Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 381: All a misunderstanding? Peace is paramount?
The illusion array and the linked array behind it are only ten miles apart.

But for the ice crystal jellyfish, it seems endless.

As a fourth-tier great demon with exceptional rationality, it not only practiced illusion techniques but also learned a technique of escape to deal with special situations.

But the problem is, what happens when special circumstances actually occur?

It then realized with despair that even with the aid of stealth techniques, it still couldn't run fast enough.

"Wait a minute, I have a big secret to tell you... um~!"

The ice crystal jellyfish attempted to negotiate, thus delaying rescue efforts.

However, the Azure Wave Penetrating Needle pierced through its skull without mercy.

Xiao Chencai wouldn't give it a chance to speak, nor did he care what it was going to say.

All he knew was that this place was very close to the sea creature's great formation, and other powerful demons might come out to provide support at any time.

They don't even need to leave the formation; they can use their divine sense to remotely guide spells for rescue.

Therefore, in this situation, the optimal solution is to not give the enemy any time to react.

"Snap! Snap!"

Along with the death of the ice crystal jellyfish, several core array bases nearby actually cracked.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Xiao Chen had originally planned to dismantle them one by one.

Before he could even make a move, the illusion array collapsed on its own, from the inside out.

Even more strangely, the surrounding fog also began to collapse inexplicably.

In just a few breaths, the dense fog that covered hundreds of miles shrank into the body of the ice crystal jellyfish, turning into a gray-black gem.

"Oh~?"

Xiao Chen blinked: "Could it be that this is a spiritual material?"

If that's the case, then it would be a truly pleasant surprise.

He originally thought that he might not be able to extract any useful spiritual materials from the jellyfish.

I never expected that I would now be guaranteed at least one special spiritual material.

"The fog has lifted!"

The human True Lords who were on the perimeter also noticed the anomaly in time.

Everyone quickly perked up and looked inside, only to see Xiao Chen slowly walking out, dragging a jellyfish with one hand.

At this moment, everyone's feelings were somewhat complicated.

As for True Monarch Qian Shu, he had just personally experienced the power of the Ice Crystal Jellyfish.

Even Heming Zhenjun, with whom they had fought many times before, felt only admiration at this moment.

Gangyuan Zhenjun and Hanchuan Zhenjun were slightly taken aback.

They weren't surprised that Xiao Chen broke the illusion array, but they really didn't expect it to happen so quickly!
In any case, it was a fourth-order grand formation presided over by a fourth-order great demon.

But Xiao Chen only took a short quarter of an hour to resolve everything.

This speed is even faster than dismantling the defensive formations guarded by Golden Core demonic beasts.

To be honest, it's a bit too fast.

"Fellow Daoist Xiao is truly exceptional!"

Iron Fan True Lord praised, "Not only is your cultivation technique fast, but your mastery of various secret techniques is also truly profound!"

Under his lead, those around him followed suit and began to praise him.

But while some are happy, others are sad.

Haihong, inside the interconnected array at the rear, gazed at the situation outside from afar, her face devoid of any smile.

It had just received the cry for help from the ice crystal jellyfish and hadn't even had a chance to lend a hand when it saw the illusion array collapse with a crash.

This specially constructed defensive line was supposed to hold off the humans for at least five days.

As a result, they didn't even last half a day before they were completely trampled flat.

"Oh~!"

Haihong couldn't help but sigh before slowly saying, "Is he Xiao Chen, the one who has repeatedly ruined our clan's important affairs?"

"She does look exceptionally young."

"His vital energy is also very abundant. I can feel his vitality even from this distance. He is simply a natural-born talent for cultivation!"

The sixfin sailfish next to him nodded: "That's right, it's him!"

He immediately became somewhat indignant: "We've contacted all our inside contacts, but we still don't know which faction he's from."

"However, it is certain that he was carrying many treasures."

"Furthermore, intelligence indicates that he carried nearly ten million spirit stones with him long before he broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, and he squandered them throughout the human race. His background must be quite extraordinary."

