296: Chapter 296 Extracting the Void God Stone: Preparations for the Teleportation Array

A thin morning mist swirled in the depths of the Imperial Palace. Xu Chen stepped onto the bluestone path, which shimmered with a cold, hard luster, and stopped before an ancient mountain surrounded by nine Spiritual Veins.

This was the most heavily guarded core treasury of the Xu Family.

The entire treasury had been built by hollowing out half of an Immemorial Divine Mountain. The two bronze gates, standing a hundred zhang tall, were covered in the marks of axes and blades from ages past, as well as dense, flickering Imperial Rank killing Formation patterns that emitted a daunting cold light.

Before the gates, two stone statues of exotic beasts that originally had their eyes tightly shut suddenly snapped them open the moment they sensed Xu Chen's approach, shooting out two beams of solidified golden light.

However, upon clearly seeing Xu Chen's face and sensing the newly stabilized, abyss-like pressure of a Saint King within him, the fierce light in the beasts' eyes instantly transformed into reverence. They obediently lowered their heads and turned back into inanimate objects.

A ripple stirred in the void, and a hunched figure condensed from the shadows.

This was the Treasury Elder responsible for guarding the core treasury. His cultivation had long ago reached the Peak of the Great Saint realm, only half a step away from touching the threshold of a Quasi-Emperor.

“Old servant greets the Young Lord.” The Treasury Elder bowed slightly, his cloudy old eyes flashing with undisguised fanaticism and relief. “Congratulations to the Young Lord for stepping into the Saint King realm. I thought I would have to wait several hundred more years to see a young monarch emerge from the Xu Family.”

Xu Chen nodded slightly and raised his hand to give a virtual support.

“Elder, you may dispense with the formalities. I have come today because I need to take something.”

“Please speak, Young Lord. The Family Head has already issued a decree that the Young Lord may freely use any of the resources within this treasury.” The Treasury Elder smiled and stepped aside halfway, pressing his withered palm against the giant bronze gates and circulating spiritual power to undo layer upon layer of Seals.

Accompanied by a tooth-aching, dull roar, the hundred-zhang-high bronze gates slowly swung open to both sides. A wave of air, mixed with the fragrance of ten-thousand-year-old medicinal herbs, the sharp aura of ancient weaponry, and dense Spiritual Qi, rushed toward him.

Xu Chen walked inside with his hands behind his back.

The space inside the treasury was like an independent Small World. At a glance, piles of top-grade divine source were stacked like mountains, emitting a piercing brilliance. Various Immortal Plants that had long since gone extinct in the outside world and ancient scriptures sealed in crystal jade boxes floated in mid-air like stars.

Xu Chen walked straight through the first few areas until he reached the spatial secret chamber at the deepest part of the treasury, which was specifically used to store special divine Materials.

The furnishings here became sparse, but around every item, there were turbulent flows of Laws powerful enough to shred an ordinary Saint.

Xu Chen's gaze passed over several fragments of True Dragon bones and locked onto a white jade altar in the center of the secret chamber.

Floating there was a fist-sized stone that was translucent and silver-gray throughout.

It hung quietly in mid-air, and the surrounding light would undergo eerie distortions and refractions as it approached the stone.

Looking closely, the surface of this stone seemed to contain countless overlapping spatial faults, appearing clear at times and illusory at others, as if it might melt into the void and escape at any moment.

This was the core material for refining a cross-domain teleportation grand Formation: the void divine stone.

Xu Chen extended his right hand, his palm surging with a layer of purple-gold Hongmeng Origin, and reached directly into that distorted spatial turbulence.

The void divine stone seemed to sense danger, and its entire body erupted with a piercing silver glow as it attempted to slice through the spatial barriers to flee.

However, under the suppression of the Saint King-level Hongmeng Origin, the space around it was completely locked down. Like a fish caught in a swamp, it could only obediently fall into Xu Chen's palm.

It felt cold to the touch, as if he were holding a mass of starlight without substance.

Xu Chen nodded with satisfaction.

With a thought, he summoned the 'Nine Heavens and Ten Lands Void Crossing Formation Plate' from the System space.

As soon as the simple and unadorned Formation Plate appeared, it produced a strong resonance with the void divine stone in Xu Chen's hand. The complex and profound spatial Formation patterns on the plate seemed to come alive, greedily absorbing the spatial fluctuations emitted by the Divine Stone.

Looking at these two divine objects in his hand, which were sufficient to open a path through the barriers between two worlds, Xu Chen tightened his fingers and gripped them firmly.

