195: Chapter 194 The Magic Array that Separates Auras! The First Monster Hunt in the Void Corridor
After the Chaos Light Sphere exploded on the ground, leaving a circular scorch mark dozens of meters in diameter, the entire ruins fell into a brief silence.
The Void Stone Scorpions that had crawled out of the sand were all reduced to ash.
Only a few scattered stone scorpions hiding in the distance burrowed deep into the ground, not even daring to show their tails.
Lin Feng descended from the air, the Wind Wings slowly folding behind his back.
He knelt down to inspect the scorch marks on the ground.
The sand at the edges had been melted by the high temperature into a glass-like substance, reflecting a dim luster in the gloomy light.
The power of the Chaos Light Sphere was even greater than he had anticipated, but the mana consumption remained within a controllable range.
He was about to continue forward when he suddenly felt a chill down his back.
That chill didn't come from a change in temperature, but from the sensation of being watched by something.
It was as if countless pairs of eyes were staring at him from the darkness—from the cracks in the ruins, from deep underground, and from the shadows of the collapsed buildings.
His current Elemental Perception range had expanded by nearly thirty percent compared to the outside world; his Light Element Affinity and Earth element affinity were exceptionally active in this environment, as if triggered by some kind of stress response.
Precisely because his perception was so sharp, he had instead become the most conspicuous target in this area.
The light element fluctuations radiating from his body against the dense background of void energy were like a lantern lit in the dark of night, drawing the gaze of all void creatures.
Xiao Guang poked its head out of his pocket, its golden eyebrows furrowed into a bunch.
"Lin Feng, don't you think we're a bit too conspicuous? I feel like things are staring at us from all directions—there are at least three in that half-collapsed office building on the left, two hiding under that pile of rubble on the right, and more faint auras are approaching from further away. They seem to have mistaken you for a glowing, mobile midnight snack stall."
It had already struck a hand seal pose, ready to stack a Taixu Shield on itself at any moment.
"Indeed."
Lin Feng nodded.
His current state was too eye-catching, not only because of the energy leakage caused by his high Light Element Affinity but also because the elemental aura lingering on him after releasing the Chaos Light Sphere was too strong.
In an environment where perception was amplified, this state was practically broadcasting his coordinates to all void creatures.
He thought for a moment, pulled out the void mithril ring from his pocket, and began searching through it with his consciousness.
The "Void Creature Illustrated Guide" his Master had given him mentioned a specific tool for masking one's aura called a "Breath-Concealing Talisman," which could suppress the user's elemental fluctuations for a certain period.
He flipped through a few pages and found the talisman.
It was palm-sized, the talisman paper was dark gray, and the silver-white runes on it were drawn so densely that it looked like a miniature spider web.
He stuck the talisman to his chest; the runes brightened for a moment and then dimmed, but the surrounding aura didn't weaken much.
"The effect of this talisman is mediocre; it can only suppress a portion of the elemental fluctuations and can't block all perception. Void creatures don't find prey with their eyes; they rely on sensing fluctuations in void energy. Your current light element fluctuations are as conspicuous as a bonfire in the night in this area; even if you suppress them by seventy percent, the remaining thirty percent is enough for them to lock onto your position."
Xiao Guang looked down at its small golden hands, and its eyes suddenly lit up.
"Lin Feng! I can use a Formation to help you isolate your aura! I saw a 'Breath-Hiding Array' in the Taigu Secret Realm specifically designed to mask a Cultivator's spiritual power fluctuations, making them undetectable to the outside world. Over there, whether it's Yao Beasts or other Cultivators, anyone wanting to hide their tracks relies on this kind of Formation. However, I need some Materials—at least ten Spirit Stones; the higher the quality, the better the effect. Purple Spirit Stones work best, blue are second, and green are barely enough."
As it spoke, it was already pulling Spirit Stones out of its tiny Storage Ring—it hadn't been willing to spend a single one of the purple Spirit Stones Lin Feng had given it before, and they were all neatly stacked inside the Storage Ring.
"See, I have the Materials. It's just that the runes for that Formation are quite complex to draw, so I'll need a few minutes. Release Xiao Jin first and have it guard the perimeter—those stone scorpions that didn't die earlier will definitely take the chance to crawl back. Also, do you have any cinnabar or blood ink? If not, I can use Spirit Stone powder as a substitute, though the effect will be slightly diminished."
Lin Feng took out ten Golden Spirit Stones from the void mithril ring and handed them to Xiao Guang.
"No cinnabar. Is Spirit Stone powder enough?"
"Enough, enough! The quality of these Golden Spirit Stones is even better than the High-Grade Spirit Stones from the Taigu Dojo; grinding them into powder to draw runes will be at least as effective as tribute cinnabar. Help me grind them into powder first, the finer the better—fine enough to float in the air."
Xiao Guang took the Spirit Stones, picked out two of them, held them above its head with its small golden hands, and slammed them down hard against a flat piece of concrete rubble.
The Spirit Stones shattered, and golden shards flew in all directions.
