Free Web NovelChapter 231: Chapter 230: Array Intuition
The Northern Boundary Mountain was tall and imposing. After leaving the Northern Boundary Mountain Demon Clan’s territory, Jiang Qiu scrambled upward, sprinting with all his might. But every time he looked up, the white mist still seemed impossibly far away. The thick clouds that blotted out the sky pressed down on the mountainside, a distance he could never seem to close.
There was no extra food to be found while climbing the mountain. Aside from the packed snow that could quench his thirst, there was nothing to eat.
Before he knew it, Jiang Qiu was drenched in sweat, his legs aching. His pace gradually slowed. The slope beneath his feet hadn’t steepened much, which meant he was still a good distance from the mountainside, to say nothing of the peak far above the clouds.
No one knew the exact height of the Northern Boundary Mountain, but a rough estimate suggested the climb might be no shorter than the journey across the South Mountain Range. Without special methods, it was entirely possible to take months, or even years, to reach the top.
Throughout this time, Jiang Qiu had no idea how long had passed. The sky was perpetually obscured by the clouds at the mountainside, the light always dim and indistinct. He shielded his face with his left hand as the white snow on the mountain rushed down like a white mudslide. He leaned forward, bracing his center of gravity, his black robes whipping wildly behind him.
’Can I really climb to the top of the Northern Boundary Mountain on my own two feet?’
Jiang Qiu sucked in a breath of frigid air and squinted upward. His gaze pierced through layer after layer of enveloping snow and wind, trying to make out the clouds at the very top.
Four or five days might have passed, yet he still didn’t feel like he had made much progress. This climb was more exhausting than crossing the South Mountain Range from the North Snow Tribe.
In truth, the white mist of the Northern Boundary Mountain didn’t stay dispersed forever. After about a year, it would descend again, returning the mountain to its usual state.
The mist’s return signified the end of the contest for the Chosen. Those Chosen Ones who had once climbed the mountain never returned, and the Northern Boundary would revert to its former state, with the major, war-torn tribes beginning to recuperate.
Without a doubt, the white mist was lethal to the Chosen Ones. It contained something that the natives of the Northern Boundary could not comprehend.
The most urgent task was to ascend the mountain quickly!
’The environment on the Northern Boundary Mountain is too harsh. It’s impossible for anyone to climb to the peak normally within a year. I have to rely on external aids.’
Muttering to himself, Jiang Qiu stopped. He tightened his grip on the Northern Snow Lance in his right hand and, with a CRUNCH, plunged it into a rock hidden beneath the snow to anchor himself. His hands gestured in the empty air, and faint Ancient Inscriptions emerged, shimmering like flowing fireflies.
As the most central geographical feature of the Northern Boundary, its very pillar, the Northern Boundary Mountain was also the nexus of the great seal from ages past—the core of a massive Sealing Array.
The Celestial Dao Prison Dragon!
The complexity of this array was astonishing, enough to be deemed the work of a Celestial Being. It was constructed from tens of thousands of smaller arrays, integrating the Ancient Inscriptions of several different arrays to form a composite whole, not a single entity.
Its scale was so immense that even back in the West Ice Tribe, one could sense a corner of the Celestial Dao Prison Dragon. One could only imagine its true size.
Now, as he subtly focused his senses, the foundation of the entire Northern Boundary Mountain suddenly trembled. A massive structure of Ancient Inscriptions materialized from beneath his feet. WHOOSH! Layer after layer of inscriptions nested downward, creating an infinitely extending plane with no visible end.
At this moment, Jiang Qiu was like a tiny, fragile black dot on an infinitely vast, mirrored surface.
A blue halo flowed in his eyes, and his breathing grew ragged.
In the three years since obtaining the legacies of the West Ice Tribe and the East Shore Tribe, he had of course done more than just his Cultivation of the [Ice Prison Fire Tower]; he had also researched Ancient Inscriptions and array construction.
