Under the cloudless sky, a streak of light tore across the heavens at an astonishing speed, the ripples it produced shredding the surrounding white clouds.
That figure was a middle aged man, but his condition was far from good. Blood stains marked his body, and the aura around him fluctuated violently, clearly indicating that he was injured.
"Nan Ge, you cannot escape. Surrender obediently and hand over the item. I might still consider sparing your life."
A voice chased after him from behind, causing the fleeing middle aged man, Nan Ge, to feel his heart jolt.
"He already caught up this fast…" Nan Ge muttered inwardly with an ugly expression.
As a spiritual array master, he was not skilled in direct combat. After being ambushed and injured by his opponent, he knew that he had already lost any chance of victory and could only flee as best as he could.
What he had not expected was that his pursuer's speed would be so terrifying. The arrays he had set up had barely delayed the opponent at all.
"This cannot continue!"
Knowing that continuing to flee would only result in being caught, Nan Ge clenched his teeth and dove straight toward the mountain forest below.
Suddenly, he keenly sensed an unusual fluctuation emanating from a mountain ahead. Without time to think, he plunged straight into it.
Moments later, another streak of light followed closely behind. Both figures vanished consecutively into a mountain that appeared completely ordinary from the outside.
"Hmm? Someone has entered the array?"
At the same time, deep within the mountain, Liu Bai stood before a furnace, where purple flames roared fiercely. Within the flames, a long spear was gradually taking shape.
At that very moment, Liu Bai sensed that the array he had set up outside had been triggered, causing him to raise an eyebrow.
However, Liu Bai did not stop his artifact refining, nor did he have any intention of investigating the intruders.
After all, the Skeletal Illusion Array was an Earth Grade low level array. Even a Fourth Grade Sovereign would find it difficult to break through, so he was not worried about anyone disturbing him.
"I specifically picked such a desolate place, and yet some unlucky fellow still managed to stumble in. I really do not know whether to say his luck is good or bad…"
Shaking his head with mild amusement, Liu Bai no longer paid attention to the matter. He might soon hear a system notification anyway, so he quickly refocused on the refining furnace before him.
The Divine Refinement Method emphasized refining artifacts with the spirit. This was his first attempt at forging a top grade Spiritual Artifact, so Liu Bai did not dare to let himself become distracted.
Time slowly passed. Under the searing purple Undying Fire, the long spear within the furnace had completely taken shape. Since there were no special requirements, Liu Bai did not add many abilities or attributes to it. Even the arrays engraved upon it were simple ones that merely enhanced sharpness and durability.
With the spirit infusion complete, only quenching remained.
With a wave of his hand, a stream of black water appeared out of thin air. Liu Bai used his spiritual sense to guide the long spear directly into the flowing water.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle.
Mist rose continuously as the icy mystic water was instantly evaporated by the terrifying heat. The long spear cooled rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the once glowing red spear body turned pitch black.
Ancient patterns interlinked across the spear shaft, forming the shape of a bizarre flower. With a slight activation of spiritual energy, the flower would emit a purplish black glow, forming a sharp spear light at the tip. Even the shell of a Golden Crystal Beast could be pierced through. It was a rather decent top grade Spiritual Artifact spear.
Of course, compared to Liu Bai's Purple Heaven Longsword, this newly forged spear was inferior in every aspect except penetration.
The former had been custom forged specifically for Liu Bai, while this spear was merely standard equipment. The difference between the two was obvious.
"Still, being able to successfully refine a top grade spear within five days means I can probably try forging a divine artifact next…"
When Liu Bai had left the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, Elder Chi Huo had passed on all of his skills to him, including every artifact refining blueprint he possessed.
Among them, only one had reached the divine artifact level. It was Elder Chi Huo's life's work, called the Heavenly Heart Seal. This seal had no special functions, and its method of attack was extremely simple. Smash.
Once unleashed, a single seal strike could shatter mountains and split the earth, with its power depending on the spiritual energy of the user.
