21: Chapter 21 Disturbing the Array Core, Bane of Blood Floods Out

Flee immediately? Perhaps that was the safest choice, but it also meant giving up all the clues and potential Opportunities before him, and burying the secrets he had acquired regarding Chen Mo, the evil sword, and the ancient cultivator's Immortal Cave forever.

Barge in directly? That would be certain death; a mere wisp of the evil sword's aura could crush someone at his Second Level of Qi Refining.

Then, there was only one path to take—perform a precise "disturbance" on the periphery.

Like the lightest feather landing on the edge of a snow-capped peak about to collapse, attempting to trigger a controllable avalanche.

The goal: utilize the current instability of the Inner Chamber suppression Formation, along with the ancient ring's special sensitivity to Evil Qi, to find potential Formation nodes or weak points in the outer chamber and apply a tiny but precise "push." He didn't seek direct gain, only to exacerbate the chaos; perhaps in the chaos, there might be unexpected discoveries, or... lay the groundwork for some future moment.

Lin Ye's eyes were calm as he took a deep breath, suppressing the dizziness caused by his damaged Divine Soul. He had to find that "node" first.

He did not rashly use his Divine Soul to probe the Inner Chamber gate again. Instead, he focused all his attention on the outer chamber stone room itself.

Master Xuanyuan was an ancient cultivator, so the layout of his Immortal Cave must have a method to it. As a gateway and buffer, the outer chamber stone room likely had some sort of spiritual energy connection or auxiliary structure with the Inner Chamber's suppression Formation.

His gaze first fell upon the damaged teleportation Formation on the central stone platform. Those silver runes... were they of the same origin as the Restriction on the Inner Chamber? He tried to approach and used the ancient ring to sense them. The ancient ring had little reaction to the teleportation Formation itself, but when his Qi inadvertently swept over several inconspicuous carvings on the edge of the stone platform, which resembled flow channels, the ancient ring stirred slightly.

Next, he looked at the carvings on the surrounding walls. Especially those patterns depicting mountains, rivers, and the flow of spiritual energy. When he concentrated the icy Qi of the Ice Soul Sword Art into his eyes and used the sharp intent of the ancient ring to "see," the lines of certain carvings seemed to vaguely form a blurry, three-dimensional schematic of a spiritual energy circuit with the stone platform and the direction of the Inner Chamber gate!

"Is this... where spiritual energy converges?"

"This... looks like a monitoring node?"

Like solving a puzzle, he moved slowly within the stone room, combining the sporadic information about the stone room's structure that occasionally appeared via Opportunity visualization (such as [The stone room has a weak warning Restriction (ineffective)]), piecing together the possible Formation pathways bit by bit.

Finally, his gaze locked onto a floor tile directly beneath the abandoned Pill Furnace on the west wall.

The color of the floor tile was no different from the surrounding ones, but when he pressed his ear to the ground and injected a trace of icy Qi to conduct it through the floor, he could vaguely feel an extremely faint, rhythmic "humming" coming from below, which was minutely synchronized with the vibrations coming from the direction of the Inner Chamber gate!

"This is it!" Lin Ye was almost certain that beneath or around this floor tile, there existed a weak spiritual energy channel connecting the Inner and outer chambers, very likely one of the "Formation veins" used back then to monitor the outer chamber or provide auxiliary spiritual energy support to the Inner Chamber's suppression Formation!

Now, this Formation vein was in an active but chaotic state due to the instability of the Inner Chamber's suppression Formation and the impact of the Evil Qi.

His plan was simple: inject an "alien" spiritual energy pulse with strong "Geng Metal sharpness" (ancient ring) and "icy" (Ice Soul Sword Art) attributes into this Formation vein, much like dropping a single drop of ice water into a sizzling hot wok of oil.

The purpose was not to destroy, but to "stimulate," to exacerbate its chaos and see what kind of chain reaction it would trigger.

He sat cross-legged beside this floor tile, pressing his left hand onto it, while holding a Low-Grade Spirit Stone in his right hand to replenish his consumption.

First, he adjusted his state to the optimum, with the Qi Concealment Technique protecting his body.

Then, he mobilized all the icy Qi within his Dantian, highly compressing and refining it.

At the same time, he communicated with the ancient ring on his left hand, drawing out the newly born sharp intent that had fused with Geng Metal Qi, carefully peeling off strands of intent and slowly fusing them with the compressed icy Qi.

This was a delicate and dangerous process. Ice and metal, though not directly conflicting, had vastly different attributes, and forcing them to fuse was extremely prone to losing control. Lin Ye was fully focused, sweat appearing on his forehead. Relying on the ancient ring's own harmonizing power and his precise control over spiritual energy (significantly improved at the Second Level of Qi Refining), he barely managed to gather an extremely unstable mixture of spiritual energy—pale silver interspersed with icy blue starlight—in his palm.

Now!

