This is a cultivation game, but the operation is bad

Elder Yunhe no longer hesitated. He led several NPCs to fully activate their spiritual energy, guiding the spirit stones to transform into an even larger golden pillar of light, like a golden dragon, which charged towards the spirit-devouring array on Black Nether Island.

boom!
This explosion was far more violent than the previous two. The golden beam of light struck the black light shield, instantly igniting the runes on it and emitting a piercing hiss. Under the impact of the golden beam, the dark red light shield was torn apart bit by bit, finally shattering with a deafening roar.

The Soul Devouring Array (Black Nether Island) has been destroyed.

The deafening roar of the golden pillar tearing through the Black Nether Island's spirit-devouring array still echoed between the sea and sky. The black mist scattered and fled like stray dogs, revealing the outline of a dark, demonic palace deep within the island. Jiang Liu collapsed on the warship's deck, feeling as if all his strength had been drained, not from the battle itself, but purely from the heartache of losing his spirit stones.

"Thirty million + thirty-five million + forty million...that's almost a small goal!"

Jiang Liu counted on his fingers, mentally calculating the cost, and the more he calculated, the more his heart ached.

Does the game designer think I'm a mobile ATM?
No need to think, yes.

Just as he finished complaining, a system notification suddenly rang in his mind, startling him so much that he jumped up from the deck.

[Warning: High-level formation fluctuations detected]

[WARNING: The Devouring Immortal Array has been activated in the core area of ​​Black Nether Island]

[Devouring Immortal Array: A top-tier defensive array of the demonic path. It feeds on immortal-grade materials and can devour massive amounts of spiritual energy, suppressing cultivators' realms. If the array is not broken, the realm of all cultivators who have landed on the island will decrease by 2, and the power of their skills will be reduced by 50%.]

[Conditions for breaking the formation: Invest a sufficient amount of Immortal-grade materials; minimum requirement: 100 pieces of Immortal-grade materials]

Jiang Liu: “????”

Jiang Liu: “!!!!”

Go to hell!
Jiang Liu was stunned by the sudden system notification, his eyes widened, and he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

We just got rid of the Spirit Devouring Array, and now we have the Immortal Devouring Array? Is this some kind of demonic array exhibition?

Buy two get one free, plus an upgraded version?

The surrounding righteous cultivators were also in an uproar. The joy of breaking the formation was instantly extinguished by a bucket of cold water, and their faces were filled with despair.

"The Immortal Devouring Array! A legendary ruthless formation capable of shattering immortal artifacts!"

A white-bearded cultivator, his face ashen and his voice trembling, asked, "Just how many arrays has this Black Fiend Demon hoarded? Did he memorize the entire encyclopedia of demonic arrays?"

You don't need to explain to me what the Immortal Devouring Array is; the system prompts have already told me.

"Celestial-grade materials? And you need 100 more?"

Another Nascent Soul cultivator said with a mournful face, "I've seen less than 10 pieces of Immortal-grade materials in my entire life. Where are we supposed to find them?"

Elder Yunhe frowned, the silver threads on his whisk taut, and said in a deep voice, "The Devouring Immortal Array is a hundred times more dangerous than the Spirit Devouring Array. If we can't break the array, even if we land on the island, we'll only be cut up by the demonic cultivators!"

Jiang Liu frowned as he listened, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.

Are you suggesting I have to pay everything again?
"Fellow Daoists."

Elder Yunhe suddenly raised his voice, his gaze sweeping over the righteous cultivators present: "Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to bring out the immortal-grade materials we have treasured! In order to uphold justice and eradicate the demonic path, we can only ask you all to part with some of your treasures!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Liu's heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong. Why did that old fox's eyes seem a little unfocused when he said those words?

Moreover, why did the phrase "please everyone" sound so weak and lacking in strength?

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, a righteous cultivator stepped forward and painfully pulled out a fist-sized piece of immortal jade from his storage bag, with a faint blue spiritual light flowing over it.

"My Heavenly Gate Sect has a meager fortune, possessing only this one piece of Azure Jade, a treasure passed down through the sect for three hundred years. Today, we are offering it up!"

He tossed the jade into the air, his tone as tragic as a warrior cutting off his own arm.

Another righteous cultivator also took out a piece of immortal-grade material, a broken fragment of an immortal sword. Although only half of it remained, the immortal patterns on it were still clearly visible, radiating a sharp sword aura.

"This is a fragment of the Demon-Slaying Immortal Sword, a treasured possession of my sect. Our ancestor used it to slay a demonic cultivator at the Mahayana stage, and I'm offering it up today!"

The senior spoke with great passion, but secretly glanced at Jiang Liu out of the corner of his eye.

Jiang Liu's doubts grew deeper and deeper.

Something's not right, something's not right!
They were all complaining about being broke when they were collecting spirit stones, but now they're collecting immortal-grade materials so easily.

And the way they looked at me—it was exactly the same way they looked at me last time when they asked for spirit stones!

Damn it, can you guys please stop looking at me?!

