parentshiftbook Chapter 1990: Climbing Higher and Higher
Chapter 1990: Climbing Higher and Higher
Chapter 1990 Climbing
After the dazzling starlight shield formed by the Nine Luminaries Protective Spirit Array was completely stabilized and perfectly merged with the aura of the inner Earth Vein Rooting Array to form an incomparably solid inner barrier, Chen Fei did not stop.
He took a deep breath, his eyes gleaming with the light of deduction and calculation, and his hands once again formed a hand seal in front of him.
This time, the runes flowing from Chen Fei's fingertips were different from the heavy earthy yellow that had formed the foundation and the starlight that had protected the spirit; they were a more profound power.
The left fingertips dance with a pure white light, embodying the utmost yang and strength, like the rising sun, containing boundless vitality and creative power. The right fingertips, on the other hand, outline a jet-black light, embodying the utmost yin and gentleness, like the abyss of midnight, filled with ultimate silence and a sense of returning to nothingness.
Yin-Yang Transformation Array!
This formation is another crucial safeguard that Chen Fei conceived for this complex formation.
If the Earth Vein Root Formation lays an indestructible foundation, like the roots of a great tree deeply embedded in the earth, it provides the most basic protection and nourishment for the nine spirit wood array eyes.
The Nine Luminaries Protective Spirit Array then actively constructs multiple, three-dimensional defensive barriers outside this foundation, like putting a tough armor on a tree, enabling it to withstand external wind, frost, rain, and snow, making its foundation more stable.
However, attacks in this world are unpredictable and treacherous.
Especially likely to attack are those powerful demonic cultivators who have forged special Dao foundations and possess bizarre talents and supernatural abilities.
Chen Fei knew that even the strongest defense could be penetrated or bypassed.
If faced with a deadly attack that specifically targets defenses and goes straight to the source, or if the opponent keenly perceives that the spirit wood at the array's core is the weakest link in the entire formation and concentrates its power to launch a pinpoint attack, then even with only the first two layers of defense, it is still possible for them to break through the array's core.
Chen Fei's gaze fell on the nine Celestial Spirit Trees that served as the energy source and core of the entire array. Under the protection of layers of arrays, they were radiating boundless vitality and energy. However, in essence, they were still the most vulnerable living parts in this impregnable fortress.
Therefore, there must be a key safeguard specifically designed to neutralize such penetrating and targeted attacks, and that safeguard is the Yin-Yang Transformation Array.
The essence of this formation lies in the two words "transformation and creation".
It does not simply confront the enemy head-on, but rather utilizes the principle of mutual generation and restraint of Yin and Yang, and the continuous flow of energy. When subjected to extreme attacks, it can use softness to overcome hardness, guide and differentiate the incoming destructive energy, and even use it for its own purposes.
If a terrifying demonic aura, condensed to its extreme and capable of instantly annihilating a spirit tree, were to attack, the Yin-Yang Transformation Array would act like a giant Tai Chi vortex, sucking it into it.
The Yin energy will gradually dissolve and absorb its violent impact, while the Yang energy may partially transform it into energy to nourish the array or guide it elsewhere for release.
As Chen Fei completed his final hand seal, countless black and white intertwined runes merged into the array's light shield like swimming fish. A huge, slowly rotating Taiji phantom appeared faintly in the space surrounding the nine spirit trees before disappearing.
The Yin-Yang Transformation Array is complete!
Chen Fei sensed the changes in the grand formation. The upper limit of the power of the entire composite formation did not increase significantly like the superimposed attack formation, but a fundamental change had occurred.
Around the nine spirit trees that served as the core of the formation, the space seemed to become viscous and profound, enveloped by a sense of perfect harmony and endless circulation.
At this moment, even if they were fifteenth-level ultimate demonic cultivators who had forged the foundation of the Earthly Dao, even if they discovered that the foundation of the great formation lay in these nine spiritual trees, they would have no chance of relying on a simple burst of power or some kind of barrier-breaking divine ability to directly destroy the spiritual trees and thus dismantle the entire great formation in one fell swoop.
Want to break the formation?
The only way is to rely on absolute strength to engage in a direct and protracted battle with the entire Five Elements Formation and the many other formations nested within it!
The only way is to gradually erode the foundation of the great formation through the exchange of energy; there is no other way.
