Chapter 917: The Nine Bends Yellow River Formation!

These past weeks, the screening of the Investiture of the Gods within the shop had coincided with the very climax of the war between Xiqi and Yin-Shang. The disciples of the Chan and Jie sects, alongside immortal lords and hermits from every path, took the stage one after another. Their various magical treasures, tactical arrays, and divine abilities unfolded in unmatched, peerless splendor upon this grand stage of deification!

Almost everyone in the shop watched with breathless excitement. For every episode and every duel of magic, they wished nothing more than to play it over and over, watching it a dozen times just to satisfy themselves.

Never had they imagined that upon this mortal battlefield, a clash of immortals and gods could be enacted with such magnificent grandeur. Furthermore, the divine abilities and magical treasures used were almost entirely unheard of, beyond the wildest reaches of their imagination!

Unlike any legendary tales they had seen before—where even in the Journey to the West, they only remembered a few figures like the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and the Tathagata Buddha—in this Investiture of the Gods...

Grand Preceptor Wen Zhong, Jiang Ziya, the Ten Heavenly Lords, Zhao Gongming... name after name was on the tip of every viewer’s tongue. Whenever they discussed them, they could even describe each person's unique magical treasures and divine abilities with absolute clarity.

Perhaps this mortal battlefield was indeed an unprecedented, terrible catastrophe. Yet, had it not been for this war, how could such a multitude of hermits and extraordinary figures have burst onto the scene? How could so many ancient, singular treasures have shaken the past and illuminated the present?

And how would anyone have known... what matchless, celestial might these spiritual cultivators—who usually lived in seclusion, roaming mountains to visit friends while ignoring worldly affairs—had once displayed?

Before this, the Ten Heavenly Lords had laid down the Array of Ten Absolute Perfections. In front of the two armies, Xiqi had struggled bitterly without finding a way to break it, and their commander had nearly perished. In the end, the Twelve Golden Immortals were drawn down into the mortal dust, and only through their combined efforts was it finally shattered. But following that, the Three Fairies of Three Immortal Island laid down the Nine-Bends Yellow River Array!

Now, consider Zhao Gongming. Endowed with profound cultivation and having refined himself into a celestial body of jade, he had descended the mountain to avenge the deaths of several Heavenly Lords of the Jie sect. Alone, he defeated the Twelve Golden Immortals in succession and returned in triumphant glory. Yet now, he had fallen victim to the Curse of the Seven Arrow Book. Utterly helpless and with no recourse left, he could only await his end, uttering a cry of anguish as he helplessly returned to Heaven.

Zhao Gongming was a man who placed supreme value on loyalty and righteousness, yet it was for this very reason that his life ended and his Dao was extinguished. This was what prompted the Three Fairies of Three Immortal Island to descend the mountain to aid the cause. The fairy Yunxiao selected six hundred ordinary soldiers, using white earth to sketch out a diagram, marking where it began and where it ended. Within it lay hidden the secrets of the primordial world and the mechanisms of life and death; externally, it followed the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams for entry and exit, advancing and retreating in a continuous, perfectly orderly chain.

Though the men numbered but six hundred, the profundity within was no less than that of a host of millions. Even should an immortal enter, their soul would dissipate and their spirit vanish. The troop practiced the array for a little over half a month until they were thoroughly familiar with its movements.

Seeing this, the entire audience was struck dumb, no longer knowing what to say.

"The Daoist magic of these three sisters has actually reached such a terrifying height?!" At this moment, Gu Tingyun had also rushed and scrambled to finally catch up with everyone's progress. Seeing this scene, the shock in his heart could well be imagined.

"Selecting a group of ordinary soldiers... training them for half a month, sharpening their spears only at the front lines, and they can actually deploy such a grand array...?!"

This was simply too inconceivable to imagine!

When the array was fully formed, it was written: "The array aligns with heaven and earth, its momentum sways the Yellow River. The bleak wind howls, chilling human spirit; the black mist rolls, obscuring sun and moon. Vast and drifting, distant and obscure; a grim aura pierces the vault of heaven, while a gloomy fog envelops the earth.

