Inside Jade Mist Valley, the man's voice rang loud and clear.
The watchdog's tentacles reached straight into the cloudy sky.
The Immortal array formation rose from the void, its immortal radiance painting the world in bizarre colors.
Li Tianqi stood before a stone stele in Jade Mist Valley.
As his Grandpa's roar echoed, Li Tianqi slowly took off his mask.
Three months ago, when Li Tianming cooperated with Linghu Tiangong and brought many Li Clan cultivators into Jade Mist Valley, he was among them.
Staring at the stone stele before him, he felt a sense of nostalgia.
Long ago, he used to operate together with his eldest brother and Tianming, visiting many strange places—mostly tombs—and they had worked as spies, charlatans, and assassins.
But time spares no one, even for cultivators like them who live for thousands or tens of thousands of years.
Tianming had changed the most. From a lunatic who stayed by their side to maintain his humanity, he became a fool, and now he had become someone even he didn't recognize.
But it was fine; in the past, he and his eldest brother protected Tianming, but now Tianming could protect himself.
His eldest brother had also changed significantly.
He used to be very nagging, protected by numerous 'old grandpas', and once his abilities grew, he became very lazy.
But later, his eldest brother stopped being lazy. After a trip to the Western Frontier, his eldest brother said that if he remained lazy, he might not even be able to protect him and Tianming.
Tianyue never came back.
His eldest brother and Tianming had also walked very, very far away from his side.
Including himself.
Li Tianqi pressed one hand against the stone stele and stroked his stubble with the other, his usual cynicism replaced by a touch of maturity.
"This kind of thing, I can do alone too. I've actually learned quite a bit from Tianming and Eldest Brother."
His eyes narrowed!
When they came to Jade Mist Valley, even though Linghu Xian cooperated with them, Li Tianqi didn't trust Linghu Tiangong in the slightest.
This was the experience they had gathered from wandering the world in the past.
Linghu Tiangong thought he had hidden his intentions well, but he didn't know that their Li Clan possessed sufficient strength.
Linghu Tiangong knew even less that he, Li Tianqi, was the strongest array master in the entire Azure Cloud Prefecture!
[Your descendant Li Tianqi studied under He Hao, the former sect master of the Eternal Immortal Sect, and obtained He Hao's array formation inheritance!]
[After years of diligent cultivation, your descendant Li Tianqi, a professional Tier-5 array master, has broken through to—Tier-4 array master.]
[Spending day and night with He Hao, he fully comprehended array formations and the "Tortoise Shell Array Tome".
Summarizing and refining He Hao's array inheritance, he compiled the book "Hundred Profound Divine Arrays", which records He Hao's tens of thousands of years of Array Dao inheritance.
He acquired the Trait: Divine Martial Array Master]
[Possessing array materials, a Tier-5 grand array can be formed in an instant. Proficient in numerous array formations, comprehension of the Array Dao increases by 10%.]
[Peering through the family's Divine Tree's 'Eye of Delusion Breaking', he explored his Dao path: the Array Dao is hopeless, the Dao of Life and Death is hopeless, the Spirit Dao is hopeless...
The tortoise shell he carries finally revealed its true form beneath the Old Tree's Eye of Delusion Breaking.]
[The mysterious tortoise shell is divine and extraordinary. Sunk within a deep lake, it possessed the ability to tempt people into recklessly fighting to the death for it.
Carrying this item makes a cultivator prone to courting death, yet it also grants the karmic opportunity to grasp a silver lining of survival amidst death.
The tortoise shell is deeply versed in heavenly principles and destiny. An extraordinary item of heaven and earth, its name is 'Ember'.
As an Array Dao wonder, it ensures Li Tianqi's path in array formations remains unhindered and smooth.]
With his right hand pressed against the stone stele.
For three months, he had been continuously researching the grand array of the entire Jade Mist Valley.
Even if it was a Tier-3 array encompassing various Dao methods at the Body Integration realm, he still dared to dissect it with a single glance.
No matter what array or Dao it was, it had its weaknesses and rules.
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
Li Tianqi kept his eyes closed as green tortoise shell scales appeared in his hand one after another.
