Chapter 83: Array Mastery IV

Chapter 83: Array Mastery IV

He channeled a needle of Void Qi and warped the space directly between the Redirection Rune and the Resonance cluster.

The pathway bent at a sharp, unnatural angle.

The incoming stream curved around the intake, shooting off into the void.

CRACK!

The second spiritual anchor shattered like brittle glass!

Lothe’s knees hit the stone. "Two..."

His breath came in ragged, wheezing gasps. His soul felt hollow, like an empty vessel scraped down to its barest core. He had barely enough energy left to keep his eyes open.

Yet the final, most dangerous anchor remained: the Spiritual Foundation.

Lothe looked at it, his heart sinking slightly.

Unlike the previous two filaments, this connection was colossal—a massive pillar of dark energy driven straight into the bedrock of his spiritual foundation.

Attempting to snap it or bend its path would tear his foundation to pieces along with it.

"I can’t cut this one directly..."

He swept his [Qi Sight] across the surrounding runes, following the immense energy conduit backward.

The third anchor wasn’t drawing power from the main circulation at all. It was sustained by an enormous, deep-seated glyph buried beneath the lower strata of the floor: the Soul Anchor Rune.

Its sole purpose was singular: create a permanent, irreversible spiritual lock.

"You’re the master lock," Lothe muttered, realization dawning upon him.

The Soul Anchor Rune wasn’t maintaining the curse—it was preventing the curse from ever being extracted!

Which meant...

If I change the spatial coordinates of the anchor itself, it won’t be attached to my foundation anymore!

Lothe’s breath hitched at the sheer madness of the idea.

He didn’t need to break the lock. He just needed to move the doorframe!

Gathering every last drop of Void Qi remaining in his meridians, Lothe slammed both palms flat against the stone floor!

VRMMMMMM!!

The fabric of space around the buried Soul Anchor Rune began to warp and ripple like liquid!

The ancient rune resisted furiously, triggering the full fury of the Feedback network.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!

Agony tore through Lothe’s mind, threatening to extinguish his consciousness forever.

"ARGHHHHHHHH!!"

Blood poured from his mouth, dripping onto the glowing floor. But his hands remained glued to the stone.

"MOVE...!" Lothe screamed through bloody teeth.

The spatial distortion expanded. Millimeter by millimeter, the spatial coordinate of the Soul Anchor was dragged through the void.

The spiritual connection stretched like a taut wire—until it exceeded its maximum tolerance!

CRAAAAACK!!

The third anchor snapped clean off!

Silence.

The central Curse Rune stopped pulsing, its dark light dimming into total stillness.

Lothe collapsed forward, his chest heaving violently against the floor as sweat and blood pooled beneath him.

PING!

[CRITICAL ALERT!]

• Three Spiritual Anchors Disconnected!

• Core Curse Connection Severed!

Lothe slowly forced his head up, a faint, bloodstained smirk breaking across his pale lips.

Yet, looking at the floor, his smile vanished.

"It’s not over..."

The curse had been disconnected from his body, but the formation itself was still active. Thousands of outer runes were still furiously circulating accumulated energy.

Lothe spotted the fatal flaw in seconds: the Cycle Rune.

As long as the Cycle Rune continued spinning, it would continuously circulate the stored energy until it eventually rebuilt the three anchors and re-engaged the curse!

Lothe studied the circuit. The Cycle Rune was tethered directly to the Compression Rune:

Energy entered and Compressed and Circulated and Returned.

A closed, perpetual loop.

"If I break the loop, the stored energy will disperse," Lothe thought.

Then he paused, a far more ruthless idea surfacing in his mind.

"No... what happens if I reverse it?"

With the absolute last dregs of his Void Qi, Lothe flicked a microscopic spatial distortion between the Cycle Rune and the Compression Rune, inverting the intake movement!

The flow instantly reversed!

Instead of routing energy outward toward the central rune, the circuit began pumping the energy directly back into the Compression Rune!

The Compression Rune compressed it. The Cycle Rune circulated it back.

It fed into itself.

Again. And again. And again!

Lothe’s eyes widened. "It’s working..."

The formation had become an over-pressurized pressure cooker with no release valve!

The density spiked exponentially.

Double.

Quadruple.

Tenfold!

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The entire chamber violently shook! Deep cracks spiderwebbed across the glowing stone floor!

Lothe curled his body, shielding his consciousness with the faint remnants of his soul energy. "Come on... blow yourself apart!"

CRAAAAACK!!

The first rune shattered into glowing dust.

Then a second. Then a hundred!

The outer containment layer blew first: the Isolation Rune exploded, followed by the Soul-Sealing Rune, its fragments vaporizing in bursts of violet light!

Then the processing network collapsed in a chain reaction: Convergence... Compression... Refinement... Stabilization...

Finally—

The central Soul-Binding Devouring Curse Rune cracked down the middle.

CRAAAAAAAAACK!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

A blinding supernova of pure spiritual energy erupted across the hall, washing over the walls in a tidal wave of light!

The entire Runic Array disintegrated into nothingness.

The crushing gravity vanished. The soul-rending agony disappeared.

Complete, absolute silence descended over the black palace.

Lothe remained on his knees, his robes drenched in sweat, blood painting his chin. His consciousness was paper-thin, but he was alive.

PING!

[FORMATION CONQUERED!]

[Ancient Formation Deciphered & Deconstructed!]

[Formation Identity: [Soul-Binding Devouring Formation]

• Grade: Unknown (Primordial Demon Rank)

• Type: Soul-Type Curse Formation

[RUNIC GRIMOIRE UPDATED!]

[Complete Architecture Recorded!]

[18/18 Unique Primordial Runes Catalogued!]

Before Lothe could catch his breath, a cascade of golden prompts flooded his vision!

PING!

[TRIAL OF ARRAY MASTERY: COMPLETED!]

[Evaluation: EXCEPTIONAL (MAX GRADE)]

[Completion Method: Flawless Structural Inversion & Spatial Deconstruction]

[Reward Bestowed: [Advanced Array Analysis (Passive)]

[Array/Talisman Mastery Path: Level Up!]

PING!

[HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: ANCIENT FORMATION BREAKER]

[Requirement: Dismantle an ancient primordial soul formation through structural manipulation without external aid.]

[Reward: +500 Soul Energy Capacity!]

[Instant Soul Foundation Reconstruction Applied!]

Lothe’s eyes widened.

VRMMMM!

A wave of profound, soothing warmth flooded through his consciousness. The microscopic cracks across his soul sealed in seconds, his depleted spiritual foundation rapidly inflating as his Soul Energy skyrocketed past its previous maximum capacity!

The crushing exhaustion washed away, replaced by unprecedented mental clarity and spiritual power.

Lothe slowly stood to his feet, exhaling a long breath of pure relief.

"Finally..."

He looked at the empty, shattered floor where the lethal formation had once stood. He hadn’t overcome it with brute force or absurd cultivation levels.

He had read its language, found its logic, and used space to let it destroy itself.

A proud, confident smirk returned to his lips.

"An ancient formation this terrifying..." Lothe murmured, dusting off his purple robes. "...and its creator still forgot that every system has a failure point."

As the final motes of purple light dissolved into the floor, the heavy obsidian doors at the far end of the black palace slowly rumbled open, revealing a glowing pedestal waiting in the depths...​