VESSEL - Extinction Countdown 920: Array Spirit Enters the Gaze

Hong Lin curled in Ye Shisan's arms like a tailless kitten, a tiny bundle.

She stretched out her hand, staring curiously at where her palm and wrist had vanished. In their place, a faint, translucent mist shimmered.

The mist vaguely resembled the shape of a wrist and palm, but lacked substance. Even the slightest movement of her arm caused it to scatter like smoke in the wind, only to slowly re-form moments later—a bizarre sight.

Yet, she couldn’t feel this part of her body, let alone use it.

Ye Shisan landed on the ground and asked, “Does it hurt?”

Hong Lin tucked her hand back into her sleeve, burying her head in his chest. “With father here, it doesn’t hurt.”

Ye Shisan glanced back at Yi Qing and the car.

The Mercedes had rolled over a dozen times, battered beyond recognition, yet landed upright. Yi Qing leaned against the door, covered in mud from head to toe, gasping for breath.

Ahead, the gray-robed man gripped a Taoist sword, blocking their path. But his body trembled, his aura weakened, as if gravely wounded.

He stared at Ye Shisan like he was some rare beast. “You are no mortal cultivator, nor a spirit or demon kin, yet you wield the arts of hidden ways… What manner of being are you?”

Ye Shisan said, “Ever heard of a Qi?”

The man’s brows furrowed, as if something in his memory had gone awry. Then, without moving his lips, he emitted a strange tone.

Ye Shisan didn’t understand it. But Hong Lin, in his arms, pricked up her ears. “Father, he’s asking your name.”

“What language is that? I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

Before Hong Lin could reply, the man let out a cold, mirthless laugh. “You’ve even forgotten the language. You, a descendant of Qi, yet all you possess is the shell of a body. Well—and that thing inside you…”

Ye Shisan grasping his meaning, replied: “Eras shift, seas turn to mulberry fields. Every civilization meets its end. There’s no need for lament.”

“Hmph! You’ve wrought a grave calamity and don’t even realize it!”

“We’re here to save someone, not to fight you!”

“Save someone? You’re a step too late!”

“What?!”

Ye Shisan jolted, stepping forward. A wave of heat surged at his back, and instinctively, he unleashed all his monstrous arms. They rose like wildfire, thrashing wildly.

The man let out another cold laugh. “It seems you haven’t fully assimilated… But you can scarce protect yourself—how dare you dream of saving others? So be it—two hours hence, at sunrise, this Three Pure Ones Barrier Formation will fully unravel. Then evil spirits will spill forth, and the mortal realm will be plunged into ruin!”

Ye Shisan took another step. “I know the Pseudo-Spirit inside me will turn me into a Void Qi, my heartfire will twist into madness, and I’ll die raving. Yet while I still command my will, I will do all to protect my family. If I cannot save them, what right have I to save the world?”

“Ye Shisan, quit yapping with him!”

Yi Qing limped over, raising her flashlight high. She aimed it toward the direction of Ye Shisan’s conversation, casting a beam of light across the grey-robed man’s face. The light passed straight through him, landing several meters away on the mountain path.

The gray-robed man had long since lost his physical form—what stood there was merely an illusion.

Yi Qing added, “Like Hong Lin said, if he’s an array’s spirit, talking’s pointless. Their mission’s hardcoded, like machines. They won’t listen!”

She stepped up beside Ye Shisan, then called out loudly toward the empty mountain path, “Eleven years ago, I had a brief encounter with an elder of Pure Sect’s Tianbao Pavilion. He told me if I ever met a kindred cultivator, I could speak a secret phrase to keep me safe!”

“Array’s spirit, if you’re built by righteous cultivators to uphold the heavenly order and guard against evil spirits, then listen closely! I can’t see you, but I don’t repeat myself!”

“This elder, surnamed Sun, named Zhizun, is a great figure of the Tianbao Pavilion! The secret phrase is: One breath clears the void, two births forge the fated core, Three Pure Ones reign supreme, four seas share one ancestor!”

At these words, the expression on the grey-robed youth shifted.

