“It's an array.”
Her words were cold, her tone filled with rage and absolute certainty. Her voice cut clearly through the pattering rain.
“It must be the work of demonic cultivators! They have secretly laid down a massive Rain-Gathering Array spanning thousands of li, forcibly pulling in the water spiritual energy from the clouds in all directions to gather all the rain clouds over the south!”
“As a result, torrential rain has caused catastrophic flooding in the south, while the north is left cloudless and rainless, suffering a severe drought across thousands of li. They are deliberately overturning the natural weather patterns and disrupting the seasons, intent on destroying the order of heaven and earth to doom all living beings!”
Hearing this, the expressions of the three beside her shifted drastically, their eyes instantly filled with unbelievable shock.
Not daring to delay, they immediately focused their minds and extended their divine senses toward the clouds, carefully tracing the chaotic aura flowing between heaven and earth.
Sure enough, they detected faint, subtle array fluctuations hidden deep within the clouds. A cold, sinister, and malevolent energy belonging to the demonic path was mingled within the wind and rain.
Their brows furrowed tightly, their hearts heavy. If this demonic energy were to enter the bodies of living beings, it would inevitably bring about disaster.
Ever since she had established communication with her master, she had asked him for methods to break various grand arrays, though she had only treated it as basic theory at the time.
Today, she would have to face this world-plaguing demonic array alone and personally break it.
Fortunately, the demonic cultivators who had laid this array had not yet fully restored their cultivation, leaving them lacking in power.
Although this Rain-Gathering Array covered a vast area and was terrifying in scale, it had not reached an unsolvable state of despair.
If the demonic cultivators' cultivation had not been suppressed and they had not been heavily injured when they set up the array, she might not have been able to break it so smoothly with her current strength.
Her master had once said that although such meteorological arrays covering thousands of li of mountains and rivers seemed all-encompassing and untraceable, they ultimately followed the same core principles.
The array's power relied entirely on its core array eye to gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and maintain its operation.
As long as one could find the center of the array and destroy the array eye, the entire grand array would collapse on its own.
She carefully sensed the boundaries of the array, a clear understanding dawning in her heart.
They had traveled south for many days, and their current location happened to be right within the core region of this giant Rain-Gathering Array—the place where the rainfall was lightest.
This was the characteristic of such arrays; the closer one was to the array eye, the more normal the weather would appear.
The rain here was much lighter than when they first arrived, so the array eye was definitely here.
Perhaps those demonic cultivators were here as well.
Jiang Lu swept her gaze across the dark curtain of rain around them and warned in a low voice, “Senior Sister Liu, Senior Brothers, the array eye at the core of the array must be within this area. However, demonic cultivators are cunning. Having set up such a colossal array, they won't easily retreat and hide. They are bound to be lurking nearby. We must not be careless under any circumstances and must proceed with extreme caution.”
Once she finished speaking, the four of them looked at one another, their eyes filled with solemnity.
Liu Qingqing gently clenched her slender fingers, gripping the jade flute hanging at her waist. Her brows furrowed tightly, deep worry hidden in her eyes as she asked softly, “Junior Sister Jiang, time is pressing. How should we proceed? Should we break the Rain-Gathering Array first, or search for and eliminate the hidden demonic cultivators?”
The common people must not be destroyed before her eyes, or she would never be able to overcome her inner demons in the future!
Jiang Lu raised her eyes, staring intently at the weakest gap in the spiritual energy within the clouds. Her jaw clenched slightly, her voice carrying a suppressed anger and resolve.
“We break the array first! Once this Rain-Gathering Array is completely shattered, destroying their foundation for disrupting the weather, the demonic cultivators hiding in the shadows will have nowhere to hide and will be forced to show themselves!”
“Alright!”
“We will follow your instructions, Junior Sister!”
Lu Lingfeng and Xi Siyu agreed in unison, without the slightest hesitation.
