Chapter 153: The Array Nexus

Although this outing only yielded a dozen or so Gang stones, it was far from enough to condense the supreme Celestial Gang mark.

However, having accidentally discovered the fiends' conspiracy and obtained the shark-headed fiend's soul-devouring divine ability—possessing the capability to shatter formations—this left Qing Xi brimming with excitement he could hardly contain.

While he could also break formation restrictions using the system's conversion function, getting the soul-devouring divine ability on top of that was equivalent to a double effect; why not welcome it?

After gathering all the fiends' core hearts, Qing Xi returned to the surface at full speed.

"It's a human youth! Capture him!"

As soon as Qing Xi appeared within a patch of jungle, a group of patrolling fiends immediately swarmed toward him with gnashing teeth and flailing claws.

"So they're just a group of Xiantian-realm fiends. No wonder the divination result showed minor auspiciousness."

The corners of Qing Xi's mouth curved slightly upward, and with a thought, the Wordless Heavenly Book quickly manifested.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several explosive sounds echoed, and the group of fiends were all slapped to death.

Looking at the glossy and pristine Wordless Heavenly Book, Qing Xi felt quite relieved.

Innate martial souls were always like this; even if shattered, as long as they were recalled into the Qi sea and nurtured anew, they could recover rapidly.

In the heat of battle, one could also channel True Qi directly into the innate martial soul to achieve a swift recovery effect.

However, doing so would consume a greater amount of True Qi.

After putting away the fallen fiends, Qing Xi immediately executed the "Shadow-Flying Steps," streaking across the ground like an arrow released from a bow.

During his return to the Medicinal Herb Sect, he occasionally encountered patrolling Xiantian-realm fiends, but without exception, they were all effortlessly slapped to death by Qing Xi.

"Oh... Big Brother is back!"

In front of the Medicinal Herb Sect's mountain gate, Xia Dang saw Qing Xi's figure and shouted happily.

The Ninth Elder, holding a formation banner, looked Qing Xi up and down. After confirming he was not a disguised fiend, he waved the banner, opening a passage in the protective barrier.

"I have an urgent matter to report. Quickly take me to see the Woyou Sword King and the Old Sect Master."

Knowing that the fiends secretly digging a tunnel to break through the formation was of utmost importance and concerned the very life and death of the Medicinal Herb Sect, Qing Xi did not delay at all.

Seeing the solemn expression on his face, Xia Dang and the Ninth Elder were slightly startled, but they still chose to trust him.

The group quickly arrived at the grand hall, where they saw Ye Wuyou and the Old Sect Master Xia Yan conversing in low tones.

"My precious grandson, why are you in such a fluster?"

Xia Yan wore a kind expression and patted Xia Dang's shoulder.

He was thoroughly satisfied with this grandson; otherwise, he would not have appointed him as the Young Sect Master at such an early stage.

Even though Xia Dang's mastery of the Dao of Alchemy was not high, Xia Yan's care and affection for him had never diminished.

In Xia Yan's view, as long as it was his grandson, he was certainly qualified to succeed him as the Sect Master.

"My Big Brother has something to say."

Xia Dang stepped aside, making space for Qing Xi.

Ye Wuyou and Xia Yan exchanged a glance out of curiosity, turning their attention to Qing Xi.

The two of them were quite interested in what this proud son of heaven was about to say.

Qing Xi did not beat around the bush and directly recounted what had transpired over the past half-day.

He naturally chose to selectively skip certain secrets, focusing mainly on his outing to scout the situation, his accidental discovery of the dirt-eating fiends digging a tunnel, and the soul-devouring fiend breaking the formation.

At first, the two thought nothing of it, but upon hearing that a fiend could break the formation, Xia Yan slapped his thigh violently, jumping up almost like an old cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"The grand array has really been bitten through?!"

Xia Yan was extremely agitated, and even Ye Wuyou's expression gradually grew solemn.

