Following the trail of shadows, the core of the formation begins to appear.

The wounded member of the Eshi Yue Organization fleeing in panic was like a frightened bird, scurrying through the eerie environment of the Forbidden Ground, unaware that he had long since become the prey in the hunter's eyes. The faint spiritual energy mark he left behind, under the lock of Nightmare's Divine Soul, was as clear as a lighthouse in the darkness.

Nightmare was in no rush to catch up and kill him immediately. Like the most patient shadow, he trailed far behind, his Divine Soul constantly analyzing the opponent's escape route, the methods used to deal with various dangers in the Forbidden Ground, and the circulation patterns of the dark energy on his body. He wanted to use this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the Eshi Yue Organization.

At the same time, the resonance coming from the Array Base Node pebble in his hand was growing stronger. He discovered that the direction in which the Eshi Yue Organization member was fleeing, while not completely following the main trunk of the earth vein energy channels, was generally moving circuitously within the same area.

"Could it be that the people from the Eshi Yue Organization are also searching for these Array Base Nodes? Or perhaps their goal itself is related to the end of this energy channel?" Nightmare speculated in his Divine Soul.

After tracking for about half an hour, a strange scene appeared ahead. It was a relatively open valley. In the center of the valley, instead of the expected ruins or dangerous terrain, stood three huge, broken cyan stone pillars. The stone pillars were arranged in a triangular Formation, their surfaces covered with weathered ancient patterns and runes. Although dilapidated, they still exuded an aura of desolation and heaviness, completely out of place with the eerie environment around them.

More importantly, the Array Base Node pebble in Nightmare's hand emitted an unprecedented warmth here, and its light brightened by a few degrees! In his Divine Soul's perception, the three obscure earth vein energy channels were each connecting to the base of these three stone pillars!

This was an important Formation node, or rather, a small "Array Hub"!

The fleeing Eshi Yue Organization member was currently hiding in the shadow of a stone pillar, nervously treating his wounds, unaware of the kind of existence he had led here.

Nightmare's Divine Soul swept over the entire valley. Apart from the three stone pillars and the injured Eshi Yue Organization member, he did not find any other enemies or dangerous exotic beasts for the time being. However, the sense of vigilance in his Divine Soul did not relax; since this place was an important Array Hub, it was absolutely impossible for it to be completely unguarded.

His Divine Soul stirred slightly. He did not appear directly, but instead, using his Chaos Dao Foundation, he separated a few strands of extremely fine, almost invisible chaos qi flow, which, like living tentacles, silently spread along the ground toward the three stone pillars. He wanted to first investigate the reality of this place.

The chaos qi flow touched the base of the stone pillars, and his Divine Soul immediately fed back information—inside the stone pillars contained an extremely vast and stable mixed elemental power of Earth and Wood. The structure was complex and exquisite; although some runes were worn, the core was still operating slowly, maintaining the connection between this place and the deeper Seal.

However, just as the chaos qi flow attempted to further investigate the internal structure of the stone pillars—Hum!

The ancient patterns on the surface of the three stone pillars suddenly lit up with a faint light! An invisible force field instantly enveloped the entire valley! The force field was not aggressive, but it carried a powerful repulsive and restrictive force, as if it wanted to expel any existence that entered this place without permission!

At the same time, from the mist at the edge of the valley, a rustling sound came, and several black shadows slowly emerged—these were three stone statue guards clad in dilapidated bronze armor, holding rusted long halberds, with ghostly blue soul fire burning in their eyes! Their auras were condensed and heavy, and they had all clearly reached the level of the Early Golden Core Stage! They were obviously creations guarding this Array Hub!

The injured Eshi Yue Organization member was terrified, his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering. No longer caring about hiding, he lunged out, wanting to escape the valley. But the moment he moved, the soul fire in the eyes of one stone statue guard flashed, and it slashed its long halberd through the air! Hiss! A condensed earthy yellow light, like shackles, instantly wrapped around the Eshi Yue Organization member! The dark energy around his body dissolved rapidly as if encountering a nemesis, and he was firmly fixed in place, unable to move, his face filled with despair!

Nightmare's Divine Soul calmly watched all of this. The activation of the stone statue guards confirmed his speculation. This Array Hub had an autonomous defense mechanism.

