Seven Stars Lantern Array

Zhang Yuanqing staggered backward, clutching his face and cursing, "Fuck, my titanium-alloy eyes are blinded! What sharp sword qi!" The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter, who had initially been startled and instinctively reached for Life Source Fluid to treat him, exhaled in relief upon hearing his vigorous cursing. Cursing with such robust vigor meant it wasn't a fatal issue. Zhang Yuanqing retrieved the Mountain God Scepter, activated the emerald gem at its tip to briefly stem the bleeding, and then sat cross-legged, waiting for his eyeballs to regenerate. "What did you see?" Fu Qingyang asked. Keeping his eyes shut, Zhang Yuanqing answered, "Lanterns floating overhead. They're shaped like sky lanterns, burning with ghastly green candlelight, and there are many of them. After watching them closely, I noticed their arrangement implicitly follows a certain pattern..." Heavenly King Demonic Eye pressed, "What kind of pattern?" Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a few seconds before saying, "The arrangement of the sky lanterns looks somewhat like the Big Dipper." As a bona fide Stargazer, he was naturally the most sensitive to and familiar with astrological patterns. "The Big Dipper..." Xiahou Aotian arched an eyebrow. "Could it be a Seven Stars Array?" Hearing mention of an array, the others quietly fell silent, leaving the floor to the protagonist. Xiahou Aotian could not help but raise his chin like a proud rooster. "A Seven Stars Array is a type of formation layout modeled after the Big Dipper. You can think of it as a mold; as for what gets stuffed inside, that's up to the caster. There are Seven Stars Fire Arrays, Seven Stars Sword Arrays, Seven Stars Crossbow Arrays, Seven Stars Ghost Arrays, and so forth. "The texts I've read say that renowned ancient sects were very fond of studying arrays. Relying on numbers and favorable terrain, they could produce miraculous results. A brilliant grand array could work wonders when facing strong enemies laying siege to the mountain. It isn't strange for a great sect like Mount Shu to possess one." "How do we break it?" Heavenly King Demonic Eye asked, growing somewhat impatient as Xiahou Aotian began to hold forth and flaunt his knowledge. Xiahou Aotian stood with his hands behind his back. "Very simple. In all arrays, the weakness is the array core. And in all Seven Stars Arrays, the weaknesses are the two stars Xuange and Zhaoyao." "Xuange and Zhaoyao?" Heavenly King Demonic Eye frowned slightly. Before Xiahou Aotian could lecture further, Zhang Yuanqing chimed in first, "Hidden along the extended line of the Big Dipper's handle are two stars: Xuange and Zhaoyao." Xiahou Aotian cast him an annoyed glance before blurting out, "Exactly! Find those two stars, and we can crack the array. However, the creator of the formation will invariably conceal the two stars representing the array core. Finding them won't be easy." After listening, Fu Qingyang looked at Zhang Yuanqing, who was still regulating his breath cross-legged, and asked, "Yuanshi, what other intel do you have?" Zhang Yuanqing said, "I didn't spot any enemies and proceeded to scout as usual. But within a few steps, a sky lantern descended to interfere with me. I destroyed it, and immediately lost connection with the yin corpse—and my own eyes were poked blind." Stroking his chin, Xiahou Aotian offered his view: "That must have triggered the array's mechanism. But it only sent a sky lantern down to obstruct you rather than directly launching an attack, which means it isn't an instant-death mechanic. Sigh, if only I had been there—I definitely would have deduced the pattern." This was his domain of expertise. Had it been him, he probably would have seen through the operational rules within half a minute. Unfortunately, Yuanshi Tianzun was an incompetent disappointment. "An attack against the yin corpse was actually reflected back onto the true body?" Fu Qingyang was more concerned with the array's method of attack. "Judging from the damage to Yuanshi's eyes just now, what struck him were two streams of sword qi. I have never seen such a peculiar attack in this world." Hearing that, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter asked curiously, "Not even the Grand Marshal can do that?" Fu Qingyang gave an affirmative hum. "Strictly speaking, what's peculiar is the sword intent contained within the sword qi. Sword qi is pure energy, while sword intent is the style of the swordsman. Every master who has stepped through the threshold possesses their own sword intent. Different sword intents manifest in different forms of attack. "Just like my slash: heedless of life and death, pressing forward with unstoppable resolve. No matter how powerful the Grand Marshal is, she cannot replicate my sword intent." Xiahou Aotian added, "It's not just your slash—nobody else could ever learn your lifespan-burning swordsmanship either." Fu Qingyang gave him a displeased look. "Do you really enjoy giving your opinion that much?" His lifespan-burning swordsmanship was actually an advanced evolution of his slash. Precisely because it disregarded life and death and pressed forward relentlessly, it was able to trade lifespan for power. Heavenly King Demonic Eye stood ramrod-straight, gazing toward the third tier as he pulled the conversation back on track: "If it's an array, sending yin corpses to scout ahead loses its purpose. Yuanshi Tianzun knows nothing about formations; no matter how many he sends, they'll just die, and his stock of yin corpses can't sustain such losses." The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter said, "No matter how many yin corpses he has, they're useless if we don't know how to break the array. Based on Yuanshi's intel, as long as we don't actively attack the sky lanterns, we won't be attacked. But as for why Xiahou Aotian's drone swarm was taken down, we still need to test that out. It's best not to act rashly for now." "No need to overthink it!" Xiahou Aotian tilted his chin up. "Since it's an array, it's hardly surprising that my drones were shot down. An array is like a domain; only by walking the right path and finding the safe zones can one remain unharmed. With the drones flying wildly all over the place, it was completely natural for them to trigger danger." At that moment, Zhang Yuanqing, having regenerated his eyeballs, opened his eyes and looked at Fu Qingyang. "Good thing we have a Scholar in our team. Boss, shall