It was the most basic divine artifact, yet it was the blueprint Elder Chi Huo had spent half his life developing, and it formed the foundation of his advancement to a divine artifact master.
Having experience in designing blueprints himself, Liu Bai knew how difficult such a task was, especially when it came to designing the internal arrays of a divine artifact.
Unlike Liu Bai, a master of array arts, Elder Chi Huo was not proficient in spiritual arrays. That was why the Heavenly Heart Seal's functions were so singular.
Take the Five Elements Armor that Liu Bai planned to forge for himself. He had started designing it back when he was at the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy. Initially, it was only intended to be a high grade Spiritual Artifact. As his strength improved, the design had been revised countless times.
Just the arrays to be engraved onto the armor had been repeatedly overturned and redesigned by Liu Bai. Sometimes, after thinking of adding a new function, he would continue stacking additional arrays.
All of this was based on his profound understanding of array arts. No one else could have done the same.
At present, the armor blueprint already included more than thirty different arrays to be engraved after refinement. According to Liu Bai's plan, the spirit infusion alone would require at least one month, and that was assuming everything went smoothly.
Including the time spent on blueprint design, this single set of armor would take one or two years before it could be completed, and that was only possible because he had special advantages. This demonstrated just how difficult it was to design an entirely new divine artifact.
It was no wonder that true divine artifact masters all came from top tier factions. Only such forces possessed enough heritage to provide high level blueprints, allowing artifact refiners to rapidly improve their rank and forge stronger divine artifacts.
In a sense, this was a form of indirect monopoly.
The same applied to Alchemists, Spiritual Array Masters, and Battle Array Masters. In fact, in the Great Thousand World, aside from conventional cultivation, nearly everything else was monopolized by powerful forces. That was reality.
Taking a deep breath, Liu Bai stored away the newly refined long spear.
At this moment, there were already several newly forged Spiritual Artifact inside his spatial ring, including both top grade and high grade Spiritual Artifact's. They were all practice works created by Liu Bai during this period.
He had already been staying within this mountain for nearly a month. After completing the evolution of the Innate Five Spirit Disk, he had devoted himself entirely to familiarizing himself with Artifact Refining.
After successfully refining a top grade Spiritual Artifact, Liu Bai's control over the Divine Refinement Method had already become quite proficient. Next, he was preparing to attempt refining a Divine Artifact.
Sitting cross legged, Liu Bai cast aside all distracting thoughts and slowly restored his body to its peak condition.
Once everything was ready, Liu Bai directly began his first attempt at refining a Divine Artifact.
During this process, however, the two people trapped within the great array outside were suffering greatly.
Although Nan Ge was also a spiritual array master, and a genuine grandmaster at that, when facing the bizarre Skeleton Illusion Array, he was completely at a loss.
Fortunately, the Skeleton Illusion Array was primarily an illusion array. Although strange, it was different from lethal arrays such as the Red Cloud Array or the Heaven Capital Divine Flame Array, and it still left a one in ten thousand chance of survival.
It was hard to say whether the two were lucky, or if their fate simply had not yet reached its end.
Because no one was actively controlling the array, everything within the Skeleton Illusion Array responded autonomously based on the reactions of those inside. This gave them sufficient time to attempt breaking the array. As a result, although the two suffered greatly, they ultimately managed to escape alive and fled the seemingly ordinary mountain range with terror filling their hearts.
However, their escape also caused this ordinary mountain range to become widely known. Many people began to believe that some ancient relic was hidden within, and that the array was merely the protective formation surrounding it.
As long as one could pass through the array or break it, they would be able to enter the relic and obtain all of its inheritances.
As for rumors, how should one put it. They cannot be said to be entirely unreliable, but they are also not trustworthy at all.
At first, very few people believed these rumors. However, after more than ten days of spreading, once enough people began repeating them, even those who initially completely dismissed the idea started to hesitate.
