A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

The explosions tore apart several vines.

Yet the vines simply retreated and emerged from another direction.

At the same time, several Red Golden Scale Boars charged toward the spellcaster.

Saelyr’s expression turned cold. She raised both hands. A crimson Spirit Flame erupted around her body before forming into several enormous fire serpents.

The Flame Intent and Beast Intent combined to make these fire serpents seemingly come to life as they charged forward.

Thanks to the two Intents involved, they were somewhat similar to heat-seeking missiles from Aksai’s previous homeworld, making it almost impossible for them to miss their targets.

The serpents shot forward.

BOOM!

Even though they tried to dodge or divert the attacks, several Red Golden Scale Boars were still blasted backward. Their scales cracked. One of them collapsed immediately.

But the remaining beasts didn’t retreat.

Instead, they charged even harder and attacked in a peculiar manner, forming an obvious pattern.

"Senior Brother Varesh!"

Saelyr shouted as she realized something.

"These beasts are trying to separate us!"

"I know."

Varesh’s voice came from somewhere beyond the fog.

He had already understood the situation. His black flying sword flashed repeatedly, cutting through the vines and beasts blocking his path.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Yet every time he created an opening, more vines emerged. And the Bluewind Eagles were waiting above.

The Third-Order beasts swooped down one after another, releasing violent wind blades.

Varesh sliced them apart.

But while he was dealing with one attack, another group of vines appeared behind him. The same pattern was repeated around the other three Lords.

The beasts weren’t trying to kill them.

They were trying to move them.

Gradually, the four imperial cultivators were pushed farther and farther apart while remaining inside the formation.

"Hmm? This Spirit Pulse? I... I understand now. Friends! Listen to me. This separation doesn’t seem to be limited to simply creating distance. This formation... it..."

Droven finally realized it but somehow his voice was cut off as if someone from Aksai’s previous homeworld had cut the call while someone from the other side was busy speaking.

At this point, he had already killed several Red Golden Scale Boars with his bare hands. Blood covered his armor, but his breathing remained steady.

Yet when he looked around, he couldn’t see his peers. Only the endless white-gray fog remained.

"Senior Brother?"

No response.

Droven’s expression changed.

"Senior Brother Varesh!"

Still nothing.

Then—

BOOM!

A massive vine slammed into his side.

Droven barely managed to block it. He was thrown several meters backward. The moment he stabilized himself, the fog surged.

Whoosh!

Everything disappeared, and the previous battlefield vanished. Even the faint signs of the other cultivators were gone.

Droven’s eyes narrowed.

’This formation... It’s not just an offensive or defensive formation but an illusion-type formation as well, with strong isolating capabilities.

’Making so many formation effects come together and bond them seamlessly under one roof. The sheer amount of calculation required to lay this formation is beyond my imagination.

’Perhaps only those rare and famous formation masters with Tantrik Stars present within their Sea of Consciousness can arrange such formations? Wait... Does that mean the owner of this island is from the Eternal Sea?’

Having this question form in Droven’s mind, he immediately shook his head as if to drive away that line of thought. He immediately denied that possibility for his own peace of mind and came up with an alternative.

’No. I can’t jump onto such conclusions yet. Most importantly, why would someone from the Eternal Sea stay here? Especially an array master with such developed Tantrik Stars in their Sea of Consciousness?

’My understanding of the formation art is severely lacking even if I have spent a considerable amount of time reading the classics available in my faction’s archive. Perhaps there are other ways to lay this type of formation that I don’t know about.

’Maybe the formation legacy of this subcontinent is different from the rest of the world. As such, I can’t make judgements based on my half-baked foundation in the field of formation. This is also one of the reasons why the empire wants to gobble up this region and all that it has to offer.

’That being said... I understand one thing clearly. Even though it’s still a 3rd Order formation, it is very close to being a 4th Order formation. So it’d be better if I stayed on my toes and my peers also treated this formation seriously.

’It... it is a huge relief that the formation is set up here in the subcontinent region where there are no profound array formation legacies. As such, it doesn’t employ Intent-based techniques yet otherwise we would have been already killed.

’But then... How did an island owner from this subcontinent come to possess such a formidable formation? And what did he use as the Array Core?’

Seeing the capabilities of the formation first hand, Droven was shaken from within. He couldn’t help having so many stray thoughts at once. In the end, he decided to shut his mind from his internal chaos and focus fully on the tasks at hand.

***

One had to know that Aksai had never stopped improving the island formation ever since he became the owner of Emerald Cove Island.

The paranoid farmer in him had always prioritized the safety of his home base above everything else. He had kept on improving the formation using Nuri’s analytical skills every time his database was updated.

This was also the reason why the royal faction never wanted the Emerald Cove Guild’s base to be located on the island. They had invested a huge amount of effort, resources, and long-term planning to make Aksai shift his base to the mainland because they feared the island formation.

Even exploiting a single loophole had been extremely difficult and after Aksai’s planned assassination attempt failed, it had been long since it was patched.

Of course, the royal faction had naturally delivered all the intel it had collected on Aksai and Emerald Cove Island to the empire. But the imperial factions didn’t take this intel seriously, blaming it on the royal faction’s shallow roots. Therefore, this intel was not passed on to the faction members either.

