After Li Chengru finished arranging the magic array and placed the last magical artifact at the formation's core, he said, "I'm about to activate the array. If you regret it, now is the time to kowtow and beg for forgiveness. It's not too late."
Although Li Chengru considered himself powerful, this was the East Sea, and he worried that casually killing the Dragon Wraith might incur public wrath.
Li Chengru's pretense of giving the Dragon Wraith a chance to reform was actually a ploy to further provoke him, providing him with even more justification for his actions.
The Dragon Wraith looked at Li Chengru but remained silent.
Li Chengru sighed and said, "Young man, if you don't cherish your life, you can't blame me."
Li Chengru injected his energy into the array. Soon, the artifacts began to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the surrounding spiritual energy also began to change in coordination.
The Dragon Wraith stood there with his eyes closed, sensing the changes in the surrounding spiritual energy.
With the completion of the basic cultivation technique, 'Dragon Abyss' beginner level, the Dragon Wraith had become extremely sensitive to spiritual energy. He could perceive any change in the spiritual energy within ten meters of his body if he wished, with it all displayed in his mind.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth was diverse, but much of it was beyond human absorption.
As the spiritual energy around the array shifted, a wind picked up. A vortex formed near the Dragon Wraith, which grew stronger and stronger, eventually developing into a small tornado.
A sinister smile appeared on Li Chengru's face. He then retreated over ten meters, standing there to watch the spectacle.
Seeing the wind rise, the others also retreated, moving away from the tornado's path.
The wind grew fiercer and stronger, raising dust and stones with its howling. A black mist descended from the sky, directly targeting the Dragon Wraith.
"Master Li, that's not spiritual energy! Stop it quickly!" Lin Wei shouted, terrified at the sight of the black mist.
Huo Tianxing sighed, "It's too late, far too late. Once the Spirit Gathering Array is activated, it cannot be stopped until the spiritual energy within a hundred-mile radius is drained."
Yuan Nandou hastily returned to his room, retrieved several magical artifacts, and rushed back. He intended to set up his own array around the Spirit Gathering Array to control the influx of spiritual energy.
As soon as the artifacts were placed, a crisp cracking sound was heard. The more than a dozen magical artifacts Yuan Nandou had arranged around the Spirit Gathering Array all exploded and were rendered useless.
Yuan Nandou's heart bled as his decades of accumulated magical artifacts were destroyed.
He looked at Lin Wei helplessly, indicating that he could do nothing more.
If Yuan Nandou, the most skilled in East Sea geomancy, could not stop it, then no one else had the capability.
Lin Wei turned and walked back to the pavilion. He took out six copper coins, cupped them in his hands, closed his eyes, and silently pictured the Dragon Wraith's appearance.
When the Dragon Wraith's image was clearest in his mind, Lin Wei tossed the six copper coins onto the stone table.
The six coins spun for over thirty seconds before each one finally came to rest.
Upon seeing the divination results, Lin Wei was utterly dumbfounded. He had expected that despite the Dragon Wraith's apparent danger, the divination would reveal nothing significant. Instead, it showed the Dragon Wraith soaring to the heavens. This meant the incident would be a great opportunity for the Dragon Wraith's rapid rise.
Worried that the divination might be inaccurate, Lin Wei tossed the coins again. Both divinations yielded the exact same result.
Lin Wei felt greatly relieved, exhaled, and muttered to himself, "It's all about timing, luck, and destiny. Fate, fortune, then geomancy. Heh heh, geomancy is utter nonsense."
The Dragon Wraith stood there, observing the entire process from a light breeze to a small tornado. The descriptions of spiritual energy in the 'Dragon Repository' appeared in his mind.
What he hadn't understood before, he now grasped as he watched the spiritual energy shift.
"So that's how it is. This is wonderful! I understand everything now. Haha, it's perfect!" The Dragon Wraith chuckled to himself in his excitement.
Those outside could not hear what the Dragon Wraith was saying, but they could vaguely see that he seemed very excited.
The small tornado grew larger, its color deepening, and eventually, the black pillar of energy from the sky descended, completely dyeing the small tornado black.
A dense wave of water energy entered the Dragon Wraith's body. To mitigate the impact of this water energy, the Dragon Wraith unleashed 'Dragon Swallows the Four Seas,' beginning to absorb the life force of the surrounding trees.
The small tornado contained all five elemental energies. As 'Dragon Swallows the Four Seas' was activated, the five elemental energies began to enter the Dragon Wraith's dantian sequentially along his meridians, in the order of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, and this process repeated continuously.
The onlookers, to evade the small tornado, retreated repeatedly, soon finding themselves more than thirty meters away from the Dragon Wraith.
The small tornado had a diameter of ten meters, covering a large area of nearby shrubs.
The small tornado persisted for half an hour. Just as everyone was watching it, the tornado suddenly dispersed and expanded rapidly. In less than a minute, the entire estate was enveloped by the tornado.
The surroundings turned pitch black, and everyone was terrified, backing away repeatedly, but unable to escape the tornado's range.
The wind howled, and visibility dropped to zero. Everyone was terrified, desperately seeking something to hold onto to prevent themselves from being blown away.
Li Chengru was aghast. He had set up the array and knew its power. With his abilities, the array's diameter should not have exceeded ten meters.
Now, it had encompassed the entire estate and seemed to be still expanding. He felt that the entire array had gone completely out of control.
In a panic, Li Chengru quickly sat down cross-legged, intending to use his own strength to resist the array and prevent it from draining the spiritual energy from his body.
He was keenly aware of the array's power: anything covered by the array would have its spiritual energy completely extracted.
Life force was the energy of vitality, belonging to the wood element among the five elemental energies.
The five elemental energies of all objects covered by the array were gradually extracted and entered the Dragon Wraith's body, including life force.
The Dragon Wraith inwardly observed his dantian, finding that the cluster of five elemental energies within his dantian was rapidly growing. Once it reached a certain level, the energy cluster transformed into a liquid mass, suspended in the air.
After a moment of joy, the Dragon Wraith found that his ability to perceive spiritual energy had expanded to a radius of thirty meters.
Soon, the Dragon Wraith discovered that the life force of the surrounding shrubs had been drained, leaving them as mere dry branches. The life force of the people nearby was also heavily extracted, making everyone appear to have aged ten years.
Li Chengru sat cross-legged on the ground. Despite his utmost effort to resist, his life force was slowly being drawn out.
The Dragon Wraith willed his念力 (nianli - psychic power/mental force) and controlled the surrounding five elemental energies, increasing the extraction of Li Chengru's life force while ceasing to extract from others.
Having successfully controlled the five elemental energies, the Dragon Wraith became even more exhilarated.
Li Chengru felt that his efforts were completely futile; the spiritual energy within him was being drained.
Soon, Li Chengru's hair and beard turned white, making him appear to have aged thirty years in an instant.
After another ten minutes or so, the Dragon Wraith felt that he had extracted enough. If he continued, Li Chengru would die of old age.
He stopped 'Dragon Swallows the Four Seas,' and the tornado gradually shrank in size, eventually dissipating into a gentle breeze and disappearing.
Everyone felt as though they had just woken from a dream. They stood up and observed each other, finding everyone looking utterly exhausted.
When the others saw Li Chengru, they were startled. The master who had been full of vigor and possessed an ethereal bearing just moments ago had now completely transformed into an elder in his seventies.
Having benefited, the Dragon Wraith put on an act. He stood there with his eyes closed, feigning pain, while secretly laughing inwardly.