Chapter 284: Essence Stealing Array
In the blink of an eye, the qi fluctuations became more vigorous and ripples began to appear in the air.
"Get ready." Yu Nianzhen said and tightened his hand around Jiang Yue’s.
His master had said that they wouldn’t be separated when they entered the Nine Treasures secret realm.
However, Yu Nianzhen was still worried.
For that reason, he didn’t want to let go of Jiang Yue’s hand until they were safely inside the secret realm.
"It will be any time now." Yang Xu reiterated and also held his wife’s hand.
’What about me? Who will hold my hand?’ Xuan Ke wondered and looked at his brothers grudgingly.
’Should I also find someone?’ He thought and then shook his head.
He admired the relationship between Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue.
However, his character wasn’t as steady.
Although he was a monk, he wasn’t virtuous and couldn’t commit to one person.
With his character, he was suitable to hold several women than just one hand.
’Forget it.’ He thought and let the matter go.
At the moment, he needed to focus on entering the secret realm instead of getting distracted by meaningless thoughts.
After a few breaths, a portal began to appear in the air.
Initially, the portal was about one metre in diameter but it quickly expanded to ten metres.
While that was happening, some cultivators had already begun to rush towards the portal.
"Wait for the channel to stabilise." A nascent soul realm cultivator shouted and a wave of qi blocked those who were about to enter the portal.
The other nascent soul realm cultivators also reacted and used their qi to prevent several cultivators from rushing in.
Fortunately, the origin tempering realm cultivators were impatient but they still had their minds.
They knew the consequences of entering an unstable channel so they forced themselves to calm down.
"What do you think would happen if someone tried to force their way in?" Jiang Yue asked a little curiously.
Under normal circumstances, entering an unstable channel would lead to being teleported to the wrong place at the very least.
If one was unlucky, they would encounter a space storm which would likely cost their lives.
However, the Nine Treasures secret realm was a hidden place within the Cangxing world.
Jiang Yue didn’t know if the channel leading to it was similar to other space channels.
"They would likely be torn to pieces." Yang Xu said and smiled in schadenfreude.
Yang Xu had lived a long time and had witnessed the birth of many secret realms.
When a new secret realm appeared, its rules were unknown and a lot of effort went into understanding the rules.
In such situations, Yang Xu had seen what happened to those who tried to enter without meeting the conditions.
At best, they would be injured and at worst, they would be reduced to blood mist.
"Let’s move in five breaths." Yang Xu suddenly said and the others grew alert.
They counted down the time and as soon as five breaths elapsed, they rushed toward the entrance.
Unfortunately, their movements were fast but not fast enough.
Just when the portal stabilised, a blood-red light appeared just beyond the entrance.
"What is that?" Bing Lan stopped and asked while looking at the light.
"It’s an array." Jiang Yue answered and frowned.
As a formation master, he instantly recognised the light as an array but he didn’t know what kind.
The only thing he knew was that the array was extremely evil.
It emanated an evil aura and everyone had the urge to back away from the red light.
"Blood refining sect, you dare?" Someone screamed and a blue light shot towards another person.
"Is this the essence-stealing array of the blood-refining sect?" Another asked.
"Essence stealing array..." Jiang Yue muttered and his divine sense entered the formation world contained in the white jade void tiger bone.
Originally, Jiang Yue could only access the formation stones in the world.
However, as his mastery increased, a consciousness appeared in the world.
The consciousness had yet to congeal into a spirit but Jiang Yue could communicate with it.
At this time, he quickly asked it about the essence-stealing array.
"It’s an array that steals the blood essence of a cultivator." The consciousness answered and Jiang Yue was horrified.
A cultivator’s blood essence was extremely precious.
Although the loss of one drop wasn’t catastrophic, it was still significant.
Losing a drop would lead to a long period of weakness and recovery wasn’t easy.
After learning about the array, Jiang Yue spoke to the others and they couldn’t help but be angry.
"How did the blood-refining sect arrange an essence-stealing array at the entrance of the secret realm?" Xuan Ke asked angrily.
"They activated a formation disk." Jiang Yue said with an ugly look on his face.
Ordinarily, it was easier to break formations engraved on a disk than those arranged on the ground.
However, the entrance of the Nine Treasures secret realm would remain open for only one-quarter of an hour.
From Jiang Yue learned, it was absolutely impossible to destroy the essence-stealing array within a quarter of an hour.
"They have put us between a rock and a hard place." Yang Xu said angrily.
If they didn’t enter, they would miss the Nine Treasures secret realm.
However, if they did enter, they would have to pass through the essence-stealing array.
"XiaoYue, is there a trapping effect in the essence stealing array?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
When he heard the question, Jiang Yue frowned and used his illusion eyes to study the formation.
"There isn’t a trapping effect. However, no matter how fast we rush, we can’t avoid losing at least one drop of essence blood."
As the five were considering their options, the others were also doing the same.
Some nascent soul realm cultivators had even begun to attack the array while others were fighting the elders of the blood-refining sect.
"Blood refining sect, are you betraying my Cangxing world?" An old woman asked angrily.
"What are you talking about? The essence stealing array affects everyone including the Death Flower Ascension Front." A lazy voice answered.
The voice had carried no remorse and the old woman was further angered.
"Shameless. Absolutely shameless." She shouted and ten strips of thunder rushed out of her fingers.
Unfortunately, her opponent didn’t seem to take her seriously and he unhurriedly dodged to the side.
"Master Zhao, can the formation be broken?" Chen Qing asked.
"It can be broken but not in time." The formation master who was studying the array answered.
His expression was not good and everyone else was also angered.
However, no one dared to tear their faces with the blood-refining sect.
The reason for this was that they didn’t want to risk pushing the blood-refining sect to the Death Flower Ascension Front.
At the moment, all they could do was endure.
After all, the elder of the blood-refining sect was right. At least for the short term, everyone was equally affected.
However, everyone, especially the righteous sects kept the matter at the back of their minds.
Although they were now allied against the Death Flower Ascension Front, this situation was only temporary.
In the end, the blood-refining sect was an enemy.
With the amount of blood essence, the sect would collect at this time, their overall strength would increase.
This was good with regards to fighting the Death flower Ascension Front but not good for the long-term balance of the world.
"Let’s enter." Yu Nianzhen suddenly said.
Since there was no way to avoid the array, they could only soldier on.
"I also think we should enter right away." Jiang Yue said.
They could not avoid losing a drop of blood essence but their situation wasn’t as desperate as others.
This was because they had the tree of life.
Ordinarily, the only way to regain a drop of blood essence was to recover for a long time.
However, the tree of life was one of few treasures that could instantly recover a lost drop of blood essence.
"Nianzhen..." Yang Xu called because he understood what his disciple was thinking.
He was reluctant to let Yu Nianzhen use such a precious resource on them but the situation was critical.
"Don’t worry about it, master." Yu Nianzhen interrupted.
"We should go now." Jiang Yue insisted.
Some cultivators had already begun to enter and Jiang Yue didn’t want to encounter too many people at the entrance.
"Maybe this situation isn’t too bad." Bing Lan said and sighed before she continued.
"In this way, everyone will be weakened when they enter the secret realm. In such a situation, everyone will prioritise their own safety rather than ambushing others."
"You may be right." Yang Xu agreed.
"The blood refining sect took a big risk plotting against everyone." Jiang Yue said and sighed.
"The blood-refining sect has always been ambitious. It probably wants to take the opportunity to rapidly grow while the righteous sects are focused on the Death Flower Ascension Front." Yang Xu said and frowned.
