Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1288 - 1288 0738 How Many People Will Believe_2

Chapter 1288: Chapter 0738: How Many People Will Believe?_2 Chapter 1288: Chapter 0738: How Many People Will Believe?_2 Manager Chen clenched his teeth. He had originally planned to delay for a bit to allow his injuries to further heal, but now it seemed that he had been too wishful in his thinking. In order to maintain his advantage, he had no choice but to temporarily give up on healing and seize the opportunity to attack Qi Tian before all the mechanisms and traps in the Inner Underground Palace were destroyed by him.

Manager Chen made a quick decision, without any more doubts. Having already suffered from his hesitation just now, he naturally couldn’t make a similar mistake at this time. Thus, as Qi Tian approached another array, Manager Chen preempted him, issuing the command to activate the array.

Qi Tian had always been worried about Manager Chen setting him up. The lock of the Heavenly Dao Engine on him had never left, and although Manager Chen still appeared to be sitting there motionless, through the sensing function of the Heavenly Dao Engine, Qi Tian immediately captured the signal Manager Chen sent to the array.

Spirit Qi transmission within the array takes time, and Qi Tian had long made an estimation: the higher the level of the array, often the faster the speed of Spirit Qi transmission. To be more specific, the time interval between the command being issued and the array’s activation tends to shrink as the level of the array increases.

This speed has limits—it’s several orders of magnitude slower than the speed of light, and even compared to the speed of sound, it’s far inferior. However, if the command is allowed to transmit within the underground array unchecked, it wouldn’t take much time for the array to activate, and the power generated by the array would strike Qi Tian, causing him considerable trouble.

Qi Tian did not want to receive such trouble, so he launched a preemptive attack, choosing the right direction and angle, then had the Transporting Whirlwind, which had been in front of him serving as a sentry, strike swiftly. Turned into a sand wheel, it burrowed into the ground following the direction and angle provided by Qi Tian, cutting off the connection between the array and Manager Chen before the command could arrive, preventing the possibility of the array’s activation.

Manager Chen detected the anomaly immediately— the connection to the array he had just targeted was gone. He knew right away that something had gone wrong, and without a doubt, it must have been Qi Tian’s doing. While Manager Chen was itching with hatred, he knew that hating Qi Tian was pointless right now. The primary task was still to eliminate Qi Tian; everything else could wait.

With gritted teeth, Manager Chen decided to go all in. Since Qi Tian had discovered his ruse and even had the capability to disrupt it mid-action, he no longer needed to hold back. He simply decided to activate all the remaining arrays and mechanisms at once, refusing to believe Qi Tian could counter all his moves.

The command was swiftly issued by Manager Chen to activate all remaining mechanisms and arrays.

The command issued from Manager Chen began to spread out, traveling through the array networks buried underground, radiating in all directions.

As before, Qi Tian picked up these signals, but he had no time to react at all. After all, there were still many arrays and mechanisms left, and the underground array networks, like a spider’s web, spread far and wide in inconsistent directions. He could sever part of them, but for the rest, he was powerless to intervene.

Qi Tian could guess why Manager Chen would take such action, and he had to admit that Manager Chen was indeed a ruthless person— not just anyone would dare to make such a move at this time. The options available to Qi Tian were extremely limited, and successful interference wouldn’t solve any problems.

Qi Tian simply did not bother to try and sever the underground array signals with the Transporting Whirlwind like before, knowing that it was meaningless to do so now.

Qi Tian quickly gave orders, summoning all the help he could muster to come to his aid, instructing them to surround him in layers, within and without.

After all the lustrous sand and Transporting Whirlwinds had just finished setting up defenses, along with the nine ghastly faces, the numerous mechanisms and arrays throughout the Inner Underground Palace began to activate one after another. They released their energies, which had been accumulated over hundreds, even thousands of years, without any hindrance, creating an apocalyptic scene inside the Inner Underground Palace within a very short amount of time.

Referring to it as the apocalypse was no exaggeration, Manager Chen this time had activated all the mechanisms and arrays at once, each releasing a very high destructive force. Just dealing with one was troublesome enough, but now, with dozens of mechanisms and traps all setting off together, one could only imagine the magnitude of their combined power.

Most of the power unleashed by these mechanisms and arrays did not have a specific target; they simply destroyed their surroundings, with many areas being blasted again and again.

This explosive or other lethal means did not harm Qi Tian. Nevertheless, a part of the mechanisms and traps were directly aiming for Qi Tian.

The nine ghastly faces on the outermost layer, without needing Qi Tian’s command, quickly rushed forward to shield him from the onslaught. They acted recklessly, heedless of whether their actions could cause them irreparable damage.

Not one of the ghastly faces slacked off, but even with their combined efforts, they only managed to block a portion of the attacks. Still, some of it circumvented them and made a beeline for Qi Tian’s position.

The part of the mechanisms and arrays that had bypassed the first line of defense unleashed their lethal forces on Qi Tian’s second line of defense. Then wave after wave, layer upon layer, the attacks came without cessation, continuously advancing towards Qi Tian if not blocked.

These things were easy to talk about, but when Qi Tian actually faced them on the battlefield, he realized that he had underestimated Manager Chen, or rather, he had underestimated the combat strength of the ghoul that had become one with Manager Chen.

The arrays and traps set up by the ghoul in the Inner Underground Palace were enormously powerful. Even though the ghastly faces and the Transporting Whirlwinds could block most of the force, some of it still inevitably targeted Qi Tian.

At this time, Qi Tian showed no hint of panic. The black hole in his palm emerged, and he summoned back several Transporting Whirlwinds. He then directed them to gather those energies, which had breached several lines of defense, dragging them into the storage chamber of the Heavenly Dao Engine.

This situation persisted for a lengthy period, until no more mechanisms or arrays exploded. Clearly, the situation inside the Inner Underground Palace had been brought under control, and Manager Chen must have activated all the mechanisms and traps that could be triggered.

From start to finish, Qi Tian had not suffered any major injuries, yet the nine ghastly faces on the outermost perimeter had a few who were not lightly wounded. The immense explosive forces and surging shockwaves from the mechanisms and traps activated by Manager Chen were mostly aimed at the ghastly faces. The strengths of the ghastly faces varied; most were unharmed, but a few with lower cultivation realms were affected. Among them, two were injured.

However, this outcome greatly exceeded Qi Tian’s expectations. The combined destructive power that the mechanisms and arrays could unleash when activated at the same time was tremendous. Qi Tian had even prepared himself for the potential sacrifice of one or two ghastly faces but didn’t expect that the ghastly faces would block all these attacks for him, far exceeding his predictions.

Qi Tian was very pleased with this outcome. He felt fortunate for the defenses he had set up earlier and for having subjugated the nine ghastly faces. If he had killed them at the beginning, he wouldn’t have achieved such an effect now. He emerged completely unharmed, a feat that if spread, few would believe. Most would probably think he was boasting.