The Eternal Sin-Chapter 41: Divine Concealment Array.

Ten days passed like water running beneath a stone bridge.

Inside his residence, Jiang Chen sat cross legged on the floor. Before him floated seven palm sized formation flags, each etched with complex insignias and patterns. They were arranged in a mysterious alignment, forming lines that twisted and overlapped like coiled dragons and hidden snakes.

Jiang Chen’s eyes were calm.

With a thought, a clone stepped out from his body and walked into the center of the array.

Jiang Chen then raised his hands and formed a sequence of complicated seals, each gesture following the next like clouds chasing the moon. Spiritual power and divine sense flowed smoothly.

The array was activated.

In the span of a single breath, the formation flags blurred and vanished, and the clone disappeared along with them, as if swallowed whole by empty space.

Jiang Chen’s gaze sharpened. His divine sense spread outward, sweeping the room layer by layer, probing inch by inch like a fisherman casting a net into still waters.

Nothing. Even the connection to his clone was almost nonexistent.

A trace of satisfaction crept into Jiang Chen’s eyes.

He extended his hand forward.

His fingers struck an invisible barrier and stopped. Retracting his hand, he clenched his fist and threw a punch.

With a sharp crack, the invisible barrier shattered like a fragile screen of ice. The formation collapsed instantly, the seven flags dropped to the floor with dull thuds as the clone reappeared at the center, standing silently.

Jiang Chen closed his eyes and absorbed the fragmented divine sense he had planted in the clone, memories unfolding one after another like pages of a scroll being unrolled.

’So it does work like that. Unlike me, who could not sense it without a spiritual link, from within the array the clone could observe the outside world and clearly extend its divine sense.’ Jiang Chen thought to himself.

These days, he had buried himself in studying formation knowledge obtained from the silver masked cultivator Fifteen. The records were incomplete and unordered. There were only a few complete formations recorded, and most were crude and low tier. Only this Divine Concealment Array was truly worth keeping in his arsenal.

Aside from those few arrays, there were many half completed arrays and fragmented diagrams. Jiang Chen studied them all. To him, understanding the principles behind a formation was worth more than memorizing its surface.

As for the broken arrays, they gave him the greatest headache. They were complex beyond reason, their structures incomparably vast and layered. The reason they were incomplete was clear. They belonged to higher grades, far beyond what Silver Masked Cultivator Number Fifteen had the qualifications to access.

Even so, Jiang Chen learned one thing about himself. He was by no means a peerless genius who appeared once in a ten thousand years, but he was far from being talentless when it came to formations. It was where he felt the most talented he had ever been.

After leaving his residence, Jiang Chen headed toward his familiar training ground.

The waterfall roared endlessly, white spray crashing down like starry tears. The sound masked all other noise, forming a natural screen against prying ears.

Beside the waterfall stood a massive boulder. Jiang Chen scanned the surroundings carefully, his divine sense sweeping the area several times before he pushed the stone aside. A narrow opening appeared beneath it. He slipped inside and rolled the stone back into place.

The passage was pitch dark but gradually widened into a hidden cavern illuminated by Azure Earth Orbs embedded in the walls. This place had been prepared by Jiang Chen in advance, long before the village massacre.

He released two clones, positioning them at separate points to stand guard. Only then did he retrieve the Blood Devouring Gourd hidden behind a rock.

He set up the Divine Concealment Array once more and sat at its center.

’It has been many days since Black Iron Village was harvested by me. I delayed refining the Blood Token in case suspicion arose. Even though I took many precautions before killing them and left no trace, the world is boundless and full of talents. There is no such thing as excessive caution.’

He took out a fist sized jade slip. It was the Blood Sucking Jade. The asura face carved into its surface looked vivid and malevolent, its features twisted in never-ending hunger.

Jiang Chen then uncorked Blood Devouring Gourd and tilted it slightly. A thick, sticky stench of blood spread instantly. The contents surged out like a crimson stream, swirling in midair.

The Blood Sucking Jade trembled violently. The asura’s eyes snapped open. A thick tongue shot out and wrapped tightly around the gourd, greedily devouring every drop, its gulping sounds echoing through the cavern like a beast feasting.

Jiang Chen remained silent, a sealing talisman ready in his hand, like a drawn bow held just short of release.

In less than a minute, the gourd was emptied.

The asura’s eyes landed on Jiang Chen as demonic whispers filled the air, burrowing toward his consciousness. Images of slaughter and indulgence surged forward, bloodlust boiling in his heart like oil thrown onto flame.

Jiang Chen revealed a fierce expression.

He slammed the talisman down without hesitation. Brilliant light flared within the array. The talisman sealed the asura’s mouth shut, suppressing the demonic murmurs instantly.

The asura struggled madly. The entire Blood Sucking Jade trembled, cracks spreading across its surface. After several breaths, it finally stabilized, its shape changing as bloody light condensed inward.

A Blood Token formed. Its surface was cool to the touch, lines of dark crimson flowing within like veins. The asura’s face was still there, but now subdued, its hunger restrained by black chains that wrapped around the entire jade.

’Done.’ Jiang Chen exhaled faintly.

When he infused spiritual energy into the token, a surge of bloody light erupted. Countless black market entry locations appeared in his mind, scattered like stars across a vast sky, each marked with a ticking time indicator.

Jiang Chen was stunned, a flicker of surprise passing through his otherwise calm gaze

’Tens of thousands... and that is just spread across the Myriad Heaven Continent! Such reach, what kind of monstrous force is hiding behind this black market?’

His curiosity stirred, but only for a moment, before he shifted his focus to selecting the nearest black market entry point. It is scheduled to open in six days.

’It is nearly five days of travel. That is if I disregard all the dangerous situations I will encounter in the mountains. And that is just wishful thinking, so I need to make haste.’

With that, Jiang Chen stood up and left the cave.

There was no time for delay.