Chapter 290: Chapter 34: Breaking the Formation
Of course, this wasn’t the Array’s complete form. In its perfected state, it would be a colossal Array capable of warping space. Anyone facing the river would find themselves twisted and submerged in the highly toxic Weak Water, drowning no matter how they tried to advance. They would be dragged to the riverbed regardless of their struggles. The distorted space itself was the ultimate expression of malice.
But clearly, Su Zhou had simply unleashed his Wind Thunder Power, using the brute force of a gale to blast apart the air vortex blocking his path. Even the Weak Water Array itself was dissipated by the overflowing arcs of lightning.
’My god, even the Weak Water Array couldn’t hold him for more than a few seconds? In front of him, I’d be finished in a single blow, wouldn’t I?’
Swallowing hard, Bai Canglang carefully put on a gas mask, then crossed the now-mundane river.
Soon, a third explosion boomed in the distance. This time, Su Zhou seemed to have gotten the hang of it and didn’t linger for long.
Bai Canglang seemed to have gotten used to it by now. Before long, he saw the shattered remains of Rock Warriors ahead, as if they had been blown apart by sheer brute force. Their sturdy, crystallized bodies even bore distinct fist imprints.
There wasn’t much to explain. A standard Earth Daoist Soldier Skill, forming massive Rock Giants to act as guards. But Su Zhou had just steamrolled right through them... ’He seems really good at dealing with these kinds of traps. He doesn’t need anyone’s help, does he?’
"Damn it, what am I even following him for?"
The words slipped out subconsciously. Bai Canglang was suddenly at a loss. ’Am I just here to witness Professor Su’s rampage? Speaking of which, this rampage is on another level. Is this Dragon King’s true nature actually a crab?’
’No, I have to remind him not to be so destructive—the diagrams for many of these Arrays have been lost to the modern world! They’re precious pieces of intangible cultural heritage!’
Shaking off his daze, Bai Canglang found a reason to keep going and hurriedly set off in pursuit once more.
But the next thing he saw wasn’t the fragmented remains of an Array, but the corpses of Evil Beasts, their heads smashed and their chests pierced open.
At least a dozen massive, Awakening-Tier Evil Beast corpses lay by the roadside like heaps of flesh. The stench of their purple blood, still steaming, filled the air.
The expressions on the Evil Beasts’ faces were as dumbfounded as Bai Canglang’s. They clearly hadn’t even realized when they died. As for Bai Canglang, he hadn’t even sensed the aura of Su Zhou making a move—which meant that Su Zhou had dispatched these seemingly powerful Evil Beasts without any effort, as if swatting flies.
’What are these poor little things, getting in Professor Su’s way...’ Tsk-tsking, Bai Canglang had only intended to take a quick look to see what kind of ferocious beasts had dared to provoke Su Zhou.
But as it turned out, he couldn’t identify them.
’Something’s not right. Is there really a Demon Beast in this world that I don’t recognize?’
His gaze sharpened. Bai Canglang, who had been about to leave, immediately stopped and stepped forward to examine the strange Evil Beasts’ corpses.
Then, he put on gloves, took a blood sample, and used the wound to rummage through the creature’s internal organs. ’Strange. Some of these creatures look like tigers, others like bears, and they’re all very strong, but it’s only a superficial resemblance. Their internal organs are completely different from normal creatures. They have larger lung cavities and more than one heart! But some of these beasts have distinctly smaller brains, as if they were specifically bred to lack intelligence.’
’Are they special Demon Beasts native to the Kunlun Secret Realm? The Demon Gods’ Beast Soldiers from back then? An interesting topic for research, but now is not the time.’
With this frowning thought, Bai Canglang put the blood sample away and set off again, closely following Su Zhou’s trail.
「Meanwhile, inside Kunlun Palace.」
Garuda stared blankly at the scene displayed on the light screen before it.
"Garuda, are you going easy on them? Even if you want to side with the remnants of the Immortal Realm, you can’t win them over just by showing favor!"
The voice from behind the black void asked doubtfully, "Control the traps, stop their advance! If you let them approach at this speed, they’ll reach the Central Five Mountains in no time."
Clearly, compared to Garuda’s cautiousness, this being was far more disgusted with the human remnants of the Immortal Realm and was unwilling to make rash contact with them under the current restrictive circumstances.
"I *am* controlling them!" But Garuda was just as bewildered. Unlike the shrewdness it had shown when sparring with the voice from the black void earlier, it now had no idea what was going on. "But he broke through all of them! He was so fast I couldn’t even see the details... Tsk, this light screen isn’t high-resolution enough. It’s affecting my observation."
It subconsciously bit its thumbnail, perplexed. "I sent those Evil Beasts to test him, too—a dozen Awakening-Tier beasts. Even if I were to kill them myself, I doubt I could do it any faster... Is that member of the Dragon Race really that strong?"
"What? He broke through all of them?"
Even the voice from behind the black void was shocked. "The Weak Water Array, the Wood Array, the Rock Soldier Guards, the Gate of the River of Fire... He’s broken through the Four Symbols and Five Elements Formation?!"
"No, there are still a few Arrays I haven’t used, but I think he’s getting close."
Garuda scratched at the long golden hair it only had in its humanoid form. It felt the plan was spinning out of control, its expression deeply troubled. "My original plan was to wait until they were in peril, then voluntarily stop the attacks and appear to negotiate. That way, my words would carry some weight, and I could express goodwill to facilitate future discussions."
"But forget peril, this member of the Dragon Race is about to reach the edge of the central region!"
—*Who the hell is that guy, and why is he so strong?*
Both the being from the Beast God Realm behind the black void and Garuda were pondering this question. After a moment, the voice from the Beast God Realm spoke slowly, "Garuda, aren’t you of the Great Roc Golden-winged Bird bloodline, the kind that devours five hundred dragons a day? What does your bloodline sense tell you? What level of True Dragon bloodline does this guy possess?"
"Is it the blood of a Demon King, a Demon God, or a Primordial Ancestor from the Ancient Demon Realm—the blood of a Great Saint?"
"Golden-winged Birds eat Naga, not Dragons... though their source is more or less the same," Garuda retorted instinctively. It held its breath and tried to sense him from afar, but came up with nothing. Its gaze went blank. "I can’t feel anything... Could it be that I have a fake Great Roc Golden-winged Bird bloodline?"
But this confusion lasted only a moment. It quickly made a decision.
"It seems that against this guy, no traps, Arrays, or minions will work..."
"Looks like I’ll have to take action myself!"
Meanwhile, just as he thrust his spear and blasted clean through an Activated Wood Tree Man that stood over ten meters tall, shattering its Spiritual Power Core, Su Zhou looked up as if sensing something. ’Someone’s spying on me.’
But then he shrugged, looking up toward the Central Five Mountains, which weren’t too far away now. ’Whatever. Doesn’t matter who it is.’
’As long as I keep pushing forward without stopping, they’re bound to show up eventually.’
