I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

"What is it?"

"I don't know. It suddenly spread from the other side of the void in the middle of the night, without any warning. It wasn't an attack of laws, a restriction, or a chaotic creature." The Old Man of Ten Thousand Paths was panting, as Su Yao's chaotic origin was helping him repair his eroded meridians. "It doesn't attack people, it just covers them. It wraps around whatever it touches, and once it's wrapped, it won't let go. After the pillar of light of the Heavenly Ladder was wrapped by it, the teleportation function was interrupted."

Qin Yuan walked to the gate tower and looked up at the grayish-white membrane covering the entire pillar of light. Upon closer inspection, the surface of the membrane was not smooth, but covered with an extremely fine texture, the arrangement of which seemed vaguely familiar. After the Eye of Chaos magnified the texture, Qin Yuan recognized it—it was exactly the same as the core array pattern on the huge array plate of the Myriad Array Dao Court's mountain gate.

It is recorded in the rubbings of the Myriad Array Diagram. The name of this array pattern is "Swallowing Light," one of the lost ancient array patterns of the Myriad Array Dao Court, which is specifically used to devour and isolate spiritual light energy. The pillar of light of the Eternal Ladder is essentially a highly concentrated channel of spiritual light. Using the Swallowing Light array pattern to block it is a targeted and precise solution, almost like it was tailor-made for the problem.

Qin Yuan retracted the bone blade into his body, took out the rubbing of the Myriad Array Diagram from his robes, and turned to the page that recorded the Devouring Light Array Pattern. Sure enough, the method to break the array pattern was also clearly written—the nemesis of the Devouring Light Array Pattern was the "Breaking Light" pattern, which was also an ancient array pattern, but the Breaking Light Array Pattern required the power of chaos as a catalyst to activate.

When Zhou Yuanli gave him the rubbing of the Myriad Array Diagram, he probably didn't expect him to use it so quickly. Or rather, Zhou Yuanli didn't care whether he could decipher it or not—in Zhou Yuanli's view, even if Qin Yuan obtained the diagram, it was impossible for him to master the use of ancient array patterns in such a short time. It would take at least a hundred years for the array masters of the Myriad Array Dao Court to even begin to study the Devouring Light Array Pattern, and how long had Qin Yuan been holding the diagram? Less than three months.

But he didn't know that Qin Yuan possessed the Eye of Chaos.

The Eye of Chaos's ability to see through the essence of all things meant that Qin Yuan didn't need to understand the entire principle behind the array patterns. He only needed to see its energy flow path and then use the power of chaos to block it at key points. This was like being able to pick a lock with an iron bar without knowing its structure.

Qin Yuan placed his palm on the grayish-white membrane, his Eye of Chaos locking onto the energy core of the Devouring Light Array. It was a small vortex hidden deep within the membrane, from which all the array's energy was output. He guided the chaotic power to condense into a thin needle, flowing upstream along the array's texture, and piercing the very center of the vortex.

The vortex trembled violently, then stopped spinning. The grayish-white membrane covering the entire pillar of light began to crack from its center outwards, the cracks spreading extremely rapidly, covering the entire surface of the membrane in less than three breaths. Qin Yuan withdrew his hand, clenched his fist, and gently tapped the area with the densest concentration of cracks. The membrane shattered instantly, turning into countless grayish-white fragments, which were swallowed up by the light from the re-illuminating Heavenly Ladder pillar.

The jade gatehouse returned to normal. The pillar of light reconnected the passage between the Void and the myriad realms.

The old man Wandao slumped to the ground, looking at the restored gatehouse, and let out a long sigh of relief: "Dao Ancestor, who on earth did this?"

"The Myriad Arrays Dao Court." Qin Yuan put the rubbing of the Myriad Arrays Diagram back into his pocket, his tone calm. "Zhou Yuanli doesn't dare to directly confront the Guixu Palace, so he takes his anger out on the Heavenly Ladder. The Devouring Light Array Seal the Heavenly Ladder, cutting off the passage between the Great Void and the Myriad Realms. If this goes on for too long, resources and personnel from the Great Void will be unable to descend to the lower realms, and the Eternal Heaven Domain and the Myriad Realms will become isolated islands."

