Chapter 134: The Spirit-Gathering Array

Qin Mucheng was dead.

The news swept across the length and breadth of China, leaving the secular martial world utterly stunned. When people first heard it, they were all struck dumb.

Two or three decades ago, Qin Mucheng had entered the Harmonized Force realm, and the entire Qin clan had celebrated. After all these years, his cultivation should have advanced even further.

In present-day China, it had been a century since a great master had been slain.

Once one stepped into the Harmonized Force realm, one attained a position of supreme honor, lofty as a divine dragon in the nine heavens. With cultivation as profound as the ocean, there were scarcely any in this vast world who could withstand even a single exchange with such a person.

Yet this very master, who had presided over the Qin clan, had suddenly been killed. How could the world not be shocked? How could it not be afraid?

The name of Jiang Yu, the young great master of Jiangbei, resounded throughout China.

In a daze, a new legend was quietly rising.

The news swept through China’s secular martial world like a hurricane, spreading overseas and even reaching countries large and small. Those who had never heard of the young great master all shared the same question.

“Who is this young master of Jiangbei, this great master Jiang?”

Not yet twenty years old, and already famous throughout the world.

Even Gu Changsheng in his prime would probably have fallen slightly short of him.

As the story passed from mouth to mouth, Jiang Yu was draped in an increasingly mythical aura, and several different versions began to circulate.

Some said that Great Master Jiang was the closed-door disciple of an immortal master from an ancient sect, and that he had dazzled the world the moment he emerged. Others claimed that he must have stumbled upon an immortal’s legacy, soaring to the heavens in a single day and stunning the world with his first cry.

With every retelling, the stories grew more exaggerated. In the end, the name Great Master Jiang was revered by the people almost as though it belonged to a deity.

Eastern Continent. The Fang family.

Inside the conference room, the Fang family head wore a flowing white robe in an antique style. His bearing was gentle and refined, like that of an ancient scholar.

As soon as news of Qin Mucheng’s death had spread, the Fang family had convened an emergency meeting. Among those who had surrounded Jiang Yu at Cold Pond, the Fang family had also been represented.

The extermination of the entire Qin clan had completely shattered the last trace of hope in the hearts of the Fang family.

Behind the family head, a large screen displayed footage of the battle that had annihilated the Qin clan. Everyone watched without blinking, their faces solemn to the extreme. The video had been recorded by someone at the scene and uploaded to the internet. Though a powerful force had soon intervened to suppress its spread, the footage had been completely deleted within a few hours.

The Fang family, however, had downloaded and preserved it at the first opportunity, classifying it as a top-secret file.

After a long silence, the Fang family head said heavily, “This young man is practically a celestial being.”

Qin Mucheng had been tossed around like a ball, kicked back and forth at will. Such a scene could only occur when the disparity in strength was nearly overwhelming. Fear rose within him. If he fought the young man in the video, he would certainly be defeated and killed within ten moves.

“Is he really not even twenty?” someone asked softly.

The atmosphere in the conference room was oppressive. No one dared say another word.

The Fang family head drew a deep breath and gave a bitter smile. “Fang Qian, go to the Qin clan at once. Apologize on behalf of the Fang family and fulfill every demand this man makes.”

A mature and alluring woman nodded lightly.

“Understood.”

Mount Qi. The Wang clan.

Like the Fang family, the Wang clan had also convened an emergency meeting, and everyone in the household had received the same news. The Wang family’s prodigy, Wang Huangu, had set out early that morning for the Qin clan’s estate, bringing with him a considerable supply of century-old medicinal herbs.

The two hidden clans, the Fang and Wang families, had bowed their heads one after the other.

No one wished to follow the Qin clan into ruin. This man was simply too powerful to oppose; they could only seek friendship with him. Moreover, the people who had surrounded the young great master before had acted under the Qin clan’s leadership, and the primary grievance lay with the Qin clan itself.

Since Great Master Jiang had declared that the Wang and Fang families were to visit the Qin clan three days later and apologize in person, it meant that he had no intention of pursuing the matter further.

In a sense, this young great master had shown the two hidden clans an extraordinary degree of tolerance. Had he come to their door himself, the next clans to be wiped out would have been the Fang and Wang families.

The name Great Master Jiang represented an entire era.

Many secular martial artists, both men and women of the younger generation, worshiped him as an idol. Before the age of twenty, he had single-handedly slain a flood dragon, set foot upon the Qin clan’s estate, and forced countless wealthy magnates from Jiangbei and the Desert South to bow their heads in submission.

To be alive as a man was to aspire to be such a person.

Deep in every heart, one name had been engraved forever:

Jiang Yu!

Within the Qin clan, in a villa that had miraculously survived.

Jiang Yu sat with his eyes closed. With every breath, two wisps of white vapor streamed from his nostrils before fading into nothingness. The members of the Qin clan stood uneasily in the hall, waiting in silence.

Qin Mucheng was dead, and the First Elder now held control of the Qin clan.

He stood bent at the waist, scarcely daring to breathe as he waited for Jiang Yu to speak.

More than ten minutes later, Jiang Yu opened his eyes and asked indifferently, “How did the matter I entrusted to you proceed?”

