The sudden change caused a surge of crisis and confusion in the hearts of all the Sovereigns.
They couldn't understand how they had triggered the dangers of the Seven Star Lamp Formation.
Zhang Yuanqing immediately embraced his little aunt, who was clad in rattan armor, activated the Fierce Sun War God skill, and triggered the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon's defensive form. At the same time, he raised his left hand and continuously snapped his fingers, unleashing Nihilation energy.
Level 7 Sovereigns excelled at nihilating their spiritual power. The sword energy that rained down from the sky clearly weakened by a notch. The Devil Eye Heavenly King revealed his three heads and eight arms, his eight arms as gnarled as dragons.
He wielded weapons like knives, spears, staffs, and cudgels, creating an impenetrable defense. The storm-like sword energy was partly shattered or deflected by him, and partly penetrated his defenses, leaving behind penetrating wounds and injuries that severed bones.
Silver Garment County Princess blocked and dodged some of the sword energy, but the descending sword rain was too dense. She was quickly decapitated and her arms were severed, resembling a dismembered, beautiful doll.
The first wave of sword rain quickly ended, and the Seven Star Lamps floating overhead stopped, returning the area to calm.
Zhang Yuanqing released the Palace Master of Stop Killing. His left ear and left shoulder had been shattered and pierced by the sword rain from the sky, and there were several sword holes on his body that were not critical to his vital points.
The Devil Eye Heavenly King grabbed a blood-colored dagger from his inventory, and like an addict, took a deep breath. Wisps of blood mist emanated from the blade and flowed into his nostrils.
The blood color of the blade rapidly dimmed, while the Devil Eye Heavenly King's injuries healed rapidly.
This was a blood bank prepared by the Bewitching Demon. The weapon of this profession had the function of devouring and storing blood essence, perfectly complementing the Bewitching Demon's Bloodthirsty Berserk skill, adding to their endurance.
The Devil Eye rarely used Blood Frenzy, as few people in reality could push him to this point.
Among the group, only Fu Qingyang was unscathed. His white suit was spotless, in stark contrast to the bloodstained refugees.
He himself was already at the mid-stage of Level 8, and coupled with the swordsman's cloak that amplified his burst of power, he could completely cope with sword energy from the same profession.
But Fu Qingyang's expression showed no relief, and was even very solemn. "Silver Garment County Princess is offline." Zhang Yuanqing sighed, took out Little Red Riding Hood, and collected the County Princess's severed arms, torso, and head.
In the process, he saw a bit of resentment in those bewitching red eyes. Even without Insight, Zhang Yuanqing understood the Silver Garment County Princess's thoughts: *I finally advanced to Sovereign, but you drag me into high-level battles every day.*
As a Sovereign-level Yin spirit, Silver Garment County Princess would not die because of this, but she temporarily went offline without vitality.
Yin spirits could not repair their bodies with the Source of Life Elixir. Xiahou Aotian put the damaged Sovereign-level props back into his inventory, sweat beading on his forehead.
"My defensive props are damaged. Repairing them will take an hour. But based on the patterns I've observed, the Seven Star Lamp Formation will move again in five minutes."
Moving meant the sword rain would descend again. As a Meat Shield, he would undoubtedly receive a lunch box.
This was the reason for Fu Qingyang's solemn expression.
Although he was not afraid of sword energy, his teammates were not.
And if his teammates died in the formation, it would be difficult for him alone to defeat the final boss.
"It's a pity my Gluttonous Beast is already full!" Zhang Yuanqing sighed.
The Gluttonous Beast was currently in the first stage of devouring matter. As long as he didn't use it, the devouring state would remain dormant until the Gluttonous Beast's cost refreshed after 24 hours, and it began to demand energy, ending the dormant state.
Palace Master of Stop Killing can revive us once, which is our last trump card. If we can't crack the formation, being revived will just mean dying again!
Fu Qingyang's thoughts raced. "Yuan Shi, do you have any ideas?"
Zhang Yuanqing frowned. "I don't understand formations, so I can't give any ideas, but I can summarize the patterns for Xiahou Aotian and help analyze the details, which might be useful."
He looked at Xiahou Aotian and said, "Our current location is also Kaiyang in the Big Dipper. The Kaiyang lamp formation has three rules: First, you can't walk more than five steps away, otherwise a Kongming Lantern warning will descend. Second, you can't leave the area covered by the lamplight."
"These may be the rules of the entire lamp formation. Third, the Seven Star Lamps will change position approximately every five minutes, and sword rain will descend during this period."
Xiahou Aotian frowned and thought, standing there without saying a word.
"We have four minutes until the second wave of sword rain," Zhang Yuanqing said.
Everyone was silent, each frowning in thought.
"Three minutes left," Zhang Yuanqing reminded, timing.
