Breached Formation, Repelled Foes: What Collapsing Wall?

Under the violent eruption of spiritual energy, the Bronze Wall and Iron Bastion Array—which had weathered relentless assaults for days—melted like molten metal before countless watching eyes, cascading down in rolling torrents of golden liquid. The grand formation was breached! Inside the canyon's grand hall, despair surfaced in the eyes of the Divine Craft Sect's Grand Elder. *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* Beside him, the late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators assisting him burst into clouds of gore simultaneously. Having channeled the formation for days on end, they had long since linked their very lives to the array. Now that the formation had shattered, so did their lives. "It's my turn next." The Grand Elder let out a wretched laugh, watching a familiar face appear at the doorway. "Sect Master, fare..." He never finished his final farewell. The terrifying backlash ripped through his entire body in an instant. *Bang!* A mist of blood showered the grand hall. Fei Changqiu's pupils contracted violently, spiritual power surging madly through him. He extended a hand, summoning a furnace before him. Gripping the furnace with one hand, he shot skyward. "Luo Chen, give me your life!" *** "How dare you?!" "Insolence!" "Stop!" Luo Chen's sudden strike caught Zuo Song's trio completely off guard. When the hundred-zhang, lifelike flame dragon tore through the bronze wall and iron bastion, Zuo Song and Ling Yuzhi roared in outrage. Yet Luo Chen met them only with cold eyes. Behind him, the grand formation suddenly shifted direction, and a terrifying mass of spiritual qi began to coalesce. "Fellow Daoists, this array of mine still has its ninth transformation." "Think carefully before you act!" Min Longyu's voice rolled forth, reverberating across the wilderness like the tolling of a great bell. Even as he spoke, the harrowing waves of spiritual energy faintly touched the realm of the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment. Its momentum was utterly terrifying! Both Zuo Song and Luo Feng changed color. Ling Yuzhi went pale with shock, the color draining entirely from her face. Right then, Fei Changqiu's furious roar detonated from within the great canyon. "Luo Chen, give me your life!" Luo Chen spun around. Ten li away, Fei Changqiu was hurtling toward him with unstoppable momentum, brandishing a massive furnace in one hand. Luo Chen gave a feral grin. "Come at me!" Paying no heed to the three behind him, his broad sleeves billowed as he flew straight toward Fei Changqiu. Passing through the Nine Transformations Flame Dragon Array, he reached out with one hand as if plucking something from thin air. In the next instant, the Mystic Fire Sword rang clear, trailing behind him as a soaring fire meteor. A piercing sonic boom thundered across the sky. The air warped violently, as though it would be incinerated to nothing by the blazing meteor. "Go!" Luo Chen thrust his fingers like a sword, and the fire meteor bridged the distance in a flash, surging out in front. *Whoosh!* Fei Changqiu hurled the furnace with one hand, sending a vast, surging tide of spiritual energy rolling forward. He held nothing back in this strike! With his fourth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivation, he drove the power of the Zhengyang Furnace to his absolute current limit. He did not expect to kill Luo Chen. He sought only to catch Luo Chen unprepared and drag him into mutual destruction. Once that happened, the three guests he had invited would undoubtedly be unable to restrain themselves. Only then would he have a chance to claw life from the jaws of death. The fire meteor and the furnace were on the brink of collision when, in a single breath, the meteor nimbly slipped past the magical treasure with uncanny agility. Under Fei Changqiu's horror-stricken gaze, it impaled his chest. The more one threw caution to the wind, the greater the openings one exposed! Though both were at the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, years of comfortable peace meant Fei Changqiu had not fought in a long time. Luo Chen, by contrast, had carved his path through battles of every scale. Above all, the degree to which the Mystic Fire Sword had been refined was a world apart from before! Berserk fire spiritual energy erupted outward, rampaging through Fei Changqiu's body to destroy it from within. He stared ahead in bitter unwillingness. *He must be hurt too, right?* Before his eyes, Luo Chen and Wang Yuan struck simultaneously, using their immense physiques and profound cultivations to forcibly take the full force of his desperate, dying strike. Behind them, Zuo Song's trio merely looked on with cold indifference, completely unmoved. "You..." *Thud!