Chapter 1938: Training Arrays in Slaughter

"What a profound array," the old man said, narrowing his eyes slightly as he found himself trapped in a vast world of dimness and chaos. With his level of insight, he could see that this array was truly extraordinary, and a mysterious force was subtly eroding his vital energy. Even his magical power's origin was being suppressed.

"I underestimated you," the old man sneered, "I didn't expect a mere Sheng Wang like you to be a master of arrays. You should know, even I, at the peak of Sheng Wang, couldn't create something like this."

"Have a safe journey," Ye Chen said indifferently, his eyes as calm as an ancient well.

"Do you think an array can trap me?" The old man snorted coldly and suddenly raised his hand, striking a palm toward the eastern void. There was a hidden array node there, and as an array expert himself, he knew the principle of breaking it—just destroy one node to tear open a gap and escape.

A boom erupted, and that patch of void was blasted into a massive hole.

Seeing this, the old man shot into the sky like a streak of lightning, aiming to flee through the gap.

But before he could reach it, the gap healed instantly.

The array remained the same, with its nodes shifting and the formation evolving endlessly.

"Break for me!"

The old man roared furiously, launching palm after palm in rapid succession.

However, every time he tried to escape, the torn gap would seal up in an instant, blocking him repeatedly. After several attempts, not only did he fail to break free, but his vital energy had also weakened considerably.

At that moment, he realized the severity of the problem.

This array was too strange; the longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it was for him. The mysterious force within was constantly wearing away his vital energy. If this continued, he would either be trapped to death or exhausted to death.

With that thought, the old man let out a sharp rebuke in his heart and summoned his life-bound artifact.

It was a silver pagoda, radiating with colorful light, likely stained with the blood of countless beings, as eerie ghosts could be heard wailing from within, their cries sharp enough to disrupt one's mind.

This pagoda had been refined with the blood of living creatures, making it fiercely powerful. Every strand of blood energy flowing from it was as heavy as a mountain, causing the starry sky to rumble and crack inch by inch.

"Break!"

The old man shouted resoundingly, driving the pagoda to crash into one side.

Bang!

Another boom resounded, and the void was smashed open again, only to heal in an instant, even sending the pagoda rebounding back.

The old man refused to give up, controlling his life-bound artifact and bombarding fiercely.

Little did he know the profundity of the Di Dao Fu Xi array—it wasn't an ordinary formation. It possessed a spirit of its own, making brute force useless. To break it, one had to destroy its spirit, but unfortunately, he was unaware of this secret and only charged around wildly. After a barrage of attacks, his momentum plummeted once more.

Outside the array, Ye Chen stood gracefully, his expression indifferent.

The current state of this Sheng Wang old man was so similar to his own past self—mindlessly attacking over and over. With this method, he would never break the array and would be trapped alive.

Of course, Ye Chen wouldn't just wait for the old man to be trapped to death.

He raised his hand again and set up another array.

This time, it was the second array of Di Dao Fu Xi, which he was creating for the first time. Although the setup was slow, he handled it with ease, all thanks to the insights gained from crafting one array over ten years, building an incredibly solid foundation.

Soon, the second array took shape and merged with the first.

One array for trapping, the other for slaughter.

The old man's face changed drastically; he hadn't even broken the first one, and now a killing array had been added, making things even worse.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The array was stained with blood as the old man was repeatedly struck by lightning. His Sheng Wang-level divine body was pierced with bloody holes, and the destructive power of the killing array was something even he dared not face head-on.

"Are you really going to fight to the death?" The old man raged, his roar shaking the starry sky.

Ye Chen didn't respond to his roar; he was focused on quietly comprehending the second array.

This was his first time setting it up, so there were inevitably flaws and vulnerabilities. If not for the first array as a foundation, the old man's cultivation and skills would have allowed him to break it. Therefore, for the Di Dao Fu Xi second array, he needed time to refine it through experience. Since it was a killing array, he would practice it in the midst of slaughter.

Pfft!

As he spoke, the old man suffered another heavy blow, struck by a dark thunderbolt that shattered his chest bones.

His expression was no longer one of disdain but of terror.

He had underestimated Ye Chen and severely misjudged this young Sheng Wang. Just with arrays, he was trapped so tightly that not only could he not escape, but he might also be destroyed within.

What despaired him even more was that Ye Chen was setting up another array.

This time, it was the third array of Di Dao Fu Xi, one specialized in attacking the primordial spirit.

Ye Chen completed it and merged it with the previous two.

Now, the old man was left only to be battered. His divine body was crumbling, his primordial spirit suffering heavy damage, his blood and bones scattered, no longer resembling a human form. There was even a moment when he nearly got instantly killed by the array.

"All you can do is mess with arrays—do you dare fight me head-on?" Driven mad, the old man roared again, his hair disheveled, eyes blood-red as if about to bleed, his face twisted like a fierce ghost.

The person in the shadows wanted to laugh at his words. Without arrays, you'd die even faster.

Do you even know that's a Sheng Ti?

Do you know what Sheng Ti represents? Invincible in the same realm. So what if you're at the peak of Sheng Wang? You're still not a Da Sheng. Three moves could make you cry, and in five rounds, you'd be sent to the underworld.

