Chapter 69: Breaking the Formation (Part I)

"The best approach should have little to no impact on divine sense." The nameless sword frantically carved inscriptions.

"What is divine sense?" Why did a new term appear again!

"You don't know?!" If it could speak, Lin Jiuge felt the voice of the nameless sword would be cracking with disbelief!

"Please explain in detail." Lin Jiuge humbly asked for guidance.

"What do you use when checking items in your storage bag?" The nameless sword carved rapidly.

"My eyes."

If it had a voice, the scraping sound of the nameless sword carving would have been piercingly loud.

"I forgot, you possess the World-Breaking Eyes." After a long silence, the nameless sword regained its composure, though the characters it carved bore an extra decorative pattern.

"Soul Needles, look into it." The nameless sword dropped a cultivation manual and voluntarily fell silent!

As she walked, Lin Jiuge familiarized herself with the Soul Needles manual, and upon reaching the end, she understood that divine sense could eventually materialize into physical attacks. If one's sea of consciousness were shattered, the person would be reduced to a fool! She decided to cultivate the first tier first, ensuring that external forces could not penetrate her sea of consciousness at the very least. When she returned, she would urge Jiuci to study it as well.

The two walked along, and soon they reached their first destination. The discomfort on their bodies became exceptionally palpable; any object infused with elemental energy entering this area would have its energy absorbed and be reduced to an ordinary item.

"Senior Brother, let's seal our elemental energy before entering." Rather than having it consumed, it was better to store it ourselves, just in case it came in handy.

"Agreed."

Both of them sealed their own elemental energy. Lin Jiuge produced two mortal daggers, giving one to each of them. Although blood-bound storage bags required physical strength to open, this method proved quite convenient at the moment.

"Junior Sister, this place is truly eerie." The trees were ordinary mortal world trees, but their tree rings were impressively ancient. They showed no fear whatsoever of the spiritual plants outside that absorbed elemental energy.

"It's a bit too quiet." Lin Jiuge walked while attempting to scan the surroundings with her divine sense. It was a newly acquired skill, after all, and she needed to grow familiar with it.

Even so, Lin Jiuge still relied more heavily on her physical eyes.

"Senior Brother, this way." Lin Jiuge pulled back her Senior Brother, who had drifted off course.

They continued walking. No one had ever set foot here, and the ground was covered by a thick layer of leaves. Stepping on them produced a crunching sound.

"This won't do, the noise is too loud." There were even echoes, which only intensified the terrifying atmosphere.

"There's no one here." Lin Jiuge looked around. There was no one, not even a single animal. Aside from the slightly frightening ambiance, everything else seemed fine. Lin Jiuge turned her head to look at the hand gripping the back of her clothing, and then at the owner of the hand.

"Senior Brother, my clothes are getting deformed."

"Junior Sister, I apologize, I..." Zhou Yuan also realized his grip had been slightly too heavy.

"Could we hold sleeves instead?" Grabbing the back was too conspicuous.

***

Zhou Yuan docilely grasped Lin Jiuge's sleeve, regaining a sliver of reassurance.

The farther they walked, the louder the sound grew, and the sound was remarkably familiar.

Gradually, as they walked on, the trees grew sparser, and the noise became even more thunderous.

"Is that a thunder pool?" Zhou Yuan was stunned by the sight before him; the number of lightning bolts here was by no means inferior to a tribulation!

"They certainly spared no expense." At a single glance, Lin Jiuge spotted a purple bead at the core of the thunder pool, which served as the array's eye. The real problem was how to get across. Given this intensity, combined with their sealed cultivation, they would easily be charred into ashes in an instant.

"Would you consider us to be of one mind?" Lin Jiuge asked the nameless sword in her sea of consciousness.

"Naturally. Otherwise, how could I reside within your sea of consciousness?" The nameless sword carved furiously.

"Since you are an ancient sword, you shouldn't fear lightning, right?" Lin Jiuge continued to ask.

"What's thath to speak of? At most, it'll leave a few scratches, nothing major." If the nameless sword could speak, it would undoubtedly have sounded immensely proud.

"Understood." Lin Jiuge nodded.

