The morale of the Lingxu Market soared after the exploration team brought back a magical artifact capable of suppressing dark forces. Leaders from various factions gathered in the Linghe Merchant Guild's council hall to discuss new strategies for combating the "Shadow Society." The atmosphere in the hall was electric, everyone's eyes filled with anticipation for defeating the "Shadow Society."

Zhao Wanbao, the head of Wanbaoge Pavilion, spoke first. He stared intently at the magical artifact that emitted a mysterious light and said, "Since this magical artifact has the effect of restraining dark forces, we should use it as the core to create a brand-new defense and attack system. I suggest that Wanbaoge utilize the spiritual energy fluctuations of the magical artifact to develop a matching auxiliary magical artifact to enhance the overall combat effectiveness."

The president of the Linghe Chamber of Commerce nodded in agreement and continued, "That's right. At the same time, our chamber can use the power of magical artifacts to improve the market's defensive array. By integrating the restraining power of the magical artifacts into the array, it can weaken and counteract the 'Shadow Society's' dark magic when resisting their attacks. Moreover, we can also use the chamber's intelligence network to further investigate the 'Shadow Society's' movements and choose the best time to launch a counterattack."

The elder of the Spirit Sword Sect stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and said, "We sword cultivators can't be idle either. We can create a new sword formation around this magic weapon. Using the magic weapon as the array's core, we can let the sword energy of the sword cultivators resonate with the power of the magic weapon, unleashing even greater power. In actual combat, the sword cultivators can use the flexible changes of the sword formation, combined with the magic weapon's attacks, to deliver a fatal blow to the 'Shadow Society'."

Everyone chimed in with their opinions, engaging in a lively discussion. After in-depth deliberation, they finally formulated a detailed preparation plan.

Wanbaoge acted swiftly, with its head, Zhao Wanbao, personally leading the pavilion's top weapon refiners and rune masters to conduct in-depth research on the magical artifacts. They worked day and night in the weapon refining room, using various tools to detect the artifacts and analyze the runes, attempting to uncover the patterns in the artifacts' spiritual energy fluctuations. After several days of arduous study, they finally made a significant discovery.

It turns out that the spiritual energy fluctuations of this magical artifact exhibit a unique cyclical pattern, subtly connected to the ancient principles of the Five Elements' mutual generation and restraint. Based on this discovery, the artifact refiners began to develop matching auxiliary magical artifacts. They selected rare spiritual materials and employed exquisite refining techniques, infusing them with the spiritual energy of the Five Elements.

After countless attempts and failures, Wanbaoge successfully crafted five auxiliary magical artifacts. The "Azure Wood Spirit Shield," with wood-attribute spiritual power at its core, can absorb the power of enemy attacks during defense and transform it into life force to repair one's own defenses; the "Crimson Fire Spirit Blade," containing powerful fire-attribute spiritual power, can synergize with the artifact's attacks to enhance the burning effect against dark forces; the "Earth Spirit Armor," rich in earth-attribute spiritual power, provides the wearer with strong defense and also has a certain suppressive effect against dark forces; the "Golden Metal Spirit Sword," with incomparably sharp metal-attribute spiritual power, can enhance the sword energy of sword cultivators, making it easier to penetrate the "Shadow Society's" defenses; and the "Mysterious Water Spirit Pearl," with gentle water-attribute spiritual power, can restore spiritual power for everyone during battle, maintaining sustained combat effectiveness.

The Linghe Chamber of Commerce organized a group of array masters to improve the defensive array of the Lingxu Market. They first placed magical artifacts at the core of the array, then rearranged the runes and spiritual energy channels around them. During this process, they encountered numerous difficulties. The powerful spiritual energy of the magical artifacts clashed with the original array's structure, causing instability.

The guild's array masters studied day and night, consulting numerous ancient texts, and finally found inspiration in an ancient array manual. Using an ancient method called "Spiritual Vein Harmony Technique," they successfully fused the power of magical artifacts with the defensive array by adjusting the frequency and flow of spiritual energy. The improved defensive array was not only more robust but also automatically released light that countered dark power when the "Shadow Society" launched dark magic attacks, neutralizing and reflecting the enemy's spells.

On the Spirit Sword Sect's side, the elders led the sword cultivators to create a new sword formation using magical artifacts as its core. They practiced continuously in the valley, experimenting with various variations of the sword formation and combinations of sword techniques. During this process, they discovered that ordinary sword formations were difficult to perfectly harmonize with the power of magical artifacts. Therefore, the elders secluded themselves for several days, and based on the spiritual characteristics of the magical artifacts and the strength of the sword cultivators, created a completely new sword formation—the "Chaos Demon-Suppressing Sword Formation."

This sword formation centers on a magical artifact. Sword cultivators stand around the artifact, fusing their sword energy with the artifact's power through a unique method of spiritual energy circulation. When the formation is activated, the sword energy and the artifact's light intertwine, forming a chaotic energy field. Within this field, the sword cultivators' attack and defense are greatly enhanced, and it possesses a powerful restraining effect against dark forces. Through repeated practice, the sword cultivators gradually mastered the techniques of using this sword formation.

While various factions were preparing for war in earnest, the Linghe Chamber of Commerce's intelligence network was also operating at full capacity. Intelligence agents penetrated every corner of the cultivation world, establishing contact with informants from various factions to gather the latest intelligence on the "Shadow Society."

After a period of effort, they finally made a significant breakthrough. Intelligence revealed that the Shadow Society, despite suffering a heavy blow last time, had not abandoned their evil plans. They had regrouped in a secluded valley, joining forces with other equally wicked sectarian groups, and were plotting an even more devastating attack.

The Shadow Society seems to be aware that the Spirit Ruins Market has acquired a mysterious magical artifact. They believe this artifact is the biggest obstacle to their ambitions and have therefore decided to strike first. They plan to launch a large-scale dark ritual on the night of the full moon a month from now, using the power of moonlight. Through this ritual, they will summon powerful dark creatures to attack the Spirit Ruins Market alongside them.

The Linghe Chamber of Commerce quickly relayed this crucial intelligence to the leaders of various factions. Upon learning of it, Lin Yang immediately convened another meeting. He said gravely, "Everyone, the 'Shadow Society's' actions are proceeding more swiftly than we anticipated. We must accelerate our preparations and simultaneously devise a strategy to counter their dark rituals."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions turned extremely serious. They knew that time was running out, and an unprecedented battle was imminent. In the days that followed, the various factions in the Spirit Ruins Market raced against time to make final preparations. The Myriad Treasures Pavilion accelerated the production of auxiliary magical artifacts to ensure that every participant was equipped with one; the Spirit Harmony Merchant Guild intensified the testing and maintenance of its defensive arrays to ensure they could function at their maximum potential in critical moments; and the sword cultivators of the Spirit Sword Sect practiced the "Chaos Demon-Suppressing Sword Array" day and night, striving for absolute certainty in battle.

A dark cloud seemed to hang over the Lingxu Market, the shadow of a great battle drawing ever closer. But the people of Lingxu Market showed no fear. United as one, relying on their newly developed magical artifacts, improved magic and sword formations, and unwavering faith, they prepared to meet the challenge of the "Shadow Society" and fight to protect the peace of Lingxu Market and the entire cultivation world.