"It's broken?"
"Can that kind of thing actually be shattered?"
As the black fog enveloping the temple completely dissipated, the entire area fell into a deathly silence. Everyone involuntarily turned to look at Shi Feng standing before the stone pillar, their eyes filled with utter disbelief.
The shock they felt was at least a hundred times greater than what they had experienced when Shi Feng had merely controlled mana to increase the ambient mana density around them.
Every temple and shrine in the Divine Realm was a structure passed down from ancient times. The rules within them were like the rules set by the system itself — players could only follow them and take on their challenges in accordance with those rules. Even the great superpowers were no exception.
In fact, one could say that no one in the entire Divine Realm had ever considered defying such rules. It was as natural as eating and drinking in the real world.
Yet Shi Feng hadn't just failed to follow the rules — he had actually shattered them, completely overturning their understanding of the Divine Realm.
"It's done? How is that possible?!" Thunder Beast stared fixedly at Shi Feng. Though his heart completely refused to believe it, the truth was right there before his eyes, leaving him no room for denial. "Is he really a player?"
At this moment, he genuinely suspected that the Shi Feng standing before him wasn't a player at all, but an NPC wearing a player's skin.
First, his level of mana control was comparable to a Tier 4 magic-class NPC, and now he had broken through the temple's magic array. Neither of these was something a player should have been capable of.
"No wonder the Divine Tribe was willing to cooperate with him even without getting a share of Starlight Fortress, and even sent elite troops to garrison the fortress under his complete command. So this was his true trump card?" Hell Howl looked at the temple with its magic array deactivated and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Before this, he had merely thought that Shi Feng and his group were incredibly lucky — securing a dragon-guarded fortress, gaining a prison function at Starlight Bastion. Even the Hell Legion couldn't match that.
But Zero Wing's actual foothold on the Western Continent was extremely weak, even with five experts who had unlocked their Mana Bodies.
Wars between powers were never something a handful of individuals could casually shift, especially when the superpowers were involved.
Perhaps the great superpowers couldn't cause trouble inside Starlight Bastion, but there were other methods.
They could simply seize the Lord's Token. Though the Lord's Token was heavily protected, it could never leave the fortress — it was typically stored in a secure vault deep within the Lord's Manor under heavy guard.
All they needed to do was throw massive numbers of people at the problem. With that approach, even a dragon would struggle to hold off a human-wave attrition tactic. Coupled with their various other means, conquering the Lord's Manor wasn't impossible — just extremely costly. But if multiple superpowers banded together, it could be done.
However, now it seemed that was no longer possible.
With Shi Feng's mana manipulation skills and his knowledge of magic arrays, no one could challenge Starlight Bastion now.
In the Divine Realm, the difference between a magic array running automatically and one being actively controlled was like the gap between two entirely different tiers of power.
The great superpowers had all secretly attempted this, but controlling a city's defensive magic array was extraordinarily difficult. It required not only a deep understanding of magic arrays but also an extremely high level of mana control from the player. This was precisely why those large NPC cities were so difficult to breach.
In the eyes of ordinary players, the defensive magic arrays of large NPC cities were far superior to those of guild cities. But that was never really the case.
The defensive magic arrays of large NPC cities weren't significantly stronger than those of guild towns. The real difference was that Tier 4 NPCs could actively control the city's defensive magic arrays, enabling them to withstand even Tier 5 powerhouses for extended periods — let alone the forces of the superpowers.
While the Hell Legion members were caught in a spiral of confusion and astonishment, Shi Feng's heart was surging with barely contained excitement.
"I made it just in time!"
Nearly three hours of frantic study. Although he hadn't succeeded in learning the Holy Annihilation Battle Technique, it had given him an incredibly deep understanding of the seven major magical elements, allowing him to reach an initial level of mana control. He could now successfully draw beginner-grade Master-level magic arrays in accordance with the laws of the four major elements — a feat that only many Tier 3 magic-class NPCs could accomplish.
As for reaching the level of a Tier 4 magic-class NPC, capable of performing basic drawing of the three supreme elements, he was still far off. At that level, one could already form a personal magic domain rather than relying on magic skills to project one — a truly terrifying level of power.
Still, even this was enough to satisfy Shi Feng.
In his previous life, even those Tier 6 Magic Gods hadn't many reached this level while still at Tier 3. Most had only managed it after advancing to Tier 4.
Fortunately, the temple's methods of applying mana were only at an introductory level. And thanks to the legacy of the Holy Annihilation Battle Technique, he could already venture toward challenging mid-level magic array mastery, making it far easier to unravel the array. That was how he had succeeded in breaking the seal before the temple disappeared.