261: Chapter 261 Five Breaths Through the Door, the Hallway Splits

The invisible flying boat glided silently through the deep sea for nearly an hour.

Leng Feng crouched at the bow.

He pressed the observation scope to his right eye; the gray-white salt frost on the fourth layer of the scope's base had faded less than half a percent after soaking in the seawater.

He swept the scope from left to right, passing over the outer patrol squad of the Haiyuan Clan swimming less than a hundred zhang below the flying boat.

Foundation Establishment grade Abyssal Beasts moved in groups of three or five, their bone armor reflecting a faint, ghostly green cold light in the deep sea, but they did not look up.

The Concealment Formation Plate continued to operate at the bottom of the boat.

Under the infusion of spiritual power, the engravings on the Formation Plate emitted an extremely dim, faint, ghostly blue glow—the brightness of the protective Array Pattern had been suppressed to its limit—leaving only a contour in the deep sea that was almost invisible to the naked eye.

Leng Feng had a Deep Sea Sensing Talisman hanging at his waist; the sensing Array Pattern on the Talisman's surface flashed every few breaths, each flash marking the range of spiritual power fluctuations and the movement direction of the patrol squad ahead.

The flying boat wove through the gaps in the patrols, its course adjusted slightly every less than half a stick of incense.

Lu Changyuan stood at the bow, his right hand pressed against the inner pocket of his sleeve.

The black crystal pulsed in his palm—dimming and brightening, contracting and expanding—its frequency perfectly synchronized with that dark golden beam of light beneath the sea surface.

He withdrew his hand from his sleeve, the palm pressing against the crystal feeling slightly warm.

"My Lord, we have arrived."

Leng Feng moved the observation scope away from his eyes and pointed directly below the flying boat.

The outer wall of the Seal unfolded in the deep sea like an endless wall of light.

The base color of the light wall was a deep dark gold; it did not emit light in the deep sea, but in the residual glow of Leng Feng's observation scope, the dense Seal patterns covering the wall surface were visible.

The patterns extended upward from the base of the wall, becoming denser the higher they went; within each line flowed a very slow, viscous, dark golden spiritual light.

The Seal had thinned to the very last layer; that transparent membrane occasionally flashed with visible crack patterns under the scouring of the dark golden spiritual light.

The pulsation frequency of the membrane was perfectly consistent with the pulsation of the crystal in Lu Changyuan's palm.

The thinnest point of the Seal's outer wall was less than twenty zhang directly below the flying boat.

At the light-seeping point observed by Leng Feng—the Seal itself was glowing—dark golden light seeped out from the inside of the membrane, forming a very faint halo in the deep sea.

At the edge of the halo, a ripple of spiritual power oscillated outward every less than half a breath.

Lu Changyuan fished the black crystal out from his inner sleeve pocket and pressed it into his palm.

He injected spiritual power into the crystal according to the frequency of the first section of the Array path deduced by Old Mo—the angle of the spiritual power lines, the frequency, the sequence of injection—every single item had been marked dozens of times on the deduction paper.

The angle error could not exceed half a degree.

The dark golden radial fine lines on the bottom of the crystal lit up once in the deep sea.

The outer wall of the Seal—silently split open a fissure.

The fissure was only wide enough for one person to pass through.

The spiritual light at the edge of the crack was like glass that had been rapidly cooled after being scorched by high heat—so smooth it had no rough edges.

Inside the fissure—was a deeper layer of dark gold.

The thickness of the Seal's outer wall could be seen at the edge of the fissure—less than half a chi—but that layer of semi-transparent membrane was still struggling to maintain the final barrier of the Seal amidst its pulsations.

"Leng Feng, go first."

Leng Feng hung the observation scope on the hook of his armor plating at his waist, kicked off the bow, and his body slid silently into the fissure.

When his armor plating passed through the fissure, it was illuminated by the spiritual light at the edge of the Seal—the salt frost on the armor plating gave off a very faint gray-white reflection under that light—and then he disappeared into the darkness inside the fissure.

Shadow One and Shadow Two followed closely behind.

Their movements entering the water were perfectly synchronized—the tips of their feet tapped the bow—and their bodies passed through the middle of the fissure.

The hems of their waterproof cloaks dragged two parallel water trails in the water—and then simultaneously pulled in.

Lu Changyuan was last.

He pressed the crystal back into his palm, feeling the crystal's pulsation undergo a frequency shift of less than half a breath against the outer wall of the Seal as he passed through the fissure—the crystal's frequency and the Seal's frequency briefly decoupled at the edge of the fissure—and then re-locked.

His body passed through the fissure—dark golden spiritual light pressed against his skin from all directions—the temperature was nearly one degree lower than the seawater.

Four and a half breaths.

His feet touched solid ground.

As soon as the fifth breath arrived—the fissure behind him silently sealed.

