Chapter 221: Chapter 220: Heavenly Wolf Howling at the Moon (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1
Swoosh!
A ship of cultivation-robbers roared into Dragon Fish Island, only to realize something was amiss immediately.
Crack!
In front of them, the Evergreen Pavilion and other scenery scattered like mirages over water, revealing patches of pitch-black fog.
The endless fog obscured the sky and sun, resembling a demonic realm that swallowed all the cultivators whole!
"Damn, it’s a trap, retreat quickly!"
Gan Xinzi’s face underwent a drastic change as he bellowed.
The enormous spirit boat tried to turn around, but Li Lei and Li Kong were horrified to discover that the silver passage, which had been opened by their second-order Prohibition-breaking Talisman, had mysteriously vanished.
In its place was a massive wall of black fog!
"Impossible... My second-order Prohibition-breaking Talisman..." Li Lei’s eyes widened in shock, as if he had received a powerful blow.
"Is this... shifting the void?"
Gan Xinzi’s eyes shone with a blue light: "No... it can’t be possible!"
"We must have fallen into an Array Master’s ’set-up array’; inside the external second-order Great Array is another illusionary array... Damn, this Lord Master of Dragon Fish Island has hidden his abilities too well!"
He would rather believe that the Lord Master of Dragon Fish Island was an exceptionally skilled Array Master who chose to keep a low profile rather than believe that this insignificant island could set up a third-order array!
Shifting the void is all an illusion of his own making!
However, the very next moment, Gan Xinzi found himself enveloped by a multicolored prohibition that wrapped around him entirely.
When he reappeared, he was in a completely different place.
The Li brothers, as well as all the Qi Refining subordinates, had all vanished without a trace!
The blood-red ground, the pitch-black sky...
Never have red and black merged so harmoniously, and without a doubt, the commander of it all was the giant Demonic Tree sitting at the center of the space.
The dark trunk of the tree was etched with blood-red lines, and from its vast canopy, numerous Qi Roots hung down, with corpses dangling at their ends!
Monsters and humans alike...
"Truth be told, I wanted to control the array and annihilate you directly,"
Fang Xi stood under the Demonic Tree, looking down at Gan Xinzi, who was at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, with an indifferent expression: "But I’ve been in a bad mood these past few days, and since you’ve come knocking, it seems like a good opportunity to stretch my muscles..."
"Lord Master Dragon Fish Island’s Fang Xi!"
Gan Xinzi cried out apprehensively, "You’re actually an Array Master?!"
What cultivator doesn’t know that it’s hardest to get started as an Array Master, and even harder to master the craft?
This Lord Master of Dragon Fish Island really has hidden his abilities well!
"You guessed right, but unfortunately, it’s of no use!"
Blue light shone brightly all around Fang Xi, with his magic power climbing steadily. The pressure of someone at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment suddenly spread outward in all directions.
"You’ve advanced to mid-stage Foundation Establishment?"
Gan Xinzi deeply regretted his past choices, thinking how much better it would’ve been just to have left after robbing the Dark Moon Market at Thousand Island Lake. Why did he have to make another score?!
But it was too late for regrets now.
Upon seeing Fang Xi take out the Gold Dragon Scissors Spiritual Instrument, Gan Xinzi hastily slapped his Storage Bag, from which six black tokens flew out to protect him.
Clang!
Even though the Gold Dragon Scissors were only a low-grade Spiritual Instrument, they exuded a brilliant light once filled with Fang Xi’s magic power, drawing out two beams of golden light, several tens of feet long, with extremely sharp edges aiming to cut Gan Xinzi down!
Crack!
Crack!
The two beams of golden light struck the Black Iron Shield tokens, producing a teeth-grating sound, but only left shallow marks on them.
Upon seeing this, Gan Xinzi couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
His ’Six-Play Token’ was a mid-grade defensive Spiritual Instrument, and as a set of six, it was considered among the best!
’It seems... this man is indeed an Array Master and has also concealed his cultivation level... The priority now is to catch him off guard and capture him!’
Gan Xinzi’s eyes flashed with blue light, as if he could foresee the Gold Dragon Scissors’ subsequent attacks, and skillfully used the Six-Play Token to block them with ease.
Furthermore, he took out a green-colored lamp holder from his Storage Bag and ignited it with spiritual power.
As the flame burned, a translucent soul emerged above the wick, growing larger... transforming into a Monster Soul with the head of a tiger and the body of an eagle.
This Bronze Ancient Lamp was also an Exotic Treasure, capable of controlling the souls of monster beasts!
Gauging from this alien beast’s aura, it had definitely reached the second-order level!
Roar!
The tiger-headed Monster Bird let out a roar, and blue Wind Blades formed, shooting towards Fang Xi.
Clang clang clang!
The numerous Wind Blades hit the Purple Yunzhu Bracelet, leaving not a single scratch.
"This bracelet... looks rather familiar!"
Gan Xinzi was about to further identify it when his expression subtly changed; it felt as though an invisible needle had pierced his forehead, causing an unbearable headache.
As the Six-Play Token was violently cut by the Gold Dragon Scissors and lost control from its master’s Divine Consciousness, they suddenly became somewhat disordered.
Then, within the void, a blade of light emerged.
"Agh!"
Gan Xinzi screamed in agony, quickly retreating, as his chest was now bearing a wound that kept on bleeding.
He looked at the spot he had vacated to see something transparent squirming in the void, then revealing a green hue. It was unmistakably an insect-like demon with the appearance of a praying mantis; its blades were still smeared with traces of blood.
’No signs of life; it’s a second-order Puppet!’