Each time he constructed an array, he gained experience. He had mastered some of the basic arrays from the book *Array of the Reversed Sky* and was familiar with some fundamental knowledge of the field. A simple inspection of an array was well within his capabilities.
’The West Ice Tribe’s Kun Jiu Ascendant wouldn’t have left a meaningless legacy of array knowledge in a barren place like the Northern Boundary. And he certainly wouldn’t have singled out an array like the Celestial Dao Prison Dragon, which is practically impossible to recreate.’
’Just as I thought. Beneath a world-class Sealing Array like the Celestial Dao Prison Dragon, there are special, smaller transportation arrays hidden, allowing for teleportation within the array’s response range.’
Jiang Qiu stared at the massive array model visible to his eyes. The dense thicket of Ancient Inscriptions was rotating, operating like incomparably precise gears.
Such a terrifying Grand Array would naturally consume an appalling amount of Spirit Charm. Perhaps the reason for the Northern Boundary’s depleted Spirit Charm was the very establishment of this Celestial Dao Prison Dragon Grand Array.
But that was not something for Jiang Qiu to worry about now. Relying on a special Talent he had comprehended over the past three years, he began searching for the transportation array he needed.
[Array Intuition]
[Description: When facing any array, you have a keen intuition for its type, allowing you to perceive its composition and discern the construction logic of its internal Ancient Inscriptions.]
In short, Jiang Qiu could understand the structure of the Celestial Dao Prison Dragon. Now, he just needed to find and activate the part within it that could achieve the effect of transportation.
But the Celestial Dao Prison Dragon was simply too vast and its scope too broad. Just looking at it was dizzying. Even with his Talent, he would need a significant amount of time to observe it.
And just as Jiang Qiu stopped to investigate the array, on another part of the mountain, the other Celestial Chosen Demons had also been forced to a halt, dragged into battle.
After the clash subsided, the snowstorm swept back in. An old man with empty hands emerged from the blizzard, carrying the head of a lizard-like Celestial Chosen Demon.
He casually tossed the lizard head down the mountain. The head went TUMBLE TUMBLE TUMBLE, rolling down and gathering snow until it slipped out of sight, never to climb the mountain again.
’I’ve killed the Chosen One from the Three-headed Demon Clan. The Ancestor’s burden should be a little lighter now.’
A trace of exhaustion laced the ancient voice. On the Great Witch’s face, blue Kun tattoos mingled with his wrinkles, accentuating his age.
As the Great Witch of the strongest tribe and largest Demon Race in the Northern Boundary, he was likely the most ancient living being in the region today.
Thanks to his bloodline and the Ancestor’s legacy, he had lived for over ten thousand years even without being able to absorb Spirit Charm. He was older than any other tribe’s Witch Priest and knew more of the Northern Boundary’s secrets.
But at this moment, he, like the Great Witch Priestess of the West Ice Tribe, the High Priest of Cold Heaven Cliff, and the Elder Witch Priest of the North Snow Tribe, was burning his life force to activate the Ancestor’s power that only a Witch could wield, forcibly slaying the Celestial Chosen Demons who dared to climb the mountain.
Tens of thousands of years had passed, and this was the first time the Great Witch had personally taken action against the Celestial Chosen Demons. In the past, he had at most channeled some of the Ancestor’s residual power to the tribe’s Warriors, ordering them to obstruct the Chosen Ones.
That method had some effect, but it was nowhere near as clean and efficient as taking action himself to ensure the Celestial Chosen Demons could not ascend the mountain.
Of course, the price was that his life would burn away like a candle, eventually turning to ash and scattering to the winds. The title of Great Witch of the Northern Boundary Mountain Demon Clan would then be passed to the next generation.
As for why he would do this?
’Some Demon Emperor Ancestors have already reincarnated or found their successors and awakened from the ancient era. It is time for our Ancestor to do the same.’
The Great Witch murmured, then rose into the air. Wings unfurled from his back, his body like that of a great roc. "The Human Race’s seal should be used for the Ancestor’s sake!"