Gradually, the outskirts of the once deserted mountain range began to see the appearance of treasure hunters, adventurers, and even hunting groups, all kinds of chaotic individuals.
Most of these people were First or Second Grade Sovereigns. Their strength was not particularly impressive, placing them in an awkward position in the Northern Region. They were beneath the notice of true experts, yet still out of reach for the weak.
Due to their strength, even if they joined top tier forces, they would not receive much importance. At the same time, they looked down on weaker factions. As a result, they could only wander independently, using various means to acquire resources.
Exploring relics was exactly the kind of thing these people enjoyed most.
After several probing attempts and leaving behind quite a few corpses within the array, these people finally confirmed that there was definitely something wrong inside that unremarkable mountain peak. It might very well be an undiscovered strong expert's spirit repository.
However, the outer protective array was simply too powerful and extremely strange. In order to break the array, these people ultimately had no choice but to temporarily unite, planning to deal with everything else only after breaking the array.
"After these probing attempts, we can confirm that the array is at least an Earth Grade array, and it is a very rare special illusion array. Once inside, the scenes each person encounters are completely different. Preliminary judgment suggests that the array generates different scenarios based on the thoughts and mental state of those inside, and the danger level of each scenario also varies."
Inside a tent outside the mountain range, a sharp featured young man explained the intelligence they had gathered over the past few days to everyone present.
"Reflecting the fear within the heart?" an elderly man with white hair and beard suddenly spoke. His clothes were worn and even patched in places.
The young man shook his head and said, "It should not have reached the level Senior Hong described. If it truly reflected the deepest fears within one's heart, none of the people we sent in would have been able to come back alive."
A burly man beside them frowned and said, "If it is just an illusion array, should it not be difficult to counter?"
Illusion arrays, in essence, relied on special abilities to affect the cognition and consciousness of those within, thereby influencing the judgment of those attempting to break through.
There were many ways to resist such effects. The simplest was merely possessing a Spiritual artifact that could block such interference.
"Hmph, you are thinking far too simply."
Another person beside them snorted coldly and retorted.
"Although it is an illusion array, every attack inside is real. And the enemies encountered within, though different, all possess combat strength at or above the Third Grade Sovereign level. With just you, entering it would mean certain death."
Hearing this, the burly man flew into a rage and shouted, "Xu Yao, are you courting death? How dare you speak to me like that?"
"Idiot. Do you really think I am afraid of you?" Xu Yao sneered.
In an instant, the two became openly hostile. Many people nearby even adopted expressions of watching a show unfold.
At the end of the day, they were merely a group of greedy treasure grabbers. Although circumstances had forced them to temporarily cooperate, each of them was selfish and unruly. Calling them a loose pile of sand was already generous. They did not even qualify as a rabble. Situations like this were entirely normal.
At this moment, the young man who had spoken earlier wore a face full of icy frost.
As the organizer of this alliance, the fact that these two dared to confront each other openly in front of everyone was equivalent to slapping him in the face.
Buzz.
Suddenly, a terrifying aura surged out from the young man's body, instantly suppressing all the noise in the area.
The two who had been on the verge of fighting both looked toward the young man in shock. Under the pressure of that terrifying aura, cold sweat began forming on their foreheads.
"Are you done arguing? If so, then sit down properly. Otherwise, do not blame me for being ruthless."
As the young man's killing intent filled words fell, both the burly man and Xu Yao sat back down in silence, their expressions ugly.
The surrounding crowd looked at the young man with astonishment. No one had expected that someone so young would possess such terrifying strength.
The aura he had just released was likely at the peak of the Second-Grade Sovereign level.
Such a talented young man should have sought out a major faction for cultivation. Instead, he was here fighting over scraps with a group of wandering vultures. Was he truly so bored?
Seeing that everyone had quieted down, the young man did not pursue the matter further. After giving the two a warning glance, he continued explaining the information he had gathered, leading everyone in jointly researching a method to break the array.
.....
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