Chapter 1081: Risking One's Life to Save Another

On the other side of the golden desert, several figures were gathered before a reddish-brown stone archway that stood abruptly on a sand dune. They were Lei Yuce and his five companions.

On the archway was carved a dense ring of runes, seven or eight of which flickered with pale golden light. Inside the archway stretched a dark red light screen, crisscrossed and bound by nine dark golden chains.

Upon closer inspection, one would find that the nine dark golden chains were also inscribed with runes as dense as fish scales, emanating a very powerful binding force.

"Fellow Daoist Lei, how is it? Can you break this Nine-Dragon Locking Divine Restriction Array?" Jin Liu looked at Lei Yuce, whose expression was grave, and asked with a hint of doubt in his eyes.

Lei Yuce did not answer immediately but whispered a few words to Wen Zhong before saying:

"This Nine-Dragon Locking Divine Restriction Array has been altered. Breaking it won't be easy; it will take some time."

"How long will it take?" Su Quanxi asked, her delicate brows slightly furrowed.

"This array is already complex. Altering just one of the dragon-scale chains doubles the difficulty of breaking it. At least four of the restrictions here have been modified... It will probably take two to three days to open it." Lei Yuce pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Two to three days? That's too long!" Jin Liu exclaimed.

"If Fellow Daoist Jin has another way to break the array, feel free to do it yourself." Wen Zhong, displeased, said with a frown.

Jin Liu was taken aback, a flash of anger in his eyes, but in the end, he said nothing.

His talent in formations was mediocre; otherwise, he wouldn't have mistaken the Star Palace Confrontation Restriction Array for a Yin-Yang Locking Array. Naturally, he couldn't solve this Nine-Dragon Locking Divine Restriction Array.

Lan Yuanzi and his sister exchanged glances and shook their heads. Neither knew how to break this array, so they remained silent.

Lei Yuce glanced at Jin Liu, then at Su Quanxi, and his expression softened slightly as he said:

"Well, I have another method that we can try, but I'm not sure if it will succeed."

"Since there's a method, we should try it. Otherwise, delaying any longer won't do." Jin Liu frowned and immediately said.

"You say that lightly, but Brother Lei is talking about a method of forcefully breaking the array. If we're not careful, it could harm us. How can we just try it casually?" Wen Zhong, now somewhat angry, scolded.

Su Huanxi listened, then shifted her gaze to Lei Yuce, a slight change in her eyes.

"In that case, we can only wait..." Jin Liu rubbed his chin, frowning.

"Brother Lei, if the risk is too great, waiting a couple more days is fine." Su Huanxi said to Lei Yuce.

"Fairy Su, rest assured, it's worth a try." Lei Yuce, upon hearing this, suddenly spoke up.

Wen Zhong's eyes flashed with helplessness; he opened his mouth to dissuade him, but knowing it would be useless, he fell silent again.

"To break this formation quickly, we must use a formation to counter a formation—that is, forcibly pry open the Nine-Dragon Soul-Locking Forbidden Formation with the Six-Directions Wilderness-Opening Formation, temporarily creating a passage. So I need everyone's help." Lei Yuce said after thinking for a moment.

"I know a thing or two about the Six-Directions Wilderness-Opening Formation. Its level is far below that of the Nine-Dragon Soul-Locking Formation before us. How can it pry open the forbidden formation and establish a stable passage?" Jin Liu asked, frowning.

"Relying solely on this formation naturally won't work. Later, I will use the Nine-Dragon Pearl as the formation's pivot to activate it. Once the formation is running, I will need everyone's full support." Lei Yuce glanced at Jin Liu and said.

"The Nine-Dragon Pearl? With such a treasure, there is some possibility of breaking the formation." Jin Liu nodded.

"We siblings will do our utmost." Lan Yuanzi clasped his fists.

Su Huanxi said nothing, merely nodding lightly.

Seeing this, Lei Yuce turned his palm over and took out array flags, array stones, and other formation materials, beginning to set them up outside the stone archway.

Wen Zhong assisted on the side, and before long, the outline of a hexagonal formation appeared.

Then, the two buried the array stones in the ground and inserted the array flags in their respective positions, completing the Six-Directions Wilderness-Opening Formation.

"Everyone, the formation is ready. Please enter and assist." Lei Yuce checked it once more before saying.

As his words fell, everyone took their positions at the six corners of the hexagonal formation according to the layout, forming hand seals and waiting for Lei Yuce to activate the formation.

Lei Yuce stood at the corner closest to the stone archway, glanced at Su Huanxi beside him, and nodded.

Then, with a twist of his wrist, a purple sphere the size of a fist flew out from the void, spinning and landing in the center of the Six-Directions Wilderness-Opening Formation.

On the purple sphere, electric threads coiled around, and nine dragon-shaped marks swam across its surface, with a faint rumbling sound emanating from within.