The Materials were now complete.

Next would be to engrave the grand Formation and open that broad road leading to the Eastern Wasteland.

Xu Chen placed the Divine Stone and the Formation Plate into his storage ring, turned around, and walked out of the spatial secret chamber with long strides.

Passing through the giant bronze gates, Xu Chen stopped and turned to look at the Treasury Elder who was waiting respectfully outside.

“Elder, immediately send a message to the Grand Elder to meet me at the back mountain.”

Xu Chen's voice was low and powerful, carrying the majesty of a Saint King and an unquestionable decisiveness.

The Treasury Elder's expression turned solemn as he bowed respectfully. “This old servant understands. I will see to it immediately.”

Xu Chen nodded slightly, his black python robe snapping in the morning wind.

He did not return to his sleeping quarters but instead transformed into a purple-gold beam of light, soaring into the sky. With a terrifying speed that tore through the void, he sped directly toward the Forbidden Ground of the Xu Family's back mountain.

...

The Xu Family's back mountain Forbidden Ground, core area.

This was an absolute restricted zone where the Old Ancestors of the Xu Family underwent secluded cultivation and suppressed the Family's foundations. It was shrouded year-round in Chaos mist, and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was so dense it turned into liquid spiritual springs that gurgled through the mountain streams.

The purple-gold light pierced the sky like a reverse meteor, landing steadily on the summit of a white jade Peak that had been leveled off.

The terrain here was extremely high with a wide field of vision, and it happened to be at the intersection of ninety-nine of the Xu Family's underground Dragon Veins, making it an excellent site for setting up a large-scale Formation.

Before long, ripples appeared in the void.

The Grand Elder, leading twelve Family reclusive consecrated experts with unfathomable auras, tore through space and descended onto the edge of the White Jade Peak.

“Young Lord.” The Grand Elder bowed slightly, his tone carrying a hint of urgency. “I wonder what important matter prompted the Young Lord to summon me so urgently?”

“I intend to engrave a cross-domain teleportation grand Formation here. Take your men and blockade the surrounding thousand miles to act as my Protectors.”

Xu Chen stood at the summit with his hands behind his back, the mountain wind whipping his robes, his tone indifferent.

Hearing this, the Grand Elder's cloudy old eyes snapped wide, and he blurted out, “A cross-domain grand Formation?! Young Lord, where... where are you going?”

“The Eastern Wasteland, Great Xia Dynasty.”

“The Eastern Wasteland?” The Grand Elder was completely bewildered. “Young Lord, didn't you go to the Ancient Battlefield in the Central Province for training before? When did you ever visit that remote Eastern Wasteland?”

Seeing the Grand Elder's world-shattering shock, a faint smile curled at the corner of Xu Chen's mouth as he began to explain unhurriedly.

“There was a hidden spatial rift deep within the Ancient Battlefield. I accidentally fell into it at the time, and the exit happened to be in the Great Xia Dynasty of the Eastern Wasteland. I felt it would be too much trouble to explain when I returned, so I didn't tell you in detail.”

The Grand Elder nodded in sudden realization. So the Young Lord had such a fortuitous encounter in the Ancient Battlefield.

Just as the Grand Elder was about to ask what he was going to the Eastern Wasteland for, Xu Chen's expression remained unchanged as he casually dropped a bombshell.

“By the way, I left some Bloodline behind for the Xu Family over there. Counting the days, those two Young Mistresses' bellies should be so large that it's difficult for them to move. The Eastern Wasteland is poor in Spiritual Qi; it's time to bring them back to Di Prefecture to nurture their pregnancies.”

The summit of the White Jade Peak fell into a deathly silence.

The Grand Elder sucked in a breath of cold air, his white beard trembling violently. He stared wide-eyed at his Young Lord as if he were looking at a monster.

The Young Lord went to the Ancient Battlefield, fell into a spatial rift, and not only returned in one piece but also wiped out Soul Hall experts and brought back a zither girl and a business empress. That was one thing.

But now he was being told that in some Great Xia Dynasty, the Young Lord had quietly knocked up two women?!

After a brief moment of shock and mental paralysis, what followed was a state of delirious ecstasy.

“Two... two Young Mistresses?! And they're pregnant?!”

The Grand Elder was so excited his face turned red, and his voice even became shrill from the hype. “The Young Lord is wise! The Young Lord is simply an unprecedented genius of procreation in our Xu Family's history!”

The Grand Elder rubbed his hands together excitedly on the spot, turning to look at the distant void, wishing he could grow a pair of wings and fly to the Eastern Wasteland immediately.

