Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 334 Invading the Zhaokong Sect

Since the war began on the west side, the Trifoliate Islands have lost their former prosperity.

Many independent cultivators who had long been stationed in this area also fled or ran away, disappearing without a trace, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Despite the arrival of the Wang and Fan families, the place still appeared much more desolate.

Especially after the death of the Wang family patriarch, the atmosphere on the island became delicate.

However, until the war ended, everyone maintained a semblance of harmony.

However, today, the life tablet enshrined in the sect's main hall suddenly shattered.

The boy on duty was immediately taken aback and stood frozen in place, at a loss for what to do.

Before he could even realize which elder he should report to in order to better protect himself during the ensuing upheaval, he was caught off guard.

The surveillance array reserved on the island was suddenly triggered.

In an instant, the nine large, ten-foot-tall sensor bells rang in unison.

The disciples who were not required to guard the monitoring array reported that a shrill warning sounded throughout the entire sect.

Then, before the many disciples of the Zhaokong School could react.

A deluge of flames descended from the sky, crashing into the protective array and creating a violent explosion.

"Enemy attack!"

The Golden Core cultivators responsible for guarding the sect panicked and immediately rushed out of their rooms to fully activate the great formation.

But they were still a step too slow.

Before the mountain-protecting formation was fully activated, one of the formation bases collapsed due to the excessive pressure it instantly endured.

"Oh no, a Nascent Soul stage monster is coming!"

The Grand Elder's expression changed, and he hurriedly channeled his true energy, shouting, "All Golden Core cultivators, take your positions immediately!"

At the same time, they took out several array flags, took off and entered the array to prepare to fight against the invaders.

It wasn't that he was particularly bold, but rather that he had complete faith in his family's protective mountain formation.

With the help of the formation and the tacit cooperation of several Golden Core cultivators, even a Golden Core cultivator at the Great Perfection stage can deal with a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Of course, doing so would require several times more spirit stones to be consumed.

It can only be used for temporary emergencies and cannot be used for long-term support.

"Who are you? Why have you invaded my Zhaokong Sect?"

The Grand Elder gripped the array flag tightly and looked towards a point six hundred miles away.

Xiao Chen was rushing over from there. He had only used his divine sense as a guide to release a spell ahead of time to launch a surprise attack on the mountain-protecting formation.

A cultivator's spiritual sense range is very important, not only because it allows them to explore, but also because it represents the effective range of their spells.

Within this range, any cultivator can easily guide their spells to land in the desired location.

The reason why such long-range battles are rarely conducted in normal combat is that...

This is because it allows too much reaction time, giving the enemy the option to calmly respond or simply evade using stealth techniques.

However, when facing a stationary target like the mountain-protecting formation, it is almost always a sure hit.

Therefore, Xiao Chen deliberately used his magic to destroy one of the array bases before getting close.

At this moment, he pretended not to hear the enemy's Golden Core cultivator's shout.

He charged straight into the fully lit mountain-protecting array and struck again with his palm along the illuminated area of ​​the array base.

To be fair, Xiao Chen didn't know much about formations.

However, he had at least read "An Introduction to the Dao of Arrays" and could barely recognize the approximate location of the array base using his divine sense.

Although it's impossible to discern the details very clearly when faced with such a top-tier fourth-order formation.

But it doesn't matter. The Soaring Palm is quite powerful. Just use a direct, overwhelming attack on the area where the spiritual energy is suspected to be gathering.

The Grand Elder was a little confused at first.

It was unclear why Xiao Chen rushed over and attacked the formation.

However, he quickly understood the reason: the other party wanted to use the most basic and simplest method to violently dismantle the formation.

So he hurriedly shouted, "Stop, or I'll get rough!"

Although he has already received the blessing of the formation's power, it still takes some courage for him to take the initiative to attack a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

Therefore, the Grand Elder chose to prioritize using language to persuade the person to withdraw.

“We are now allies of the sea race. If you take advantage of our misfortune like this, the sea race will not let you off once they come.”

"Stop it!"