The Palace Master of Stop Killing, who had no clue, said, "Let's make the worst plan. Yuan Shi, if you can deduce the scene of us being attacked, can you minimize the damage?"
Zhang Yuanqing shook his head helplessly. "Stargazing and deduction takes more than 11 minutes. Besides, there's black smoke covering and obscuring the celestial phenomena. I can't deduce any information."
Black smoke was equivalent to secrecy. The Palace Master of Stop Killing said nothing more.
"Two minutes left." Seeing that Xiahou Aotian had not responded for a long time, Zhang Yuanqing's tone began to deepen.
At this moment, Qin Dynasty Alchemist's murmur came from the ring, "We cultivators seek immortality and freedom, but you are even more idiotic than stupid insects, worthy of pity."
Xiahou Aotian, who was anxious, had his mentality break down upon hearing this. He roared, "Stop talking nonsense, you useless old fart. Other people's grandpas can help the protagonist cheat. You can't do anything, what's the point of having you?"
Qin Dynasty Alchemist "Hehe" said, "Lingjing is your greatest cheat. For weak youngsters to advance to Sovereign is unimaginable in our era."
Xiahou Aotian gritted his teeth. "If we die here, don't even think about getting out."
"Heh, this place is full of rich Yin energy, which is also a great supplement to me," Qin Dynasty Alchemist laughed. "This is a sacred place!"
Zhang Yuanqing's tone was urgent. "Only one minute left."
He listened to the two of them performing, and his heart was about to explode. Qin Dynasty Alchemist sighed, "Kaiyang Star is also known as the Wuqu Star, which governs order."
Xiahou Aotian and Zhang Yuanqing were both stunned at the same time. The latter repeated the old grandpa's words.
Fu Qingyang asked, "Why does Wuqu Star govern order instead of violence or martial power?"
He had some knowledge of astrology, but the stars were complex, obscure, and difficult to understand. He was not a Night Roamer, so he had not studied it in depth.
"The one who governs bravery is Po Jun, which is Yaoguang," Qin Dynasty Alchemist conveyed his mental fluctuations. "Wuqu Star's 'wu' should be understood in your era as maintaining治安 (zhì ān - public order), so it governs order."
"I understand!" Xiahou Aotian became excited, his face full of surprise. "I know the reason for the attack. Kaiyang governs order, so when someone travels alone, there will be a Kongming Lantern warning. If one person moves alone while the others remain stationary, the lone traveler represents disorder. Therefore, they will be attacked."
Fu Qingyang frowned. "When the Kongming Lanterns floated, we were moving together, but the attack still came."
Xiahou Aotian was stunned. The Devil Eye Heavenly King said unhappily, "You understand shit. Before Yuan Shi manipulated the Yin corpse to come in, there was only one person. Logically speaking, he shouldn't have lost order, but he was still attacked."
Xiahou Aotian was speechless, his face instantly turning pale.
Zhang Yuanqing sighed. "Only thirty seconds left. Prepare yourselves."
The Devil Eye revealed his three heads and eight arms again, Fu Qingyang prepared himself, and Qin Dynasty Alchemist said faintly, "His line of thought is not wrong, but you generation doesn't understand ancient cultivators, so you haven't thought of a solution. If I'm not mistaken, you need to walk together using the Yu steps."
"What are the Yu steps?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Fu Qingyang, Palace Master of Stop Killing, and Devil Eye revealed the same look of confusion. Xiahou Aotian, as befitting a scholar, had a flash of inspiration and said loudly, "The Yu steps are a common footwork movement used by Taoists in praying rituals, stepping on the seven stars. They are also called treading the Gang and pacing the Dipper. Time is limited, I'll only demonstrate once." As he said this, he quickly walked a segment of patterned steps.
At this moment, the Kongming Lanterns in the sky began to float. This time, everyone didn't rush to follow the Kongming Lanterns, but under Xiahou Aotian's command, they moved in unison with tacit understanding, stepping into the Yu steps.
Slow but steady, chasing the Kongming Lanterns. The ghostly green candlelight floated, silently without any danger or peril.
The Devil Eye Heavenly King breathed out a sigh.
"Not bad, we've found a way to survive in the formation. Next, we need to find the formation eye."
Everyone looked at Xiahou Aotian together.
Xiahou Aotian rarely became the backbone of the team, reaping huge emotional value, but he was not very happy. "Through my observation and analysis, there should be two formation eye lanterns hidden among these Kongming Lanterns. Finding them and destroying them will break the formation."
Xiahou Aotian sighed. "But that's almost impossible. Old man, do you have any findings?"
Qin Dynasty Alchemist conveyed his mental fluctuations, "I don't know where the formation eyes are. But I know that the Seven Star Lamps have already moved twice. The handle of the Dipper points east, representing spring. The handle of the Dipper points west, representing winter. The current handle of the Dipper is in the east, which is spring. Next time will be winter."