Yi Qing saw, about six or seven meters ahead on the empty mountain path, the air began to distort. A young man in a gray Taoist robe materialized before her, responding, “Five realms unite as one, six cycles bear true seals, seven trials stand unbroken, eight-nine return to origin!”

He sheathed his sword and clasped his fists toward Yi Qing. “I am the array’s spirit, Evil-Slayer. May I know your name, friend of the Way?”

“Me? I’m Yi Qing. This is Ye Shisan, and the ghost kid’s Hong Lin.” Yi Qing sized him up. “Guess I was right—you’re indeed an array’s spirit set by the Pure Sect’s cultivators!”

The array’s spirit, Evil-Slayer, said, “Friend Yi Qing, I have never heard of this Sun Zhizun, but Master Longzheng of the Tianbao Pavilion was one who raised this formation.”

“Longzheng… Ancestor Longzheng? Elder Sun once said he was the founding master of Tianbao Pavilion over a thousand years ago!”

“Is Master Longzheng still among us? Are the Nine Sects of the Three Pure Ones well? Why has the Six Jiazi Pact never been honored, leaving me to uphold this array alone?”

He spoke of Master Longzheng, but Yi Qing recalled Elder Sun calling him Ancestor. And what were the Nine Sects of the Three Pure Ones? Could the Three Pure Ones comprise nine sects?

Evil-Slayer rattled off questions Yi Qing couldn’t answer. “As I said, I only met Elder Sun once. I’m no cultivator, so I can’t help with your questions… But what is this ‘six-jiazi pact’ you speak of?”

“Long ago, friends from Lingying Palace and Lingxiao Gate found this place harboring a Blood Essence Clay. They sought to muster forces to destroy it, yet feared great harm, even to their disciples. Thus, they summoned the Three Pure Ones and Nine Immortals to forge the Three Pure Ones Barrier Formation, shaping me, Evil-Slayer, to quell this evil within three thousand years. Every six jiazi, they vowed to send aid to sustain this array’s breath—but now, thrice that time has passed…”

So that’s it! This array’s spirit had been guarding Touxiang Village for over a thousand years, alone, without aid!

Hong Lin, nestled against Ye Shisan’s chest, seemed asleep but was eavesdropping. She whispered, “Father, you’re so lucky. If he hadn’t been so drained, we might’ve died here today…”

Ye Shisan felt a chill. “Is this array’s spirit that mighty?”

“Mighty? Within this array, he’s second only to the divine! I recall Mother Xi Qing saying, not long after she fled Molten Forge Mountain with you, the Zhoukin’s realm fell into chaos. Immortals clashed, shaking heaven and earth, and even now, I remember some array spirits yet endure…”

“If you put it that way, we got lucky… But I’m worried about what Evil-Slayer said about the evil spirits leaking.”

Evil-Slayer cast a glance at Ye Shisan, still seemingly bitter over his earlier defeat. “To slay the evil spirits, or grant me a thread of life, there is another way— but it depends on whether Friend Yi is willing.”

Yi Qing was puzzled. “Please, speak.”

“I see in you, Friend Yi Qing, a serene spirit—a woman of utmost virtue. You bear rare fortune, yet lack fulfillment. If you do not scorn me, I, Evil-Slayer, am willing to become an Azure Eye, aiding you to slay demons and uphold heaven’s justice!”

Yi Qing hesitated, then heard him continue, “Grown weak over a millennium, I can no longer endure even a single jiazi. Now, to break is to rebuild—perhaps this too is a twist of fate. I beseech you, Friend Yi Qing, to consider well!”

Before Yi Qing could respond, Hong Lin chirped from Ye Shisan’s arms, “Congrats, Sister Yi, on regaining the treasured eye!”

Her words barely landed when Evil-Slayer turned into a blinding light, shooting straight into Yi Qing’s blind eye socket.

At once, that piercing arc of light drew countless strands of strange blue electricity from all directions. They surged one after another, like towering waves in a storm-tossed sea— flashing, bursting, a meteor shower cascading through the valley, roaring toward Yi Qing’s lone eye!

In the darkness of night, cyan light blazed, illuminating the heavens and earth.