Chapter 1467: Chapter 796_2
“Every spirit stone is soaked with the heart-blood of the Array Protection Disciples, and yet you dare use these useless stones from roadside stalls to pass off as the real thing!”
Before the sound of his words faded, he ford his fingers into a sword and slashed them through the air, instantly tearing Zhao Sammy’s garnts who was kneeling in the front.
Amid the collective gasps of the crowd, a dull gray stone fell from the chest of the Golden Elixir Cultivator.
Though its surface coursed with spiritual energy, the mottled patterns carried unmistakable traces of street gri mixed with perfu.
“My spirit stones, stolen away by you wretched parasites!”
Suddenly, a hoarse voice erupted from the crowd, as a one-eyed cultivator stood furiously, the beast bone bells tied at his waist chiming loudly.
“Just days ago, my son was corrupted at the array core by demonic qi, losing half of his cultivation level, while you hypocrites stand here…”
“Silence!”
The ever-composed Xuanxiao Dao Monarch, seated cross-legged at the highest position, suddenly opened his eyes. With a casual sweep of his horsetail whisk, seven layers of frost instantly encased the grand hall.
The icy chill gripped everyone’s throats, making even breathing feel like swallowing shards of frost.
When the gaze of the transcendent powerhouse swept through the crowd, Sammy Johnson suddenly made choking noises, and a spirit stone, still warm from his sleeve, fell trembling to the ground.
“Dao Monarch, discern the truth!
It was my own greed clouding my judgnt…”
But before Sammy Johnson could finish, Henry Lindman suddenly sprang up and overturned his storage bag.
As spirit stones tumbled out, a glowing fragnt of a magical treasure, ensconced in green light, erged:
“I, too, wish to atone and offer my family heirloom, the Green Water Mirror!”
That act set off a chain reaction; tallic sounds of items clattering filled the corners of the hall.
Soone, hands trembling, removed the jade pendant tied to their waist.
Another hastily pulled the spirit hairpin from their locks.
A rotund fellow resignedly presented a spinning Furnace of Eight Trigrams:
“This cost eight hundred years’ worth of Purple Cloud Ginseng—gone in one trade…”
“So now you finally feel fear?”
The Elder of Thunderfire Sect sneered at the scattered magical treasures littering the floor.
“If only you had been wise earlier!”
From his sleeve, twelve Immortal Binding Ropes unfurled, binding the cultivators who attempted to shield their spirit stones with useless trinkets tightly like mummified carcasses.
A cultivator hung upside down in mid-air suddenly dropped half a chewed piece of spiritual marrow from their robes, provoking uproarious laughter from the crowd.
The Xuanxiao Dao Monarch, disinterested in the chaotic display, swept his piercing gaze across the congregation’s storage bags:
“This is your final chance.”
Before he finished speaking, a yellow-robed female cultivator kneeling in the corner scread and tore off her hairband, revealing three top-grade spirit stones she had hidden, disguised with spiritual power.
The abrupt twist elicited gasps from everyone, even causing the icy layers to emit faint cracking sounds.
“Dao Monarch, spare !
It was… it was Senior Brother Liu who taught to do this!” The female cultivator cried, her tears falling like scattered blossoms, her trembling fingers pointing directly at a green-robed cultivator in the throng.
The accused, his face ashen, had barely opened his mouth to protest when the Xuanxiao Dao Monarch raised two fingers skyward. The colossal beams of the grand hall suddenly dropped seven skeletal remains.
The bones, hanging with tattered clothing, were unmistakably the remains of Array Protection Disciples who had “accidentally perished” days prior.
“Now.”
The Dao Monarch’s voice dripped with centuries’ worth of frost, “Does anyone else wish to test my patience?”
Originally, within this distant corner of the vast cultivation world, the collective efforts of the crowd had gathered only seventy to eighty thousand spirit stones.
To them, this already seed sufficient, enough for daily cultivation and constructing smaller arrays.
But fortune is fickle. Just as the crowd believed they had reached their limit, an unforeseen twist utterly transford the numbers.