If any demonic cultivators still try to take a shortcut and directly attack the core of the formation, the Yin-Yang Transformation Formation will not only force them to return empty-handed, but will also expose a huge flaw, creating an excellent opportunity for Chen Fei to kill them.
With the Yin-Yang Transformation Array set up, Chen Fei's spiritual burden was far from reaching the upper limit of the late stage of the fifteenth level.
The breakthrough brought about an improvement in the essence of his soul, which was like opening up a wider world for Chen Fei, enough to accommodate more complex rules and control more powerful forces.
However, Chen Fei did not rush to start constructing the next formation immediately. Instead, he temporarily stopped what he was doing, stood in the center of the formation, and fell into a brief period of contemplation.
At this moment, Chen Fei faces two clear and important paths, and he needs to make a choice.
The first path is to arrange the Myriad Flow Array according to the original, well-defined concept.
This formation is not simply about increasing attack or defense; its core essence lies in integration and control.
It is like a supreme commander, able to perfectly integrate the many relatively independent yet interconnected forces in the current grand formation, so that it is no longer just a simple superposition, but rather maximizes the operational efficiency and energy utilization of the entire grand formation.
More importantly, once the Myriad Manifestations Return to Flow Formation is formed, the nine spirit trees at the core of the formation will no longer be relatively independent weaknesses. Their energy will be integrated with the entire formation, and any attack targeting them will be equivalent to attacking the combined force of the entire formation!
At that time, the core of the array will be flawless and truly become an indestructible core!
The second option, however, seems somewhat radical.
Set up a mobile magic array core. This array will not replace the existing large array, but will serve as a base or shell to enclose and support all the current arrays.
Its greatest advantage is obvious: Chen Fei will no longer be confined to this jungle. He can control this powerful war fortress and move actively within the Thousand Lotus Realm.
This means Chen Fei can shift from passive defense to actively seeking opportunities, avoiding potentially overwhelming enemies. He can proactively attack, hunting more demonic cultivators and acquiring more Origin Lotus Seeds and resources.
Mobility occupies a crucial strategic position in any form of confrontation. Being confined to one place is ultimately a poor strategy, as the initiative will be in the hands of the enemy.
This idea was not unfounded. In the final moments of his battle against Qu Yuanzhu and Dou Yanfeng, Chen Fei had used his skills to shift the entire formation a short distance, successfully trapping the two powerful enemies inside and securing victory.
However, that relocation was extremely short, and it was a feature that Chen Fei had pre-installed in the structure of the great formation, which consumed a lot of energy and could not be sustained.
It is completely different from true long-distance continuous movement.
Chen Fei pondered for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the ground beneath his feet once more, sensing the intense fluctuations emanating from the few primordial lotus seeds. Ultimately, Chen Fei made his decision: prioritize setting up the Myriad Manifestations Returning to Flow Array!
The reason is simple: although the breakthrough in realm brings a significant increase in combat power, this composite array is still far from being able to be invincible within the Thousand Lotus Demon Realm.
In situations where one's own strength is not absolutely superior, blindly pursuing mobility may actually lead to greater danger when encountering strong enemies due to certain imperfections in the mobile formation.
Conversely, continuing to refine the existing formation and hone its power to its current limit to create a true absolute defensive fortress is undoubtedly a more prudent choice.
Another key factor is that Chen Fei was unable to conceal the fluctuations of the original lotus seeds.
The unique fluctuations emanating from the primordial lotus seeds accumulated in Chen Fei's hand did not diminish in the slightest despite his change of position. These fluctuations, like a lighthouse at sea, continuously attracted the surrounding demonic cultivators.
Moving to a new place will attract new enemies, and may even attract stronger or more opponents because the movement will be more disruptive.
Therefore, staying put, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out, and using the ever-increasing power of the formation to annihilate them one by one might not be a bad choice.
It is better to remain still than to act rashly. Before one's own defensive and counter-attack capabilities reach a certain critical point, it is wise to observe the situation calmly and accumulate strength for a later burst of attack.
With his mind made up, Chen Fei no longer hesitated and his hands began to move rapidly once again.
The ten fingers formed a hand seal, leaving behind afterimages, and a powerful, all-encompassing aspiration rose from Chen Fei's body.
All things converge, the formation is activated!
With a low shout in Chen Fei's heart, countless profound runes with chaotic colors, seemingly containing the foundation of all the rules in the world, flowed from his fingertips, quickly condensing and intertwining in mid-air.
