Chapter 286: Chapter 286: It’s Not The Array Destroyed, Back to the Palace!

Fortunately, it didn’t take long before Lu Chen encountered Xiao Hei coming his way. Upon seeing Lu Chen, Xiao Hei was pleasantly surprised and said, "Master, it’s great to see you’re all right!"

"Let’s go!"

Lu Chen didn’t waste any words, he simply flicked his sleeve, and Xiao Hei dove into it!

Following that, he used the spear in his hand as a pole, pushed forcefully against the ground, and his whole body shot upwards!

He hadn’t mastered Artifact Control for flying, and at this critical juncture he didn’t dare to try it rashly, for fear of becoming buried in the earth, never to emerge—which would be a serious problem!

After leaping up, Lu Chen turned the spear around and thrust it into a crack, then with a fierce effort, he pulled himself up and with his other hand reached through the quicksand to grab onto the edge of the crack.

Once he felt secure, Lu Chen then started to climb upwards against the flow of the quicksand.

The palace continued to shake, and having transformed his entire body into Earth Spirit Power, Lu Chen was unaffected by the quicksand, which was somewhat unexpected to him.

He encountered no obstacles and dove into the quicksand, quickly reaching the top of the palace.

The quicksand flowed like water, and although it didn’t wash him away, Lu Chen found it difficult to stand steady in it.

After pondering for a moment, he decided to use the Hateful Heaven Pupil Technique within the quicksand.

He wouldn’t have bothered, but once he used it, Lu Chen was immediately stunned in place.

This quicksand...

He had always thought it was quicksand imbued with Spiritual Power, but never had he considered that these grains of sand had all transformed from Earth Spirit Power!

"Can Spiritual Power not only become Fusion Liquid but also transform into solid substances?"

For a moment, Lu Chen was somewhat dumbfounded, but then he thought it might be normal; after all, he had transformed all the Spiritual Power in his body, thus becoming immune to the quicksand’s effects—probably for that reason!

"So, what exactly is causing these disturbances in the palace below?"

Knowing now that the quicksand was all transformed from Spiritual Power, Lu Chen was no longer in a hurry. Once he felt that the underground palace wouldn’t collapse in the near future, he lay down and put his head back into the crack to investigate.

The vibration persisted, but Lu Chen discovered something astonishing!

Indeed, the quicksand was falling, but upon entering the palace, it completely turned into Earth Spirit Energy and surged toward the deep chamber where the altar was kept!

"Could I have misunderstood? It’s not a collapse due to a failure in the Earth Element Formation, but some unusual change in the Formation itself?"

As the thought occurred to him, Lu Chen felt something was amiss. He saw the formation patterns within the palace flashing dimly and brightly, showing no signs of destruction!

He had simply been startled by the tremors and, with the sand falling from above, he subconsciously assumed it was a collapse of the Earth Element Formation!

"Could there be a problem with the key treasure at the center of the Formation?"

Lu Chen furrowed his brows, thinking that if this part of the Formation was intact, it must definitely be related to the key treasure at the center of the Formation.

"Spear Spirit, do you sense anything?"

After staring for quite some time, confirming that the formation patterns were stable and the palace was simply shaking, Lu Chen then asked the Spear Spirit.

"Master, it seems indeed nothing too serious, but this flow of Earth Spirit Power toward one place must be connected with the central treasure of the Formation!"

"The key treasure of the Formation is a tortoise shell—could it be that the shell has come to life, growing flesh again, and transformed into an Earth tortoise?"

Lu Chen muttered to himself, deciding he should still check to confirm.

However, this time, Lu Chen had decided that upon re-entering the palace, he would first devoutly practice the technique of Artifact Control for flying—it was only because the Formation hadn’t collapsed that he had been able to climb to the top of the palace.

After landing, Lu Chen sat cross-legged on the ground, laid the long spear horizontally in front of him, and began to communicate with the Spear Spirit.

But the Spear Spirit was originally a Formation Spirit, and while it might offer some insight into Formations, it knew absolutely nothing about Artifact Control and flying.

Lu Chen scratched his head and had no choice but to try to comprehend it on his own.

The principle of Artifact Control for flying was not complicated—it was simply about infusing Spiritual Power into a Magic Artifact and then controlling it to fly.

Lu Chen wondered to himself, could it be that this long spear, crudely made by my own hands, is somehow unsuitable for Imperial Command?

But no matter what he thought, it was useless; he had to try it out!

Thinking about how his body sped up when he channeled Spiritual Power into his legs, Lu Chen followed that sensation and slowly channeled his Spiritual Power into the long spear!

This time, he paid close attention and soon discovered that the long spear actually felt somewhat different!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read