Unraveling the Trick, the Truth Revealed

The instant cracks spread across the bronze talisman ring, the violet light abruptly warped, shaking violently like torn cloth. The jet-black pillar gave off a low hum, the ghostly glow flowing over its surface flickering bright and dim as it began to devour the true-energy fluctuations in the surrounding air in reverse.

Chen Wuya felt the Misaligned Force within him abruptly stall, as though some invisible power were being drawn from his palm and rushing straight toward the pillar. He gritted his teeth and held on, pressing his left hand over the wound in his left arm. Blood seeped through his fingers, dripping onto the gravel and scattering tiny red specks.

"It's going to blow!" Bai Zhi barked, her sword tip trembling slightly as her gaze locked onto the foreign commander atop the high rock—the man wore silver armor and a half-faced iron helm. He raised the command flag in his hand slightly, a cold smile curling his lips.

Before her words had faded, the ground shuddered violently. The three foreign soldiers nearest the iron cart stiffened, their internal energy instantly drained dry. Their skin shriveled like dead leaves, and they collapsed to the ground without another movement.

Chen Wuya's pupils contracted. This wasn't a weapon—it was the core of an array! It ran on living sacrifices, siphoning warriors' true energy and refining it for its own use. They weren't forging weapons. They were mass-producing false grandmasters!

"Misaligned Force, reverse flow!" he roared inwardly.

The system responded soundlessly. Misaligned Practice Connects to Spirit determined: "True-energy backflow—Error Rationalization." The force that had originally been leaking out abruptly reversed direction, surging back through his meridians to form a swirling vortex within him. The agony was like blades scraping bone marrow, yet he forcibly suppressed the backlash and used it to sense the