"All disciples, listen to my command! Unleash the Divine Flame of Sky Piercing!"

But no matter what he says or does.

Xiao Chen was focused on dismantling the array base, while simultaneously using the Four Symbols Mountain Suppressing Shield, which he had released in advance, to withstand the attacks generated by the array.

In the blink of an eye, two more basic array bases had been dismantled.

The speed of this attack surprised the Grand Elder of the main formation once again.

In fact, for a fourth-order grand formation, the most crucial thing is that the core formation bases are intact.

As for the basic array bases, there are as many as 108, so the impact of a single damaged base is minimal.

Moreover, as long as the damage does not exceed half, the formation can continue to maintain at least 80% of its effectiveness.

However, Xiao Chen dismantled the array base too quickly.

If this continues, it won't be long before this great formation is completely dismantled.

This is because the Nascent Soul stage has a superior combat power compared to the Golden Core stage.

This is also because Xiao Chen possesses considerable strength in both offense and defense.

Now that there are no cultivators of the same level interfering with him in the great formation, he can naturally act more recklessly.

"I'm not afraid to tell you, my True Lord is on his way back. If you dare to continue your reckless behavior, you'll just lose your life!"

The Grand Elder gritted his teeth and decided to reveal some important information before forcing the issue with spirit stones.

Although such a statement doesn't sound very credible and sounds like a hastily made-up lie.

However, this way, the huge consumption of spirit stones later can be justified, and it can be said that it was only used when there was really no other way.

It will be easier to explain when the True Lord returns and discovers that the sect is short of tens of thousands of mid-grade spirit stones.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Chen actually stopped after hearing this.

Then he persuaded them in the opposite direction: "The Zhaokong Sect has betrayed the Sea Clan, and the two traitors, Jianying Zhenjun and Powang Zhenjun, have already been executed."

"Kneel down and confess your sins now, and I may spare your lives."

"Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"

Upon hearing this, many Golden Core cultivators around, especially some guest elders, immediately changed their expressions.

Even if the news came from an enemy Nascent Soul cultivator, the words of a True Monarch are quite credible.

After all, most True Lords care a lot about their dignity and face. They might deceive other True Lords, but they usually disdain to lie to lower-level cultivators.

"Shameless traitor, spouting nonsense!"

The Grand Elder immediately retorted, "Guards, quickly take the elders' tokens and open the sect's warehouse to obtain spirit stones to maintain the supply."

"The rest of you, follow me and activate the battle flags to repel the invaders!"

As soon as he gave the order, five hundred mid-grade spirit stones instantly melted at the core of the formation.

A massive amount of spiritual energy was released and, under the predetermined guidance, transformed into the Divine Light of Illumination, powerful enough to threaten even Nascent Soul cultivators.

Xiao Chen suddenly felt a binding force coming from all around him, and his body immediately became much heavier.

Immediately afterwards, a pure white spiritual light descended directly upon him.

"Crack!"

In the blink of an eye, the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Cover was covered with cracks, and the Xuanwu phantom shattered on the spot.

If such an attack hits again, it can force him to retreat.

Xiao Chen immediately frowned. He finally understood the pressure the sea race had faced when they attacked the human race's protective mountain formation.

It should be noted that there is no Nascent Soul True Monarch Formation in the formation before us.

If there were another formidable enemy here, it would be virtually impossible to take it by force.

If they continue to act rashly, they may even risk getting injured or triggering the Night's Edge.

This is also the main reason why the Mozhang Sect and the Tiangang Sect were able to persist for so long.

Otherwise, they would have been captured by Jinluan long ago.

"This is so annoying, what should I do?"

Xiao Chen could certainly choose to retreat directly, since the other party couldn't stop him at all, and had no intention of trapping him for an ambush.

Then, they launched multiple attacks to slowly wear down the protective mountain formation.

They could even wait for Gangyuan Zhenjun and the others to arrive, then charge into the formation together and forcefully break it apart using their numerical advantage.

However, both of these methods are very slow to implement.

