Each one was forged from rare, ancient raw materials, their inherent composition already supreme, and further infused with Primordial Essence, granting them extremely high spiritual awareness. They could absorb vital energy, setting them far apart from ordinary magical artifacts.

Moreover, as cultivators delved deeper into their practice, these Primordial Spirit artifacts, nurtured over long years within the cultivator’s body, absorbed increasing amounts of vital energy. Through centuries of tempering, their power grew limitlessly stronger.

Lesser Divine Ability Ancient Artifacts and Greater Divine Ability Ancient Artifacts were, in fact, the Primordial Spirit artifacts of ancient cultivators. Only after being used for thousands or tens of thousands of years, absorbing an unimaginable quantity of vital energy, did they attain their incredible might.

However, Zhou Yao could only admire them from afar, knowing that with her current limited wealth, she was nowhere near capable of forging such a set of Primordial Spirit Flying Swords as Ye Qin possessed. Unless, perhaps, in several hundred years, she reached the late Golden Core stage or became an Nascent Soul cultivator, she might stand a chance of gathering the materials for such a set of five Primordial Spirit Flying Swords.

Ye Qin asked her and Liao Xiaofeng how they happened to be there.

Zhou Yao immediately collected her thoughts and replied gently, "Sister Xiaozhang is adept at formations. When she found herself trapped within a major array, she sensed danger and swiftly sought me out.

She then deduced Brother Ye’s general location and we rushed over together. Unfortunately, we were entangled by numerous Golden Core demonic beasts along the way; we killed several, but they were endless. We didn't manage to meet Brother Ye and ended up trapped here. I had no choice but to use a secret Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission Talisman made by the Violet Sword Palace to call for Brother Ye’s help. This secret talisman can transmit messages between Violet Sword Palace disciples and is not restricted by array formations."

"Oh, no wonder you two managed to find me so quickly."

Ye Qin nodded, the doubt in his heart slightly eased.

Zhou Yao’s initially joyful expression now held a shade of gloom and shame. "It’s all my fault; I insisted on dragging Brother Ye into the ancient hall. Otherwise, Brother Ye wouldn't be caught in this formation. I wonder how Brother Jin is doing now. If anything happened to him, I wouldn't know how to face Uncle Jin."

"Forget it; you can't be blamed. I made the decision to enter myself. Now, we need to figure out a way to break the array and get out, or we’ll all perish here. By the way, Miss Liao, what exactly is this formation, and how can we break it?"

Ye Qin shook his head and said calmly.

Knowing Zhou Yao understood nothing of formations, Ye Qin addressed Liao Xiaozhang directly. Although Liao Xiaozhang’s combat power was mediocre—far less potent than Zhou Yao's—she was widely learned in various esoteric immortal arts and possessed some knowledge of formations.

Liao Xiaozhang indeed knew about these matters. Hearing Ye Qin’s question, she paused slightly, organized her thoughts, and then explained slowly:

"Brother Ye, this is the Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array. It is one of the simplest among the ancient grand arrays. This formation is profoundly mysterious, using the spiritual energy of the Five Elements to conjure an independent world.

This world is divided into five distinct regions: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. The array automatically absorbs the ambient Heaven and Earth spiritual energy for its use, constantly condensing and manifesting it into Five Element demonic beasts. Even if these beasts are killed, they merely shatter back into spiritual energy and can be reformed into beasts again, cycling endlessly. They are inexhaustible.

The power of the Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array depends on two factors: first, the richness of the surrounding spiritual energy, which determines the number of manifested beasts; second, the cultivator who laid the array, which determines the spatial range of the formation.

Let's consider the spiritual energy richness and the beast count first. If this formation were set up on the Eastern Sea's Wu Islet, due to insufficient spiritual energy, its power wouldn't be too great, and the number of beasts inside would be limited. However, the spiritual energy within this Langya Secret Realm is exceedingly abundant and inexhaustible, allowing the formation to absorb massive amounts of external spiritual energy. Naturally, the number of manifested beasts is dozens of times greater than it would be outside.

Next, consider the spatial range. If a Golden Core cultivator laid the Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array, the space inside would only span roughly a thousand to ten thousand li. The beasts manifested within would all be Foundation Establishment level.

If a Nascent Soul cultivator established the grand array, the space inside could reach between ten thousand and one hundred thousand li. The beasts manifested inside would then be Golden Core level.

Venerable Yellow Wind was the Sect Master of the ancient Heavenly Dao Alliance, possessing the peak late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation. Therefore, the space within this Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array is likely ten thousand li across, which can be considered vast. This means that starting from the center, one would have to fly straight for over fifty thousand li to escape this grand array. And the highest level of the demonic beasts inside can reach a terrifying level—Ninth Rank Golden Core high-grade beasts—and there are extremely many of them."

Liao Xiaozhang finished reciting the records of this grand array from memory in one breath, then looked at Ye Qin and Zhou Yao, sighing faintly. "With the strength of just a few of us Golden Core cultivators, I’m afraid we have no way to charge our way out of the Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array set up by Venerable Yellow Wind."

"What? We need to break through fifty thousand li to get out? That means certain death?!"

Zhou Yao’s expression changed drastically, her delicate cheeks turning pale. Her body swayed, nearly collapsing. She came here to carry out the mission to conquer the Tu Clan tribe to advance her own cultivation, but she certainly...