The First Elder trembled like a frightened cicada and replied in a hushed voice, “I have already contacted Li Hao of Cloud City and asked him to bring the items the Celestial Jiang requested to the Qin clan. He should arrive within a day.”

Jiang Yu had originally planned to settle the matter and then return to Cloud City to break through into Foundation Establishment. Unfortunately, the sword strike had injured him too severely, and he could no longer afford to wait.

With no other choice, he had ordered the people in Cloud City to bring the Azurewater Golden Flame and a large quantity of medicinal herbs to the Qin clan.

“Celestial Jiang, these are all the Qin clan’s accumulated resources and treasures from the past several centuries.”

The First Elder looked at the herbs before him, his heart bleeding.

Jiang Yu nodded. “Do not think the Qin clan has suffered a loss. When I refine the pills, I will leave several for you. Once you take them, your cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds within ten years. You may even catch a glimpse of the Earth Immortal realm.”

The First Elder’s eyes blazed with excitement, and the reverence on his face deepened.

“Is that truly so?”

Jiang Yu smiled faintly. “My word is worth nine tripods, and my promises are absolute. Since I have said it, I will not disappoint you.”

The First Elder fell to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly in excitement.

Time passed slowly.

Two days had gone by since Jiang Yu arrived at the Qin clan.

During that time, a large number of construction crews had moved onto the Qin estate to rebuild the houses and courtyards destroyed in the battle between the great masters. The noise outside thundered without pause, and members of the Qin clan joined the workers, directing each stage of the reconstruction.

With nothing else to do, Jiang Yu spent a vast sum to purchase a large quantity of jade, intending to establish a genuine Spirit-Gathering Formation. To refine a great medicine, he would need the support of a powerful formation.

Among all the treasures presented by the Qin clan, Jiang Yu discovered several seeds of Life Eggplant Fruit. But to plant them, he first needed to cultivate spiritual fields. In the present age, the world was no longer like it had been thousands of years ago, when one could scatter a handful of seeds and watch them take root and sprout.

Spiritual energy was scarce, and the world had entered the final age of magic. Apart from spiritual fields, there was nowhere on earth where spirit herbs could grow.

After careful deliberation, Jiang Yu had chosen the Spirit-Gathering Formation. He intended to transform the Qin clan’s estate into a land of spiritual energy and open several acres of spiritual fields. Then, by using secret arts to accelerate maturation, he could greatly shorten the time required for the herbs to ripen and achieve self-sufficiency.

Among more than a dozen alternative methods, this was the most ideal and practical.

Cultivating immortality was not a matter of rigid thinking. On the contrary, the greater one’s wisdom, the faster one’s cultivation progressed.

On the third day, two trucks loaded with large quantities of jade arrived at the Qin clan. Jiang Yu carved talismans into the stones, and after refining them through the night, their appearance changed completely. It seemed as though spiritual springs flowed within them. They were crystal clear, leaving the workers staring in wonder.

The following day, Jiang Yu personally buried the jade around the valley. After dozens of complicated steps, everything was finally prepared.

For Jiang Yu, setting up a basic formation was effortless. It was nothing like the great formations of ancient times, which could refine mountains and rivers and suppress ancient Nascent Soul monsters. Establishing such a formation could easily require hundreds of years.

Once everything was ready, fatigue covered Jiang Yu’s face. He had spent the entire previous night refining more than a dozen magical artifacts. The little cultivation he had finally recovered was once again drained away.

“This Spirit-Gathering Formation can only protect the Qin clan. Compared with those supreme formations that cover thousands of miles of mountains and rivers and draw their power from the sun, moon, and stars, it is nothing more than a child standing beside a giant. Still, concentrated essence is the purest essence. It will not take long for the spiritual fields to take shape.”

Jiang Yu smiled with satisfaction. He had specifically ordered his men to dig a well at the formation’s eye and suppress it with a supreme-grade magical artifact. In the future, this well would serve as the formation’s center and become the place where spiritual energy was most concentrated.

Once the spiritual energy reached a sufficient density, the water in the well could even be called a spiritual spring. If ordinary people drank it, it could extend their lives, cleanse their bodies, and bring them countless benefits.

Of course, Jiang Yu had no intention of letting people drink it. He planned to use it to irrigate the spiritual fields and accelerate the growth of the spirit herbs.

“The value of this well may one day surpass a thousand tons of gold or ten thousand tons of oil.”

Jiang Yu drew a deep breath, clenched all five fingers, and shouted, “Formation, rise!”

Boom!

The valley trembled in the night. Many people whose nerves had already been stretched to the breaking point rushed outside in nothing but their underwear, thinking that immortals had once again begun battling.

But when they looked up at the sky, they saw countless golden rays shooting upward and vanishing into the heavens. For several kilometers around, vast and surging mist enveloped the valley. Wisps of ethereal radiance drifted through the air, making the place resemble a heavenly palace.

“This…”

The First Elder’s expression grew feverish. The scene before him was utterly breathtaking.

The spiritual energy from all around came rushing in.

“Look!”

A shriek shattered the silence of the night.

Everyone raised their heads, their faces filled with disbelief.

The fallen beams and withered trees had begun to sprout and bloom?