162: Chapter 162 The Gravedigger

[You are sitting in your cave abode in Tiannan City, moonlight spilling in aslant from the window.]

[An Upper Realm map is spread out in your hands.]

[The Return Ruins, deep in the East Sea, sixty thousand li from Tiannan City.]

[You have already been there once.]

[But last time, you acted in haste; you only reached the outer perimeter before being struck through by a palm strike from a black-robed Golden Immortal.]

[This time is different.]

[You are an Array Master.]

[With your heart as the array eye, your body becomes the heavens and earth.]

[Every route, every node, and every forbidden zone on the map, under the augmentation of your Array Master's vision, has turned into an array diagram that can be dismantled and reorganized.]

Chen Yuan watched the text on the simulator.

This feeling was completely different from last time.

Last time, he was still fumbling at the start, having to think for a long time just to read the map.

This time, as the map spread out, the answers almost jumped out by themselves.

Array Master, truly worthy of being an Array Master.

[For this simulation, you have set three goals for yourself.]

[First, retrace your path to the Return Ruins, head straight to the deepest part, and see your father's true spirit.]

[Second, you must counter-trace the source of the Nine Heavens Domain's intelligence. The fact that they could precisely ambush you on your return journey last time indicates there is a mole upstream in their intelligence chain.]

[Third, find out the source of that trace of unfamiliar divine sense.]

[You have deliberated on the first two points repeatedly.]

[As for the third, that trace of divine sense that swept past your cave abode in reality, you need to scout the path for your real self within the simulation.]

[At the very least, with the five-star talent Causality Tracing, you are still quite confident.]

[You raise your hand, condensing a wisp of pure white immortal essence at your fingertips, and draw a circle in the air.]

["Causality Tracing."]

[The circle unfolds before you.]

[A familiar yet strange feeling comes from deep within the circle, as if a dormant thread within your soul has been gently plucked.]

[A blurry aura appears in the center of the circle.]

[That is the residual mark of the trace of divine sense that brushed past your cave abode in reality, which you preserved in your soul beforehand and brought into the simulation.]

[The circle begins to trace.]

[Layer one, layer two, layer three...]

[The thread of karma extends backward along the aura, passing through Tiannan City, passing through the Southern Region, and passing through one overlapping layer of concealment after another.]

[The opponent has clearly made very deep preparations for concealment.]

[Normal tracing methods would break at the third layer.]

[But you have the talent of Causality Tracing.]

[Layer four.]

[Layer five.]

[Layer six...]

[It broke.]

[The circle gets stuck at the sixth layer; any further forward is an abyss of bottomless black fog.]

[Something in that black fog seems to be looking back at you.]

[Your heart tightens, and you immediately cut off the tracing.]

[The circle shatters.]

[A layer of cold sweat seeps onto your back.]

[A concealment method capable of blocking an Array Master + five-star talent + 6 layers of tracing...]

[The opponent's level is higher than you imagined.]

Chen Yuan in reality watched this scene, his brows furrowing deeper.

Six layers of tracing could not break through.

This meant that the true owner of that trace of divine sense was hidden even deeper than the Nine Heavens Domain.

It was not as simple as a third-party faction.

It was something hidden behind the third party.

However, in reality, he could at least confirm one thing.

Someone was targeting him.

And the opponent was no small fry.

[The tracing failed, but you locked onto a direction.]

[North.]

[Although the black fog blocked your vision, the direction the karmic thread was pointing before it was swallowed by the black fog was due north.]

[Due north, the Upper Realm's Central Region.]

[You stared in this direction for a long time, then retracted the circle into your sea of consciousness.]

[The first clue.]

[It is enough.]

[You rise from your prayer mat and walk to the door of the study.]

[This time... you intend to successfully navigate the Return Ruins first.]

[As for other matters, you will take them slowly.]

[One day.]

[Three days.]

[Seven days.]

[With the efficiency of an Array Master, you spent seven days completing all the preparatory work that took a month last time.]

[The Tiannan Immortal King was quite surprised that you were suddenly setting off on a long journey again, but he did not ask much, handing the East Sea map and a life-saving jade talisman directly to you.]

[You also settled the matters regarding Guan Qingqing and the array spirit.]

[Just like last time, the moment Yang Cong heard you were going to the Return Ruins, he followed along eagerly.]

[The morning of the eighth day.]

[The hidden dragon shuttle left Tiannan City and submerged into the depths of the East Sea.]

[You stood at the bow, gazing ahead.]

[This time, the Return Ruins.]

[This time, Father.]

[You have waited twenty-five years for this moment.]

Chen Yuan's body outside the simulation felt his eyelashes tremble slightly.

Seeing that line "Father" in the simulation, he thought he had already gotten used to it.

But every time he heard his simulated self say it, something would still well up from the deepest part of his heart.

Chen Yuan took a deep breath.

Tiannan City outside had already entered deep night.

In the secret chamber deep within the cave abode, he sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, a pure white immortal pill slowly rotating, seven layers of defensive arrays flowing silently.

No one knew what was happening in this secret chamber.

No one knew that this young True Immortal, who had just broken through to become an Array Master, was using a simulation to walk the path he truly wanted to take.

[You sit inside the cabin of the hidden dragon shuttle, the light shield supported by the sea-fixing divine pearl isolating the airflow outside.]

[After several days of sailing, the water color in the depths of the East Sea turned from deep blue to ink black, and the outline of the Return Ruins appeared faintly in the storm.]

[Your Array Master perception spread out in your sea of consciousness; seawater, airflow, spatial folds... everything turned into an array diagram that could be dismantled, and the Return Ruins were at the deepest part of this diagram.]

[The hidden dragon shuttle rushed into the hurricane zone, and three streams of light shot out from the depths of the chaotic airflow, moving so fast that only afterimages were captured.]

[The next second, three figures blocked the front of the shuttle. A white-haired old man in grey robes had a cold expression, with a man and a woman behind him; the man was burly, and the woman was surrounded by swirling mist.]

[The old man swept his gaze over, and the pressure of a Half-step Golden Immortal pressed down like a tsunami. The hidden dragon shuttle sank abruptly, the light shield vibrated violently, and the hull sank several feet.]

[You walked out of the cabin door, stood on the deck, met the old man's gaze, and cupped your hands, saying: "Junior Chen Yuan, I have come to find my kin."]

[The burly man behind the old man sneered: "Everyone buried in this place is dead; what kind of kin are you looking for?"]

[You ignored him and looked at the old man: "I wish to see Divine Lord Xuan Xiao."]

[The air suddenly went quiet.]

[The old man's pupils contracted slightly, his voice remaining cold: "Divine Lord Xuan Xiao fell ten thousand years ago; there are only Grave Keepers here. Leave, or be killed without mercy."]

[You operated the Yaojiu Mysterious Art, and crimson-gold flames rose up. A phantom of a phoenix spread its wings and cried out within the flames, and the aura of an ancient bloodline rippled out, forcing back the chaotic airflow for several zhang.]

[A trace of shock flashed in the old man's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure: "Bloodlines can be faked. But tokens cannot. Without the xuanxiao token, no one may set foot in the Return Ruins. This is the rule."]

[Your heart sank. The xuanxiao token? You had never heard of it.]

["I do not know where the xuanxiao token is, but I am indeed the son of Divine Lord Xuan Xiao."]