These runes were not as dazzling as the previous array runes; instead, they appeared restrained and profound. However, the array formed by their interconnections exuded a grand aura.
Chen Fei pointed his finger at the ground below, and countless chaotic runes, like soldiers receiving a command, swooped down and instantly merged into the ground, connecting with the foundation of all the previous formations.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The entire earth trembled slightly. The prototype of the Myriad Things Returning to Flow Array had only just begun to take shape and was not yet fully formed, but its effects were already beginning to appear.
The previously relatively independent arrays seemed to have been connected by a crucial link, and the power of the five elements, the energy of the earth veins, the protection of the stars, the yin and yang energies... all these forces began to flow and merge more efficiently and harmoniously.
Under the pull of this returning force, the power of the entire complex formation began to increase significantly again, just like scattered soldiers being incorporated into a disciplined legion, unleashing even greater combat power.
Chen Fei sensed the changes in the formation, and a satisfied smile finally appeared on his lips. His choice just now was correct.
As the initial form of the Myriad Manifestations Returning to Flow Array became completely stable and began to efficiently control the power of the entire composite array, Chen Fei clearly felt an invisible yet heavy pressure slowly descending upon his soul.
This pressure did not come from the outside, but rather from the close connection between himself and the massive array beneath his feet.
Every nested formation, regardless of whether its core function is offense or defense, consolidation or transformation, or the ultimate return of all things to their source, requires Chen Fei to dedicate his divine soul to perceive, maintain, and control it.
Therefore, when the number, complexity, and total energy contained in the formations rise to a certain level, Chen Fei's soul is required to maintain them.
"That's enough for now." Chen Fei understood and let out a soft breath.
At this moment, the power of this composite array, which is based on the Five Elements Array, with the Illusion Array as its shell, the Earth Vein Rooting Array for its foundation, the Nine Luminaries Protecting Spirit Array for its protection, the Yin-Yang Transformation Array for its dissolving effects, and finally the Myriad Phenomena Returning to Flow Array for its control, has reached a new limit.
If you try to nest new formations, the formation will either become sluggish due to the overwhelming burden on your soul, and its power will decrease instead of increase.
Or, due to a decrease in control, subtle flaws may appear, which may be exploited by stronger individuals.
Trying to do too much at once will only lead to failure; stopping now is the best course of action.
Chen Fei slowly closed his eyes, his mind deeply merging with the entire formation, carefully sensing and assessing the power that the formation could unleash at this moment.
"If we were to encounter another 15th-tier ultimate demonic cultivator like Qu Yuanzhu, who has forged a profound Dao foundation, plus an ordinary 15th-tier ultimate cultivator..."
Chen Fei silently calculated in his mind: "With this formation, we can easily kill them all within the formation, without having to use talismans as a backup plan as before!"
"If we were to encounter a level 15 ultimate demonic cultivator who has forged a foundation in the Earthly Dao, we could only barely fight against them before, but now we would definitely be able to kill such a powerful figure!"
"But... what if we encounter those ultimate powerhouses who have forged the Heavenly Origin Dao Foundation..."
As soon as this thought crossed Chen Fei's mind, his brows furrowed slightly.
Those beings are the strongest in the Thousand Lotus Realm right now.
Since entering this realm, they have already killed countless cultivators of the same level.
With each additional Origin Lotus Seed obtained, the suppression of the soul in this realm will be reduced by one point, and the true combat power that can be exerted will also increase by one point!
Chen Fei could imagine that within the sea of consciousness of such an existence, the shackles of rules had loosened, and the power that could be mobilized was far beyond that of an ordinary fifteenth-order limit.
Faced with such an existence, Chen Fei found himself unable to accurately assess whether the complex array beneath his feet could withstand it!
"The outcome might be decided by a narrow margin?"
Chen Fei shook his head, dispelling the uncertainty: "Before we actually fight, everything is unknown, but we must be prepared for the worst."
Chen Fei suppressed the various thoughts in his mind. While he needed to be wary of the unknown threats, it was more important to seize the moment and make the most of the existing power.
Chen Fei did not immediately begin engraving new talismans, but instead sat cross-legged and flipped his palm over.
"Shh!"
In an instant, talismans radiating various colors of spiritual light and containing different attributes of power surged out from his sleeves and hovered in front of him, like a small, yet terrifyingly powerful nebula.
