Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll

Chapter 357: Chapter 343: Illusion Array (Part 2)

Zhao Lin sent out another probe. He found that even when it attenuated completely, he still couldn’t detect the end of the inner cave. He estimated the cavern was no smaller than a hundred zhang.

"Did that Yin Soul tell you the specific location of the Star Peony Grass in the cave?"

Hearing Zhao Lin’s words, Li Zhe raised a tentacle and pointed forward. "It told me it’s through the first cave, in a larger cavern inside."

"Then let’s not waste any more time here."

"Alright, let’s go!"

Zhao Lin and Wei Shi exchanged a look and walked briskly toward the pear-shaped cave entrance.

As they reached the cave, they suddenly heard the sound of footsteps, and a Demon Beast leaped out from within.

This Demon Beast was shaped like an old ape. It had withered, yellow fur, a massive mouth, and its eyes glowed with a verdant light.

It was the Soul-Devourer that Li Zhe had mentioned before.

Zhao Lin and Wei Shi stood motionless, but Li Zhe was so scared it retreated several zhang.

"CHITTER CHITTER!"

The Soul-Devourer chittered, baring its fangs and waving its claws, then suddenly turned and fled, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Zhao Lin and Wei Shi weren’t surprised. The higher the level of a Demon Beast, the more it understood the power of human cultivators.

The pear-shaped cave was like a corridor, less than ten zhang long. After passing through it, a huge, circular cavern appeared before them.

This cavern was even larger, about four or five hundred zhang in circumference. More peculiar still, countless large, pillar-like stones jutted up from the ground.

Some of these great stones were several zhang high, while others reached over a dozen zhang. A glance around made it seem as if they had entered a forest of stone.

Neither Zhao Lin nor Wei Shi spoke; they both looked at Li Zhe.

Searching for a Spirit Grass in such a vast place without knowing its exact location would likely take a great deal of time.

Li Zhe understood. It said, "Go left for four hundred sections, then forward for one thousand sections."

"What ’sections’?"

Zhao Lin and Wei Shi both looked confused.

Li Zhe quickly explained, "We Yin Souls feed on the sap of the Canghuan Bamboo, so we often use it as a reference when we communicate."

"When I say ’one section,’ I mean the length of a segment of Canghuan Bamboo."

As it spoke, it extended two tentacles to gesture. "One section is about this long."

"That’s about two feet, almost the same as my stride."

Zhao Lin nodded and smiled. "Then it’s left for four hundred steps, and forward for one thousand steps."

After speaking, he looked around. Spotting a large stone over a dozen zhang high nearby, he took a quick run-up and leaped to its summit in a few bounds to get a view from above.

After scanning the area for a moment and finding nothing out of the ordinary, he jumped back down and led Wei Shi and Li Zhe to the left.

"Everyone be careful. Don’t wander out of sight."

The great stones stood silently, like tall, somber giants. For some reason, Zhao Lin felt a chill run down his spine and couldn’t help but issue the warning.

"Indeed," Wei Shi agreed. "These stones all look alike, and my Divine Sense can’t penetrate them."

About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they had completed the four hundred steps to the left and one thousand steps forward.

"If the information is accurate, it should be around here. Let’s split up—"

Zhao Lin was mid-sentence when he realized it was a bad idea. He quickly corrected himself, "No, let’s stick together. It’s safer."

’In a strange place, it’s best to be cautious. Maybe I’m overthinking it, but these stones just seem... odd.’

Zhao Lin climbed another tall stone, and Wei Shi and Li Zhe followed him.

The stone forest had varying heights, creating many blind spots. Zhao Lin hopped between several large stones before he finally found something.

"Look, there really is Star Peony Grass!"

Zhao Lin and Wei Shi both saw it at the same time: in a depression ten zhang away, a patch of Star Peony Grass was growing. There were at least one or two hundred plants, with almost no other weeds.

A look of joy spread across Wei Shi’s face. "Brother Zhao," he said sincerely, "with so much Star Peony Grass, you’ve hit the jackpot!"

Zhao Lin smiled faintly. "No, *we’ve* hit the jackpot."

With that, he jumped down from the stone and led Wei Shi and Li Zhe to the edge of the depression.

"Let me do it. I can harvest them faster."

Li Zhe raised its tentacles, volunteering eagerly.

"Thank you."

Zhao Lin expressed his thanks, but as he looked at the Star Peony Grass on the ground, his brow furrowed. Something felt wrong.

’Why is this Star Peony Grass so neat?’

