Getting Prepared; Accident . . .
"Is this even progress?!" Cha-Eun Xiao couldn't help but mutter with a bitter smile. "I've broken through these limits several times, yet the East-rising Purple Qi remains unchanged. It's as if everything I've achieved means nothing compared to it. Worthless. Should I be happy or sad about it? Well, I should be happy... Yeah, I'm happy."
He employed a kind of spiritual victory method to console himself, a small but significant internal pep talk. "Good for you, Xiao Monarch!"
...
In the next moment, he found himself back in the Spaces once more. Gazing upon the Cosmic Hades in the Sky Space, he furrowed his brow, lost in thought. The frigid qi emanating from the Cosmic Hades had thoroughly filled the entire Sky Space and was poised to invade the other Spaces. It was a precarious situation, and Cha-Eun Xiao knew he had to address it – he needed to absorb it once again.
Contemplating the Cosmic Hades brought to mind the two crises he currently faced. The internal crisis could be managed; he could simply cultivate the frigid qi again. He had done it before, so this time, it should be considerably easier. However, how would he contend with the external crisis?
Gu Jin-Long's strength was overwhelming. Reflecting on Gu Jin-Long's power, Cha-Eun Xiao let out another sigh. He had narrowly escaped death thanks to a monumental lie, but Gu Jin-Long remained vigilant, waiting for an opportunity to seize the Cosmic Hades. He was like a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment near Cha-Eun Xiao. The matter between them had to be resolved – either Gu Jin-Long would die, or Cha-Eun Xiao would.
One of them had to perish.
The predicament lay in the fact that Cha-Eun Xiao had no means to deal with Gu Jin-Long. Poison, dan beads, or any other methods he contemplated were futile. He lacked the necessary dan beads to eliminate Gu Jin-Long.
With a heavy heart, he walked out of his room, causing Song Jue to become concerned upon seeing Cha-Eun Xiao's somber expression. Cha-Eun Xiao offered responses that didn't truly address Song Jue's worries before slipping away among the people outside the house.
After some time, he found himself in a field beyond the city. Now as Feng Zhi-Ling, he sprinted swiftly through the wilderness, seeking a suitable location.
A mountain.
In the event Gu Jin-Long inquired, Cha-Eun Xiao needed to make everything appear reasonable.
"Even a perfect lie won't last long," Cha-Eun Xiao mused with a bitter, resigned smile. "You always need to exert tremendous effort to uphold a lie. A tiny mistake can expose you, leading to instant defeat and death."
After a search, he discovered a mountain that fit the bill. Resembling a pen rack, it stood tall and isolated, disconnected from the surrounding mountains. This mountain, known as the Pen Rack Mountain, occupied a unique position, embraced by the other mountains.
Satisfied with his choice, Cha-Eun Xiao retrieved 99 pieces of spiritual jades from his ring. There was no need to be frugal with them since they had been provided by Gu Jin-Long free of charge.
Moving around the mountain, he placed the spiritual jades along the way, never pausing. He continued this process from the base to halfway up the mountain, utilizing just under 400 pieces of spiritual jades to create a foundation.
With the foundation in place, he withdrew another 13 pieces of spiritual jades. Flying to the mountain's summit, he arranged the 13 pieces in the likeness of the Eight Diagrams and the Five Elements. Eight pieces formed a larger circle, while the remaining five composed a smaller circle within it. The two circles functioned in tandem, and at their center, he positioned ten pieces of spiritual jades.
Embedding the ten pieces deeply into the mountain, he declared, "Done!"
In an instant, something resembling clouds and fog descended, enveloping the entire mountain. From any vantage point, the Pen Rack Mountain seemed to have vanished. The mountain had become invisible.
It was the Stars Covering Array!
It was the most complex array art that Cha-Eun Xiao could manage! Since he lacked the strength to confront Gu Jin-Long directly, he had to rely on whatever tricks he had up his sleeve.
Surveying the array he had painstakingly assembled, he nodded with a sense of accomplishment. Then, he descended to the base of the mountain where the foundation of the entire array lay buried, concealing it carefully.