A majestic elder dressed in luxurious robes stepped forward, his expression commanding. In his hand glimred a storage ring brimming with mysterious light.
The elder cleared his throat, his rich voice resonating deeply within each listener:
“Everyone, I have been fortunate enough to receive generous aid from an anonymous benefactor. Our stockpile of spirit stones will no longer be confined to seventy or eighty thousand.”
As soon as he spoke, he waved the ring lightly,
and beams of dazzling light burst forth, morphing into crystalline spirit stones akin to a teor shower, cascading down to fill the entire plaza.
The crowd stood stunned, their faces frozen in disbelief. The initial count of seventy to eighty thousand spirit stones
had in an instant surged like an ocean tide, climbing to a miraculous total of one hundred and fifty thousand!
The abrupt change left the three thousand cultivators present speechless.
So stood agape, unable to utter a word; others stared wide-eyed, as if etching the spectacle into their souls;
while a few stomped in frustration, muttering inwardly:
“What is the aning of this?
We bled ourselves dry to cobble together that ager sum, and yet now, within monts, so much more appears—it’s clear as day how many held back, hoarding their own spirit stones!”
Amid the chaos, an elderly cultivator with snow-white beard and hair sighed deeply. Stroking his long beard, he spoke ruefully:
“In my years of roaming the cultivation world, I thought I had seen it all, but never have I witnessed a spectacle like this—one hundred and fifty thousand spirit stones for array construction, sheer extravagance.
Even the grand sects, at most, allotted ten thousand spirit stones for minor protective arrays. Smaller sect halls would balk at offering even five thousand.”
Standing nearby, a burly man nodded in agreent, his gruff voice rumbling:
“True enough, though this proves one thing: most here hail from great sects, their foundations deep. If left to loose cultivators alone, we’d struggle to scrape together even ten thousand spirit stones.
That said, with the fifteen thousand stones at our disposal, we might finally stand a chance against the million-strong demon beast horde, at least long enough to erect a decent defensive array.”
At that mont, a young man in elegant green robes stepped forward, fiddling with a spirit stone in his hand, his gaze sharp with discernnt:
“Even so, we mustn’t grow complacent.
Fifteen thousand stones may sound impressive, but the might of a million demon beasts is no joke.
We must strategize carefully, allocating resources to craft the sturdiest protective asures while reserving a portion for contingency planning.”
The crowd murmured in agreent, the mood growing increasingly animated.
So delved into discussions about distributing the spirit stones; others proposed initiating array construction imdiately.
Still others worried about the discontented loose cultivators who had withheld their spirit stones in secrecy—would they sow chaos?
Just then, the elder in luxurious robes spoke again, his voice steady and authoritative:
“Everyone, with the spirit stones secured, what lies ahead will demand unity and cooperation.
Regardless of past grievances, now is the ti to set them aside for the shared goal—
to fend off the demon beasts and defend this land with everything we have!”
With the spirit stone issue resolved, relief washed over the crowd, but a new, more pressing challenge arose—
array diagrams.
Choosing the strongest array could magnify the power of the spirit stones a hundredfold, achieving unimaginable effects.
Thus, finding the optimal array design beca the group’s urgent priority.
“Ladies and gentlen, while spirit stones are acquired, array diagrams are far rarer and even more precious than the stones themselves.”
Once again, the elder addressed the crowd, his steady voice resonating:
“Array diagrams are invaluable treasures within the cultivation world, even surpassing spirit stones in rarity.
To happen upon one is a stroke of heavenly fortune, yet even then, deciphering and employing it demands the expertise of an array master.
But now, to resist the million demon beasts, everyone must present their array diagrams, allowing us to select the most suitable one for our array construction.”
The re ntion of “array diagrams” visibly unsettled everyone; uncertainty crept across their faces.
Array diagrams are exceedingly rare within the cultivation world, each containing unparalleled mysteries and power, cherished by array masters as the ultimate treasure.
To possess even one is an extraordinary fortune; sharing it with others is unthinkable.
“Elder, surely you understand how incomparably valuable array diagrams are to us.”
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