Seeing the Nine Dragon Orbs in place, Lei Yuce's gaze sharpened, and a chant immediately arose from his mouth.

Upon seeing this, the others also began to chant incantations, forming hand seals and pointing their fingers from afar at the purple sphere.

Six streams of colored spiritual light shot from their fingertips, converging on the purple sphere with a resonant hum.

Next, electric light surged on the Nine Dragon Orbs, and countless purple lightning threads burst forth, forming a purple light curtain that filled the entire Six Harmonies Wilderness Array.

"Roar..."

Accompanied by a dragon's roar, the nine dragon shadows on the orbs instantly flew out, swimming within the purple electric light curtain of the array before their bodies blazed with electric light, transforming into nine purple electric dragons about ten feet long that charged straight at the circular archway.

With a thunderous crash,

the circular archway shook violently. As the nine electric dragons surged into the dark red light curtain within, it began to tremble fiercely.

Seeing this, the group immediately focused their minds and poured their immortal spiritual power into it with all their might.

"Crackle..."

Amid the sound of electric flashes, a hole the size of a human head began to appear in the center of the dark red light curtain, vaguely revealing another space behind it.

"It's opening... Quick, put in more effort!" Jin Liu exclaimed joyfully.

"This is only opening part of the teleportation gate. The Nine Dragon Locking Spirit Forbidden Array has not been broken yet. Do not be careless..." Lei Yuce reminded as he fully activated the array.

As his words fell, the nine dark golden dragon-scale chains binding the dark red light curtain suddenly blazed with golden light. Layers of golden dragon-scale ripples surged forth, covering the entire light curtain within the gate.

The golden light and purple electricity mingled, and a chaotic vortex force emanated from within, tearing the surrounding world's vital energy toward the central opening.

Inside the opening, the blurred scene was no longer visible; only a deep black curtain could be seen, from which came the狂暴气息 of spatial turbulence.

Even within the array, Lei Yuce and the others could feel the terror of that force, and their expressions changed.

"It seems we underestimated the power of the Nine Dragon Locking Spirit Forbidden Array. Before its full power is unleashed, let us all act in unison and withdraw our immortal spiritual power together. Then we will be safe." Lei Yuce shouted.

As his words ended, a sudden change occurred.

With a thunderous roar, the black vortex at the center of the stone archway suddenly trembled violently, and a狂暴 force erupted from within, surging in all directions.

At the same time, the nine dark-gold dragon-scale ropes bound within the archway flashed with golden light, and nine golden dragon phantoms shot out, charging with claws and fangs at the people setting up the Six Harmonies Wilderness Array.

The group felt an indescribably terrifying force rushing toward them. Seeing this, Jin Liu abandoned the formation without a second thought and fled first, followed closely by the Lan siblings.

With these three withdrawing, the entire formation could no longer be maintained and collapsed outright.

The Nine Dragon Pearl at the center of the array instantly lost control; a black electric light flashed across its surface, and a blinding dark radiance flared up within, causing it to explode.

Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Wen Zhong also retreated. Only Lei Yuce and Su Qianxi, closest to the stone archway, remained in the formation, caught between the golden dragon phantoms and the purple-black lightning with no room to escape.

Both reacted extremely quickly, but unfortunately, they were too close and had no time to employ many techniques.

"Fairy Su..."

Lei Yuce hesitated not a moment; as he shouted, lightning flashed around him, and before his silver lightning armor could fully form, he had already flashed in front of Su Qianxi, shielding her.

With a deafening boom, golden light and lightning exploded completely outside the stone archway.

Jin Liu and the others, their expressions shifting repeatedly, had already retreated to a great distance, but their eyes were fixed on the explosion's aftermath.

There, a golden sun and a purple-black sun rose simultaneously, clashing against each other with continuous rumbling. The golden light and electric sparks splashing out stirred the primordial energy of heaven and earth for a hundred li into turmoil.

This chaotic scene lasted for dozens of breaths before the two beams of light gradually converged and the ground slowly returned to calm.

As the smoke and dust cleared, a massive, charred deep pit appeared on the ground. The surrounding golden sand had almost entirely melted from the heat and, upon cooling, coalesced into large, irregularly shaped golden clumps.

Outside the pit, the stone archway still stood alone, unscathed, having returned to its original state.

Seeing this, Jin Liu and the others flew back and looked down from the edge of the charred pit. At the bottom, a tall, blackened figure was holding a slightly smaller figure in its arms, sheltering it tightly.

That tall figure was naturally Lei Yuce. His silver lightning armor had completely melted, flowing into a pool of silver liquid on the ground. His clothes were covered with scorch marks and tattered.

His back heaved violently, and his aura was extremely unstable, suggesting he had suffered severe injuries.

As for Su Qianxi, sheltered in his arms, apart from some slight damage to her clothes, she bore not a single scratch.