https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-391-Ciji-Zhenjun-s-In-Competition-Guidance/13686981/
Chapter 392: Reengaging Su Yanyang
To master the hundreds of pages of array schematics in such a short time, Zhang Yu’s first thought was naturally Taiqing Jing. After all, it granted a staggering 20-fold acceleration to his thinking speed.
"Ciji Zhenjun must have assumed I’d use the spiritual world's mental acceleration to study," Zhang Yu mused. "After all, who in the Alchemy Department doesn’t have acceleration?"
In an instant, Zhang Yu’s consciousness pierced through the spiritual realm and arrived at the secluded cave residence known as Taiqing Realm.
There, he found Zhang Pianpian absorbed in studying a spell.
Zhang Pianpian glanced up. "You called me in a rush—what’s so urgent?"
Zhang Yu quickly explained how Ciji Zhenjun had personally guided him during the competition, instructing him on how to break Su Yanyang’s array.
In the privacy of Taiqing Jing, Zhang Yu spoke without restraint. "Sister, I need you to prepare the tools for cracking the Intelligent Architecture’s array. You’re the one most familiar with this stuff."
Zhang Pianpian nodded. "Got it. I’ll get the gear ready. You focus on memorizing the schematics."
Meanwhile, Zhang Yu sent a message to the competition group, asking them to gather certain items. Before beginning, he also summoned the service of a Perfect Memory Dao Art.
Under the 20-fold mental acceleration, Zhang Yu first committed the entire spiritual meridian network of Su Yanyang’s spirit armor to memory.
Then, he split his mind into four parts: three streams focused on mastering the Two-Worlds Division Array, the Ten Thousand Ghosts Confusion Array, and the Thousand Mountains Heavy Mountain Array, while the fourth stream studied how these three grand arrays interlocked and controlled one another.
"Too bad the mental acceleration in the Ling realm can’t stack with the Shican Modong in the real world," Zhang Yu thought wistfully. "Otherwise, my efficiency would be even higher."
Still, even with the limitation, his learning speed far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators. By the time the break ended, he had fully committed every detail of the arrays to his mind—barely managing to learn them in time.
"Thankfully, Ciji Zhenjun highlighted the key points for this battle. Otherwise, even after memorizing them, I might not have been able to apply them directly in combat."
…
Outside the arena.
Shi Huaixu and the others watched as Zhang Yu finally arrived, their faces filled with concern. "What happened? Why did you suddenly ask us to prepare all those things?"
To inspire his teammates, Zhang Yu invoked the authority of Director Gao.
"Director Gao personally sent a high-level expert to guide me. He expects us to perform well in the next round."
"He’s incredibly skilled—deep expertise in the art of arrays. He already showed me how to break through Su Yanyang’s formation."
Hearing this, everyone present was stunned. Especially when Director Gao’s name was mentioned, a sense of First Layer confidence quietly settled in their hearts.
Given that Zhang Yu was already officially recognized as Director Gao’s disciple, his words carried even greater weight.
As Zhang Yu began detailing the specific tactics and strategies, the others nodded in agreement. Their confidence steadily grew.
The thought of possibly defeating Su Yanyang—of securing a top-seven ranking in the departmental competition—sent a thrill through Shi Huaixu, Che Yufei, and the rest. Even the mere possibility was enough to stir their excitement.
…
The second half of the competition officially began.
Within the Ling界 Space, the teachers resumed observing the battlefields.
Jiao Lei Immortal, Zhang Yu’s homeroom teacher, was particularly curious about his team’s performance.
When he saw Zhang Yu’s six teammates sprinting as one toward Su Yanyang’s construction site at the start, Jiao Lei couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. "After their loss in the first half, they’re still so determined?"
But what followed only deepened his surprise.
Jiao Lei murmured, "They’re holding… Toxicity Pollutants? They’re throwing them directly into the area where Su Yanyang’s supposed to set up his array?"
A nearby teacher chuckled. "Using environmental pollution as a tactic? That’ll force Su Yanyang to clean up before they can even lay down the spirit energy circuits."
