Chapter 420: Emergence! Shock
"Go check the eastern area."
Soul Ink clearly had a lead and was giving Li Yang instructions.
"Alright."
The mysterious small sword in his mind showed no reaction at all. Li Yang followed Soul Ink's words, advancing along the mountain range according to his directions.
Soon, he stopped at a certain spot on a mountain peak.
"Haha, the Demon Race really hid this deep. They branded an Array onto this mountain peak. No wonder it's so well-hidden; even I almost missed it."
Li Yang couldn't sense anything on the mountain before him, but Soul Ink was laughing heartily, as if he had discovered something.
"An Array?"
Hearing Soul Ink's words, Li Yang asked in surprise, "Was it set up by an Array Master?"
"Li Yang, the title 'Array Master' does exist, but that's really just a part of being an Artifact Refiner."
Soul Ink explained, "Take those Divine Artifacts, for instance. Why are they so powerful? It's because numerous Arrays are inscribed within them. Those Arrays are like a large piece of machinery. A sliver of a law is fed into it, and after being amplified by the many Arrays, its power can be unleashed hundreds or even thousands of times over."
There's a principle behind the power of any weapon.
"So that's how it is."
Li Yang nodded. He wasn't familiar with Artifact Refining and never imagined that Divine Artifacts were simply items with countless Arrays inscribed within them.
"Therefore, a powerful Artifact Refiner must also be a powerful Array Master. What's before you now is an Array with a concealment effect. This type of Array is suitable for refining armor that hides one's aura," Soul Ink said.
Different Arrays have different functions. There are offensive ones and defensive ones. Offensive Arrays are naturally inscribed onto offensive weapons, while defensive ones are inscribed onto items like armor.
However, very few in the Cosmos are skilled in Arrays, especially concealment-type Arrays like this one.
Soul Ink smiled. "Only an Artifact Refiner capable of crafting Divine Artifacts could even spot this Array."
Upon hearing this, Li Yang immediately asked, "Soul Ink, can you break it?"
"Is that even a question?"
Hearing Li Yang doubt his professional expertise, Soul Ink rolled his eyes and said, "I, Soul Ink, am the most talented Artifact Refiner in the Cosmos! I even single-handedly created the Soul Crystal, a heaven-defying treasure that can evade soul annihilation! How could I possibly fail to break this?"
Hearing Soul Ink start to brag about the Soul Crystal again, Li Yang quickly interjected, "So how do we break it?"
His boasting interrupted, Soul Ink was a little displeased, but he still said, "Just move a few of the rocks on that peak."
"Alright."
Following Soul Ink's instructions, Li Yang began moving rocks one by one until he had moved eighty-one of them. This left him quite bewildered.
'This is the way to break an Array?' The rocks had seemed to be placed there randomly, with nothing special about them.
But after these rocks were moved, the mountain before him changed instantly, as if a thin film covering it had suddenly vanished.
A fissure had appeared on the now-unconcealed mountain. Inside the fissure was a palm-sized insect. The creature was golden all over and looked a bit like a beetle from Earth.
This golden beetle was currently encased in a strange, transparent stone. There was some liquid inside the stone, and the insect appeared to be sleeping within it.
Even though it was encased in stone, it emanated an incredibly ferocious aura.
This ferocious aura was so strong it even startled Li Yang.
"A Gold-devouring Insect!"
Seeing the beetle, Li Yang's face lit up with absolute joy.
He had heard Soul Ink mention the Gold-devouring Insect before and had specifically looked up information about it, so of course he knew what it looked like.
With a clench of his right hand, the transparent stone encasing the golden beetle flew into his grasp.
"No wonder the Beast Origin Sect wasn't using this Gold-devouring Insect. It looks like it's still in its larval stage, absorbing energy. It'll need at least a few more decades before it can leave the nutrient fluid," Soul Ink judged after a glance.
If the Beast Origin Sect had a Gold-devouring Insect that had reached the level of a Deity, Luoyu and the others would have met a single fate upon their arrival: being devoured by an endless army of Gold-devouring Insects until not even dust remained.
But right now, the Gold-devouring Insect was still very weak and had not matured at all.
That's why the Beast Origin Sect had hidden it away to nurture it slowly.
"A few decades?" Hearing this, Li Yang said with a smile, "Good thing it's still a larva. Otherwise, this Gold-devouring Insect would never have fallen into my hands."
Li Yang was incredibly excited.
He had obtained a Gold-devouring Insect, a future invincible king among the Divine Realm.
However, even after obtaining the Gold-devouring Insect, the mysterious small sword in his mind hadn't stirred at all.
'It seems the mysterious small sword looks down on this Gold-devouring Insect,' Li Yang thought to himself.
The mysterious small sword had probably sensed the Gold-devouring Insect long ago, but the creature simply wasn't significant enough to warrant a reaction.
Li Yang felt a bit helpless. The mysterious small sword's standards were just too high.
While he was rejoicing, in the same mountain area, several Deities had spread out their souls to scan the surroundings. They clearly noticed Li Yang's location and saw the golden beetle encased in the Source Stone in his hand. They froze for a moment, and then their eyes filled with utter shock.
"Why does that golden beetle look so familiar?"
"Is that... a Gold-devouring Insect?"
"Yes, it's a Gold-devouring Insect!"
"Heavens, the Beast Origin Sect was hiding a Gold-devouring Insect!"
The eyes of these Deities were filled with shock and disbelief.
But after the shock, their eyes immediately filled with intense desire.
As Deities, the name of this ferocious beast was legendary!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One by one, the Deities unleashed terrifying fluctuations of aura and instantly appeared beside Li Yang, staring at him with ravenous eyes.
"Li Yang, I want to trade you for the Gold-devouring Insect!"
"Li Yang, sell the Gold-devouring Insect to me! You can have anything you want."
A total of five Deities arrived in an instant, their eyes filled with desire, fixed firmly on the golden beetle in Li Yang's hand.
A Gold-devouring Insect... If one could be nurtured to the Divine Realm, its owner would become an invincible king among Deities. Who wouldn't want such a treasure?
At this moment, the Deities could barely contain their desire. They even felt the impulse to forcibly snatch the Gold-devouring Insect from Li Yang's hands.
But in the end, they held on to a sliver of reason.
Li Yang was a prodigious genius cultivated by the Human Race's Eternal Saint Hall. Even if their strength far surpassed his, directly snatching a treasure from his hands was an absolute crime!
Experts of the Human Race could fight amongst themselves—after all, it's impossible for there to be perfect harmony everywhere. But such conflicts had to be open and aboveboard. No one would say anything if they even had a straightforward fight.
But casually robbing someone of their treasure was strictly forbidden. This was especially true for a stronger expert robbing a weaker one. It wasn't just a crime; it was a grave offense!