The Arctic Yama Heavens!
The former mountain gate of the Northern Sea's sacred ground, the Yuan Demon Sect!
In and of itself, it was an exceptional land for cultivation, blessed with natural defensive barriers that could serve as the everlasting foundation of a great sect.
With its back against the Sunken Sea that had formed a thousand years ago, demonic beasts found it difficult to draw near. Before it, the Yuan Magnetic Aurora suppressed the Five Elements, making it impossible for ordinary cultivators to fight their way inside.
One could only wonder how the Northern Sea Demon Alliance and Monarch Qixia had managed to storm their way through back then.
Yet Luo Chen had no time to ponder how to reach his destination; first, he had to make it through the Arctic Monster-Sealing Grand Array.
Amidst a hazy, chaotic world glittering with starlight, Luo Chen walked forward at a measured pace, his expression somber.
Token in hand, his progress was not as swift as one might imagine.
"Master, did Li Canghai deceive us?" Xiao Bai asked with a hint of worry.
Luo Chen kept his gaze fixed ahead, answering Xiao Bai as he searched for clues to the formation's inner workings.
"He didn't deceive us. Otherwise, we wouldn't be walking through here unharmed."
"But we're still trapped inside this grand array!"
Within the Arctic Monster-Sealing Grand Array lay a tremendous sealing and suppressing force.
That force locked down a cultivator's magic power completely, even making the movement of thought feel sluggish.
Not only that, but the ambient starlight pressed down like towering mountains upon the physical body of every living thing.
Even someone as powerful as Luo Chen trudged forward with great difficulty, as though wading through a quagmire.
Yet in Luo Chen's eyes, this was not Li Canghai deliberately playing tricks on him; rather, he marveled at Li Canghai's mastery of the Dao of Formations.
"Truly worthy of a Soul Formation array grandmaster!"
Golden light blazed in Luo Chen's eyes as he surveyed his surroundings and looked up toward the sky.
"Grounded upon the earth's spiritual veins, channeling astral power, and even absorbing a portion of the Yuan Magnetic Aurora's strength to form a sealing array that connects heaven and earth!"
"Even after the array was breached by the surging might of the Sunken Sea, decades have passed, and it is actually repairing itself."
"Operating as usual, endless and self-sustaining. As long as this earth remains and these stars endure, the array's power will persist indefinitely. I wonder whether the formation itself wrests creation from heaven and earth, or if the so-called laws of the Dao of Formations are sustaining it all?"
Amid his musings, Luo Chen halted his steps.
He even sat down cross-legged where he was and entered a state of rest, seemingly waiting for something.
Xiao Bai was puzzled, but did not ask further.
When it came to knowledge of formations, her master surpassed her by a thousandfold.
...
Along the outer perimeter of the grand array, three figures followed inside.
The moment they entered, they were instantly engulfed by a crushing suppression that felt like mountains bearing down.
Even the Demon Monk Kongchan found it impossible to advance under this colossal pressure, freezing in his tracks.
"Liu Jun, make haste and use the Magnetic Sea Traversing Shuttle!"
Yet Liu Jun merely shook his head with a grave expression. "The Magnetic Sea Traversing Shuttle is specifically designed to navigate the Yuan Magnetic Mountain pass. This array was laid down by the mighty Li Canghai; the shuttle is of no use here."
The Demon Monk Kongchan froze in surprise. "Then how did you escape from the Yama Heavens back then?"
Shark Emperor Liu Jun offered a wry smile. "Two Patriarchs joined hands to tear open a sliver of an opening in the Myriad Soul Demon-Locking Array, and I then used the Magnetic Sea Traversing Shuttle—specially crafted by the Yuan Demon Sect—to cross the Yuan Magnetic Mountain. As for this Arctic Monster-Sealing Grand Array, passing through it requires a different knack."
"What knack?"
"Wait!" Liu Jun took a deep breath and looked toward the sky. "Wait for the stars to shift and the starlight to wane. Then restrain our magic power and advance slowly. Only then can we make our way out of this array."
The Demon Monk Kongchan was taken aback. "That simple?"
"Simple?" Liu Jun laughed out of exasperation. "When the time comes, you'll know whether it's simple or hard."
Time drifted by. After roughly three cycles of sun and moon, the starlight within the Arctic Monster-Sealing Grand Array dimmed slightly.
