Immortals of the End Times

Wangjia Balong Mountain.

Hua Qingshuang sat cross-legged at the center of the spirit-gathering array in the secret place, surrounded by spiritual energy like mist.

The pure spiritual energy of the fourth-level spiritual vein flowed continuously into the dantian along the patterns of the surrounding spirit-gathering array.

Her eyes were slightly closed, and her long eyelashes cast fine shadows under the light. The Dao patterns on the surface of her nascent core had solidified like gold.

Through internal spiritual observation, one can clearly see the spiritual energy threads increasing at a rate of twenty-one per day.

Within the dantian, the accumulated spiritual energy was so abundant and pure that it was almost entirely liquid spiritual energy.

This is a significant characteristic of having reached the second half of the stage of perfect concentration.

Hua Qingshuang's fingertips trembled almost imperceptibly.

For the past six months, she has deliberately slowed down the circulation of spiritual energy every time she circulates her cultivation technique, compressing the spiritual energy that should have taken three days to complete into five days.

Even so, with the dual blessing of a level four spiritual vein and a spirit-gathering array, and with her outstanding spiritual aptitude and comprehension, her cultivation level was still unstoppable, approaching the final stage of the Condensation Realm.

A faint spiritual aura emanating from the shadows behind the stone wall made her tense up; it was the Wang family elder on duty guarding this spot.

Although this person has remained silent for a long time, the moment she makes the slightest movement, the restrictive array will immediately light up with a warning light.

"call!!"

Hua Qingshuang suddenly stopped her cultivation, her wide sleeves dispersing the spiritual mist around her. She raised her clear, cold eyes and looked at a certain spot on the stone wall: "Elder, it's inevitable to feel stuffy after cultivating for a long time. I'd like to leave the secret place for half a day to clear my mind."

Her voice was as clear and cold as ever, but she deliberately added a slight fluctuation of stagnant spiritual energy.

A rustling sound of fabric came from the shadows, and the old man in black robes appeared, his gaunt face showing a frown: "Miss Hua, you are currently at a crucial stage in your cultivation advancement."

"That's why adjustments are needed."

She narrowed her frost-white eyes. "Forced breakthroughs can easily breed inner demons, and prolonged cultivation will lead to bottlenecks. The elders have cultivated for many years and should understand this principle."

The old man's eyes flickered slightly, as if he were weighing the pros and cons.

The array patterns on the dome of the secret realm flickered on and off, and Hua Qingshuang could sense that a divine sense was sweeping over her.

"I need to consult Elder Shouge."

The old man finally made a communication gesture, and a bright talisman rose from the array plate at his waist. "Please, Miss Hua, take a few more moments to adjust your breathing."

Hua Qingshuang nodded expressionlessly and closed her eyes to concentrate again.

Within the dantian, the Dream-Guiding Insect remained as still as a dead thing, not daring to supply even the slightest bit of spiritual energy.

The failed communication five months ago had already severed most of the Gu worm's tentacles.

This has led to her almost completely losing contact with Zhao Wuji, and she hasn't had any contact with Hua Lengyun or the mistress for a long time.

At this moment, the array on the stone wall suddenly lit up with spiritual light, reflecting on Hua Qingshuang's snow-white face, making her fierce phoenix eyes appear even colder.

"Your Excellency grants your permission." The old man put away the array plate. "However, you must return before 7 PM and are not allowed to leave the area of ​​Balong Mountain."

"no!"

Hua Qingshuang's eyes suddenly turned cold, and her spiritual pressure erupted like frost blades, instantly condensing into fine ice crystals on the jade steps.

She flicked her wide sleeves and said coldly, "This is not cultivation, but imprisonment. Where I go to relax is none of your business. How can my Dao heart be unfettered under such constraints?"

The old man's expression changed drastically. Feeling the surging spiritual pressure of a fully realized spiritual master, his dark blue robe fluttered violently under the pressure. He gritted his teeth, bowed, and said in a deep voice, "Young Miss, please calm down! This matter... allow me to report to the patriarch for a decision!"