"We should have prepared some kind of formation-breaking talisman; you only realize how few spiritual items you have when you need them."

Xiao Chen sighed. He had no experience in attacking the mountain-protecting formation before, so he hadn't bothered to collect such things.

Moreover, under normal circumstances, the formation-breaking talisman can only deal with low-level formations of the second rank and below.

While higher-level items do exist, they all require rare spiritual materials, are extremely limited in quantity, and are essentially impossible to replicate.

I wonder if there are any better and more readily available spiritual items for breaking formations in the new cultivation world.

After all, the array formation level over there is obviously higher, and the corresponding countermeasures should not be too bad either. Be sure to pay attention next time you go there.

But that’s all for the future.

The Grand Elder waved the battle flag, guiding the second wave of attacks.

Xiao Chen immediately reached out and used his mechanical grappling hook to grab the man, then casually pinned him to death.

They then snatched the battle flag from his hand and bent it in two with force.

Coincidentally, the other party was just launching a critical attack.

However, the mechanical claw broke the array's power and pulled it next to Xiao Chen, causing the newly gathered Divine Light of Illumination to deviate slightly.

It grazed past him and landed on the great formation itself.

That's not all; what's even more coincidental is that the Grand Elder actually possesses the only main formation flag.

Although being broken in two at this point wouldn't directly affect the mountain-protecting formation, without the guidance of the formation flags, the remaining elders would be unable to activate the Illuminating Divine Light.

Strictly speaking, this can be considered a minor flaw.

The problem is that, normally, no one can directly bypass the layers of restrictions to damage the array flags without breaking the array itself.

To put it bluntly, even the person who designed the formation couldn't have predicted it.

Future generations will one day face the strange situation where the formation is still intact, but the main flag has been destroyed by the enemy.

For a moment, the remaining Golden Core cultivators looked at each other in bewilderment. Many of them subconsciously took several steps back, fearing that Xiao Chen would capture them as well.

They also didn't know how many times the mechanical grappling hook could be used.

If you're the one to stick your neck out in a situation like this, you could lose your life.

"Elder, something terrible has happened!"

Just then, the attendant responsible for guarding the life tablets ran over to report the situation.

He hadn't actually planned to come here at first, but the problem was that the Grand Elder had previously requested all Golden Core cultivators to come and support the formation.

So the boy couldn't find anyone anywhere and panicked. In a daze, he came looking for them from the Elders' Hall.

Then they saw Xiao Chen casually kill their own elder.

So the decision that had been made with great difficulty was disrupted again, and now they didn't know what to do next.

Coincidentally, there was a Golden Core guest elder nearby who was originally a rogue cultivator but was recruited by the Fan family two years ago.

Thinking about what Xiao Chen had just said, and considering the identity of this young boy, he immediately realized that something serious had really happened.

"Weren't you supposed to be guarding the True Lord's life tablet? Why are you here? Are you neglecting your duties?"

He immediately drew his sword and pointed it: "Hurry up and confess honestly, or I'll chop off your dog's head right now."

In his panic, the boy was pointed at by the flying sword and immediately shouted without regard for anything else, "Elder, please forgive me, I did not neglect my duties, it's just that the master's life tablet suddenly shattered."

As soon as these words came out.

The many Golden Core cultivators around felt as if they had been struck by lightning.

Many of them glanced at Xiao Chen, who was engulfed in flames beside them, and then at the lifeless Grand Elder, before choosing to flee to the side with the array flags.

It's obvious that the Illumination School is about to collapse!

They didn't want to die alongside this heartless sect.

Now, those who run fast have a sliver of hope, while those who run slow will be trapped here by the human reinforcements and will die without a burial place.

The escape of this group served as a reminder to many other monks.

The Zhaokong Sect had only been established for a few years. Apart from its own disciples, there were quite a few new outsiders who were unwilling to risk their lives for the sect.

As a result, nearly half of the cultivators scattered on the spot and fled for their lives.

Even though the remaining elders of the Zhaokong Sect shouted sternly, it was to no avail.