"What will happen when winter comes?" Zhang Yuanqing asked quickly.
Qin Dynasty Alchemist chuckled and said, "It means the Seven Star Lamps will turn into a killing formation. Even if you grasp the rules, you can't think about surviving. Hehe, formations are ultimately created to kill people, how can they allow those trapped in the formation to truly be safe?"
Zhang Yuanqing's heart trembled, and the joy of turning the dangerous situation around vanished. The formation eyes were hidden among hundreds of Kongming Lanterns, and these Kongming Lanterns couldn't be forcibly destroyed, otherwise it would attract sword energy attacks.
The worst thing was that they only had six minutes to find two formation eyes from hundreds of Kongming Lanterns. This was something humans couldn't do.
When Zhang Yuanqing relayed Qin Dynasty Alchemist's words, even teammates as calm as Fu Qingyang and others changed their expressions.
"We've suddenly entered hell mode," the Devil Eye Heavenly King said. "Fu Qingyang and I have a 70% chance of surviving the killing formation and seeing the boss, Yuan Shi Tianzun has a 30% chance, Palace Master of Stop Killing has 40%, as for Xiahou Aotian, he has a 1% chance."
A 30% chance and a 40% chance were no different!
Xiahou Aotian was doomed to die.
Undoubtedly, the chances of me and the Palace Master surviving weren't high, Zhang Yuanqing worried.
What he hated most was not danger, but encountering life-and-death crises in fields he didn't excel at.
The Palace Master of Stop Killing pondered, "My Demon Refining Pot is a treasure, and no attack can destroy it. When we're in a desperate situation, I'll give the Demon Refining Pot to the one among you who has the best chance of surviving. It contains your clones. After returning to reality, find a way to obtain the Mother God's Womb. If everyone dies in the dungeon, then we can only wait for President Hui Chang to find the Nanyuan dungeon and take away the Demon Refining Pot."
"However, the Demon Refining Pot is an item with administrator privileges. I don't know if Lingjing will collect it after the dungeon resets."
Xiahou Aotian interrupted forcefully, "Don't panic, it's not at that stage yet."
His eyes were deep, his expression serious, and the aura of chuunibyou (的中二) and arrogance was restrained.
"Formations emphasize balance. Since winter is a killing formation, spring must be safe." As he spoke, he took out a puppet and manipulated it to move forward.
The puppet took a dozen steps without encountering any attacks.
Xiahou Aotian then manipulated it to step out of the range of the lamplight. The sword energy came as expected, destroying the puppet.
This result surprised everyone.
This meant that they could walk through the seven lamp formations within five minutes without being attacked.
Zhang Yuanqing said in a low voice, "How do we find the formation eyes? We don't have much time left."
These words achieved the effect of making men silent and women weep.
Qin Dynasty Alchemist interjected, "The formation eye is the center of the formation. It's different from other Kongming Lanterns. It doesn't have attacking power, but it is only responsible for energy transmission. Among so many Kongming Lanterns, the one that doesn't attack people is it."
Zhang Yuanqing rejected the idea as soon as he heard it. To find the formation eye using this method, they would have to attack the Kongming Lanterns one by one. The cost of trial and error was too high, and there wasn't enough time.
Fu Qingyang suddenly said, "There's a way to find it. We can use Lingjing's rules to find the formation eye. Items with spirituality in Lingjing all have attributes. The formation eye is different from other Kongming Lanterns, so its item attributes must also be different."
Xiahou Aotian shook his head. "It won't work. The black smoke has a concealment effect. We can't see the item attributes. If you don't believe me, you can try it."
In the Yaoguang Palace, they didn't see the item attributes of the Slaying Immortal Flying Knife and the statue.
"No, Boss's idea is fine." Zhang Yuanqing became excited. "I can use Sunrise and Fierce Sun War God to purify the black smoke in this area. Without the blessing of secrecy, you'll be able to see the item attributes. But in that case, you won't be able to use skills and can only touch the Kongming Lanterns one by one. Two minutes isn't enough for you to find the formation eyes, but you can rule out some of them."
"As expected of Boss, he doesn't speak lightly, and when he speaks, he hits the nail on the head."
Fu Qingyang gave an "Mm" and said, "We'll go to different lamp formations and search separately. With luck, maybe three minutes will be enough."
Time was tight, so Zhang Yuanqing immediately activated the combined skill of Sunrise and Fierce Sun War God. A sun mark appeared on his brow, his skin turned dark gold, and a miniature sun appeared behind his head.
Pure, bright golden light dispelled the surrounding darkness and suppressed the miserable green ghost fire.
The spiritual power in people's bodies seemed to be expelled and dissipated quickly. They didn't care and began to act.
Running out of the Kaiyang lamp formation, they followed the linear Kongming Lanterns connecting the six lamp formations, heading to Yuheng, Yaoguang, Tianji, Tianxuan, and Tianshu.