Inside the cultivation room of the Wang family patriarch, the spiritual light lamp illuminated Wang Wujiang's profound face.

He lightly tapped the communication jade talisman, and after listening to the clan elder's report, a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"Qing Shuang has grown up, and she's becoming increasingly restless... Perhaps she's sensed something? Or maybe Hua Lengyun gave her some kind of warning."

As he spoke, a hint of mockery flashed in his eyes, before he calmly gave the order: "Let her out. It won't hurt for her to move around a bit."

In his eyes, Hua Qingshuang's struggles, and even Hua Lengyun's, were all in vain.

Whether it was the secret formation of Balong Mountain or the restriction he had planted in Hua Lengyun's spine, both had long since bound the father and daughter tightly.

not to mention……

He flipped his hand and took out a jade slip, scanning it with his divine sense over the more than thirty places marked on it where the old monsters had sealed themselves.

These are all the results of the investigation conducted by the Wang family's guest advisor over the past few months.

"There are still a dozen or so places that remain... but nearly twenty others have all failed to survive the tribulation. The calamity of the end times is truly not so easy to overcome."

Wang Wujiang's eyes flickered slightly as he gently stroked the jade slip with his fingers.

He was very familiar with several of the sealed locations.

That was an old friend of the former patriarch of the Wang family, someone who once stood shoulder to shoulder with his father.

These beings had made an agreement with his royal family before they sealed themselves away.

When the spiritual energy recovers, the Wang family will need to help them through their period of weakness, and they will continue to ensure the prosperity of the Wang family!

This was also the trump card his father left behind before his death, and the powerful network of connections within the family.

The Qilin Sword Sect is always watching him closely, and someone as shrewd and calculating as him would surely know this.

But if these beings can be awakened after the spiritual energy revival, what does the Qilin Sword Sect amount to?
"The Qilin Sword Sect wanted to probe my strength and subdue me before I broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, but little did they know..."

He sneered, a deep wisdom appearing in his eyes.

This time, the Wang family will once again emerge victorious, and may even unify the other four families.

Because he had already glimpsed that blurry figure in the double pupils of Xiang Yu's head.
That was himself!

Everything is under control.

At this very moment, inside the Sword Rain Pavilion on Minglong Mountain.

After Zhao Wuji had taken care of everything, he made a hand seal with his fingers, and the spiritual energy at his fingertips instantly condensed into a profound array pattern.

Instantly, the seventy-two source crystals that had been pre-buried in the ground around him began to glow, echoing the array patterns engraved on the ground of the Sword Rain Tower.

This teleportation array, which corresponds to the Lingtai Mountain in Nanchu Prefecture, is inlaid with only two ancient spirit stones obtained from Lin Qi.

At the center of the formation, there was no void stone required for teleportation arrays. Instead, an array plate inscribed by Zhao Wuji using array-setting techniques and scene-shifting techniques was used.

There is a lack of rare and precious Void Stones.

Zhao Wuji was also unsure whether the scenery created by the Scene Shifting Technique could actually teleport him there.

After observing for a moment, he had a sudden thought, and the blood-fiend spiritual energy in his body surged up suddenly, flowing through his meridians like magma.

"Click!!"

With cracking bones and bulging muscles, his originally slender figure transformed into a robust martial artist as tall as an iron tower in the blink of an eye under the burst of blood-fiend spiritual energy.

Veins coiled like dragons on his arms, and a dark red, bloodthirsty aura emanated from his skin.

It was as if countless tiny blood vessels were flowing under the skin, forming a blood-fiend spiritual aura.

He raised his hand and summoned the True Martial Broken Sword from his storage bag.

Although the sword was damaged, it contained a steady and powerful aura. It trembled and hummed as soon as it was held, as if it was eager for battle.

"Shh!"

With a backhand slash, the sword's edge tore through the air, bringing with it a scarlet, malevolent light that disrupted and distorted the surrounding spiritual energy.