The outer wall of the Seal returned to its complete state—the crack patterns on the transparent membrane were one layer denser than before after the sealing.

The roars of the Haiyuan Clan were completely isolated outside the Seal.

Lu Changyuan stood straight and returned the crystal to his inner sleeve pocket.

He first looked ahead—and then looked down at his feet.

The ground beneath his feet was an dark copper alloy plate forged by ancient Artifact Refining techniques—most of the ancient Array Pattern reliefs on the plate's surface had been worn smooth by time.

The worn-away areas left only very shallow, faint indentations of the patterns—under the illumination of the cold light Spirit Stone on the dome, they looked like a layer of extremely thin ice patterns covering the metal surface.

The dome was extremely high—the cold light Spirit Stone had been illuminating the dome constantly for thousands of years—the light did not flicker—but the color temperature was cold—the ice-blue cold light illuminated the entire foyer as if it were frozen in a layer of extremely thin ice shell.

In front of the foyer—twelve deep, forking Array path entrances were lined up in a row.

On the stone wall of each entrance was embedded a sensing Array Pattern.

The lines of the Array Pattern—were of the same origin as the fragments on the black crystal.

The twelve entrances extended side by side under the ice-blue cold light—each entrance had the same width, the same height, and the same arrangement of sensing Array Patterns on the stone walls.

The naked eye could not distinguish any difference.

Shadow One pressed her right hand on the hilt of her short sword—swept a glance over the twelve forks—her gaze stopping on each entrance for less than half a breath.

"Twelve paths—all the same."

"The entrances are the same. The Array paths inside are different."

Lu Changyuan took the black crystal out from his inner sleeve pocket and walked toward the first entrance on the far left.

He pressed the crystal against the sensing Array Pattern on the stone wall of the first entrance.

The crystal vibrated—the frequency of the vibration transmitted from the bottom of the crystal to his palm—like an insect trapped under ice, hitting the ice surface with its wings.

Dead end.

The second—vibrated. The third—vibrated. The fourth—vibrated more intensely—the dark golden fine lines on the bottom of the crystal flashed during the vibration and then rapidly extinguished.

The fifth—vibrated. The sixth—vibrated. The seventh—vibrated—vibrating so hard it made the web between his thumb and index finger numb.

Shadow Two stood three steps behind him—her short sword already drawn half an inch.

Her gaze locked onto the dark depths of each entrance—the instinct of a Shadow Guard—predicting in unfamiliar terrain what might suddenly rush out from the darkness of the entrance.

The eighth—the vibration weakened.

The ninth—vibrated—but the frequency of the vibration was less than half a percent slower than the previous few.

The tenth—did not vibrate at all.

Lu Changyuan pressed the crystal onto the stone wall of the tenth entrance.

The crystal was quiet in his palm—no vibration—no pulse change—the fine lines on the bottom of the crystal maintained a constant dark golden glow.

He withdrew his hand—and pressed it on again. Still no vibration.

The eleventh—slight vibration—extremely fine and weak—but the crystal was moving.

The twelfth—did not vibrate at all.

Three paths of life.

The tenth, the twelfth—and the third.

The third—the Array path that Old Mo described as "independent from beginning to end."

It did not intersect with any other dead-end paths in terms of spiritual power lines.

When the crystal was pressed onto it—there was absolutely no reaction.

From the moment the crystal touched the stone wall until it was removed—his fingertips felt no spiritual power pulses returning—it was so quiet it was as if the crystal had been placed into an ordinary stone without any spiritual power fluctuations.

The most special one.

Lu Changyuan returned the crystal to his palm—and walked back to the center of the foyer—comparing the positions of the three life paths in his mind with the three judgment criteria marked on the deduction paper one by one.

Old Mo's first criterion: The wind speed in the northwest corner was less than half a percent faster than in the southeast corner.

He closed his eyes—feeling the residual ventilation in the foyer.

A Seal of several thousand years—the internal air circulation was maintained by the tiny leak from the fissure in the Seal.

The northwest corner—the direction of the first life path entrance—the force of the wind on his face was a tiny bit heavier than in the southeast corner.

Less than half a percent—but his False Core level spiritual sense could perceive it.

The second criterion: The Spiritual Pressure directly above was less than half a unit higher than the other eleven.

He probed his Divine Sense upward—directly above the twelve forks—at the dome position of the twelfth entrance—the density of Spiritual Pressure had a layer of extremely thin, faint oppression compared to other areas.

Less than half a unit—the spiritual power density of the Array path leading to the main hall was naturally higher than that of the dead-end paths.

The difference was minimal—but his spiritual sense, having touched the False Core Bottleneck, could perceive it.

The third criterion: The third path—the crystal did not vibrate at all.

He had already verified this just now.

The third Array path was independent from beginning to end—the only one among the twelve forks that did not intersect with other Array paths on the spiritual power line diagram.