"To put it bluntly, they're just relying on their ancestors' legacy to gain attention."

"If it weren't for those external interferences, I could crush him like a bedbug."

The six-finned sailfish said this because it harbored deep resentment towards Xiao Chen.

You should know that, in recognition of its years of hard work, His Majesty had promised to bestow upon it a fifth-tier spirit crystal after dealing with the Cloud Wave Sword Pavilion.

But when they went back this time, they didn't even mention it.

Since things have come to this point, there's no need to say or ask; it's definitely over.

That's a fifth-tier spirit crystal!

It was all because of that damned Xiao Chen's meddling that he missed out on such a treasure.

The resentment in the sixfin sailfish's heart was almost tangible.

"Don't get angry!"

The thousand-year-old sea turtle on the other side advised, "Whether it's an external object or real skill, we will eventually have to face a formidable enemy."

"Don't lose your sense of proportion because of this."

"Furthermore, I've heard that Xiao Chen possesses a rare treasure that can penetrate defensive formations and directly capture enemies to his side."

"Now that he has passed through the illusion array, I urge Lord Haihong to use her treasure talisman as soon as possible, so as not to give him the opportunity to use his magical treasures to defeat him one by one."

As expected of a tortoise, it speaks in a very hesitant and timid manner.

The sixfin sailfish cursed under its breath, but did not utter a word in rebuttal.

Although it was angry, it could still tell what was important and understood that what the thousand-year-old sea turtle was saying made sense.

Therefore, at most they will complain a bit, but they won't jump out and drag their side down.

"Golden Talisman... Let's wait a bit. If we hide ourselves, the other side might not dare to attack directly."

After thinking it over, Haihong decided to keep the golden talisman bestowed by His Majesty for a while.

You should know that the task assigned to it by the Lord was to hold out for at least six months, but only two months have passed so far.

The main reason was that Xiao Chen and his group arrived too quickly, more than half a month earlier than expected.

In addition, the illusion array failed to last for more than five days as planned.

This means we will need to hold on for at least another three months.

Although the duration of the Golden Symbol is sufficient to cover this period.

However, if they immediately reveal this trump card, it will create a new problem.

The human race has far too much time to research and develop a countermeasure!
If the other side manages to develop a method to dispel or suppress it within a month or two, the situation could become quite dire.

Although the possibility of this is unlikely.

However, a thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant hole, so to be on the safe side, we should try to avoid it if possible.

Therefore, Haihong immediately instructed all the demons to hide their positions.

Then he took out a bright pearl from his pocket, rubbed it vigorously, and threw it down.

The pearl fell into the sea and immediately absorbed the surrounding water, transforming into a human shape in an instant.

However, above its neck, it grew a crab head that looked exactly like the sea urchin's.

At first glance, it looks incredibly lifelike, almost as if it were carved from the same mold.

"Go outside and have a good talk with them."

Haihong nodded in satisfaction and immediately commanded the water creatures to come outside the formation.

He took off running and charged towards the human race.

"Be careful, enemy attack!"

Although True Lord Gangyuan was joking, he was constantly paying attention to the situation inside the linked array.

Seeing something suddenly run out of the room, he immediately warned the enemy before he could even see what it was.

The True Lord's reaction was incredibly swift.

The moment they heard the word "be careful," the magical weapons of Iron Fan True Monarch and the others shot out.

"Whoosh! Swoosh! Bang!"

In an instant, an iron fan, a flying sword, and a bright pearl struck the water creature simultaneously, instantly obliterating it on the spot.

A moment later, everyone took a closer look and realized that what had emerged was just a water person.

"Wait, something's not right, it's still moving!"

Yinhao Zhenjun pointed to the sea surface.

It turns out that after the bursting water droplets fell into the sea, they miraculously reformed into human shapes.

Then, it slowly surfaced and waved to the humans, saying, "Good morning, everyone."