A feeling of relief washed over him. With such a substantial array as a cover, deceiving Gu Jin-Long when necessary shouldn't pose too great a challenge.
"Using Gu Jin-Long's spiritual jades to set up an array to deceive Gu Jin-Long... that's rather ironic," Cha-Eun Xiao thought, a satisfied smile tugging at his lips.
Having completed his task, he found one more spiritual jade in his possession. Originally, he had intended to use these spiritual jades to establish a Weather Array to generate rain in the Water Space. However, given the urgency of his situation with Gu Jin-Long, he decided to postpone that plan. He dared not deplete all the spiritual jades at this juncture, as he needed sufficient energy to maintain the Stars Covering Array.
He resolved to develop the Water Space once he had dealt with Gu Jin-Long. Cha-Eun Xiao casually tossed the spiritual jade into the Spaces before preparing to depart.
Just as he was about to leave, he was jolted by a sudden development. The frigid qi in the Sky Space had suddenly surged!
Swiftly gathering his wits, Cha-Eun Xiao promptly entered the Spaces. Examining the Sky Space, he found that the spiritual jade, originally located in the Soul Space, had migrated to the surface of the Cosmic Hades.
The Cosmic Hades had begun releasing an excess of frigid qi. Cha-Eun Xiao had assumed that it would take some time before this happened, but now the Cosmic Hades was unleashing frigid qi at an alarming rate. The Sky Space had become overwhelming for the other eight Spaces.
All of this was attributed to a single spiritual jade. In a short span, the spiritual jade had become cloudy, signifying a rapid depletion of its energy.
After a brief interval, energy began to emanate from the spiritual jade and soon the entire jade transformed into pure energy.
In the next instant, the Cosmic Hades shot out of the Sky Space, floating in the air outside the nine Spaces, continuously emitting frigid qi. The nine Spaces simultaneously trembled, shrouded in frost.
The plants within the Wood Space couldn't endure the conditions; some of their leaves began to wilt.
Cha-Eun Xiao was horrified. "What's happening? The Cosmic Hades, in concert with the Sky Space, was already overwhelming the other eight Spaces, and now it's overpowering the nine Spaces themselves! The Spaces are in dire straits. This is bad!"
He hastily activated the East-rising Purple Qi and attempted to replicate what he had done previously: absorb the frigid qi from the Cosmic Hades to alleviate the strain on the Spaces. However, as he drew closer to the Cosmic Hades, he felt an intense suction force directed at him. The Cosmic Hades was attempting to absorb Cha-Eun Xiao's spiritual qi!
A tiny spiritual jade had unleashed such a catastrophe.
Cha-Eun Xiao was astonished. He scrambled to defend himself, slowly retreating. When he had retreated about 20 meters from the Cosmic Hades, the suction force weakened. He then sensed a hint of mockery, as if someone were taunting him, saying, "You're so insignificant that I can't be bothered to absorb you!"
Cha-Eun Xiao was safe for the moment, but he was drenched in sweat due to anxiety. He had never anticipated such a bizarre occurrence within the Spaces. "I simply tossed a small spiritual jade into it! How could it result in such a disaster? A calamity caused by a spiritual jade?!"
To his astonishment, he observed that in a matter of minutes, the nine Spaces were trembling more violently, and the frost covering them grew thicker.
If he couldn't halt this, the Spaces might actually rupture. If the Nine Spaces were destroyed, the Boundless Mind Space would not endure.
Cha-Eun Xiao swiftly made his decision and exited the Spaces. He entered the Stars Covering Array and unleashed the East-rising Purple Qi at its maximum capacity, attempting to absorb the surging frigid qi!
This time, the frigid qi surged instantly, thicker and more formidable than anything Cha-Eun Xiao had ever encountered before!
Uncertainty gripped him. He wasn't sure if he could successfully manage this, but one thing was certain: he couldn't simply stand by and witness the Nine Spaces collapse. He had to make an attempt.
The frigid qi was ferocious. Despite Cha-Eun Xiao's proficiency in controlling elemental forces and his previous encounters with frigid qi, as soon as he came into contact with it this time, he was instantly encased in ice, transformed into a frozen sculpture in the blink of an eye!