It knelt on the ground, gathering the fragments with its small palms, then picked a sharp-edged stone to use as a mortar to press the Spirit Stone fragments into a fine powder.
It muttered as it pressed.
"I haven't ground Spirit Stones by hand in over ten thousand years, so I'm a bit out of practice, but the strength is still there. When we were refining Formations at the Taigu Dojo, grinding Spirit Stone powder was a basic skill every Disciple had to Master. Back then, I'd sit in the corner of the alchemy room watching those Disciples grind powder while complaining about their sore hands, and they were even slower than you are now—this piece's edge is too coarse, let's swap it."
Lin Feng knelt down to help it collect the Spirit Stone powder onto a clean sheet of white paper.
After all ten Golden Spirit Stones were ground into powder, Xiao Guang dipped a fingertip into a bit of the powder and tested the texture in its palm.
"It's ready. This fineness is enough to draw high-level runes."
It walked up to Lin Feng and signaled for him to squat down to maintain eye level.
Then, using its fingertip dipped in Spirit Stone powder, it began to draw runes on the combat suit on his chest.
The first stroke landed right in the center of his chest, the fingertip tracing an arc from the center toward the left shoulder; the arc split into two branches halfway, one looping over the left shoulder and the other sinking toward the ribs.
The golden powder left a faint trail on the black combat suit, glowing slightly in the dim light like a constellation being drawn in the night sky.
"This is a ring Formation, with your core Meridians as the Formation eye. I need to draw four main pulses on your body—the Heart Meridian, Governor Meridian, Conception Meridian, and Girdle Meridian. Each pulse will have three branch runes, totaling twelve, exactly corresponding to the Twelve Palaces of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. Once finished, all runes will activate simultaneously, forming an extremely thin spiritual power barrier on the surface of your body that locks all elemental fluctuations you emit inside the barrier. In other words, from the outside, you'll look no different from a rock—no Spiritual Qi, no fluctuations, and even your breathing will be masked. Void creatures will have to rely on their eyes to find you, and their eyesight is even worse than a human's—most void creatures have no visible light vision at all; they rely on perception, on a set of things we call 'Mana Vision'."
Lin Feng remained motionless while squatting, feeling the golden powder spread across his chest, extending outward from the Heart Meridian, and winding down his left shoulder to his back—Xiao Guang had already climbed onto his shoulder to continue drawing the runes.
There was a faint warmth when the powder touched his skin, like leaning one's face close to a heated furnace wall in winter.
"These Void Stone Scorpions don't rely on their eyes to hunt."
He spoke while feeling the path of the runes.
"They rely on sensing void fluctuations to lock onto targets, much like a bat's echolocation, except bats use sound waves while they use void energy. This Formation you're drawing is equivalent to plugging their ears."
"That's the idea."
Xiao Guang had finished drawing the runes for the four main pulses and was now outlining the branches of the sub-pulses one by one.
It slid down from Lin Feng's back, circled to his front, and began drawing the final rune—the seal for the Formation eye, located right in the center of his chest, which was also the starting point of the first rune, connecting head to tail to form a closed loop.
When its fingertip pressed lightly on the starting point on his chest, the twelve runes lit up simultaneously, and golden light shone from every fine trail of powder, like a fuse being lit and burning along the lines all at once.
The light lasted only for an instant, and then all the runes dimmed together, seeping along with the golden powder beneath the fibers of the combat suit and the surface of the skin, becoming completely invisible to the naked eye.
Lin Feng looked down at himself—there was no change in his appearance, but he could clearly feel that the light element fluctuations surrounding his body were being suppressed by a layer of gentle power.
His perception range still maintained its recently expanded sharpness, but his own energy radiation had dropped to an extremely low level—if he had been like a torch in this gray world before, he had now become an ordinary stone.
"It's done."
Xiao Guang wiped its forehead with its sleeve.
It had performed dozens of hand seals and drawn a full set of runes today, which was no small drain, but its small face was full of triumphant pride.
"This Formation relies entirely on the quality of your Golden Spirit Stone powder; common goods wouldn't last through a few battles, but the powder from these Golden Spirit Stones is enough for you to clear the Void Corridor ten times over."
It was telling the truth—those Golden Spirit Stones were brought back by Lin Feng from the veins of the Taigu Dojo in the Kunlun Secret Realm, and their quality was on a completely different level than standard commercially available Spirit Stones.
Lin Feng moved his shoulder blades and indeed felt no obstruction—the rune operation and his own elemental flow were perfectly synchronized, as if a layer of transparent skin had been applied to his body.
He nodded to Xiao Guang.
"Good work. I'll buy you a new potato chip flavor when we get back."
"Really?! Is that sour cream and onion flavor from last time still in stock? When I was browsing Taobao, I saw the pre-sale had ended. If we can't get that, cheese flavor is fine too; cheese flavor goes well with cola—oh, and that new Sichuan Peppercorn chips, I read reviews saying they're so spicy people can't stop drinking water, I want to try them!"
As it spoke, Xiao Guang pulled a cola can out of its tiny Storage Ring, inserted a straw, took a big gulp, then opened a bag of chips and began munching away noisily.