Chapter 336 - Zi Wei Black Palace Formation
Chapter 336 Zi Wei Black Palace Formation
The Heavenly Sound Art was the innate ability of Realm Beasts. As the pitch-black sound wave spread, a deep and ancient voice blasted their ears. It sounded as if someone was chanting sutras. It sounded as if someone was giving a lecture. It sounded like a judgement from the Heavenly Dao!
“The outsiders of this realm shall die!”
The sound waves of the last word he uttered caused unimaginable destruction on the hollow space.
Ning Fan’s eyes widened in great surprise. Under the effect of this Heavenly Sound Art, his Corpse Devil body which was currently at the Second Level of Jade Life Realm had straight away showed signs of breaking apart!
This Heavenly Sound Art is powerful!
Moreover, the reason why he attacked the golden flame chariot was because it had clearly seen Yuan Yao entering the chariot through the World Sense Technique.
It was evident that this Realm Beast was planning on destroying the golden flame chariot together with Yuan Yao, burying her in the golden flame palace forever!
“Inlaid Star Compass! Appear!”
Ning Fan’s eyes shone with madness. He must block this Heavenly Sound Art, otherwise not only will his golden flame chariot be completely crushed, but also Yuan Yao, the others and even him would all be killed by this Heavenly Sound which crushed everything in its path!
In this crucial moment, Ning Fan touched the star on his glabella and a huge star diagram formed below the Inlaid Star Compass. From beneath his feet, thirty thousand star lamps rose up from the ground. Each of them lit up with a silver flame. All of them combined to form countless layers of starlight walls blocking in front of them against the incoming sound wave.
The timing was too tight as there was no time for Ning Fan to break his treasures to light up all the star lamps. As such, he only managed to light up ten thousand of them.
With ten thousand star lamps being lit up, the star formation could only withstand an attack at the Early Void Refinement Realm. However, it was not enough to defend against the Heavenly Sound Art!
*Boom*
Layers upon layers of walls of starlight collapsed one after another. Nevertheless, it had still successfully neutralized 80% of the power of the incoming sound wave.
“Let’s act together!”
Seeing the Heavenly Sound was going to crash upon them, Ning Fan, his women, as well as all the puppets and his refined corpse simultaneously initiated their all-out attacks on the sound wave in all directions.
After an intense collision, the Heavenly Sound Art was finally neutralized. Ning Fan and his women were unscathed, but two of the puppets at the outermost position of the group were destroyed from the Heavenly Sound attack!
It was indeed a heavy loss!
As a consequence of this collision, the golden flame chariot was damaged and two puppets were permanently destroyed. But fortunately, Ning Fan and his group had finally managed to fend off the nightmare-like Heavenly Sound.
With a fling of his sleeve, the two halves of the golden flame chariot were combined into one once again. However, the body of the chariot was full of cracks and its speed as well as its capabilities were greatly reduced.
There wasn’t even time for him to keep the wreckage of the two spiritual puppets. Without any hesitation, Ning Fan directly activated the golden flame chariot and drove it straight into the Immortal Void Realm Formation in front of them.
“Hmph! This Lu Bei ran away again! However, after they enter the Zi Wei Black Palace Formation, they are likely to die inside. There are forty-nine thousand formation eyes within this Zi Wei Black Palace Formation. One would only have one-seventh chance of surviving within seven steps… I think they won’t be able to walk far before dying within the formation.”
“However, I still need to continue in pursuing them just in case they manage to pull it off. Since I must stay here to guard the formation to prevent them from escaping, I’ll just let this group of Realm Slaves hunt them down for me!”
The cloaked burly man’s face turned cold and cruel. He opened his mouth wide and spat out groups of Wild Beasts and virtual shadows of Divine Transformation Realm experts.
Among these virtual shadows, there were surprisingly fifty-three Divine Transformation Realm experts including the virtual shadows of the dead Divine Transformation experts from the White Devil Sect and the Demon World. There were also the virtual shadows of the two White Devil Sect experts, Lin Su and even the innumerable sea beasts which he killed from the Seven Kill Star Sea!
Realm Slaves!
Whoever is killed by a Realm Beast would have a trace of their souls be severed and kept by their killer within a few years. They would then turn into virtual shadows and become the slaves of the Realm Beast!
“Go! Enter the grand formation and kill them!”
“Yes!”
Fifty-three virtual shadows floated and charged into the Immortal Void Realm Formation which emanated purple light.
“Finally, we’re safe…”
Within the Immortal Void Realm Formation, Xi Ran patted her chest with ease and took a sigh of relief..