Gan Xinzi’s eyes bulged: ’This person is also a second-order Puppet Master? How is that even possible?’
For a cultivator to be proficient in both alchemy and talisman making was already quite impressive.
And yet, he also knew how to lay arrays and manipulate puppets...
He was nothing short of... a monster!
Fang Xi, however, didn’t bother paying attention to this man’s clamor. The reason he kept him alive was because he was intrigued by his mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation level, wanting to test his own methods one by one.
After all, now that he’d fallen into the ’Nine Nether Profound Wood Array’, where could he possibly run?
Crack!
He squeezed his own fist, a sound like popping beans erupting from his joints, "Consider yourself unlucky. I’m in a very bad mood today... and in need of a punching bag."
Boom!
Before his words had faded, a giant of over nine zhang tall, with dark red skin, was already standing behind Fang Xi.
With his strike, the giant mimicked his exact movement.
A massive palm, as if covering the sky, descended upon the top of Gan Xinzi’s head.
Witnessing this scene, despair filled Gan Xinzi’s eyes...
...
"What’s going on? Where’s the boss?"
Aboard the spirit boat, Li Kong and Li Lei looked at each other, baffled.
"I find this array a bit sinister... how about... we leave first?" Li Lei’s voice trembled.
The ability to teleport someone out of thin air, isn’t this array too similar to the third-order forbidden Great Array’s Void Transportation mentioned in rumors?
Could it be that they hadn’t been trapped by an illusion but were actually caught within a third-order array?
Yet, how could that be possible?
Two Foundation Establishment cultivators, leading a group of restless Qi Refining late-stage practitioners, were flying the spirit boat endlessly in a specific direction through the pitch-black space.
No matter how they felt... that they could fly out the equivalent of ten Dragon Fish Islands, the darkness ahead seemed to have no end.
An indescribable fear, like the sharp claws of demon beasts, fiercely gripped the hearts of every cultivator.
...
Thump! Thump!
Thump! Thump!
Huge tremors echoed continuously within the Flesh and Blood Space.
Fang Xi withdrew his fist, looking at the blood and flesh that coated it and nonchalantly wiped it off.
Within the huge crater on the ground, all that was left was a mangled corpse.
Even though Gan Xinzi had advanced to mid-stage Foundation Establishment and undergone muscle and marrow cleansing, his body was still too weak compared to a Martial God.
"Finally got to vent some frustration," he muttered, picking up Gan Xinzi’s Storage Bag and casually checking it, "Hmm? Quite a lot of stuff here... And there’s a lot of Heavenly Silkworm Silk; could it be that the ones who robbed the Dark Moon Market were these guys?"
"Such a waste, too much of a waste... Turned into minced meat, now there’s no way to make a human puppet," he lamented.
After some thought and keeping to the principle of not wasting resources, Fang Xi used the array to transport Gan Xinzi’s remains beneath the Monster Tree, transforming it into spiritual fertilizer for the roots.
The blood and flesh turned fertilizer, from a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, made even the Monster Tree ecstatic, having never enjoyed such a delicacy before.
"Next up, it’s their turn, I suppose?" Fang Xi contemplated and with a wave of his hand, wooden puppets began to drop from the Monster Tree.
...
"Sirs, I greet you..."
Li Lei and Li Kong were fleeing for their lives with their group when they suddenly saw a light appear ahead of them.
Fang Xi stood in the air, looking indifferently at a boat full of cultivation-robbers.
"Where is our boss?" Li Kong asked, bracing himself.
"Dead..." Fang Xi answered nonchalantly.
"What? The boss is actually dead?"
The Qi Refining cultivators erupted into chaos, while Li Lei, with a hoarse voice, said, "Sir, we admit defeat... May I know what it would take for you to let us go?"
He could see very clearly that if the other party could so effortlessly capture and kill their boss Gan Xinzi, it was akin to a Core Formation ancestor playing with them.
But when under someone else’s roof, one has to bow their head.
"Letting you go is not impossible..." Fang Xi smirked, "As long as you cooperate with me and complete a task, you can go."
Li Lei and Li Kong exchanged a glance, on guard, "May I ask what task?"
"Test the power of this array for me!"
Fang Xi waved his hand, and second-order Beast puppets began to appear around them.
Five heads, ten heads, fifteen heads...
The expressions on Li Lei and Li Kong gradually became numb, almost believing they had been hit by some illusion.
In the next moment, Fang Xi’s fingers began to move as if plucking the strings of a qin, starting to manipulate the puppets.
Crack!
A tiger-shaped puppet opened its massive maw, spitting out an Array Flag!
Crack!
Crack!
The other puppets followed suit, powerful demonic energy poured into the Array Flags, causing these small banners to suddenly swell in size, turning into a zhang tall, streams of light flickering on them, and the bodies of the flags were painted with vivid wolf heads...
Array patterns flickered, lighting up in succession, forming prohibitions.
One by one, the prohibitions merged together, eventually creating a somewhat illusory silver-furred Sky Wolf Phantom...
An incredibly terrifying aura immediately overflowed in the space.
"Monster King?!"
Li Kong’s throat made rasping sounds, as if he were on death’s door, letting out a cry of despair.
"Sky Wolf Howling Moon Array! Activate!"
Fang Xi pointed towards the Spirit Boat, and the huge Sky Wolf immediately raised its massive paw and gently swatted at the spirit boat!
Boom!!!
Countless blue-colored winds turned into tornados, carrying terrifying magic power fluctuations that could alarm even Foundation Establishment cultivators, enveloping all the despairing cultivators aboard the spirit boat within!