Lang Yougong nodded. "It’s not just random pollution. They’ve already contaminated the spot before Su Yanyang even arrived. That means they’ve already mastered the array schematics—otherwise, they couldn’t have anticipated the layout."
"Looks like they didn’t waste their break."
Then Lang Yougong watched as Shi Huaixu and Tian Yang joined forces, combining Xiao Sanhe with Da Feng Tian Chen Zhang, sweeping across the battlefield in a storm of ash and toxic dust, all tainted with foul aura.
Tu Lishan gave a slow nod. "Foul aura contamination plus dust pollution—Su Yanyang’s team is going to have a tough time cleaning that mess."
Su Yanyang raised his hands, and Xiao Sanhe, enhanced by his spirit armor, instantly activated, raising layer upon layer of earth barriers to block the storm. But even so, some of the tainted dust still slipped through, forcing his team to send members to scrub the affected areas.
Wei Huai spoke coolly. "Just slowing them down. Su Yanyang’s best at crafting large-scale arrays—frontline warfare. Their core array foundation is already complete. All they need to do is expand outward step by step. Zhang Yu’s team won’t be able to stop them."
As if on cue, Su Yanyang manipulated the terrain, coordinating with his teammates to build bunkers while extending the array outward.
…
On the battlefield.
Su Yanyang surveyed the swirling clouds of toxic dust in the distance, his expression unreadable.
"Hmph. Not bad. You’ve actually thought of something."
"As the weakest team in the tournament, you’re putting in a lot of effort."
"But this year… no one’s stopping me from claiming the Seven Absolute."
With a wave of his hands, Su Yanyang commanded the barriers to transform into mud and sand, rolling the polluted parts away while pushing the clean sections back to refill the gaps. He repeated the motion—cleaning the area in a relentless cycle.
Suddenly, his array spirit reported: Over ten intruders have entered the array. They’ve already broken through the Two-Worlds Division Array using a Heaven-Scanning Flying Sword. Now they’re under attack from the Ten Thousand Ghosts Confusion Array.
…
In the Ling world space.
Tu Lishan’s eyes flickered with sudden interest. "While the array was still hastily assembled and its functions incomplete, they sent in a whole swarm of Eye Armors?"
He watched as Zhang Yu’s team remotely controlled a pile of discarded Eye Armors, scattering them into the array from afar. Tu Lishan understood—the goal was to confuse the array spirit.
Each pair of Eye Armors, warped by the Ten Thousand Ghosts Confusion Array, sent distorted visual and data signals, tricking the array spirit into perceiving each as a separate enemy.
These Eye Armors were all cheap, discarded models—repurposed by Zhang Yu’s team with help from Shi Huaixu and the others.
Wei Huai, however, showed no concern. "It’d be easy to detect which ones are real and which are fake by analyzing the data stream."
…
On the battlefield.
Su Yanyang scanned the battlefield and saw the chaotic messages flickering between the Eye Armors.
He coldly ordered the array spirit: "Don’t feed me this mess. Sort the data by call order and format, then send it to me."
Under the influence of the Ten Thousand Ghosts Confusion Array, the intercepted messages were garbled. But Su Yanyang knew the intruders had to be aware their signals would be intercepted.
He sneered inwardly. "They know they’re being monitored… what’s their next trick?"
Just as the array spirit finished organizing the data and sent it back, another report came in: I’ve intercepted their battle plan.
Su Yanyang smirked. "Fools. That’s clearly a trap—deliberately leaked to us. Delete it."
Then, his expression shifted.
"Who just opened it?!"
…
In the Ling realm space.
Tu Lishan’s gaze sharpened. "Zhang Yu actually found the Ling realm interface of the array and connected the old Eye Armors directly?"
"Wait… there’s a Soul Cultivator inside? Could that Soul Cultivator have sneaked into the array and triggered the file on their behalf?"
At that moment, a cascade of ads exploded across Su Yanyang’s team’s Eye Armors.
Finance loan offers flooded the screens. Every time their Eye Armors twitched, new ads appeared—unending, relentless.
Director Gao watched, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Ah… the Shake-to-Ad feature from Finance Department. Someone with spellcraft skills must have embedded it inside, disguising it as a file."
