Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Grand Array of the Celestial Constellations

Sanye took a few steps back and said to the heavens, “What is there to say once we go in? Now that we are on your territory, it is hard for anyone to speak plainly. Why not just lay everything out here and say it openly? Wouldn’t that be better?”

As soon as he finished, Sanye hurriedly changed his position so as not to be noticed.

“Yes, let us say it plainly right here. Just how are we supposed to safeguard this thing? Give everyone an explanation.”

“Right, speak plainly and give us an accounting!”

Delighted by the lively scene before him, Sanye hid among the crowd and from time to time muttered to the empty air, “My lord heir, are you there? Did you see that just now? Was I clever enough?”

There was no answer from Jiang Lan for a long while, and Sanye grew panicked. He weaved through the crowd, carefully searching for Jiang Lan’s figure, all the while stoking the flames and stirring things up without missing a beat.

The two groups, one in white and one in yellow, argued more and more fiercely, their words snapping at each other until they were nearly ready to come to blows.

Sanye searched for half a day and still received no reply from Jiang Lan, and he could not help feeling dispirited.

Then, with a thunderous crash, a huge halo of light suddenly appeared outside the Celestial Office, and Sanye and the others were visibly within that halo as well. At the same time, the halo was cracking, the fissures widening.

Then a streak of sword light flew out from within the Celestial Office, straight toward the opening.

“So they set up a formation to trap all of us who know the truth here. How vicious of them!”

Sanye crouched down and said this before quickly changing places again.

Outside, Rong Mu spat out a mouthful of blood. Clenching his teeth, he ordered the disciple beside him, “Rong Qi, go find a high place and keep watch for me. See exactly which troublemaker is stirring things up!”

“Yes, Grand Celestial Master!”

The disciple strode up to the second floor with heavy yet confident steps, his teeth chattering noisily.

Daoist Qingmei had also seen through the trick and came over to Rong Mu, demanding, “Grand Celestial Master Rong, what is the meaning of this? Is this formation meant to imprison us here?”

Rong Mu’s expression immediately returned to its former refined courtesy. “Daoist Qingmei has misunderstood. A demonic intruder had just broken in with ill intent, and this was merely to prevent the fiend from stealing the valuables and fleeing.”

Daoist Qingmei’s face darkened as well. From the beginning until now, he had seen only that single glance of the Grand Master of the Nine Palaces. The flying sword just now was clearly the Grand Master’s. Whether this was meant to guard against demons or against people was still unknown.

With a sacred treasure like this, the human heart was impossible to fathom. And with the Celestial Office’s great masters absent, it seemed the people here intended to confine them in this place and keep the matter from spreading any further.

The crowd surged forward with the rest, heading toward the point where the formation was breaking. The closer they drew, the louder the disturbance grew. Hearing that earthshaking barrage of impacts, Sanye felt more and more that only his own young master could have caused such a racket.

With that thought, he hurried even faster toward the source of the noise.

When everyone reached the spot, they saw only the Grand Master of the Nine Palaces and twelve guardian disciples attacking a single point in unison, yet nothing at all could be seen there.

“Daoist, could that thing be using some kind of invisibility treasure?” one of the Daoists asked Qingmei for guidance.

Daoist Qingmei nodded, yet still felt puzzled. “It is clearly striking at the barrier of the formation without pause, so why is there not the slightest trace of demonic aura?”

The Daoist beside him was equally baffled. “Yes, hearing you say that, Daoist Qingmei, I also find it quite strange.”

“This method does seem somewhat like that demon Taoist,” said a Daoist standing in the corner. The Sanye beside him nearly rushed forward to cover the man’s mouth.

“Yes, it is exactly like that demon Taoist.”

The crowd immediately fell into alarm. They had all witnessed the demon Taoist’s power firsthand. Back then, when the Grand Master of the Nine Palaces tried to keep sole possession of the information about the Blood-Gold Pearl, he had trapped all of them, together with the Celestial Office, outside the water curtain.

For a water curtain to appear out of thin air, the Grand Master of the Nine Palaces was already exceedingly formidable.

Yet that demon Taoist had shattered the Grand Master’s magical barrier with nothing more than a few talismans. It was truly astonishing.

Then came several more heavy blows, so forceful that their eardrums seemed to ache.

Everyone began to sense something unusual about the entire formation. “What kind of formation is this, to keep even that demon Taoist from escaping?”

They looked up at the vast array overhead. On the formation’s surface, a faint cold gleam shone, and the runes were deepening bit by bit, carrying an oppressive and lethal weight.

Daoist Qingmei looked upward, and his expression grew ever more grave.

“This is a simplified version of the Grand Array of the Heavenly Stars.”

“Daoist Qingmei, please enlighten us. What is this Grand Array of the Heavenly Stars?” one of the Daoists asked.

“The Grand Array of the Heavenly Stars is a secret formation of the ancient demon race. It required three hundred and sixty-five powerful demon gods to preside over all directions before it could be laid. Its greatest strength lies in trapping the enemy. By borrowing the power of the heavenly stars, it can wound the foe and even amplify the caster’s power severalfold. In the end, the true extent of the formation depends chiefly on the cultivator’s own cultivation.

“As for this one, cultivators have replaced the demon gods. Although its augmentation is not as formidable as in the legends, it is still immensely powerful.”

The Daoist beside him was even more confused. “Daoist Qingmei, even if every person in the Celestial Office were present, there still would not be three hundred and sixty-five of them. How, then, was this formation arranged?”

This question struck the very heart of Daoist Qingmei’s own doubt. Without enough people, it was absolutely impossible to activate the Grand Array of the Heavenly Stars. Then, thinking of something, he bit his finger and shouted, “Scatter!”

The crowd immediately dispersed in all directions. Sanye had no choice but to lower his head and do his best to diminish his presence.

Daoist Qingmei drew a talisman in blood in midair, then slammed it to the ground with a palm strike. In an instant, golden light burst outward in all directions. Right beneath their feet, a huge formation appeared, with many smaller formations nested within it.

And those smaller formations were beneath that man’s feet, dim and wavering into view.

Daoist Qingmei’s face had turned black with fury. “He has actually used our power without permission to draw upon the force of the heavenly stars!”

Though the Daoist beside him did not understand, seeing Daoist Qingmei’s expression, he too was horrified and stammered, “Daoist Qingmei, wh-what will happen then?”

“This formation already requires tremendous power to sustain it, and it draws upon immense spiritual force as its guide. We are all mere mortals; even if we have embarked upon the path of cultivation in defiance of heaven and fate, we still cannot compare to the demon gods. Such consumption, at best, damages one’s foundations; at worst, it drains the body until death.”

Daoist Qingmei did not speak loudly, yet everyone present heard him clearly.

As Sanye listened to Daoist Qingmei’s explanation, the voice of that child still echoed in his sea of consciousness.

“That Daoist is not wrong, though he has still given the person who set the formation some face. The damage from such a formation is not merely to one’s foundation. It may also harm a person’s mind.”