Chapter 281 - 273: Secret of the Forbidden Land

Chapter 281: Chapter 273: Secret of the Forbidden Land

He found the Array Hub without any trouble. At first glance, the Array wasn’t much different from what he already knew.

However, when he looked at the spot where an Array Flag should have been, Jiang Zuo fell silent.

In this most crucial spot, Jiang Zuo saw no Array Flag—only a crystal, floating silently in place.

"Senior, how do I destroy this Array?"

After a moment of silence, Jiang Zuo asked.

The Beast God Tree’s Tree Spirit had said it would teach him how to destroy the Array, and given the tree’s age, it was only natural that it would know how.

"Just destroy this crystal! This Array is extremely powerful. To bring it down, you must destroy the components of the Array Hub in a specific sequence. Only then will the Array collapse."

"If you get the sequence wrong, the Array will repair itself, making it impossible to destroy!"

The ancient voice said.

Jiang Zuo listened, momentarily at a loss for words.

"Senior, I’ll be blunt. I can’t destroy this crystal."

"Its hardness is far beyond anything I’ve ever known."

"Even if I used all my strength, I wouldn’t be able to leave so much as a scratch on it,"

he said with a wry smile.

He didn’t even need to try. A brief scan with his Divine Sense told him the object’s durability was beyond imagination.

Perhaps the Beast God Tree could do it, but Jiang Zuo believed that even a Cultivator at the Manifestation Realm would be helpless against this crystal.

"This..."

The ancient voice was stunned.

It had never expected this outcome.

It was bound by the rules of its own existence and couldn’t take any action against the Array.

It had no way of knowing just how durable the crystals in the Array Hub truly were.

Just by looking at the crystals, it felt that shattering them wouldn’t be difficult.

"Is... is there really no way?"

A trace of panic entered the ancient voice.

Ever since it had gained consciousness, it had considered countless possibilities.

But in every scenario, destroying the Array was an absolute necessity.

But now, an unforeseen obstacle had appeared in the path to destroying the Array.

’Is there?’

’Or isn’t there?’

Jiang Zuo sank into contemplation.

But after thinking for a long while, he still shook his head.

"Senior, there’s no way. The result would be the same even if a Venerable were to come."

"Senior, what abilities do you possess? Tell me. Perhaps I can think of something,"

Jiang Zuo added after a moment’s thought.

"My abilities?"

"I have only one ability: to absorb the special Spiritual Qi that Cultivators of this realm emit during their Cultivation."

"After this Spiritual Qi is converted within my body, the vast majority is released to become nourishment for the Demon Beasts."

"When High-Tier Demon Beasts die, they become nourishment for my own growth."

"And an infinitesimally small portion of special Spiritual Power is stored inside my body."

"After this special Spiritual Power is stored for about five thousand years, it forms a special seed. This seed then sprouts near my main body, growing into a special Spirit Tree."

The Tree Spirit said after a moment of consideration.

"That’s it?"

"But as far as I know, you can also attack with those root-like tentacles, can’t you?"

"And you were able to make the surrounding Demon Beasts unable to see me,"

Jiang Zuo said, his brow furrowed.

’As the lord of the Forbidden Land, shouldn’t the Beast God Tree be invincibly powerful?’

’Why did it sound like it could do nothing but absorb Spiritual Qi, based on its own description?’

"The root tentacles are my only means of attack."

"However, I am bound by the rules. I cannot use them to attack unless I am being attacked."

"As for making the surrounding Demon Beasts unable to see you, that wasn’t my ability. It was an ability of the Array."

"I can’t normally use this ability."

"They only activate this ability of the Array when people from the Upper Realm come to take the Companion Spirit Tree, which appears once every five thousand years."

"I am part of the Array myself, so only when they activate this ability can I secretly use it as well."

"Normally, even if a Cultivator managed to enter the depths of the Forbidden Land, I could only watch in silence, completely powerless to act,"

The Tree Spirit said with a sigh.

Only after hearing the Tree Spirit’s explanation did Jiang Zuo realize that the Beast God Tree was nowhere near as powerful as he had imagined.

The truly powerful entity was the Array within the Forbidden Land.

The existence of this Array was what created the Chaotic Space, which in turn formed the Forbidden Land.

A Cultivator who entered the Array would never even know it existed. The endless hordes of Demon Beasts alone were enough to ensure they would never return.

And with the Beast God Tree’s limited abilities, destroying the Array was absolutely impossible.

"Senior, please take me to the next Array Hub."

Jiang Zuo said, shaking his head.

’Destroying this Array Hub is impossible.’

Even though Jiang Zuo was an Array Master, he was helpless against this Array.

If he tried to damage any of the Array’s other Inscriptions without destroying the crystal in the hub, the Array would immediately repair itself.

As for trying to directly decipher and dismantle the Array, that was even more impossible.

As far as Jiang Zuo knew, excluding the Human race’s Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array, the highest-level arrays in the Cultivation Realm were only sixth-tier.

This Array in the Forbidden Land, while perhaps not on par with the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array, was still far beyond any sixth-tier array.

Jiang Zuo couldn’t even construct a fifth-tier array, which made deciphering the one before him all the more impossible.

"I suppose that’s our only option."

"This way."

The ancient voice sighed.

You could tell the Tree Spirit was not in a good mood.

"Senior, how much do you know about the Upper Realm and the history of the Cultivation Realm?"

Jiang Zuo asked as they walked, seizing the opportunity.