Chapter 104: The Might of the Great Array

In terms of cultivation, he was still at the Fourth Layer of Celestial Fate. But possessing a Divine Soul at the Daoist Palace level was of utmost significance. It meant that he now had no bottleneck in advancing to the Daoist Palace Realm. As long as his spiritual power reached the threshold, it would happen naturally. Apart from this, his divine soul’s might had completely surpassed Celestial Fate. The power he could wield in battle had become stronger. However, this was still not enough to eliminate those seven experts and the myriad-strong Blood Radiance Army. After all, those seven were true Daoist Palace Realm practitioners, their divine souls naturally at the Daoist Palace level too. Jiang Cheng knew that absorbing the residual spirit must involve more than just elevating the divine soul realm. His consciousness sank into the Divine Mansion, and he immediately discovered its mystery. In his mind, a wondrous scene unfolded. Beneath him, ten thousand miles deep within the earth, was a massive and expansive underground palace. Though devoid of lights, it was not completely dark. Because at its center lay a massive skeleton, several tens of thousands of meters long. The skeleton was entirely light green, with many parts mottled and cracked, limbs shattered and incomplete, dead for countless years. Glimmers of light shone through the gaps in the bones, bringing some illumination to the underground palace. "Li Dragon?" Jiang Cheng inexplicably recognized it, even though he had never seen it before. He finally understood what he had gained. Countless millennia ago, a Li Dragon that reached the Demon King Realm died here. Many years later, its remains were discovered by the Xiang Family ancestors. Being of the Demon King level, even its remains possessed incredible effects. The Xiang Family used its dragon scales to forge treasures, its flesh to create treasure pills, and even extracted the last trace of bloodline to merge into themselves to enhance talent. Meanwhile, they used its remnants as an array hub to construct a grand Dragon Spirit Array. That was the Xiang Royal Race’s brightest period, during which they produced several at the Eighth and Ninth Layers of the Daoist Palace. But as time passed, the benefits of the Li Dragon treasure were exhausted. With no new treasure pills, coupled with the thinning Li Dragon bloodline in descendants, their talent steadily declined. Until hundreds of thousands of years later, Xiang Family newborns could no longer inherit the Li Dragon bloodline, such was Xiang Gaoye’s fate. The reason Princess Ningti’s talent far surpassed his was due to an unexpected ancestral inheritance of a trace of the Li Dragon bloodline. And the Dragon Spirit Array, due to the gradual decay of the remnants, fell from a treasure array to a Tier Nine Spirit Array. This encompassed everything Jiang Cheng knew. He finally grasped the brilliance of the system’s plan. The Xiang Royal Race would never dream that the deceased Li Dragon actually had a wisp of lingering spirit still threading about, yet not extinguished. The residual spirit had no consciousness, merely the obsession of the Li Dragon before death, which would perhaps entirely extinguish in another million years. And now, he merged with it. He wiped his ring and released the puppet cheer squad. Dong dong dong! When the somewhat tacky drum music suddenly echoed from the ruins, both the seven experts and the Blood Radiance Army were dumbfounded. Seeing the eight dancing female puppets almost made their eyes pop out. "What is happening?" They had savored numerous performances in their lives, but it was the first time amid post-battle ruins. "Caution is wise." "I knew Jiang Cheng wouldn’t be killed so easily." The seven scanned around but failed to locate Jiang Cheng. Until a long and loud laugh echoed from above them. "Does this song and dance please you all?" Jiang Cheng stood proudly in the void, his white robe spotless, not hinting at just having been in battle. The seven, unlike prior adversaries, weren’t panicky. They, expressionlessly, flew up, once again surrounding him. Qiu He Sword Venerable gracefully plucked at his sword and asked, "Why are you still alive?" "Because I’m stronger than all of you!" Jiang Cheng didn’t give them time to react, activating the Dragon Spirit Array at once. Indeed, this was the system’s real solution. The Dragon Spirit Array, controllable only by the Xiang Royal Race. Outsiders, even seizing the array’s control hub, found it to be useless, as the day this great array was devised, it was already imprinted with the Xiang Royal Race’s mark. However, that did not preclude exceptions. Besides the core array hub, the array could be triggered by itself. The Li Dragon’s remnants formed the array hub, intrinsically part of the array itself. Having merged with the residual spirit, Jiang Cheng now embodied the Li Dragon. His activation equated to the array coming to life. Even if Xiang Gaoye personally intervened, he couldn’t stop it. In the next moment, the dim underground palace suddenly turned bright as day. Centered on the remnants, the array’s markings on the ground all lit up, extending thousands of miles underground! Each line resembled a burning line of fire, magnificently beautiful. Within the imperial palace, Xiang Gaoye, waiting for news of Jiang Cheng’s demise, abruptly leapt up, rushing out incredulously. Beside him, Princess Ningti was equally astounded. The two came outside the palace, seeing in the distance a verdant barrier sealing off an area of several hundred miles. And that location was the Princess’s Mansion! "This is impossible!" "How could the Dragon Spirit Array self-activate?" Xiang Gaoye muttered, experiencing, for the first time, a situation spiraling out of control. In that moment, countless people walked out of their homes, gazing at the shimmering, flowing barrier. Many did not know what it was, but they knew it must be something terrifying. As they, too, felt the tremors emanating from beneath the ground. "This is impossible!" Grand General Lu Ran echoed the same words. "Xiang Gaoye..." "Is Xiang Gaoye secretly helping you?" The first thought of the seven great Daoist Palace Realm experts wasn’t that Jiang Cheng controlled the array, but that Xiang Gaoye was tricking them. "Heh, enjoy it at your leisure," Brother Cheng had no obligation to explain. He merely activated the array, transforming the barrier into a terrestrial purgatory. The ruins suddenly turned into a vast ocean! If it were just ordinary water, even those in the Body Tempering Realm could survive. But the sea within this grand array was far from simple. The first to suffer was the Blood Radiance Army below. Ten thousand soldiers, not quick enough to rise, were swept away by the seawater. Soon, they were corroded and dissolved... Thousands with quicker reactions flew swiftly into the sky. But it was already too late. The Dragon Spirit Array originally could envelop the entire imperial city, but that would have dispersed and weakened its power significantly. Moreover, the city housed numerous civilians, with whom Jiang Cheng had no quarrel, so he naturally refrained from acting recklessly. He significantly shrank the scope, covering only the Princess’s Mansion, thereby concentrating the barrier’s potency. At this time, torrential elemental rain fell from the sky. The Blood Radiance troops, merely touched by a few drops, quickly found it spreading over them, eventually also dissolving them completely. Still, to the seven great Daoist Palace experts, it was manageable. Their adversary was an extended Black Dragon Illusion tens of thousands of meters long. Each breath of the illusion saw their spiritual power quickly corroded to nothing. What utterly terrified them was their Dao Palace. Even that gradually dissipated into void with each breath. Suddenly without their Dao Palace, their foundation was ruined and scattered, left powerless to withstand the array’s erosion. At this moment, Jiang Cheng crushed the Communication Spirit Talisman given by the Green Skirt Palace Maid.