Qin Xi did not know the name of this giant yellow butterfly, nor its innate abilities. But since it blocked his sword light with its yellow powder, this was likely one of its signature killing moves.
In that instant, he had already devised a countermeasure. With a wave of his hand, the sword light retreated into his sleeve. By the time the giant yellow butterfly flew over, he had vanished into thin air.
Die Yi halted, its mouth opening and closing as it asked Jing Hu, "What's going on?"
Jing Hu didn't know either, but another demon cultivator shouted, "Elder Die, this person can freely utilize the power of the formation!"
Die Yi's two antennae swayed, sprinkling a cloud of yellow powder. This powder swirled around the group, forming a protective layer. After doing this, it flashed back to the demon cultivator ranks and resumed human form.
It said, "Elder Jing, defense is not my forte. I must trouble you."
Jing Hu swung its massive whale tail and said, "No need to worry." The blowhole on its head suddenly spouted a towering column of water, spraying it in all directions. The water column transformed into countless water beads, floating in mid-air. These water beads temporarily isolated the surrounding ice spikes and fiery sparks, providing the demon cultivators a space to regroup. Moreover, as soon as Qin Xi reappeared, these water beads would serve as an early warning.
"Greetings, Elders," the demon cultivators respectfully saluted now that they had a moment.
"No need for formalities," Jing Hu opened its mouth full of sharp teeth, its eyes sweeping over them, its voice lowering. "Where are the others?"
A Ninth-Rank Demon Cultivator stepped forward, trembling. "Reporting to Elder Jing, six are confirmed dead, three are missing..."
Die Yi's brows furrowed, its voice cold. "Twenty-six demon cultivators entered the formation, and now only seventeen remain... You've done quite well!"
Though it didn't curse aloud, its displeasure was clearly conveyed. The demon cultivators became even more fearful. Among demon cultivators, the distinction between superior and inferior was even more emphasized than among human cultivators. Moreover, the difference between the Ninth Rank and the Tenth Rank was immense. Eighth-Rank demon cultivators were everywhere in the South Sea, the Ninth Rank wasn't too rare either, but the Tenth Rank could be counted on one's fingers.
Jing Hu, however, said, "This grand formation indeed has its tricks. Don't blame them."
Jing Hu's understanding made these Eighth and Ninth-Rank demon cultivators feel grateful. A Ninth-Rank Demon Cultivator mustered his courage and reported, "Elder Jing, we've searched. There's nothing particularly special within the formation. We humbly request Elder Jing's guidance."
Jing Hu said, "Human cultivators' attainments in formations far surpass ours. The so-called special object isn't necessarily something that clashes with the surrounding environment, but rather something possessing special energy."
"Yes," the Ninth-Rank Demon Cultivator replied respectfully. "We beg Elder Jing for instruction."
Jing Hu knew that without a certain level of formation mastery, it was difficult to locate the Formation Eye. Therefore, it didn't harshly criticize these demon cultivators.
It swung its whale tail and looked up, surveying this world. Human cultivators' formation attainments had reached an astonishing level. Their mountain-protecting formations were almost like creating a world—a world with its own rules of heaven and earth, its own spiritual energy circulation. To treat it merely as an "illusion" now would lead to a miserable death.
Jing Hu scanned this heaven and earth one by one. The land above their heads had mountains, rivers, plains, deserts, oceans—a nearly perfect world, except for the lack of living beings. The sky beneath their feet was vast and boundless, seemingly endless, with only the sun...
The sun! Jing Hu's eyes lit up. Its blowhole sprayed an extremely fine stream of water towards the sun. As the water approached the sun, it was rapidly baked dry, vanishing into the air.
This seemingly futile action made Jing Hu's eyes brighten further. It could confirm that as the water stream approached, the sun suddenly emitted more intense heat—this autonomous behavior was one of the characteristics of a Formation Eye.
It shouted, "Attack the sun!"
"Yes!" the demon cultivators chorused in response. Each retrieved a treasure refined from a part of their true forms and launched attacks towards the sun beneath their feet.
Jing Hu used its sharp teeth; Die Yi used its wings. The two Tenth-Rank Demon Cultivators attacked simultaneously. One white, one yellow—two fierce auras shot towards the sun.
At that moment, a figure in white robes and blue sleeves silently appeared behind them. A red sword light slid from its sleeve, drawn extremely thin, avoiding the densely packed water beads, and slowly swam inside.
The demon cultivators attacking the sun didn't notice. Jing Hu's strength was the greatest among the demon cultivators. They never imagined anyone could bypass the water bead protective barrier it had created.
The red sword light slowly penetrated the barrier, touching the very bottom. Suddenly, red light erupted violently, killing intent fully revealed. The sword light instantly shredded the surrounding water bead barrier to pieces, creating a passage several zhang long.
The demon cultivators reacted. Die Yi once again sprinkled a layer of powder, temporarily blocking the sword light. However, a chain reaction ensued. The water bead barrier collapsed one after another. In just a few breaths, it was completely shattered. The water beads were swept away by the fierce wind, disappearing without a trace. The ice spikes, fiery sparks, yellow sand, and violent winds that had been blocked outside swept in again. Caught off guard, many Eighth-Rank Demon Cultivators couldn't defend in time and were injured where they were struck.
Die Yi was furious and was about to shift its attack target when Qin Xi's figure flickered and vanished once more.