"good."

Zhao Wuji chuckled softly, his voice now deep and resonant, like muffled thunder within an earthenware pot.

He casually tore off the dark blue robe of the Wang family's guest elder and put on a set of old-fashioned, gray spirit armor.

This was the protective magic weapon he obtained in his early years after killing the son of Kang Youyuan, an elder of Yunfeng Cave. It was severely worn, yet it exuded a sense of vicissitudes from countless battles.

Finally, he took out a brass mask and put it on his face.

The mask has an ancient design, revealing only a pair of cold, menacing eyes, with a ferocious crack etched between its brows, as if it had been cleaved by a sharp blade.

"call!"

The blood-fiend spiritual energy surged once more, and his aura rose steadily, making him appear like a ferocious martial artist emerging from a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

At this moment, he was completely different from the gentle and refined guest of the Wang family's formations.

Even their aura had completely changed, losing all trace of the elegance of immortal cultivators, leaving only pure ferocity and oppressiveness.

"A new continent, a new identity! No hidden dangers for ourselves."

Zhao Wuji then made a hand seal.

"Shifting scenery and creating new scenes, blending reality and illusion."

He gave a low shout, and the two ancient spirit stones embedded in the formation quickly dimmed.

The surrounding array patterns instantly twisted and rose as if alive, weaving into a vortex of spiritual energy beneath their feet.

In an instant, his figure blurred rapidly, and his thoughts seemed to be torn and stretched by an invisible force.
Perception is plunged into a strange chaos.

It felt as if countless streams of light burst forth from the depths of my mind, or as if I were falling into a viscous swamp of time and space.

Zhao Wuji felt as if his thoughts were going through three autumns during this process, but when he turned his mind around again, it was only a snap of the fingers.

In a daze, I couldn't tell whether my physical body was traveling or my soul was being thrown into a void rift. I had the same illusion as when I traveled here before.

"Buzz!"

A violent tremor came from beneath his feet, and the damp, cold night wind of Nan Chu Prefecture had already seeped into his armor.

Zhao Wuji's pupils contracted sharply, he stood still, and his expression became wary.

Wang Zheng was already kneeling on one knee three zhang outside the formation, respectfully welcoming them. "Welcome, my lord!"

Wang Zheng was surrounded by a bright spiritual light and magical artifacts, a precautionary measure to prevent any accidents.

"Great. It's truly a novel experience."

Zhao Wuji lightly swung the True Martial Broken Sword, dispersing the remaining ripples of spiritual energy.

Looking at the corresponding teleportation array on the ground, the two ancient spirit stones had dimmed considerably.

"It seems that four ancient spirit stones are only enough to support me to teleport back and forth once. This consumption is even after I used the Shifting Scene Technique to weaken it. Tsk."

He shook his head slightly, lamenting that these resources were truly fleeting.

Then, divine senses flooded the surroundings like a tide.

In a mountain hollow a thousand paces to the northeast, the aura of Wei Ding, the master of the White Bone Cave, flickered like a candle in the wind, barely clinging to life.

The ancient formation that trapped him exuded a chilling aura. It was still able to operate in this world of declining Dharma, which suggested that there was something special about Lingtai Mountain.

"Let's go take a look over there."

Zhao Wuji slightly raised his chin and casually set up an array to hide the teleportation array.

Wang Zheng immediately led the way.

A short while later, Zhao Wuji followed Wang Zheng to the outside of the mountain valley formation.

His double pupils flickered slightly, instantly discerning the true nature of the formation.

The patterns inside the formation were rough, and it only circulated with the yin energy of the mountain valley.

At the heart of the formation, several dark-patterned stones had long since lost their luster, clearly indicating that the formation method was not particularly sophisticated.

"Yin Sha Qi... In the past, Yin Pearl could transform Yin Qi, and spiritual Qi could also transform Yin and Yang Qi. This Qi is like a half-baked spiritual Qi, which is why it can continue to operate in this world of Dharma decline."