Junior Sister Jiang had come here specifically to eliminate the demonic cultivators. The two of them were more than willing to follow her lead and provide their full support.
The group advanced slowly, steadily drawing closer to the sensed center of the array while constantly monitoring the subtle fluctuations of the surrounding spiritual energy, not daring to overlook any anomaly.
Half an hour later, her eyes suddenly lit up. She raised her hand and pointed straight into the depths of the rainy mist ahead, her voice clear and confident: “Senior Brothers, the array eye is over there!”
Before her voice could fade, she flicked her wrist cleanly, whipping the reins.
“Neeigh—!”
The fine steed beneath her reared its hooves and let out a long neigh, splashing through the muddy puddles as it galloped toward the front where the demonic energy was strongest.
Liu Qingqing and the other two immediately spurred their horses to follow, their four figures tearing through the vast curtain of rain.
Along the way, they witnessed nothing but the devastating, tragic sight of human suffering.
The official road was muddy and slippery, with water overflowing the path. On both sides, fleeing refugees stumbled along, everyone covered in mud, their faces haggard and pale.
Some wore tattered bamboo hats, tightly shielding crying, innocent children in their arms.
Others carried their few remaining meager belongings on shoulder poles, their backs hunched as they trudged forward with difficulty.
The elderly, weak, women, and children supported one another, stumbling with every step, their faces filled with terror and helplessness.
Not far away, the river had long since breached its banks. Turbid floodwaters rolled and surged, swallowing fertile fields and villages, leaving behind a bleak and heartbreaking ruin.
As they drew closer, Jiang Lu's pupils contracted, and she instantly understood.
This place was actually a hidden subterranean dragon vein node!
No wonder the demonic cultivators could set up a meteorological array spanning thousands of li. They were actually using the power of the dragon veins and ley lines to gather yin energy and demonic energy, stabilizing the array eye to manipulate the weather and bring chaos to this part of the world!
Her vast divine sense instantly spread out, penetrating the heavy mist and subterranean undercurrents to probe precisely into the core of the array eye. In the next instant, Jiang Lu's expression darkened completely, and alarm bells rang in her heart.
Within the array eye, several figures of demonic cultivators were indeed entrenched!
There were not just the three she had initially deduced, but a full two more!
They were likely the remnants of the demonic cultivators who had previously scattered and hidden in various places, now fully gathered here.
“Senior Sister Liu, Senior Brothers, there are five demonic cultivators at the array eye.”
Jiang Lu's voice carried a hint of raspiness, yet every word was clear, steady, and powerful: “I need you all to assist me with everything you have so we can surround and eliminate them together.”
“Five?!”
Liu Qingqing and the two senior brothers were shaken, unable to stop themselves from gasping in low voices. Their expressions instantly became several times more solemn.
“Yes.”
Jiang Lu stared intently at the five traces of demonic energy hidden at the center of the array, accurately reporting their cultivation levels.
“Three of them have already restored quite a bit of their cultivation, reaching the early stage of Foundation Establishment. The remaining two are at the peak of late-stage Qi Condensation. They are all guarding the critical points of the array eye, relying on one another for mutual defense and attack. If we want to break the array, we must first execute all five of these demonic cultivators.”
She lowered her eyes to look at the refugees along the way, her gaze filled with deep compassion and resolve.
Some observant people noticed that although the wind and rain were pouring and mud was splattering everywhere, leaving all the travelers dirty and disheveled, these four moved through the torrential downpour with pristine, dust-free clothes. The rainy mist dispersed on its own before it could even touch them, and not a single drop of rain clung to them.
Though they did not understand the path of cultivation, they knew that such a miraculous sight was definitely not something ordinary mortals could achieve.
In the crowd, someone's eyes suddenly lit up with hope, and they murmured in a low voice.
Rumor had it that a Goddess had descended upon the world, showing compassion to all living beings, slaying demons, and protecting the peace of the land.
Could it be that today, a Goddess had descended from heaven to rescue them from their suffering and misery?
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