"Die Yi," Jing Hu said, "within this grand formation, we can't do anything to him, only defend. You lead them to attack the Formation Eye. I'll handle defense."
It had to defend against the formation's own attacks while guarding against Qin Xi's intermittent sneak attacks. It had to focus its full attention and couldn't merely maintain a protective barrier like before.
Qin Xi didn't disappoint it, appearing from time to time to harass and tie down Jing Hu.
After another round of harassment, Qin Xi concealed his form and sent a divine sense transmission: "Tian Ge, how much longer can you hold?"
Any formation was composed of Spirit Stones, and Spirit Stones had a limit. Mo Tiange had calculated that if the Heaven-Earth Inversion Formation was pushed to its extreme, it might be able to kill most of the demon cultivators within. However, the two Tenth-Rank Demon Cultivators likely possessed some life-preserving secret arts that could allow them to escape. After that thunderous strike, the Heaven-Earth Inversion Formation would be overdrawn and unable to replace the Spirit Stones in time, leading to its destruction. At that point, facing two Tenth-Rank Demon Cultivators plus an Eighth-Rank one, they could protect themselves, but those low-level disciples who hadn't finished teleporting would be lost.
Therefore, they planned to reduce the formation's power in exchange for time. In this situation, the formation's power would be spread out. The formation would trap them and cause some trouble, but it couldn't annihilate them. The task of annihilation fell to Qin Xi and Feng Ning within the formation.
Unfortunately, Feng Ning had entered the formation without the jade talisman and could now only wander on the periphery. So, the only real combatant was Qin Xi alone.
Direct confrontation was impossible. Qin Xi alone, even with the aid of the formation's power, couldn't fight head-on against a demon cultivator squad with two Tenth-Rankers. Therefore, he could only harass from the side, buying time.
Mo Tiange calculated once more and said, "As long as they don't break the Formation Eye all at once, it should be able to hold for ten hours."
"Ten hours." Qin Xi breathed a sigh of relief. "That's enough."
It was impossible for them to break the Formation Eye because that sun wasn't the Formation Eye at all. It was a deliberate decoy created by Mo Tiange. The true Formation Eye was on the continent above their heads—right before their eyes, in that roaring ocean. The demon cultivators never expected the Formation Eye to be made so large.
Watching these demon cultivators frantically attacking the sun, Qin Xi reappeared. The Three Yang True Fire Sword's light erupted violently as he launched a full-force strike!
Jing Hu had been very careful, but it still didn't expect Qin Xi, who had been focused on harassment, to attack with full power. This sword strike directly shattered the defensive barrier it had just set up again and even slammed into its true form. The tyrannical Vermilion Bird's flames scorched it black.
This time, it was Jing Hu who flew into a rage. But the next moment, Qin Xi silently vanished again.
As time passed, Mo Tiange grew more and more relaxed, while Demon Lord Xuanyue's expression outside the mountain gate grew increasingly gloomy. Listening to the commotion within the grand formation, he almost couldn't resist calling his subordinates back. But he restrained this impulse. He knew that continuing might still lead to victory. If he recalled them now, the subordinates already lost would have died in vain. He knew that if he persisted, he would definitely win because the Immortal Alliance of Tianji couldn't send reinforcements. Relying on just a few of them, could they hold for a day? For a year? Moreover, what reason did they have to keep holding out?
However, he hoped the cost would be smaller. At the very least, the two elders must not come to harm.
Within the grand formation, the sun's brightness gradually dimmed. The demon cultivators' faces showed joy. Even Jing Hu, constantly harassed, spared some attention to watch. But it didn't dare be careless in the slightest. That human cultivator had already given it enough trouble. It had reason to believe that with a single lapse on its part, that human cultivator would emerge and deliver a fatal blow.
Fortunately, what it feared didn't happen. Die Yi's wings danced, and a golden light shot towards the sun. With a thunderous "boom," it finally completely destroyed the teetering sun.
Watching the sun fly upwards and finally land in the roaring ocean with a tremendous sound, even causing a tsunami on the ground, the demon cultivators looked at each other.
There was no shaking of heaven and earth, no cataclysm. It was just quiet—no, the ice spikes, fiery sparks, violent winds, and lightning were still fiercely attacking them. There was only one explanation.
"It's not the Formation Eye..." Jing Hu said, stunned.
If the Formation Eye was damaged, the formation would collapse. They had destroyed the sun, but the formation remained intact, proving the sun wasn't the Formation Eye at all.
The figure in white robes and blue sleeves vanished once more. Thousands of red sword lights suddenly appeared, flooding towards them from all directions. Jing Hu was still in a daze. Only Die Yi quickly sprinkled yellow powder, slightly hindering the sword lights but insufficient to neutralize them. It could only watch helplessly as the sword lights struck among them.
Red light dazzled. Though insufficient to kill them, it left every one of them wounded.
And the culprit who had injured them disappeared again.
Outside the formation, a message talisman flew out, landing in Mo Tiange's hand. The message talisman ignited without fire, transmitting Tang Shen's voice: "Elder Ye, all disciples have been teleported."
Mo Tiange's face showed joy. She quickly sent a reply: "You teleport as well. Destroy the teleportation array after."
She looked at Demon Lord Xuanyue's gloomy face, formed a hand seal with both hands, and waved a formation flag. With a thunderous "boom," the entire grand formation exploded.