After the terms were settled, True Monarch Tianhua, along with True Monarch Jiujian and others, stepped into the illusionary array. The moment they entered, the world of ice and snow they had seen before vanished, replaced by a vast and desolate desert.
The desert stretched endlessly, and the temperature was scorching. Even though all present were powerful cultivators at the Golden Core stage, they still found the heat unbearable, as if they were in a furnace.
"Hiss!"
A purple fox shot out from beneath the desert ground, emitting a piercing cry that made one feel dizzy and disoriented.
The purple fox moved with incredible speed, darting towards a third-grade Golden Core cultivator. Before the cultivator could react, its arm was bitten.
"It's a Purple Spirit Fox!"
The third-grade Golden Core cultivator exclaimed in alarm. Purple Spirit Foxes were known for their extreme toxicity. A bite from one was unbearable even for a Golden Core cultivator, let alone the rampant spread of its poison.
Thinking this, his consciousness began to blur. The wound on his arm rapidly worsened, the poison gradually making him lose his reason. He quickly drew a long saber and severed his own arm.
The other Golden Core cultivators present were startled by this scene. In their eyes, the third-grade Golden Core cultivator had suddenly gone mad without any warning, drawing his saber and chopping off his own arm.
"Fool!"
Blade Venerable cursed inwardly upon seeing this. "With such willpower, it's no wonder you can only cultivate a third-grade Golden Core."
"Fellow Daoists, do not panic. Everything you see and feel here is an illusion," True Monarch Tianhua reminded them.
"If that's the case, then the blood flowing from my severed arm is also fake? It felt so real, I could feel my blood constantly draining away," the cultivator who had cut off his arm said with a strange excitement.
"Yours is real!"
True Monarch Tianhua stated calmly.
...
"Three zhang ahead, there is an array disk."
"One zhang to the left, there is an array disk."
"Five zhang to the right, there is an array disk."
True Monarch Tianhua continued to give directions, and people stationed themselves according to his commands.
"There are seventy-two array disks in this formation. To save time, I will arrange seventy-two fellow Daoists to stand at the seventy-two array disk locations and simultaneously uproot this illusionary array's array disks."
True Monarch Tianhua meticulously assigned positions. It took a full three days to identify the locations of all seventy-two array disks. During these three days, four third-grade Golden Core cultivators had already died in the illusionary array.
Two third-grade Golden Core cultivators had died from fighting each other due to hallucinations, while the other two had succumbed to excessive fear and taken their own lives.
No one present found this surprising. After all, this was a high-grade Earth-tier illusionary array. Before True Monarch Tianhua's guidance, even more people had perished.
"Attack!"
After True Monarch Tianhua made his arrangements, he gave the order. Seventy-two Golden Core cultivators simultaneously unleashed powerful spells, striking at the array disk locations.
With seventy-two array disks under attack at once, the entire Earth Fiend Illusionary Fox Array began to shake precariously. The desolate desert landscape started to crumble piece by piece...
Boom!
A deep, resonant roar, like the world splitting apart, was accompanied by a chilling cold that washed over the Golden Core cultivators, filling them with excitement.
"It's broken!"
"True Monarch Tianhua truly lives up to his name, admirable!"
"Haha, once the illusionary array is broken, what else can stop us?"
As joy surged through them, the crowd also felt a sense of relief. Being trapped in the illusionary array was an unbearable experience. Most of them had their clothes soaked with sweat. To be able to inhale the crisp, cold air now was truly refreshing.
"It's finally broken!"
Xue Jing, stationed within the array, clearly sensed that the outer illusionary array had been breached. Now, only the Heavenly Gang Snow Ape Array remained to guard them.
The Heavenly Gang Snow Ape Array was a powerful offensive formation created by Zhang Fan, utilizing thirty-six array disks to absorb ice and snow energy and condense thirty-six colossal snow apes.
Although this array was formidable, Xue Jing believed that no one below the Golden Core stage could break it.
However, more than a hundred Golden Core cultivators had gathered outside the array. If they joined forces, their combined attack power would far surpass that of the Golden Core stage, potentially reaching the level of a two-tribulation Nascent Soul cultivator. Breaking this array would be much simpler than the previous illusionary array.
"Crack..."
Suddenly, a highly unusual sound reached Xue Jing's ears. He turned his head, his gaze falling upon Lin Yun. A dense black light enveloped him, and a powerful surge of magical energy emanated from Lin Yun's body, putting Xue Jing under pressure.
"Shattering the Core to form Nascent Soul?"
Xue Jing stared at the scene, dumbfounded. He was filled with disbelief and surprise. He never imagined that this old man, whose lifespan was nearing its end, would actually break through to the Nascent Soul stage.
An endless stream of heavenly and earthly spiritual energy formed a vortex, constantly surging into the array. This left the Golden Core cultivators outside the array somewhat astonished.
The spiritual energy on Earth was far too sparse, and breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage required an immense amount of magical power. Although Lin Yun was absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, his primary reliance was on consuming a large number of spirit elixirs to saturate his magical power.
"This array is an offensive formation. With your strength, there's no need to fear. You only need to charge into the array!"
True Monarch Tianhua immediately saw through the Heavenly Gang Snow Ape Array's true nature. While the thirty-six snow apes were powerful, they were merely at the peak of third-grade Golden Core cultivation. Even with a continuous supply of ice and snow energy, the cultivators present could easily overwhelm them.
With True Monarch Tianhua's words, the others no longer hesitated. They transformed into streaks of light and, from all directions, entered the array, charging directly into its depths.
Upon entering the array, they saw the immortal mansion slowly emerging from the ground. As time passed, the speed at which the immortal mansion surfaced increased. It had already exposed nearly ten zhang to the open air.
"Kill!"
Upon seeing the immortal mansion, the cultivators present became frenzied. Even before breaking through the array, some cultivators were already engaging in self-slaughter.
"What's going on?"
True Monarch Tianhua and True Monarch Jiujian clearly sensed something was amiss. The moment they stepped into the array, they felt the number of cultivators in the area rapidly decreasing.
Logically, this offensive array should pose no threat to them.
"They are just a bunch of good-for-nothings. If they die, they die. The primary mission is still to break the formation and find that Master Zhang."
Blade Venerable was indifferent to the deaths of those third-grade Golden Core cultivators. Besides the immortal mansion, his primary focus was on Zhang Fan.
Having suffered significant losses at Zhang Fan's hands twice, this time he intended to reclaim everything, with interest.
...