Nine Astra Skies

"Duke, is the array setup complete?" Zuoqiu Gongye asked. He observed the chaotic layout around then. What sort of array could it be? When he looked closer, there seemed to be something more to it than met the eye.

"That's right, it's completed." Tuoba Yan smirked. He pointed at the boulder beside them that stood two meters tall and said, "This boulder is the eye of the array. By moving the boulder two meters to its side using palm force, the array is activated!" After he had finished, he gestured with his right hands. With a loud bang, the boulder was moved two meters to its side by Tuoba Yan's palm force. Their surroundings changed drastically - a cloud of mist formed around them, causing one's sense of direction to be disrupted.

"What an amazing array! What does this array do?" Zuoqiu Gongye asked. The array was so fascinating.

"This array is called the binding array. Once a person is trapped inside, it'll be difficult to escape. The chi flow inside his body will be disrupted and his Celestial Chi will be cut off. A Mystique Venerable Rank master could only survive for up to two months. A Heavenly Venerable Rank fighter could only last half a month before whimpering his last breath. The safest spot to stay in is the edges of the eye of the array. Once you stray more than 15 feet away from the eye, you'd be caught in the array," Tuoba Yan explained.

"Cutting off the Celestial Chi? This array is quite powerful!" Zuoqiu Gongye said in awe.

When Tuoba Yan slightly retracted with his palm force, the boulder quickly moved back to its original spot and the array disappeared instantly.

When they saw Tuoba Yan's technique, both Zuoqiu Gongye and Zuoqiu Mingye were in awe. To move the boulder that weighed more than a ton by two meters was an easy task but to be able to pull it back using palm force was no small feat. Even at top Mystique Venerable Rank, it might still be difficult to do so. To accomplish such a task, one might even need to achieve Godly Venerable Rank.

"Duke sure is masterful," Zuoqiu Gongye praised. He wondered how Tuoba Yan was able to pull back a boulder that weighed more than a ton. Could there be some sort of special technique involved?

"No big deal." Tuoba Yan smiled faintly but did not bother explaining. In truth, at his current level, he was still not able to pull back a boulder just by using palm force. The secret was that the array contained many chi flows. By utilizing these chi flows, he was able to easily guide the boulder to its destination.

Tuoba Yan also did not reveal to the Zuoqiu siblings that apart from the chi flow, there was another special aspect to the array. If someone understood the workings of this array, they could stand in the center of the array to control the boulders within the array.

Seeing that Tuoba Yan was not willing to reveal his secrets, Zuoqiu Gongye was dissatisfied. There was nothing else he could do other than to let it go.

Everything returned to normal after the eye of the array was moved back.

"If we run into any Mystique Venerable Rank fighters, we could lure them back here and finish them off!" Tuoba Yan said with a chilling smile, "Let's go."

Their figures vanished with a quick woosh.

The people of Nanman Kingdom had yet to enter Ye Chen's Astral body detected radius. Following Ye Chen's instruction, the Golden Sun Condor took to the skies to look for tracks of the Nanman Kingdom fighters.

While passing through the forest, they would spook some birds occasionally. The birds that foraged around the Exclusion Zone were terrified of humans. They flew away quickly whenever they were scared.

With the bubbling stream, chirping birds, and trees that grew wild and lush, no one would have thought that the forest that seemed undisturbed and primitive was grounds for massacres where countless fighters had lost their lives here.

Ye Chen held his breath. He quickly used his Astral Body to sweep through the surrounding area and the hair on the back of his neck stood. He suddenly realized what it was about the Exclusion Zone that had made him so uncomfortable. It was not a concern for the presence of mystical beasts but the fact that this place was too clean!

The place was overly pristine. They did not see any withered skeletons inside the caves, on the hills, the plains or in the forests. There were not even any pieces of clothing.

The Exclusion Zone had several tens of thousands of years of history and an innumerable number of fighters had fought and died here. Yet, there were no remains of skeletons or clothes. This was too bizarre! Their flesh had been pecked clean by the birds but there was no way the birds could have eaten their bones clean as well. There would at the very least be some small remnants of the battle, and yet, the place was strangely clean with no signs of a battle remaining.

Who had been cleaning the Exclusion Zone?

Could it be the Tribunal Council?

That did not make sense as well. The Tribunal Council specifically set up this place for settling disputes. Was there any need to assign cleaners?

Where did the skeletons of the deceased fighters go?

Were they thrown into the seas?

If it was not on land and not in the skies, it could only either be underwater or underground!

Ye Chen could let Little Squido take a look underwater while he could look underground. He concentrated his Astral Body and headed downward.

A hundred feet underground... Five hundred feet... A thousand feet...

There was still nothing to be seen hence he continued heading downward!

Ye Chen continued delving deeper until about two kilometers deep when he suddenly came into a tunnel with twists and turns that continued leading further underground. His Astral Body continued heading down when an ominous aura started seeping out from deep underground. This ominous aura was constantly erupting upward.

