Chapter 1611: What Now?
At this moment, Yu Beiche ignored this fact. After all, he was too young, lacking experience. If the Ling Kong Island Master Li Yunfan had set up the array personally, such a mistake would never have occurred.
"Everyone, fall back!"
Upon sensing the energy fluctuations within his Spirit Gathering Array, Yu Beiche’s face turned extremely grim. Hearing him shout loudly, the cultivators belonging to the Heavenly Hospital quickly retreated several miles away.
Once a Spirit Gathering Array is successfully set up, it offers many benefits, but if it ultimately fails, it won’t be a simple matter.
Not only could the person setting up the array suffer a backlash, even cultivators close to the array might be affected, or even directly face death.
This time, Yu Beiche attempted to set up an array exceeding his capabilities, and a change occurred. He hadn’t realized that this mountain belonging to the Meridian Refining Master Association obstructed much of the heaven and earth energy, causing the array to become unbalanced.
Already unsure of his ability to successfully complete the array, Yu Beiche encountered this sudden change. He knew he was likely to pay the price for his recklessness.
The only way to save Yu Beiche was to have a highly esteemed figure in meridian qi cultivation flatten the mountain with a single palm, allowing the heaven and earth energy to flow unobstructed.
But how could such a thing be possible? Even those Holy Rank experts of the Nine-layered Dragon Cloud wouldn’t dare claim they could flatten an entire mountain with a single strike, right?
Such acts like moving mountains and overturning seas only exist in legends, especially for cultivators of the Tenglong Continent, who are entirely incapable of it. Therefore, Yu Beiche could only passively wait for the moment the array shattered.
Swish!
However, at this moment, Yu Beiche suddenly heard a faint sound of something slicing through the air. Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw a figure entering the half-formed Spirit Gathering Array he had set up.
"Who dares enter, courting death?"
Upon witnessing this, Yu Beiche’s anger flared. He was already anxious with the array nearing failure, and despite his earlier loud warnings for everyone to stay away, someone dared to recklessly enter the array’s range.
No matter what, since Yu Beiche was the one setting up the Spirit Gathering Array, even if it ultimately failed, he might only suffer a backlash and end up severely wounded, but his life would likely be spared.
Yet now, an outsider had intruded at such a critical moment, driving Yu Beiche crazy. It was completely different from being alone in the array.
Because Yu Beiche not only had to ensure his own survival, but now also needed to divert attention to protect the intruder in the array, placing both their lives at risk.
You could say this reckless person’s intrusion disrupted Yu Beiche’s entire retreat plan. Ultimately, he was kind-hearted and couldn’t just watch someone from the Heavenly Hospital die within the array.
"I must say, as a well-regarded array prodigy on Ling Kong Island, how could you fail to examine the environment closely before setting up an array?"
Just as Yu Beiche was about to throw the fool out who intruded into the array, he suddenly heard a light sigh mingled with an evident tone of frustration.
"This voice, it’s... it’s... Senior Brother Yun Xiao?!"
Suddenly hearing this voice, with its familiar undertone, Yu Beiche felt a jolt throughout his body, almost unable to believe his ears.
"It’s really him!"
At this moment, Yu Beiche finally turned his head completely, looking at the young man standing calmly within the array, gazing at him. His mind buzzed, seemingly void of any thoughts.
Honestly, when he first saw Yun Xiao in the Xuanyin Cave, Yu Beiche felt some disdain. However, after witnessing Yun Xiao’s capabilities, he no longer dared to underestimate the youth from the Hidden Dragon Continent.
Following the events in the Xuanyin Cave, Yun Xiao’s reputation soared in the Tenglong Continent, and a series of significant events were inevitably linked to this young man in his early twenties.
Later on, Yun Xiao destroyed the Earth Flame Palace, crushed the Spirit Fighting Commerce, and at the Stepping Heavenly Stone, slew the Intermediate Holy Grade Heavenly Spirit You River. Yu Beiche realized he couldn’t even keep up with the young man’s shadow.
This transformation in mindset from disdain to respect to admiration prompted him to accept without hesitation when Li Yunfan asked him to come to Lianyun Mountain.
Yu Beiche held great admiration for Yun Xiao’s meridian qi cultivation combat power and knew well that his understanding of array formations was far inferior to Yun Xiao’s.
This endeavor to set up the Spirit Gathering Array here wasn’t devoid of the intention to catch Yun Xiao’s attention, as this was seemingly the only thing Yu Beiche could present before Yun Xiao.
Admittedly, Yu Beiche’s luck was quite good this time, ultimately attracting Yun Xiao. However, the manner in which Yun Xiao was drawn in turned out to be somewhat embarrassing.
