The project had been terminated, and the colonization of Mars postponed. They had originally wanted to wait until the Federation was ready and had the means, and for the conditions to be ripe, before they restarted the project to colonize the area.
Based on their estimates, it would be at least thirty years before they were ready.
That was why when they had left the catacombs, they had set up a seal. That had been to prevent the beasts, who had absorbed the radiation from the Divine Armament and mutated, from escaping from the catacombs and causing chaos. That had been how peace had resumed in the region.
If not for the blood-colored mist and winds that had suddenly swept across half the Martian planet, the current situation might have persisted. The plans might even have been postponed further. But with the appearance of the blood-colored phenomenon, and strange villages and the corpse in the Blood Cave, investigations had been carried out by the Martian administration. Their findings all pointed towards the Divine Armament Catacombs.
Their findings had already proven that the seal over the Divine Armament Catacombs had prevented the Divine Armament’s radiation from spreading and resulted in a build-up of pressure within the catacombs. That had, in turn, resulted in the appearance of the blood-colored mist and winds.
There had been no conclusive findings on the strange villages that had appeared though. None of the powerful figures in the Federation had any clue why they had appeared, but they guessed that it had something to do with the Divine Armament as well.
They had reason to believe that if they continued to maintain the seal over the catacombs, more catacombs and underground caverns might begin to appear on Mars… Based on their deduction, they might have another ten years or so before something like that began to happen…
Once that happened, they wouldn’t be able to continue with their colonization. The Martian colony would be faced with incredible danger as well.
After serious deliberation and weighing their options, the Martian Colony Governor came up with a bold plan. They would set up a gigantic array formation above the sealed Divine Armament Catacombs.
The array formation had two functions. The first was to release beasts from the catacombs on a regular basis for extermination. That would lessen the pressure building up inside the catacombs and provide Mars with countless materials that could be farmed from the dead beasts. Not only could they conduct studies on the farmed materials, but they could also observe in detail the changes inside the catacombs through what they had scavenged after each extermination.
Its second purpose… was key.
This was akin to… gradually smoothing a stone with the continuous trickling of water droplets. They would use the power of the array formation to slowly wear down the wall. Based on the Governor’s studies, it might take them only ten years to wear the ice wall down to an extent that they wouldn’t need to unleash the Divine Armament to break through it. They needed only the combined powers of the Core Formation realm cultivators in the Federation to blast through the wall.
The Governor had handed the proposal over to the Federation. The Federation had conducted their own studies and research, and finally, they had given the Governor permission to build a large array formation outside the Divine Armament Catacombs!
The name of this array formation was… the Qi Fostering Spirit Array Formation!
The array formation was immensely powerful. After the ancient green-bronze sword had appeared, they had discovered the Qi Fostering Art on a gigantic sword fragment. This array formation had been recorded on that same fragment. It could be viewed as a supplementary array formation to the Qi Fostering Art!
It had a special feature. The greater the number of people practicing the Qi Fostering Art inside the array formation, the more powerful the array formation.
Every political force had unanimously promoted and encouraged the practicing of the Qi Fostering Art. There hadn’t been any opposition from any of them. The official reason put out to the public, for pushing the Federation populace to practice the Qi Fostering Art, was to refine Spirit Stones so that the Federation would have a supply of Spirit Stones to serve as both currency and resources. But the hidden objective that was concealed from the masses was to sustain the Qi Fostering Spirit Array Formation!
Every political force used the array formation. After a city on earth was built, the Federation would send over specialized array formation cultivators to set up the array formation.
Be it Mars, the Moon, or the Federation Capital—all their major array formations were Qi Fostering Spirit Array Formations!
The Federation made minor adjustments and modifications to the array formation after conducting some research. Each array formation was encrypted. They might all be sustained by the same source, but as long as the core of the array formation wasn’t being controlled or hacked into, they remained independent entities separate from the other Qi Fostering Spirit Array Formations.
The unique feature of the array formation dictated that its power grew with more people practicing the Qi Fostering Art. Further studies showed that it posed no harmful effects to the Qi Fostering Art-practicing public. The only side effect was people expending more energy when they used the Qi Fostering Art to refine Spirit Stones.
That was why population size became a focal issue for the Federation.
That was the reason for the countless immigration to Mars after the new colony city was built. Similarly, in order to build the array formation outside the Divine Armament Catacombs, they would have to build a city zone there as well… and after that, transport numerous Federation residents over to form the new residents of the new city zone.
Only with a sufficient population size could they sustain the array formation. After the population reached a sufficient size, it would then have an impact on the excavation of the Divine Armament Catacombs and the wearing down of the ice wall.
