Footsteps stopped at the cave entrance.
Chen Wuya did not look up. His hand remained pressed against the array-eye stone as Misaligned Force flowed from his palm into the star map. He could feel the blood-red light churning within the cauldron, growing more frantic by the moment, as though it were about to break through something.
Mo Feng came running over, gasping for breath, clutching a chunk of metal glowing blue in his hand. He crouched down and tucked it against his chest protectively, his knuckles white.
"They're here," he said.
The relic guardian stood at the edge of the star map, white hair hanging against his cheeks. His voice was so low it was nearly inaudible. "Greedy Wolf, Army Breaker, Purple Star. The three of you must hold your positions. Do not disrupt them."
Chen Wuya raised his eyes. Three points of starlight glimmered on the ground, their positions skewed, their connecting lines looking as though someone had drawn them with a careless hand.
He did not follow convention. True energy should have flowed forward, yet he forced it in reverse. Others preached gradual progress, but he directly poured Misaligned Force into the Purple Star position. In that instant, the ground jolted violently.
Golden light shot out from the cracks.
Chains burst from the earth and coiled around the Myriad Demons Cauldron like serpents. When the first chain wrapped around its body, a crack spread open with a crack. The blood-red light flickered twice, then dimmed for an instant.
"It's working!" Mo Feng growled, lunging for the Army Breaker position and slamming the metal block from his chest into a groove in the ground.
The Black Iron Pivot let out a hum. Blue light spread along its patterns and connected with the star map.
The flow of energy stabilized.