After retracing the entire route Geng Zheng’s party had traveled over the past day and night, everyone discovered that the marks of their passage had indeed vanished. This was enough to confirm Xu Ziqing’s conjecture.
Now they needed to find a way out.
The forest resembled reality so closely that even after the cultivators tried numerous methods, they could find no flaw. For the moment, they were completely at a loss.
Yun Lie had not joined their efforts. He waited quietly until they finished testing the surroundings, then said, “Go back.”
Xu Ziqing paused. “Senior Brother, you mean…”
“Investigate the entrance.”
Xu Ziqing understood.
The situation was different now. Earlier, they had entered the forest to explore. They had since confirmed that something was wrong, and only two choices remained: continue onward or retreat.
If only he and Yun Lie were present, going farther might be reasonable. But they had met fellow disciples and could not abandon them. It would be better to escort them out before deciding what to do next.
With that in mind, Xu Ziqing told Shen Yinglan and the others how they had seen three demonic cultivators emerge unharmed from the forest. He wanted to reassure them that the formation was formidable but not necessarily fatal.
Shen Yinglan brightened. “If that’s so, why don’t we follow Eldest Senior Brother’s suggestion and return to take a look?”
The four had arrived directly inside the forest, terrified and unable to find an entrance or exit. Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie, however, had walked in from its edge. If nothing had changed, perhaps they could simply turn around and leave.
A realistic illusion formation like this probably concealed treasures, but treasures were useless to anyone who died seeking them. Since they had found no clue to the formation’s workings, it was better not to be greedy.
The others agreed. Xu Ziqing took the lead as they traveled on the wind.
Cultivators had excellent memories, yet when they returned to the place where the brothers had entered, everyone could only smile bitterly.
Of course… it could not be so simple.
Where the brothers remembered a path into the forest, several towering trees now blocked the way, as though they had always grown there. When the group extended its spiritual senses beyond them, it found nothing but seemingly endless trees. There was no exit, and not even a convenient dirt path.
By now everyone understood.
Unless they broke the illusion array, they would never escape the forest.
Xu Ziqing sighed. “Senior Brothers, Senior Sister, is any of you skilled at breaking formations?”
Geng Zheng and the others looked helpless. “Our talents are limited. We can scarcely find enough time for ordinary cultivation. How would we have the energy to study such arts?”
Furthermore, formations were extraordinarily intricate. Without years of devoted study, merely recognizing that one was trapped in an array did not mean one could break it.
Yun Lie was devoted wholly to the sword. He had no expertise in formations. Xu Ziqing had cultivated for only a short time and knew a little of several miscellaneous disciplines, but not enough to claim even familiarity with them, let alone mastery.
Thus, none of them had any solution.
After some thought, Shen Yinglan gritted her teeth. “I’ve heard that array formations are extremely subtle, but ultimately there are only two ways to break them. The first is to understand the array and unravel it. The second is to force it apart with raw power. We don’t understand this array, so the first option is impossible. Why don’t we stop holding back and destroy things around us? Whatever change follows, we can respond when it comes.”
Her proposal was likely to provoke danger, but when they could neither find a flaw nor locate the array’s core, it was the only method worth trying.
Geng Zheng and the others agreed and looked toward Yun Lie and Xu Ziqing.
By now they had noticed that Yun Lie rarely refused a suggestion made by Xu Ziqing. Eldest Senior Brother was a man of few words, but he and Junior Brother Xu understood each other so well that Xu Ziqing often spoke for them both.
Even after all their experience, the four had seldom seen such closeness between martial brothers. They could not help feeling envious, and they regarded Xu Ziqing with increasing respect.
Xu Ziqing did indeed understand Yun Lie. After glancing at his senior brother, he said, “Senior Sister Shen is right. Let’s break the formation by force.”
Azure light flashed between his brows, and he moved first.
A brilliant needle of light shot out and struck a large tree nearby.
With a resounding explosion, the tree burst apart, sending broken wood and branches flying.
Seeing this, Shen Yinglan and the others deployed their own methods.
Shen Yinglan was particularly capable. She opened her mouth and released a streak of red light that circled the trees.
A cord as thin as a red line flashed past. More than ten trees toppled in succession, their cut surfaces perfectly smooth.
Geng Zheng released a set of Eighteen Linked Rings, apparently made of bright yellow refined copper. They hammered in every direction, toppling swathes of trees and punching countless holes in the ground. The area looked as though a storm had torn through it.
Bu Lou and Mu Yuanjun unleashed their flying swords. A single circuit either froze the trees or shattered them. Before long, the vegetation in their vicinity lay in ruins.