Liu Jun's eyes brightened. "Good fortune; we didn't have to wait long. Let's move!"
With that, he took a cautious step forward.
Beside him, Kongchan and Taisui rallied their spirits and hurriedly stepped forward.
Yet the moment their feet moved, that crushing suppression washed over them again. While not quite as horrifying as before, it still made movement exceedingly difficult; Taisui even stumbled, nearly falling flat on his backside.
Liu Jun glanced back, continuing forward at a measured pace.
"Still simple?"
The two behind exchanged glances, forced to swallow their frustration and follow in his wake.
Leading the way, Shark Emperor Liu Jun spoke in a low voice, passing on his experience to the pair behind him.
"This grand array is exceedingly ingenious, drawing upon astral power from beyond the heavens, which allows it to regenerate endlessly. Even if we seize the right timing under the cover of weakening astral power to traverse it, that force must still not be underestimated."
"After all, this is a fifth-rank formation laid down by a mighty cultivator!"
"Match my rhythm step by step. Do not mobilize the magic power within your bodies. After about twelve such cycles, we should be able to pass through this array."
...
"Master, the starlight has dimmed!"
"Mm."
Luo Chen slowly stood up, gazed quietly at the sky for a moment, and finally nodded slightly.
"Let us go!"
Holding the token, he took a stride forward, reappearing thirty paces away in the next instant.
As he landed, his footing faltered slightly.
Luo Chen furrowed his brows, made a silent calculation, and stepped toward the left.
This time, the distance crossed exceeded one hundred and fifty paces!
The corners of Luo Chen's mouth curled up as he murmured, "Just as I thought!"
No longer holding back, he adopted a strange footwork and maintained a unique rhythm, weaving left and right through the array while steadily forging ahead.
Within the Arctic Monster-Sealing Grand Array, the black-robed figure moved like a fluttering butterfly, gliding gracefully without the slightest pause or hesitation.
It was as though the ubiquitous, terrifying suppression had vanished entirely.
Roughly a day and night later, Luo Chen's vision suddenly cleared.
Before his eyes, a violent blizzard roared and surged ahead, while behind him, starlight ebbed and flowed like an ocean.
Xiao Bai's cheerful voice rang in his ear.
"We're finally out! Master, you're amazing!"
Luo Chen chuckled and shook his head. "It's not that I'm amazing. It's just that the token Li Canghai gave me made it easy to decipher the operational principles of this grand array."
Without elaborating further, he turned his attention toward the blizzard rolling outward ahead, which endlessly billowed and receded.
His expression grew solemn.
Yet despite his solemnity, he stepped inside without hesitation.
For this blizzard, which had raged ceaselessly for centuries, was his very destination!
The nine heavens firmament qi he sought was in the Arctic Yama Heavens, yet not truly inside the Yama Heavens itself; its actual location lay within the Yuan Magnetic Aurora that the Yuan Demon Sect had relied upon as its protective barrier!
The moment he entered, wind and snow assailed him.
His deployed magic barrier suffered violent impacts.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Luo Chen pressed forward resolutely. The ground beneath his feet was uneven, and looking closely, he discovered it was paved with hideous beast bones.
There was no telling how many demonic beasts had been buried along this mountain path.
Perhaps most were casualties from the battle that besieged the Yuan Demon Sect back then?
Suddenly!
Luo Chen felt a breach appear in his deployed magic barrier.
Furthermore, it had not been battered open, but gnawed away by something.
The Daoist's eyes snapped open. As his Scarlet Eyes and Golden Pupils activated, palm-sized insects came clearly into view.
Swept along by the blizzard, these insects were swiftly gnawing hole after hole into Luo Chen's incomparably resilient protective barrier—one that even ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators could not breach.
Such a sight would turn anyone pale with fright.
Yet Luo Chen let out a breath of relief instead.
"Indeed, there are still vast numbers of firmament insects here, which means there must be copious nine heavens firmament qi nearby!"
In the Northern Sea, there was a type of demonic beast called the aurora beast.
Born from the ocean and dwelling in misty realms, it fed upon auroras of every hue.
Rumor had it that vast numbers of aurora beasts congregated in the Arctic Yama Heavens where the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light resided.
