Sanghai Secret Realm.
"Little Samsara, so according to you, this isn't the Tongyang Grand Formation, but the Nine Yin Fortune Snatching Array, and this array requires three locations to be activated simultaneously to succeed?"
Bai Shengyi had not expected that after emerging from the Cangtian Spiritual Mansion, a casual stroll would lead her to stumble upon three shifty individuals abducting a student to kill and drain their blood.
After she rescued the student, one of the three cultivators escaped, one died, and the remaining one confessed that they intended to use the student as a sacrifice to activate the Tongyang Grand Formation, only to be exposed by the Samsara Brush.
"You could say that, but the three locations of the Nine Yin Fortune Snatching Array are interlinked and their energies connected. If two of them are perfectly activated, it can still succeed, albeit with significantly reduced effectiveness."
"Shengyi, this Nine Yin Fortune Snatching Array is incredibly insidious and vicious. Once activated, it can plunder the fortune of an entire world, gradually turning it into a dead land that cannot recover for tens of thousands of years. It has long been classified as a forbidden technique by the Divine Revelation World. These people mean harm, and you should be careful since you've disrupted their plans."
The Samsara Brush flitted about joyfully in her sea of consciousness, finding immense pleasure.
It was so much more comfortable staying in its master's sea of consciousness, woo woo. It had suffered greatly these past six months, weathering storms and sleeping in the open.
That was right. While Bai Shengyi felt as though only half a month had passed cultivating in the Cangtian Spiritual Mansion, upon exiting, more than half a year had gone by in the Sanghai Secret Realm.
In these two years, most of the seeds who had entered the secret realm had advanced to the Golden Core mid-stage, forming alliances or developing friendships.
Furthermore, news of the Sanghai Spiritual Mansion was no longer a secret, leading to a fervent competition for the Spiritual Mansion Key.
Thus, the various schemes enacted by these cultivators within the secret realm had gone unnoticed.
No, perhaps someone had noticed, but simply hadn't taken it seriously.
"Little Immortal, I've told you everything I know. Can you let me go now?" The cultivator, seeing that Bai Shengyi had no intention of killing him, glanced at her and boldly asked.
Bai Shengyi let out a scoff.
"What I was told was all false?"
The cultivator's expression changed. Before he could even utter a word of explanation, with a "crack," his neck was twisted, and his breath ceased.
Bai Shengyi contemptuously tossed the body aside.
She destroyed the altar beside her with a single sword strike and asked with a furrowed brow, "Little Samsara, where do you think these people came from?"
"They likely entered with you," the Samsara Brush replied half-heartedly.
Bai Shengyi's gaze, however, deepened, and she couldn't help but recall Bai Murong, who had been hidden within Bai Yiyi's body. She mused that these people's methods were truly varied and impossible to guard against.
"Eh?" The Qingmeng Vine suddenly darted out, nudging the deceased cultivator, and cautiously asked, "Master, Boss, is this a Prison Fiend?"
Bai Shengyi stepped forward to look. Indeed, faint black and gray lines intertwined across the cultivator's face. The black lines were indistinct, but with every movement of the gray lines, a portion of the cultivator's face caved in.
"Bai Murong is nearby!"
Bai Shengyi directly activated the Starfall Emperor Palace, and everything before her became crystal clear. The gray lines hidden throughout the secret realm appeared before her eyes. Around these gray lines, black lines radiated outwards, as if constructing a vast cage between heaven and earth.
"That must be the power of the Nine Yin Fortune Snatching Array," the Samsara Brush exclaimed. "Such immense power, could the array here be a Celestial Array?"
"Celestial Array?"
The Samsara Brush explained, "The three locations of the Nine Yin Fortune Snatching Array are designated as the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Human Arrays, used to invoke the heavens for favorable timing and human harmony. Therefore, these three arrays require not only ninety-nine formal altars each but also nine hundred and ninety-nine sacrifices. All necessary items are prepared in auspicious numbers."
"But that doesn't hide the fact that it's fundamentally an evil array!" Bai Shengyi said with a cold laugh.
However, she soon thought of something else. "Then the altar I just destroyed?"
"That's one of them."
Bai Shengyi propped up her chin and mused, "Are the sacrifices for this array within the secret realm cultivators? But that doesn't make sense, the number of people in the secret realm isn't enough."
Unable to figure it out, Bai Shengyi stopped thinking about it.
"Let's go see! Bai Murong should be in that direction too. Let's go!"
Seeing Bai Shengyi preparing to immediately follow the gray lines, the Qingmeng Vine and Samsara Brush hurriedly reminded her.
"Master, what about the girl you just saved?"
Bai Shengyi then remembered the unconscious woman beside her.
She recognized this person; it was Li Xiaoxiao, who had helped her and Luo Feihua at the Beast Taming Peak.
A girl who was very timid but laughed a lot.
It was also Li Xiaoxiao who had helped distract one of the cultivators, allowing Bai Shengyi to defeat the three Golden Cores one by one and rescue the person. However, Li Xiaoxiao had fainted as soon as she was out of danger.
Bai Shengyi quickly woke her up.
Upon waking and seeing her surroundings, Li Xiaoxiao cried out, "Waa!"
"Martial Aunt Bai, thank you for saving me, woo woo woo... Those people were too terrifying. They not only wanted to kill me but also drain my blood, cut my flesh, and refine my spiritual consciousness, woo woo..."
"Alright, alright, it's alright now." Bai Shengyi comforted her for a while. After Li Xiaoxiao stopped crying, she immediately said, "I'm going to kill someone. Do you want to come with me, or go find the Spiritual Mansion to cultivate on your own?"
"I'll go with you!"
Li Xiaoxiao replied without thinking.
Even though Martial Aunt Bai was younger than her, she was more reliable, woo woo!
She was just a little useless. Since fate had allowed her to meet Martial Aunt Bai, she would cling tightly to Martial Aunt Bai's leg! Lie flat!
Li Xiaoxiao's thoughts were very pleasant, but soon she began to regret it slightly.
"Martial Aunt Bai, who are you going to kill? Is she also a student from the academy?"
Li Xiaoxiao tightly clutched Bai Shengyi's hem, watching as Bai Shengyi walked into increasingly remote and ominous surroundings. The trees in the forest seemed poised to lash out, as if about to sprout fangs and claws.
Li Xiaoxiao was frightened by her own imagination. Trembling, she stepped forward and pressed herself firmly against Bai Shengyi's side.
What kind of place was this? Li Xiaoxiao, hold yourself together, absolutely do not cry out!
"Not anymore."
Bai Shengyi selectively answered the second question, unaware that Li Xiaoxiao was on the verge of tears.
She remained vigilant, her eyes scanning her surroundings. In her view, the area was not a sun-dappled forest but a dead land interwoven with countless black and gray lines, where resentments howled and writhed, and wronged souls could never rest in peace.
"Why do I feel so creepy? Will anyone really come here?"
Li Xiaoxiao rubbed her arm, goosebumps rising all over.
"Yes."
A cold voice sounded. Li Xiaoxiao followed Bai Shengyi's gaze and nearly knelt on the ground.
"Woo woo, Martial Aunt Bai! You..." Li Xiaoxiao was close to tears. Li Xiaoxiao, you really shouldn't have just lounged around!
In the distance, a small mound was piled high with bones, and countless skulls floated in mid-air. Beside the bone pile stood three figures, two of whom seemed somewhat familiar.
"Shengyi? Did you also follow this sinister formation to find this place?"