Chapter Ninety-Two: The Celestial Array

The spiritual power within the crimson feather would be something she dared not use.

If that power entered her body, it would immediately be offered up to the Seven-Star Veins. Should any danger arise, she would be left with no heaven to answer her pleas and no earth to heed them.

If the spiritual power remained within the feather, and she used it as a weapon, its destructive force might be even greater.

Lost in thought, Ji Yin followed the narrow path down toward the foot of the cliff.

The Scarlet Flame Mink led the way ahead, scouting the road for her.

"Little Demon, do not waste such abundant spiritual energy."

"Yes!"

A streak of violet-gold light burst from Ji Yin's body and hovered in midair. The cauldron suddenly enlarged several times over, and the surrounding spiritual energy poured into it in an unbroken stream.

"The spiritual energy here is so pure, almost without a trace of impurity."

Ji Yin raised a hand to draw it in. With such ample spiritual energy, the meridians throughout her body shone with a warm, lustrous glow. It had been a long time since she had felt so wholly refreshed and free.

With Little Demon helping her, Ji Yin did not need to sit in meditation as ordinary people did to absorb spiritual energy.

With so much of it here, the power it produced far exceeded the usual amount by more than tenfold. The moment the spiritual force reached a certain threshold, the Seven-Star Veins immediately drew it away.

Ji Yin silently cursed under her breath, pained by the loss.

Little Demon continued to send spiritual energy into her without pause, not in the least delaying her journey.

Ji Yin kept walking down the narrow path toward the abyss below. The farther she descended, the thinner the mist became, until it no longer obstructed her sight. Yet the sky remained heavy and overcast, shrouded beneath thick layers of cloud.

After roughly an hour of walking, Ji Yin realized she had still not reached the bottom of the cliff.

The trees ahead grew dense and blocked her view, making it impossible to tell how much farther she had to go.

Then, suddenly, she faintly felt a tremor and instantly became alert.

It had been just like this when Xuan Yuanji and the others had vanished without warning.

She was truly afraid that in the blink of an eye she would be sent somewhere else entirely—say, into the lair of the Poison Emperor Spider or some such place.

After all, she had nearly leaped off the cliff only moments ago.

The tremor lasted for a while, yet the scene before her did not change in the slightest. She was still standing where she had been, and nothing in her surroundings had appeared or disappeared.

"The formation changes once every hour," the voice of the Demon Cauldron said again. "If that is the case, an ordinary array could not accomplish it. Heaven above and earth below, with the directions aligned..."

At the same time, Xuan Yuanji looked at the compass in Wu Yan's hand. With a light push of his slender fingers, the compass's position shifted at once.

"Heaven above and earth below, east, south, west, north..."

Xuan Yuanji's brow suddenly furrowed.

"Young Master, how is it? Have you found a way to break the formation?"

In order to find Ji Yin, Xuan Yuanji had also become separated from the others. Only when the formation activated again just now had he determined exactly what kind of array this was.

"The Celestial Formation."

"The Celestial Formation? I've never heard of it." Wu Yan froze, then shook his head helplessly.

"I only came across it in a secret manual, and even that was but a damaged copy. For now, I can only confirm that it is the Celestial Formation."

"Then doesn't that mean there is no way to break it?"

"Once one enters the Celestial Formation, there is no way out. The eye of the formation lies within the yin and yang poles at the very center of the array. Only there might one find a means of breaking it!"

"Celestial Formation?"

Ji Yin had grown tired from walking and sat down upon a large rock. Listening to Little Demon's analysis, her brow tightened.

"Big Demon, the Celestial Formation has long been lost even in the Flowing Slash Star. How could it appear here? Do you think the history of this place might be even older than that of the Flowing Slash Star?"

"It is not impossible."

Ji Yin answered softly, and a deep unease rose within her heart.