Each of the nine dead-end paths intersected with at least one life path on the line diagram—only the third one was completely independent.

Three life paths—locked.

"Which one do we take?"

Leng Feng asked.

Lu Changyuan did not answer immediately.

He pulled the deduction paper out from his inner sleeve pocket—and reread the three identification criteria marked by Old Mo under the cold light Spirit Stone.

Then he raised his head—his gaze sweeping over each of the three life path entrances.

The tenth—the one where the northwest wind was half a percent faster.

The twelfth—the one where the Spiritual Pressure directly above was half a unit higher.

The third—the one where the crystal did not vibrate at all and which was independent from beginning to end.

All three led to the main hall.

Old Mo's deduction conclusion—taking any of them would lead there.

Just at this moment—a muffled sound came from the direction of the sixth dead-end path on the left.

The echo of some kind of metal striking the Array wall—heavy, muffled—different from the explosive sound of Magic Treasure bombardment; Magic Treasure bombardment would be accompanied by a sharp tail sound of dissipating spiritual power, whereas this sound was purely the physical impact of metal against the Array wall.

The echo transmitted through the dark copper alloy floor of the foyer to his feet—vibrating an extremely fine and dense tremor pattern under his soles.

Then the second sound—the third sound.

The intervals became shorter and shorter—the force became stronger and stronger.

Lu Changyuan turned his head to look at the sixth entrance.

On the stone wall of the dead-end entrance—the sensing Array Pattern was flashing.

The frequency of the flashing was chaotic—flickering on and off—the interval of each flash was nearly half as short as the normal flash triggered by crystal injection—this was a stress-induced flash triggered by the backlash force inside the Trapping Array.

The Trapping Array light screen was vaguely visible deep in the dead-end passage—a layer of extremely faint, thin gray-white light wall—behind the light wall—there were shadows moving.

Shadow One's short sword was already in her hand.

"There is something inside."

"It is not something."

Lu Changyuan folded the deduction paper—and put it back into his inner sleeve pocket— "It is people."

He pressed the black crystal into his palm—and walked toward the sixth entrance.

The crystal vibrated once as it approached the Trapping Array light screen—the spiritual power of the ancient Killing Array remaining inside the Trapping Array left a very sharp spiritual power fluctuation within the crystal's sensing range.

Leng Feng followed behind him—the observation scope was already raised to his eyes—the scope aimed at those shadows behind the Trapping Array light screen.

Inside the scope—dozens of Cultivators in various attires were frantically bombarding the Killing Array light wall that trapped them.

Magic Treasure, Talisman, Sword Qi—each attack that smashed onto the light wall could only leave a shallow mark for less than half a breath—and then the light wall repaired itself.

At the front of the crowd—a person was holding a Forbidden-Breaking Formation Plate and pressing it against the light wall—the sensing lines on the edge of the Formation Plate lit up one by one—and then extinguished one by one—it could not be broken.

That person—Lu Changyuan had seen him before.

Shopkeeper Qian of the Wanbao Pavilion.

The person who signed the Spirit Contract at the Wei Family trading hall six days ago.

His Dharma robe was torn in three places at this moment—his left sleeve was torn off from below the elbow by the backlash of Sword Qi—his right hand still gripped that ineffective Forbidden-Breaking Formation Plate tightly.

The expression on his face—was like a different person compared to when he was looking through the Monitoring Division's data at the trading hall six days ago.

"Why is he here?"

Shadow One lowered her voice— "He should be outside."

Lu Changyuan flipped the crystal over in his palm.

The crystal was ice-cold—stable—composed.

His gaze swept over each of the faces behind the Trapping Array light wall—Shopkeeper Qian, several unfamiliar faces wearing the attire of Loose Cultivator, and at least twenty others he did not recognize.

There were at least thirty people in the Trapping Array.

The Killing Array of the dead-end path was still operating—the spiritual power density inside the light wall was slowly climbing under the crystal's sensing.

In less than half an hour—the killing power inside the Trapping Array would rise to a level that even a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator could not withstand.

"Because they could not wait."

Lu Changyuan put the crystal back into his inner sleeve pocket— "The gate has not opened yet—and they already want to seize the opportunity."

He stood in front of the Trapping Array light wall—and did not take action immediately.

He watched Shopkeeper Qian press that ineffective Forbidden-Breaking Formation Plate against the light wall once again—the sensing lines on the edge of the Formation Plate lit up one by one again—and extinguished one by one again.

Shopkeeper Qian's fingers were white from gripping the edge of the Formation Plate—his knuckles protruding—at least a dozen cracks had been pressed into the surface of the Formation Plate by him.

"Shopkeeper Qian—"

Lu Changyuan's voice was not loud—but everyone inside the Trapping Array stopped their movements simultaneously upon hearing this voice— "The Spirit Contract you signed at the trading hall—took effect six days ago. Your goods—have already been sold. Why are you here?"