Luo Chen had known of this rumor two hundred years ago, and had even once encountered someone disguised as an aurora beast.
Only later, when he ascended to the nine heavens to capture firmament qi and compared the two, did he realize that the so-called aurora beast was actually the firmament insect!
Though they bore different names, they were in essence the exact same creature.
Back then, Luo Chen had not made the connection. It was only after Li Canghai pointed it out that he realized: since firmament insects fed on firmament qi, anywhere that hosted large swarms of them would inevitably hold traces of abundant firmament qi.
Deducing backward in this manner, the Arctic Yama Heavens was clearly the greatest gathering ground of firmament qi in the world!
Now, having crossed the Arctic Monster-Sealing Grand Array with Li Canghai's help, Luo Chen had finally reached his destination.
He pushed forward, forcing his way through the blizzard.
Gradually, his magic barrier eroded away, unable to withstand the gnawing assault of the firmament insects.
Yet Luo Chen did not panic. With a thought, he uttered an incantation:
"Don armor!"
In the next moment, a pitch-black suit of armor materialized over his body.
Archaic and adorned with carved patterns that looked chiseled by blade and ax, the armor exuded an ancient, weathered aura.
Spiritual light shimmered, forming a thick barrier of qi over the physical armor.
It was none other than Luo Chen's newly reforged Xuanchen Armor!
Supplemented by Xuanming's Black Tortoise origin blood and four top-grade lotus seeds, and nurtured by Luo Chen over several decades, the reemerged Xuanchen Armor boasted defensive power that had skyrocketed.
As the violent blizzard lashed against it, even the protective qi barrier failed to budge in the slightest.
Even though swarms of firmament insects gnawed at it, it was nothing more than mayflies trying to shake a giant tree—a foolish overestimation of their own strength!
Luo Chen advanced step by step. Mid-journey, he suddenly looked up toward the heights.
"It's up on the mountain!"
Without a second thought, Luo Chen soared into the sky.
In the process, the Xuanchen qi barrier around him dissipated without warning. Seeing this, the nearby firmament insects flying freely shrieked and swarmed him once more.
Luo Chen paid them no heed. Even without the qi barrier, the physical Xuanchen Armor's defensive power was far more formidable.
Ignoring the insects' siege, his gaze swept over the two great mountains nearby.
Wisps of a peculiar grayish-white light rose from the mountains, permeating the void and stretching all the way into the nine heavens.
"These are Yuan Magnetic Mountains!"
"And this light is the Yuan Magnetic Aurora, renowned for restraining all Five Elements beneath the heavens!"
"That is why the qi barrier automatically released by the Xuanchen Armor vanished for no apparent reason."
"And that is why so much nine heavens firmament qi gathers here on its own—it was swept by the Yuan Magnetic Aurora and forced down."
Having grasped this, Luo Chen landed atop a mountain peak.
Glancing at the multitude of firmament insects swarming around him, he gave a cold snort.
In the next breath, terrifying Crimson Firmament Sword Qi erupted from his person, slashing down swathes of insect carcasses.
He then slapped his storage bag, and the Nine Firmaments Urn—originating from the Nine Spirits Sect—settled beside him.
Luo Chen formed a hand seal, and the Nine Firmaments Urn began to tremble. The nine heavens firmament qi that had accumulated over centuries came surging into the urn all at once.
Amid the boundless wind and snow, radiant light spread wide, drawn entirely into a single urn.
The scene was breathtakingly beautiful!
And Luo Chen felt just as delightful inside.
Though this nine heavens firmament qi was somewhat mixed and not entirely the three types he required, it far surpassed wandering aimlessly through the azure heights in search of them.
The time saved was not merely three or five years!
"I will remember this favor from Li Canghai."
Luo Chen smiled faintly and slowly closed his eyes, extending his divine sense to assist the Nine Firmaments Urn in gathering even more firmament qi.
...
A year later.
Luo Chen's eyes snapped open. He patted the Nine Firmaments Urn with his palm, halting the collection of firmament qi.
Noticing this, Xiao Bai asked curiously, "Master, what is it?"
Luo Chen said nothing, casting his gaze down at the mountain pass cloaked year-round in blizzard below.
This was the sole path leading into the Arctic Yama Heavens.
