From a loser to an immortal sage

Chapter 412 Danger Hidden in the Core of the Immortal Array

The moment that sword cleaved through the black energy, I almost exhausted all my spiritual power. I staggered, but before I could catch my breath, the true face hidden within the immortal array tore off its disguise without hesitation.

The dark light that had split open before them was like an open door, but inside was not the long-awaited treasure or the paradise illuminated by immortal light. Instead, there were crisscrossing runes, like dragons swimming on an ancient wall, flashing with sharp silver light.

My first thought was: this place is more dangerous than I imagined.

The air was scorching and distorted, as if every breath was burning.

I waved my sleeve, creating a gust of wind that dispersed a wisp of uneasy dust.

Behind them, Daoist Qingfeng, Ziling, and Fairy Lin followed closely. Even the demon Xueying crept in, his eyes scanning the surroundings greedily like he was eyeing prey.

As soon as we stepped into that core area, the ground beneath our feet suddenly cracked open with a "crack"!

"Step back!" Master Qingfeng shouted.

But it's too late.

Countless sharp stone pillars, gleaming with a cold light, burst forth from the ground like claws buried for thousands of years, roaring and sweeping across the entire space!

I reacted extremely quickly, took a step, and used my movement technique to leap into the air.

In my ears, there was the sound of air being violently torn apart, and the strong wind whistling past the stone pillars as they brushed against the hem of my clothes.

My heart jumped into my throat.

The moment I landed, I turned around—only to see a chilling scene.

Blood Shadow's expression changed, and he actually reached out and pushed Fairy Lin away!

"Watch out!" I shouted.

But it's too late.

Lin Xianzi was unexpectedly pushed into the place where the stone pillars intersected. Although she was agile, she could not avoid them in time. The sharp stone pillars left a shocking bloody mark on her arm!

"Hiss—" She gritted her teeth, enduring the pain, her face quickly turning pale, and bright red blood instantly soaked through her sleeves.

"You're insane!" Master Qingfeng roared in fury, pointing at the blood shadow as his spiritual power surged forth.

Blood Shadow grinned, showing no remorse. "You want to protect her? Then sacrifice yourself, isn't that perfect?"

A chill ran through me, and a murderous intent slowly spread through my heart.

"If you lay a finger on her again, I'll make sure you leave this immortal formation lying down right now," I said coldly. The Crimson Flame Sword trembled in my hand, as if sensing my killing intent.

Blood Shadow did indeed take a step back, but his eyes remained vicious.

"Stop making noise!" Zi Ling suddenly spoke up, "Watch out upstairs!"

I looked up abruptly and heard the wind howl like thunder, as a fiery red light suddenly poured down from the sky.

That wasn't fire—at least not ordinary fire.

That was a strange bird formed from condensed flames!

They hovered overhead, each one ablaze, their tail feathers leaving scorching afterimages, and the flames they spewed from their mouths seemed like true world-destroying fire. With a loud screech, they pounced directly on us intruders!

"Prepare the protective formation!" Master Qingfeng was the first to react, his hands quickly forming hand seals, and a silver-white light shield rose into the air—his protective immortal technique, "Azure Feather Shield."

But there were too many firebirds!

One after another, they crashed into the light shield, the flames burning and making the light unstable. Even the usually calm and collected Daoist Qingfeng had beads of sweat on his forehead.

He gritted his teeth: "I can only hold on for five breaths. From now on, it's up to you!"

"If we can hold on, it's a miracle; if we can't, we still have to hold on!" I shouted.

Under the scorching flames, the air seemed to be burning. I could even smell the scorching of my hair. My skin felt like it was being pricked with needles. I glanced at Zi Ling, who was standing in front of the array wall, her eyes fixed on the flowing runes.

“These runes are keys!” she murmured, running her hand over the runes.

The runes, like startled little fish, darted and shifted rapidly across the wall, their colors and arrangements changing in an instant, giving no one a chance to decipher them.

"Too fast! This won't do!" She stamped her foot, her brows furrowed, and her inner strength surged forth, trying to temporarily fix a rune node, but the newly formed cyan light cluster shattered and dissipated in less than a breath.

“Their numbers are linked to the number of firebirds, it’s like… a game.” Her voice was calm, but there was a hint of anxiety in her eyes.

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and I quickly asked her, "Is it possible that they didn't appear out of thin air, but were summoned by these runes?"

“Theoretically, it’s possible, but I don’t have time to deconstruct the complete rune patterns!” she gritted her teeth. “They’re far more complex than any array I’ve ever seen before!”

"Let's take a gamble!" I took a deep breath, formed a hand seal with my left palm, held my sword horizontally with my right hand, and slashed fiercely at the core of the most intensely colored rune!

The Crimson Flame Sword sliced ​​through the air, bringing with it a gust of hot wind, and struck the center of the array pattern with a loud boom!

Half of the wall shattered instantly, and I severed several runes directly.

