264: Fantasy Array

The old man beat his chest and stamped his feet on the ground.

"I am not reconciled! I am not reconciled!"

Chen Tianming let out a cold snort.

"You don't have the bearing of a sect elder at all. If you lose, you lose. Why talk about cultivation realms? Since when did realms and levels become the standard for strength?"

Chen Tianming stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with Qu Wan'er.

He reached out his hand gently, as if to hold Qu Wan'er's hand.

In reality, he was just taking the Phoenix Sword from Qu Wan'er's small hand.

Chen Tianming raised the sword, effortlessly spun it, and weighed it up and down.

"Tell me, my daughter is only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, but because of this precious sword... haha, even you, a Foundation Establishment elder, couldn't beat her!"

Afterward, Chen Tianming gently shook the precious sword.

At the same time, he unleashed his own power at the tenth level of Qi Refining.

Even at just the tenth level, as the sword was brandished, an endless and terrifying pressure instantly erupted.

A true phantom of a phoenix, formed entirely from the pressure, appeared fierce and violent as it erupted.

A pair of divine eyes stared fixedly at the elder.

Immediately, the elder was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground.

"How is this possible! What is going on here! How can someone in the Qi Refining stage possess the magical ability to summon a phoenix!"

Chen Tianming withdrew the pressure from the sword.

Only then did he speak.

"Have you ever thought that this precious sword might have reached a level above Peerless, or even the Immortal or Divine grade?"

Upon hearing this, the elder was completely stunned.

"That's still impossible!"

Treasures with a grade above Peerless can be called Divine Artifacts.

Within such treasures lies the essence of heaven and earth that has nourished itself for thousands of years.

Treasures with such a foundation naturally also master the circulation of spiritual energy.

Therefore, most Divine Artifacts above the Peerless grade will recognize a master.

And they even trigger their own defensive mechanisms.

However, this sword in Chen Tianming's hands could not only be given to his daughter to use, but he could also turn around and hold it to use himself.

According to the temperament of those treasures above the Peerless grade, it would be impossible for them to allow ordinary people to behave so recklessly.

Unless...

Unless Chen Tianming is even more formidable than these Peerless treasures!

The elder couldn't figure it out, and Chen Tianming couldn't be bothered to explain.

"Alright! According to our agreement, since you have lost, hurry up and back off. I also promise that, considering you still have a shred of kindness, I will not kill you!"

The defeated old man suddenly became incredibly dejected.

He looked just like a vagrant on the roadside.

He, who originally possessed the air of a Daoist immortal, now looked completely disheveled, with his beard and hair appearing messy and quite wretched.

However, he was still not reconciled; he couldn't figure it out!

"Why is it like this! I, this old man, have dedicated my heart to the Dao, with a single thought of ascending to immortality. I have never done anything treacherous. I have no inner demons, and my heart is inclined toward goodness. You... why do you say I only have a shred of kindness left?"

Chen Tianming heard the old man talking to himself and did not simply ignore him.

This person was already of great age.

Even with spiritual power supporting him, he would likely live for at most another thirty or fifty years.

If he could achieve enlightenment within his lifetime.

Even if his strength and realm did not improve significantly, at least he could live his life with clarity and openness.

Thus, Chen Tianming spoke softly.

"Cultivators, practitioners, what you cultivate is yourselves. Since you cultivate yourselves, why do you impose so many trials upon the people of the world? Although you may not have noticed it, in reality, when you steal spiritual treasures from heaven and earth, break into dangerous relics of this world, or seek great opportunities in the human realm, have you ever considered whether your actions would affect the ordinary people and commoners around you?"

"It is possible that when you pluck a single immortal herb, the people within a radius of ten miles will have no rain, mountains will turn into flat land, and the blue sea will turn into mulberry fields. Your unrestrained cultivation only makes the lives of those around you who cannot cultivate increasingly miserable!"

"This is the evil within each and every one of you!"

After saying this, Chen Tianming and his group headed up the mountain.

The elder's figure seemed frozen, as if even time had stopped flowing.

He remained fixed in place. I don't know how long he pondered, but finally, he turned toward the direction where Chen Tianming had left, pressed his hands together in a salute, then slowly knelt down and kowtowed to the ground.

Afterward, he transformed into a wisp of immortal wind, and it is unknown where he went to roam freely.

At this moment, Chen Tianming led everyone to a set of stairs.

Looking up from the bottom, the stairs seemed to have no end.

On both sides of the stairs, there seemed to be statues standing, looking very eerie.

Suddenly, the statues began to move.

Chen Tianming was amazed to discover that the flight of steps leading up the mountain in front of him had become incredibly twisted and contorted.

Immediately after.

Countless demons and monsters rushed out, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, frightening the wives and children beside Chen Tianming, who all screamed and scrambled to hide.

"There are monsters!"

"Hubby! Is this a graveyard? It seems like there are ghosts!"

Chen Tianming, however, remained calm in the face of danger.

He scanned left and right, and immediately discovered the source of the problem.

"Where would there be monsters! This is just an illusion formation!"

Everyone didn't understand what a formation was, but they could understand the word "illusion."

"We have been hallucinating?"

Chen Tianming nodded.

"It seems there are quite a few defensive formations on this mountain, and we must have triggered one of them!"

Chen Yun spoke up immediately.

"Dad! Watch me use the Heaven-Opening Sword to break this formation!"

After saying that, he suddenly flew up, and the precious sword in his hand, like a green snake, shot out dark green sword energy from both sides.

With a rumble.

The sword energy smashed into both sides of the mountain road.

However, since it was an illusion, the physical sword energy would not have any effect on the environment.

The twisted mountain road remained, and the statues charging back and forth moved faster and faster.

Everything around them was becoming stronger and stronger, giving people a very oppressive sense of urgency.

Everyone gathered together.

Even the usually steady Gao Zhiman couldn't help but hug Chen Tianming's arm.

"Hubby! What should we do now! We seem to be trapped in a snare!"

Chen Tianming gently tapped Gao Zhiman between her eyebrows.

"You little fool, whether it's an illusion, a spirit realm, a heavenly realm, or even an entire small world, they are all composed of gathered spiritual energy. You can also regard all of these as a huge formation!"

Just as Chen Tianming finished speaking, Chen Yun had already achieved some enlightenment.

"I understand! Sever the spiritual flow!"

In mid-air, spiritual energy flowed.

Like human blood vessels, it formed a huge web.

Chen Yun saw the location of the central heart within the blood vessels at a glance.

Without hesitation, he slashed out.

With a rumble.

The heart shattered like broken glass, turning into countless fragments.

Everything around them underwent a massive reversal.

Where were there any mountain paths, or any eerie statues...

This place was a cave halfway up the mountain.

The pitch-black cave was filled with all kinds of mechanisms.

At the same time, forty-two sect disciples were guarding the perimeter of the cave.

The ones who had attacked just now were these sect disciples!

Seeing the great formation broken, the sect disciples were also terrified.

"We can't stop them, hurry! Quickly report to the Sect Master! Activate the Five-Colored Heavenly Spirit Formation!"