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Song Zhizhi activated the Teleportation Array. Its light flared, and after a brief wave of dizziness, she sank into darkness.

About a quarter of an hour later, light began to emerge before her eyes. Song Zhizhi activated every protective artifact on her body and raised their defenses to the highest level. She gripped the Vermilion Bird Sword in her right hand while Phoenix True Fire ignited in her left.

Blinding light swept over her. Song Zhizhi discovered that the Teleportation Array's landing point was in the plaza of Extreme Sea City, and no attack came as she had expected.

It was already late at night in Extreme Sea City. The artifact lanterns along the streets lit up on schedule, and the plaza was packed with people. Yet when Song Zhizhi swept the area with her Divine Sense, she found that there were nearly ten thousand people in the plaza alone. Everyone's eyes were dull and vacant. They hung their heads as they wandered the streets without purpose, like walking corpses. Not a single sound of conversation could be heard—there were not even the sounds of ordinary human life and labor. It was profoundly eerie.

Song Zhizhi looked up and only then discovered that the entire city was enveloped by a crimson Barrier. The moon in the sky had turned the color of blood.

After standing there for a while, Song Zhizhi realized that the red Barrier outside the city was drawing away the spiritual power, lifespans, and even souls of everyone within Extreme Sea City. The people around them were all ordinary mortals. After staying in the city for several days, they had been turned into this state by the Formation.

Song Zhizhi and her group had cultivation to protect them, so they were temporarily unaffected by the Formation. But