「Some time later.」
「Li Shui Lake.」
The surface of the water shimmered.
The cool, clear moonlight shone on the lakeside, illuminating the lush green willows.
Team after team of Star Police patrols passed by.
The stationed armored cars formed a steel frontline.
However, none of them noticed two figures diving deep into the lakebed. They stepped onto the soft, loose silt and made their way toward the Blood Spirit Array.
"Young Master, do you really intend to open the Celestial Gate?"
Liu Wushuang walked in the lead, conjuring a brilliant light with a wave of his hand to illuminate the dim lakebed. "Isn’t this a bit too dangerous? If we fail, the consequences will be more than we can bear."
"Yes, it is a little dangerous."
Qin Yang nodded. "But this bit of danger is nothing compared to the potential rewards."
"Just a little...?"
Liu Wushuang gave a helpless, bitter smile. He wanted to say more to try and dissuade him, but on second thought, he held his tongue.
’It’s not that I don’t trust Qin Yang.’
’It’s just that opening the Celestial Gate is a matter of such immense gravity!’
’If we’re careless and the Celestial Beings from behind the black hole descend, it could spell annihilation for the entire Human Race!’
’And as for the Young Master’s power...’
’Even though he has become a Half-step Divine Venerable, there’s still a gap between him and a true Divine Venerable.’
’And this Blood Spirit Array is an Array left behind by the Upper Realm; it’s not something that can be easily understood.’
’Even if Qin Yang has studied countless Arrays...’
’But there’s still no guarantee he can successfully modify it.’
Liu Wushuang sighed again. "Young Master, why don’t you reconsider?"
Qin Yang glanced at him, reading the worry on his brow, and said reassuringly,
"Don’t worry, Elder Wushuang. I’ve already accounted for every possibility."
As he spoke, Qin Yang continued to walk forward resolutely, his eyes burning as if with a scorching fire.
"Only by modifying this Array one last time can we truly usher in a golden age for the Human Race!"
"Besides, I’m not opening the gate directly. I’m just going to tear open a rift first.
I’ll let the Star Force nourish and irrigate the lands of Earth Star, spend a few years raising everyone’s strength, and only then will I truly open the Celestial Gate and allow the Celestial Beings to descend upon our world."
"But... what if we’re falling into the Beast God’s trap?"
Liu Wushuang was fraught with worry. He waved his hand, scattering a few schools of fish wandering the lakebed. "If opening the Celestial Gate... what if it’s a trap he deliberately set to lure you in?"
"You don’t need to worry about that."
Qin Yang smiled. "I’ve already seen through all his little schemes. When I performed the Soul Search, I even uncovered his childhood memories."
"Soul Search?"
Liu Wushuang froze, his face filled with astonishment. "Young Master, you actually know how to perform a Soul Search!?"
’Only the Beast God Church uses such an Evil Technique.’
’But now the Young Master has actually used a Soul Search himself!’
’It’s clear just how determined he is to modify the Array!’
"A Technique itself isn’t inherently wrong. As long as it can bring peace to the Human Race, I don’t care what methods I have to use."
Qin Yang said coldly, "Besides, we’re talking about scum like the Beast God who massacred a city. I could Soul Search him three thousand times, and he’d just have to grit his teeth and take it."
...
「A moment later.」
The two arrived at the Blood Spirit Array.
It had been years, but the scene at the bottom of the lake remained unchanged.
Among the broken walls and ruins of the Ancient Battlefield, a bewitching red light drifted about. Abstruse Array Patterns clung to the Copper Pillars, humming and operating ceaselessly, forming a forbidden zone devoid of all life.
"Stand guard for me."
Qin Yang stood before the Blood Spirit Array, his back straight. With his eyes downcast, he formed a spell sign and sent a telepathic message to Liu Wushuang beside him: "This time, I’m going to open the Celestial Gate completely."
"Yes, Young Master!"
At his words, Liu Wushuang formed his own seal. "You must be careful. I will wait for you here."
As he spoke,
he raised two fingers, formed a series of technique formulas, and conjured a faint golden light that expanded and then formed into a lifelike Golden Cicada.
It attached itself to Qin Yang’s fortune.
Secret Technique, the Divine Guardian Cicada!
The caster becomes linked to the recipient. If the recipient is harmed, the initial feedback of Karmic Force will be redirected to Liu Wushuang first.
"Alright. I’ll be counting on you, Elder Wushuang."
Without turning his head, Qin Yang took a step forward and vanished into the center of the Blood Spirit Array.
The frigid lake water spread around him.
A crimson, blood-red color filled his vision.
Before him was a world of pure crimson.
Complex, rigid Array Patterns intertwined, flowing along invisible Laws, shifting in a myriad of ways in an instant, like a Buddha’s whirling Golden Lotus.
The Blood Spirit Array contained a small world within it.
DONG!
It was as if a great bell had tolled.
The moment Qin Yang stepped into the Array, the drifting lines of the formation seemed to come alive, becoming even more twisted and obscure.
’I’ll start with one of them.’
Qin Yang held his breath and focused, his gaze fixed on the nearest line.
He reached out his hand.
A preliminary probe.
The line transformed into a bloody light, which then turned a faint gold as it wrapped around his fingertip.
Then, the next one.
One line.
Two lines.
...
Hundreds, then thousands of lines were straightened and restructured.
Before long, Qin Yang was drenched in sweat. Fatigue and drowsiness crept over him. His mind felt empty and chaotic, and it took effort just to lift his fingertips.
Outside the great Array, Liu Wushuang’s eyelids felt heavy as he struggled to stay conscious.
Seeing this, Qin Yang’s brow furrowed. He immediately increased his Spiritual Power output and continued to weave the Array Patterns, thinking to himself,
’This is hard, just as I expected!’
He had only just completed three-quarters of the work, yet he had already used up more than half of his Spiritual Power.
If he were still in the Celestial Venerable Realm, he would have exhausted his Spiritual Power halfway through modifying the Array.
But fortunately, things were different now.
’If I can’t break it, I’ll just destroy it and rebuild it.’
Qin Yang was seen performing the Gang Step, landing precisely on each node of the Array.
With each step, he shattered the foundation of the remaining part of the great Array!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—
In an instant, the red light of the Blood Spirit Array grew even more blinding,
The remaining quarter of the Array Patterns blurred and dissipated.
Immediately after,
the modified Array Patterns materialized and linked together,
forming a brand new Blood Spirit Array!
The surface of Li Shui Lake suddenly began to boil and bubble, hissing and sizzling like scalding water.
Pillars of red, bloody light shot toward the sky, leaping up past the clouds and into the Celestial Vault Black Hole.
"It’s changed! It’s really changed!"
The shocking scene jolted Liu Wushuang, and beads of cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
All his drowsiness vanished in an instant!
His eyes shot wide open. He followed the bloody light up to the Celestial Vault Black Hole and stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.
Ten dark, shadowy figures could be seen drifting in the sky.
The black hole in the very center expanded!
It was changing rapidly, at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The circular area stretched and expanded, spreading out into the surrounding space like an ink drop smudging on paper, taking on a highly irregular shape.
In just a few breaths, the black hole’s circular shape vanished, replaced by a massive rift.
WHOOSH!!!
An endless torrent of Star Force poured out!
The torrent was like a bursting dam, a rushing flood, a torrential downpour raining down magnificently upon Earth Star.