Chapter Thirty-Nine: Shattering Illusions, Revealing the World

The departure of You Qing dealt a fatal blow to the team. Seeing the gap suddenly open at the front, a pack of wind leopards and water snakes seized the moment, opened their bloody jaws, and charged straight into the formation.

Stationed at that position were a few cultivators at the initial stage of the First Realm. Panicked, they could only put up a hasty and desperate defense. The female water-attribute cultivator, being the closest to the front, was targeted by a water snake first. She screamed in terror, her hands dancing wildly as feeble ripples of water magic shot toward the approaching serpent, but it was like trying to put out a blazing cart of firewood with a cup of water, completely failing to check its ferocious momentum.

"Ah, ah, ah!"

The water snake, several human heights tall, twisted its massive body, instantly tearing through her spiritual energy attack. Its sharp fangs bit heavily into her body. As her face contorted in excruciating pain, the water snake coiled tighter and tighter, its scales grinding as it attempted to swallow her whole!

At that moment, the life-token at the waist of the female cultivator suddenly flared with a brilliant spiritual light, glowing intensely. In the blink of an eye, her figure vanished.

The prey in the water snake's mouth had disappeared. It struck empty air, froze for a moment, and then turned with redoubled fury to bite at the others.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss..."

The once-tight formation was instantly thrown into chaos. Cultivators fled in all directions, desperately trying to evade the terrifying onslaught.

Amidst the pandemonium, Qing Lan wore a look of utter determination as rays of light flashed across her hands.

A green spirit sword, a thorny blood-sting, and a spirit-artifact arrow-case.

All three treasures materialized, radiating majestic spiritual energy fluctuations. She handed these treasures to the two girls in red, along with the shield, bringing all four treasures into play.

The two girls exchanged glances, hesitant to take them. Qing Lan soothed them gently, "It is fine. The situation is perilous right now, and I must guard the vanguard. Take these for your protection."

Without another word, a cold glint flashed from her Qingying Luo, and she whirled around to head straight to the front lines.

Behind her, moved by Qing Lan's trust, the two girls felt a surge of emotion, and even greater resolve. "We must fulfill her entrustment and hold this flank!"

"Mm-mm!"

Standing at the very front, Qing Lan wore a solemn expression while pondering incessantly: How on earth could they break this deadlock?

Yesterday, a subtle and unusual palpitation had quietly brushed past her brow, leaving her with the faint sense that something was about to hatch from its shell, though the feeling had vanished into thin air the moment she reined in her spiritual energy.

As she swung the Qingying Luo, she deliberated that perhaps only by fighting with everything she had would she see the outcome.

Things had reached this juncture; there was no room for hesitation. A surge of spiritual power erupted around her, displaying the full might of the peak Enlightenment Realm. Even the surrounding beasts of all directions were awed by her overwhelming aura, momentarily halting their advance.

Empowered by her spiritual energy, the Qingying Luo suddenly transformed into a whip nearly ten zhang long, churning the air with a biting, icy aura of slaughter!

The fierce beasts ahead were sent retreating one after another under her relentless onslaught, and the beasts on both flanks were met with equally devastating counterattacks.

For a moment, Qing Lan's terrifying aura cowed the horde of beasts.

Yue Dong watched her reckless and costly style of combat from the side, a trace of doubt and worry welling up in his heart. He did not know what she was attempting to do, but...

Intricate array runes swirled before him, glowing with golden light. The seal was undone, and he was fully prepared to back her up at a moment's notice.

Qing Lan's spiritual energy was draining rapidly. She felt the combat becoming increasingly grueling, but the strange agitation between her brows surfaced once more. I know not how much time had passed, but she was utterly exhausted, her arms barely able to wield the whip.

That anomaly slowly faded, lingering in stillness for a brief moment, before erupting into an unprecedented and terrifying aura!

Countless wisps of crystal-clear soul power spewed forth, transforming into illusory yet majestic waves that swept across all directions. The horde of beasts suffered a massive shock within this torrent of soul power; though nothing was visibly happening to the naked eye, their bodies involuntarily retreated step by step.

At the epicenter of the soul power storm, Qing Lan finally understood—this was the soul technique imparted to her by Zi Yi.

Deep within her sea of consciousness, four soul technique scrolls floated quietly. The foremost scroll was slowly unfurling, and a multitude of ancient, mystical runes began to detach themselves from the parchment, turning into streams of light that rapidly merged into her sea of consciousness.

Qing Lan closed her eyes, now fully enlightened. The fusion of the soul seeds had stirred countless ripples of soul power; this technique was named the Glazed Moon Seed.

