277: Breakthrough, the Supreme Formation

Outside Black Mountain City, Dahei Mountain.

Qin Jiang set foot on Dahei Mountain, making his way towards the summit.

He did not use Immortal power, merely climbing the mountain with ordinary steps. When he reached halfway up the mountainside, a thick mist suddenly surged around him.

The dense white fog gradually obscured his surroundings, and a black shadow slowly became clear. It was that Black-haired Monkey. To this day, he still didn't know what this Black-haired Monkey was actually called.

The Black-haired Monkey tilted its head, bending it at a ninety-degree angle, then gestured towards the mountain peak as if issuing an invitation.

Qin Jiang frowned slightly. He sensed that the current Black-haired Monkey seemed somewhat different from when the Human Emperor severed the Heavenly Heart.

But he didn't dwell on it too deeply. After all, nearly two hundred thousand years had passed, exceeding the lifespan of some Immortal Lords.

Walking through the dense fog, the spatial Laws around him surged. In just a few steps, he arrived at the summit.

It was the same stone table as before, showing no signs of decay from the passage of time.

A pot of hot tea rested quietly on the stone table, with an inverted teacup placed beside it.

There were still some differences. Now, only one cup remained.

He walked to the stone table, sat down, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank it in one gulp.

The Black-haired Monkey stood to the side. Next to it was a stone slab inscribed with intricate patterns.

Qin Jiang looked over. These patterns were actually a Heavenly Array, impossible to unravel without the expertise of an Array Dao Heavenly Sovereign.

After sitting for a while and finishing his tea, he stood up and walked to the stone slab. The patterns on the slab gradually lit up, giving rise to a complex, transparent orange-yellow spiral structure.

Qin Jiang couldn't help but smile. This was a test of his Array Dao.

He extended his index finger and casually manipulated it. After about half an hour, with a crisp sound, the orange-yellow spiral shattered.

A grating sound echoed as the stone slab automatically slid aside.

Qin Jiang looked inside, a trace of confusion flickering in his eyes.

Reflected in his pupils was the sight beneath the slab: an empty sword slot, with no trace of the human emperor sword.

After a few moments of silence, he reached out with his index finger and lightly touched the sword slot, nodding slightly.

The aura of the human emperor sword still lingered. This meant the Human Emperor did not fail to leave the sword behind.

Then, where did the human emperor sword go?

Only two hundred thousand years had passed since the Human Emperor's benevolent aspect severed the Heavenly Heart. In such a short time, who could have taken the human emperor sword? And who possessed the capability?

Standing up, a profound pattern of light swirled in his eyes, reversing the flow of time within his vision.

When time reached one hundred and eighty thousand years ago, a thick fog appeared in his eyes.

A moment later, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the empty sword slot.

The work of an Immortal King? An existence at the Immortal King level had intervened, disrupting the spacetime from one hundred and eighty thousand years ago.

One hundred and eighty thousand years ago was very close to the time when the Human Emperor severed the Heavenly Heart. Did someone take the human emperor sword shortly after that?

He looked at the Black-haired Monkey beside him. This monkey had followed the Human Emperor for a long time and had stayed on Dahei Mountain for ages. It should know something.

The Black-haired Monkey also looked at him, its hollow eyes showing no trace of emotion.

*Crack*

A crisp sound echoed as the Black-haired Monkey's head rotated one hundred and eighty degrees, then it used its hands to twist it back into place.

Qin Jiang withdrew his gaze. He was overthinking it.

He glanced at the sword slot, said nothing, and his figure vanished from the mountaintop, leaving only the Black-haired Monkey occasionally twisting its neck.

Several days later, the Eastern Sea.

Qin Jiang looked back in the direction of the Divine Land. In these past few days, he had visited many places: the remaining ruins of the Ancient Yu Dynasty and some relics of even older civilizations.

Furthermore, he had visited old acquaintances: Mu Daoling, the Old Doctor—no, Li Baiyun—and some other friends. Well, also some former enemies.

After leaving behind some Immortal Pills and rare treasures, he departed.

Somehow, he felt as if a certain barrier had emerged between him and this place.

This feeling was difficult to describe concretely. It was like a bird flying high in the sky, occasionally alighting but never staying anywhere for long.

He was like that bird, but there was no longer any place in the Divine Land where he could alight.

His figure sank beneath the sea surface, descending towards the deepest part of the ocean floor.

Upon reaching the seabed, he found an ancient ruin and sat cross-legged atop a broken stone pillar.