“No, we’re not safe yet. It seems that the Realm Beast is going to stand guard outside of this formation and send a number of Realm Slaves to hunt us.” Wu Yan said worriedly.
“Realm Slaves… Even though it has been rumored that the Realm Beasts could keep a trace of the souls of those who they kill, these souls would turn into virtual shadows and eventually become the Realm Beasts’ slaves. Besides, these souls could even keep their original cultivation levels. However, this bunch of dead beings don’t have high spiritual intelligence. It should not be difficult to deal with them… What is truly difficult is the grand formation in front of us. Little Cucumber, what exactly is this grand formation? Do you really have confidence to break through it?”
“Of course. This is an Immortal Void Realm grand formation. It is named as the Zi Wei Black Palace Formation. It has a total of forty-nine thousand formation eyes and every seven steps that one takes, they would only have one-seventh chance to survive. At the end of the formation, there are eighteen gates of life and death. Once we pass one of those gates, we could then reach the location where Lu Wu’s remnant soul resides and obtain the inheritance of the emperor’s star…”
Ning Fan’s eyes were filled with solemnity. They were now standing on a white circular stone slate.
“Is it true that Lu Wu hasn’t died? Why would his remnant soul be sealed?” Wu Yan asked with a doubtful tone.
“Perhaps only Heaven knows these secrets. I’m afraid that even Lu Wu himself doesn’t remember much about it either…”
Ning Fan no longer talked much and kept the remaining seven damaged puppets, only leaving the black puppet and the black dragon. As for the golden flame chariot, he temporarily kept it in his storage pouch.
Looking from outside, the Zi Wei Black Palace Formation looked like it had formation light with intertwining layers. The details inside the formation could not be clearly seen.
From the view inside, there were innumerable glowing paths which intersected with each other. On these paths, there were seven purple circular stone slates floating in between in every seventy thousand li* (500 m per li), allowing the intruders of the formation to stand.
These stone slates were initially purple in colour. However, once any of the intruders steps on it, the seven stone slates would then change their colour. Six of them would turn black while only one of them would become white.
The purple colour was just a camouflage whereas the black and white colours were the actual colours!
When the intruder leaves the stone slate, its color would revert back to purple.
Each piece of the stone slates was a formation eye.
Out of every seven pieces of stone slates, there were six black slates and one white slate, signaling six deaths and one life.
To Ning Fan, as long as there was enough time, it would not be difficult for him to distinguish which is which among these slates of life and death by just depending on his own talent in the Dao of Formations.
Besides, with the help from Wei Xuan who provided the guide to pass through the formation, Ning Fan would only need a few breaths to pass through hundreds of formation eyes.
Behind them, there were Divine Transformation Realm virtual shadows who came rushing at them like a tidal wave. These virtual shadows’ cultivation levels were high. Moreover, by following Ning Fan’s footsteps, they could of course pass through the formation with ease.
“Lu Bei, give me your life…”
The ones who were leading the group of shadows were Lin Su and his two elderly seniors.
These three virtual shadows had already lost their spiritual intelligence. The only thing that they still remembered was that they had a grudge with Ning Fan. To them, it could not be any better to kill him.
“A bunch of annoying flies!”
Ning Fan shifted his gaze to the incoming fifty-three Divine Transformation Realm virtual shadows behind him, his eyes turning grim. Without any hesitation, he activated the trace of power which he planted inside the bodies of Lin Su and the two elderly experts earlier using his Wind Snow Technique.
Traces of black icy snow appeared out of nowhere. Before those three virtual shadows could come to their senses, they had already been turned into three black ice sculptures.
The three of them perished and the color of the stone slate beneath their feet had immediately changed from white to purple again.
The remaining fifty Divine Transformation virtual shadows at the back were blankly staring at the seven purple stone slates in front of them. Each of them went with their own choices and simply stepped on one of the stone slates.
In the blink of an eye, the purple stone slates changed colours. Whoever stepped on the black slates were all cut down by black rays and died screaming in pain. In an instant, six-sevenths of the Realm Slaves perished, leaving only seven Divine Transformation Realm virtual shadows who luckily survived. Each of them were still wearing a blank look.
Due to that incident, Ning Fan had already pulled the distance between him and the Realm Slaves further apart. They were now finding it difficult to follow Ning Fan’s steps. When the surviving group of Realm Slaves made another step, six of them died and only one survived. When the last of them leaped onto another stone slate, he had stepped onto a black one and perished.
“This group of Realm Slaves had all died… Phew! Finally, we’re safe…” Xi Ran patted her chest and said.