Within raged the battering of frigid snowstorms, compounded by assaults from firmament insects, and further fortified by the Yuan Magnetic Aurora suppressing the Five Elements. The sheer natural terrain alone was beyond the ability of ordinary cultivators to breach.
At the height of the Yuan Demon Sect, with a handful of powerhouses stationed here, it had been the most impregnable path in the world.
This was evident from the countless layers of beast bones and carcasses lining the mountain pass earlier.
Even though no powerhouses guarded it today, the omnipresent perils were still not something ordinary individuals would dare brave.
Yet within his divine sense earlier, he had indeed sensed an intrusion.
"Is it the sutra-chanting monk stationed in Taohai City?"
Under Luo Chen's watchful eye, a streak of flowing light pierced through the void, heading upstream against the raging blizzard.
The surrounding firmament insects turned a blind eye to it, and even the Yuan Magnetic Aurora blanketing the mountain pass seemed entirely ineffective against it.
Upon closer inspection, that streak of light was clearly a shuttle of bizarre design.
"A shuttle forged from a single chunk of Yuan Magnetic ore?"
Luo Chen felt a touch of surprise, but soon a look of astonishment crossed his face.
Given his composure and temperament, he would not lose his bearing so easily even when alone, yet right now there was good reason.
Inside the shuttle were three figures.
One of them Luo Chen had recognized earlier when infiltrating the Taohai Ruined City—it was clearly that late fourth-rank sutra-chanting monk known as the Demon Monk Kongchan, a figure of great renown in the Northern Sea.
As for the remaining two...
"Shark Emperor Liu Jun!"
"And the other fellow... why does he give me a sense of familiarity... no, even an intimate feeling of kinship?"
Luo Chen furrowed his brows slightly, watching coldly as the shuttle below plunged into the blizzard and gradually vanished from sight.
Their objective was likely the true mountain gate of the Yuan Demon Sect, the Arctic Yama Heavens.
The Arctic Monster-Sealing Grand Array laid by Li Canghai sat on the outside, while the Myriad Soul Demon-Locking Array deployed by the ancestor of the Yuan Demon Sect's Soul Refining branch sat on the inside.
The former had been set by a grandmaster of formations, so even after being breached, it could mend itself and slowly restore toward its zenith. But the Soul Refining Patriarch's array had lost much of its potency ever since vast hordes of demonic beasts broke out with the aid of the Sunken Sea's power back then.
Taking a full year, the trio had breached the Arctic Monster-Sealing Grand Array and crossed the Yuan Magnetic Mountain pass unscathed; what lay ahead should be smooth sailing.
Luo Chen held a grudge against Shark Emperor Liu Jun, but at present, gathering firmament qi to cultivate his sword scripture took precedence; there was no need to invite unnecessary complications.
Yet that fellow who felt both familiar and intimate made it difficult for Luo Chen to sit still.
"Apart from Cheng Haixin, why would anyone in the Northern Sea give me such a feeling?"
Amid his deep confusion, Luo Chen instructed softly:
"Xiao Bai, follow them inside and keep an eye on their movements for me."
Xiao Bai manifested from Luo Chen's person, standing gracefully at his side.
"All right!"
After a moment's thought, Luo Chen reached toward his body and gave Xiao Bai a light pat, sending a streak of black light sinking into her form.
"I have placed the Xuanchen Armor into your body. It contains a strand of my magic power, sufficient to protect you at a critical moment."
"Regarding those three, you are only to watch from the sidelines. Do not engage!"
"If circumstances change or you encounter danger, notify me at once."
Xiao Bai nodded with a smile, then leaped down from the Yuan Magnetic Mountain and flew toward the Yama Heavens.
Her pace was neither fast nor slow, and the surrounding wind, snow, and firmament insects posed no hindrance to her whatsoever.
Witnessing this, Luo Chen immediately understood that soul bodies were immune to the environmental constraints here.
"So this is a flaw that allows safe passage in and out of the Yuan Demon Sect's mountain gate... Heh, in its prime, the Yuan Demon Sect possessed a Soul Refining branch renowned across the Mountain Sea Realm. How could they possibly fear a mere ghost cultivator or soul body sneaking into their mountain gate?"
With a self-deprecating chuckle, Luo Chen sat down cross-legged once more.
The collected firmament qi was still not enough. Onward!
Chapter 1054