Chapter Thirty-Six: Nightwood Fortress

  Ashen dragon roars, swirling above Chen Yuan's head.

  The fireballs spat out by the Fire Crow were all absorbed by it, and then it spat out an even more powerful Ash Breath, instantly killing a large area.

  Against the Flame Crows, Chen Yuan was already extremely experienced. In no time at all, over a hundred Flame Crows were left with only a dozen or so remaining. They let out strange cries, looking at the Ash Dragon with fear in their eyes.

  At this time, the black alligator also rushed towards Chen Yuan, but in an instant, vines emerged from the ground and tied it up.

  Ashen Dragon resists the harassment of Fire Crow, while Chen Yuan uses Silver Snake Plucking Star Hand to kill the alligator.

  Silver Snake's Star Plucking Hand became more and more skilled as he used it, while recently, the Divine Snake has also been explaining its innate eleven-character mantra.

  However, this Tao is mysterious and has great power, Chen Yuan temporarily cannot display it.

  Ashen Dragon soars through the sky, and in no time it will annihilate the Fire Crow. Next, it's the Black Water Crocodile's turn to suffer.

  However, the Black Water Alligators are all water-based demon beasts. The Ash Dragon's attack power is obviously much less harmful to them, but being entangled by the vines and roots, even if they have thick skin and plenty of water, the final result is still being burned to death by the Ash Dragon's flames.

  At present, Chen Yuanyu's array operation has made great progress. These more than 200 monsters were almost settled by him in an instant.

  "Hmm! Can't afford to engage in a fierce battle. If there's too much bloodshed, I'm afraid more demonic beasts will gather."

  Chen Yuan watched as the Black Water Crocodile was no longer a threat to Shanling Village, and didn't think much of it. He collected the Youjing, but didn't have time to collect the materials for the Yao beast. The Lianhun Pan rotated, and the Huichen Dragon opened its mouth, spewing flames that directly incinerated the Black Water Crocodile's corpse and others before recalling them. After condensing over a hundred and twenty Youling, he immediately left the area.

  One day passed, and the tide of monsters retreated.

  The entire day was spent in trepidation, but fortunately, Shanling Manor managed to narrowly escape being invaded by the demonic beasts.

  Chen Yuan ordered Liu Tao to lead the night watch while he took a short rest himself.

  The next day, Chen Yuan continued to refine his formation.

  The city defense array is a three-dimensional array that has both offensive and defensive capabilities, while also resisting the attack of the sky demon beast.

  The Heaven Fire and Earth Chill Arrays should actually be separated into two arrays: the Heaven Fire Array and the Earth Chill Array. The Heaven Fire Array requires a Sunlight Law Mirror, which is a second-grade law artifact. Chen Yuan naturally wouldn't refine it himself; he had spent 300 demon souls to exchange for it in the Jade Stele.

  The divine snake repeatedly advised Chen Yuan that the law instrument was not worth exchanging, only spiritual instruments and spiritual treasures were worth exchanging. Because as cultivation increased, the value of the law instrument became lower, unlike array methods, even a first-class array method, when deployed by a great master in the condensing dan period, its power could change the sky and earth, while a first-class flying sword would forever only have the damage power of a first-class flying sword.

  However, in order to refine the array, Chen Yuan also had no choice but to spend it. Because although the Sunlight Mirror was not favored by the divine snake, Chen Yuan did not gather any news about this artifact in either Qingxiang Fortress, Julimu Fortress or Haiyin City, and it's likely that nobody knows how to refine it anymore.

  Mr. Shi San mentioned in his notes that actually, practicing arrays and practicing instruments should be the same origin.

  Refining equipment is to infuse array methods into weapons and accessories, enhancing the power of weapon materials, strengthening defense, five-element attributes, thereby exerting great power.

  The formation method is to communicate the formation with heaven and earth, not taking the instrument as the body, but taking heaven and earth as the body. The formation master engraves the formation method between heaven and earth, thereby obtaining the support of the formation method.

  The Refiner tends towards delicate and small formations. The Array Master's large arrays can be said to be infinitely large, the larger the stronger the power.

  Every Alchemist can become a great Equipment Refiner, but Chen Yuan is not yet able to become an Equipment Refiner. Perhaps he will have to wait until he can exchange for the second volume of Master Shi San's book to find a deeper connection between the two.

  The Sunlight Mirror is actually quite powerful, able to absorb the power of the sun and transform it into flames. It shoots out a Golden Sun Flame to attack enemies, and ordinary Qi Refining Cultivators who are hit by the Golden Sun Flame will definitely be burned to death.

