Chapter 1052 - 881: Protection Array

The Nanshan forces split into two groups, one continuing to guard Shi Chun, while the other went after Shi Chun's subordinates.

Leading the second group on reconnaissance were two cloaked figures. Seeing this, Li Hongjiu grew increasingly convinced that it was indeed as Wu Jinliang had said.

The special environment of the Yanfu Continent makes it difficult for tracking marks to disappear. With a Demon Eye scouting the way, the group took not a single wrong turn and soon found the place Li Hongjiu spoke of, where a mishap had occurred.

The group paused momentarily here; the two Demon Eye scouts separately reported to Yu Yifu about the chaotic energies at the scene, confirming Li Hongjiu's words that they did indeed have a conflict here with Shi Chun's subordinates.

Then the group set off again, continuing to pursue the trail of Wu Jinliang's group.

Given their level of cultivation, it took less than half a two-hour period to reach the end of their target's energy trail. Yet the site was empty, not a single shadow in sight, only the expansive sandy terrain beneath the dazzling starry sky.

Yu Yifu instructed the three accompanying Demon Eye Cultivators to spread out and search for confirmation. They all arrived at the same conclusion: the targets hadn't gone elsewhere but had burrowed underground, thus excavation commenced on the spot.

Having come this far, they naturally had experts adept in Earth Attribute Techniques prepared.

Nonetheless, for experts at the Heavenly Immortal Realm, even without Earth Attribute Techniques, burrowing into the ground wasn't difficult.

Aside from a few left to keep watch above ground, the rest all burrowed underground.

The two cloaked figures cast spells to spiral open the sandy ground, continuing to follow the energy trail into the earth.

Upon descending, they realized the path was slanted, and the reason was easy to infer: the sand was shifting.

The slanted burrowed path extended quite far, digging some fifty or sixty li until the group was forced to halt suddenly.

Yu Yifu, coming from behind, shouted, "What's the matter?"

The two cloaked figures retracted the red glow from their Demon Eyes and turned around, one spoke, "There's a barrier ahead, we can't pass through, it seems it'll require strong force to break through."

"A barrier?" Yu Yifu approached curiously between the two, indeed blocked by a layer of sand.

He reached out to touch, but encountered a distinct wave on the sand's surface as a boundary. Instantly, he cast a spell to open a passage and navigated around the barrier to investigate.

Others nearby, also feeling curious, cast spells to open passages, crowding forward to see what was happening.

Not only them, but even the compelled Li Hongjiu tried his hand at it.

Soon, some burrowing back and forth to investigate cast spells and shouted oddly, "What is this thing? The coverage is too vast, we can't find an end."

Someone else chimed in, "This seems to be a Protection Array."

Another questioned, "Create a Protection Array at such a compressive depth?"

Yu Yifu's voice soon came through, "Brother Luo, what's your take?"

Luo Yuanfeng, with expertise in arrays, had his hand on the barrier, face serious, spoke slowly, "It's indeed a Protection Array, and it's quite unusual. This deep beneath the sand, in a constantly shifting sandy ground, the broader the coverage, the greater the pressure it endures; for the array to steadily persist under such conditions is remarkable, demonstrating its formidable protective power, likely difficult to break."

The logic wasn't hard to grasp for those with expertise present; they were using spells to counter the massive underground compressive force right now, if the space for accommodating them was widened, the pressure would increase by much more than a little, and the mana consumption couldn't last long.

Yu Yifu then asked the cloaked figures nearby, "Are you certain that Shi Chun's cronies have all entered within here?"

The question posed was without irritation; trying to use spells to investigate, unable to penetrate the barrier, unable to explore, with overwhelming layers of sand inside obstructing vision, coverage so extensive, normally it wasn't easy to determine whether someone was hiding inside.

"Confirmed."

"It should be."

Upon hearing this, Yu Yifu patted the barrier wave, "Which means, those guys indeed hid in here. Knowing to hide suggests the culprit isn't invincible, aware of the need to flee." He incidentally boosted morale a bit.

Listening on, Li Hongjiu blinked, now somewhat understanding why Shi Chun, even knowing Demon Eyes were chasing, hadn't instructed Wu Jinliang's message with an escape order, and why Wu Jinliang had the audacity to dance on a knife's edge, seemed to have some backing, only it wasn't clear what scheme they were playing this time.

Someone asked, "Brother Luo, arrays are your specialty, how to break this array?"

Luo Yuanfeng shook his head helplessly, "With the array buried so deep, unable to see its entire operational scope, it's tricky to gauge the array's mechanism, without understanding its logic, given it's a Protection Array, to break it likely requires a forcible breach."

The utterance prompted the group to glance around at the surrounding environment, being this far underground, with such great pressure, a forcible breach didn't seem wise.

Regardless, an attempt surely needed trying.

Soon enough, the group moved with a rumble, showcasing their abilities, attacking with full force.

Within the already deployed 'Beidou Refusal Array', the Golden-haired Rat Clan was diligently excavating and suddenly paused, looking up.

In the same excavated space, Wu Jinliang, Huang Yingying, and Qilin A San also looked up.

Qilin A San saw where the attacking individuals were, but with Huang Yingying present, it kept silent.

Wu Jinliang chuckled and said, "It seems they've already found us, but no worries, they can't break through. Otherwise, this array wouldn't have been left here for all these years at the Phoenix Clan's Divine Mountain."

On guard, Huang Yingying nodded slightly in response, then raised her hand and rhythmically slapped the sandy ground, creating a clapping sound.

