Chapter 1047: The Witch Array

Sky Tower.

The witch race party passed through the valley’s barrier and arrived at a stone hall.

Inside, darkness reigned. After stepping in, they found no sign of the dangerous barriers that existed outside, yet none dared to recklessly release their spiritual consciousness. They could only explore carefully and patiently.

Old Devil Fang still led the way. The inner space was far wider than expected. Seeing no immediate threat, the grand witch priest ordered everyone to remain alert and spread out slightly.

"There are corpses ahead!" Old Devil Fang transmitted his voice.

Everyone tensed and quickly gathered behind him. Sweeping their spiritual consciousness forward, they indeed discovered several skeletons sprawled across the ground in disarray.

No one knew how long these corpses had been here; only pale bones remained. Old Devil Fang flicked a gust of force that struck one skeleton, and it instantly crumbled to dust. It had completely decayed.

The grand witch priest’s expression turned grave as she surveyed the surroundings. "Everyone, be careful."

Old Devil Fang paused briefly before continuing forward. The others activated their defensive astras, following close behind.

Old Devil Fang spoke to the grand witch priest through transmission, his tone faintly displeased, "Daoist, how much chance do you think there is of finding any witch race relics in such a desolate place?"

The stone hall felt nothing but vast and lifeless. Other than the scattered bones, there was nothing else, not even traces of barriers or arrays.

The grand witch priest soothed him. "Daoist Fang, do not be impatient. That stone disc we found clearly belonged to our witch race. The divine patterns that activated it to open this hall are proof enough that this place has deep ties to our ancestors. This hall may have been built by our ancestors themselves. Its presence within an ancient human's hidden realm must have a purpose."

"I hope your judgment is right." Old Devil Fang replied coldly and said no more. Suddenly, he accelerated and flew ahead rapidly.

After some distance, his figure halted abruptly. The grand witch priest arrived soon after and, upon seeing what lay ahead, her eyes flickered with surprise.

Before them stood a towering stone pillar, weathered with the marks of time. Its surface was densely carved with intricate patterns that nearly covered it entirely. When their spiritual consciousness swept across it, they sensed no fluctuation; it bore neither barrier nor astra properties.

Yet, the grand witch priest’s eyes lit up with excitement. She darted closer and gently traced the patterns with her fingers, murmuring, "The charm within these engravings is identical to that of divine patterns. If I’m not mistaken, this must be one of our witch race’s unique arrays recorded in ancient texts. There should be more pillars like this nearby. Everyone..."

Before she finished, the others understood and spread out to search. Soon, all the pillars hidden within the hall were found, eight in total, perfectly positioned at the eight directions, forming a grand array.

They carefully copied every engraving, then gathered to analyze them together. However, with so little heritage left of the witch race, their understanding of such arrays barely scratched the surface. After studying for a long while with no results, they tried personally to activate the pillars’ power.

Even when infusing divine pattern energy, the pillars showed no response. The grand witch priest frowned deeply. She hadn’t expected this and now felt somewhat helpless.

Just then, Old Devil Fang circled around the pillars and seemed to notice something. "Did these pillars lose their power over the ages?"

"The barriers outside the hall remain intact. These pillars have been sealed within and untouched. Why would they decay faster?" one witch race elder argued.

"That depends on the array’s purpose. The external barrier likely had much greater power in the beginning, yet now it can be breached with merely two Wind Nails. You said before that this array might be linked to a seal. If the devilish monster[1] within had survived and kept striking at the seal until it broke, the array’s power fading away wouldn’t be impossible," Old Devil Fang said indifferently.

"The devilish monster broke free from the seal?" Everyone was startled.

The grand witch priest remained calm. "Do not panic. To have been sealed jointly by both the human and witch races, that being must have been terrifying beyond measure. If the pillars had long lost their power and the devilish monster truly escaped, Canglang Sea would already be drowned in blood. Look at these bones; some are oddly shaped. They could have been those devilish monsters themselves, reduced to bones before the seal finally dissolved."

As she spoke, the grand witch priest activated her movement art and flew to the center of the formation.

With a wave, she cleared away the bones, revealing smooth stone beneath. Her spiritual consciousness swept over it, and her eyes narrowed. Forming hand seals, she pressed down slowly.

A rumbling echoed and stone ground shifted as a stairway leading downward appeared before everyone’s eyes.

"There’s another level below!" The group was both shocked and overjoyed.

Shocked, because if stronger devilish monsters were sealed below, releasing them by accident would spell disaster. Yet joyful, because if the lower seals still remained, they might glimpse the witch race’s Great Dao through them.

The grand witch priest instructed, "If more seals exist below, remember them carefully. They may help us comprehend the Great Dao of divine patterns. Even if we find no ancestral relics, this trip will still be worthwhile."

Old Devil Fang again went down first. The second level was much smaller than the first. They soon found another seal, different in form yet clearly crafted by the witch race ancestors as well.

Using a similar method, they uncovered the entrance to the third level. The deeper they went, the more cautious they became. Old Devil Fang used some secret technique; his figure shimmered faintly, almost illusionary.

After receiving his message, the others descended carefully into the third level, and the sight within made them pause in astonishment.

This final chamber was the smallest, scarcely ten zhang across. In its center stood a circular platform, surrounded by eight stone pillars, shorter than those above but carved with patterns of far greater refinement and mystery.

The platform itself was empty, no bones, no trace of the devilish monster they had imagined to be sealed here.

Old Devil Fang hovered beside the platform, gazing at one pillar. His voice carried shocking news. "This array still retains some power!"

The grand witch priest’s eyes brightened. She instantly flashed forward, studied the array carefully, and began meditating on it intently.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The others soon confirmed there were no devilish monsters hidden in the chamber and likewise stepped forward to observe the pillars.

The stone hall fell silent, a strange stillness filled the air. All of them stared fixedly at those seemingly ordinary pillars as if they were strange treasures.

Yet one by one, including Old Devil Fang, they withdrew their gaze and shook their heads slightly. Only the grand witch priest remained deep in thought.

1. Original word (妖魔) has both demon and devil together. Unsure of which one it actually is. But it sounds like some kind of monster, so using "devilish monster" for this term. ☜