In that instant, I seemed to hear a painful cry from the firebirds, and two of them actually exploded into a rain of fire and fell from the sky!

"It works!" I exclaimed.

Zi Ling's eyes lit up, and she immediately followed my lead to finish off the remaining enemies, using a talisman to seal the next crucial point.

Master Qingfeng stabilized the protective formation and roared, "Quick! Seize the moment and destroy the other energy source! The firebird is starting to go out of control!"

Without further hesitation, I circulated my spiritual energy once more, my eyes blazing with fighting spirit: "Turn this immortal array to ashes!"

The sword in his hand rang out with a long, resounding sound, and the runes were torn apart inch by inch

The moment we successfully severed the third node, all the firebirds within the formation seemed to have their core power drained away. After burning intensely for a few breaths, they all turned to ashes.

The ground stabilized, and the light gradually dimmed.

A cool breeze dissipated from the formation, revealing the ancient, secret chamber made of stacked rocks. Mystic light floated in the air like fireflies, quiet yet eerie.

However, the tension in my heart did not ease; instead, I felt even more uneasy.

The next moment, I suddenly saw Elder Xuanfeng approaching a stone wall.

"Elder! Be careful—that place seems to be..." Before I could finish speaking, I saw his finger touching a faint, almost invisible rune indentation... Before I could finish speaking, Elder Xuanfeng's finger had already touched that almost invisible rune indentation.

In that instant, the air seemed to freeze, and a chilling silence enveloped us.

Immediately afterwards, a teeth-grinding "crackling" sound came from deep within the stone wall, like some long-dormant beast awakening.

My heart skipped a beat, and a strong sense of unease welled up inside me. Almost instinctively, I shouted, "Back off!"

However, it's too late.

A massive ice wall, exuding a chilling aura, crashed out of the stone wall!

The ice wall towered into the clouds, as if it were freezing the entire space. The cold air emanating from it made me feel like my cheeks were about to crack from the cold.

"Scatter!" Master Qingfeng reacted quickly, shouting as he waved his whisk, a beam of green light protecting him as he dodged to the side.

Zi Ling and Xue Ying also used their movement techniques to narrowly avoid the impact of the ice wall.

Just as I was about to dodge, I caught a glimpse of Fairy Lin, who was having difficulty moving due to her previous injury, and was about to be hit by the ice wall!

At that moment, I didn't think about anything. Almost instinctively, I rushed over and pushed her away.

"boom--"

The ice wall crashed heavily onto the ground, shattering into countless ice chunks that scattered in all directions.

Although I dodged the direct impact, my leg was still hit by a huge block of ice. A piercing pain shot through me, and I groaned as I staggered back a few steps.

A bone-chilling cold spread along the wound, and my legs instantly lost all feeling, leaving me almost unable to move.

"Xiao Yao!" Fairy Lin exclaimed in surprise and quickly helped me up.

"I'm fine..." I gritted my teeth, enduring the pain, and looked up at the sky.

Those fiery birds reappeared at some point, circling in the air and emitting sharp cries, as if mocking our disheveled state.

I felt a surge of anger; those damned beasts!

Wait a minute... I suddenly noticed that the flight paths of these birds seem to follow a certain pattern.

They don't fly randomly, but rather hover in the air following a fixed route.

“Ziling, look at those birds…” I said to Ziling, pointing to the sky.

Zi Ling followed my gaze, her brows furrowing slightly. "They... seem to be guarding something."

"That's right!" A thought struck me. "What they're protecting must be the rune nodes that control them!"

I endured the pain in my legs and carefully observed the flight paths of the birds, trying to find the patterns in them.

After some observation, I finally discovered that the flight paths of these birds corresponded to some runic markings on the ground.

"Found it!" I pointed to an inconspicuous rune mark on the ground and said to Zi Ling, "That's the node that controls them!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Zi Ling's eyes. "Okay! I'll give it a try!"

She quickly made a hand seal, and a beam of green light shot towards the rune mark.

With a loud bang, the rune mark shattered instantly, and the fiery birds vanished without a trace.

We finally got rid of those annoying birds, but before we could even breathe a sigh of relief, an even more powerful aura emanated from the depths of our core.

The ground began to shake, cracks appeared in the stone walls, and a suffocating pressure enveloped the entire space.

From the depths of that core, a colossal figure slowly emerged... It was a giant beast covered in black scales, its eyes like two red lanterns, flashing with a fierce light.

"Guardian beast..." My heart sank, knowing that an even more difficult battle was about to begin.

"Prepare for battle!" I said in a deep voice, gripping the Crimson Flame Sword tightly in my hand, my gaze fixed firmly on the giant beast that was slowly approaching.

“This…this aura…” Master Qingfeng’s voice trembled, and his face turned pale.

I turned to look at him and said in a deep voice, "Elder, are you afraid?"

He took a deep breath, straightened his back, and a resolute glint flashed in his eyes: "I'm afraid! But even if I'm afraid, I must fight!"