Fox Fairy Nannan followed behind Zhang Chen and after hearing Zhang Chen’s words, she spoke up: "Do you think there’s a possibility that the stronger winds aren’t because we’re getting closer to the foot of the mountain, but rather because we’re increasingly close to something, hence the sandstorm intensifies?"
"What do you mean?" Zhang Chen turned his head to look at Fox Fairy Nannan.
"I have a feeling we’re seemingly trapped within a barrier between Heaven and Earth, as we get closer to the barrier, the sandstorm intensifies." Fox Fairy Nannan said this and lifted her head to look at the top of the sky: "I always feel there’s a barrier at the top of the sky."
Zhang Chen heard this and hurriedly raised his head to scrutinize, at which time the voice of the Great Freedom Celestial Demon sounded in Zhang Chen’s ear: "Stop looking, this is a grand array, enveloping the entire Buddhist monastery. I guess someone wanted to attack the monastery back then, and used the array to trap it in advance. The closer you get to the array’s barrier, the stronger the sandstorm’s power; at the foot of the mountain, it’s at least a force of nine."
The Great Freedom Celestial Demon’s eyes looked at the black sand before him, a hint of contemplation in his gaze.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen did not show any fear on his face; instead, he revealed a hint of delight: "So we’re trapped inside an array? As long as we break this array, we can overcome the obstacles and enter the outside world? See the full view of the First Heaven?"
"It seems so." Great Freedom Celestial Demon replied.
"Is there a way to break the array?" Zhang Chen looked at the Great Freedom Celestial Demon with anticipation.
The Great Freedom Celestial Demon shook his head at this, and Zhang Chen looked disappointed.
Fox Fairy Nannan stood nearby, probing the sky, seemingly oblivious to Zhang Chen and the Great Freedom Celestial Demon’s conversation.
Somehow Fox Fairy Nannan had been tainted by the Great Freedom Celestial Demon, with a Celestial Demon residing in her heart, thus rendering her blind and deaf to the Great Freedom Celestial Demon.
Zhang Chen put away the Great Freedom Celestial Demon and continued to head down the mountain,
"Did you discover anything?" Fox Fairy Nannan asked.
Upon hearing Fox Fairy Nannan’s words, Zhang Chen shook his head and continued heading down the mountain. As Zhang Chen kept moving down, the field stabilized by his Wind Stabilizing Rune quickly shrank; in just half an hour, only ten meters remained.
Beyond ten meters, a black wind swept across the sky, darkening sun and moon and shaking Heaven and Earth, while within the ten-meter range of the Body-Stabilizing Rune, the black sand surged towards Zhang Chen, making him feel like he was standing in the spring gale of Inner Mongolia, unable to open his eyes.
"The power of this black wind has surpassed the seventh tier, almost reaching the eighth. If it weren’t for your Body-Stabilizing Rune, we would probably be stripped to the bone by the wind. We can’t go any further; we’ll lose our lives if we keep going!" Fox Fairy Nannan grabbed Zhang Chen’s arm.
At her words, Zhang Chen raised his head and seriously looked at the black sand coming towards him. The blue lotus he cultivated was infinitely compressed, already close to his skin, barely holding its own like a candle flame in the black wind, seemingly struggling to resist.
"We’re trapped in this array and must find a way out to see the outside world, or we’ll be forever stuck here." Zhang Chen thought about whether there would be various treasures or mysterious items outside.
"What is an array?" Fox Fairy Nannan asked.
"Similar to a Feng Shui Grand Array but much stronger; they can’t even be compared." Zhang Chen replied.
Fox Fairy Nannan seemed thoughtful upon hearing this: "Even if we’re trapped inside the array, we can’t risk our lives recklessly, testing with our lives."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen became silent, contemplating a method to break the array.
This array was very powerful, making it extremely difficult to break, but avoiding its effects would be simple; by upgrading his Wind Stabilizing Rune, the Black Sand Array could be broken on its own.
"I need experience points! A lot of experience points!" Zhang Chen felt regret at this moment, thinking about how he had wasted his experience points upgrading skills earlier; otherwise, he could have invested all experience points in the Wind Stabilizing Rune and possibly broken the array.
"If only there was a place where I could gain experience points in large quantities." Zhang Chen pondered various solutions but couldn’t find a place to collect experience points.
"Logically, when Xie Xuan, Grand Steward, and others fought, and even summoned the Twelfth Tier Mystery, there should have been skills and experience points left behind?"
With this thought, Zhang Chen’s heart raced, and he immediately returned to his physical body, glancing at the roaring Eight Trigrams Furnace. At this moment, dragon roars sounded within; the flames were fiercer, with at least double the power.
Surprised, Zhang Chen looked at the Eight Trigrams Furnace, his eyes filled with confusion: "Strange, how did the power of the flames in the Eight Trigrams Furnace strengthen? The memories I gained didn’t mention this."
Zhang Chen stood up and approached the Eight Trigrams Furnace, sensing the flames within, seeing nine flying swords turn into golden juice amidst the burning flames, the golden liquid continually flowing within the furnace flames.
"These flames are too fierce, even Taiyi Geng Metal can’t withstand them." Zhang Chen listened to the dragon-and-tiger roar from the Eight Trigrams Furnace and began forming a hand seal, watching the Yin Yang Qi and Qi of the Five Elements within the furnace transform into a mysterious light orb, refining and merging into the metallic liquid, gradually enveloping it in an earth-yellow sphere.