82: Chapter 82: Your Ultimate Move, My Advertisement
The moment Jiang Ning appeared, the atmosphere on the scene changed completely.
Sect Leader Lu Yun stared fixedly at the small figure atop the tower, his heart in turmoil.
He hadn't even noticed when this girl had popped up!
He was at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage; how could someone get so close without him noticing, despite his spiritual sense sweeping the area? It was as if he were blind!
What did this mean? This woman's cultivation, or perhaps her concealment skills, were at least a level higher than his!
"You... who exactly are you?" Sect Leader Lu Yun's voice sounded weak, and he didn't even notice the tremor in it himself.
Jiang Ning ignored him.
She simply raised her hand and beckoned gently toward Sect Leader Lu Yun.
"Aren't you very interested in our 'Infrastructure Construction'?"
"Since you're already here, stop floating around outside."
"Come down, and I'll give you a tour of our real 'Spirit Energy Factory'."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it possessed an irresistible force.
Sect Leader Lu Yun felt a gentle yet unstoppable force seize him. The protective spiritual energy he was so proud of was like paper in front of this power; it shattered instantly.
He was pulled uncontrollably by that force, drifting slowly toward the tower's top platform.
"No!"
Sect Leader Lu Yun was terrified out of his wits, desperately pushing all his spiritual energy to break free.
But it was useless.
He was like iron filings stuck to a magnet; no matter how he struggled, it was in vain.
Finally, with a "clack," his feet landed on the floor of the sightseeing platform.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he felt the array beneath him sink, and the surrounding air became a hundred times heavier. The circulation of spiritual energy within him slowed down by more than ninety percent in an instant!
He felt as if he had fallen into a deep quagmire, where every movement took dozens of times more effort than usual.
"An array... is this... a Spirit-Suppressing Domain?!" Sect Leader Lu Yun's face turned pale instantly.
He finally realized why all his previous spells had failed.
From the moment he entered this city, he had fallen into a trap they had dug long ago!
And he hadn't noticed it at all!
"Welcome to the core array eye of the 'Pearl of the East Sea' project." Jiang Ning looked at him and introduced it in a flat tone, "The place you are standing now is the hub of the entire Donghai City Spirit Induction Array. Here, I have the final say."
Sect Leader Lu Yun turned his head to look around.
This so-called "core array eye" was completely different from what he had imagined.
There were no jade-paved floors, no spiritual crystals serving as pillars, and certainly no ethereal, immortal scenery.
This was just an ordinary concrete sightseeing platform. The only thing special was that the ground was covered in countless dense, glowing lines.
These lines didn't match any array runes he knew. They looked more like... some kind of extremely complex circuit diagram?
Countless lines converged in the center of the platform, connecting to a strangely shaped ring-like object made of some unknown alloy.
That thing was the "G-37" Energy Convergence Ring, which the "Ghost" squad had previously planted a bomb on, only for it to end up becoming the "igniter" for the Spirit Induction Array.
"This is... your array eye?" Sect Leader Lu Yun looked at everything before him with disdain and confusion.
In his view, this was simply an insult to the very word "array"!
A true array should communicate with heaven and earth, invoke laws, and be filled with Dao rhyme and beauty.
What was this in front of him?
A pile of cold, metallic junk reeking of greed!
Using such shoddy, mortal trash to set up an array?
It was absolute nonsense! A huge joke!
"Do you really think you can trap me with this crappy array made of scrap metal?" Sect Leader Lu Yun's self-confidence inexplicably returned.
He felt that he must have fallen for the opponent's trick earlier, having been bluffed by some powerful one-time magic treasure.
This array itself was definitely just for show!
"I admit, you mortals have some small intelligence." Sect Leader Lu Yun looked at Jiang Ning, his face wearing that arrogant, high-and-mighty expression again, "However, in the face of absolute power, any trick is useless."
"Today, I will let you open your eyes and see what the true... Dao of Arrays is!"
He bit his tongue tip sharply and spat out a mouthful of vital blood essence.
That mouthful of blood essence turned into streaks of blood-red runes in the air, forming a small array disk in the blink of an eye.
"Blood Sacrifice Secret Technique, Array-Breaking Formation!"
This was a secret technique of the Tianyan Sect specifically used to break various restrictions and arrays. Although it required consuming the caster's vital blood essence, its power was immense!
"Open for me!"
Sect Leader Lu Yun slammed the blood-colored array disk hard against the ground!
He intended to use this array-breaking formation to destroy this ridiculous "steel array" from within!
Jiang Ning watched him finish his commotion quietly, without any reaction.
She even had the leisure to provide live commentary to the command center nearby.
"Everyone, look. The target is using a typical 'break the whole by attacking a point' method to breach the array. Simply put, he wants to use a powerful burst of external energy to forcefully strike a node of our array, causing it to overload and fail, thereby tearing a hole open."
"This move is indeed somewhat effective against those old-fashioned arrays with simple structures and fixed energy cycles."
"However..."
Jiang Ning paused, the corners of her mouth curling into an almost mocking arc for the first time.
"What he is facing is not a solitary array."
"But a modernized Infrastructure Construction system that can self-regulate, calculate intelligently, and has the backing of the entire city's energy grid."
Just as Sect Leader Lu Yun's blood-colored array disk touched the ground.
The entire platform floor, those lines resembling circuit diagrams, suddenly lit up brightly!
"Alert! Malicious energy attack detected at Node 3!"
"Activating 'Intelligent Repair and Energy Diversion' contingency plan!"
"Calculating attack energy level... Calculation complete."
"Allocating diversion paths..."
A emotionless synthesized electronic voice rang out across the entire platform.
Sect Leader Lu Yun hadn't yet figured out the situation.
He saw that the immense energy contained within the blood-colored array disk he had pressed down did not impact and destroy the array as he had imagined.
Instead, it was instantly guided and dispersed by the glowing lines on the ground, like floodwater being released, and then...
Flowing along countless lines in all directions.
The next second.
Dozens of searchlights on the edge of the platform flickered on all at once.
At the same time, in the plaza below the tower, a massive fountain shot into the sky, accompanied by the rousing music of "Good Days"...
On the giant LED screen in the center of the plaza, the city promotional video for "Welcome to Donghai City" also began to play...
Sect Leader Lu Yun: "..."
He froze completely.
The trump card array-breaking secret technique he had used at the cost of his vital blood essence...
Was used by them...
To power a fountain, play a song, and incidentally run an advertisement?!