"Su Yanyang’s array was too hastily assembled—too rushed. That’s how Zhang Yu found the opening."
He paused, then remembered: one of the students who shared Zhang Yu’s dormitory was from the Spellcraft Department—a top-tier talent, close to Zhang Yu.
"Knowing someone from Spellcraft Department is useful. You never know when you’ll need them."
He saw the scene unfold: every time someone tapped their Eye Armor, the system would flood them with loan recommendations, and the more loans they had, the more ads appeared.
Now, Su Yanyang’s team was trapped—forced to keep their Eye Armors perfectly still, one by one shutting down the intrusive pop-ups.
Even worse—ads began appearing in their competition chat logs. They even started spilling into the teachers’ view.
Director Gao chuckled. "Ah, the Finance Department's ads. Universal in the Ling realm. One glance, and it sticks like glue. Quite the force to be reckoned with."
"Old Lin, do you really think you can outmaneuver them? This kind of power?"
He didn’t stop the ads—partly to let everyone witness the sheer dominance of the Finance Department’s influence, and partly because Ciji Zhenjun had said he’d handle it.
"Why’s Ciji Zhenjun suddenly wanting to show off?" Director Gao mused. "He hasn’t flaunted any spirit artifacts in ages."
Just then, a radiant tower-like aura flickered into existence above Ciji Zhenjun’s text box—golden light cascading like a sacred pagoda. Where it passed, every ad vanished into nothingness.
Not just ads—every teacher in the Ling界 Space felt their Jin Dan Domain and Yuan Ying Realm flicker and fade for a split second. Even the Ling界 projections trembled.
But in an instant, the aura faded. Everything returned to normal.
Lin Director stared, heart pounding. "That’s the Jiutian Yuanyang Tower—a spirit artifact capable of repelling ghosts and demons, purging all external data from the Ling界. It’s not just a tool—it’s a pure yang essence artifact, nearly reaching level 41."
He knew: once it fully matured into a pure yang supreme artifact, it could rival the power of a Hua Shen God in certain aspects.
As the tower’s presence settled, the atmosphere in the Lingxi Space shifted. The teachers now regarded Ciji Zhenjun with renewed respect.
Director Gao thought, So that’s what this is about. Ciji Zhenjun’s giving our War Faction a boost—no payment, no strings. After all these centuries, our friendship still means something.
Ciji Zhenjun, however, silently reflected: Old Gao… I hope you realize the gap between us. Don’t waste your energy on futile resistance. It’ll only hurt you in the end.
His gaze returned to the battlefield. Zhang Yu… in such a short time, he memorized every detail of the arrays and prepared a countermeasure. Better than I expected.
…
Meanwhile, on the battlefield.
Zhang Yu thought, Ciji Zhenjun was right—the best time to break an array is before it’s fully established.
He sent a message: "Old Zhao, found it yet?"
Zhao Tianxing replied, "I’m following your direction—"
Zhang Yu had hired Zhao Tianxing, a Soul Cultivator, to infiltrate Su Yanyang’s Intelligent Architecture through the discarded Eye Armors. It was Zhao Tianxing who triggered the ad attack.
Now, using his memory of the array schematics, Zhang Yu guided Zhao Tianxing to the target location.
Then, Zhao Tianxing spoke: "Got it. I’ll mark the direction."
A red arrow appeared in Zhang Yu’s Eye Armor view.
In an instant, Zhang Yu blurred forward, dodging through the air—then burst into a hastily erected warehouse.
Inside, the space was empty—except for Su Yanyang, floating silently in midair.
Su Yanyang stared at Zhang Yu. "You think I’d leave such a crucial storage site unguarded?"
With a cold wave of his palm, he unleashed the full power of his spirit armor—his 20th-level Xuanhuang Zhenyue Seal driving forward the 20th-level Xuanhuang Great Hand Seal. The overwhelming Xuanhuang Qi erupted like a storm, engulfing Zhang Yu in a crushing wave.
Boom after boom echoed across the ground as Zhang Yu’s body was slammed down, his weight multiplying uncontrollably. Cracks exploded beneath his feet with every step.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
