A crimson barrier of light surged up in an instant!
A massive formation barrier rose around the square platform.
At this moment, within the barrier, there was only him and the black-robed man.
Li Guanqi’s gaze sharpened. Tossing out his soldier armor, his body shot forward like an arrow!
The Canglang sword in his hand gleamed with a dim purple glow, letting out low, rhythmic hums.
Yet the man stood in place without moving, watching Li Guanqi with mockery in his eyes.
Suddenly—
*Bang!!*
A hundred-zhang-tall iron wall abruptly shot up beneath Li Guanqi, whose entire body was encased in soldier armor!!
Crashing into the wall, he failed to move it in the slightest; the tremendous impact rebounded entirely back onto him.
Fortunately, the soldier armor absorbed most of the force, leaving him with only a dull tightness in his chest.
Li Guanqi stood rooted to the spot with his brow tightly knit, still uncertain of what had just happened.
The next instant, the man’s derisive laughter drifted into his ears.
“Hahahaha, a newborn calf really knows no fear of the tiger!”
“Since you arrived alone, then you shall be the one to participate in this chessboard that stakes your lives!!”
*Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!*
A roaring din resounded in all directions. Immediately after, the ground beneath Li Guanqi trembled slightly, and the stone floor beneath his feet surged upward by more than a dozen zhang in an instant.
Moreover, behind him, just outside the light barrier, the ground began to sink continuously.
At the same time, across all of Dikun City, every staircase leading down to the subterranean city vanished in a flash.
Beneath the feet of every Great Xia Sword Sect disciple who had entered the underground city, a flash of crimson light flickered.
Then, every single one of them disappeared from where they stood.
Li Guanqi stared fixedly at the pitch-black abyss behind him. When the ground rose once more, what came into view was a crimson formation barrier!
As the light barrier appeared and the platform slowly ascended, it turned out to hold many disciples of the Great Xia Sword Sect!
These people were all covered in varying degrees of injury. Many could barely stand, supported by those beside them, and several disciples had even passed out cold.
By Li Guanqi’s rough count, there were eighteen people within the barrier!
Zhou Zhi was supporting a pale-faced young woman, who was none other than Jiang Su.
When Zhou Zhi caught sight of Li Guanqi inside the barrier, he froze for a moment and cried out loudly, “Junior Brother Li, why are you in there?”
“What in the world is happening?”
Li Guanqi’s expression was grim. He knew he seemed to have walked right into the enemy’s trap!
In a low voice, he said, “Senior Brother… I don't know what’s going on either…”
*Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!*
Li Guanqi whipped around. The iron wall before him had slowly receded downward.
Hundreds of zhang away, he realized that the black-robed man outside the barrier was now enveloped within a formation barrier of his own.
Standing upon a high platform, the black-robed man tore off his black veil, revealing his face.
Surprisingly, it was a middle-aged man with scruffy stubble. Crisscrossing scars ran across his face, and he had an aquiline nose and slightly gaunt cheeks.
Spreading his arms, he stared across at Li Guanqi with a ferocious sneer. “I really must thank you.”
“If you hadn’t arrived here alone first, we might not have been able to activate the Thousand Mechanism Formation Plate on this thirteenth tier!!”
“Twelve against nineteen!”
“As long as I win, all of you must die!!”
With that, the man slammed both hands onto the ground, frantically channeling his vital energy into the platform below.
In practically an instant, countless lines of blue spiritual light abruptly erupted across from Li Guanqi, weaving together into a crisscrossing grid.
The previously unremarkable platform was divided by that blue light into massive squares, each ten zhang long and twenty-five zhang wide!
Half of the platform was covered by a full five hundred of these rectangular spaces!
Seeing what the man had done, Li Guanqi immediately copied him, slamming both hands against the ground.
As his vital energy poured in, countless mysterious patterns suddenly shimmered across the flagstones beneath him.
Looking down at the patterns, Li Guanqi realized that countless glowing lines had appeared on his side as well.
However, the lines of light on his side were purple.
*Hum—!!!*
Striking second but arriving first, Li Guanqi's side lit up across every single square almost the instant the opponent’s spiritual light took shape.
Immediately after, five bizarre black stone statues rose from beneath each of their feet!
Yet when Li Guanqi saw the opponent's statues, his heart leapt in shock.
He could clearly see that the five statues below the opposing platform bore the exact likeness of the man himself!
He looked down beneath his own feet, but his view was blocked by his high platform.
Suddenly!!
From right where the two of them stood, several sharp spikes abruptly thrust upward, piercing straight through their feet!!
A muffled grunt escaped Li Guanqi’s mouth.
“Junior Brother Li!!”
“Junior Brother Li! What the hell is going on?!”
*Thud! Thud!!*
Many of the disciples threw themselves against the crimson formation barrier with all their might, but to no avail.
The spikes had struck with such terrifying suddenness that there was no time to react.
Three spikes pierced clean through his feet. Then, the tips split open and snapped shut, forming shackles that pinned the two combatants firmly in place!
A strange flush rose to Li Guanqi’s face. Turning to the others, he said in a heavy voice, “Don't worry, I'm fine!”
“This must be their ultimate goal. Whoever showed up here would have been forced to stand where I am now.”
Li Guanqi cast a cold gaze toward his opponent, the corners of his lips curling into a frigid sneer.
“Twelve against nineteen!”
“Staking our lives? Heh, lucky it wasn’t Ye Feng standing here…”
*Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!!!*
Amid a deafening roar, the squares closest to both high platforms abruptly lit up!
Two burly puppets—one black, one white—abruptly materialized!
Looking at the entirely silver-white puppet, Li Guanqi couldn't help but think of the soldier pellets in his possession.
Clearly, however, the puppets on the platform below were of a much higher grade.
From those crimson eyes, Li Guanqi even felt a chill run through him.
Beneath his own platform stood an identical pitch-black puppet wielding a sword.
Suddenly, a savage expression twisted the middle-aged man's face.
With a furious surge of his vital energy, his puppet kicked off the ground with explosive power, bounding across several squares in an instant like a hunting leopard!!
Li Guanqi's heart tightened, and he frantically channeled vital energy into the platform beneath him.
Yet though the platform accepted his energy, it did not react at all!!
*Bang!!!*
The silver puppet brushed past the black puppet and shattered one of Li Guanqi's stone statues with a single slash!!
The statue exploded into pieces.
“Arghhhhhh!!!!!!”
Li Guanqi’s body stiffened instantly, his hands trembling and contorting.
His head jerked back, blue veins bulging across his neck, and he let out a hoarse, ragged roar from his open mouth!!
An excruciating agony, like having his heart gouged and his bones scraped, battered Li Guanqi’s mind without pause.
His sea of consciousness roiled, and his divine sense leaked outward!!
The Dao platform in his dantian shook violently, and several breaths passed before Li Guanqi finally managed to catch his breath.
His naturally pure white eyes were now laced with bloodshot veins.
Seeing this, the hearts of all the Great Xia Sword Sect disciples behind him clenched in horror.
Zhou Zhi slammed a fist against the barrier, roaring, “Junior Brother!!!!”
Without a single word, everyone drew their longswords and began wildly hacking at the barrier of light!
Yet by now, the formation barrier had completely cut off all sound from the outside.
Hundreds of zhang away, the man shouted in wild, savage delight, “Hahahahaha!! Does it feel good?!”
“Today, all of you are going to die here!!”
“Your deaths will unlock the millennium-old secret vault of this Thousand Mechanism Formation Plate!!”
Chapter 96