He looked at his panel.

[Current Martial arts]

Immortal - Ten Directions Overlord Record (Perfection) [99%]

Immortal - Azure Emperor Longevity Record (middle stage) (2000/160000) [95%]

Great Wind Book (Not Yet Mastered) (70000/500000) [93%]

[Branches]    Array Dao: Array Dao Heavenly Sovereign (310000/500000)

Artifact Dao: Grandmaster of Crafting (50000/100000)

[Potential Points: 2132654.2]

Although he hadn't cultivated deliberately, the Azure Emperor Longevity Record had naturally progressed to the middle stage.

His Array Dao cultivation had also improved significantly over these days.

It couldn't be helped. Although the Divine Land's foundation was somewhat lacking, the ingenious ideas from some ancient civilizations had indeed given him much inspiration.

Looking at the Potential Points, they had already exceeded two million.

The gains these past few days were immense, but this was also roughly the limit of what the Divine Land could offer.

Even with his Immortal King-level power, rampantly scouring the land had only barely gathered two million Potential Points.

Compared to the Zhongyuan Continent, the Divine Land was indeed inferior.

Without hesitation, he poured the Potential Points into Array Dao Heavenly Sovereign.

[Array Dao Heavenly Sovereign (310000/500000), Potential Points +200000]

[Array Dao Supreme (10000/5000000)]

[Potential Points: 1932654.2]

*Boom~~~!*

A shockwave radiated through the seawater, coating everything it passed over with profound Innate array patterns.

In that instant, within the range affected by the shockwave, everything seemed to lose its connection with the entire world.

Qin Jiang slowly opened his eyes. Everything around him appeared as lines of nine-colored light.

"Is this the world as seen by an Array Dao Immortal King?"

He murmured to himself. In his eyes, everything in the world seemed to be composed of countless fundamental array patterns.

His gaze fell upon a colossal creature swimming in the distance: a Deep Sea Whale Dragon, whose cultivation had already reached the Divine Martial level.

In his vision, the water currents, the Whale Dragon, even the suspended seabed dust, were all countless entities composed of fundamental array patterns.

With a casual wave of his hand, he disturbed the fundamental array patterns composing the water and the Whale Dragon.

The next moment, terror appeared in the Whale Dragon's eyes because it discovered its body was becoming illusory and soft, swaying like water.

In Qin Jiang's vision, the array pattern composition of the Whale Dragon in a state of terror had changed compared to before.

Casually manipulating them, the terror in the Whale Dragon's eyes vanished, replaced by calmness, then transformed into anger, and then sorrow.

After a long while, Qin Jiang withdrew his hand, restoring all fundamental array patterns to their original state. The Whale Dragon swam away, noticing nothing unusual.

Looking at his palm, he fell into silence.

It seemed he had miscalculated.

After becoming the Array Dao Supreme, even he himself appeared in his own eyes as an aggregate of fundamental array patterns.

He should have felt some regret at this moment, but whenever the fundamental array patterns composing him began to change, they were instantly smoothed over by his own Array Dao Supreme Realm, keeping him in a state of extreme calm.

Strictly speaking, this state wasn't much different from that of a Law Life after complete materialization.

Except he retained a sense of self-awareness.

His gaze lingered on the panel for a moment. Perhaps, only after becoming an Immortal King could he balance this situation.

After adapting for a while, he stopped focusing on the fundamental array patterns and instead looked at a chain coiled around him.

This wasn't a physical chain in the literal sense; perhaps it could be called a Karmic Chain, representing the Karma between him and a certain existence.

Extending his Immortal sense along this Karmic Chain, a series of images flooded his mind.

Turbulent Devilish Qi, boundless darkness, a ten-thousand-zhang tall bronze figure broke free from the Immortal Gold chains that bound her, seizing a portion from a black spherical mass.

'The Origin of Earth Dao Devilish Qi?'

Profound array patterns swirled in his eyes as he performed calculations. The next moment, his figure vanished.

Sea Abyss. Qin Jiang's figure appeared on the water's surface, gazing at a specific location within the Sea Abyss.

'Is this where the Yellow Sky Divine Mother entered the Divine Land back then?'

As he pondered, a dragon's roar echoed from afar. A colossal Devil Dragon surged across the horizon, radiating fierce Devilish Qi.

Ao Yun, the current First Dragon Ancestor of the Divine Land, whose cultivation had recovered to the Late-Stage of the Late-Stage Saint Lord Realm.