Chapter 623: The Formation Activates
Bai Zhan Men Zhu, Zhangsun Lan, stood at the lower left position, squinting his aged eyes and smiling fawningly: "Reporting to Young Master, Red Desire Star Envoy has suffered heavy losses. Of the people she took out, more than half are dead, and she only brought back a dozen or so, almost all of them severely injured, with little combat strength left."
"She thought that by fleeing back to Red Willow Manor, she could escape disaster, but she doesn't know that the Young Master has long been waiting here for her to walk right into the trap."
The expression on Zhangsun Lan's face was quite gloating, and he felt relieved in his heart that he had seen at a glance that Red Desire Star Envoy would never amount to anything, and had taken the initiative to pledge allegiance to Di Yi.
Thinking back on it now, how wise that decision had been.
Di Yi thought for a moment, then smiled: "Being able to escape back to Red Willow Manor is already quite an impressive feat. Zhangsun Lan, go personally and open the main gate, and bring Red Desire Star Envoy to the Sacred Willow Hall. I want to see what expression she'll have when she sees me."
"She will probably be utterly despairing."
Zhangsun Lan let out a dry laugh, stepped back three paces, then turned around, executed his movement technique, and sped swiftly toward the direction of the manor's main gate.
"Tap, tap!"
Purple Wind Star Envoy, carrying a dragon-headed long spear on his back, walked in from the side of the great hall. He glanced at Zhangsun Lan's retreating figure, his brow slightly furrowing.
He withdrew his gaze, stood expressionless in the lower position, and said: "Young Master, I feel something is off. Why has Red Desire Star Envoy already fled back to Red Willow Manor, yet there is still no news from Qing Yi?"
"Logically, if Red Desire Star Envoy had escaped, she should have sent word back immediately, allowing us to make preparations in advance."
Di Yi still had a fair understanding of Red Desire Star Envoy's strength, so he did not take her too seriously. He merely said indifferently: "Red Desire Star Envoy only has two or three experts by her side at most. No matter how much she stirs things up, she can't cause much of a... wave..."
"What's going on?"
Suddenly, Di Yi keenly sensed a tremor in the qi of heaven and earth. He quickly raised his head, his eyes narrowing as he looked upward.
"Hiss, hiss!"
Above the resplendent Sacred Willow Hall, dense array inscriptions materialized out of thin air. The complex and intricate inscriptions interwove with each other, forming a massive array wheel that completely covered the hall.
At the center of the array wheel, vast energy rapidly converged, condensing into a white light pillar a meter in diameter that surged downward, erupting with a piercing sound.
"Boom!"
The power of the white light pillar was terrifying to the extreme. It instantly pierced through the roof of the Sacred Willow Hall and descended directly above Di Yi's head.
This sudden turn of events shocked Di Yi and Purple Wind Star Envoy, who were inside the Sacred Willow Hall.
"Not good! Someone has activated the killing formation in the manor."
Di Yi reacted quickly, tearing off the green jade talisman hanging around his neck and tossing it upward.
On the surface of the green jade talisman, streaks of inscriptions emerged, bursting forth with blinding green light. With a hum, it condensed into a three-zhang-tall green light bell, enveloping him and Purple Wind Star Envoy inside the bell's body.
A deafening sound resounded, and a powerful energy storm surged outward in all directions, unleashing a sound of irresistible force.
The magnificent Sacred Willow Hall collapsed in an instant, turning into a pile of rubble, sending dust soaring dozens of zhangs into the air.
"Rumble!"
The entire Red Willow Manor shook violently, and countless buildings collapsed, becoming heaps of debris.
Di Yi and Purple Wind Star Envoy were buried beneath the ruins, their fate unknown—alive or dead.
All the heretical cultivators in Red Willow Manor were alarmed, looking toward the direction of the Sacred Willow Hall with considerable fear.
"Disaster! The Sacred Willow Hall has been attacked by the enemy."
"The Young Master is in the Sacred Willow Hall! Quickly, save the Young Master!"
...
Seeing the thick black dust rising from the direction of the Sacred Willow Hall, Red Desire Star Envoy, who had just entered Red Willow Manor, immediately showed a delighted expression, knowing that Zhang Ruochen had succeeded.
It had to be said, this Great Protector was truly formidable, able to infiltrate Red Willow Manor without a trace and reclaim control of the formations.
His abilities even made Red Desire Star Envoy feel a bit afraid.
Red Desire Star Envoy secretly resolved that after killing Di Yi, she would, no matter what, find out his true identity. She could not allow such a mysterious and powerful figure to remain by her side—the threat was too great.
Red Desire Star Envoy glanced at Zhangsun Lan, who was leading the way ahead, and a fierce killing intent surged within her. She let out a sharp cry: "Attack!"
Shi Buchou and Xu Hong, almost in an instant, transformed into two streaks of light and charged forward simultaneously, each unleashing a martial technique aimed at Zhangsun Lan ahead.
"Zhangsun Lan, you betrayed the Star Envoy. Today is your day of death!"
"Bright Light Soaring Sky Fist."
Shi Buchou clenched his five fingers into a fist seal and struck out fiercely.
"What are you doing? We're all on the same side! How can you attack me?"
