The Wandering Immortal

Chapter 88 Ecstasy Array

Jiang Yuan and Qing He carefully entered the cave, which was extremely rough inside, clearly trying to disguise it as a natural cave.

After walking three miles in, the interior suddenly became more complicated, with curved forks in the road on both sides.

Viewed from the outside from high above, the layout of this "Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl" is not very large. The pearl is at most ten miles wide, and no matter how much the interior is excavated, there is only a space of seven or eight miles available.

If it is a deliberate attempt to create a false impression, it is likely a circular formation such as the Five Elements Formation, the Eight Trigrams Formation, or the Hetu Luoshu Formation.

Jiang Yuan followed the trail with his right hand and quickly lost his way back, realizing that he had fallen into a formation.

So they released several talisman warriors who explored the cave. After two incense sticks' worth of time, based on the cave entrance the talisman warriors had passed through, they basically confirmed that it was the Later Heaven Bagua Formation.

The outer circle of the divination diagrams is a maze; if you can't understand it, you'll just wander around in circles.

However, even a novice cultivator who has just begun practicing Qi Refining can understand this kind of formation, so how could it be difficult for anyone?

Following the directions of the Later Heaven Bagua, Jiang Yuan walked for several miles, but then realized something was wrong and returned to the place where he had marked it before. He had underestimated this formation.

It wasn't until Jiang Yuan discovered that some cave walls were movable, silently changing direction after someone walked by. The original layout of the acquired Bagua formation could also be transformed into the trend of the innate Bagua. However, some walls had obviously been violently damaged, resulting in a complete lack of regularity.

From the crude camouflage at the cave entrance to the hidden layout inside, the guy who set up this trap is truly cunning, and he seems to be playing dumb to take advantage of the situation.

Unfortunately, the cave was not very big. Even with multiple partitions, Jiang Yuan's divine sense could see half of it. So he released twenty-four talisman warriors at the same time to see clearly which partition was turning and moving in each of the divination walls.

In this way, the location of the life gate was quickly found, and it was certain that one could enter the core of the formation. Once the formation's eye was broken, the barrier would be immovable.

Unexpectedly, another accident occurred: one of the talisman warriors was killed. Jiang Yuan immediately became alert, realizing that there was an ambush in the cave.

Jiang Yuan sensed a flying sword attack through the talisman warrior. If that person could instantly kill a late-stage Foundation Establishment talisman warrior, then that person must have Golden Core cultivation, which makes things a bit tricky.

Jiang Yuan took out the Emei Dagger, signaling Qinghe to guard his back, and slowly approached the place where the talisman warrior had been killed.

Jiang Yuan had already sensed the person's aura, which was only at the late Foundation Establishment stage. So he called out, "Fellow Daoist, if you've come here to seek opportunities, there's no need to kill each other. We have no ill intentions."

The man remained silent for a long time before suddenly asking, "Are you Fellow Daoist Guan Canghai?"

"You are, Fellow Daoist Li Shouzhong?"

Li Shouzhong made a surprise appearance, "I never expected to meet Fellow Daoist Guan and his wife here. Am I dreaming?"

Jiang Yuan noticed that Li Shouzhong looked rather disheveled, with an unshaven beard. "How long have you been in this formation, Fellow Daoist Li?"

"Alas, it will take seven or eight more days, and we still won't be able to escape. I'm afraid Junior Brother Zhang has already perished!"

"How could this be? Could there be some kind of trap or mechanism inside?"

Li Shouzhong looked dejected. "Junior Brother Zhang still has a bad temper. After being trapped in the formation for three days, he tried to break it by force, smashing several walls. Then he separated from me. Two days ago, the talisman stopped responding, and I could no longer sense any life force."

"Fellow Daoist Li, there is no need to be sad. Once we break the illusion, we will naturally find him."

Li Shouzhong cupped his hands in thanks, "I am deeply grateful for Fellow Daoist Guan's supernatural abilities!"

