Chapter 1322: Eerie Teleportation

"Refining a sixth-tier magic artifact consumes too much essence, qi, and spirit. Even for me, crafting one requires a long period of recovery. Therefore, I currently have no intention of refining artifacts for outsiders."

Chen Mobai recalled what Immortal Taixu had said, understanding that the number of sixth-tier magic artifacts in the Tianhe Realm needed to be controlled. Additionally, wanting to increase the cost of his own artifact refining services, he sighed with a troubled expression and spoke.

Upon hearing his words, everyone looked at the Dusk Drum, which floated beside him after its completion, and were speechless. The refining process of this sixth-tier magic artifact could only be described as effortless. Moreover, Chen Mobai appeared to be full of energy and vitality, showing no signs of fatigue whatsoever.

"In that case, after the Nascent Soul Ascension Ceremony concludes, Fellow Daoist should rest well for a few decades. Perhaps you'll directly attain enlightenment to a higher realm and ascend to the Upper Realm." Immortal Taixu immediately took over the conversation, going along with the suggestion.

Even in the sacred lands, sixth-tier magic artifacts are extremely precious. Some with shallow foundations don't even possess any. If they were to become widespread, these great sacred lands truly feared that one day, the Five Continents and Four Seas would be shattered by sixth-tier magic artifacts.

"Indeed, indeed..." At this moment, Immortal Haoran Yiqi certainly aligned with Immortal Taixu. After the two spoke, all the Nascent Soul cultivators present also caught on. The two great sacred lands of Zhongzhou were not particularly keen on seeing more sixth-tier magic artifacts appear in the Tianhe Realm. It seemed this matter needed to be discussed privately with the Azure Emperor of Donghuang.

If an agreement were reached privately, then once the artifact was successfully refined, it could be kept as a foundation within the sect, only to be used in times of extinction-level disaster. In that case, no one could object. The key, then, was how to persuade Chen Mobai to act.

True Monarch Qingfeng was already racking his brain, wondering what in his Pure Clear Palace would appeal to him. Their Xizhou was truly too poor; sixth-tier spiritual materials were few and far between, and their largest treasure trove, Lanyuan Valley, had long been thoroughly explored by him. In contrast, Ao Yuxia only needed to consider which sixth-tier spiritual materials from her Purple Cloud Heavenly Palace's treasury would be most suitable for Chen Mobai. Even using a seventh-tier innate spiritual material as a stepping stone was not out of the question. As the Celestial Emperor's lower realm palace, the treasures within Purple Cloud Heavenly Palace could probably only be rivaled by the mysterious Heavenly Sea Jellyfish Palace across the entire Five Continents and Four Seas.

"I will demonstrate the functions of the Dusk Drum..." Chen Mobai heard numerous spiritual messages from the Nascent Soul cultivators, all arranging detailed discussions with him after the ceremony. He simply ignored them and pointed to the newly refined artifact beside him.

"Excellent, excellent, please proceed, Fellow Daoist!" Immortal Taixu nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

At this moment, the cultivators on the Eastern Barren Plateau were somewhat agitated. The Nine Heavens Lightning Tribulation was a force that even Nascent Soul cultivators faced with solemn expressions, let alone them. Had it not been for the Dusk Drum absorbing ninety-nine percent of the lightning tribulation and the protection of the Sky Net Earth Vein Array on the plateau, many cultivators would probably have already gone berserk and had their spiritual power run wild. Even so, quite a few cultivators sat on the ground with pale faces, circulating their divine sense to calm their fluctuating spiritual power.

Meanwhile, in Beiyuan City directly below the suspended dao platform, Han Zhiling and Zhang Sizhu, who were in charge of hosting, exchanged awkward glances. This was because most of the guests had their minds disturbed by the sound waves of the lightning tribulation. Some, with weaker mental states, couldn't even hold their wine cups steady and were trembling all over. Only a few disciples from sacred lands maintained their composure, but even their eyes were dull and showed faint signs of fatigue. Forcibly resisting the sound waves of the Heavenly Tribulation with her own mental power, even Han Zhiling felt a significant drain on her divine sense. Inviting guests to the Nascent Soul Ascension Ceremony only to encounter such an incident made her, as the person in charge of this sub-venue, feel quite embarrassed.

Just as Han Zhiling transmitted a message to Zhang Sizhu, asking her to retrieve all pills that restore divine sense and suppress mental agitation from the Danxia Pavilion, preparing to distribute them to the guests as an apology, a clear, resonant thunderous sound echoed from the sky.

Just as everyone looked on in fear, thinking the Nine Heavens Lightning Tribulation was returning, they were surprised to find that the moment the thunderous drum sound entered their ears, their chaotic and agitated spiritual power suddenly became peaceful and docile.

"Dong—!""Dong—!""Dong—!"

