The Wandering Immortal

Chapter 67 Illusion Array
None of the four expected that a terrifying aura of a monster, possibly level seven or higher, would suddenly appear inside the cave.

In this narrow cave, how could they possibly fight against a level seven demon? Jiang Yuan gestured to the others to retreat quickly.

It was too late. A deep, deafening roar came from inside the cave.

Jiang Yuan inwardly groaned, hoping it wasn't a dragon or anything like that. A level seven dragon had the strength of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, and he couldn't possibly defeat it.

Now even the red thread can't be used. If Wan Haiming's soul is released, that guy, harboring resentment and seeking revenge, might be even more troublesome than a demonic beast.

Shen Wangzhi grabbed Liu Caiwei and fled as fast as he could, while Qinghe took out the Green Fox Bow and slowly retreated with Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan transmitted his voice to Qinghe, who then put away the Green Fox Bow and used Thorns.

Qinghe understood the situation perfectly well. The cave environment was complex, and although the green fox was powerful, it was not easy to hit its target. If it accidentally destroyed the cave, it would be even more troublesome.

Jiang Yuan took out the Emei Dagger and condensed the Ice Soul in his hand, becoming fully alert. He glanced back casually and was greatly surprised!
The entrance we had just entered had vanished, replaced by two other dark passages.

There was actually a formation inside this cave, and a very sophisticated illusion formation at that. Jiang Yuan hadn't detected it at all before.

Shen Wangzhi ran half a mile away and looked back to see if Jiang Yuan and the other two had followed. He found that the passage had disappeared and he and Liu Caiwei were in a stone chamber. He quickly warned Liu Caiwei not to wander around!

Jiang Yuan also warned Qing He not to move around carelessly, as she could easily be separated and defeated one by one in the illusion array.

Fortunately, the monster did not get close; perhaps the monster's aura was just an illusion created by the formation.

Jiang Yuan tried to communicate with Shen Wangzhi, but there was no response from his voice or the talisman. It seemed that this illusion array could isolate spiritual energy and could not protect the two of them for the time being.

Jiang Yuan had studied the art of formations extensively in his previous life and considered it his forte, but this time he was thoroughly humiliated, ultimately proving that his cultivation level was still too low.

With two black holes behind him and a passage in front, theoretically one of them should lead to the gate of life, but Jiang Yuan's divine sense could not detect the slightest flaw.

Even with her Rejuvenating Spiritual Eyes, Qinghe couldn't detect any fluctuations in spiritual energy; it was as if the cave itself was like that.

Jiang Yuan reminded Qiong Niang to scout ahead, as she was a spirit and ordinary traps and attacks were ineffective against her.

Qiongniang flew forward for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, almost reaching the limit of being able to leave the magical artifact, but still hadn't returned. Qinghe had no choice but to cast a spell to forcibly recall her.

Qiongniang came back through the wall, only saying that the road ahead was too complicated and had many passages.

Jiang Yuan didn't quite believe it. This small mountain wasn't very big to begin with, and the cave's depth was limited, so it couldn't possibly be a very large space.

Illusion arrays usually confuse a cultivator's senses. Sight and hearing are just the basics. Being able to shield or mislead the divine sense is already quite skillful. But to be able to confuse even the soul is truly troublesome.

Jiang Yuan took out two talismans and used his magic to activate the talisman warriors to explore the two black holes behind him. After walking about several dozen feet, the talismans lost their connection.

It seems the only option left is to hide within the formation and force our way through.

Illusions can confuse the mind, causing people to make mistakes in a state of panic. Ultimately, they can only harm people through mechanisms and traps, or by changing the attack formation to cause damage. In essence, they are still spells, and there will always be fluctuations in spiritual energy.

Jiang Yuan and Qing He stood back to back, took out array plates and array flags, and first set up a five-element defensive array. They walked to the edge of the array's light screen, retrieved the array flags, and set up the array again. In this way, they could walk two zhang at a time and slowly explore forward.

Only by finding the core of the formation and breaking through its eye can one escape.

Shen Wangzhi naturally understood formations, but knowing he wasn't as strong as Guan Canghai, he simply didn't leave. Instead, he set up a small defensive formation and sat inside with Liu Caiwei, on guard. Jiang Yuan, holding the formation plate, moved forward two zhang at a time, and after more than two hours, finally arrived at a stone chamber hall.

The hall is square, about half a mile wide, and is very simply furnished with a few stone tables and benches, and a few stone pillars that reach to the sky and the ground. Each pillar has a lamp with a spirit stone as its core.

Because the ground was wet, the shimmering water and scattered reflections made the two of them feel uneasy as they walked in.

Jiang Yuan's intuition told him that this was the core of the formation. If he broke the formation properly, he would not only avoid injury, but might even gain an opportunity. However, if he moved something he shouldn't, the illusionary formation might turn into an offensive formation.

The pillars are neither asymmetrical nor aligned, making it easy to see that they are a distorted arrangement of the Big Dipper, which is certainly not a simple matter.

There was still no spiritual energy fluctuation in the stone chamber. The only things that could be moved were the stone table and chairs.

Perhaps it needs to be arranged in a special pattern to reveal the true core of the formation.

Jiang Yuan pondered for half an hour in the stone chamber, but still couldn't decide what to do.

He knew the predicament he was in: he had the insight of an ascending great being, but only the strength of a minor cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage. He was all talk and no action.

The highest cultivation level on this desolate island is only at the Nascent Soul stage. It's highly unlikely that a Nascent Soul cultivator could set up an array on such a deserted island; a reasonable guess is that it would be at the Core Formation stage. It would likely be based on Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, the Big Dipper, the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, the Hetu and Luoshu diagrams, or a combination thereof.

Jiang Yuan recalled observing the island from the air. The island was long and winding, somewhat resembling the Big Dipper, except it lacked the most important pivot point, turning the dipper into a long snake. Perhaps due to the passage of time, strong winds and tsunamis caused the collapse of one of the key points of the formation.

The surrounding reefs are of varying heights and are in disarray, but overall they still resemble the shape of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) in Chinese astrology, and are not too far off.

Jiang Yuan finally took action, pushing the two stone tables to the position of the handle of the Big Dipper, which is the position of the left and right assistants, turning the seven stars into nine stars.

Twelve stone benches are certainly not enough to form a complete set of the Eight Trigrams.

Judging solely from the hexagram diagram, each of the three layers, inner and outer, has twelve strokes, with four long and eight short strokes, only the order of the three layers is different.

The formation is so well-organized that the person who set it up must be experienced and prudent, so let's arrange them according to the center position.

Once the last stone bench was in place, a rumbling sound came from the hall. The northwest wall caved in, revealing a passage. The passage that had been entered earlier had not disappeared, so it seemed that there was a way out.

As expected, the illusion array should have been broken; the question now is where it leads.

Jiang Yuan remained cautious, but instead of using formations to advance, he activated his protective shield and proceeded with a talisman in hand.

About three miles later, there was another large hall, slightly smaller than the previous illusion array core, with only a stone platform and a stone box on it.

It seems that this is the reason for the existence of this cave.

Qinghe used her Rejuvenating Eyes to see that, apart from the stone doorway she had entered through, there were hidden doors on the other three walls, but none of them were open or closed.

If there is still a formation, the stone box is the key.

Jiang Yuan set up a small array, covering the stone platform with a light screen. Vines sprouted from the wood and lifted the top of the stone box, revealing a burst of light inside, as if it contained some kind of magical treasure.

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(End of this chapter)