AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword
Chapter 88: God-Slaying System (1)

As she heads deeper into the forest, toward the center, we do not find the high population of rank three and four demonic beasts that Lady Yue warned us about. Instead, we find corpses.

Here, the suppression is so severe that the trees and flowers are all dead and twisted into grotesque shapes — the trees here appear like the trunks one would find in a wasteland. No flowers will grow here, and even a nearby stream appears murky and brown.

Every two hundred or so steps, we come across the remains of demonic beasts in various stages of cultivation — from Foundation to Core Formation, and some even possess high-grade cores. Their bodies are decomposed to a point where they are barely recognizable, desiccated husks that have remained here for countless years, yet they have never returned to the earth for some reason.

It is difficult to breathe and walk and it is becoming difficult to think. There is a fog around Lan Xiaohui’s mind that eliminates all desires but to walk forward. I also feel this fog and its unnatural influence, but I am far less affected than she is.

I feel a tug in the very depths of my spirit as if something is beckoning me — calling to me; inviting me in. If I had to describe it verbally to Lan Xiaohui, I would say that it is Heaven itself beckoning me to my own execution.

It feels that way. This Formation leaves a coppery taste of blood on my blade. Perhaps it is not just the Formation, but the heavy, malevolent Yin energy left behind by the deaths of countless creatures.

I’ve felt this energy before, after using the [Soul Harvest Formation] and it was very beneficial for my and Lan Xiaohui’s cultivation.

And even though this place is vastly different and far more sinister, I would still consider it to be a good place for cultivation — something I intend to propose to Lan Xiaohui at some point later.

The Qi is vast, but it moves in a sluggish manner. It would likely take more energy to breathe it in than what one would gain from doing so, but I have no doubt that with my [World Eater] breathing method, this will not be a problem.

Even Lan Xiaohui’s Emptiness Prana has such an incredible force that it could easily overcome the sluggishness induced by this suppression system.

This Formation — it is so vast and so powerful that I cannot help but desire it for myself. It reminds me of such defensive systems that I possessed in my previous incarnation. It produces a field of such incredible and total control that it would not surprise me if the creatures that had their existences terminated expired because they ran out of energy seeking the mystical source at the center of this forest.

But those creatures did not possess proper breathing and meditation methods to offset the deathly aura of this place as I and Lan Xiaohui possess.

Comparing my findings and my expectations, I find several inconsistencies. The Qi in this place flows outward, not in — it was always my assumption that the Qi of this forest gathers towards the center, but here, at the very center, it radiates outward.

Furthermore, the Formation that suppresses all life is beyond my expectations in ways that I cannot yet define. If its purpose was to slay cultivators from other sects or prevent powerful cultivators from entering, then why does it exert such a weak force on weaker cultivators?

Perhaps this is a limitation of the technology that the Seven Killing Swords sect possesses, as otherwise, I do not have a satisfying explanation.

Soon, the center of the forest comes into view and it is a grove where the trees still possess their leaves — golden colored and healthy-looking.

Nine willow trees surround a central cherry tree that is in bloom — it is Spring after all — that towers over a central altar made of stone.

Each of the willow trees has a trunk that is several dozens of steps wide, and their leafy crowns tower above in the heavens, with their hanging branches reaching lengths of up to sixty steps.

The ground is also strange with sharp rocks appearing at regular intervals from beneath which blades of grass and the occasional cluster of flowers shoot through to drink in the eternal sun.

The eternal sun in this case is the energy center of the Formation itself, radiating from far above the trees like a ball of golden fire that has its own corona of blinding light. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the NʘvᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

In fact, I am not even certain why I can observe this ball, or this entire area when it is normally so far outside of the limit of my perception. Perhaps it has something to do with my consciousness being merged with Lan Xiaohui’s, and the less mental presence she has due to the suppression the more I am able to utilize her sea of consciousness to improve my perception.

I put aside that theory for now as I try to identify the access points of this array.

“These trees,” Lan Xiaohui whispers as she steps into the strange grove, her breathing already heavy and labored. “These are Heavenly Demon Suppression Willows.”

I consider this information and add the trees to the list of potential access points for the Formation. It makes sense that the Formation would use some kind of natural phenomenon to replicate into a suppression Formation. That could also explain the dead demonic beasts.

But why Demon Suppression? Isn’t the purpose of the Formation to suppress all life?

“But they have become completely demonic,” Lan Xiaohui says, her tone betraying her bewilderment. “How is this possible…?”

I find it quite ironic that a Heavenly tree that suppresses demons has become demonic itself.

A flash of lightning appears in the sky, and then a bolt of pure gold light strikes from the Heavens, blasting the central cherry tree with such unimaginable force that if it was me on the receiving end, I would surely be instantly obliterated.

The cherry tree that was struck by Heaven’s tribulation remains completely unharmed.

This place — this scene before me — is completely incomprehensible to me. It is outside my wildest expectations and challenges everything I know about the Dao — not just my Dao of Arrays, but my Grand Dao itself. Either this Formation or this place has an entirely alien function that I am not expecting.

“I will need time to decipher this Formation,” I tell Lan Xiaohui. “You should save your strength, just in case.”

Lan Xiaohui nods, her motion becoming so sluggish that she has no choice but to sit down next to the altar and rest.

Originally, I wanted to come here to understand the operation of the vast Qi Gathering Array that must exist here, but I do not sense the presence of one.

The vast Qi from this area comes from the cherry tree in the center of the grove, which is simultaneously pulling in all the vital life force of the entire forest. It is a strange symbiosis that I intend to unravel and understand.

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