  After careful analysis, it can also be found that the attack effect of this solar mirror is not strong.

  However, if it is used in an array method as the core of the array method, then it will have earth-shaking changes.

  Chen Yuan used forty fourth-grade fire-type demon crystals, forming forty large fire-type runes. He then combined the runes into a ring of fire and placed it on the Daylight Law Mirror, giving this second-grade artifact the aura of a third-grade artifact.

  The efficiency of Helios' absorption of solar flames is increased by more than double, and the released attacks are also strengthened.

  The most crucial thing is that every time a demonic tide bursts out, Chen Yuan can scatter the fire ring and form a terrifying spell called 'Heavenly Fire Burning the World'.

  The Heaven Fire Array, combined with the Flame Snake Arrow Tower, will elevate the attack power of the Mountain and Tomb Estate to a terrifying level.

  The Heavenly Fire Formation has been initially refined, while the Earthly Cold Formation is being dug by Zhang Sheng and his men in the surrounding mountains. Once they finish digging, Chen Yuan can also start refining.

  The ground hole needs to be dug 108, now it's only the tenth. Chen Yuan's goal is to complete the preliminary construction of the manor before the next tide comes, and from a time perspective, there should be enough time.

  However, Chen Yuan still seized the time and started building the 'Fire Snake Arrow Tower'.

  Spiritual law architectural drawings can be considered equivalent to spiritual artifacts.

  Because as long as the blueprint is there, you only need to collect the materials it requires, and you can directly activate the blueprint. The blueprint will absorb all the materials and then form a spiritual building. No manual construction is required, saving time and effort. As long as the blueprint is not damaged, it can be generated infinitely. Of course, the premise is that you must know how to operate it. If you are not a formation master, it is difficult to understand how to use the Fire Snake Arrow Tower.

  "Fire Snake Arrow Tower, requiring 100 units of stone materials, 100 pieces of second-grade fire-elemental crystals, and 10 stalks of Vermilion Bird Wood. The Vermilion Bird Wood is a bit hard to find, but it should still be available at the upcoming auction." Chen Yuan looked at the materials required for the Fire Snake Arrow Tower, which didn't seem too difficult to collect. He currently had over 800 units of stone materials stored away, and as for fire-elemental crystals, he had more than he could count. The Skeleton City was a place where wood was abundant, with numerous types of trees growing within its borders. Although the Vermilion Bird Wood was a third-grade spiritual wood, it wasn't too hard to obtain either.

  He plans to go in person, not because he's afraid that Liu Tao and the others will run away with the four-level demon crystal he gave them, but because they're not strong enough. If he takes so much money out, he's likely to be targeted by people with ulterior motives. In the world of cultivators, all kinds of evil spirits exist, and some people are capable of any evil deed, killing and robbing being just a normal occurrence.

  The Vermilion Bird Wood grows in the south, and there shouldn't be many goods in the direction of Giant Tree Fort. Chen Yuan plans to go to Nightwood Fort, which is the last fort in the south of Rui City, where the output of Vermilion Bird Wood is the highest.

  He handed the Ashen Array over to Zhang Sheng, this array could only exert half of its power in their hands, but it should be enough to resist some Alchemists. After teaching him how to operate it, Chen Yuan set off for Ye Mu Fortress.

  Yè Mù Bǎo area, sparse population, a hundred miles to find a village, Yè Mù Bǎo territory includes the terrible "Bù Míng Forest". This forest is the lair of high-level demon beasts. Every time the demon tide breaks out, the strength of the demon beasts is abnormally strong, and it's hard for any manor-level territory to resist. The population is mostly concentrated in Yè Mù Bǎo, while a few manors are located on the west side, where the number of demon beasts is relatively small, making it suitable for manor survival.

  Chen Yuan was heading southwest from the east, so he felt desolate all the way. However, on the third day of flying, he finally saw the 'Nightwood Fortress', which had a longer history than the main city of Rui Mu.

  With a gentle swing of his arm, he walked on, seeing from afar a dense black strip.

  The castle was built with a unique black rock, and the darkness always made people feel uneasy and fearful. Seeing this fortress, Chen Yuan had an inexplicable sense of oppression in his heart.

  Behind them was the black 'forest of no return', and in the sky, the dark clouds that never dispersed. The deeper they went, the more eerie it felt.

  "No wonder Nightwood Castle has had the smallest population for countless years. This dark and gloomy environment that doesn't even see daylight is enough to make it difficult for people to stay here for a long time."