These green scales, which were also the material used to forge his Tortoise Shell space, were covering the stone stele at the core of Jade Mist Valley's Array Dao bit by bit.
Li Tianqi recalled cultivating by He Hao's side for nearly a century within the family, and being under the Old Tree, as the Old Tree gradually saw through the tortoise shell he had obtained in a past fortuitous encounter.
It turned out that many years ago, he had formed an indissoluble bond with the tortoise shell.
With the Old Ancestor's help, he finally established a connection with it, embarking on a path of continuously courting death while cultivating the Array Dao.
"Not good, our elder has been killed! Someone is breaking our grand array!"
Suddenly, a cry of alarm rang out from outside as cultivators barged into the array's core one after another.
Li Tianqi abruptly opened his eyes.
The green scales began to swirl.
As cultivators charged at him using their Spiritual power, the tortoise shells landed on the ground, uncovering the deeply hidden pulse veins and array foundations of the Jade Mist Valley's grand array.
"Get lost!"
With Li Tianqi's soft murmur, the tortoise shell pieces landed on the ground, forming array formations one after another, cast instantly!
In all directions, a shell piece appeared in front of Zhuo Linlin, Granny Dream Demon, Gu Yinming, and others who had originally entered Jade Mist Valley with Li Tianming.
Following the flight of the shell pieces, they actually pinpointed the locations of the Jade Mist Valley's array foundations all at once.
Li Tianqi's command echoed in their ears: "Break!"
A sharp glint flashed in everyone's eyes. At the core of the Array Dao, Li Tianqi's tortoise shells had completely covered the core!
Li Tianqi lifted his head slightly.
A pillar of green light pierced through the Jade Mist Valley's grand array.
The grand array of Jade Mist Valley, which had been maintained for three months, was broken down layer by layer as the tortoise shells embedded themselves into it.
Array Dao, Reaching the Skys!
.......
"Our array!"
Linghu Tiangong fell to his knees in despair, staring at the watchdog's tentacles outside Jade Mist Valley, the array foundations shattered by the people of Azure Cloud, and the pieces of tortoise shell embedded in the grand array.
As the disciples guarding the grand array were killed, the array foundations broken, and the tortoise shells embedded, the grand array began to buckle from the very center where it was pierced.
The tortoise shells folded, stripping away the Spiritual power of their Jade Mist Valley's grand array, spreading all the way to the outermost edges of the ground.
The fact that the grand array had been broken was already an indisputable reality.
"How could this happen... how could it..."
Linghu Tiangong propped himself up on the ground with both hands, his eyes completely drained of life.
Li Tianming hadn't lied to him.
As long as the Li Clan wanted to, they could easily break their array formation.
From the very beginning, the Li Clan had made ample preparations. Whether in strength or strategy, their Jade Mist Valley had lost completely across the board.
He finally understood everything now.
The Li Clan coming to their Jade Mist Valley was fundamentally meant to force their cooperation. Their true target was still the immortal outside!
He recalled the final words Li Tianming left him before departing.
"Have you ever thought that your Martial Grandfather has already become a running dog for the immortals?
Under the Blood Moon, your Jade Mist Valley is already the loser no matter what. Even if we truly get trapped by you, or all die by your hands, how could you possibly win?"
"Hahaha!!!"
Linghu Tiangong laughed madly, hot tears streaming uncontrollably from his eyes as he clenched his fists and pounded the ground.
What truly made him despair wasn't that his scheme had failed; the true despair was that everything Li Tianming had said was completely right.
From the moment his ancestor became a half-immortal, they had no path to survival.
Even if the Li Clan didn't deal with them, the watchdog would!
"Rumble!"
Tumbling debris inside the cave gradually drowned out Linghu Tiangong's roaring laughter.
A massive boulder crashed down beside him, yet he continued to laugh. Green blood flowed from his abdomen as he propped himself up on his hands and knees.
That was a wound 'polluted' by Li Tianming after unleashing his full firepower, corroding his soul and flesh, exactly like the entirety of Jade Mist Valley polluted by the Peerless Hall.
The mountain gradually buried a generation's Valley Master, declaring the complete downfall of Jade Mist Valley.