As dawn broke, Tang San opened his eyes from his meditation.
After a night of meditation, the Asura essence circulated more and more smoothly in the meridians.
He got up and walked to the courtyard gate, glancing out through the crack in the door, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly for a moment.
The patrol team at the alley entrance has been replaced.
This wasn't a regular rotation; the number of troops had doubled. The patrols that used to consist of three men each had become six.
The number of Soul Emperors leading the group has increased from one to two, and their route is nearly a third more densely packed than yesterday. There are even two more hidden sentries at street corners.
Bibi Dong made a move.
Did they detect last night's probing of the earth's veins, or are they simply tightening their defenses?
Tang San retreated back into the courtyard and lightly tapped his fingertips twice on the stone table.
It's expected that they would take extra precautions. It would be abnormal if Bibi Dong didn't react at all.
He just hadn't expected the other side to react so quickly, raising the defense level of the south of the city overnight.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, his divine sense slowly spreading along the earth's veins.
Not only the guards in the south of the city, but also the protective barriers around the Tranquil Mind Hall have been thickened.
The two restrictions were combined, and the aura was several degrees heavier than yesterday. Even an ordinary Soul Saint would probably not be able to break through them in a short time.
Two years ago, he might have felt a sinking feeling in his heart and wondered whether he should take action ahead of time.
But at this moment, the tapping of his fingertips slowed down.
If the defenses are moved south and concentrated in the Tranquil Mind Hall, then other places will inevitably be left empty.
The patrol teams in the west and north of the city will inevitably be largely withdrawn, and the other branches of the ley lines will become easier to manipulate as the focus of defense shifts southward.
Bibi Dong wanted to tighten the net in the middle, trapping her prey in the core.
The tighter the net is tightened, the bigger the gaps at the edges become.
Tang San opened his eyes, a faint red tinge flashing across them before disappearing in an instant.
His original plan was to detonate the ley lines in the south of the city, rescue people in the chaos, and then retreat south.
The defenses in the south of the city have been strengthened, and a direct assault would only make it easier to get trapped.
Instead of heading south, we should change our strategy. Keep the detonation point the same, and after rescuing people, instead of heading south, we should turn west, take advantage of the weak defenses in the west of the city to break through, and head straight into the mountains.
As for the two overlapping restrictions...
Under the impact of external forces, the connection between the two restrictions is more likely to break than a single layer of restrictions.
He got up and walked to the corner of the courtyard. He took out several fine needles imbued with the aura of Asura from his pocket, flicked them with his finger, and the needles silently sank into the soil around the courtyard wall.
This is a technique he practiced in the Slaughter City. Its aura is extremely faint, capable of disrupting the perception of the Soul Guidance Detection Tower. Even if the earth veins tremble later, the detection tower will not be able to lock onto his location immediately.
After doing all that, he sat down again and closed his eyes to rest.
No rush, there are still two days.
I'll take advantage of these two days to thoroughly understand the new route and see just how tight Bibi Dong's net really is.
Tranquil Mind Hall, morning light streamed through the window lattices, casting dappled shadows on the floor.
Xiao Wu's pink Soul Power paused slightly, and she opened her eyes.
The protective barrier around him had thickened, and a chilling, sinister aura seeped into it along the patterns of the barrier, much stronger than yesterday. Clearly, Bibi Dong had sensed something and had deliberately reinforced the cage.
She didn't panic.
Instead, he raised his hand, condensed his Soul Power even more finely, and slowly probed into the connection between the two restrictions.
The patterns on the single-layered restriction are straight and interlocking, making it difficult to find a starting point.
However, the two restrictions were hastily superimposed, and there will inevitably be gaps where they meet. Just like two pieces of wood are put together, no matter how tightly they are put together, there will always be a gap between the tenon and the mortise.
The pink Soul Power, like a supple thread, slowly seeped into the cracks.
The backlash from the restriction sent a jolt through her fingertips, but she gritted her teeth and refused to back down.
After two years of honing, the resilience of the supple bone and Soul Power is now far greater than before. The more it is squeezed, the more it can find the point of exertion.