“How can the noble Bloodline of my Xu Family be left to suffer in such a remote place! We must bring them back! Bring them back immediately!”

The Grand Elder suddenly turned around and roared at the twelve consecrated experts, who were also in a daze. “Are you all deaf?! Didn't you hear the Young Lord say he's going to bring the Young Mistresses carrying the Xu Family Bloodline back to the clan?! Set up the Formation immediately! Not even a single fly is allowed in! If anyone dares to delay the Young Lord from retrieving his people, I will personally hack them alive!”

The twelve consecrated experts snapped out of it and shouted their assent in unison. Their figures transformed into beams of light, each occupying one of twelve positions, sealing this part of the world completely.

Looking at the Grand Elder, who was acting as if he had been injected with chicken blood, Xu Chen focused his mind.

He raised his right hand, and that translucent 'void divine stone' slowly emerged. As the Saint King-level Hongmeng Origin was injected, the Divine Stone erupted with a piercing silver-gray pillar of light that shot straight into the clouds.

“Formation Plate, out!”

Xu Chen gave a low shout, and the 'Nine Heavens and Ten Lands Void Crossing Formation Plate' shot out, hovering directly above the void divine stone.

“Rise!”

Xu Chen pressed his two fingers together, using them as a pen.

He channeled the majestic power of the spatial Laws within the void divine stone and began to engrave complex Formation patterns across the vast flat ground of the White Jade Peak's summit with a flourish.

Screech! Screech! Screech!

The Saint King-level finger strength sliced through the incredibly hard ten-thousand-year-old white jade as easily as a knife through tofu. Every time a Formation pattern was laid down, it caused the surrounding space to let out a pained wail. Tiny pitch-black spatial rifts flickered at the edges of the strokes, only to be forcibly stitched back together by Xu Chen's Hongmeng Origin.

In less than half an hour, a giant spatial Formation over a hundred zhang in diameter, shaped like a Taiji Bagua, was completely formed on the summit.

“Embed!”

Xu Chen pressed down with his hand, and the Formation Plate in mid-air descended with the force of a thunderbolt, precisely embedding itself into the Formation eye's groove at the very center of the array. The void divine stone was swallowed by the Formation Plate, transforming into a brilliant silver nebula that became the energy core driving the entire grand Formation.

Boom!

The moment the Formation Plate clicked into place, the entire White Jade Peak shook violently. The surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi turned into visible tornadoes, frantically pouring into the Formation eye.

“Spatial barrier, open for me!”

Xu Chen stood at the edge of the Formation, his eyes snapping open. His hands quickly formed Seals, pushing the spatial Laws to their limit, transforming them into an invisible blade that stabbed fiercely at the invisible world barrier above his head.

Crack!

Accompanied by a crisp, loud sound like glass shattering.

The void above the White Jade Peak was forcibly torn open, creating a pitch-black rift several dozen zhang long.

Deep within that massive pitch-black rift, a spatial tunnel paved with countless silver runes and stabilized to the extreme was rapidly extending outward, penetrating through layers of planar obstacles and pointing straight toward the coordinates of the Eastern Wasteland's Great Xia Dynasty.

In the center of the Formation.

The spatial tunnel had completely stabilized, emitting a soft silver glow.

Xu Chen turned his head and looked at the Grand Elder guarding him from a distance. “Notify the Internal Affairs Pavilion to immediately prepare the two halls with the most abundant Spiritual Qi. Gather all the warm jade for nurturing the soul and the Immortal Plants for stabilizing pregnancy from the storehouse.”

“This old servant obeys! Rest assured, Young Lord, everything at home will be in order!”

Xu Chen nodded, waved his black python robe, and his tall figure stepped directly into the spatial tunnel emitting the silver glow.

Accompanied by a slight spatial fluctuation, Xu Chen's figure completely vanished.

...

Meanwhile, at the other end of the tunnel.

Eastern Wasteland, Great Xia Dynasty, deep within the Imperial Palace.

Inside the Imperial Study, which symbolized the highest power of Great Xia.

Wu Mingkong, dressed in her nine-clawed golden dragon robe, sat behind a large Phoebe zhennan desk. Her once majestic and cold, beautiful face now bore a hint of hard-to-conceal fatigue, and her previously flat lower abdomen now showed a clear bulge.

Wu Mingkong put down her cinnabar brush and gently rubbed her brow.

Suddenly, the originally calm air in the Imperial Study distorted violently without any warning.