Chen Fei's gaze swept across the sea of talismans, his eyes calm. The next moment, Chen Fei's hands moved again, his ten fingers dancing like butterflies flitting among flowers, casting out a series of profound talisman control seals.
The effect and power of casting a single talisman are completely different from casting talismans in an array.
The reason Chen Fei didn't do it before wasn't because he didn't understand the key points, but because he couldn't!
Although the great formation at that time had the circulation of the five elements and the stability of the earth veins, its overall structure was relatively simple and had an upper limit to the power it could withstand.
If Chen Fei rashly activates the array by combining a large number of talismans, the resulting array fluctuations could very likely interfere with or even disrupt the stable operation of the array itself.
Surrounded by powerful enemies, any instability in the formation could be a fatal flaw.
Therefore, Chen Fei had previously preferred to use talismans as a dispersed and controllable supplementary means of attack, rather than taking any risks.
But now, the situation is different!
With the Nine Luminaries Protective Spirit Array outside, it acts like an indestructible multi-layered barrier, greatly enhancing the overall stability and impact resistance of the array.
The Yin-Yang Transformation Array is located at the core, specializing in neutralizing penetrating attacks and energy fluctuations, and providing a strong buffer and drainage effect for the array.
The most important element, the Myriad Phenomena Returning to Flow Array, elevates the entire array's capacity, inclusiveness, and energy flow efficiency to a whole new level.
With the current stability and upper limit of this composite array, it is more than enough to allow Chen Fei to maximize the power of these talismans in his hands, without worrying that the burst of the talisman array will affect the operation of the main array.
Chen Fei was completely focused, his mind immersed in the arrangement and combination of the talismans.
Chen Fei is categorizing the talismans according to their attributes, power, and activation characteristics, and building small but well-structured talisman battle formations.
It may be the Seven Stars Killing Formation, which is mainly for extreme piercing.
It may be the Nine Palaces Annihilation Array, which mainly destroys the surrounding area.
Perhaps it is the Yin-Yang Spirit-Slaying Array, mainly used to trap and confuse the enemy... All sorts of mysteries are presented one by one at Chen Fei's fingertips.
"Ok?"
Chen Fei's gaze flickered slightly as he lifted it from the talisman and shot it outwards like lightning.
Through the distortion and isolation of layers of array light screens, Chen Fei's divine sense accurately captured a trace of extremely faint aura, yet it carried obvious demonic energy fluctuations.
In the distance, in the shadows of a forest ravaged by destruction, where only charred tree stumps remained, a blurry figure was cautiously lurking, its aura reaching the late stage of the fifteenth rank.
The demonic cultivator was clearly extremely cautious, not daring to approach rashly, but instead peering at the area shrouded in the enormous array of light from afar, his eyes filled with astonishment, greed, and deep apprehension.
He may have been drawn here by the energy fluctuations from the previous battle, or perhaps he was lured by the rich aura of primordial lotus seeds emanating from Chen Fei.
Chen Fei slightly raised his eyelids, and with his right hand forming a sword-like shape, he gently pressed down on the core of the array beneath his feet.
"Buzz!"
The entire complex array trembled slightly, and at the core of the Myriad Manifestations Returning to Flow Array, an invisible spatial ripple instantly spread out.
In the next instant, Chen Fei's figure vanished without a trace from the core of the array. Almost at the same time, the late-stage fifteenth-level demonic cultivator who was spying from afar felt a blur before his eyes, and a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
"how come!"
The demonic cultivator's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints, and his demonic energy instinctively erupted as he tried to retreat.
However, while he reacted quickly, Chen Fei moved even faster.
Giving the other party no time to think or struggle, Chen Fei simply stood there quietly, without even making any attacking moves. However, the ground beneath his feet suddenly lit up with countless intricate array patterns.
"Boom!"
The world spins and the stars shift!
The surrounding scenery underwent a dramatic transformation in an instant. The scorched forest and the dim sky vanished in an instant, replaced by a colorful array of light walls, towering energy pillars of various colors, and nine enormous, mountain-like trees that exuded a suffocating pressure.
In an instant, Chen Fei used himself as a coordinate to teleport the entire complex array, completely enveloping the demonic cultivator and the surrounding space.
The demonic cultivator's face turned deathly pale in an instant, not only because the formation, which was clearly far away, had been moved here, but also because he sensed the immense power contained within this great formation.
(End of this chapter)