“Mm. Fortunately, the ones who were at the forefront of the group following our footsteps were Lin Su and his seniors…”
Ning Fan put away his thoughts and carefully distinguished the colours of the stone slaves. In just half a day, they had successfully passed through two-thirds of this formation.
“How could that man run so fast?!”
Outside the formation, the cloaked burly man was startled inwardly. This Zi Wei Black Palace Formation was an Immortal Void Realm Formation. Even if he were the one who personally entered the formation, he would also be unable to move as quickly as Ning Fan.
With his level in the Dao of Formations, it would at least take him ten days to pass through this formation. If he becomes confused by the formation, he might even be stuck within it for months.
However, through the Realm Sense Technique, the cloaked burly man saw Ning Fan and his group pass through the grand formation like child’s play.
As for the Realm Slaves he sent to hunt them down, all of them were dead.
The cloaked burly man’s expression darkened. Now, he had no choice but to personally take action and pursue Ning Fan!
Ning Fan and the others’ goal was to pass through the eighteen layers of the gates of life and death at the end of the Zi Wei Black Palace Formation. Once they reach the other side of the formation, even the cloaked burly man would not be able to catch them.
In fact, it seemed like it was a little too late to pursue Ning Fan now.
“Don’t tell me that this Lu Bei’s level in the Dao of Formations is comparable to a Formation Immortal! Otherwise, how is it possible for him to travel through the formation at such a terrifying speed?”
Based on the cloaked burly man’s level in the Dao of Formations which was pitiably weak, it was totally impossible for him to catch up to Ning Fan by moving through the stone slates step by step.
As such, the cloaked burly man decided not to distinguish which of the seven stone slates was the stone of life.
In this Zi Wei Black Palace Formation, seven steps would decide one’s life and death. To Divine Formation Realm and even Void Refinement Realm experts, taking a single wrong step would cause them to die instantly.
However, to the cloaked burly man, he would at most suffer some injuries even if he makes a wrong step.
Although his cultivation level had dropped, he was still an expert of the Crossing Truth Realm. The strength and endurance of his body were still the same.
When he made a step into the formation, he landed on one of the seven purple stone slates. In the twinkling of an eye, the colour of the stone slates changed and the one which he was stepping on turned… black!
Traces of black-colored formation power shot out from the slate onto the burly man’s body. However, they only left a few barely visible cuts on him.
From that scene, the degree of hardness of his physical body could be proven. It was also possible that even if the Realm Beast stands right at a spot for Ning Fan to cut, the latter might not necessarily be able to cut the Realm Beast down.
“Lu Bei, you can’t run away from me!”
The Realm Beast sneered evilly and transformed into a ray of travelling light. It moved like a floating light which skimmed through the air, passing through countless formation eyes. No matter how much formation power attacked him or how many scars were left on his body, he would just occasionally make a grunt. There was no sign of him dying at all.
However, his injuries were also worsening at the same time…
The cloaked burly man’s voice reverberated throughout the entire Star Palace. When it reached Ning Fan and the others’ ears, all the women’s countenances changed, making Yue Lingkong straightforwardly curse in a sulky tone.
“A lunatic! This guy is literally rampaging through this Immortal Void Realm Formation. He is really a lunatic! I thought Little Cucumber was already crazy enough, but this guy is even crazier! What should we do?! With his current speed, he would surely catch up with us before we exit the formation!”
“There’s nothing we can do. If he really catches up to us, we must try our best to buy time!”
Ning Fan now had a clearer understanding about the strength of this Realm Beast.
This Realm Beast is basically a Void Refinement Realm expert with a True Immortal level physical defense!
Even if he faces a Void Fragmentation Realm old monster’s attack, he would be brave enough to block it with his physical body!
“Bei Yao, you need to be quicker…” Ning Fan clenched his fists tightly. It was really a matter of life and death this time.
Outside of the Star Palace, all the top talents had already given up on entering the Star Palace. There was no longer anyone trying to attack the surface of the Star Palace or seek for other entrances.
At this moment, all of them were holding their breaths and staying concentrated, as if they were waiting for something.
What they were waiting to see was whether the outstanding young man, Lu Bei, would be killed by that True Immortal expert…
“It has been almost ten days. We still haven’t heard any angry roars of the True Immortal. Could it be that Lu Bei has already died?”
“No idea. After all, who can escape from the hands of a True Immortal with their Divine Transformation Realm cultivation …”
Everyone there had their own thoughts and theories. However, all their minds were filled with great shock when they heard another bellow of rage from that Realm Beast.
“Judging from the tone… it is apparent that the True Immortal… was injured again!”
“It’s impossible! Could it be that Lu Bei has managed to hurt a True Immortal?!”