"Just as well, let's take this opportunity to see the strength of these guards, and... how to break this Array Hub force field." Nightmare's Divine Soul was completely calm, like a pure bystander.

The three stone statue guards took heavy steps, approaching the imprisoned Eshi Yue Organization member. Their long halberds were raised, and the ghostly blue soul fire locked onto the target, about to destroy him completely.

Just at the moment the long halberds were about to fall, Nightmare's Divine Soul stirred slightly!

He used his Divine Soul to trigger that Array Base Node pebble! The pure Dao Rhyme of Protection was activated, turning into a soft white light that spread out with Nightmare as the center, gently brushing over the three stone statue guards.

The movements of the stone statue guards suddenly stalled! The soul fire in their eyes flickered violently, as if they had sensed the aura of protection that was of the same origin as the Array Hub. The raised long halberds paused in mid-air, falling into some kind of identification and judgment state.

The imprisoned Eshi Yue Organization member, seeing this sudden change, felt a flash of bewilderment in his eyes, which immediately transformed into the ecstasy of surviving a disaster, thinking it was a backup plan left by the organization.

However, the next moment, his ecstasy froze on his face. Because Nightmare's figure appeared in front of him like a ghost, without any warning! He was not there to save him, but instead used his Divine Soul to trigger the Dao Rhyme of Annihilation, pointing a finger at the center of his brow!

Soul Searching! Taking advantage of the perfect opportunity when his mind had lost its defense, he was suppressed by the aura of the stone statue guards, and he was severely injured, Nightmare launched a Soul Search again! This time, the resistance was much smaller!

A large amount of memory fragments flooded into Nightmare's Divine Soul:

* The Eshi Yue Organization dispatched a five-person team for this operation, led by a Late Golden Core Stage Cultivator codenamed "Shadow Fiend," with the mission to find and destroy the "Seal" at the core of the Forbidden Ground and seize the "demon ancestor origin pact."

* They had mastered a method to temporarily shield, and even to a certain extent distort, some low-level Restrictions in the Forbidden Ground (relying on the power of those rule fragments), but they were still powerless against the protective force field of this core Array Hub and the stone statue guards.

* The team members relied on special spiritual energy marks for communication, and the captain, "Shadow Fiend," had a compass-shaped Magical Artifact in his hand that could roughly sense the direction of the Seal.

* Regarding the origin of the Eshi Yue Organization itself, extremely strong Restrictions had been placed in his memory, making it impossible to investigate. It was only known that its influence was vast, infiltrating many parties, and its purpose seemed to be not just as simple as the ancient demon origin pact...

* The last piece of memory was about how their team had previously encountered and killed several "remnants of the Pact Keepers" who were dressed in clothing similar to the villagers of Shiquan Village and had tried to stop them...

After the Soul Search was completed, the Eshi Yue Organization member's Divine Soul completely collapsed, and his breath ceased.

Nightmare's Divine Soul was cold. Remnants of the Pact Keepers? Besides Shiquan Village, could there be other Pact Keeper Bloodlines in existence? And they had already clashed with the Eshi Yue Organization?

His Divine Soul stirred slightly, and he raised the node pebble emitting the white light of protection, facing the three stone statue guards that were still in a state of judgment.

The soul fire in the eyes of the stone statue guards slowly calmed down. Finally, they retracted their long halberds, bowed slightly to Nightmare (or rather, the node pebble in his hand), and then, with heavy steps, slowly retreated back into the mist and disappeared. The restrictive force field in the valley also dissipated along with them.

The Array Base Node was indeed the key to passing these guardians!

Nightmare's Divine Soul swept over the corpse of the Eshi Yue Organization member on the ground, and his Divine Soul stirred slightly, collecting useful items on his body (Storage Pouch, mask, etc.). Then, his gaze fell on the three huge stone pillars.

"Since the node is effective, perhaps I can try to initially activate this Array Hub?" A bold idea arose in Nightmare's Divine Soul. If he could activate this Array Hub, not only could he strengthen the Seal, but perhaps he could also use it to sense the situation of other nodes, and even the core Seal!

His Divine Soul stirred, triggering his Chaos Dao Foundation, and his Divine Soul sank into the node pebble in his hand, attempting to connect the Dao Rhyme of Protection contained within it to the nearest stone pillar...