"Jiuge, what did you understand?" The nameless sword carved swiftly, sounding somewhat impatient.

"Senior Brother, let's head to the next location." Lin Jiuge observed for a moment before speaking.

"Very well." With no way to approach it, going to the next spot was better than lingering.

The two turned to leave. A black-and-red shadow flashed out from between Lin Jiuge's brows, shooting swiftly into the center of the thunder pool and hovering directly above the purple bead.

"Lin Jiuge, you play foul! You have no regard for swords!" The nameless sword shrieked with frantic sword cries!

"You said it yourself, we are of one mind. Breaking the array requires simultaneous action. A sword is raised for a thousand days, and now is the time to put you to use." Lin Jiuge said with a straight face.

"Is that how that idiom is used?!" The nameless sword emitted a wave of outraged clanging.

"Haven't I raised you for a thousand days?" Lin Jiuge countered.

"Junior Sister, did you hear a sword crying?" Zhou Yuan couldn't help asking.

"Senior Brother misheard. It's probably just some rhythmic thunder." Lin Jiuge spoke utter nonsense with a completely deadpan expression.

The nameless sword fell quiet. Lin Jiuge hadn't been deceiving it with that remark; Lin Jiuge really had raised it for a thousand days! It had no grounds for rebuttal!

Without unsealing their elemental energy, the two of them proceeded to the next location. This place was filled with ice, situated quite close to the ruins of the Dragon-Bear clan, and it was bitterly cold.

There was no greenery in the surroundings—just a vast, blinding expanse of white. Lin Jiuge produced a flask of wine, giving one to each of them. They took a sip to warm themselves up, as fire-attribute spells were utterly useless here.

Lin Jiuge carved out an ice cave, which proved to be somewhat warmer inside.

***

"It's freezing cold." Zhou Yuan's teeth were chattering uncontrollably.

"This snow cave isn't bad." Sheltered from the biting wind and snow, Zhou Yuan finally felt a bit better.

"I reckon this snow cave will be buried in no time." Lin Jiuge estimated.

"Let's eat something, we have a moment to spare." Lin Jiuge rubbed her stomach; she was hungry. She had brought seasonings, so wasting a bit of wine was acceptable.

"I never imagined I'd be this extravagant one day." Zhou Yuan muttered as he added wood to the fire.

Using wine to kindle the fire, and burning the materials they had collected as firewood—anyone witnessing this would have cursed them for being prodigals!

"Circumstances demand it." Lin Jiuge coated the spiritual beast she had previously hunted with seasonings and placed it over the fire to roast. Roasting meat with such spiritual ingredients was bound to be exceptionally delicious.

And the reality proved identical; the two of them gnawed right down to the bones.

"Senior Brother, let's continue."

"How are we going to walk?" Having finally warmed up, Zhou Yuan utterly rejected the prospect of being kissed by the wind and snow once more.

"Digging tunnels. Senior Brother and I will divide the work." Lin Jiuge confirmed the direction and began digging.

Perhaps the person who set up the array had never imagined that someone would reach the array's eye using this method.

Taking turns, the two of them dug for seven days until they finally reached the underside of the array's eye. Lin Jiuge trimmed the opening to ensure a single thrust would pierce straight through to the ice bead of the array's eye.

"Senior Brother, do you dare stay here by yourself?" Lin Jiuge asked seriously.

"Junior Sister, where are you going?" He couldn't do it; he was terrified!

"I need to go to the next spot. This is a Three-Absolutes Qi-Turning Array, and we must puncture the array's eyes simultaneously for it to take effect." After pondering for a moment, Lin Jiuge decided to reveal the truth about the array.

"Junior Sister, how do you know that?" Zhou Yuan was horrified. Was this still his Junior Sister, who used to be utterly hopeless at arrays?! Had she been swapped out just now?

"The golden sword told me." Lin Jiuge fell silent for a moment, successfully adopting the nameless sword's habit of shifting the blame.

Left abandoned and lonely in the thunder pool, the nameless sword inwardly raged! If it could speak, it probably wouldn't have stopped wagging its imaginary tongue!

"Junior Sister, what should I do?"