Ye Chen understood then the reason the birds started to flock away from the island to other places whenever nighttime came. The reason was simple. Birds had better awareness and sharper perception than humans who were full of Yin Chi. During the day when the sun shone bright, the aura was not so dense. During the night, however, the aura surged to a point where the birds could not withstand it and vacated to other places. It was no big surprise that the fighters who had previously entered the Exclusion Zone did not notice it. Fighters above the Tenth Level had astounding levels of Yang Chi within them. How would chi that came from several thousand meters under them affect them in the slightest?

Ye Chen continued reaching downward until the extent of his Astral Body's limit. His Astral Body seemed to have sensed something dangerous as Ye Chen felt a chill down his spine and quickly retracted his Astral Body. There was something unspeakable deep underground!

Ye Chen frowned and wondered which part of the island the tunnel with many twists and turns led to.

Ye Chen was wondering if he should head underground to investigate. The object underground had strongly piqued his interest.

However, it could be very risky!

Ye Chen thought about it but ultimately decided he should deal with the Nanman Kingdom fighters first!

Soon, the Golden Sun Condor delivered new intel. It noticed the people of Nanman Kingdom were very quickly approaching them.

According to the intel he had received from the Golden Sun Condor, Ye Chen had complete information about the movements of the Nanman Kingdom fighters.

Ye Chen instructed the group to hide within the mountain forest while he took Little Tanuki with him and started heading forward.

Great Emperor Mingwu felt that Ye Chen's move was very reckless. It was very risky for him to be by himself. However, since Ye Chen was the leader of the group, he would not comment on it. When he saw that both Nie Qingyun and the Eclipsing Firebird that took on the form of an elder seemed to put their faith in Ye Chen, he managed to calm down.

Nie Qingyun and the Eclipsing Firebird still did not know of Ye Chen's actual level as they thought that Ye Chen was a real Daemon King. They thought that the reason Ye Chen came to the Exclusion Zone was just to kill some time. If Ye Chen had used his real strength, it would be an easy task for him to kill the fighters of the Nanman Kingdom. Since the Daemon King, His Majesty wanted to play around, as his subordinates, they would have to oblige and come along.

Ye Chen was quickly approaching. He was only about five to six miles away from the Nanman Kingdom fighters. Again, he used his Astral Body to take a look.

There were two top Heavenly Venerable Rank fighters who had nearly identical appearances. One of them practices Ice-type Celestial Chi while the other practiced Fire-type Celestial Chi. He figured they might be siblings. There was an elder who looked hideous. His cultivation base was far superior to the top two Heavenly Venerable fighters. He was probably Mystique Venerable Rank. According to their conversations, the hideous-looking elder was called Tuoba Yan and he was some sort of duke. As for the two Heavenly Venerable Rank fighters, the shorter one of the two was Zuoqiu Gongye. He was the elder brother while the taller one named Zuoqiu Mingye was the younger sibling.

Ye Chen did not continue approaching as he spied on their every movement. They had a Mystique Venerable Rank fighter with them hence it would be difficult to deal with them.

Even though he was able to deceive people by impersonating the Daemon King, Ye Chen knew where his true level was at. Even with his Astral Body, he could just barely suffice for top Heavenly Venerable Rank! If he faced a Mystique Venerable Rank fighter, the gap between their strength would be massive!

If Nie Qingyun and the Eclipsing Firebird found out the truth and realized they had been lured to the Exclusion Zone to meet their deaths, would they not be mad?

Ye Chen thought about how he could deal with the Mystique Venerable Rank fighter. He could not unleash his Astral Body when Nie Qingyun and the Eclipsing Firebird was around since it would expose his true strength.

This was a nigh-impossible task!

Ye Chen would need to lure away the Mystique Venerable Rank fighter with the help of Little Wingsy. After separating them and dealing with him, he could leave the rest of them in the hands of Great Emperor Mingwu, Nie Qingyun, and the others.

Ye Chen watched the Nanman Kingdom fighters searching the area. He considered for a while then had the Golden Sun Condor led Little Wingsy to bring Great Emperor Mingwu and the rest to surround the Nanman Kingdom fighters. He would decide on what to do next after he had avoided a direct head-on confrontation.

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes. He should be able to take out one or two of them with Little Tanuki.

With the help of the Illusionary Pearl, Little Tanuki's illusion skills were getting stronger. She could probably even slightly hypnotize a Mystique Venerable Rank fighter. A Heavenly Venerable Rank fighter would need some time to be able to snap out of Little Tanuki's illusions. An Earthly Venerable Rank fighter would probably not even realize they had fallen into LIttle Tanuki's illusion spells!

Ye Chen dove into the deeper parts of the jungle for the lush thick trees made a good hiding spot.

"I wonder where the people of Xiwu Empire are at. Why have we not seen them at all yet? Maybe they got scared and chose to hide in a corner?" a fighter of the Nanman Kingdom asked, confused.

"Duke, be careful of their tricks!" Zuoqiu Gongye said, looking at Tuoba Yan.

Tuoba Yan nodded. He had an imposing look on his face. The people of Xiwu Empire still have not made their appearance yet. They might have prepared an ambush or something else on the road. What if the Xiwu Empire also had someone who was able to set up arrays or something similar? It would be devastating if they walked right into it and got trapped.

Tuoba Yan glanced at the two Earthly Venerable Rank fighters and said sternly, "You two head in front as scouts. We'll stay behind!"