Chapter 18: The Celestial Annihilation Array

“Hiss! So many!”

Staring at the swarming mass of serpents before him, Lu Sheng inhaled sharply, awe rising in his heart. Earlier, in his pursuit of merit, he had slain over a thousand snakes in the pit—an amount he once considered vast, yet compared to the countless serpents before him, it was utterly insignificant.

“Blackstone Island spans nearly twenty miles. Aside from the northern region, where Blackstone Fortress stands due to the excavation of obsidian, the rest of the island is nearly entirely claimed by serpents,” he mused. “And not just the island itself—around its shores, many sea snakes lurk as well. Altogether, their numbers must reach at least a million! Most of the exotic breeds bearing the bloodline of demon beasts have already awakened and gathered here!”

Lu Sheng’s attitude, once indifferent, shifted as he gazed at the writhing masses and recalled Blackstone Island’s history. If he could capture and annihilate this entire horde, the merit gained would be unimaginable. And he possessed just the means to do so.

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After consuming the gall of the Golden Serpent, Lu Sheng had succeeded in opening his eye acupoint. With merit, he fused the Eagle Eye and Wolf Eye techniques, cultivating this art of the pupil. Thus, even in the dim snake pit, he saw with perfect clarity.

“Golden-ringed snake, silver-ringed snake, crimson viper, black-scaled snake, violet-patterned serpent...”

“Rock python, blood python, golden giant python, violet-scaled demon python…”

“This region is truly infested with snakes and pythons!”

With his vision enhanced by pupil technique, Lu Sheng distinguished the multitude before him while searching for the formation’s location.

“Seventy years ago, my great-grandfather traveled here, answering the fortress’s call to cleanse the demon pythons. During his task, he discovered in a deep pool connecting to the sea within the snake pit a congregation of sea cucumbers. These creatures had survived for ages; among them were those who had reached higher ranks. One, tainted by the blood of a flood dragon, mutated into a sea dragon cucumber—”

“And it had reached the third rank!”

Though sea cucumbers are animals, they seldom develop intelligence. Even after attaining higher ranks and a touch of spiritual awareness, they are usually regarded as medicinal herbs.

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“Sea cucumbers replenish vitality and essence; after reaching higher ranks, their effects intensify, increasing martial artists’ chances to bear talented offspring. A third-rank sea cucumber benefits even martial masters. Moreover, that sea dragon cucumber has reached the pinnacle of the third rank, with the potential to ascend to the fourth—”

“Once it achieves that, it will be a rare treasure for grandmasters!”

The stronger one’s power, the lower the chance of producing offspring; it is a law of nature, a barrier brought about by evolution. Thus, a fourth-rank sea dragon cucumber, capable of increasing the odds of fathering children, is invaluable to grandmasters, especially those desiring progeny.

“If a third-rank sea dragon cucumber is precious, a fourth-rank is truly peerless—”

“Such a treasure is always a matter of fate, never guaranteed!”

“In recent centuries, only Thunder Lord of the South Sea acquired a fourth-rank sea cucumber, and at over two hundred years old, he gained a daughter.”

“For nearly a millennium since the founding of the Great Jing, even the royal collection, vast as it is, likely lacks such a marvel.”

“When my great-grandfather returned to the Central Plains from the grasslands, he wished to rejoin the Great Jing royal family, but feared he could not prove his bloodline and that the inheritance of the Lu clan of Bingzhou would be stolen by others. So he waited until he became a martial master, able to condense vital blood and verify his lineage—or until a grandmaster gave his guarantee.”

“A fourth-rank sea dragon cucumber was a treasure worthy of meeting a grandmaster and gaining his assurance!”

Grandmasters are the pinnacle of martial power in this world, their lives spanning centuries. With a grandmaster as guarantor, even if Lu Sheng’s branch remained in doubt, they could live peacefully in Zhongzhou, awaiting a martial master to confirm the lineage and restore their ancestral ties.

“Regrettably, the flood dragon’s blood has faded. Though the sea dragon cucumber reached the third-rank pinnacle, it will require a century to ascend further.”

“My great-grandfather was nearly fifty then; he could not wait so long. Thus, he encircled the sea dragon cucumber with a formation map, leaving it for his descendants.”

“The Lu family of Blackstone Island came into being when my great-grandfather, having nourished his body with first- and second-rank sea cucumbers, married a local woman and settled here. That is the origin of the Lu family on Blackstone Island.”

In essence, their story was little different from that of guardians of medicinal herbs. Yet, before venturing to the Divine Ruins, Lu Quan, Lu Sheng’s great-grandfather, fearing he might never return, left the Bingzhou Lu inheritance here as well.

Thus, after Lu Quan vanished, the Lu family of Blackstone Island, as his bloodline and inheritors of Bingzhou Lu, had become the main branch.

The tangled histories, Lu Sheng could not fully grasp. What concerned him now was the sea dragon cucumber poised to ascend to fourth rank, and the formation his great-grandfather left behind.

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“Advancing from the third to the fourth rank is like a martial master becoming a grandmaster; life transforms anew.”

“After this transformation, the sea dragon cucumber may develop intelligence and become a true fourth-rank demon beast, its power rivaling a grandmaster.”

“For this reason, my great-grandfather placed a fragment of the Hun Tian Soul-Extinguishing Array here—”

“To annihilate its budding intelligence during advancement, turning it into a Grade Four spiritual herb.”

The Hun Tian Soul-Extinguishing Array was devised by a grandmaster of the Lu clan of Great Jing, meant to destroy intelligence and spiritual awareness—exceptionally effective against aberrant creatures.

With this array, King Hun Tian Lu Zhengyang, a century ago, erased the intelligence of the Golden Wolf King’s mount, then slew the famed Golden Wolf King himself.

After that battle, King Hun Tian’s name shook the world, and his array became renowned.

This fragment was collected by Lu Sheng’s great-grandfather in the grasslands, a remnant left from the clash between King Hun Tian and the Golden Wolf King.

Though damaged, it was still sufficient to destroy the intelligence of a fourth-rank demon beast—let alone a sea dragon cucumber still in the process of ascension!

“I must seize this formation, harness its power, and annihilate every serpent and python here!” Lu Sheng resolved.

Having cultivated the Primordial Art’s profound energy, he could now draw upon part of the array’s power. After vanquishing the sea dragon cucumber’s intelligence, he would expand the formation, using its residual might to wipe out all snakes and pythons within several miles.

“Tens of thousands of exotic serpents and pythons—enough to earn me over a hundred thousand merit points!”

At this prospect, Lu Sheng’s heart blazed. Two months in the snake pit, he had slain barely a thousand serpents and insects, earning only two or three thousand merit. If he could gain a hundred thousand this time, his future prospects would be greatly improved.

“Moreover, though my great-grandfather set the formation to activate automatically upon the sea dragon cucumber’s ascension, its destruction must be by my own hand.”

“Killing a fourth-rank demon beast will surely bring me immense merit!”

With this thought, Lu Sheng pressed forward, drawing steadily closer to the formation’s location.