Half an hour later, her Soul Power finally passed through the connecting layer and touched the inner wall of the outermost restriction.
It's done.
As long as an external force impacts the earth's veins, causing the foundation of the restriction to shake, she can use this gap to tear open both layers of restriction simultaneously from the inside.
Xiao Wu slowly withdrew her Soul Power, her fingertips turning slightly red.
She looked up towards the south of the city, a faint smile playing on her lips.
She knew he would definitely notice the change in the restriction and find a way to counter it.
Two years ago, she could only stand behind him, waiting for him to protect her; in the past two years, she has also been moving forward.
When the restrictions were broken, she wasn't the one being saved, but the one who broke the deadlock alongside him.
She sat cross-legged again, closed her eyes to regulate her breathing, and slowly raised her Soul Power to its peak.
No rush, let's wait a bit longer.
When that shockwave sounded.
On the mountain peak thirty miles west of the city, the morning mist had not yet dissipated.
Chen Jieqi stood on the edge of the cliff, gazing in the direction of Spirit City, the holy light at his fingertips swirling slightly.
Overnight, the city's defensive atmosphere nearly doubled, and the fluctuations in Soul Power were several times more intense than usual.
It was clear that the Pope's Palace had taken action, tightening the city's defenses.
He glanced down at the sealing array beneath his feet.
The dark energy deep within the earth's veins remained stable, showing no signs of large-scale disturbance.
The dark red aura within the rock strata south of the city still lingers, lying dormant quietly, showing no sign of detonating.
The opponent is very composed.
They did not lose their composure despite the tightening of defenses.
Chen Jieqi turned around, walked to the other side of the mountain peak, and raised his hand to set up two more small purification arrays on the rock strata.
These two formations face the west and north of the city. If chaos erupts within the city, and the black energy overflows westward along the earth's veins, the main seal can block most of it, and the two smaller formations can catch any that escape.
After setting up the formation, he sat down cross-legged again.
With his palm pressed against the ground, holy light slowly spread along the rock strata, and the perception network expanded outward by another ten miles compared to yesterday.
He doesn't interfere in the city's internal conflicts, nor does he remind anyone to strengthen their defenses.
Since the other party dared to come back, they must have the ability to deal with it.
All he had to do was guard the Western Territory and prevent the pollution of the earth veins from spreading to villages and resettlement sites for displaced people.
A mountain breeze swept the mist past his shoulders, causing his white robes to flutter slightly.
In the mist, his figure was as still as a stone.
A storm was brewing within the city, while the mountaintop remained silent.
One breaks the deadlock, the other guards the boundary; each goes its own way, without interfering with the other.
The next two days were uneventful.
Taking advantage of the darkness, Tang San thoroughly surveyed the defenses in the western part of the city.
Just as he predicted, nearly two-thirds of the guards in the west of the city were withdrawn, with most of them being transferred to the south of the city and the area around the Tranquil Mind Hall.
The patrol intervals changed from half an hour to an hour, and the density of the soul-guided detection towers also decreased significantly.
He even took advantage of a patrol passing by to sneak into the perimeter of an armory in the west of the city, leaving a very faint trace of Asura aura at the corner of the wall.
There's no need to detonate it; all that's needed is for the earth's veins to tremble, and this wisp of energy will drift out with the wind, causing the city's guardian Soul Master to mistakenly believe there are enemies in the west of the city as well, prompting them to send troops to investigate.
The more dispersed the troops are, the easier it will be for him to rescue people and break through the encirclement.
He also made two tests over the two days.
The first time was late at night when he threw a piece of gravel into an alley in the south of the city, which alerted the patrol team.
He hid in the shadows, counting the time it would take for reinforcements to arrive. He watched as two teams of guards rushed over from different directions, taking three breaths longer than he had anticipated.
Three breaths were enough for him to rush across half a street.
The second time, it triggered an extremely faint tremor in the earth's veins, like the sound of rock strata naturally sliding down.
