The laughter of the Innate Peacock was filled with delight, the kind of satisfaction having avenged a deep grudge, with no attempt to hide it at all.
"Senior, could you teach me? I'm willing to pay any price," Zhang Chen said.
"Return the Innate Five Elements to me," the Innate Peacock stopped laughing.
"The Innate Five Elements have been refined by me. Even if I want to return them, I can't," Zhang Chen's voice was full of helplessness.
"Then don't mention anything else; you're trapped in this Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror. You're just waiting for death," the Innate Peacock said, folding its arms and ignoring Zhang Chen.
"Senior, this Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror can't trap me," Zhang Chen said.
"You're dreaming! I know you have mastered the Innate Yin Yang Qi, which has the power to melt the Destruction of All Techniques, but this is the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror. Your Yin Yang Qi is useless here because there is neither the Innate Five Elements Dao nor the Innate Yin Yang Dao. This place is the Land of Return and has no laws," the Innate Peacock said: "Without laws, Divine Techniques cannot be used. Even if you have great skills, you cannot escape. Unless the owner of the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror opens it to let us out, you can only wait to be refined to death."
The use of Divine Techniques is based on the laws. If there are no laws in Heaven and Earth, how can Divine Techniques be used?
"What if I can master the manipulation mantra of the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror?" Zhang Chen said.
"Stop dreaming. If you had the manipulation mantra of the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, why would you be trapped here?" The Innate Peacock couldn't be bothered to respond.
Zhang Chen looked at the expression of the Innate Peacock, as if saying, "You're killing me with laughter," and couldn't help but sigh, he knew that saying a thousand words wouldn't be as effective as showing proof.
If he couldn't present proof, the Innate Peacock would never believe his words.
The most crucial part was that his time was running out. If he couldn't appear outside for a long time, it would certainly cause a stir, so he must seize control of the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror to have a chance to escape.
This space was a void, the Land of Return, where Heaven and Earth were not yet formed, lacking the Law of Heaven and Earth. No matter how much magical power or boundless Divine Technique one had, it was difficult to escape without the Heaven-Opening Power.
Zhang Chen certainly didn't have such power. If he did, the trifling Ancestral Master of Longevity would have been crushed by him with a finger long ago. How could such affairs have arisen?
Fortunately, he had the mantra to control the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror. Even if he were trapped inside, it didn't prevent him from performing sacrificial refining on the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror and striving for its control.
Zhang Chen followed the mantra, forming hand seals and chanting spells, then pressed his palm against the cage in front of him, with Yin Yang Magical Power pouring in the next moment.
The entire cage was a part of the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, and Zhang Chen, desiring to refine it, could naturally start anywhere.
However, Zhang Chen's Innate Yin Yang Qi was minuscule compared to the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror. To refine even one Innate Restriction, it would take hundreds to thousands of years.
But Zhang Chen didn't need to completely refine an Innate Restriction. He only needed to leave an initial imprint, and with the manipulation methods provided by the Spell, everything would naturally fall into place.
As Zhang Chen refined the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, he already knew in his heart that although the Longevity Ancestor possessed the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, he had not refined it.
"Why hasn't the other side refined the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror?" Zhang Chen wondered.
But just as Zhang Chen was refining the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, his eyes suddenly flashed as he felt his refining speed suddenly increase hundreds of times: "Someone is mobilizing the power of the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror? Activating part of its power and exposing its core to my eyes. Their power is infused into the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, but without the refining mantra; I can take great advantage of it by borrowing their strength."
At this moment, Zhang Chen was overjoyed, as if a pillow had been handed to him just as he was feeling sleepy, instantly propelling him to greater heights. There was no doubt that the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror was in the hands of the Longevity Ancestor, who must have benevolently activated it, giving him the opportunity to glimpse its core.
Outside
Meanwhile, Xu Erniu activated the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror to reflect the Nine Bends Yellow River Array, seeing the Qi mechanism on the Treasure Mirror Surface dim and blurred. Although it outlined the partial law traces within the Nine Bends Yellow River Array, it was utterly indistinct, and they couldn't clearly see the scene inside the array.
Seeing this, the Longevity Ancestor slightly furrowed his brow, muttering to himself, "This Ginseng Fruit has just started to be refined. Its magical power is too weak to drive the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror."
But in just a moment, sweat like rain started pouring from Xu Erniu's forehead, prompting the Longevity Ancestor to place a hand on her shoulder: "Let me help you."
In the next moment, vast magical power was infused into Xu Erniu's body, causing the light emanating from the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror to explode, and the scene on the mirror surface gradually became clear.
The Ancestor quickly peered at the mirror and froze: "That is..."
Inside the array, there were two stone statues; one was Zou Wenlong, and the other, holding a banner, was Chen Ling.
It was no wonder Chen Ling had not emerged after entering the array, for he was suppressed by it.
The Ancestor's face changed drastically. It was known that the banner was a Secret Treasure of the Five Villages Temple, capable of gathering the power of all mountains and rivers for enhancement. Whenever a disciple of the Five Villages Temple opened a cave sky, a new mountain range would appear on the banner, receiving mystical celestial support.
Yet now, the banner was being suppressed after entering the array, and Xu Ling couldn't even muster the strength to resist or struggle. How bizarre!
Nothing in the world could be more outrageous than this.
But the Longevity Ancestor did not stop; instead, he increased the infusion of magical power, hoping to delineate the foundation of the array and find a way to break it.
As the Longevity Ancestor's magical power infused, Zhang Chen, within the mirror, was thrilled, equating it to having a top-notch expert assisting in refining the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror.
With full force, the Longevity Ancestor exercised his magical power, observing and deducing the crucial aspects of the Nine Bends Yellow River Talisman Array. This Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror was beyond compare. Within just three days, the Longevity Ancestor had discerned some of the intricacies of the array on the opposite side.
"What a vicious array," the Longevity Ancestor said, staring intently at the mirror, his eyes filled with disbelief and horror:
"It dispels the Three Flowers and seals the Five Qi; truly vicious."
But even if he could see the foundation of the Nine Bends Yellow River Array, what difference would it make?
Sometimes, even if you discern the root of an array, you still can't dismantle it.
"To break this array, there is a simple method. By splitting the earth, this array covering a mere kilometer can be instantly shattered. But the issue is that this place is the Earth Vein of Qingcheng Mountain, touching the Dragon Vein here. Any slight movement would invite Celestial Punishment, not to mention that Qingcheng Mountain is my divine ground. If I destroy my own domain, wouldn't that equate to severing my cultivation? How would I then surpass the impending tribulation?" The Longevity Ancestor looked at the inside of the array, completely at his wits' end, filled with helplessness in his eyes.
Faced with such a tricky problem, what could he do? He, too, was helpless!
"How did this array appear so mysteriously? When I came before, it seemed that Zou Wenlong triggered the array. Where did that kid get such an array? This is ridiculous! How could he acquire such means?" The Longevity Ancestor's eyes were filled with disbelief. Could Zou Wenlong have obtained such means? Where did he get it from?
He wasn't troubled about being trapped himself, but involving the entire Daoist Temple was worrisome.