Chapter 478: Chapter 464: 9 Spirit Pattern Pillars
Tong Fan was absolutely seething...
Any fool could see that Shen Lang was goading him, digging a pit for him to fall into.
But he had no choice but to jump into it.
Although what Shen Lang said was reasonable, being forced to agree under these circumstances made Tong Fan utterly despise this brat who had appeared out of nowhere.
In the past, it was always the people from the Artifact Origin Sect who demanded Spirit Array Maps as a condition. No Sect or individual had ever dared to propose conditions for what would happen if the Artifact Origin Sect lost.
After all, if anyone truly had that kind of strength, the Artifact Origin Sect wouldn’t have been so arrogant as to come knocking on their door in the first place.
Ordinary Sects didn’t have many powerful Artifact Refiners who could handle the Artifact Origin Sect, let alone these nine Spirit Pattern Pillars.
Not only did Shen Lang propose a condition, but it was one designed to cause extreme humiliation—if they lost, they would have to crawl down from the Profound Dao Sect’s mountain!
With the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars in hand, Tong Fan naturally wasn’t afraid of losing.
But agreeing to Shen Lang’s demand was tantamount to being thoroughly checkmated by him!
This feeling was incredibly uncomfortable for a man as old and cunning as Tong Fan.
In front of so many people, he was in an impossible position; the Artifact Origin Sect had no choice but to accept.
The only alternative was for the Artifact Origin Sect to back down and retreat from the Profound Dao Sect in disgrace.
’You reckless brat, daring to mock me and disrespect our Artifact Origin Sect! Once you’re trapped in the array, I’ll make you suffer a fate worse than death!’
Tong Fan shot Shen Lang a vicious glare and gave a look to the disciples on the stage.
’You brought this upon yourself!’
Even if he didn’t kill Shen Lang, he was now dead set on scrambling his Divine Sense, turning him into a madman or even an imbecile.
Faced with the Grand Array formed by the nine active Spirit Pattern Pillars, destroying the Divine Sense of someone trapped inside would be child’s play!
The nine men on the stage saw the look in Tong Fan’s eyes and understood his meaning. They all began to snicker coldly.
Their Cultivation wasn’t high—all were at the Spirit Martial Realm Ninth Heaven—but the terror of these Spirit Pattern Pillars was not something an ordinary person could withstand.
As long as they activated the Spirit Pattern Pillars, they could annihilate Xuanwu Realm powerhouses in an instant.
What was a mere Shen Lang in comparison?
Just then, Shen Lang seemed to have thought of something and said strangely, "Oh, right. I heard the founding ancestor of your Artifact Origin Sect set a rule: if someone can activate and communicate with all the Spirit Pattern Pillars, you’ll hand them over?"
The entire arena fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Even Su Wenxuan and the others hadn’t expected Shen Lang to say such a thing.
"Haha, that bastard is really arrogant. Does he think he can actually handle these Spirit Pattern Pillars? Has he never heard how formidable they are?"
Many people from the other Sects couldn’t help but laugh mockingly.
"At the Artifact Origin Sect, a place overflowing with artifact refining geniuses, communicating with even one Spirit Pattern Pillar is an incredibly rare feat, something only a supreme prodigy can do. And he’s talking about activating and communicating with all nine?"
"That’s right. I heard many Artifact Refining Masters spend years just to communicate with a single Spirit Pattern Pillar. As for activating and communicating with all nine, no one besides the founding ancestor has ever done it in the history of the Artifact Origin Sect. The most talented Artifact Refining Master in their history only managed to communicate with four."
"And when you talk about communicating with the pillars, that’s assuming you do it one by one, with the pillars separated. But right now, all nine are operating simultaneously! Just escaping unscathed from this kind of array would be an astonishing feat of breathtaking talent. To communicate with all nine under these conditions? Even the founding ancestor of the Artifact Origin Sect might not have been able to do it!"
"I don’t know what the Profound Dao Sect is thinking, sending a brat like this to cause trouble. He doesn’t even have basic common sense, yet here he is making such shocking claims. When word of this gets out, the Profound Dao Sect will become the biggest joke in the Western Wilderness!"
The members of the various Sects began to mock him unscrupulously.
Although the people of the Profound Dao Sect were furious, no one stepped up to refute the others.
Shen Lang’s words were simply too astonishing.
Dealing with these nine Spirit Pattern Pillars required not only accomplishments in Artifact Refining, but also unimaginable skill, fortuitous opportunities, and a powerful Divine Thought.
Anyone with even a little knowledge of the Artifact Origin Sect’s Spirit Pattern Pillars knew that this was a near-impossible task.
For the Elders who knew Shen Lang well, they might not have even doubted him if he’d claimed he could cut down a King Martial Realm expert with a single slash...
But claiming to communicate with all nine Spirit Pattern Pillars at once? That was even more outrageous than him claiming he could cut down an Emperor Martial Realm expert with one blow!
"Good, good, very good! I, Tong Fan, have traveled through nearly every major region of the Western Wilderness over the years, and this is the first time I have ever seen such an insolent and conceited young man!"
The qi and blood in Tong Fan’s body churned, showing signs of becoming uncontrollable.
His voice changed. "That’s right. It is indeed a rule set by the founding ancestor of the Artifact Origin Sect. Anyone who can communicate with all nine Spirit Pattern Pillars at the same time will be given them!"
"But let me make things clear first. If you trigger a chain reaction from the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars and your Divine Sense is erased, or you are utterly annihilated in both body and soul, don’t blame us for not warning you!"
"Shen Lang, you absolutely must not! Just break the Array Map formed by their Spirit Pattern Pillars, that’s enough! You must not try to communicate with all nine!" Su Wenxuan shot up from his seat in the stands and shouted.