As for Ye Chen, he was very professional.

The person in the shadows hadn't allowed him to use secret techniques or divine abilities, so he hadn't used any—just arrays.

Ah!

Seeing that his taunts were useless, the old man screamed like a madman.

Boom!

With a thunderous boom, the three arrays trembled together, and a devastating divine light pierced through the old man.

Pfft!

Blood sprayed everywhere as the old man was instantly vaporized, turning to ash.

Even in death, he felt stifled.

A peak Sheng Wang, with one foot already in the Da Sheng realm, had fought a young Sheng Wang and been killed by three arrays. He hadn't even managed to escape, which was truly humiliating.

Of course, he regretted it too.

He had thought himself superior, but he had chosen the wrong target to rob, leading to his complete demise.

Only after the old man was destroyed did Ye Chen dispel the arrays, his eyes flashing with enlightenment. Using the Di Dao Fu Xi against an enemy for the first time was indeed dominant. The second and third arrays had many flaws, yet they could still exterminate a peak Sheng Wang. One could imagine how terrifying it would be if those arrays were flawless.

He couldn't even fathom that if, in the future, he fully mastered the Di Dao Fu Xi arrays and could summon ninety-nine of them with a wave of his hand, it would surely be world-shattering, possibly even capable of slaying Da Sheng-level opponents.

"Barely passed," the person hidden in the shadows chuckled leisurely. "Practice like this from now on."

"Will it be another ten years?" Ye Chen asked.

"Ten years, a hundred years—it all depends on your destiny," the person replied casually. "Once you've completely mastered the ninety-nine arrays of Di Dao Fu Xi, your training in this array will be complete. Focus on your cultivation; I've prepared a surprise for you as a reward for this journey."

"Don't go back on your word," Ye Chen said, then continued deeper.

The closer he got to the central prosperous region of this star domain, the more chaotic it became. Booms, shouts, roars, and wails filled the air, along with surging blood mist. Along his path, he saw countless skeletons left from battles, a clear sign of war's brutality.

In the following days, he spent his time in constant battles.

The people in this star domain were fierce by nature, with robberies and murders commonplace. He encountered many, from quasi-saints to peak Sheng Wang, and their fates were easy to guess—all exterminated by his arrays.

Through this slaughter, his array skills advanced significantly. He had now practiced the formation method up to the ninth array, able to fuse the nine major arrays into one. Anyone trapped by him was buried in the starry sky.

In the blink of an eye, three months passed.

Under the moonlight, he entered an ancient star and stepped into an ancient city.

Even at night, the ancient city was bustling.

Ye Chen found a teahouse, ordered a pot of tea, and didn't remove his bamboo hat. He simply sat quietly drinking, his divine sense scanning the city. Although there were many cultivators here, there were no quasi-emperors—or rather, the quasi-emperors of this city had all been affected by the tribulation wave and entered the world to face it.

"I was hoping to chat with Hua Yang Laodao, but he's gone to face the tribulation too," In the shadows, the person sighed with emotion, as if he had visited this ancient city before and had old friends here.

"Have the forbidden zone people been affected as well?" Ye Chen asked via transmission.

"Over eighty percent of them haven't escaped it, including the Five Heavenly Kings," the person sighed.

"What about Hong Chen and the Six Paths?"

"They were the first to face the tribulation," the person replied. "So, this period is the weakest for the heavens. If the heavenly demons invaded now, it would be hard to find anyone to fight their emperor. And as proven, the bloodline limits emerging on the same day is indeed an ominous sign."

Ye Chen furrowed his brows slightly. With over eighty percent of the peak quasi-emperors facing tribulations, if the heavenly demons really invaded, who would stand against their great emperor? If the heavenly demon emperor gained time and summoned other great emperors from the demon realm, it would be catastrophic. Before he could even reach Ming Di Huang, the heavens might be trampled flat.

"Just as I thought!" While Ye Chen was pondering, the person in the shadows suddenly started ranting in the void space, "Hong Jun, you despicable one—I knew it would be like this."

"Hong Jun?" Ye Chen abruptly looked up, staring through the void at the person. "Daozu Hong Jun?"

"That's the despicable one, hiding in the heavenly realm and still scheming against me," the person grew more animated as he cursed.

"Is Daozu Hong Jun still alive?" Ye Chen suddenly stood up, startling the tea-selling old man.

"If Ming Di can live, why can't he?" The person extended a gentle force from the void space and pressed Ye Chen back into his seat, saying leisurely, "If not for you telling me back then that there was a great emperor in the underworld, I wouldn't have known Hong Jun was still alive and hiding in the heavenly realm."

Ye Chen's heart raced as he listened. The ancestor of human cultivation was still in the world.

This was an eternal secret, absolutely an eternal secret.

If this were spread, it would cause an uproar. Add to that the Ming Di and Di Huang, and the entire heavens would explode. Who would have thought there were three supreme beings still alive?

Subconsciously, Ye Chen looked up at the void, his expression full of reverence, as if he could see through the myriad heavens to that eternal, legendary Daozu. He was a myth, still celebrated to this day.

Unfortunately, he couldn't enter the heavenly realm and witness it with his own eyes.

After a long while, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the person. "What is the relationship between the Tian Zun ruins and Daozu?"