Su Jie, along with Han Ruyan, entered like a streak of green smoke, swiftly intruding.
This tower, half-buried in Rao Yang Lake and half-revealed above the water surface, was studded with windows densely packed together.
Su Jie and Han Ruyan entered the tower through one of these windows.
"An intruder has entered."
As soon as Su Jie entered, he immediately alarmed the Array Masters within the tower.
Hundreds of Array Masters were maintaining the operation of the Hundred Rivers Covering Sea Array inside the tower, and on the level Su Jie entered, there were three Array Masters.
They only had the cultivation of the Yunling Realm, which was vastly inferior to Su Jie's strength.
Like Alchemists and Artifact Refiners, the strength of Array Masters doesn't represent their technical level, and their expertise is not in combat.
For these Righteous Sects, they have ample resources specifically used to cultivate Array Masters, Alchemists, and Artifact Refiners.
These cultivators who specialize in one craft progress faster and can provide the sect with various magic artifacts, formations, and elixirs, so they are not responsible for fighting.
Places like Ghost Ridge Palace don't have the abundant wealth of Guan Chao Pavilion; many of their Array Masters, Alchemists, and Artifact Refiners also serve as Elders within the sect.
"Corpse Hand Man Slaughter."
Upon seeing Su Jie's face, the three Array Masters immediately panicked.
Even these non-combatants had heard of Su Jie's notorious reputation.
Su Jie, with apparent indifference, surveyed his surroundings; the floor was inscribed with array patterns dense and arcane like a sea of stars intricately connected to the spiritual material of the tower itself. Sections of spiritual power nodes flickered with brilliance, pulsing like tides. A vast aura leaked vaguely from the void, revealing a fraction of its presence.
That aura was all too familiar to Su Jie—it was the aura of the Tao River.
Su Jie fixed his gaze for a few moments, and that aura caused faint cracks to appear in his Primordial Spirit, as if it sought to tear apart his soul.
The aura of the Tao was too terrifying; the causality it imposed could not be withstood by mere Array Masters.
But the reason they could bear it was also discovered by Su Jie.
At the feet of the three Array Masters, each stood a Soul Oil Lamp.
Within the Soul Oil Lamps were clusters of human souls.
Each lamp contained ten thousand souls, bearing the causality from the Tao, and occasionally souls were annihilated by the imposed causality, utterly destroyed in both form and spirit, losing even the chance to enter the Netherworld.
These human souls were certainly civilians captured by Guan Chao Pavilion, and from the pavilion's arrangement, there must be at least a hundred Soul Oil Lamps in this tower.
It also meant that at least a million civilians had suffered the imposition of causality from the Tao. And this was an underestimation from Su Jie; who knew how long Guan Chao Pavilion had been preparing the Great Taoist Formation.
"Do you want to live or die? Tell me the location of the core of the Hundred Rivers Covering Sea Array's Array Eye."
Su Jie finally shifted his gaze back to the three Array Masters, wearing an innocuous smile on his face.
The Array Eye is akin to an engine in a car, or like a human brain—once destroyed, the entire Array collapses into disarray.
If you simply destroy the external Array, with the richness of Guan Chao Pavilion, fixing it would be no issue.
"Dream on, you demon. You won't get a single piece of information from me!"
One of the Array Masters stood his ground, glaring angrily at Su Jie.
"Tsk tsk, uncooperative, huh!"
Su Jie chuckled, and at his side, Han Ruyan watched coldly as the Array Master's voice abruptly stopped.
His limbs began to be segmented, as if countless invisible tiny blades were torturing him, revealing intricately detailed muscles before exposing chilling white bones.
Thin shreds of flesh fell to the ground, leaving a skeletal frame without a shred of remaining flesh, picked clean to the bone.
Under such torture, the Array Master's body shook violently, twisted in agony, biting through his own tongue, yet unable to make a sound for fear of alerting other enemies.
The remaining two Array Masters, having never witnessed such a horrific scene, stood with hair on end, faces utterly pale and devoid of color, staring petrified at the grisly torment of their comrade.
"My patience is limited. Who will answer my question?"
Su Jie's eyes moved to the next Array Master, causing a shiver to run through him, and his lips to tremble.
"Looks like another tough nut."
Su Jie snapped his fingers, and in an instant, a multitude of blades descended, adding another victim to the torturous spectacle.
"Now it's your turn. What about you? Will you speak?"
Su Jie turned to the last Array Master, his face wearing a serene smile.
"I'll talk, I'll tell you everything."
Seeing Su Jie's brutality, the final Array Master was completely terror-stricken.
"The Array Eye is on the thirty-sixth floor, where Elder Li Yujun presides. We..."
The Array Master spilled everything he knew.
After hearing everything, Su Jie grabbed the Array Master by the neck and headed towards the stairs with Han Ruyan.
Behind them lay two Array Masters, stripped to their skeletal frames, meeting their end in less than peace.
"Not good, there's an enemy..."
"Call for help, quickly call for help!"
They continued upward along the staircase, passing Guan Chao Pavilion disciples on patrol.
Such encounters were unlucky for these disciples; barely preparing to shout for help, Han Ruyan's eyes found them, and red Wedding Dresses enveloped them, strangling the life from their bodies.
Against Han Ruyan, ordinary Yunling Realm disciples did not stand a chance.
This tower was specially prepared for the Sea Covering Array, and aside from the Array itself, the true defense was in the hands of seven Hidden Realm Elders outside.