The people from the Profound Dao Sect around him all stood up, and many began to shout their dissuasions.
This wasn’t a matter of whether it could be done; it was an incredibly dangerous endeavor!
In the sky, Zhuge Xian’Er’s eyes also held a trace of doubt. She couldn’t understand the meaning behind Shen Lang’s actions.
With her mastery of Arrays and her powerful Divine Thought at the King Martial Realm Second Heaven, she estimated she could communicate with two Spirit Pattern Pillars at most.
Although Shen Lang’s attainments in the Array Dao were far superior to hers, his Divine Thought was, after all, far inferior.
’So why does he sound so certain?’
"Hahahaha, good! The Artifact Origin Sect is quite something, I like it!" Shen Lang laughed loudly and said, "By the way, Senior... your esteemed surname?"
Tong Fan was thoroughly exasperated by him... ’Now he remembers his manners? Don’t tell me you really think you’ve already won?’
’Do you really think these nine Spirit Pattern Pillars are already in your pocket?’
"I am an Elder of the Artifact Origin Sect... Tong Fan!"
Shen Lang smiled and nodded. With a flick of his sleeve, he ignored everyone’s attempts to stop him and walked directly in amongst the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars.
The battle of Artifact Refining had finally begun!
Watching Shen Lang walk into the area of the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars, Tong Fan let out a vicious laugh. "Activate the Nine Array Map! I’d like to see what ability someone from the Profound Dao Sect has to be so arrogant! So young and yet so ignorant of your own limits, with such a sharp tongue. I’ll pull out all your teeth in a moment!"
The nine disciples from the Artifact Origin Sect on the stage immediately took their positions and activated the Spirit Pattern Pillars!
Nine beams of intense light erupted from the colossal Spirit Pattern Pillars. The pillars suddenly released streams of divine radiance, which spread out like a net, enveloping the entire massive stage of the Martial Arts Arena.
In the blink of an eye, the space around the stage seemed to ripple and blur. No matter how hard the onlookers strained their eyes, they could no longer see what was happening on the stage.
Endless divine radiance concealed everything on the stage. The nine colossal Spirit Pattern Pillars and the nine men seemed to have vanished into thin air before everyone’s eyes.
Although this was a battle of Artifact Refining, it was actually a battle of Arrays.
For most Artifact Refiners, the Artifact Spirit is the soul of a Magical Treasure Secret Artifact, while the Spirit Array Map is its meridians and Mystic Gates.
Whether it’s the power of the soul or other energies within the Magical Treasure Secret Artifact, the energy must be circulated through the Spirit Array Map, which in turn mobilizes the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, to ultimately unleash its power.
And a Spirit Array Map is, in essence, an Array.
This battle of Artifact Refining would depend on whether Shen Lang could break the Arrays on the Spirit Pattern Pillars.
Within the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars were tens of thousands of Spirit Array Maps.
The people of the Artifact Origin Sect had drawn out nine Main Array Maps from within, combining them to form a Grand Array that could be used for defense, offense, and for the sect’s disciples to study and comprehend Spirit Array Maps.
The nine Spirit Array Maps were: the Celestial Cover Array, the Earth Array, the Wind Array, the Rainfall Array, the Fire Dragon Array, the Thunder Soaring Array, the Profound Ice Array, the Sun and Moon Array, and the Ten Thousand Trees Array.
They corresponded to nine transformations: Celestial Transformation, Earth Transformation, Wind Transformation, Water Transformation, Fire Transformation, Thunder Transformation, Ice Transformation, Sun and Moon Transformation, and Wood Transformation.
Once activated, the nine transformations seemed like a single transformation, perfectly integrated.
However, these nine transformations supported one another in a ceaseless cycle, and their fusion created endless variations.
Human strength has its limits, but the Celestial Dao is infinite.
How could an ordinary Artifact Refining Master possibly cope with an Array that was not only inherently intricate but also constantly evolving, changing, and layering upon itself?
This was an Array, one that was changing at every single moment.
If one were to break the Array with brute force, and it was only controlled by nine mere Spirit Martial Realm Martial Artists, an Emperor Martial Realm expert could enter and shatter the Nine Array Map with a single punch.
But the person who entered could only rely on their own skill in the Array Dao to break it; they could not use brute force like a ruffian.
Because this was a contest of Artifact Refining!
This was precisely why the Artifact Origin Sect had dominated the Western Wilderness for so many years with these nine Spirit Pattern Pillars, to the point that even Dark Gold Level Influences were wary of them.
At this moment, Shen Lang was already standing within the Array Map of the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars.
He found himself in a place of gloomy darkness, filled with a grim Yin Qi and heavy fog. He couldn’t tell east from west, nor could he find a way out.
Meanwhile, in the air above, the transformations of Heaven, Earth, Wind, Rain, Sun, Moon... were all chaotically intertwined. The Primordial Qi was in disarray, making it impossible to control.
One after another, Spirit Array Maps appeared before Shen Lang, only to vanish just as quickly, giving him no chance to comprehend them.
Shen Lang stood quietly in the center without making a single move, simply watching the scene in the air with a cold expression.
If brute force couldn’t be used, and one had to rely solely on their attainments in Arrays to break this formation, it wouldn’t be difficult for a War Emperor.
But a War Emperor was a War Emperor, after all. Although Shen Lang possessed all his knowledge, he did not have the corresponding powerful Divine Thought!
However, Shen Lang now intended not only to break the Array, but to go a step further: to fully activate the nine Spirit Pattern Pillars and then communicate with them!
This wasn’t because Shen Lang was arrogant or overconfident.
Nor was it because his strength had truly reached such a level.
But he was doing it anyway.
The reason was very simple.
These nine Spirit Pattern Pillars belonged to the War God Hall!
They were created by an Array Master from the War God Hall!
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