What happened next left Jiang Liu speechless. Several senior NPCs seemed to be competing, taking out various immortal-grade materials from their storage bags.

"I will contribute three pieces of Immortal-grade materials!"

"I'll offer two! Both were items I found during my adventures in the secret realms back then!"

"I have three items here. Although they are all of inferior quality, the quantity makes up for it!"

In an instant, more than a dozen immortal-grade materials floated in the air, shimmering with light and exuding a rich aura of immortality that dispelled much of the surrounding demonic energy. System notifications also kept ringing in Jiang Liu's mind.

[Immortal-grade materials detected; progress of breaking the Immortal Devouring Array increased by 1%]

[Immortal-grade materials detected; progress of breaking the Immortal Devouring Array increased by 1.5%]

[Immortal-grade materials detected; progress of breaking the Immortal Devouring Array increased by 3%]

Jiang Liu counted, and all the NPCs in the room had taken out a total of 70 pieces of Immortal-grade materials. The progress bar for breaking the formation had reached 70%, and it still needed 30 more pieces to reach the maximum.

Huh?
They already have 70 items, so does that mean they only need to provide another 30 Immortal-grade materials to break the formation?

Do I really need to bleed so much?
Obviously, impossible.

Just then, all the NPCs stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Jiang Liu, their eyes filled with encouragement and a barely perceptible "We've been waiting for you."

Jiang Liu: “.”

Oh no, you guys are something else?

Elder Yunhe rubbed his hands together, a sheepish smile appearing on his face just like when he asked for spirit stones last time. He said in a low voice, "Director Jiang, look, we old folks have pulled out all our hidden treasures. We've gathered a total of 70 Immortal-grade materials. We only need 30 more to break the formation. You're young and promising, and knowledgeable. You must have collected quite a few Immortal-grade materials, right?"

"Yes, Director Jiang!"

The other NPCs quickly chimed in, "You've already pulled out over a hundred million spirit stones without batting an eye, you definitely don't need these 30 pieces of immortal-grade materials!"

"Director Jiang is very righteous. He emptied his spirit stones to break the formation before, and we'll have to trouble you again this time!"

"Once we return to the Immortal Alliance, we will definitely return the materials to you double!"

Jiang Liu: “????”

Looking at the group of "highly skilled" NPCs in front of him, his anger flared up instantly.

He finally understood; they were just putting him on display again!

I just robbed a bunch of immortal-grade materials with General Ye Longying and the others, and now they're making me give them away for free.

You're a fucking bastard, planner!
“I say this to you seniors,” Jiang Liu objected, strongly objecting, looking at them with a forced smile and a dark face, “when you were taking out materials just now, why did you all seem to be performing magic tricks? When you were taking out spirit stones earlier, why didn’t you say you had so many immortal-grade materials? You could have exchanged them for spirit stones!”

Elder Yunhe's eyes flickered, and he coughed, saying, "Director Jiang, you may not know this, but immortal-grade materials are the foundation of a sect. How can we sell them so easily? Besides, spirit stones are easy to obtain, but immortal materials are hard to come by. We only took them out because we had no other choice!"

"is it?"

Jiang Liu raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over the group: "So how am I supposed to deal with that giant crocodile? It's like you all planned this out, just waiting for me to patch up this hole?"

When Jiang Liu asked this question, the expressions of the NPCs became somewhat unnatural. They looked at each other, but no one dared to answer.

We've already agreed to this, so how can we admit it?

Please, bro, just admit it! I just want to die knowing why!

Jiang Liu cursed inwardly, "You old fox! Last time you tricked me out of spirit stones, and this time you're trying to trick me out of immortal-grade materials. With acting skills like yours, you're wasting your talents if you don't make fantasy dramas. You deserve an Oscar!"

"Director Jiang, you can't say that!"

An elder with a round face quickly smoothed things over: "We just remembered that we had these treasures, and we could only gather this much in a hurry. Besides, 30 pieces of immortal-grade materials are a piece of cake for Director Jiang."

"A piece of cake?"

Jiang Liu almost burst out laughing. Do you know how rare it is to have 30 pieces of Immortal-grade materials?

I risked my life to steal these materials from the Taiyi Immortal Alliance, and you want me to return them with just a few words?
Although he cursed these NPCs a hundred times in his heart, Jiang Liu knew that he had no choice but to pay them.

The planner wants you to spend money. If you don't spend it this time, you'll have to spend it next time. You can't refuse.

Now that the schemers have their eyes on the immortal-grade materials he has, what can he do?
We can only pray that the rewards from the tasks given by the planners are generous enough, at least enough to prevent them from losing money.

"Damn it, you guys are ruthless!"

Jiang Liu gritted his teeth inwardly.

After this mission is over, I'm going to rob the Taiyi Immortal Alliance three hundred times!

You'll have to spit everything back out of what you ate!

He took a deep breath, forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, and said, "Alright, since all the seniors have said so, for the sake of all living beings and to eradicate the demonic path, I will reluctantly part with it once more!"

As he spoke, he gritted his teeth, tears welling in his eyes, and opened his backpack.