Ironically, even the royal faction had thought that what was difficult or even downright impossible for them might be only a minor nuisance to the imperial factions from the Shinayin Empire. As such, they did not press the matter after submitting the information to the empire.

Thus, the four imperial cultivators had no idea who and what they were up against. They obviously had some intel on Aksai because he was one of the few known Lords from the subcontinent, but they were not aware of the island formation he was using against them at this point.

Most importantly, Aksai had not come forward to reveal his identity in front of the four imperial cultivators. Although they had seen the Sun Ocean Lord follow someone into the formation, they could not see Aksai’s face. As such, they had no idea who they were up against.

One could say that this was the first time Aksai’s Devil’s Den formation in Dadangar World had truly displayed its capabilities. All the time and effort he had invested in the formation were finally bearing fruit.

Even most of those genuine powerhouses below the Earth Immortal realm from the Eternal Sea couldn’t claim that they had come across such a peculiar 3rd Order formation during their long lives and vast amounts of experience.

Obviously, Aksai had used the upgraded Demon Tree as the Array Core for the modified Devil’s Den formation. And since this special Spirit Tree was a living entity that was a late-stage 3rd Order existence itself, the formation’s grade was actually much closer to a 4th Order formation than Droven had estimated.

It was only because of the Demon Tree that Aksai could use Devil’s Den as a multi-faceted formation. Otherwise, ordinary formations couldn’t deploy so many effects even if one incorporated many precious Spirit resources into their foundations.

Anyway, even though he didn’t see the complete picture, Droven somewhat understood the true capabilities of the island formation.

This wasn’t a beast-deployment-type formation, as one of Droven’s peers had initially assumed. Not really.

The demon beasts had never been the true threat. They were not the formation’s offensive force but merely bait. The entire assault had been carefully designed to force the four imperial Lords apart.

And the moment enough distance had formed between them, the island formation had swallowed each one into their own isolated sections of the battlefield.

***

Far away, Saelyr reached the same obvious conclusion as Droven.

"Damn it..."

She looked around. There was no sign of her companions. The fog was so dense that even her powerful Spirit Sense could barely penetrate it.

She had been separated. And the worst part was that the enemy still hadn’t appeared.

"Where is this damn formation master? Show yourself if you have the guts."

Her voice echoed through the mist.

No answer came.

Instead—

Swish!

A thick demon vine suddenly emerged from the ground.

Saelyr’s eyes flashed, and she immediately attacked.

BOOM!

The vine exploded, but another one appeared from behind her. Then another. Then five more.

The same thing was happening to the other three imperial Lords.

Aksai never showed himself. He didn’t need to. The formation itself had become his weapon.

Time passed within the formation as the four imperial cultivators unleashed their fierce attacks one after another.

By the time the beast assault ended, only ten Red Golden Scale Boars remained alive. And of the more than twenty draconic Bluewind Eagles, only six were still flying.

The losses the island had incurred this time were enormous, but they had accomplished their purpose. The four imperial Lords were now completely isolated. And that was worth far more than the lives of the demon beasts.

Varesh stood alone inside the fog. His expression was cold. He had already killed several vines, but more continued to emerge.

"This formation master..."

His eyes narrowed.

"He never intended to fight us directly."

Instead of appearing and fighting them individually, the formation master had chosen to hide inside the formation and continuously attack them with demon vines. It was a simple strategy, but it was extremely effective.

BOOM!

Another vine slammed toward Varesh. His black flying sword flashed.

SHING!

The vine was sliced apart.

Varesh’s expression remained neutral, but he knew that his Spirit Essence reserves had already begun to fall. He looked into the endless fog and spoke aloud, knowing Aksai would be able to hear him even through the thick fog and the isolating effects of the formation.

"So you’re trying to exhaust us first using the formation. Hmm... I have to admit that it’s a good strategy considering your situation and the capabilities of this formation. I even applaud your decisiveness in sacrificing so many tamed beasts."

A faint smile appeared on his face. However, there was no praise in his eyes. Only killing intent.

"But... all of the sacrifices you made and the tricks you used... do you think they will change the end result?"

As he said this, Varesh’s Sword Intent surged once again, reaching new heights. This time, he started dealing twice the damage with each attack compared to before. The frequency of his flying sword attacks also began increasing.

It seemed like this swordsman could empower his attacks almost endlessly.

Aksai remained hidden somewhere within the formation. His Spirit Sense quietly observed the four isolated battlefields.

Even though it looked like Varesh, the main damage dealer of the imperial group, would be difficult to keep inside the formation for long, Aksai knew that he needed to remain patient and not lose his cool.

So what if Varesh and others possessed various means and capabilities to brute-force their way through the formation given time? The longer the imperial Lords remained separated, the greater his advantage became.

And the longer they fought against the Demon Vines, the more Spirit Essence they would have to expend. Plus, the Demon Vines were only the beginning. The formation still had many surprises packed within itself.

Aksai had no intention of exchanging blows with four imperial Lords at the same time. He had already learned that lesson from Kalina.

Against opponents with deeper foundations and powerful inheritances, caution was not cowardice but a crucial key to survival.

"This... this is a good thing in a way. At least I get to test the limits of this formation before I seclude myself from the impending chaos, one way or the other.

"Let’s see how long you struggle inside this cage that I prepared with my blood and sweat for almost a century."

Aksai murmured from within the fog.