On the other side.
Feilian, leading a group of demonic cultivators, stared blankly at the unchanging barrier wall of the formation.
Countless thoughts raced through his mind, yet he couldn't comprehend what was happening.
Demon King Miesha coughed lightly: "Captain Feilian, what's the meaning of this?"
His tone carried a hint of hostility.
Deputy Captain Hunli also frowned at Feilian.
Both demons had grown suspicious of Feilian.
Feilian quickly explained: "I truly don't understand this. Theoretically, this formation shouldn't be changing again!"
Miesha snorted coldly: "Forget it, let's just break through by brute force! How long can a mere Taiyi-level formation hold?"
Captain Feilian nodded: "Very well!"
The demonic cultivators gathered together, forming a simple battle formation before jointly attacking the barrier wall before them.
The deafening roar immediately echoed in all directions.
This caught the attention of Feipeng's group in the distance.
As they stealthily approached, they saw a group of demonic cultivators attacking the formation barrier.
Immortal King Changqing gave Zhuang Seping a thumbs up and whispered: "Your senses were correct - there really is a group of demonic cultivators here!"
Zhuang Seping said gravely: "It's Captain Feilian of the Feilian Legion, Deputy Captain Hunli, and an unfamiliar Taiyi Golden Immortal demonic cultivator. We mustn't act rashly!"
Everyone concealed themselves, watching as Feilian's group attacked the formation barrier.
The barrier consisted of nine layers of golden light screens. Normally, all layers needed to be broken to form a complete passage. If one entered after only breaking halfway, the previously broken layers would regenerate within a set time, trapping them within the formation.
Under Feilian's group's continuous assault, the first golden light screen shattered in less than half an hour.
The second layer took two more hours to break.
However, before they could break the third layer, the first layer had already begun regenerating at an accelerated rate.
Thus, some needed to continuously attack the edges of the first and second layers' breaches while the rest focused on the third layer.
Consequently, breaking the third layer now required three full hours.
Despite the increasing time required, the three Taiyi Golden Immortal demonic cultivators breathed sighs of relief - at this rate, breaking through all barriers wouldn't be difficult.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the formation.
Su Yuan unexpectedly looked toward Feilian's group.
He discovered that when these demonic cultivators damaged the formation, it would automatically activate to repair the breaches. During this process, the formation's operational patterns became ten times clearer!
Moreover, many damaged nodes became exposed, allowing him to repair the formation more precisely.
No wonder ordinary people would attack formations when trying to break them - it helped identify the nodes for easier dismantling!
Feilian's group's actions had essentially provided him with a roadmap for repairs.
Consequently, his repair speed increased dozens of times over!
One tiny node after another was quickly repaired by Su Yuan.
While each small node contributed minimally to the overall formation's recovery, their sheer numbers made the difference!
A few repairs meant little, but after thousands of tiny nodes were fixed, a medium-sized node composed of twelve thousand micro-nodes was restored!
In just six hours, the entire formation's power had recovered by one-thousandth!
Meanwhile, Feilian's group immediately sensed the formation had inexplicably hardened, slowing their progress.
The three demonic cultivators exchanged glances, immediately realizing something was wrong with the formation.
"Delays breed complications - let's accelerate!" Feilian declared.
"Agreed!" Demon King Miesha stopped playing tricks and focused entirely on breaking the formation.
Just three days later, they had broken through seven layers, though the remaining two would take much longer as the first seven kept regenerating.
Periodically, they needed to expand previously broken passages to prevent resealing.
Captain Feipeng's hidden group remained undiscovered.
"Everyone, we can't let these demonic cultivators leave unimpeded," Zhuang Seping said gravely. "If they block the exit later, we might be trapped here forever!"
Immortal King Changqing nodded: "We have the advantage of surprise while they're exhausted from breaking the formation. An ambush now would give them quite the shock!"
Feipeng smiled superficially: "That makes perfect sense."
Secretly, he had already relayed this information to Feilian.
