Shrouding the Heavens: The Ultimate Daoist Venerable

Chapter 537 Farewell
The master and disciple, each with their own thoughts, fell into silence, each needing to resolve their inner turmoil.

Afterwards, Chen Chong comforted Changsheng, saying, "Things may not be as bad as we imagine. No matter how brutal the ancient clans are, they might not specifically target ordinary people who haven't cultivated."

"Moreover, my senior brother has always been resourceful and shrewd. Although Ancestor Lingxu has passed away, I don't believe that he didn't leave any backup plans. Perhaps they have already repelled those ancient clans."

Changsheng said, "Master, you don't need to comfort me. No matter what happens, I will try my best to stay calm."

Upon hearing this, Chen Chong said nothing more, only shaking his head inwardly. Even he, as the master, was somewhat losing his composure; how much more so would Changsheng, who was barely over twenty?
Since it involves his parents and relatives, Chen Chong can easily imagine the immense psychological pressure Changsheng must be under. She can only hope that Changsheng's parents can escape unharmed; that would be the best outcome.

Secondly, at the very least, there should be no news. After all, in this situation, no news might be considered good news. At least, there's still a possibility that things will get better.

Soon, Changsheng and Chen Chong emerged from the void and arrived near Changsheng's hometown.

But at that very moment, Chen Chong reacted swiftly, quickly covering them with the Heaven-Deceiving Array Pattern to conceal their forms and prevent their aura from being leaked.

Within the reach of Chen Chong's divine sense, there were many ancient clans, ranging from the Sendai Realm to the Saint Realm. They were scattered in various places, seemingly chaotic, but there was order within the chaos.

Fortunately, there were only one or two ancient clan cultivators at the Sendai Realm when they arrived, and Chen Chong had already used the Spirit Void Seal to activate the laws of the void and erase the noise in case of any unforeseen circumstances, so their arrival was not noticed.

Now that everything is in a stable state, even a saint would find it difficult to detect the presence of Chen Chong and his companion.

After all, although the Heaven-Deceiving Array Patterns they used were extremely incomplete, they were obtained from the Boundless Great Celestial Venerable, and were acquired by the Spiritual Observation Holy Land from other star regions before the situation deteriorated.

Although Chen Chong hadn't fully grasped its secrets, deceiving several sages would be a simple matter. This was also why he had been tracking Changsheng without being detected by the other ancient clan sages.

Even a Saint King, unless he has conducted in-depth research on the Heaven-Deceiving Array Pattern or the method of deduction and calculation, or has mastered some powerful perception-type secret technique, would not be able to detect Chen Chong's presence when Chen Chong intentionally did so.

Seeing this, Chen Chong and Chang Sheng exchanged a glance and understood each other's thoughts.

These ancient cultivators must have something in mind for being scattered around this place. They just happened to stumble upon this matter, so they can investigate it.

After careful observation, Chen Chong's expression changed drastically, and cold sweat even broke out on his forehead.

Seeing Chen Chong's strong reaction, Chang Sheng knew something serious must have happened. So they slowly distanced themselves from the ancient tribe, maintaining a safe distance before beginning to communicate.

Chang Sheng asked, "What are they doing? I see these cultivators are all engraving different special symbols. Are they setting up an array?"

Chen Chong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "You guessed right. These ancient clan cultivators are setting up an array, and it's an extremely grand and world-shaking array."

Chang Sheng said, "Could it be that they intend to use this to counter the protective array of my Ziwei Star or the protective array of the Lingguan Holy Land? These two arrays were personally set up by the Ancestral Master Wuji Tianzun. What array pattern could possibly stand against them?"

Chen Chong said, "That's right. Apart from the word puzzle, there is indeed no array pattern in this human universe that can surpass the array pattern of the Wuji Heavenly Venerable. But since they are both extreme array patterns, even if they cannot be broken through or neutralized, they can still destroy a part of it."

"These ancient cultivators are trying to inscribe a complete imperial array pattern to counter the two great arrays we control."

“The anomalies we sensed during the teleportation were most likely caused by the formation of this array pattern,” Changsheng said. “But the Imperial Array Pattern is profound and complex. Can these ancient clans really replicate it themselves? Even if they can, its effect probably can’t compare to the array pattern personally laid out by the Boundless Great Celestial Venerable, right?”

Chen Chong sighed, "The person who designed this array is a genius. He was able to break down the Imperial Array Pattern into countless small runes, connect the dots into lines, and the lines into surfaces, using an extremely large scale to make up for the shortcomings of the array setter's abilities."

"Although this great formation is not perfect or very stable, it can still unleash powerful energy in a short period of time, affecting the Ziwei Star Guardian Formation."

"They may not be able to destroy the Ziwei Star Formation with this, but it is enough to sever the connection between the Ziwei Star Formation and the Lingguan Holy Land Formation, causing us to lose control of it."

Upon hearing this, Changsheng immediately sensed something was wrong. He said, "Master, what should we do? We absolutely cannot let them build this great formation."

Chen Chong said, "Let's walk around for a while, looking for your parents and examining these runes. Let me think about how to break this formation."

So the master and disciple continued to explore the place slowly while maintaining the Heaven-Deceiving Array pattern to conceal their aura and physical forms.

The more Chen Chong examined the runes, the uglier his expression became. Clearly, the opponent's mastery of array patterns far surpassed his own; it was perhaps the work of one of the ancient clan quasi-emperors who had once confronted the Spirit Void Quasi-Emperor.

However, as they discovered more and more runes, Chen Chong's expression finally softened; he had finally found the flaw.

Although he could only see the tip of the iceberg, this grand formation was not a complete Imperial Array. About one-third of it consisted of Quasi-Imperial Array Patterns, which were probably deduced by these ancient clan Quasi-Imperials to fill in the gaps.

In this way, the formation is naturally not perfect, making it much easier to find its flaws.

They likely only have one chance to destroy this grand formation. Once they make their move, those on the outer perimeter will be locked onto, making escape nearly impossible. Therefore, they must find the most crucial point of the formation to ensure that a single strike causes maximum damage.

However, during this process, Changsheng's complexion grew increasingly grim. This was because wherever these ancient races went, blood was shed; all humans, and even other birds and beasts, were wiped out to prevent any news from leaking out.

In this situation, if his parents happen to fall within this range, then they are probably...

Chang Sheng dared not think about what might happen, and numbly walked home with Chen Chong.

Although he was mentally prepared, when he saw his hometown, which no longer existed and had been completely razed to the ground, Changsheng still felt as if a string in his mind had snapped, and his mind went blank for a moment.

Chen Chong sighed softly and used the array patterns to seal his body to prevent him from losing control of his emotions.

Changsheng paced back and forth mechanically, unaware of what he was searching for.

Finally, he found a blood-stained jade disc. It was a gift he had specially prepared for his parents, engraved with his appearance at each age. He had prepared this item to prevent his parents from missing him when he was far from home.

Changsheng held the jade disc in his hand and finally let out a silent sob. Tears fell silently, turning into ice crystals that fell to the ground and shattered, just like his heart riddled with holes.

(End of this chapter)