All this was highly confidential information that was restricted from public eyes. Even the exposure of the Qi Fostering Spirit Array Formation would incite public terror in the Federation. Even though it was harmless, the energy drain that came from refining Spirit Stones would draw public unhappiness.
Wang Baole gasped after he was done reading everything.
I was wondering why I felt a severe diffusion of my Spirit Qi leaking into the surrounding when I was using the Qi Fostering Art to refine Spirit Qi… this is the reason!
I was also wondering what the new city zone had to do with the excavation of the Divine Armament. So this is why… Wang Baole was clearly affected by his discovery. He took a while to calm himself down. He started thinking about the Federation. Gradually, a thought formed in his head.
The politics inside the Federation are too complex. As you climb up the ranks, it’s like unveiling layer after layer of secrets. Every new discovery is more shocking than the previous… also, is it really true that the Federation has never had a Nascent Soul?
A myriad of emotions flashed across Wang Baole’s face. The knowledge that had been instilled deeply in him since he had been a boy had just been exposed as superficial. There had been another layer of truth hidden beneath all along. The discovery unsettled him, and he couldn’t control the surge of emotions he was feeling.
After a very long time, Wang Baole finally accepted the truth that had been laid out before him. He fell silent as he stared at the voice transmission jade slip before him. The Federation had kept this matter under wraps too well. Every political force also didn’t wish for too many people to find out about this secret.
Now, Wang Baole was aware of it as well. But he knew that he could never disclose this. No one could ever disclose this truth.
Fortunately, he had never heard of any cases of someone being sucked dry by an array formation and then dying. He had first-hand experience as well, and he had never felt any discomfort inside the array formation. Besides, Wang Baole firmly believed that both the Sect Lord and the Grand Supreme Elder of the Ethereal Dao College knew about this. They had chosen to remain silent. This meant that the only harm the array formation had on the general populace was limited to the energy they expended while refining Spirit Stones.
After all, they were all living inside the array formation.
Wang Baole released a sigh of relief at that thought and continued reading the document. When he was finally done with it, it was already late into the night. He noted the warning on the document that instructed its readers not to leak any part of the information to anyone else. That would amount to treason.
The document self-destructed after he was done reading it. Not a trace of it remained.
Wang Baole stared at the emptied voice transmission jade slip and shut his eyes. He slowly digested the contents of the top-secret document while waiting for the Martian Colony Governor to call for him.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
During those three days, Wang Baole stayed in his residence and didn’t leave. He began to meditate and train while waiting. He could sense that his cultivation was reaching the peak of the mid-stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. When the time arrived, he would try for a breakthrough and enter the late-stage of the Foundation Establishment realm.
Due to his practicing of the Lightning Dao: First Volume, the lightning bolts resting within both his legs were fully charged. He needed only a single thought to unleash them.
After the initial breakthrough in his practice of the Dark Art, his progress grew exponentially. He could sense the Negative Spirit Body during every practice session. He had also successfully formed the second Dark Fire inside his body!
The presence of both Dark Fire sped up his cultivation tremendously. The Green Lotus inside his body had grown as well, and he no longer needed to train his physical body; it grew stronger naturally, without any aid from him.
It reached a point where Wang Baole felt that there wasn’t much use in him practicing any more mystic techniques. If he encountered an enemy that couldn’t be downed in a single blow, he would simply hit him another ten times, or a hundred times. He was filled with endless energy anyway, and he healed at a startling rate.
His only regret was his very own Dark Corpse Face Art… the Dark Art!
He hadn’t had the opportunity to try it out. He itched with curiosity every time he thought about it. He really wanted to find out how powerful the Dark Corpse Face Art was, and what it actually did.
It’s a pity there’s no opportunity… Wang Baole sighed. He didn’t want to risk being associated with the Divine Armament Catacombs should he be found out for using the Dark Art and then dragged off to become a specimen in a lab…
He might be able to convince others to disregard his knowledge of the scripture with his status in the Ethereal Dao College and as the new mayor. If he exposed the fact he was practicing the Dark Art, he would be very surprised if nobody tried to pry the truth out of his mouth and find out exactly what was going on.
Caution is the word. Wang Baole sighed and reminded himself. He continued his cultivation. Four days later, noon came… Wang Baole was deep in practice when his voice transmission ring suddenly vibrated. A stern voice, sending him a message on behalf of the Martian administration, rang in Wang Baole’s ear.
“Mayor Wang, the Governor has a fifteen-minute window in an hour’s time. Please arrive at her office on time!”
