Chapter 592 567: Lanqi Beneath the Blood Guidance Coffin Seal

After a full day of flight, the flock of Ice Cone Birds carried everyone to the outskirts of Lanqi City the following afternoon.

Along the way, Gu Ming had lost count of how many times he tried his communicator.

His parents' number, Elder Huo's number, the Ruan Family's phone line.

The line to his parents always returned the same cold message: "Temporarily unable to connect."

Elder Huo, for his part, sent him a few technical papers about the Blood-Attracting Coffin Sealing Array.

The main branch of the Ruan Family dispatched a Seven-star Beastmaster and a small Five-Star Combat Team to Lanqi City,

but the support team was intercepted on the way by a Seven-Star Demon Group, and similar ambushes were happening in other areas as well.

Only the Mid-Low Star Beastmaster teams were not being specifically targeted by High-star Demon Fiends, which was how Gu Ming and his group had managed to successfully traverse the battlefield.

The Wind Element Beastmaster flying at the front gave the signal to slow down.

The controlled flock of Ice Cone Birds folded their wings and landed on an abandoned hill in the outer ring.

Ahead, a massive, dark-red sphere enveloped the entirety of Lanqi City.

The wall of the sphere was woven from countless flowing, blood-red tendrils, like a network of still-pulsating arteries.

Even from across the entire outer no-man's-land, a chilling aura tinged with the smell of rust still seeped through.

Outside the sphere, swarms of Demon Fiends circled like ants. A few black-robed figures moved among them, darting between nodes. Every time they activated an Array Hub, a dark-red ripple would spread across the sphere's wall.

All eyes turned to Gu Ming.

Gu Ming stared at the black sphere trapping his hometown, forcing down the anxiety that had been building in his chest throughout the entire journey.

He stared into the distance, making careful comparisons.

The outer structure of the Blood-Attracting Coffin Sealing Array was situated right on the City Defense Array's main hub. Inside, there was another nested array: the Blood Attraction Array.

To breach the Blood-Attracting Coffin Sealing Array from the outside, they had to find the Blood Supply Array Hub. Otherwise, it would be incredibly difficult, requiring five times the array's own defensive Power to break through.

Even by combining all their strength, Gu Ming's group could, at best, barely touch the lower threshold of a Six-star Pet Beast's Power.

That was nowhere near the five-fold defensive limit of the sealing array. Furthermore, Gu Ming didn't know the Star Level of the Thousand Coffin Sect members inside.

If the person maintaining the array was a Six-star, the Power required to break it would be even greater.

He tried to find the channels of the Blood Supply Array by looking for high-frequency Energy Fluctuations, but the outer shell of black blood obscured his vision. It was no use, even after searching for a long time.

Fortunately, the Blood-Attracting Coffin Sealing Array was not a Blood Sacrifice Grand Mosaic. It was a Blood Seal Type Trapping Array, designed purely for containment.

'The Thousand Coffin Sect probably has another objective. Perhaps their target is something sealed inside the city?'

'Since it's not a city-wide blood sacrifice, my parents still have a chance of survival beneath this giant black shell.'

However, Gu Ming knew he couldn't wait too long. Delays would only invite new problems. What if the Thousand Coffin Sect got what they wanted? They might use the remaining survivors for a blood sacrifice after all.

He turned and addressed the group, briefly explaining the characteristics of the Blood-Attracting Coffin Sealing Array and teaching them how to identify the Blood Supply Array Points.

He then assigned tasks: three teams would map the Spiritual Pressure of the nodes along the outer ring and adjust Lanqi City's spatial distortion gradient.

The remaining team was to set up jamming beacons in the Southwest corner to draw away the patrolling Demon Fiends on the perimeter.

The teams accepted their orders and dispersed.

The sound of footsteps crisscrossing the hill replaced the dead silence from moments before.

...

"After countless hardships, you have finally reached your hometown and witnessed the remnants of the Thousand Coffin Sect collaborating with Demon Fiends to cast the Blood-Attracting Coffin Sealing Array."