we go straight in?" Fu Qingyang nodded slightly and issued calm commands: "Xiahou Aotian takes the lead, Demonic Eye brings up the rear. Yuanshi, you and I will protect the Palace Master." Soon, the group formed a single file, led by Xiahou Aotian, and stepped through the membrane. The scenery before them shifted abruptly. Lanterns burning with ghastly green candlelight floated in midair, thirty feet off the ground, hovering directly above everyone's heads. A light leap would be enough to touch them. The glow cast a sickly green pallor over their faces, making them feel as if they were standing in a bustling, festive capital of the underworld. The black smoke here was just as thick, but the sheer number of sky lanterns served to some degree as illumination, sparing Zhang Yuanqing from expending more divine power of the sun. The countless sky lanterns reflected in Xiahou Aotian's pupils. After pondering for a few seconds, he retrieved a mechanism puppet from his inventory and steered it to the right. After advancing roughly ten paces, the mechanism puppet suddenly shattered into pieces, the cut surfaces clean and neat as though sheared by a razor-sharp blade. Yet no one saw where the attack had come from, let alone its form. Only Fu Qingyang perceived the detail, stating in a deep voice, "It was sword qi descending from above. The moment the mechanism puppet left the candlelit area, it suffered an attack of sword qi from up high." Xiahou Aotian pulled his gaze down from above, his tone equally solemn. "It truly is a Seven Stars Array. Look closely: there are seven lantern formations, linked by lines of sky lanterns to form a ladle shape. Doesn't that look like the Big Dipper?" Following his guidance, everyone traced the shape in their minds; indeed, it resembled a ladle. The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter stayed close beside Zhang Yuanqing, her voice soft and melodious. "So, how do we find the array core?" "The array core?" Xiahou Aotian scoffed. "Let's survive inside the array first before talking about that. Nourished by yin energy, this Seven Stars Array is extraordinarily lethal. Staying here even a second longer could mean an untimely death." The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter smiled faintly. "With an unrivaled genius of the Xiahou family like you around, what do I have to fear? A mere Seven Stars Array couldn't possibly stump you, could it?" "Ah, well..." Xiahou Aotian was suddenly put on the spot. He wanted to claim it was all in the bag, but he had no confidence in his heart, and backing down was out of the question, leaving him feeling thoroughly awkward. He had no choice but to shift his focus back to the array and analyze: "Our current position corresponds to the star Kaiyang in the Big Dipper. For now, all we know is that wandering blindly causes a sky lantern to descend and block us. As for other dangers, we don't know." Fu Qingyang said calmly, "Then let's test it again." He also took out a defensive mechanism puppet, cast puppetry, and twitched his fingers to direct it forward. After the puppet took four or five steps, a sky lantern indeed drifted down, blocking its path. Fu Qingyang maneuvered the puppet around the sky lantern. After just a few more steps, the puppet's chest burst open, leaving a hollow hole that let light pass straight through from front to back. Fu Qingyang's gaze was sharp, and he was the first to see it clearly. "The attack originates from the sky lanterns! Descending to obstruct is a warning. If you ignore it or attack it, you will be obliterated by the sky lantern." He raised his head to look at the dense cluster of lanterns overhead and said, "These lanterns are items!" If they weren't items, they couldn't possibly harbor such formidable, terrifying attack power. Zhang Yuanqing crossed one arm over his chest while tapping his chin with a finger. "We can't leave the illuminated area, and we can't move forward. Are we just trapped here? How about trying an escape art?" Xiahou Aotian shook his head. "No need. High-level arrays won't have such an obvious loophole. Furthermore, based on my understanding of the Seven Stars Array, it won't just simply trap us here. Other dangers must be lurking within the array; standing still won't keep us safe forever. But until the crisis erupts, I can't discern the pattern either." "Then before the crisis erupts, let's test the attack's potency." Zhang Yuanqing took out Little Red Riding Hood, summoned a yin corpse, and then retrieved the three-piece Purple Gold Set to equip the corpse in full armor. Striding forward, he took the initiative to smash the sky lantern that had descended to block him. *Bang!* A streak of sword qi plunged from above, shattering the protection of the Purple Gold armor and sending pale-golden liquid metal splattering everywhere as the yin corpse was cleaved in two. Zhang Yuanqing's head snapped back, his eyeballs bursting once again. The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter hastily reached for the Demon Refining Pot, pouring out purplish-gold liquid to treat his injury. Zhang Yuanqing wiped the bloody fluid from his face. "The attack power is at the mid or peak of Level 8. Demonic Eye could barely withstand it with his physical body, but if focused down by multiple sword qi strikes, even he would be in mortal danger." As for the others, there was no need to state the obvious. They would surely die. Zhang Yuanqing waved a hand, and the purplish-gold liquid scattered across the ground flowed back to coat his body, forming a suit of Purple Gold armor that enveloped him entirely. If he activated the Blazing Sun God of War state together with the Purple Gold Set, he could also barely withstand a single blow. Although such intensity was completely normal for a Level 8 Dominator instance, the Level 7 Dominators present still couldn't help tensing up, their adrenaline surging. Right at that moment, despite the complete absence of wind, the sky lanterns overhead suddenly drifted toward the east, the ghastly green candlelight rapidly receding. Fu Qingyang said in a low voice, "Keep up! Don't leave the light!" The others had noticed the change as well; by the time Fu Qingyang voiced the warning, they were already sprinting eastward. Yet the moment everyone broke into a run, even though they had not stepped outside the light's radius, a rain of sharp sword qi descended from above, blanketing them like a torrential storm. Heaven had unleashed its killing intent!