Zhangsun Lan was also a top-tier expert, having reached the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm, with unfathomable strength.
But he had never expected that the Sacred Willow Hall would suddenly collapse, nor that Shi Buchou and Xu Hong would suddenly attack him.
Xu Hong sneered: "Zhangsun Lan, do you really think we didn't know that Di Yi was in Red Willow Manor?"
Xu Hong's fingers gleamed with cold light, his ten fingers curling into claw shapes as he executed a ghost-grade lower-rank claw technique, striking at Zhangsun Lan's neck.
Zhangsun Lan, however, reacted extremely quickly, rapidly circulating his true qi and unleashing two palm strikes to meet the attack.
But since he was caught off guard, he could only unleash at most sixty percent of his full power. How could he possibly withstand the combined assault of two top experts like Xu Hong and Shi Buchou?
"Boom!"
The moment they clashed, Zhangsun Lan was sent flying backward, his body crashing through a seven-story pagoda before falling into a distant pool of water.
The powerful impact of his fall caused countless palm-wide cracks to spread along the edges of the pool, and the ground shook with the impact.
With a whoosh, Red Desire Star Envoy flew over, raised her crystal holy staff, and unleashed an illusion technique: "Lost Illusion Realm."
Just as Zhangsun Lan emerged from the pool, he was struck by the illusion technique. His body froze for a moment, then with a thud, he fell limply from midair.
Shi Buchou struck again, slapping his palm onto the top of Zhangsun Lan's head, splitting his skull and driving half his body into the ground.
A Fish-Dragon ninth transformation expert, under the combined assault of three top-tier fighters, ultimately met his end.
"This is the fate of a traitor."
Red Desire Star Envoy coldly glared at the corpse on the ground, then looked back at the group of heretical experts behind her and said: "The moment of decisive battle has arrived. Now, we charge toward the Sacred Willow Hall. Whoever can cut off Di Yi's head will be rewarded with a sacred artifact and five million spirit crystals."
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
...
After killing Zhangsun Lan, all the heretical experts were boiling with bloodlust. They drew their true martial treasures and charged toward the Sacred Willow Hall.
All one hundred and forty-seven formations within Red Willow Manor were fully activated. Half were defensive formations, and the other half were offensive killing formations.
From the ground, pillars of light shot up, forming one formation after another, all operating at full power.
"Rumble!"
Under the assault of the formations, screams rose and fell within Red Willow Manor. At every moment, large numbers of heretical cultivators perished.
Before long, Red Willow Manor was completely reduced to ruins, with scorched black pits everywhere and corpses lying scattered in all directions.
Di Yi, covered in dust and dirt, burst out from the ruins of the Sacred Willow Hall. He could no longer maintain his calm composure. His eyes were bloodshot as he said in a deep voice: "Someone has taken control of the formation hub of Red Willow Manor. Cao Xu, Cao Ling, you two immediately go to the underground altar and kill them."
Two heretical overlords, a man and a woman clad in metal battle armor, rushed out and headed toward the underground altar. As for Purple Wind Star Envoy, he stayed behind to protect Di Yi.
Cao Xu and Cao Ling were twin siblings, over sixty years old, but they looked like they were around thirty, appearing quite young.
Both had reached the ninth transformation of the Fish-Dragon Realm. When they combined their sword formation, they had once defeated the knight commander Zhao Hanhu.
This showed just how powerful they were.
Di Yi sent them to the underground altar to ensure absolute success in reclaiming control of the formation hub.
When Cao Xu and Cao Ling arrived underground, they saw the four formation masters still sitting cross-legged above the altar, controlling the formations.
Cao Xu's gaze swept across the underground space. Not seeing any other cultivators, he let out a cold shout: "What are you doing? Who allowed you to activate the attack formations?"
The four formation masters trembled uncontrollably, exchanging glances with fear on their faces, as if they were extremely terrified.
Their lips moved, but they dared not speak.
A hearty laugh echoed through the underground space: "There's no need to scold them. They only activated the attack formations because I threatened them."
"Who is it?"
Hearing the laughter, Cao Xu and Cao Ling reacted as if struck by lightning, immediately releasing their holy light protective qi. They executed their movement techniques, pressing their backs together.
Zhang Ruochen, wearing the Meteor Invisibility Cloak, stood at the entrance of the underground space, watching the terrified expressions of Cao Xu and Cao Ling. He couldn't help but smile slightly and said again: "My goal is to kill Di Yi. If you obediently stay here, I might spare your lives."
Though they couldn't see anyone, the voice sounded right in their ears.
Cao Xu and Cao Ling's faces grew even more grim.
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
Two black swords flew out from their sheaths and landed in their hands.
Cao Xu held his sword horizontally across his chest, channeling the holy qi from his holy meridians into the sword body, activating all the inscriptions within the sword, assuming a defensive posture.
Cao Ling, on the other hand, gripped her sword with both hands, holding the blade vertically upward, forming a starting stance that was also defensive.
It was no wonder the Cao siblings were so terrified. After all, the underground space was quite narrow and could be seen at a glance. Yet, with their cultivation levels, they could not detect the other party's aura at all. How terrifying was that?