"You wonder how Demon Fiends could ally with humans, unless the Thousand Coffin Sect itself is a pawn for the Demon Fiends. There must be something here that attracts them."

While on reconnaissance, Gu Ming mulled over the system's historical pop-up message.

Gu Ming had lived in Lanqi City for a long time but had never heard of any great treasure in the city.

'Unless... the "great treasure" attracting the Demon Fiends isn't something ordinary people are supposed to know about.'

With this in mind, Gu Ming picked up his phone to ask Ruan Jing, who was far away in the Zhou Capital.

Unfortunately, upon entering the Lanqi City region, his phone signal was severely jammed.

The Blood-Attracting Coffin Sealing Array hadn't just sealed off the city; it had also piggybacked on the City Defense Array to lock down the entire district's earth veins, basically destroying all communication facilities.

However, Gu Ming's act of picking up his phone was, in the system's eyes, the very scene of him communicating with the Ruan Family in a future timeline.

Communication in the future was different from the present.

The Great Zhou of the future had already undergone a Demon War, and its communication technology had long since been upgraded. Since Gu Ming hadn't yet entered the sealing array, the phone, manufactured by a new-era Mechanical Pet, still retained its most basic external communication functions.

"You learn from the Ruan Family that a massive, dormant 'Earth Vein Spirit Field' lies beneath Lanqi City.

"During the Demon War thirty-two years ago, countless heroic souls and their Pet Beasts shed their blood here. Their unyielding will and resolve to protect this land merged with the earth veins and combined with the year-round fog, forming a unique kind of 'city memory'.

"The Earth Vein Spirit Field actively chooses members of the younger generation who have a deep connection to Lanqi City, granting them a legacy trial named 'Lanqi.' Those who pass can form a contract with an extremely rare Heroic Soul-type Pet."

"The remnants of the Thousand Coffin Sect and the highly intelligent Demon Fiends must have come for this Heroic Soul Legacy. Once the heroic souls are defiled by Demon Fiends, Lanqi's Earth Vein Spirit Field will be forever plunged into darkness, becoming fertile ground for the Inner World."

"Hm?"

Gu Ming's frown deepened as he read, until the line about being "plunged into darkness, becoming fertile ground for the Inner World" sent a jolt of understanding through his mind.

'The Inner World... so this is how it corrupts the main world?'

To be honest, this was a complete blind spot in Gu Ming's knowledge.

He soon realized that it was likely a blind spot for the entire world.

After all, there wasn't much research on the Inner World.

For instance, the recently discovered Dragon Transformation Pool had drawn intense scrutiny from the global research community the moment it appeared. Insiders were observing its effects as if under a microscope.

Gu Ming's own research on Demonization Evolution had attracted enormous attention the moment it was published.

When it came to the Inner World, even the smallest bit of new information could cause tremendous waves in the field of Pet Beast research.

As for the methods the Inner World used to influence the main world, there were countless speculations and various theories, but none of them were convincing enough to gain widespread acceptance.

Now, this explanation, inadvertently revealed by the system, sparked a flash of inspiration in Gu Ming's mind.

'I have to stop the Thousand Coffin Sect from carrying out their plan!'

As for the so-called Heroic Soul Legacy, Gu Ming didn't much care.

'The system said it itself, didn't it? The heroic souls left behind in the Earth Vein Spirit Field thirty-two years ago formed the legacy. But this is the flashpoint for the first war; that legacy doesn't even exist yet.'

He wasn't going to worry about something that hadn't been created yet, and he certainly had no intention of letting living people become heroic souls.

He wanted everyone to survive.

"Gu Ming, quick, look at that flowing pattern! Is that a Blood Supply Array Point?"

The voice of a Beastmaster from up ahead immediately drew Gu Ming's attention.

A thousand meters away, within the shell of congealed black blood, a pattern resembling a red whirlwind flowed rapidly, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye only to reappear in another spot.

Just one glance made Gu Ming feel as if his own blood was accelerating, raising goosebumps all over his skin.

"That's it!" Gu Ming felt a jolt of excitement.