Chapter 332: Chapter 134: Ghost Moon Returns, the Grand Array Activates, the Resentful Spirit Is Born, and Disaster Looms
As the Primordial Qi Engraving Knife arduously but steadily carved open new meridians, the Qi Sea within his Dantian trembled, its expanse seeming to grow a fraction larger.
He was quite satisfied with the speed at which he had broken through from the First Heaven to the Second Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm.
Although the power boost from his Realm advancement wasn’t world-altering, the key was that his own combat prowess already far surpassed others at the same level.
When he was at the First Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm, he was already capable of fighting above his level and killing an expert at the Third Heaven of the Divine Power Realm.
After this breakthrough, the secret techniques he relied on as his trump cards to fight above his level—such as the ultimate Cold Qi contained within his "Extreme Night Cold Prison Hand" and the even more bizarre and sinister Yellow Springs Death Qi—had all seen a significant boost in power!
’If I run into someone at the Third Heaven of the Divine Power Realm now, perhaps... I could finish them in three palm strikes?’
As Chu Fan made this mental calculation, a faint smile touched his lips.
Just as he was about to press on and open a few more meridians, he felt a stir and sensed a familiar, cold aura rapidly approaching.
"HISSS—"
The Cyan Snake’s form slithered in through the crack under the door, swiftly gliding before Chu Fan.
A plume of smoke arose, and she transformed into her human form, hastily relaying the information she and Lu Tao had obtained.
"Oh?" A sharp glint flashed in Chu Fan’s eyes as he shot to his feet. "Well done!"
Without hesitation, he immediately ceased his cultivation, and with a flash, he was out of the room.
The Cyan Snake nimbly transformed back into a small serpent and burrowed into his sleeve.
Wasting no time, Chu Fan followed the Cyan Snake’s directions and sped toward the first node.
The first node was not far from the ruins in North City where he had previously annihilated a group of Moon Worship Cultists.
Relying on the Cyan Snake’s powerful senses, he quickly locked onto his targets...
Inside two seemingly ordinary nearby residences, an aura of the Spirit Awakening Realm was hidden in each.
To ensure there were no mistakes and that no one could escape to sound an alarm, Chu Fan and the Cyan Snake split up with practiced coordination, each taking one target.
With his current strength—at the Second Heaven of the Spirit Awakening Realm yet able to crush those in the Divine Power Realm—dealing with ordinary Spirit Awakening Realm guards was as easy as taking something from his pocket.
With almost no effort, he and the Cyan Snake each subdued their targets.
Under interrogation, a flicker of delight flashed through Chu Fan’s eyes...
Although these two guards were low-ranking, they unexpectedly knew the location of an adjacent node—perhaps so they could support each other in an emergency!
And this node was not one of the other three Chu Fan already knew about.
’It seems the Moon Worship Sect was also afraid that if one spot had a problem, they wouldn’t have time to react.’
Chu Fan sneered, killed the two without hesitation, and then located the Array Flag, destroying it in one fell swoop.
"Let’s go. To the next location!"
Following the newly acquired directions, Chu Fan and the Cyan Snake rushed to the next node without stopping.
They subdued the guards with the same lightning-fast methods, and this time, the reward was even greater...
Perhaps because this node was more critical, the guard actually knew the locations of two other nodes!
"Excellent! It’s like they’re a string of grasshoppers, one leading right to the next!"
Chu Fan’s spirits soared. His mood, which had been somewhat heavy due to the large number of nodes, was now considerably lighter.
He and the Cyan Snake worked in perfect sync, like two phantoms in the dead of night, using the information tortured out of the newly captured guards to crisscross Cyan Yang Ancient City.
The pair moved swiftly and stealthily. At each location, they used their absolute power to crush the guards and destroy the Array Flag, giving the enemy no chance to send a warning.
Chu Fan and the Cyan Snake barely paused to rest.
Using the first two nodes as a starting point and following the trail of clues, they managed to uproot a total of fifteen nodes of the Nine Nether Spirit Locking Array!
However, it seemed their good luck had run out.
As Chu Fan stood in the earthen hut of the fifteenth destroyed node, interrogating the captured guard for more information, the Moon Worship Cultist could only shake his head in terror, claiming to know nothing.
"My lord, spare me! This lowly one... this lowly one truly only knows about this single location! The ones who set up the Grand Array were experts from Dragon Ridge Mountain. Their movements are secretive. After they finished, they only arranged for a few nodes, including ours, to be guarded. We only have partial contact with each other!"
"As for the other node locations, only... only Lord Zhang and the masters from Dragon Ridge Mountain know the complete picture!"
"Even Lord Ghost Moon doesn’t know all the node locations!"
Chu Fan’s brow furrowed. He killed the man with a single palm strike, his expression turning grim once more.
’Fifteen nodes...’
According to the paperman, Yue Mankong, this evil Grand Array had at least forty-nine nodes. More than half of them had to be destroyed to prevent it from activating.
Destroying fifteen was already an astonishing achievement that had greatly weakened the Array’s potential.
But he was still far from his goal of destroying more than half and completely disabling it.
Moreover, the remaining nodes were unguarded and thus hidden even more deeply. Finding them would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
’It seems the key is still Zhang Yunpeng.’
Chu Fan said, "Sister Bai, go back and tell Lu Tao to keep a close watch on the Government Office. We absolutely cannot let Zhang Yunpeng or his confidants send a message to Dragon Ridge Mountain!"
Lu Tao and the Cyan Snake were now secretly monitoring the County Magistrate’s Office, while Master Cao and his men lay in ambush outside the city. Combined with the time bought by destroying fifteen nodes tonight, the situation seemed to have eased slightly.
But as long as the Grand Array was not completely broken and the main Moon Worship Sect force from Dragon Ridge Mountain remained, Cyan Yang Ancient City was still hanging by a thread.
At this thought, the anxiety Chu Fan felt over the Demon Suppression Bureau’s delayed reinforcements surged in his heart once more.
"What the hell are the people from the Demon Suppression Bureau doing? Even if they had to crawl, they should have gotten here by now, right? Could they really have been intercepted and wiped out by the Moon Worship Sect along the way?" he couldn’t help but mutter and curse.
The small paperman hidden in his robes stirred slightly, and Yue Mankong’s calm voice emerged. "Be patient. With fifteen nodes destroyed, their vanguard has been greatly blunted. I sent the message seven days ago; the Demon Suppression Bureau has surely received it. New reinforcements are definitely on their way. As for Ding Jian and the others, they are likely maneuvering against the Moon Worship Sect’s interception forces. We just need to wait a few more days."
...
Chu Fan waited.
Like a leopard lurking in the shadows, he waited patiently for Lu Tao and the Cyan Snake to bring him new prey. He was determined to pry open the mouths of more Moon Worship Cultists, root out the hidden nodes of the Nine Nether Spirit Locking Array one by one, and completely choke the life out of this potential catastrophe.