"To facilitate the communication that follows, let me first introduce myself."

"You can call me Haihong directly, or I don't mind if you want to call me Crab General."

"I am now in full charge of everything here in the Shallow Sea."

It remained stationary, not moving any closer.

Iron Fan True Lord and the others also withdrew their magical weapons and temporarily ceased their attack, wanting to hear what the newly arrived sea tribe leader had to say.

True Lord Qian Shu and True Lord Iron Fan exchanged a glance.

He then whispered a reminder to everyone: "We've never seen it before in the Shallow Sky Sea. It looks like it's reinforcements sent by the sea creatures."

"The reinforcements arriving at this time are definitely not weak; they are most likely late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators."

Haihong continued, "There's something I'm about to tell you that you might not want to believe."

"Actually, I have always believed that fighting and killing are wrong."

"The path of cultivation is extremely difficult. Everyone has put in a lot of effort to reach their current level."

"We've come this far, why turn on each other now and fight to the death?"

"If you ask me, we should just shake hands and make peace."

"Wouldn't it be wonderful if everyone could guard each other's defensive formations and remain safe and sound?"

Ok?
The humans were all stunned upon hearing this.

What is it saying?

What the hell is this about shaking hands and making peace, what the hell is this about everyone being okay? Is that even possible?

"Has this crab gone mad?"

Yinhao Zhenjun scoffed, "I thought it came out to say something important, but it turned out to be nothing but nonsense."

The people next to him nodded slightly, clearly in agreement.

"Everyone, I know you may be a little surprised, and you may not quite understand what I mean."

Haihong disagreed and continued, "But think about it carefully, do we really need to continue fighting to the death?"

"Actually, we came to the Compassion Sea this time just to settle our grievances with Pudu Temple."

"All the previous situations were caused by misunderstandings due to a lack of communication." "Fortunately, we have finally gotten a chance to communicate now."

"Please think about this, everyone. Please, all you Taoist masters, think this over carefully. Do you really want to risk your lives to help Pudu Temple?"

"I heard that before we arrived, you had already been squeezed into the southwest corner by them."

"The wealthiest and most prosperous central areas are firmly occupied by Buddhist sects, who often try to undermine them through so-called ceremonies for the salvation of mankind."

"Then let me put it bluntly: wouldn't it be a good thing for you if Pudu Temple had to bleed a little more?"

"Everyone, these are my heartfelt words, spoken from the bottom of my heart. What do you think?"

To be honest, the first half of Haihong's story was pure fabrication.

The Nascent Soul True Monarchs present did not believe the claims that the monks "only wanted to settle their scores with Pudu Temple" or that there was some kind of "misunderstanding."

Whether it's bribing the Zhaokong faction or invading the Tingtao Sea.

It's not something that can be easily dismissed with just the word "misunderstanding."

However, the second half of Haihong's story seems to make some sense.

It's quite a coincidence that if the Shallow Sky Sea and the Ink Peak Sect were to cease hostilities now, and the Ink Peak Sect were to retreat...

That would indeed allow the Taoist sect to disengage from the battle and watch as the sea tribe besieges the Buddhist sect, thus depleting the strength of the Pudu Temple.

If you can seize a sufficiently appropriate opportunity.

That way, the invasion of the sea creatures can be repelled at the same time, and the power of Buddhism can be weakened, thereby reshuffling the overall situation of the Compassionate Sea.

Leaving aside the distant ones, let's just talk about the ruins of Kuji Temple and Juehai Temple, which have already been destroyed.

Although the house is gone, the fourth-order spiritual vein is still there.

After the war ends, should we rebuild the Buddhist temple there, or convert it into a Taoist temple?

This is very interesting.

The human True Lords present exchanged glances, and some unusual thoughts suddenly arose in their minds.

It must be said that Haihong's words were indeed powerful.

Even if it's for the sake of upholding righteousness, the Taoist sect wouldn't agree to its proposal on the spot; they might even righteously rebuke it.