The Medicinal Herb Sect's own high-end combat strength consisted solely of the mountain-guarding spirit beast, but it was currently fast asleep.

Consequently, their usual defensive strength relied primarily on the ley line grand array.

If the formation were broken and several thousand fiends swarmed in, the Medicinal Herb Sect would undoubtedly be razed to the ground.

Even with Ye Wuyou and reinforcements from various major powers, they might not be able to hold them off.

The reason they had been able to repel the fiends' attacks recently was not because their own strength was overwhelming, but because they relied on the ley line grand array as backing, allowing them to fight wholeheartedly without any reservations.

Moreover, the earth giants formed by over a thousand Xiantian-realm fiends through their array formation focused their main efforts on bombarding the grand array.

Once there was no formation to protect them, the earth giants would be freed up to deal with everyone else.

Even Ye Wuyou did not believe he could withstand that on his own.

"It is absolutely true. If the two of you don't believe me, you can go to the base of the ley line grand array and see for yourselves," Qing Xi said with a serious expression.

"There's no need, I believe you."

Xia Yan waved his hand, produced a square formation disk, and tapped it with his finger. Countless spots of light spread outward from it, forming a hollow sphere with a radius of five meters like a holographic projection.

Inside the hollow sphere, Qing Xi also saw miniature, three-dimensional replicas of mountains, buildings, and lakes.

He recognized at a glance that this was a thousand-fold scale model of the entire Medicinal Herb Sect.

Qing Xi hurriedly read the data, discovering that the projection was constructed by the central formation disk controlling the ley line grand array, allowing real-time observation of the interior conditions of the array.

As for the areas outside the grand array, visibility was limited to about a hundred meters.

"There's such a high-end formation?"

Qing Xi could not help but marvel.

He had not expected such a miraculous grand array to exist in the cultivation world.

That being said, if Xia Yan were feeling idle, wouldn't he be able to see every move of everyone within the Medicinal Herb Sect?

And if someone were to do something in the wilderness, wouldn't that be terribly awkward?

At this thought, Qing Xi felt a chill run down his spine.

He decided that he should acquire a set of such heavenly-grade formations for himself.

Xia Yan gently waved his hand, and the image rapidly magnified.

Everyone's gaze immediately converged on the lowest point of the ley line grand array. After layer-by-layer magnification, the scene there was finally revealed.

Looking at the protective barrier with a chunk bitten out of it, then looking at the seemingly endless tunnel and the scattered fiend debris within it, everyone completely believed Qing Xi's words.

"To think they could bite through the grand array without a sound—truly terrifying!"

Xia Yan wore a look of shock.

Generally speaking, if someone damaged the grand array, as the controller of the formation's center, he should have been able to sense it easily.

Yet he had felt no trace of it, which instantly broke him out in a cold sweat.

Had it not been for Qing Xi's chance discovery, the grand array would certainly have been breached by now.

One must not underestimate a single breach; if the fiends swarmed through it and disrupted the ley lines, the ley line grand array would lose its source of power and collapse of its own accord.

At the mere thought of such consequences, Xia Yan and Ye Wuyou exchanged glances, both seeing lingering fear in each other's eyes.

"Everyone, do not panic. The barrier hasn't been completely bitten through, and repairing it is simple."

Xia Yan hurriedly urged the formation disk, causing the ley line grand array to automatically draw upon the spiritual Qi of the ley lines, transforming it into a majestic force that patched up the bitten breach.

Then, Xia Yan carefully inspected the ley line grand array to ensure there were no problems whatsoever before letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Today, young friend Qing Xi has truly rendered a great service!"

Xia Yan put away the formation disk and expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Qing Xi.

Without him, the Medicinal Herb Sect would likely have faced an apocalyptic disaster today.

Even Ye Wuyou looked at Qing Xi with a new level of respect, feeling that this kid truly had remarkable luck to stumble upon the fiends' conspiracy by sheer coincidence.