It dissolves the soul and extinguishes the spirit; though you have cultivated for a thousand years, it turns to a mere drawing. It damages the mind and saps the vitality; even if you escape a myriad tribulations of hardship, you will stumble here. It is truly a place where immortals find it hard to arrive, shearing away the Three Flowers atop their heads; even if the Buddha himself should come, the Five Qi in his chest would dissolve away. Meeting this array, the destined tribulation is inescapable; encountering it, how can even a true immortal hide?"

This array seemed even simpler to arrange than the Array of Ten Absolute Perfections, yet who could have guessed that its power actually surpassed those ten arrays combined!

"Look quick! The Twelve Golden Immortals have come to break the array!" Inside the Jiuhua City shop, a crowd of people sat together, shouting in a continuous uproar. Those who were usually detached and serene could no longer remain calm today, each crying out and exclaiming. For this normally well-behaved crowd, it was the very first time they had shown such a spectacle.

"The first to enter the array is actually Guangchengzi?! The primary immortal who strikes the golden bell under the Yuxiu Palace sect?! And the second immortal to enter, Chijingzi, has also come to assist?!" Even Nalan Hongwu, who was always steady, could not help but feel a surge of heroic pride as he watched. It was as if merely witnessing such a duel of magic was already the crowning pride of his life, making his whole existence worthwhile!

Chijingzi could be seen treading upon lotus flowers, his immortal magic profound and mysterious. To break the Array of Ten Absolute Perfections previously, he had brought forth all the supreme treasures from his cave, such as the Purple Ribbon Immortal Robe and the Yin-Yang Mirror, to protect his body.

Guangchengzi held his sword aloft in midair, blending his light with the dust.

Yet Yunxiao merely tossed the Primordial Golden Dipper into the air. A streak of golden light shot forth, flashing like lightning to the eyes, and somehow, Chijingzi tumbled down into the array.

The moment he entered the array, the Niwan Palace atop his head was sealed shut. He was seen stumbling and groping inside the array; though he possessed heaven-reaching cultivation, he could not display a fraction of it!

Even Guangchengzi fared not a single bit better. Along with Chijingzi, within a single exchange, both were captured!

Immediately after, a scene occurred that almost no one could believe their eyes... The three sisters urged the grand array forward, wielding their magical treasures as they launched a sweeping assault, capturing Manjusri Bodhisattva, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Cihang Daoist, Qingxu Virtue True Lord, Daoxing Heavenly Lord, Yuding True Lord...

Of the Twelve Golden Immortals, not a single one managed to escape! All were captured within the array!

The Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan sect, who had previously shattered the Array of Ten Absolute Perfections and displayed such grand celestial might, were not a match for them in a single exchange!

"Too... too terrifying! The Nine-Bends Yellow River Array is the most horrifying grand array this dragon has ever seen in his life!" Inside the Canglan City shop, a black dragon was seen shouting aloud, "It should be called the number one grand array under heaven!"

"With such power, such wonder, who else can possibly break this array?!" In the new shop of the Eastern Continent, several ancestors looked on, their hearts freezing with sheer terror.

Those Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan sect had actually... been forcibly sheared of the Three Flowers atop their heads within the array, their lifetime of cultivation nearly obliterated! They had been turned into ordinary mortals?!

At this sight, the reaction of the audience went far beyond mere surprise; almost everyone was screaming in their hearts: These are the Twelve Golden Immortals!

On such a vast battlefield where countless Golden Immortals had descended, at this very moment, only Randeng and Jiang Ziya were left entirely alone!

Seeing that things had taken a turn for the worse, Randeng used an earth-escape technique to turn into a clear breeze and fled.

"This...?!" One must know that when they watched Journey to the West, the impression the Ancient Buddha Randeng gave them was that he stood almost on equal footing with the Tathagata Buddha!

To think that here, he was beaten into a frantic retreat?! He could only go to Yuxiu Palace to invite the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning?!

Wave after wave, even more magnificent and grander battles, even more unimaginable duels of magic left the crowd utterly captivated. Leaving aside how clearly the Nine-Bends Yellow River Array had been displayed—suggesting one could draw the outline and replicate it—just considering how the twelve disciples were all trapped, and what decision the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning would make next, made everyone feel an urgent desperation to know the answer immediately!

"Oh my! How can this Investiture of the Gods be so good to watch?!" Jiang Xiaoyue could not help but plead at this moment, "Boss, can't you show a few more episodes every day?!"

"Uh..."

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