He shook his head inwardly.

These kinds of Yin Sha formations are mostly set up by cultivators who practice Yin attribute techniques. They are very troublesome for others, but they are useless to him.

"but."

He frowned slightly. Judging from the rough array patterns, the array seemed to have been broken and then rearranged.

"It doesn't resemble an ancient formation at all."

Wang Zheng whispered from the side, "My lord, I once used my double pupils to see through the weak points of the formation, but I do not understand the art of setting up formations, so I cannot break through the formation."

"It doesn't matter."

Zhao Wuji responded calmly, thought for a moment, then formed a hand seal and began to set up the array. The array patterns appeared before his eyes like transparent meridians.

He gripped the True Martial Broken Sword with one hand, channeling his blood-fiend spiritual power into the blade.

The broken blade hummed and vibrated, and dark gold battle patterns spread from the arm to the blade.

"break!"

With a low shout, the sword, imbued with the power of the double pupils' insight, slashed fiercely towards the core of the formation!
"boom!"

The malevolent energy exploded like boiling water, causing the array patterns to crumble inch by inch.

A cold wind howled through the valley, and loose stones tumbled down.

The smoke and dust cleared.

A hunched figure sensed Zhao Wuji's presence and hurriedly staggered out; it was none other than Wei Ding, the master of the White Bone Cave!

At this moment, he was emaciated, with sunken eyes, and his spiritual energy was scattered, showing signs of instability in his cultivation level.

The moment he saw Zhao Wuji, his cloudy eyes suddenly lit up with a bright light, almost as if he were moved to tears.

"My lord! This old servant...this old servant kowtows to thank you for saving my life!"

He knelt down with a thud, his forehead hitting the gravel hard, his voice hoarse and filled with excitement.

Two years!
It's been two whole years!
He thought he was going to die inside this formation, but now he has finally seen the light of day again.

"You've worked hard, go and rest."

Zhao Wuji glanced at Wei Ding, took out dozens of source crystals and Qi gathering pills from his storage bag, and casually tossed them over.

Wei Ding's eyes lit up as he quickly caught it and went to rest to absorb the source crystal and recover.

Zhao Wuji's gaze swept over the mountain hollow behind him, then suddenly froze.
Several skeletons lay scattered in the formation, their tattered robes still faintly revealing the attire of Yu Zishan and other disciples, while lingering Yin energy still clung to the remains.

"These missing disciples... in the end..."

His gaze darkened, and he slowly closed his five fingers inside his sleeve as he walked over to examine the skeleton.

A sword mark was found on the neck of one of the skeletons, confirming that it belonged to Yu Zishan.

"Hey"

Zhao Wuji sighed softly.

Seeing the scars on his neck that he had once cut open and then personally stitched up, he felt a pang of nostalgia.

Unexpectedly, this old friend ultimately lost his life here.

Zhao Wuji looked towards the deep stone cave that had suddenly appeared behind the mountain valley after the formation was broken.

At the entrance of the grotto, there are intricate patterns engraved in relief, which upon closer inspection are found to be made up of countless pinhole-like indentations.

These indentations correspond to acupoints on the celestial globe, and are exactly the same as the array of needle holes on the stone wall of the Zhao family's ancestral land, only more than ten times larger in scale.

Ten dragon scale crystals are embedded in the center of the array pattern, echoing the core components of the incomplete ancient array in the ancestral land.

"The Spirit-Suppressing Array. It's still the ancestral 'Golden Needle Acupuncture' array with variations."

Zhao Wuji approached, ran his hand over the recessed array patterns, and suddenly took out a needle box from his storage bag. The golden needles inside the box suddenly trembled on their own.

His eyes sharpened as he recalled the ancestral teachings' key to breaking the formation: "Use blood as the guide and needles as the key."

Under the scan of the double pupils, it was discovered that the array pattern contained 365 energy nodes, which were just like the major acupoints in the human body.

The ten most critical weak points correspond precisely to the locations of the Dragon Scale Crystal.