But what are you actually thinking?
Will they continue to fight as hard as before?

That's a completely different matter.

There's a phrase called "tacit understanding," which describes this very situation.

Moreover, as long as the Taoist sect does not agree to the sea tribe's demands and continues to pretend to fight hard, the Buddhist sect will not have any good options.

Because if the acting is good enough, there's no way to tell whether it's real or fake.

"Haihong, huh? Stop spouting nonsense!"

Gangyuan Zhenjun stepped forward and loudly proclaimed, "Those who are not of our kind have always harbored different intentions. You, a demon, would care about us? Bah!"

"Such divisive rhetoric can only fool a three-year-old."

"You're still too naive to think you can fool your grandpa with that."

"Let me tell you, stop dreaming!"

"Slaying demons and eliminating evil is the duty of all humankind, regardless of whether it is Buddhism or Taoism."

That's a very eloquent way of putting it; at least it sounds perfectly reasonable.

"Hmph, you'd better think this through."

Haihong's smile faded: "It's not just you humans who have treasures; we also have secret treasures to help us."

"I'm not bragging, but if it really came down to a fight, you guys would be no match for us."

As he spoke, he looked at Xiao Chen: "Especially this young friend Xiao, who is so young, he may have a bright future ahead of him."

"I've heard that you're not a native cultivator of the Compassionate Sea, so why are you risking your life for them?"

"I'm not afraid to tell you, before I came here this time, His Majesty gave me two treasures, specifically for taking your life."

"But I've always been soft-hearted; I can't bear to see a genius die young, nor can I bear to waste a precious treasure."

"I am giving you kind advice today, hoping you will turn back in time."

"Throughout history, countless young people have died young because they couldn't understand this principle."

"Young friend Xiao, in the end, harmony is still the most precious thing in this world."

The so-called sowing discord naturally involves first sowing discord between the Buddhist and Taoist sects, and then sowing discord between Xiao Chen, an outsider who does not belong to the Compassionate Sea.

Haihong's words were a combination of soft and hard tactics.

In particular, it revealed that it possessed a supreme treasure, specifically designed to deal with Xiao Chen.

If it were most cultivators, they would probably have to think about it carefully.

However, it was unlucky enough to encounter that small group.

"You said 'harmony is the most important thing,' which is very good, but I have two questions."

Xiao Chen nodded first, then asked in return, "When you put me on the wanted list before, why didn't you think of prioritizing peace?"

"When you sent Yun Qing to ambush me, why didn't you think of the importance of peace?"

"Oh, you finally know?"

"I'm telling you, it's too late!"

Now that things have come to this, Xiao Chen is a staunch advocate of war.

Even if it's just for hunting spiritual materials, he can't possibly negotiate with the sea tribe.

Moreover, he is not afraid of so-called treasures, nor is he afraid of being targeted.

Hearing Xiao Chen's resolute words, the other human True Monarchs were also moved.

If an 'outsider' is so resolute, these local cultivators naturally cannot lag behind.

So they all spoke up to express their opinions.

"Fellow Daoist Xiao is right!"

Gangyuan Zhenjun responded loudly, "Haihong, listen carefully! It's too late to ask for peace now!"

Yunwo Zhenjun also shouted, "That's right, you bunch of beasts, you'd better wash your necks clean and wait to die!"

Next up was Iron Fan Zhenjun: "Stop daydreaming."

"You have killed so many human cultivators in the past two years, now it's time to pay the price."

Qian Shu Zhenjun said, "I would also like to give you a piece of advice: don't bother with these fancy tricks, they're useless."

In conclusion, Lord Heming said: "Buddhism and Taoism are one family, but humans and demons cannot coexist."

"Words are useless; let's see how it goes."

Upon hearing this, Haihong frowned deeply.

These people are now the leaders of their respective sects, and together they can fully embody the will of the entire Daoist sect.

They've all said so much that there's no room for negotiation.