Continuous drumbeats echoed across the Eastern Barren Plateau, creating tangible, wave-like ripples in the air. As layers of dark clouds began to gather, dazzling lightning flashed skyward, tearing through the darkness.

The clear drumbeats resembled a dragon's roar, or the low growl of a giant beast, resonating distinctly deep within everyone's hearts. They transformed into golden ripples, flowing like water over their entire bodies. Within their Purple Palace and Sea of Consciousness, their chaotic minds began to settle, and their divine sense became clear. And the disordered, uncontrollable spiritual power within their meridians was easily sorted and brought back into place under the divine sense empowered by the drumbeats. At this instant, all the cultivators felt their minds become clearer than ever before.

It was as if their wisdom had opened. Previous doubts about cultivation techniques were easily understood, difficulties in contemplating skills suddenly became clear, and some cultivators even seized this opportunity to directly break through long-standing bottlenecks. For a time, across the entire Eastern Barren Plateau, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged continuously, as if the ground itself was giving rise to misty immortal qi. This was the phenomenon caused by tens of millions of cultivators on the plateau meditating and absorbing spiritual energy together.

Of course, there were also discordant elements among them. For instance, some scattered cultivators, upon hearing the drumbeats, instead showed signs of pain, their meridians twisting, followed by an overflow of strange, evil light—black, gray, dark red, sickly green, and so on—from their seven orifices. Some cultivators' faces began to regain composure after these evil lights left their bodies, but the vast majority silently turned to ash in agony.

These were demonic cultivators practicing demonic arts, hidden on the Eastern Barren Plateau. Those who survived had unknowingly practiced demonic arts, unaware themselves that it was demonic cultivation. Their demonization was relatively shallow, so under the power of the Dusk Drum, their demonic qi was dispelled, and they survived after purification. Those who died instantly had over fifty percent demonic qi within their bodies; such individuals were deeply rooted in demonization and beyond salvation.

Chen Mobai, controlling the Sky Net Earth Vein Array, saw all of this and nodded inwardly. With this artifact, there was no need to worry about the problem of inner demons on the path of cultivation. The sight of these demonic cultivators dying was like a drop in the ocean on the Eastern Barren Plateau. Furthermore, Chen Mobai deliberately concealed it with the grand array, so the Nascent Soul cultivators on the suspended dao platform did not notice. If the Dusk Drum's ability to identify demonic cultivators remained undisclosed, it might even 'catch a few more fish' in the future.

"What a magnificent artifact!" On the suspended dao platform, the Nascent Soul cultivators witnessed the scene below on the plateau: tens of millions of cultivators absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth together, and spiritual flowers emerging from the ground, like a sacred immortal realm. They couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. Immortal Haoran Yiqi gazed intently at the Dusk Drum before Chen Mobai, his face filled with envy.

The Millennial Calligraphy and Ink Forest, located in Zhongzhou, was also involved in education. Its disciples were spread throughout the land, and periodically, numerous scholars would gather for exchange meetings and discussions. During these gatherings, many Confucian scholars, in an attempt to verify their outlandish ideas, often suffered from qi deviation. These individuals were essentially eccentric geniuses, and if properly nurtured, they would become the mainstays of the Millennial Calligraphy and Ink Forest. If the Dusk Drum belonged to them, these eccentric geniuses wouldn't have to worry about prematurely dying due to qi deviation. This would allow the Confucian scholars of the Millennial Calligraphy and Ink Forest to confidently explore various cultivation paths, potentially leading to a blossoming of diverse methods and ushering the Tianhe cultivation world into its most prosperous era.

"From now on, this drum will remain here." After Chen Mobai finished his demonstration, he was very satisfied with the Dusk Drum's effect. Withdrawing his hand, he directly transformed it into the spiritual core of the Sky Net Earth Vein Array on the Eastern Continent side.

The Nascent Soul cultivators immediately saw the nine cloud dragons supporting the suspended dao platform begin to exhale vast quantities of sixth-tier spiritual energy, continuously pouring it into the Dusk Drum. During this process, they felt that this nascent drum began to merge with this realm, becoming the central hub of this plateau.

"Fellow Daoist Chen's mastery in array formations is probably no less than his artifact refining skills, is it?" Immortal Haoran Yiqi asked with a shocked expression after realizing this point.

"Not at all, my artifact refining is slightly more proficient." Chen Mobai replied modestly. Although both were at the sixth-tier, he could be said to have thoroughly mastered most mainstream sixth-tier artifact types in his refining, whereas his understanding of array formations was perhaps only one or two tenths.

Upon learning this, quite a few Nascent Soul cultivators also spoke up, wanting to invite Chen Mobai to help set up arrays. Many sacred lands, due to their shallow foundations, only had fifth-tier mountain protection arrays. Besides sixth-tier artifacts, sixth-tier grand arrays were also something their ancestors had dreamed of for generations.