His eyes sharpened. His palm pressed tightly against the floor tile, and he violently injected this "alien pulse," mixed with the sharp intent of the ancient ring and the icy Qi of the Ice Soul Sword Art, into the Formation vein below!

Hum—!!!

The floor tile instantly lit up with a blinding white light! A powerful backlash force surged forth, numbing Lin Ye's arm.

Immediately after, the entire outer chamber stone room began to shake violently! It was more intense than any vibration that had come from the Inner Chamber before!

The light from the illumination pearls flickered wildly!

The silver runes on the central stone platform flashed frantically!

And the pale blue runes on that Inner Chamber gate erupted with unprecedented, brilliant light, then flickered on and off, as if the spiritual energy conflict inside had reached its peak!

"Roar——!!!"

A silent roar (acting directly upon his Divine Soul) that seemed to come from the Nine Nether Hell, filled with endless ferocity, pain, and anger, pierced through the heavy stone door and Restrictions, slamming fiercely into Lin Ye's mind!

It was that evil sword! It had been completely enraged! Or, had Lin Ye's "alien pulse" accidentally "helped" it strike at some key Seal node?

Blood seeped from all seven of Lin Ye's orifices, his head feeling as if it were splitting, but he gritted his teeth and held on, his eyes locked firmly on the Inner Chamber gate and the center of the stone room!

The expected chaos had arrived, and it far exceeded his projections!

After the pale blue runes on the Inner Chamber gate flashed frantically for a few seconds, the light in a small area suddenly dimmed, as if something had "corroded" a small hole from the inside!

Sss—!

A wisp of Sword Qi, condensed into substance, pitch-black as ink but with dark red blood-colored light gleaming at its edges, actually shot out from that small hole!

This Sword Qi was only the thickness of a chopstick, yet it carried a terrifying Evil Qi that could tear apart a Soul. It did not attack any target, but instead, like a headless fly, it crazily shuttled and refracted within the outer chamber stone room!

Bang, bang, bang! Sss, sss, sss!

Wherever the Sword Qi passed, deep marks were left on the stone walls, and the air was filled with the smell of char and sulfurous Evil Qi.

One of the refracted Sword Qi beams, by some coincidence, was shooting right towards the direction of the Pill Furnace where Lin Ye was hiding!

The speed was astonishing! He couldn't dodge it!

Lin Ye's pupils shrank. At this life-and-death moment, inspiration struck him. He didn't use his short blade to parry (that would definitely be shattered along with the blade by the Sword Qi), but instead, he violently raised his left hand, aiming the index finger wearing the ancient ring at the incoming Evil Qi Sword Qi!

The ancient ring had a sensitivity to Evil Qi, a craving for it! Gamble on it!

Hum!

The dark silver ancient ring, at the moment the Evil Qi Sword Qi reached his body, erupted with unprecedented light, mixing silver-white and pale gold! A tiny, rapidly rotating Sword Qi vortex instantly formed on the ring's surface!

That ferocious Evil Qi Sword Qi, as if encountering its nemesis, or like a moth to a flame, actually plunged headlong into that tiny Sword Qi vortex!

"Urgh ah——!" Lin Ye let out a low, painful roar. His left index finger felt a piercing, bone-deep pain, as if it were about to be burst apart! The ancient ring vibrated frantically, its temperature rising sharply, becoming incredibly scalding!

It was devouring this Sword Qi! But the level of Evil Qi in this Sword Qi was too high, too violent!

The cloud patterns on the surface of the ancient ring lit up and spread at an unprecedented speed, even beginning to spread to the back of Lin Ye's hand and his wrist! A trace of ominous dark red was mixed into the dark silver.

And that chopstick-thick Evil Qi Sword Qi was being devoured, worn down, and converted by the vortex at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Just at the moment when this Sword Qi was about to be completely devoured—

Whoosh!

From that small hole in the Inner Chamber gate's runes, another thing flew out!

It wasn't Sword Qi, but a small, dull, seemingly carved from bone... band? Ring?

This thing seemed to have been "shaken" out from somewhere in the Inner Chamber by the intense energy impact and the eruption of Evil Qi just now. It happened to pass through the small hole in the runes, fell onto the stone room floor, and rolled, clattering, to the side of the central stone platform.

And that small hole on the Inner Chamber gate, which had been corroded by the Evil Qi, after spewing out these two things, saw the surrounding pale blue runes seemingly stimulated; their light flared brilliantly, and they quickly closed up and repaired themselves, returning to their original state in the blink of an eye, leaving only faint traces.

The vibrations and that terrifying roar of Evil Qi in the stone room also rapidly weakened and subsided along with the repair of the runes.

Everything seemed to have returned to its previous calm.

Only Lin Ye was half-kneeling beside the Pill Furnace, his left hand held high, the light on the ancient ring on his index finger flickering intermittently, with dark red patterns appearing and disappearing. He himself was pale, drenched in sweat, as if he had just been fished out of the water.

And, in the center of the stone room, that quietly lying, inconspicuous bone ring.