Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal?

Chapter 856.5: Confinement Formation

...What the hell is this mountain god barking about...

Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng turned their heads to look at Shiqing.

It's just four Demon Sealing Pagodas, right?

Haven't you seen a Demon Sealing Pagoda before?

Then honestly, the standard of the immortals on this Earth Star needs to be lowered another notch.

Yet Shiqing continued to lose his mind.

He stomped his foot on the ground, and with a *boom*, he soared into the air, instantly arriving beyond the atmosphere. Looking around, he saw the nine whirlpools corresponding to the nine Demon Sealing Pagodas churning the winds and clouds, but now their positions had clearly shifted.

Especially the four beneath him, they had completely changed location.

Even the direction of the Earth Veins had changed along with them.

Shiqing returned to the ground, his expression grim. "It's over..."

Zhang Yibai walked over to Shiqing's side, weighing his words carefully. "Great Immortal, why do you look so worried? Is there something wrong with these Demon Sealing Pagodas?"

Shiqing remained silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Do you know why these four Demon Sealing Pagodas changed position, and why they were cut in half? Who did it?"

Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng exchanged a glance.

Weren't these four Demon Sealing Pagodas moved by Chen Niu using his Divine Ability?

The Immortals of the Immortal Realm don't seem that united either, so telling him it was Chen Niu's doing probably wouldn't matter.

"Replying to the Great Immortal, these four Demon Sealing Pagodas were the work of the Demon Immortal Chen Niu.

At the time, it wanted to compete with Hua Jin the True One for the Celestial Jade Marrow, so it moved four Demon Sealing Pagodas and set up a formation at the birthplace of the Celestial Jade Marrow... However, it ultimately died, beheaded by someone. We don't know who killed it."

"Moved the Demon Sealing Pagodas to set up a formation? What reckless nonsense!" Shiqing snorted coldly. "Do you know why the nine Demon Sealing Pagodas were established? And why there are nine Wells of Heaven?"

Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng shook their heads.

Aren't the Demon Sealing Pagodas for suppressing demonic beasts?

But since Shiqing asked this way, it definitely wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface.

"These nine Demon Sealing Pagodas themselves are Formation Cores! In ancient times, a great expert from the Divine Realm used heaven and earth as the foundation, forging nine Demon Sealing Pagodas as Formation Cores to refine the essence of heaven and earth, sealing it inside along with the Fierce Beasts. Over time, this formed the Wells of Heaven, which store vast amounts of Spiritual Energy! The Wells of Heaven themselves are the core that provides energy for the Great Formation!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yibai's pupils contracted.

The Wells of Heaven as Formation Cores, heaven and earth as the formation's foundation.

What an immense undertaking!

What was this for?

"This junior is hearing this for the first time. May I ask, Great Immortal, what is this Great Formation... meant to do?" He asked, cupping his hands in respect.

"With my position, I do not know many details." Shiqing sighed. "I only know this formation is a Confinement Formation, and also a Refining Formation. It refines the Destiny Energy of heaven and earth, but what it confines... this deity does not know."

Zhang Yibai: "..."

His tongue felt a bit numb.

If what Shiqing said was true, then what kind of existence required nine Wells of Heaven to confine it? Moreover, this Great Formation used heaven and earth as its basic framework, using the mountains, rivers, and land as materials; otherwise, it couldn't confine such an existence.

And also...

From Shiqing's meaning, the reason the Wells of Heaven had so much Spiritual Energy was because it was extracted from the confined entity.

So, was it possible...

That the reason Celestial Jade Marrow could be produced was also related to that confined existence?

Then... was it also possible...

That the so-called endless cycles were meant to continuously suppress that confined existence, endlessly extracting resources from it to achieve certain goals?

The more you think about it, the more terrifying it becomes!

Just imagining the feeling of being covered from head to toe in bloodsucking worms, unable to move, was enough to give Zhang Yibai chills.

He didn't know what kind of existence was confined, but if that one broke free, the entire Earth Star might be punched through by it! This was probably the reason for Shiqing's anger and fear.

From the theory of formations—if the Formation Cores are moved or damaged, even if the formation is still effective, it will inevitably be far less potent than before, and very likely has already loosened.

"If the Demon Sealing Pagodas are such important Formation Cores, didn't those Demon Immortals know?" Gu Changsheng suddenly asked. "The various immortals of Lingxiao all know not to move the Demon Sealing Pagodas, yet these Demon Immortals didn't know... that's a bit hard to believe, isn't it?"

"They knew." Shiqing said with a dark face, his tone icy. "But we did not tell them the specific reason, only that they must not move the positions of the Demon Sealing Pagodas.

But clearly, they didn't take it seriously... Demon Immortals, the Buddhist Kingdom, and we, the various immortals of Lingxiao, although we all belong to the Upper Realm, are not on harmonious terms. We couldn't possibly tell them everything.

