Chapter 82: Array Mastery Trial III

Chapter 82: Array Mastery Trial III

Lothe’s hand remained raised, bathed in flickering violet light.

Purple Void Qi gathered around his fingertips as he locked his gaze onto the three spiritual anchors embedded within the central Curse Rune.

His Soul Energy was rapidly diminishing. He could feel it with absolute clarity—every second spent inside this formation, another portion of his soul was consumed and refined into fuel for his own execution.

He had no time left.

Yet he could not afford to rush blindly. A single misstep could trigger the hidden Feedback Rune and instantly tear apart what remained of his battered spiritual foundation.

Lothe took a slow, deliberate breath.

First... understand the connections.

He pushed [Qi Sight] to its absolute limit once more.

The enormous formation unfolded before his perception in crisp, crystalline detail. Thousands of runes. Countless intersecting energy pathways. Every single one tied to another in an intricate, lethal web.

Now, Lothe knew exactly what he was searching for.

The three anchors.

The first anchor was attached to his Soul Energy. The second was bound to his consciousness. The third was driven deep into his spiritual foundation.

All three were ultimately tethered to the central Curse Rune.

However, they were not connected directly.

Between the Curse Rune and the three anchors sat an intermediary node—a pale-purple circular symbol flanked by four orbiting nodes.

Lothe’s eyes narrowed. "The Soul Resonance Rune..."

He had identified its general presence earlier, but now its precise function became clear. If he wanted to sever the three anchors safely without detonating his soul, this rune was the linchpin.

Lothe carefully traced the energy flowing through it. One refined stream entered the glyph, where it was instantly split into three synchronized currents:

The first stream traveled toward his Soul Energy.

The second surged into his consciousness.

The third plunged into his spiritual foundation.

Lothe’s expression shifted. "So that’s how it synchronizes all three..."

The rune wasn’t merely a junction box. It was matching their spiritual frequencies. As long as those frequencies remained aligned, the three anchors behaved as a single, unbreakable spiritual circuit.

Break the resonance... and the connection will shatter.

However, destroying the rune directly through force was suicide.

Lothe glanced toward the hovering Feedback Rune nearby. It was already pulsing with malevolent light, waiting for the slightest sign of violent resistance.

"If I destroy the resonance point with brute force, the formation will interpret it as an attack and detonate the backlash," Lothe analyzed coldly.

His eyes narrowed into sharp slits.

"Then I won’t destroy it. I’ll change it."

A strange, feral excitement sparked in his exhausted eyes.

Lothe cautiously extended a microscopic thread of Soul Energy toward the glyph.

The moment his energy grazed the Soul Resonance Rune—

BOOM!

Agony detonated across his mind!

"ARGHH!"

His consciousness buckled, and his Soul Energy took another sharp plunge.

Lothe severed the thread instantly, clenching his fists as blood seeped from his teeth.

"Too much," he breathed. "My soul can’t survive another direct touch."

He needed another method.

His spiritual vision drifted toward the empty space between two major energy conduits—a hairline gap, so narrow it was practically imperceptible.

Lothe stared at the void between the lines.

Slowly, his eyes widened.

Space...

The teachings of the Old Man in the ancient tomb surfaced in his mind like a flash of lightning.

A spatial anchor isn’t just a teleportation coordinate. Space can be folded. Two separate points can be brought together. Distance can be altered...

And most importantly—an energy pathway doesn’t have to stay where it appears to be!

Lothe’s lips parted in a faint, dangerous smirk.

"I don’t need to touch the rune at all."

He extended his right index finger. A thread of pure Void Qi emerged from his skin. This time, he didn’t aim at the glyphs. He aimed directly into the microscopic space between the two pathways!

CLICK.

The Void Qi twisted. The fabric of space warped by an infinitesimal fraction of a millimeter.

Visually, nothing in the room changed. But on a spatial level, one critical energy pathway shifted—just by the width of a single strand of hair.

The ancient Array continued its automated cycle. Its refined energy surged along the conduit, heading straight for the Soul Resonance Rune.

Except—

It missed.

The energy stream bypassed the intake node entirely, surging harmlessly into empty air!

Lothe’s eyes flashed. "Got you."

FLICKER!

Deprived of its primary input, the Soul Resonance Rune suddenly sputtered! The three spiritual anchors instantly fell out of frequency synchronization!

The central Curse Rune shuddered violently.

CRACK!

A visible fracture ripped across the first spiritual connection!

"One anchor down!" Lothe’s heart pounded.

SNAP!

The first connection severed completely!

BOOOOOOM!!

The entire chamber violently convulsed. The Feedback Rune flared crimson, recognizing the disruption, and unleashed a massive wave of destructive backlash straight toward Lothe’s consciousness!

"Not this time!" Lothe roared.

He twisted his wrist, Void Qi erupting from his palm. He folded the space three inches in front of his forehead!

SWISH!

The incoming spiritual backlash was spatially displaced, veering off course and slamming violently into the empty stone floor behind him!

BOOM!

The floor cracked, and the shockwave sent Lothe staggering. A thin trail of blood trickled from his nose as his Soul Energy dropped further into the red zone.

"Two more," Lothe whispered, refusing to lose focus for even a second.

He immediately locked onto the second anchor—the one tethered to his Consciousness.

Unlike the first, this pathway wasn’t straight. It wound through three complex sub-runes: Redirection, Suppression, and Feedback.

"They deliberately buried the line behind secondary defenses," Lothe observed, his gaze turning icy.

The ancient array’s creator had anticipated someone trying to cut the lines. But to Lothe, extra nodes simply meant more coordinates to manipulate.

He traced the conduit backward to the Redirection Rune.

If he bent the trajectory before it ever entered the defensive cluster... the resonance would collapse again.

Lothe raised his trembling hand, his vision flickering with dark static. He was running on pure adrenaline and spiritual fumes.

"One shot." ​