Suddenly, there were far fewer cultivators to help, and some even used the small array flags in their hands to escape from the side, thus diverting the power of the array.

The once sturdy protective array of the mountain immediately deteriorated beyond recognition.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xiao Chen broke free from the formation's constraints and delivered a backhand palm strike.

However, instead of continuing to attack the array base, it focused all its power on the nearest Golden Core disciple.

He was burned to ashes on the spot.

Compared to dismantling the base, he seemed to have found a simpler method.

As expected, Xiao Chen changed his target.

More disciples of the Zhaokong Sect began to grab the array flags in their hands and turn to flee. Their sudden and unusual behavior further affected the operation of the mountain-protecting array.

It should be understood that even the most fortified formation cannot withstand internal unrest.

If these escaped Golden Core cultivators hadn't come in the first place, the problem would actually be somewhat manageable.

However, their deliberate use of the array flags to break the restrictions and open small passages to escape to the outside world had extremely serious negative consequences.

Even though there are still many loyal disciples of the Zhaokong Sect who try to hold on.

But it was already too late.

Because of such intense interference, Xiao Chen was able to move almost unimpeded, and soon all the disciples who continued to resist were eliminated one by one.

So he actually managed to break down this top-tier fourth-order mountain-protecting formation in just a quarter of an hour.

While the mechanical grappling hook played a part, as did a bit of luck, those factors are no longer important.

With the mountain-protecting formation collapsing with a roar, the last barrier blocking Xiao Chen's path vanished.

With only a bunch of low-level cultivators left, the Zhaokong Sect was basically his own backyard.

The pressure of a Nascent Soul level cultivator poured out, accompanied by a powerful divine sense sweeping over everyone below.

Xiao Chen stood tall in the air, and could clearly see that the entire Three Leaf Islands were in complete chaos.

Many cultivators were risking their lives to escape, but some were either gathering together to try to hold out using a few small formations, or taking the opportunity to burn, kill, and plunder.

In fact, if he wanted to, at least 99% of the cultivators here wouldn't be able to escape.

However, Xiao Chen was not a bloodthirsty person, so he ignored the fleeing cultivators.

He simply separated a few strands of true essence and they fell, transforming into nearly a hundred fierce sword energies that annihilated all the troublesome cultivators.

Many servants and outer disciples below are facing sudden attacks from their companions or inner disciples.

At the critical moment of life and death, I saw sword energy descend from the sky and kill those villains, but spared them.

Many people kept their heads down and just ran as fast as they could, while some cultivators knelt down and kowtowed several times to the sky before hurriedly fleeing.

After dealing with these people, Xiao Chen strolled leisurely to the sect's warehouse.

Three Golden Core cultivators have activated the warehouse formation and are preparing to hold their ground and await reinforcements.

However, they were clearly overthinking it.

Xiao Chen blasted them, along with the formation, into pieces in just a quarter of an hour.

Immediately afterwards, he turned around and went to the front of the Scripture Pavilion, and took out the portable array plate of the Reverse Five Elements Qi Dividing Array that he had previously seized.

This area contains mostly fragile items like ancient books; forcibly dismantling the formation could easily cause unnecessary damage.

Therefore, Xiao Chen chose to set up a large array to slowly dissipate the restriction.

Then he turned back into the warehouse and began the actual search for the loot.

I reckon by the time we finish searching here, we should have finished searching there too.

Perfect planning!

"Wow, it's huge! There are six floors, and so many boxes underneath."

Strolling through the Zhaokong Sect's warehouse, Xiao Chen couldn't help but be somewhat surprised.

Unlike the Azure Flame Sect's main warehouse, where many things are piled together, there is only a small inner warehouse containing a few rare spiritual materials.

The first impression one gets upon entering this place is one of vastness and perfect order.

Looking around, rows of shelves were neatly arranged, each holding a row of almost identical spiritual objects.

Through his divine sense, Xiao Chen could also see that on the four floors below, tens of thousands of large boxes of different models were neatly stacked and arranged in categories.