Now the Demon Immortals have caused a great disaster. This deity must first return to report.

We can only see if those lords have any remedial plans."

For now, Hua Jin the True One was fine.

Chen Niu was dead, Wu E's whereabouts were unknown.

Shiqing wanted to leave, and Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng couldn't find a reason to keep him.

The current situation was chaotic. The amount of information in Shiqing's words was too great. They didn't know if Shiqing returning to report was good or bad, nor did they know if the entity suppressed by the nine Demon Sealing Pagodas breaking free would be a catastrophe for Earth Star.

After speaking, Shiqing directly transformed into a stone statue right where he stood.

It seemed he was about to return.

However, the next second, a soaring column of Demonic Energy rose from the east.

The pitch-black Demonic Energy was like ink clouds, plunging the eastern sky into darkness, blotting out the sun. The terrifying fluctuations of Demonic Energy could be clearly felt even from a great distance.

Shiqing, who was about to fully turn into a stone statue, suddenly halted.

He turned his head to look at the eastern sky, then glanced at Zhang Yibai and Gu Changsheng standing dumbfounded, and Hua Jin the True One meditating in seclusion. A flash of impatience crossed his eyes.

He didn't want to deal with it.

But he had accepted the incense offerings, taken on the karma.

If these juniors died because of the suddenly erupting great demon, he would bear the karma.

It seemed reporting back would have to wait a bit.

He had to deal with the source of the Demonic Energy in the east first.

"You wait here, don't move around." Shiqing resumed his human form, his tone serious. "A great demon has appeared in the east. Judging by the aura, it's very likely the Demon Immortal you spoke of!

This deity will go deal with it for you first. Anyone who runs around and gets killed by demonic beasts will bear the consequences themselves!"

That aura wasn't Wu E or any known Demon Immortal.

Shiqing knew this.

But for the sake of his image, he had to put on a show.

...

Above the Eastern Sea, the clear sky for ten thousand *li* suddenly lost its color.

Not only was it covered by ink-black Demonic Energy, but the light itself was distorting, collapsing, as if being devoured by an invisible giant maw.

The sea surface no longer rose and fell, frozen into a dark mirror, reflecting the increasingly deep vortex in the sky.

There was no wind, no waves, even sound had vanished. A deathly silence pressed down, suffocating.

At the center of this absolute silence, Muscle Tyrant—or rather,

the existence that was no longer purely Muscle Tyrant—slowly raised its head.

Its body had not expanded endlessly. Instead, it had become more condensed and refined, its lines sleek and brimming with destructive power. Most of the dark golden runes that originally covered its body had faded, only occasionally appearing with its movements.

The most heart-stopping thing was the space around it.

The seawater wasn't pushed aside; it "disappeared," leaving behind an ever-expanding hemispherical vacuum domain. The seawater at the edge maintained the smooth cross-section from the instant it was "erased," unable to flow in and fill the void.

The air was the same. Light traveling within a hundred *zhang* of its body would bizarrely bend and dim, as if a black hole capable of devouring matter and rules lurked there.

It moved its front claw slightly, the motion gentle.

*Crack—*

A pitch-black fissure stretching for a thousand *li* appeared out of thin air, spanning the space between sky and sea.

That wasn't a tear in space, but something more fundamental. It was a wound where "existence" was negated, its edges flickering with an ominous, all-ending light of nothingness.

The fissure slowly closed.

The lingering aftershocks, however, made the entire seabed of the Eastern Sea groan under unbearable pressure.

The continent trembled.

Renshou had long since retreated to the edge of the formation, his face deathly pale.

It wasn't just his True Essence being depleted; it was the instinctive shudder born from the gap in life hierarchy.

Facing Taotie, he felt like a puppet in an ink painting, while the other was an existence that could casually crumple and tear the canvas itself.

Chen Huaian remained with his eyes closed, his sword-finger held vertically before his chest, the Black Scales Sword silently suspended behind him.

Only his brows were slightly furrowed. The Sword Intent flowing around him was unprecedentedly heavy. The sword formation composed of a thousand flying swords emitted a faint hum.

What he "saw" was not Demonic Energy, not power, but a manifestation nearly akin to "the Dao"—the embodiment of Devouring and Termination. This was no ordinary Fierce Beast. Its very existence was constantly consuming the surrounding "reality."

Muscle Tyrant—Taotie, its massive head turned towards the direction of Chen Huaian and Renshou.

In its eyes, the blood mist had long since dissipated.

Replacing it was a swirling chaos, bottomlessly deep.

There was no killing intent, no brutality.

Only an indifference so extreme it became... a sense of hunger.

As if all things between heaven and earth, all rules and principles, were merely food to be tasted.

This... was the true Taotie!

...