With the manifestation of the soul technique, a peculiar purple radiance overflowed from her eyes, akin to the first light of dawn, capable of piercing through all the gloom and illusions of the mortal world. This technique was named Piercing Illusion.

...

Qing Lan opened her eyes. Her gaze was captivating and soul-stirring. Looking out at the battlefield once more, her eyes locked onto the most vulnerable points in the spiritual meridians of the water snakes and wind leopards, a sharp edge fully manifest on her face.

"Snap!"

As she cracked the Qingying Luo once more, it seemed almost ordinary. The force behind each whip stroke suddenly diminished, and her output of spiritual energy became sparing. Yet these seemingly soft and feeble attacks precisely sliced open the defenses of the beasts, crippling multiple ferocious beasts with a single blow!

Moving with continuous strikes, in merely a breath's time, she laid hundreds of beasts low. Behind her, the crowd stood dumbfounded, their movements slowing to a halt as they even forgot to maintain their defense.

"No way, this is too terrifying..."

"I literally just blinked. What just happened?"

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!"

The two girls in red let out piercing screams, but they were cries of joy. Their gazes fixed upon Qing Lan, brimming with deep reverence and admiration.

Even Yue Dong was stunned for a moment. After observing closely, a sudden realization dawned upon him, and he muttered softly to himself, "So this is the legacy of the Juju Bird Mansion. Such a terrifying effect..."

He then chuckled wryly, "I was already prepared to step in. It seems the spotlight still belongs to you."

At that moment, a sharp, commanding female voice rang out from the front, like the beating of battle drums urging an army onward: "Everyone, stop gaping! Charge!"

Taking the lead, Qing Lan blazed the trail continuously. The crowd roared in response, their morale soaring like a rainbow.

Cleaving through all obstacles like a bamboo split by a cleaver, everyone finally crossed through the stone gate and arrived before the swirling vortex. The pursuing beasts rushed up to this point, yet they seemed awed by an invisible force, not daring to take another step forward.

The crowd's panting and heartbeat thundered like drums, until a moment later, cheers finally erupted: "Wuwu! We finally made it through!"

"From today onward, we are inner sect disciples!"

"This was so hard, wuwu..."

...

Returning to a day prior, within the Hall of Myriad Laws.

Watching the crowd pull together in unity to form an indestructible team, the elders expressed their praise and appreciation one after another.

"Though these individuals have an ordinary grasp of arrays, their unity has already given them a semblance of forming an array with human bodies. Not bad at all."

"Yue Dong possesses a profound realm and defended the Four Seasons single-handedly without defeat; I am not surprised. But for this girl to achieve the same is truly remarkable."

"Although wood-attribute cultivators have always been known for steady and enduring spiritual energy, this feat is still quite extraordinary."

"Indeed, this Siege of Myriad Beasts was personally designated by the Sect Master. Below the Third Realm, no one could break through it alone."

"I initially thought that since it was the Sect Master's first time designing one, she might have been a bit heavy-handed and set the difficulty too high..."

"You are simply too foolish to underestimate the Sect Master's wisdom."

"Indeed, the performances of Qing Lan and Yue Dong are truly outstanding."

The Second Elder suddenly turned his head and asked, "Junior Sister must be very fond of this girl, shouldn't she?"

Yao Yu smiled gently. "Senior Brother has a discerning eye. She is blessed with supreme talent and an even better disposition. I intend to impart my lifelong learning to her, and one day when she enters the Dao and receives a revered title, I shall also hand the Myriad Spirit Star Pool over to her care."

Upon hearing these words, all the elders were moved, casting looks of profound astonishment.

One must realize that the Myriad Spirit Star Pool combed through tens of thousands of miles of spiritual veins in the southern lands, transforming and distributing them, harmonizing the five elements of spiritual energy, and acting as a gathering array. The cultivation of disciples on the Heavenly Veil Enlightenment Terrace, the nurturing of spiritual herbs in the Azure Firmament Medicine Garden, the nourishment of artifacts in the Daoguang Treasure Pavilion, and even the normal operation of the Star Curtain Cloud Court and the Crimson Clouds Nine Abysses—all of them relied entirely on this array. It could be said that within the Array Sect, its status was paramount and second only to the sect-protecting grand array, serving as the very foundation of the sect.

Upon hearing this, the Ninth Elder Nan Ming, usually all smiles, turned solemn. "Senior Sister, has this been decided?"

Just as Yao Yu was about to nod, a cold gust of wind swept by, and an icy voice suddenly echoed through the grand hall.

"Junior Sister, this is improper. I fear she is incapable of controlling the Myriad Spirit Star Pool."