Chapter 266: South Radiance

Chapter 266 -256: South Radiance

“What did you suddenly realize, Senior Brother?” Xu Baoling was full of confusion.

She watched as Chen Qingyang waved a hand and returned to his cattail mat, settling down.

In an instant, his consciousness traveled a hundred miles away to the Sumeru Secret Realm on Xu Ling Mountain, entering the body of his Conscious Fish.

‘He’d figured it out. It was a circle.’

‘Or to be more precise, it was a sphere.’

‘The golden light was at the very center of the sphere. I was just running along its surface. Since the whole place is filled with a thick fog, my vision isn’t particularly clear, and the world itself is so vast, I thought I was on flat ground.’

‘I’m like a mouse in a cage. No matter how much I run forward, I can’t escape. Of course the wisp of golden light at the center would always remain above me.’

Having figured this out, the Conscious Fish stopped within the vast white fog. It then began to slowly probe downward into the mist below. ‘If I just head straight down from here, I should be able to reach the golden light at the sphere’s core.’

Realizing that was the very center of this world, Chen Qingyang proceeded with extreme caution. ‘Even if Xu Lingfeng has no Golden Core True Monarch, there are bound to be other Masters guarding the place. It’ll be a huge problem if I run into trouble here.’

The farther down he went, the stronger the Spiritual Qi and Slaughter Qi became. At first, the increase was slight, but it soon began to multiply.

This made Chen Qingyang all the more certain he was heading in the right direction.

It is said that all things in heaven and earth, all the world’s phenomena, are substantial—they are tangible. Thus, it is easy to grasp their patterns and perceive their boundaries.

But here in this Sumeru Illusion Realm, things are illusory, not substantial. Their forms are not fixed and are endlessly changing. Therefore, one cannot approach them with conventional logic.

This helped Chen Qingyang understand why it sometimes appeared as a mirror image and other times manifested as a sphere. ‘Perhaps I’ll encounter even more complex situations in other Sumeru Illusion Realms. I absolutely can’t judge anything by conventional standards.’

He was once again certain that Senior Brother Lu had been right not to tell him how to explore, but to only pass on the Array True Understanding.

As he continued downward, the Spiritual Qi and Slaughter Qi grew even denser. He could even see strands of Five Elements Qi drifting by, something that rarely appeared unless the Spiritual Qi reached a certain level of concentration.

Chen Qingyang immediately had a thought. ‘If I were to circle this layer, I might even be able to find some Five Elements Essence.’

Qing Yao True Monarch once said that the Five Elements Cave Mansion within Cyan Bamboo Peak’s illusion realm was originally illusory; it had only solidified into a real place through the power of an array.

‘Applying that logic here, one could take this entire layer of space filled with Five Elements Qi, spread it out flat, and then compress it to create the semblance of a Cave Mansion.’

With this flash of insight, Chen Qingyang’s understanding deepened, and he continued his descent.

On the next layer down, the Spiritual Qi was even more concentrated, and Five Elements Qi was visible everywhere. However, there was now an additional layer of fine, web-like starlight.

The strands of starlight sometimes converged, sometimes intersected, and sometimes split into countless threads that stretched into the far distance.

This was part of the Circulation of Stars Demon Suppression Array, and it was active. The Conscious Fish pressed close, sensing it carefully. After a long while, a realization dawned in Chen Qingyang’s mind.

‘These threads of Qi Mechanism all extend outside the Sumeru Illusion Realm, connect to the physical Array Building in the outside world, and communicate with the celestial bodies of the Circulation of Stars.’

‘At the Tai Xu Elemental Separation Conference, Qing Yao True Monarch used a technique to activate the entire Grand Array of Cyan Bamboo Peak, drawing down Earth Deities from the cosmos and bestowing them upon the assembled Masters.’

‘At the time, my judgment was that the True Monarch was using the entire Sumeru Illusion Realm as the Array Profound. The part I’m facing now must be Xu Lingfeng’s Array Profound. It’s just been rolled up into a sphere.’

‘It’s rooted here, in the place with the most abundant Spiritual Qi. By using the Spiritual Qi in this realm, it can draw down Earth Deities once activated.’

‘I wonder if I’m skilled enough to snag an Earth Deity for myself!’

This layer of space was extremely thick. It took him a considerable amount of time and the use of the Array True Understanding Method to finally penetrate it.

Chen Qingyang saw that he was getting closer and closer to the golden light, but just then, another barrier blocked his path.

It was silver-white and radiated starlight, as solid as if it were a tangible object. Like a layer of crystal, it separated the inside from the outside.

Faintly, through this crystal layer, he could see a tall, black tower. The tower was emitting a layer of golden light—the very same light he had seen from the beginning.

He maneuvered the Conscious Fish, circling the crystal layer. Its structure was dense and seamless, with no visible entrance. ‘It seems the only way forward is to break through it directly.’

The starlight on the barrier was the Qi Mechanism of the Circulation of Stars Demon Suppression Array. Chen Qingyang used the same method as before, having the Conscious Fish approach it. But the barrier was incredibly hard; he failed to break through.

He had no choice but to stop before it and sense it carefully.

Although it felt solid, it was ultimately composed of currents of qi. Using the Array True Understanding, he could still sense the subtle flow within it.

‘To break through, I have to find the direction of this flow and then slowly seep into it. Even with the Array True Understanding to help me, this is bound to consume a great deal of energy.’

‘I wonder if such a tight defense was set up to keep something inside from getting out, or to keep people outside from getting in.’

At a critical moment like this, he couldn’t afford any mistakes. In the small courtyard, Chen Qingyang sat perfectly still, his entire mind immersed in the events a hundred miles away. Xu Baoling was astute enough to understand, and simply waited quietly by his side.

It was only thanks to his powerful Divine Soul that he was able to search for a breakthrough amidst these tightly woven threads of Qi Mechanism.

Unaware of the changing world outside, oblivious to the passing of the sun and moon, he remained completely immersed. Just as he felt his spiritual energy run dry, like an oil lamp about to be extinguished, the Conscious Fish found its breakthrough in the barrier.