The Golden-haired Rat Clan, who were looking around suspiciously in the sand, immediately calmed down and continued casting spells to excavate. A lot of money fell into their pockets, a truly satisfying scene, the more they dug, the more excited they became. Some were already discussing what to buy when they went out.

"I don't know if Li Hongjiu is here, let's go, San, let's take a look."

Even underground, Wu Jinliang had to find a reason to ride A San. He wanted A San to get used to being ridden by him, so it would be easier to borrow him for rides in the future.

Seeing A San turn his head to look at him and ignore him, he inserted his fingers into his eyes to signal, indicating he wanted to borrow its superpower to find Li Hongjiu.

Reluctantly, A San stood up and saw Wu Jinliang trying to sit on him, and immediately spoke, "You have Escape Technique, you lead the way."

Diving underground and wanting to ride it, it wasn't its master, of course, it was unwilling.

"..." Wu Jinliang failed in his attempt and remained speechless, without arguing, he cast a spell to open the way.

The two drilled towards the source of the commotion, the distance was significant. After diving into the underground sandalwood gold vein, Wu Jinliang deployed the 'Beidou Refusal Array' to enlarge the coverage, enveloping the entire vein, allowing the Golden-haired Rat Clan to excavate within the protection of the great array, so how could it be dangerous?

So it's not that he's not afraid of dying, but having such confidence in hand, how could he easily give up this fortune-making opportunity?

The courage they had painstakingly amassed before was precisely for use in times of difficulty.

This place is not the outside world, nor does it resemble the Battle of Great Pardon, where the Heavenly Mirror is useless here. Without a crowd watching, this is the right place to use this treasure; otherwise, Shi Chun wouldn't have easily given him the great array.

Of course, mainly due to their current status and background, not just anyone can overstep the rules to strangle them and question their origins casually.

The Nanshan group, unable to breach after prolonged attacks, gathered together and released a combined force attack.

Boom, earth flew and sand rained, heaven and earth shook.

A huge funnel-shaped pit appeared on the ground, the underground group of people looked up and saw distant starlight.

Such soft fine sand easily unloaded the force, especially given such a deep unloading area, yet their attack's residual power could burst open the surface, showcasing the power of the group's combined strike.

Yet the protective barrier only swayed severely and wasn't breached.

Luo Yuanfeng disregarded the sprinkling sand rain, leaned onto the barrier and stroked it, full of uncertainty. It was crucial to know that leading Yu Yifu and others were Upper Heaven Immortal Realm experts, not the ordinary kind, but those who could easily flatten a mountain range with a flick of the wrist, otherwise how could they shoulder the major tasks among the five forces?

Especially Yu Yifu, he's an expert who can fight Sword Saint Fu Que head-on.

These experts joined forces and couldn't break the array, not even showing signs of breakage. Luo Yuanfeng was very curious about what kind of array this was.

Sand rain poured, and sand on the surrounding slopes began to flood back like torrents.

Some looked up at the sky, others frowned at the protective barrier.

At this moment, no one was casting spells to care about Li Hongjiu anymore.

Looking at the flood coming through the sand rain, Li Hongjiu cast spells and shouted, "Senior, save me..."

No one heard, the residual power of the combined attack, along with the violent torrents pouring down, disrupted his spell's shout.

He slashed his fingers to cast a spell, attempting to save himself. Fortunately, the mountain-like momentum was endured by these experts' spells, the group combined to shield a space, surrounding vibrations continued uninterrupted.

After a good while, the paralyzing momentum finally stopped.

Both astonished and angry, Yu Yifu spoke deeply, "These guys have such a large protective array! Brother Luo, is there really no other way to break this array?"

Luo Yuanfeng also replied with a serious expression, "There definitely is a way, there is no unbreakable array in the world, I just don't know it. Normally speaking, an array should have a source of power to maintain operation, either driven by a monk's mana or supported by spiritual power from Gathering Spirit Stones, or borrowing benefits from heaven and earth. Yet here, there's neither tides nor heat, nor seen illusory power, a portable array, not placed in a special power-storing place, where does it get heaven and earth's benefits to borrow?"

Yu Yifu pondered his words, replying, "So you're saying this array is either driven by mana or powered by Gathering Spirit Stones?"

Luo Yuanfeng: "Such a large-scale array, completely driven by mana isn't likely, it should be Gathering Spirit Stones. Just don't know how many Gathering Spirit Stones they brought in... With this scale of the array, no matter how exquisite, continuously enduring such pressure underground, even if they brought many Gathering Spirit Stones, the consumption is great, it cannot last long."

Yu Yifu said, "Brother Luo's meaning is, as long as we wait, even if we do nothing, the array will break on its own?"

Luo Yuanfeng nodded and said, "Logically speaking, it should be so."

That means they can only wait, the group's gazes gradually fell on the tight-cheeked Yu Yifu.

Fuming Yu Yifu was somewhat livid, the group attacking Shi Chun, and Shi Chun ran, now the group couldn't even see Shi Chun's subordinate, how is this acceptable?

While they were discussing chaotically, behind the sand enveloped by the large array barrier, a spot was slowly broken open by Wu Jinliang's Escape Technique.

After thinning a layer of sand behind the barrier, Wu Jinliang carefully pushed aside some sand grains, pressed his eyes against the small opening to observe outside, found Li Hongjiu, then watched others, glimpsed Yu Yifu regarded as the center by the group, his body began to change, with the practice of imitating, he slowly became Yu Yifu's appearance.