If it were a monk who was very familiar with this place who came here.

I reckon I could find what I want with my eyes closed.

"So many Qi Gathering Pills!"

Xiao Chen noticed that there were a total of 268 bottles of Qi Gathering Pills on the shelf to his right.

Back when he was still a Qi Refining cultivator, he had to be very careful with his money when it came to these 'expensive' pills that cost twenty spirit stones to buy a bottle.

But seeing these things now, all that's left is a sigh.

I'm too lazy to take it; it would be a waste of precious storage space.

The second floor below is the same, but it contains some common second-tier spirit items.

The front half of the three floors was filled with boxes and boxes of basic minerals and some low-level rune ink and other miscellaneous items.

There were quite a few magical artifacts in the middle, as well as several boxes full of top-quality magical artifacts, which I estimate to be more than 180 pieces.

Behind them were boxes of spirit stones piled up.

Strangely, after taking inventory, Xiao Chen discovered that there were only about five million low-grade spirit stones stored here.

It was only slightly more than the number he carried with him.

This situation is clearly a bit strange.

The absence of mid-grade spirit stones could be due to their separate storage.

Logically speaking, given the size of the Zhaokong Sect, it shouldn't only have a mere five million low-grade spirit stones.

Don't they like saving money?
Driven by curiosity, Xiao Chen continued walking down.

Specially made large boxes appeared starting from the fourth floor.

Xiao Chen opened several in a row, only to find that they were all ordinary third-tier spiritual items, which were useless junk to him.

However, he still patiently opened all the boxes and took a look.

For some spiritual mines containing elements like magnetic stones, which naturally interfere with divine sense detection, they even used their true essence to probe and search for them.

While idly flipping through the eighty-second box, he suddenly felt as if his true energy had detected something unusual.

"Hmph, trying to play these tricks on me!"

Xiao Chen immediately emptied all the Yuan Magnetite from the box and immediately saw that it contained a bunch of third-order water-type spirit ore and a blue crystal core.

Once the crystal core was freed from the cover of the primordial magnetic force, it immediately emitted a remarkably obvious fluctuation of spiritual energy.

He tried to reach out and pick it up, and immediately realized that it contained an astonishing amount of water elemental power.

As luck would have it, Xiao Chen happened to recognize this thing.

Fourth-grade superior spiritual item - Deep Sea Core!
According to the summary of the seniors of the Tiangang Sect, it was a top-level water-type spiritual object that appeared millions of years ago, and it has long since disappeared.

For cultivators with water-elemental roots, this is an excellent spiritual object for comprehension, several times more effective than the Dao-nurturing crystal.

If used for refining weapons, it would also be a top-tier fourth-order spiritual material.

Another interesting feature is that this thing has a few other characteristics.

That is, it can assimilate the surrounding water-based spirit ore!
Putting ordinary third-tier water-based spirit ore and deep-sea core together, about twenty years later...

An ordinary spirit ore that was originally worth more than four thousand spirit stones will be transformed into a weakened version of the Deep Sea Core.

Although it cannot be directly upgraded to the fourth tier, it can become a top-tier third-tier spirit ore worth 100,000 spirit stones, which is equivalent to a price increase of more than twenty times.

With proper placement, one deep-sea core can be converted into ten spirit stones simultaneously.

In other words, it can produce nearly one million spirit stones every twenty years.

Although the output is not particularly large, its advantage lies in having no cost and not affecting the effect of the Deep Sea Core itself.

It is especially suitable for sects or families to hold and, when not in use, to convert spirit ore in a safe place.

If needed, you can take it out and use it.

"Good stuff, it belongs to me now."

Xiao Chen put away the deep-sea core with satisfaction, and then looked at the spirit mines on the ground.

Judging from the results, it seems that the transformation has been going on for about four or five years, and the colors are about 70% similar.

Although the conversion wasn't complete and therefore had no special value, he still kept them.

If you need to barter with other cultivators in the future, it can serve as a small bonus.

(End of this chapter)