Ye Qin also sucked in a sharp breath, stunned speechless.

No wonder he always felt this Yellow Wind Desert was endless, seemingly unreachable. If it were just flying fifty thousand li, that would be simple. But this area was infested with Golden Core demonic beasts. To charge out through an array where Golden Core beasts swarmed the sky and the ground—how easy could that be?! The flight speed of many demonic birds surpassed that of Golden Core cultivators riding swords.

In his estimation, for an ordinary early-stage Golden Core cultivator, ten thousand li might be the absolute limit. Zhou Yao, a cultivator strong in both offense and defense, might manage nearly ten thousand li. Liao Xiaozhang, with her average combat power, would likely perish amidst the siege of Golden Core demonic beasts after perhaps four or five thousand li.

As for himself, despite possessing four Primordial Spirit artifacts, two magical treasures, one Lesser Divine Ability Ancient Artifact—the Xun Thunder Ancient Mirror—with ninety percent of its power sealed, a Ninth Rank Silver Armored Guard Puppet, and a large reserve of spiritual wine for restoring magical power, he might only manage to force his way through thirty thousand li. There was a very slim chance of breaking beyond fifty thousand li. And that was provided he didn't encounter Ninth Rank demonic birds; otherwise, being besieged by just a few ferocious Ninth Rank demonic birds would surely spell disaster.

"Brother Ye, what should we do now?"

Zhou Yao looked toward Ye Qin, panic in her eyes. She usually had strong opinions, but this desperate situation was beyond the scope of her capabilities.

"Let me think!"

Ye Qin forcefully calmed himself from the shock. After a moment of thought, he asked Liao Xiaozhang in a deep voice, "Inside this grand array, it's easy to get entangled by beasts, disrupting the flight path. What is used to identify direction and determine the distance to the outside of the array?"

Liao Xiaozhang replied.

"That’s quite simple. The ranking distribution of the demonic beasts within the Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array follows a pattern. The further towards the outer perimeter of the grand array one travels, the denser the spiritual energy, the greater the number and higher the rank of the manifested beasts. The further towards the inner part of the array one goes, the thinner the spiritual energy, the fewer the manifested beasts, and the lower their rank.

Especially within the central eye of the Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array, there is no Five Element spiritual energy, and consequently, no manifested beasts appear. The array eye is the safest location. However, entering the array eye allows one to avoid the illusory beasts, but it also prevents departure from the grand array, effectively trapping one completely within the Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array.

Therefore, the stronger the beasts encountered, the closer one is to the distance required to break out of the grand array. The weaker the beasts encountered, the closer one is to the array's central eye position.

Currently, we only have two paths: one is to charge out toward the periphery, breaking through the blockade of numerous Golden Core demonic beasts to forcibly breach the grand array and seek a path to survival.

The other is to move inward, entering the array eye to evade the beasts and temporarily preserve ourselves. As long as the Bigu Pills we carry haven't run out, our lives won't be in immediate danger."

Ye Qin fell into contemplation.

Having fought his way out of beast encirclements before, he certainly knew how difficult it was to break through a grand array by sheer force.

Of course, Ye Qin also knew that any formation had limitations to its power. If the cultivators inside were so powerful that even the formation could not restrain them, the constraining array would collapse under the immense force. If a Nascent Soul cultivator were present, a single strike from an infinitely powerful flying sword could shatter this Qiankun Marvelous Gate Array, eliminating any need to painstakingly decipher the formation.

"But I am merely an early-stage Golden Core cultivator; how easy is it to break the grand array set up by Venerable Yellow Wind..."

Thinking of this, Ye Qin felt immense helplessness.

"Let's go to the array eye. The spiritual energy near the eye is thin, the number and rank of beasts are low—it’s easier to survive there! Although this means being trapped inside the grand array, at least we won't die immediately. Let's first see if we can find Jin Zhongshan and Pan Shuang, gather with other cultivators, and perhaps strengthen our collective power. Then, we can figure out a way together, hoping other cultivators can conceive of a better method to break the array."

"That works!"

"Let's go find Jin Zhongshan and Pan Shuang."

Zhou Yao and Liao Xiaozui exchanged glances and agreed.

A streak of dark light and two rainbow arcs of flying swords sped off in a certain direction across the vast desert. Slaying the demonic birds in the sky along the way, because they were heading toward the array eye, the number of demonic beasts gradually decreased, and their ranks were lower, allowing them to deal with the threats with relative ease, feeling lighter as they flew.

Ye Qin’s mood was incredibly heavy.

Being trapped within the Qiankun Array was, to him, a minor issue. A single Bigu Pill could sustain him for two to three months, and he could refine plenty within his Spiritual Mansion; at least he wouldn't starve.

The worst part was that the Langya Secret Realm would close again in only three days.

This meant if he couldn't escape within three days, he would be permanently sealed deep beneath the Eastern Sea seabed. Even if he miraculously managed to break free after the three days passed, he would be unable to leave this perilous Langya Secret Realm for the next five hundred years—everything would be ruined. Ye Qin hardened his resolve.

"If there is truly no other way, then we have no choice but to gather the strength of all the Golden Core cultivators and forcefully charge toward the outside of the array! Whoever lives, lives. The Golden Core cultivators suffered heavy losses in this campaign against the Tu Clan tribe; extensive casualties seem unavoidable."