’It doesn’t look like it grew naturally. It looks like someone planted it.’

At that thought, his heart skipped a beat. He said sharply, "Li Zhe, don’t move!"

"What?"

Li Zhe froze, its tentacles hovering, and asked in surprise.

Wei Shi also asked, confused, "Brother Zhao, what’s wrong?"

Just then, with a loud RUMBLE, a surge of Mana rippled through the area!

"It’s an Array!"

Zhao Lin’s expression changed. His first reaction was that the Yin Soul, Li Zhe, was behind this, but he immediately dismissed the thought. Controlling an Array required an Array Plate and banners, something a Yin Soul couldn’t possibly manage.

Wei Shi and Li Zhe sensed it too and began to panic.

"What do we do?"

"Which way do we go?"

Zhao Lin shouted in a low voice, "Go back the way we came!"

"Thinking of leaving? It’s too late for that!"

From a corner of the stone forest, a sloppily dressed cultivator hiding behind a large rock chuckled sinisterly.

The man was short and wore a tattered Daoist robe. His long hair obscured his face, but a closer look would reveal his deathly pale complexion, empty eyes, and lifeless demeanor.

The sloppy cultivator flipped his palm, and a green array banner appeared in his hand. He muttered a few incantations, pointed the banner forward, and a streak of green light shot out, merging into the greater Array.

In an instant, the scene before Zhao Lin’s eyes shifted. Wei Shi and Li Zhe were gone!

In their place, towering ten-thousand-zhang-high mountains appeared on all sides, and at his feet lay a bottomless abyss.

"An Illusion Array?"

The Daoist art Zhao Lin studied was that of Arrays. Although he hadn’t been studying for long, he still had a basic understanding of their principles.

’Clearly, I’m inside an Array, and an Illusion Array at that.’

’Could it be a natural Array?’

The thought flashed through Zhao Lin’s mind.

The layout of an Array must follow the principles of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the Eight Trigrams. Most are set up by people.

But the creative power of heaven and earth is miraculous; some terrains happen to perfectly align with the rules of Arrays, becoming natural ones.

It was like a natural stone that might be more exquisite than a vessel painstakingly carved by a master craftsman—this was the divine craftsmanship of nature.

Soon, however, Zhao Lin shook his head.

’If it were a natural Array, there would have been fluctuations of Spiritual Power. But when we came in earlier, we didn’t feel the slightest ripple.’

’In other words, there was already an Array here, but it wasn’t active. It only activated when we stepped inside!’

’So there’s only one explanation: this is man-made!’

At this realization, Zhao Lin’s heart sank.

’This is a pocket world. Cultivators usually don’t stay here for more than a month. Who would bother setting up an Array here?’

’The more I think about it, the stranger it gets. But now isn’t the time to get to the bottom of it. The priority is to find a way out of this Array.’

’Right, the Spirit Cultivation Map.’

Zhao Lin quickly looked inward at his mind’s sea. In the sixth grid of the Spirit Cultivation Map, five words appeared: Three Yin Illusionary Killing Array!

’Three Yin... Illusionary Killing?’

’Although I’ve never heard of this Array, I can glean some clues from its name.’

In the context of Arrays, "Three Yin" refers to Qi, Earth, and Stone. It’s a type of Array set up according to opportune timing and favorable terrain.

The cave was rich with Yin Qi, the terrain was unique, and it was filled with strange stones—it perfectly met the conditions.

The "Illusionary Killing" part was even easier to understand: it used Illusion Techniques to trap and kill enemies within the Array.

As he was pondering this, the scene before him changed again.

The sky darkened, a sinister wind began to blow, and the wails of ghosts and howls of wolves filled the air. The surrounding mountains seemed to tilt and collapse toward him like drunken giants.

Suddenly, an immense pressure slammed into his body.

Zhao Lin knew this pressure was being exerted by the Array and was synchronized with the illusion. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to remain calm.

The first step of an Illusion Array was always to create illusions; the real killing moves were hidden within them. The more you panicked, the more danger you were in.

The mountains collapsed with increasing intensity, and the pressure on Zhao Lin grew heavier and heavier. He had no choice but to circulate his martial energy and activate the Turtle Shell Force to resist it.

To conserve Spiritual Power, he didn’t use Magic. At this critical moment, his martial arts proved to be a huge help.

Outside the Array, the sloppy cultivator’s brow furrowed. He unfurled the banner in his hand and once again injected a stream of Spiritual Power into the Array.

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