Yet even after all this destruction, the array showed no sign of changing. It was as though they had simply rampaged through an ordinary forest. The lack of response was deeply discouraging.
Fortunately, everyone was determined. Since the forest was so lifelike, they reasoned, it must form part of the formation. If their actions had produced no reaction, perhaps they had not done enough. In that case, they would simply do more.
Shen Yinglan and the others threw themselves into the work with even greater force, no longer worrying about fatigue or the cost in true essence. They unleashed their strongest techniques without restraint.
Xu Ziqing scattered hundreds of Qingyun Needles, but continued observing carefully.
Such an uproar should have drawn the attention of the forest’s demon beasts and wild animals. Even if the weaker creatures were afraid to approach, those of the sixth rank or higher should have come to investigate.
Yet not a single beast appeared. Xu Ziqing began to suspect that brute force alone would not solve the problem. They needed to be more discerning.
Yun Lie, meanwhile, had not acted at all, though his cultivation and destructive ability far surpassed everyone else’s. Xu Ziqing understood that his senior brother was thinking much the same thing.
Before long, wind rose beneath Yun Lie’s feet and lifted him into the air.
Xu Ziqing realized at once that his senior brother must have noticed something. He followed without delay. Knowing Yun Lie so well, he felt a faint premonition of what was coming.
When the four other disciples tried to rise into the air too, however, he stopped them.
“Senior Brothers, Senior Sister, please keep attacking with all your strength!”
Shen Yinglan and the others looked surprised, then delighted. They redoubled their efforts.
Xu Ziqing followed Yun Lie higher. Looking down, he finally noticed something different.
The trees, vines, and soil below had been chopped, broken, and scattered. They ought to have formed a completely chaotic ruin, yet what he saw was nothing of the sort.
All the destruction in the forest had somehow arranged itself into a formation.
It was the Eight Trigrams Formation.
Xu Ziqing recognized it immediately, not because he had suddenly become an expert in formations but because the Eight Trigrams were so basic that even mortals could deduce their pattern.
To someone studying the Dao of formations, this arrangement could scarcely be considered an introductory array.
Xu Ziqing smiled bitterly. He looked up at Yun Lie. “Senior Brother, is this simple formation really what has trapped us?”
Yun Lie’s expression remained calm. “The Eight Trigrams are simple, yet they contain the principles of heaven and earth and form the origin of countless arrays. The formation here cannot be so simple. Still, this may offer a way to break it.”
Xu Ziqing thought carefully, then looked down again. With each tree felled, the Eight Trigrams became more distinct. Though the pattern was not yet complete, the Yin and Yang of its central Taiji had been present from the beginning. Xu Ziqing knew that the core of this formation lay where Yang gave birth to Yin and Yin gave birth to Yang.
If this truly was an opening, the ancient array master probably did not intend for them to finish creating the Eight Trigrams. Rather, they needed to destroy the array’s focal points as quickly as possible.
Seeing the pattern growing clearer, Xu Ziqing feared that completing it might bring some unforeseen change. He immediately called out, “Senior Brothers, Senior Sister, stop now! Come up here to Senior Brother and me!”
Shen Yinglan and the others sprang into the air without delay.
Xu Ziqing continued, “Senior Brother and I will strike the Yang eye. Please strike the Yin eye together.”
The others agreed at once.
Everyone attacked simultaneously.
Several streaks of spiritual light erupted and struck the two eyes of the Taiji symbol.
In the next instant, an immense force surged up, dragging them helplessly away.
Xu Ziqing had anticipated this. At the moment he released his attack, he had already caught Yun Lie’s hand.
The world spun around him. After a brief moment of darkness, his feet touched solid ground again.
He opened his eyes sharply. He was standing in an extraordinarily spacious stone chamber.
Had the array actually been a transportation formation?
Because he had prepared, Yun Lie was still beside him. But to his surprise, they were far from alone.
Several dozen people sat cross-legged along the walls, some reserved and dignified, some conscious of their status, some arrogant, and some utterly unpretentious. Their expressions and bearing varied widely.
Most had cultivation between Core Transformation and Golden Core.
On closer inspection, not a single Nascent Soul ancestor was present. The strongest had reached only the peak of late Golden Core.
Xu Ziqing felt a little reassured.
A flash of white light appeared, and Geng Zheng and the others arrived as well. Seeing the two brothers, they hurried over and joined them.
Just then, a lazy voice spoke from the crowd. “Finally! All forty-nine have arrived. This young master has been waiting long enough!”