"Has he gone mad?" Elder Wandao exclaimed incredulously. "Didn't the Chaos Assembly already determine the status of the Guixu Palace? Isn't he afraid of causing trouble for the Wuji Dao Court by doing this?"

"He did this not to achieve any specific goal, but to test them." Su Yao stood up; her Chaos Origin had already stabilized the meridians of the Ten Thousand Dao Elder. "He was testing the reaction speed of the Guixu Palace, testing Qin Yuan's bottom line, and also testing whether the Wuji Dao Court would stand up for something that had no direct interest in them. The most directly affected by the blocked Heavenly Ladder is the lower realm, not the Wuji Dao Court. Even if Ye Wuji wanted to help, he would need a formal decision from the Dao Court. By the time they finished their meeting, the Heavenly Ladder would have been blocked for ten to fifteen days."

Qin Yuan nodded. Su Yao's analysis was exactly what he had thought. Zhou Yuanli had been publicly humiliated at the Chaos Assembly, and Qin Yuan had crushed the soul imprint in his apology letter on the spot. He couldn't swallow this insult. But he didn't dare to directly attack the Guixu Palace, so he came up with this underhanded trick. Blocking the Heavenly Ladder wasn't a huge deal, but it wasn't insignificant either. If the Guixu Palace reacted slowly, it would be tantamount to telling the entire Taixu—your transcendent Daoist temple can't even protect its own gate. If the Guixu Palace reacted aggressively and directly attacked the Ten Thousand Array Daoist Court, it would be exactly what Zhou Yuanli wanted—he could then complain to the Seventy-Two Holy Dynasties that the Guixu Palace was "abusing its power."

"What should we do?" asked the old man.

"Fix the Heavenly Ladder," Qin Yuan said, "and then wait."

"What are you waiting for?"

Qin Yuan turned around and looked towards the direction of the Great Void. The Eye of Chaos pierced through the pillar of light of the Heavenly Ladder, pierced through the starry sea of ​​the Great Void, and saw hundreds of arrays operating at full power on the huge array plate at the gate of the Myriad Array Dao Court. Each one was preparing for the same thing.

"Let's wait and see what his next move is," Qin Yuan said. "Blocking the Heavenly Ladder was just a test. After that test, he'll make a bigger move."

Qin Yuan was right.

Three days after the Devouring Light Array was broken, news came from the Great Void. Seven of the Seventy-Two Holy Dynasties—the Xuanming Holy Dynasty (ranked sixty-first), the Lieyang Holy Dynasty (ranked forty-eighth), the Youming Dao Sect (ranked thirtieth), and four other mid-ranking forces—simultaneously submitted alliance applications to the Myriad Array Dao Court. Within the same hour, the seven forces issued a joint statement, with almost identical wording: "In view of the changes in the Great Void's power structure, and in order to protect our own interests, we have decided to form the 'Seven Star Array Alliance' with the Myriad Array Dao Court."

The Seven Star Alliance. This name is quite cunning. The word "Seven Stars" carries a very special meaning in the Great Void—Seven Star Guardians, Seven Star Sacred Bodies, Seven Star Ruins, Seven Star Towers—each a positive symbol deeply intertwined with the Guixu Palace. The Myriad Array Dao Court calls its alliance the Seven Star Alliance, ostensibly a tribute to the Guixu Palace, but in reality, it's seizing the Guixu Palace's symbol to use as a shield. From now on, anyone attacking the Seven Star Alliance can be accused by the Myriad Array Dao Court of attacking the "Seven Stars," the symbol of the Guixu Palace—attacking the Seven Stars is tantamount to disrespecting the Guixu Palace.

Qin Yuan received the message while eating breakfast. Ye Wuji's communication token lit up, and the anger in his voice could be felt even across the starry sea: "That old fox Zhou Yuanli, even his choice of a name is disgusting. Seven Star Array Alliance—does he deserve it?"