Cui Qinghe had already observed Li Shouzhong's condition; he was not injured, but had been trapped in the formation for many days and was somewhat listless.

Jiang Yuan placed another talisman and finally saw through the maze's evolution, entering its core area in no time. Sure enough, there were more formations inside. Jiang Yuan couldn't help but wonder what treasures were hidden there, that they would go to such lengths to create such a complex maze, and why not just seal the entrance?

Before them was a circular stone chamber, about three zhang wide, with several raised areas on the inner wall, concealing hidden secrets.

Jiang Yuan placed a talisman warrior into the formation, and countless thorny wooden spikes immediately appeared, forming a wood-based killing formation.

The talisman reacted quickly enough, and with Jiang Yuan's control, it shot backward without being injured by the wooden spikes.

Jiang Yuan unleashed his Emei dagger, striking directly at the core of the formation and breaking the wood-type killing formation.

After passing through the circular stone chamber, there was another stone chamber of roughly the same size, with several doors that seemed to lead to the same circular stone chamber.

Jiang Yuan knew that he must not be impatient in the formation. He used talisman warriors to test each stone chamber. After passing through seven or eight stone chambers, he encountered all kinds of Five Elements Killing Formations.

Then I learned the general picture: the outer circle was a maze of the innate and acquired Bagua, and the middle circle was a Five Elements Killing Array. This kind of array is the simplest, most brutal, and cheapest. Usually, a few spirit stones can kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Upon seeing a charred corpse in a stone chamber, Li Shouzhong reached into his storage bag, glanced at it, and was overcome with grief. "My junior brother! He's truly..."

Jiang Yuan found it very strange. Even if they were guarding some treasure, they wouldn't need to set up such a killing formation. It was obviously a deliberate trap.

"Fellow Daoist Li, please do not be sad. There may be more trouble ahead, so you need to be on your guard."

Judging from the dozen or so killing formations that Jiang Yuan has already broken, their layout is quite sophisticated, secretly conforming to the Soul-Binding and Soul-Locking Formation. Those who die inside will have their souls trapped and unable to escape.

If the person who set up the formation was practicing some kind of demonic art, that would make sense; it has probably already attracted that person's attention.

Jiang Yuan was sending a telepathic message to Qinghe and Li Shouzhong, and was likely to be ambushed by demonic cultivators.

All three activated their protective shields and stood slightly apart in a wedge formation. Qinghe also released the flower fairy Qiongniang to keep watch.

Instead of rushing in, Jiang Yuan used telepathy to ask Li Shouzhong some questions, "How did you know the location of this cave?"

Li Shouzhong said that in the Immortal City of Kucha, someone was selling a treasure map of the Great Wind Pass, which specifically marked several locations.

The two brothers had explored the other two locations but found nothing or encountered any danger until they arrived here and got trapped.

Jiang Yuan knew that someone must be practicing demonic arts here, imprisoning the souls of cultivators, and there was more than one person involved. It might even be a hidden demonic sect.

Such a complicated process must mean that the core member's cultivation level is not high. If there were someone at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, Li Shouzhong and his fellow disciples could have easily captured him. Why go through all this trouble?
Or perhaps he simply cannot go out and cannot bear the sunlight, thus deceiving some low-level cultivators into doing things for him.

If it were a ghost cultivator, they would be doomed if they had a peach wood hairpin. A demonic cultivator might be a bit more troublesome, and we might have to use some lightning magic on them.

Having made up his mind, Jiang Yuan explained the battle tactics and some details on how to deal with them, and began to break through into the formation.

This time, let's be a bit more direct. We won't use talisman warriors to scout ahead. We'll just throw an ice crystal into each stone chamber and let it explode. If we control the force well, we can quickly determine what type of killing formation it is.

They broke through to the core area, a circular area about a mile wide. Apart from a few pillars, there seemed to be nothing else inside, except for a tree, which was the Soul-Nourishing Wood that Jiang Yuan had been longing for. Moreover, it was a living tree, truly a living treasure.

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(End of this chapter)