While breaking the formation, Feilian's expression shifted subtly as he glanced at Hunli and Miesha.
His positioning changed imperceptibly, causing subtle shifts in their stances as well.
After adjustment, Feilian stood at the periphery while Hunli and Miesha moved closer to Feipeng's ambush point.
Simultaneously, Feilian's true body quietly separated from his avatar, burrowing underground to hide.
Time passed slowly.
As Miesha and Hunli noticed the formation visibly strengthening over time, they focused most attention on breaking it, oblivious to their own dwindling energy reserves.
The moment the eighth barrier shattered, just as they felt triumphant—danger struck!
An arrow traversed tens of thousands of miles at superluminal speed, crossing space itself!
Miesha's combat instincts screamed warning!
"Thousandfold Division!"
In that instant, his survival technique saved him—his body split into countless black streams fleeing in all directions!
Zhuang Seping remained in the distance, still holding his drawn bow.
His gaze sharpened as he channeled energy into the bow, its light instantly traversing space to reach the arrow.
"One Arrow, Ten Thousand Shadows!" he shouted.
The speeding arrow erupted with dazzling golden light!
One arrow became ten thousand, striking countless black shadows simultaneously.
"Aaaah!"
Ten thousand screams echoed as one.
The remaining black streams reconverged into Miesha's form, a golden arrow still embedded in his arm, black energy continuously leaking out—a Dao injury, his essence wounded by Metal Law.
Meanwhile, Hunli fared no better.
An inkstone descended from above, black light enveloping Hunli from all sides.
In that instant, his soul felt like oil in scorching flames, sizzling violently!
"Evildoers deserve death by a thousand cuts!" Changqing materialized above the inkstone, wielding a giant brush to inscribe "Lingchi" (death by a thousand cuts) in the air!
Countless invisible blades instantly covered Hunli's body with wounds.
Pummeled relentlessly, Hunli nearly died from rage.
His body actively dispersed into countless ghostly shadows charging at Changqing.
Changqing's brush tip shot endless sword energy, piercing countless shadows.
Through sheer numbers, one shadow finally entered Changqing's body—shifting the battle to their spiritual seas.
Meanwhile, Feilian and Feipeng, both Golden Immortal avatars, fought with relatively subdued intensity, exchanging blows in a seemingly earnest duel.
Their Golden Immortal subordinates also battled, though more restrained—their fates largely depended on the Taiyi-level combat outcome.
With both sides fighting, no one continued breaking the formation. The passage painstakingly opened over days began resealing.
Su Yuan watched the life-and-death struggles with dissatisfaction.
"Either break the formation properly or don't bother starting," he sighed.
"Not even treasure hunting anymore—what's the point of all this fighting?"
Shaking his head, Su Yuan resumed repairs.
Through days of observing their assault, he'd memorized many formation patterns.
Now he fundamentally understood this formation:
At its core lay Great Luo-level Yang Law, fused with nine yang-attribute laws including Sun, Lesser Yang, and Pure Yang to form an indomitable defensive formation of supreme yang energy.
Yet yang contains yin—extreme yang births yin—so the formation also embodied the cosmic principle of yin-yang harmony, though predominantly yang in manifestation.
Additionally, it possessed energy-devouring capabilities, absorbing attacks to replenish itself—a supreme defensive formation!
It could even convert spatial turbulence into energy, sustaining itself over countless years.
As Su Yuan repaired nodes, the formation's energy conversion efficiency gradually improved, accelerating recovery.
The transitions between nine yang states slowly restored.
Throughout this process, Su Yuan left behind spiritual imprints!
Without a master, the formation was gradually being refined under his control!
Even preliminary control would allow harnessing enough power to annihilate anyone below Great Luo level!
Silently observing the battling groups, Su Yuan had just one thought:
"Fight on! Soon you'll lose even this chance!"
He pitied their future—if they cooperated now to break through the Great Luo formation, they might escape. Otherwise, once the formation restored to Great Luo level, its autonomous defenses would exterminate them without his intervention!