Chapter 1057 - 885: Several Dozen Vein Mines (2)

The Nanshan group was already very familiar with the commotion when the grand formation was withdrawn. As soon as the noise sounded and the formation barrier vanished, they all pricked up their ears and held their breath.

Li Hongjiu, wrapped in a cloak, couldn't help yawning with his mouth stretched wide. He rubbed his face with both hands and roused his spirits again. He was the most bored one here—he wasn't allowed to do anything.

The group waited for quite some time yet still didn't see any movement. They all fell into shock and doubt, suspecting that the target had pulled the same trick again and succeeded.

Yu Yifu waved his hand and gathered the assault team, intending to rush to the various points to check.

To their surprise, halfway there they ran into the Void Wave Barrier again.

"What's going on?" someone exclaimed in surprise.

Yu Yifu also wanted to know what was going on and led people to circle the barrier and investigate.

After making a big circuit around it, they discovered that this time the grand formation barrier had shrunk a lot; the diameter was much smaller.

As for whether it was an eye-blocking skill, they had to test it.

After a round of booming attacks, they confirmed it was still that same grand formation.

Yu Yifu ignored everything else and had the cloaked men lead a team to circle the formation, checking whether there was any trace of someone burrowing away.

Before he was sure, he wouldn't dismantle the Iron Barrel Formation outside. He kept them trapped, guarding against anyone slipping through, and it also let them slowly check and confirm things here.

After spending almost a whole day and confirming the target was still inside the formation and hadn't left, Yu Yifu finally ordered people to rush to all points and notify them to compress the defensive line.

When Luo Yuanfeng arrived, Yu Yifu asked him, "What's going on with this grand formation? Why did it suddenly get smaller?"

Luo Yuanfeng stroked his beard and pondered. "If they're still inside the formation, it's very likely the formation's Gathering Spirit Stones are being consumed too fast and are about to give out, so the formation has to be shrunk to reduce consumption."

"Oh!" Yu Yifu's eyes lit up, full of expectation.

Inside the formation, the Golden-haired Rat Clan had also been busy for almost a day. Wu Jinliang made them run all around along the edge of the formation barrier. Though they didn't know what it meant, they still dutifully did as told.

When the searchers outside the formation stopped checking, and when the Nanshan forces manning the outer formations dismantled the outer interception and began compressing their interception ring toward this side, Wu Jinliang, who had already chosen the fixed positions, immediately had Huang Yingying take San to stop the Golden-haired Rat Clan from running around.

After they brought everyone before him, he pointed in a direction and said, "The barrier is one zhang away. Sister Zhu, once you notice the barrier disappear, ignore everything else. Take them and move straight ahead at the fastest speed. When you run into a barrier, stop and wait for me."

Zhu Xiangxin nodded. "Alright."

Wu Jinliang turned back, took Huang Yingying and San with him, and rushed to the center of the grand formation, which was the array core. He took out the golden Command Arrow and waited. "San, it's up to you now."

San snorted disdainfully and stared fixedly in the direction they had just come from, staring at where Zhu Xiangxin and the others were.

Once he confirmed enough of a gap had opened, San spoke calmly. "Okay."

Wu Jinliang immediately cast a spell to activate the array core, waved the golden Command Arrow and withdrew the Beidou Refusal Array. Right after that he again unfolded the grand formation, this time with an even larger range, enveloping all the Nanshan forces that had compressed inward.

On the other side, Zhu Xiangxin noticed the formation barrier had disappeared and immediately waved her hand, calling out the Golden-haired Rat Clan to rush away in a clattering swarm.

Wu Jinliang, Huang Yingying, and San also immediately headed in their direction.

As Wu Jinliang ran, he transformed into Yu Yifu, and at the same time shouted, "Old Huang, pull your cloak and hat down to cover your face."

Even though he already had confidence in their escape, he still felt it was better to have an extra layer of preparation.