Regarding this, True Monarch Qingfeng, Ao Yuxia, and others did not speak. Firstly, their sects already possessed sixth-tier grand arrays. Secondly, a grand array was a faction's last line of defense, and outsiders would not be invited to set it up unless absolutely necessary.

After transforming the Dusk Drum into the core of the Sky Net Earth Vein Array, this suspended dao platform, erected for the Nascent Soul Ascension Ceremony, would henceforth become a great marvel of the Eastern Barren. Chen Mobai intended for this place to become the Five Elements Sect's cultivation sanctuary. When important disciples were cultivating and breaking through, they would be brought here. Even Nascent Soul cultivators seeking to ascend could choose this place, as the Dusk Drum was present, eliminating worries about qi deviation, and the area could mobilize up to sixth-tier spiritual energy.

By this point, the Nascent Soul Ascension Ceremony was drawing to a close. Chen Mobai and Qing Nü began to toast each guest individually.

"Brother Chen, after the ceremony concludes, would you like me to set up a large-scale teleportation array here?" When they reached the Taixu缥缈 Palace group, Zhang Pankong proactively offered. After all, this suspended dao platform might become a dream cultivation treasure land for countless cultivators across the Five Continents and Four Seas in the future. According to the Taixu缥缈 Palace's idea, it could certainly be opened for a fee. And to expand the business, transportation was definitely the first thing to improve. The cross-continental teleportation array currently at the center of the suspended dao platform would be dismantled by Zhang Pankong after the ceremony, but setting up a large-scale teleportation array was an easy task for him.

"My Five Elements Sect is currently not short on spirit stones. In the future, I plan to set up several trials, requiring disciples who wish to come here to fly step by step from the Eastern Barren Plateau to reach this place. This way, it can both temper their character and filter out mediocre talents." Chen Mobai, however, shook his head and refused, stating his reasons. While the Dusk Drum could prevent qi deviation, it might also lead to future Five Elements Sect disciples having progressively weaker mental states. Therefore, he intended to eradicate this possibility at its source. After all, the Five Elements Sect currently had no shortage of ordinary disciples; those truly worth cultivating in the future could only be peerless geniuses.

"Brother Chen is brilliant." Zhang Pankong looked enlightened after hearing this.

However, there was actually another reason: Chen Mobai did not want the core of the Sky Net Earth Vein Array to be easily accessible to the Taixu缥缈 Palace. Although Chen Mobai and Zhang Pankong had a good relationship, he hadn't forgotten that he possessed a mysterious turtle treasure that True King Taixu was searching for. If a conflict arose with True King Taixu, Zhang Pankong and his peers would undoubtedly side with their ancestor. Considering this, Chen Mobai would not set up a Taixu缥缈 Palace teleportation array on the suspended dao platform. In any case, he had already thoroughly analyzed the principles of teleportation arrays and could secretly set one up himself in a secluded spot.

After a round of toasts, Chen Mobai and Qing Nü were about to announce the end of the Nascent Soul Ascension Ceremony. Suddenly, the cross-continental teleportation array at the very center of the suspended dao platform lit up with a brilliant silver light.

"Oh, did Fellow Daoist Chen invite other guests?" Witnessing this, the Nascent Soul cultivators were somewhat surprised, and Immortal Haoran Yiqi asked curiously. After all, anyone capable of using a cross-continental teleportation array would at least be a Nascent Soul cultivator, and cultivators of that level would certainly have been invited by Chen Mobai.

"There are no other guests. I only sent invitations to all of you, fellow daoists." Chen Mobai also looked puzzled. After checking and confirming he hadn't sent any extra invitations, he looked towards the Taixu缥缈 Palace group.

At this moment, Zhang Pankong had already approached the cross-continental teleportation array. To activate it, synchronization from Nascent Soul cultivators on both ends of the array was required. So even if the other side initiated it, he still needed to confirm the location on his end.

"Which continent is it from?" Noticing Chen Mobai's gaze, Immortal Taixu asked Zhang Pankong.

"Reporting, Sect Master, the teleportation array requesting synchronization does not match any of the Five Continents of Tianhe." However, at this moment, sweat broke out on Zhang Pankong's forehead as he uttered words that shocked all the Nascent Soul cultivators from Taixu缥缈 Palace.

"Impossible! Our sect's cross-continental teleportation arrays are only located on the Five Continents!" True Monarch Dakong thought Zhang Pankong was young and had sensed incorrectly. He instantly moved in front of the latter, preparing to personally synchronize this cross-continental teleportation.

However, after taking control, he discovered that it was indeed a cross-continental teleportation array he was unfamiliar with that had established synchronization with their side.

"Sect Master, you might need to come and see..." True Monarch Dakong no longer cared about losing face at this moment and immediately sought help from Immortal Taixu. Immortal Taixu transformed into a silver ray, landing before the teleportation array, and solemnly extended his hand.