He stared in the direction of the Tranquil Mind Hall and saw the barrier sway slightly; the disorder at the connection point was more obvious than he had expected.
That's enough.
Neither of the two attempts alerted Bibi Dong, who was deep within the Pope's Palace.
Clearly, in her eyes, this commotion wasn't worth her personal intervention. She was like a lurking spider, sitting in the very center of its web, waiting for the moment its prey would actually run into it.
Tang San was happy with this arrangement.
The more the opponent underestimates him, the greater his chances of success.
On the evening of the third day, as the sun set, Tang San returned to the abandoned mansion.
He went through all the routes in his mind again:
At midnight, the earth's leyline tides are at their weakest, triggering the earth's leyline node at the abandoned well in the south of the city;
Once the upheaval begins, Bibi Dong will inevitably go to suppress the earth's ley lines, and the entire city's defenses will retreat inward.
The foundation of the restrictions on the Tranquil Mind Hall shook; Xiao Wu broke the restrictions from within, and he provided support from the outside.
After regrouping, they did not linger in battle, but turned west, taking advantage of the emptiness in the west of the city to break through and head straight for the Western Border Mountains.
Every step, every point in time, and every possible variable was calculated meticulously.
He pulled a dry biscuit from his pocket and chewed it slowly.
After this meal, it's time to get going.
Night slowly fell.
One by one, the Soul Guidance Lamp of Spirit City lit up, like a long, luminous dragon winding its way along the city wall.
The changing guards marched in orderly steps through the streets and alleys, the soft clanging of their armor carrying far into the night.
Everything was as usual, so calm that there was no sign of an impending storm.
Deep within the Pope's Palace, Bibi Dong slowly opened her eyes.
She had just completed a round of refining the Rakshasa essence, and the black aura around her was even more solid than yesterday.
His divine sense swept across the entire city; the defenses were tight, the restrictions were secure, and there was nothing unusual.
A faint, cold smile curled at the corner of her lips.
Two days have passed, and the defenses in the south of the city have been reinforced with two layers, yet the enemy hasn't made a single move. Have they not yet entered, or are they hiding in the shadows, afraid to make a move?
Regardless of which one it is, as long as Xiao Wu is still in the Tranquil Mind Hall, he will show himself sooner or later.
She closed her eyes again and continued refining the source.
She was only one step away from the Rakshasa God Trial, and she didn't have the patience to waste any more time. But that didn't matter; the prey would eventually come to her.
The moment he shows himself will be the moment of his death.
At the summit of the western mountain, Chen Jieqi opened his eyes.
As night fell completely, the tides deep within the earth's veins began to slowly subside.
It's almost midnight.
He could sense that the dark red aura that had been dormant for two days in the rock strata south of the city was slowly coming to life, like a seed about to sprout, carrying the power to burst forth.
He raised his hand and placed it on the core of the sealing array.
Holy light slowly poured in, raising the seal's strength to its peak.
It's about to begin.
A dark figure silently descended beside the abandoned well in the south of the city.
Tang San stood on the edge of the well, looking down into the dark bottom.
The black energy from the earth's veins rose up along the well wall, carrying a chilling aura.
The wisp of Asura energy that was buried two days ago has already seeped through the rock strata to the core of the earth vein branch, faintly resonating with his origin.
He looked up at the sky.
The moon is high in the sky; midnight is approaching.
The weakest moment for the earth's ley lines tides is approaching.
The Clear Sky Hammer appeared silently in his palm.
The dark red patterns on the hammer slowly lit up, like blood flowing in a vein.
Two years of honing, two years of patience, all the strength will be unleashed at this moment.
He took a deep breath, stepped his right foot back slightly, and slowly raised his hand holding the hammer.
The black gas at the bottom of the well began to stir, swirling and churning in accordance with his aura.
In the nearby streets and alleys, the sound of patrol team footsteps approached from afar and then slowly faded away.
The whole world seemed to fall silent, leaving only the black energy slowly flowing from the depths of the earth and his steady, powerful heartbeat.
Tang San's gaze darkened.
The time has come.