* The fire meteor plunged into the grand hall's hanging plaque, revealing the slender length of the blade and Fei Changqiu run through the chest, his eyes wide in death. Luo Chen let out a muffled grunt and slammed the furnace treasure heavily into the ground. Wang Yuan looked at him with concern. Though they had intercepted the strike together, Wang Yuan possessed techniques to disperse incoming force, whereas Luo Chen did not. "Are you all right?" Luo Chen took a deep breath, suppressing the tightness in his chest, and waved his hand. "From here on, you handle the Divine Craft Sect alone!" Without waiting for Wang Yuan's reply, he flew straight toward Zuo Song and the other two. As he flew, the Mystic Fire Sword behind him wheeled back like a swallow returning to its nest, settling by his side. Seeing such fluid control over a magical treasure made Zuo Song's heart quiver once more. *How is this possible?!* *A mere mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator can manipulate a magical treasure so skillfully? To what extent has he refined it?* He was not the only one thinking this. Luo Feng's expression had turned exceedingly grim. As Luo Chen stepped forward, stride by stride, Ling Yuzhi's face grew deathly pale, and she retreated instinctively. When Luo Chen faced the three once more, the situation was completely different from before! The person who had made a deal with them was already dead! "Fellow Daoists, please see yourselves out!" Luo Chen said in a deep voice, his demeanor unhurried, as though skewering Fei Changqiu with a single sword strike had been no different from crushing a bug. Luo Feng remained silent for a moment, then nodded to him. Without a wasted word, he took his leave. Ling Yuzhi shot Luo Chen a venomous glare before departing in bitter frustration. "As expected of the Fire Spirit Lord!" Zuo Song suddenly burst out laughing. "Such thunderous methods truly open this old man's eyes." Luo Chen curled his lip. "It pales beside Fellow Daoist Zuo's profound mastery of sword telekinesis." "Far from it, far from it," Zuo Song said, waving his hand. "Any cultivator can wield a sword with qi. I have merely studied it a bit more deeply." Luo Chen did not reply, merely watching him. Zuo Song glanced down at the grand formation below, which still seemed primed to unleash its power, and finally let out a long sigh. "Very well, very well!" Before leaving, he could not resist adding, "Fire Spirit Lord, regarding that ore..." "Let us discuss that after I settle these matters!" One did not strike a smiling face, and Luo Chen knew this principle well. Although Zuo Song had previously shown intent to corner him, that had been based on the hefty rewards Fei Changqiu had promised. Circumstances had changed! If the opportunity arose, Luo Chen would naturally not let the man off. For now, however, it was best not to tear away all pretense. No matter what, the man was still a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator! Zuo Song pondered for a moment, cast a deep, lingering look toward the Divine Craft Sect, and finally took his leave. Luo Chen stood suspended in midair, watching the three depart until they were a hundred li away. Only then did the taut string in his heart finally slacken. "Min Longyu, disperse it!" The moment the words fell, the crimson formation blanketing the ground dissolved abruptly like melting snow. All that remained was utter devastation! Over a hundred formation flags had ignited without wind, reduced to ashes. The hundred-plus late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators Luo Chen had brought along seemed to lose all support, collapsing limp and sprawling across the ground. The initial five hundred medium-grade spirit stones had long since turned to dust. The additional three hundred medium-grade spirit stones Luo Chen had subsequently fed into the array were largely depleted as well, with scarcely any spiritual energy left. Just to sustain the formation, this single battle had consumed eight hundred medium-grade spirit stones. Converted to low-grade spirit stones, that was over eighty thousand! And that was without accounting for other expenditures. War was always a battle of resources. At the very center of the formation, Min Longyu held the Eighteen Wandering Formation Disks, his face stark white. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe, looking as though he had been pulled from a river. Seeing this, Luo Chen said, "You've worked hard." Min Longyu managed a strained smile. "Hardly. I was simply in over my head. I never imagined that trying to command the Nine Transformations Flame Dragon Array with an early Foundation Establishment cultivation would be so difficult." "You did exceptionally well," Luo Chen consoled him. Indeed! Min Longyu had played the pivotal role in this battle, executing his duty flawlessly. Not only had he shattered the Bronze Wall and Iron Bastion Array, but he had also used its remaining momentum to feign the ability to unleash the ninth transformation, temporarily cowing the two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. "President, what about now?" "It's fine. You don't need to worry about that anymore; someone is coming to handle it." Luo Chen did not look back to check on Wang Yuan. Instead, he gazed into the distance, where a high-grade flying boat was racing toward them like lightning. Upon the vessel stood an elegant figure, gazing anxiously toward them. Moments later, the boat neared its destination. Before it had even come to a full stop, the figure flew toward Luo Chen. "President, Huiniang has arrived late!" Seeing her anxious expression, Luo Chen cupped his hands and bowed from afar. "Congratulations to Fellow Daoist Sima on achieving Foundation Establishment! The Great Dao is within your reach!" Sima Huiniang froze where she was, the waves of spiritual energy from her newly attained Foundation Establishment realm unmistakably clear. Then, a brilliant smile blossomed on her face. "Sima Huiniang also congratulates Fellow Daoist Luo on conquering the Divine Craft Sect, making the name of Luotian resound across Tianlan!" "Haha!" The two looked at each other and laughed, everything understood without a word. *** Sweeping the battlefield and hauling the spoils took a full day and night. The Luotian Association did not make things difficult for the disciples of the Divine Craft Sect. After conducting simple searches, they permitted them to leave freely. The sect's leadership had been utterly annihilated. Those who remained were mostly in the early or mid-stages of Qi Refinement. The occasional late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator posed no threat. Sometimes, total slaughter was inappropriate. The Luotian Association could act so brazenly, breaching mountains and wiping out sects multiple times in short succession, for two reasons. First, they acted under a righteous pretext. Second, they enjoyed the backing of that colossal entity, Ice Fort. If they went too far, even the most justified cause would draw censure. Conversely, by meting out ruthless vengeance while leaving a sliver of leeway for low-tier cultivators, they gave others no pretext to condemn them. Min Longyu and the hundred late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators had already been escorted back to Danxia Peak by Wang Yuan on the first day. All who remained were Luo Chen and Sima Huiniang, the two rulers of the Luotian Association. Aboard the Langqi Flying Boat, Luo Chen toyed with a translucent, crystal-clear ore, wonder evident on his face. If his eyes did not deceive him, this had to be a piece of Mystic Sky Crystal! Its rank was not especially high—merely Tier 4! Well, that was already exceptionally high! Yet the true wonder of this material lay in the word "mystic." According to records Luo Chen had read in an ancient text, it was one of the finest ores for crafting artifacts. Its mystic properties allowed different attributes to blend together seamlessly, harmonizing materials of disparate elements into a unified whole. This trait alone was enough to send most weapon craftsmen into a frenzy. Not only that, but the Mystic Sky Crystal possessed a subtle potential for growth. If used as the primary material for forging a natal magical treasure, it could even raise the treasure's upper limit! Beyond that, as a Tier 4 mineral, the crystal had numerous other wondrous uses: channeling qi, melting substances, absorbing spiritual energy, purging impurities, and more. How it was utilized ultimately depended on the craftsman's design. *No wonder Zuo Song coveted this so fiercely.* *He specializes in sword telekinesis, yet flying sword magical treasures cannot be mastered perfectly by Foundation Establishment cultivators. If he incorporated this material, he might have been able to raise his control over his treasure by ten or twenty percent.* *For me, however, I have no such need for now.* Luo Chen held the Mystic Sky Crystal and pondered for a moment before carefully stowing it away in the deepest part of his storage bag. The greatest value of this material did not lie in enhancing an existing magical treasure's power. That would be far too shortsighted. Using it as the primary material for a natal magical treasure was its most fitting purpose. As Luo Chen reflected, footsteps sounded outside the door. Moments later, Sima Huiniang walked in. Looking at Luo Chen, she could not help but say helplessly, "President, wasn't that far too reckless? A gentleman does not stand beneath a collapsing wall! How could you completely disregard two late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators like that?" Faced with her accusation, Luo Chen merely smiled. "What collapsing wall is there to speak of?"