillars and the Eight Extremes Array Symbols, enveloping the entire Formation Art area.

Wherever the halo passed, the gathered "causal threads" seemed to be thrown into an invisible furnace, beginning to twist, break, and dissolve.

At the same time, based on the [preset ending] provided by Cai Shen that "the spirit of the Imperial Weapon will fall silent as its main body is suppressed," countless new, seemingly reasonable but illusory [causal fragments] are derived from the array plate.

Like newly sprouted vines, it spread rapidly, covering and replacing the original traces of reality.

The spiritual energy of the entire Lifeless Valley underwent subtle changes, and the remaining mixed Daoist rhymes were washed away and harmonized by this gray-white halo.

Gradually, a calm illusion emerged that "the incident has completely ended and everything has settled down."

The last trace of cause and effect left by Qi Yun and Cai Kun in this place was also completely erased and covered up.

[The Cause-Settling and Effect-Resolving Grand Formation] is complete!

Qi Yun's face was slightly pale, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Setting up this formation requires far more energy than usual, not only consuming a massive amount of magical Law Power but also taking a toll on one's mental energy.

Once this formation is complete, unless the True Lord arrives at this place and uses his immense power to conduct the most meticulous and destructive search, it will be impossible to succeed.

Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to discover the truth about the Imperial Weapon's spiritual escape and its connection to the two of them.

But this is the heart of the Northwest. Unless all the True Lord of the Northwest are blind, they would not stand idly by and allow the True Lord of the South to travel here.

"Hurry, the Formation Art is complete, we cannot linger."

Cai Kun's golden statue was completely exhausted and quickly disappeared into Qi Yun's sleeve.

This [Cause-Settling and Effect-Resolving Grand Formation] was arranged by Qi Yun.

In fact, he bore 90% of the pressure that controlled the Formation Art.

This Formation Art of formations nearly exhausted his spiritual energy, causing him to fall back into slumber.

Qi Yun took one last look at the ruins where he had personally "smoothed out" the cause and effect, then transformed into a beam of light and disappeared silently into the horizon.

The Lifeless Valley returned to its deathly silence, as if nothing had ever happened.

Only the lingering glow of that grayish-white halo slowly washed away the last ripples of unease.