The pattern at the center of the formation, resembling a phoenix spreading its wings, is clearly the starting gesture of the family's "Phoenix Nodding" needle technique.

"It requires testing bloodline, acupuncture skills, and also the Ten Dragons Playing with Phoenix acupuncture technique."

He chuckled softly, and the golden needle pricked his fingertip.

The instant the blood droplet fell into the array's eye, ten dragon scale crystals simultaneously glowed with a ghostly light, and the same ancient seal script as that of the ancestral land appeared on the stone wall: [Descendants, use blood to perform acupuncture].

Zhao Wuji flicked his wrist and, using the "Ten Dragons Playing with Phoenix" acupuncture technique, transformed the golden needles into ten streams of light that pierced the acupoints around the crystal.

The moment the needle touched the dragon scale, fine blood-like patterns appeared on the surface of the crystal.

This is clearly proof of the Zhao family's unique bloodline.

As the tenth needle was inserted, he suddenly activated the blood and qi within his body, causing the needle tip to vibrate at a high frequency like a phoenix flapping its wings.

"Crack!"

The first dragon scale crystal shattered instantly, and the restriction loosened accordingly.

This process was repeated ten times. When the last crystal collapsed, the entire formation suddenly reversed and retracted, revealing a deep passageway.

Amidst the decaying stench of a thousand-year-old sealed chamber, a faint trace of the medicinal fragrance unique to Huangfu Mi's "Golden Chamber Acupuncture Record" wafts through the air.

The moment the formation completely dissipated, Zhao Wuji's double pupils suddenly contracted.

Three inches to the left of the passageway, beneath the soil, came extremely subtle fluctuations of spiritual energy.

He flicked his finger, and the golden needle pierced the ground, bringing out an array plate engraved with the emblem of the Immortal Martial Sect.

The cinnabar liquid unique to the warning talisman was slowly seeping out from the hole pierced by the needle.

"Has someone deliberately planted a warning array here?"

Zhao Wuji narrowed his eyes, immediately recalling the traces of the outer formation being broken and then re-established.

"The mantis stalks the cicada?"

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away from Lingtai Mountain, inside a magnificent celestial mountain.

Luo Zhan, the elder of the Immortal Martial Sect known as "Iron-Armed Immortal," suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze flashing with a sharp light.

"Huh? The spirit-sealing array at that hidden inheritance site has been broken?!"

He suddenly stood up, his muscles bulging, his martial arts aura as deep and vast as the sea, his aura powerful and overwhelming, clearly indicating that he was a cultivator at the peak of the Condensation Realm!
"That place of inheritance has been silent for so many years. Master guarded it for so long but never got the chance to open it. Now it has been opened by someone else. Could it be that Huangfu Mi's successor has appeared in the world?"

Luo Zhan's expression was uncertain.

The Immortal Martial Sect has long coveted the Martial Immortal Path inheritance.

However, due to the special nature of the restrictions, forcibly breaking the formation would only directly damage the inheritance within, so it has remained untouched.

A decision had already been made within the sect.

We can either wait for the inheritor to come and capture and interrogate them, or we can wait for the spiritual energy to recover and then forcibly break through it with a more sophisticated secret method, in which case the inheritance will not be destroyed.

But now, someone has already beaten them to it?!

"They might be Huangfu Mi's successor. Whoever it is, this lineage is something our Immortal Martial Sect has its eye on."

He immediately took out a communication jade talisman and quickly sent the message to the sect leader and the grand elder. Then, his figure flashed and he turned into a blur as he rushed out of the cave and headed straight for Lingtai Mountain!
"I'd like to see what kind of extraordinary person Huangfu Mi's successor will be now."

As a Nascent Soul Perfection cultivator from the Immortal Martial Sect, one of the four dominant sects in Southern Chu Prefecture, and a martial artist with consistently high combat prowess, he was truly invincible below the Golden Core stage, so he naturally possessed great confidence.
(End of this chapter)