The one who arrived was Yun Xiao. In fact, the energy fluctuation he sensed earlier in the Sky Poison Institute plaza was exactly the same as when the Spirit Gathering Array encountered a problem, so he arrived at the first opportunity.
With Yun Xiao’s insight, it was natural for him to spot the issue with the Spirit Gathering Array at first glance, and for one of the array formation prodigies of Ling Kong Island, he had some impression.
Although Yu Beiche wasn’t as familiar to Yun Xiao as Nie Xiaosheng, he at least didn’t have the same negative feelings he once had towards Su Jianlong and Xiwawa.
Furthermore, setting up a Spirit Gathering Array was a great benefit for both the young talents at the Heavenly Hospital and some Earth Bending Realm elders’ cultivation, so Yun Xiao simply entered this Spirit Gathering Array.
"Yun... Yun Xiao senior brother, what should we do now?"
Recognizing Yun Xiao, Yu Beiche quickly calmed himself down. He then pointed towards the mountain behind him, his tone tinged with an inexplicable meaning.
Even though Yu Beiche held great respect for Yun Xiao’s array formation skills, some things were deeply rooted in the minds of array masters like them, fundamental tenets of array formation that couldn’t be altered.
So, in Yu Beiche’s mind, it was impossible to successfully refine this Spirit Gathering Array this time because even with Yun Xiao’s prowess, there was no way he could flatten such a tall mountain by force.
This was an unshakable truth imparted to Yu Beiche since learning array formation from his teacher, something no cultivators on the Tenglong Continent could change with mere human effort.
The reason being, human strength has limits, and without removing this mountain, the incomplete Spirit Gathering Array could never truly form; at most, they would have to dismantle it and rearrange a new Spirit Gathering Array.
"Watch this!"
However, just as Yu Beiche voiced his doubts, thinking that with Yun Xiao’s array formation strength, he could only ensure his safety, he heard the youth utter a few words.
"How is that possible?"
Yu Beiche was momentarily dumbfounded, wondering if Yun Xiao senior brother intended to demonstrate the method of dismantling the array, something he indeed deemed worthy of learning.
After all, Yu Beiche knew that such an act of dismantling a large array after it’s near formation carried certain risks, potentially causing serious injury if not handled carefully.
Swish, swish, swish...
Much to Yu Beiche’s surprise, as he focused intently on Yun Xiao, he saw the youth wave his hands continuously, and then dozens of array flags flew out from his hands, all planted at the foot of the mountain.
"This...this is..."
Seeing Yun Xiao’s actions, Yu Beiche, a bona fide Earth Rank Advanced Array Master, immediately realized what his senior brother intended, his expression becoming colorful.
Because Yun Xiao did not retrieve the array flags Yu Beiche had previously set, instead deploying dozens more of his own, with no intention to dissolve the earlier Spirit Gathering Array from any perspective.
But was such a thing truly possible?
Watching Yun Xiao’s actions, Yu Beiche could infer a little; this person intended to use those dozens of array flags to alter the spiritual energy of heaven and earth blocked by the mountain.
Such an idea had never existed in Yu Beiche’s mind earlier, with his deeply ingrained concept of array formation, knowing it was entirely unfeasible.
However, Yu Beiche’s understanding of Yun Xiao was superficial; he had no idea that the true soul of the youth not far from him originated from the Nine-layered Dragon Cloud, once renowned as a top-tier Grandmaster of array formation.
While Yun Xiao certainly did not possess the ability to move mountains and overturn seas, his understanding of array formation was far beyond what array masters on the Tenglong Continent could comprehend.
Not to mention Yu Beiche, this Earth Rank Advanced Array Master, even the supposed best array master on the continent, Ling Kong Island Master Li Yunfan, might not understand Yun Xiao’s actions.
Yun Xiao’s hands never stopped, as dozens more array flags flew out, almost filling the base of the mountain with array flags, though the flags were spaced quite far apart.
Boom!
As the last array flag left Yun Xiao’s hand and was set at the mountain’s base, Yu Beiche’s expression suddenly grew somewhat odd, even the cultivators from the Heavenly Hospital surrounding them sensed something amiss.
In fact, ever since Yun Xiao appeared, those who weren’t array masters could see clearly that nothing would go wrong this time; they already had a near-blind faith in Yun Xiao.
To these cultivators belonging to Lianyun Mountain, as long as the youth named Yun Xiao was present, there were no unsolvable problems; how could Yu Beiche’s mere Earth Rank Advanced Spirit Gathering Array pose any difficulty for Yun Xiao?