Yu Yifu's group, who were setting up around the grand formation, naturally noticed the formation being withdrawn as well. Before they could get ready, they fell into chaos, unleashing Mana to search in all directions.

After Zhu Xiangxin's group ran a certain distance, they also came to a stop, blocked by the Void Wave Barrier.

Almost at the same time, Huang Yingying arrived with Shi Chunhe and San. Though they set out later, they arrived almost simultaneously.

Wu Jinliang, in Yu Yifu's guise, brandished the golden Command Arrow. The blossoming golden sphere of light broke through the barrier. He shouted, "Quick, get out!"

"Move." Zhu Xiangxin waved and called out, taking the lead in going out.

The Golden-haired Rat Clan rushed out in a clattering stream. Wu Jinliang, covering the rear, stepped out of the barrier and immediately stowed the Command Arrow away. He turned back to look at the restored Void Wave Barrier, then slipped into the sea of sand and fled.

Once he had chased up to the front of the Golden-haired Rat Clan, he finally chuckled. "Alright, you can breathe easy now. Stop. Don't run around blindly yet; wait until we get our bearings, then we'll move."

The group that had been frantically fleeing finally came to a halt.

After Wu Jinliang brought Huang Yingying and San to surface and determine direction and bearings, the Nanshan group trapped underground finally used Wu Jinliang's traces of Qi to find the route they had taken to escape. One had to admit, Wu Jinliang having the Golden-haired Rat Clan run all over the inside of the barrier for a whole day was indeed highly confusing.

Leading his men in pursuit, Yu Yifu ran into the barrier again. At first he still didn't react, thinking that Wu Jinliang's group had slipped back inside the formation again.

"No, that's not right…" Luo Yuanfeng, stroking the barrier, suddenly said in astonishment, "This curvature seems like it's from inside the barrier. We seem to be inside the grand formation…"

With those words, Yu Yifu hurriedly stepped up to do a detailed check. His face changed drastically, and a terrible suspicion suddenly dawned on him. He immediately flashed away, flying in a straight line along the barrier to confirm…

Having confirmed the direction, Wu Jinliang had already returned underground and rejoined the Golden-haired Rat Clan again. Cheerfully, he called out, "Let's go. Just keep heading that way."

Seeing that Wu Jinliang really was leaving just like that, Huang Yingying couldn't help pulling him back. After the clan members had moved off, she asked in alarm and doubt, "Boss Wu, we're just leaving like this? What about the Beidou Refusal Array?"

This was the grand formation handed down by their ancestor. Just leaving it there and not caring felt a bit hard to justify.

Wu Jinliang turned back to look in the direction of the grand formation, patted her arm, and chuckled. "Come on. If we don't keep this bunch of bastards trapped, we can't relax and rake in the money. Once our money bags are full, we'll think about dismantling the formation. There's no rush. The grand formation isn't going to run away from here anyway."

And this was why he had previously searched out dozens of mineral veins all in one go. Back then he had already formed this plan. Only once he'd played things until the Nanshan group relaxed their vigilance and were easier to fool, could he trap the whole lot of them.

As long as everyone present was trapped, their subsequent journey would be done by tunneling underground, trying their best not to show themselves on the surface and reducing the chance of exposing their Qi. As long as they could trap the Nanshan forces for several days, the traces of Qi they left underground would disperse. Later, even if someone found the trapped Nanshan forces, they still wouldn't know where they had gone.

Then they could smoothly go dig out those dozens of mineral veins.

This approach carried quite a bit of risk. If someone found where the Nanshan forces were trapped ahead of time and followed the Qi traces to find them, without the shelter of the grand formation, they would basically be doomed.

But that was the temptation of dozens of mineral veins. Wu Jinliang understood very clearly that if they didn't do this, if they kept being hounded by the Nanshan forces, the chances of digging out all those mineral veins weren't high. This was currently the only way he could think of to sever the entanglement between the Nanshan forces and the various factions.

Though it was extremely risky, the value was just too enormous. He really couldn't resist—dozens of mineral veins!