Shi Chang naturally would not readily believe Wu Yuan's words.
He was merely a Rogue Cultivator at the mid-stage of Spirit Transformation. In terms of strength, he was certainly far inferior to Wu Yuan, a late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator and a deacon of Moon-Covering Hall. Moreover, Shi Man stood nearby, eyeing him like a tiger watching its prey.
Once he lifted the formation, he would become meat on the chopping block, with his life and death entirely at the whim of Wu Yuan and Shi Man.
"Please see clearly, all three of you. I truly am not the person you seek," Shi Chang explained rather humbly.
"Hmph! Stubborn to the bitter end."
Black qi suddenly surged around Wu Yuan, and corpse qi rapidly spread like dark clouds, blotting out the sky and sun.
In an instant, the entire valley became pitch-black, as though night had fallen.
A gigantic black handprint condensed within the corpse qi clouds. Like a towering mountain, it came crashing down.
"Rumble!"
The black handprint slammed into the formation barrier, exploding with the sound of thunder.
The barrier swayed violently, yet it did not shatter.
However, another black handprint condensed within the dark clouds and smashed down fiercely.
As Shi Chang watched the handprint descend once more, his expression turned somewhat panicked.
He had expected his strength to be inferior to Wu Yuan's, but he had not expected the gap to be so vast.
The defensive grand formation on which he had placed such high hopes was actually so frail. Wu Yuan had not even used any treasure; a casual strike with the corpse qi in his body had already left the formation on the verge of collapse.
Shi Chang hurriedly summoned an array disk, forming one hand seal after another and sending them into it to