One, two, three... a total of thirty pieces of immortal-grade materials, each one of them top-quality, making the surrounding righteous cultivators stare in disbelief, their faces filled with shock and envy.

"My God! This is the legendary immortal-grade material that can be used to forge top-tier immortal artifacts!"

"And divine crystals and immortal jade! I've only ever seen them in ancient books in my entire life!"

"Huh? Why do these immortal-grade materials look so familiar?"

The NPCs were stunned. They had thought Jiang Liu would only take out thirty ordinary immortal-grade materials at most, but they didn't expect that they would all be top-grade, and several of them were even more precious than what they had taken out.

However, these immortal-grade materials seem strangely familiar, just like the immortal-grade materials in the Immortal Alliance's treasury!
"Esteemed seniors, the materials are all gathered. Let's get started."

Jiang Liu said weakly, "Right now, all I want is to break the formation quickly, complete the mission as soon as possible, and then get the reward and run away."

He waved his hand, and the thirty pieces of immortal-grade materials flew neatly towards the direction of the Immortal Devouring Array, merging with the previous 70 pieces of immortal-grade materials to form a multicolored pillar of light, exuding a majestic aura of immortality.

"Thank you for your support, Director Jiang!"

Elder Yunhe no longer hesitated and shouted, "Fellow Daoists, unleash your full spiritual energy and guide the power of the Immortal-grade materials to attack the core of the Devouring Immortal Array!"

As the NPCs attacked simultaneously, streams of golden spiritual energy surged into the pillar of light formed by the immortal-grade materials.

The originally multicolored pillar of light was instantly enveloped by golden spiritual energy, transforming into an even larger and more dazzling pillar of light, like a colorful dragon, rushing towards the Devouring Immortal Array in the core area of ​​Black Nether Island.

The Devouring Immortal Array seemed to sense the threat. The runes at the array's core swirled wildly, emitting a dense black mist in an attempt to block the impact of the pillar of light.

The moment the black mist collided with the colorful beam of light, a deafening roar erupted. The black mist receded like a tide, while the colorful beam of light relentlessly eroded the array's defenses.

"Break it for me!"

Elder Yunhe shouted, and his spiritual energy surged out wildly. His whisk transformed into thousands of silver threads, which wrapped around the colorful light pillar, enhancing its power.

The other elders also activated their spiritual energy, and the spiritual energy of the Nascent Soul and Body Integration stages converged to form a terrifying force that propelled the colorful pillar of light forward.

Jiang Liu wasn't idle either. Although he harbored deep resentment towards these NPCs, breaking the formation was the priority.

He gripped the Righteous Qi Sword tightly, channeling his spiritual energy to its limit. A hundred-foot-long golden sword aura burst forth, slashing towards the core of the Devouring Immortal Array.

"Soaring to the Tenth Heaven! Give it your all!"

Jiang Liu shouted, and his sword energy pierced the defensive shield of the Devouring Immortal Array like a sharp sword, tearing open a small gap.

System notifications kept ringing out, and Jiang Liu's sword energy acted as a catalyst, amplifying the power of the colorful light beams.

Under the combined impact of the colorful beams of light and sword energy, the defensive shield of the Devouring Immortal Array was gradually torn apart, and the black runes melted away rapidly like ice and snow encountering raging fire. A series of shrill roars echoed from within the array, clearly indicating that the demonic cultivator controlling the array was suffering a backlash.

"Almost there! Keep pushing!"

Elder Yunhe's face showed excitement, and the spiritual energy in his body circulated even faster.

With a deafening roar, the colorful beam of light finally broke through the defensive shield of the Immortal Devouring Array and rushed towards the array's core.

The black runes at the core of the formation were instantly ignited, emitting a piercing hiss. The entire formation began to tremble violently, teetering on the brink of collapse like a candle in the wind.

"boom!"

With another loud bang, the core of the Devouring Immortal Array was completely destroyed by the colorful beam of light. The black mist scattered and fled like the receding tide, and the suppressive effect of the array disappeared instantly.

The Immortal Devouring Array (Black Nether Island) has been destroyed.

[Maximize the effect of Taiyi Demon-Slaying Sword Formation: Damage to demons +500%, sword damage +500%, spirit energy recovery speed +500%]

"We've finally broken through the formation!"

Jiang Liu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling much more relaxed.

Surely there shouldn't be any way to break the formation now, right? If there is, I'm really going to quit!

The surrounding righteous cultivators also erupted in cheers, their faces beaming with smiles of relief.

"It's broken! The Immortal Devouring Formation has finally been broken!"

"Director Jiang is amazing! Without him, we wouldn't have been able to break these two formations at all!"

Elder Yunhe walked up to Jiang Liu, his face beaming with smiles: "Director Jiang, we really owe you a lot this time! If it weren't for your generosity, we would probably be trapped outside the formation long ago! I will definitely report your achievements to the Alliance Leader and ask the Immortal Alliance to give you the highest level of reward!"

"The highest level of reward?"

Jiang Liu raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that it had to be that way, otherwise he'd be cursing. (End of Chapter)