Unless they completely disregard their reputation and break their word, they certainly won't deliberately weaken their offensive.

In other words, its elaborate scheme to sow discord is unlikely to be effective.

It's all that damned Xiao Chen's fault. He's clearly not a cultivator from the Compassionate Sea, so why is he so determined to be an enemy of the Sea Clan?

They've gone to such lengths, even invoking the Emperor's authority for intimidation.

But the other party didn't hesitate at all.

Instead, this set an example, prompting others to also express their views and draw a clear line.

If I get the chance later, I must find a way to get rid of this despicable guy.

The negotiations have failed.

Haihong also voluntarily dispersed the water people, abandoned the idea of ​​fake peace talks, and began to focus on preparing for war.

He was just trying it out, and it wouldn't be a big problem if it failed.

With the interconnected array in place, they might be able to hold out.

At the same time, the human race also approached the outer perimeter of the great formation.

Without the protection of the illusion array and the mist, they finally saw part of the true nature of the linked array.

"What a massive formation."

Xiao Chen looked around and saw nothing but array flags and array bases, stretching as far as the horizon where the sea met the sky.

To be honest, this interconnected array was the largest array he had ever seen in terms of coverage.

In fact, not only him, but many of the True Lords present were also encountering such a massive formation for the first time.

Gangyuan Zhenjun flew slightly higher.

Based on the sea charts I had seen before, I roughly estimated the range of the formation.

Then they discovered that this super-linked array actually encompassed all the spiritual veins in the area.

In terms of construction, it is also extremely complex.

Nine different medium-sized formations were set up along the two third-order spiritual veins and the seven second-order spiritual veins.

Then, with the pseudo-spiritual vein at the center as the core, everything was connected together.

To balance the number of formations on the left and right, the sea creatures even built an eleventh formation using spirit stones.

In this way, each side of the core contains five medium-sized arrays, each flashing with five colors of spiritual light: gold, cyan, blue, red, and brown.

Clearly, they are each based on one of the five elements.

Even more surprisingly, after careful examination, Gangyuan Zhenjun found that the formations on both sides were similar in spirit but different in form.

In the dim light, the shapes of Yin and Yang were revealed.

Indeed, the sea creatures not only set up two sets of Five Elements formations on the island, but also specially arranged different Yin and Yang elements to form the Yin-Yang formation.

Therefore, this is not only a series of interconnected formations, but also a formation within a formation.

The eleven formations not only support each other, but also have two additional nested layers between them.

It truly brought the concept of "interlocking links" to its fullest potential.

It appears to be only eleven large formations, but there are actually a full fifteen.

Moreover, under such circumstances, no matter which formation you choose to attack, you will suffer coordinated suppression from at least more than half of the formations.

Because these formations possess intricate and complex power, encompassing all five elements.

Those who venture into the formation will suffer extremely severe attribute disadvantages, and may only be able to exert less than 50% of their full strength.

"Oh no, this place is practically impregnable."

True Lord Gangyuan really didn't want to boost the morale of others while diminishing his own prestige.

But he can't just not tell the truth for that reason.

So he reluctantly explained the predicament he was in to everyone in detail.

"I have a question. In a formation like this, where formations are interlocked, are there any particularly critical weak points?"

Xiao Chen took the initiative to ask, "It's the kind of core part that absolutely cannot be damaged, the part that, if destroyed, could affect the operation of the entire formation."

Gangyuan Zhenjun shook his head: "This... I'm afraid there isn't one."

"The interconnected arrays rely on each other; even if some of the array bases are damaged, they can still continue to function through the remaining arrays."

"And according to their multi-layered nested arrangement."

"Unless we can destroy one formation on the left and one on the right, and they must be formations of the same elemental attribute, we can disrupt its structure."

"This structure, which combines Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, can destroy more than half of the formation even in the most extreme cases."

"As long as the remaining five formations can still gather the five elements, they can continue to be maintained."

"And it can retain more than 70% of its power from its complete period."

(End of this chapter)