Breaching the Formation, Part One

The Mountain-Splitting Ballistas' bolts were as thick as a child's arm. The instant Spirit Stones were fed in, the intricate armor-piercing and explosive runes on their heads lit up, like thirty falling stars of ghostly blue. Their shrieks as they tore through the air drowned out every other sound on the battlefield, and they slammed into the visible, earthen-yellow barrier over the Zhou Household Market with devastating force.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom-!!!

Earth-shaking explosions merged into one continuous roar, and the ground trembled violently. Even at the rear, Lu Zhao felt his blood churn under the savage sound waves, his ears ringing without cease.

The barrier that covered the entire Zhao Family Market District like an enormous overturned bowl suddenly caved inward where it had been struck, warping violently! Across its earthen-yellow membrane, ripples no longer spread like gentle waves. Instead, they churned and surged wildly, like a boiling lake into which a boulder had been hurled! Countless tiny fragments of spiritual light burst from the points of impact, only to be swiftly annihilated by the formation's power. The entire barrier instantly dimmed considerably.

But this was only the beginning!

"Activate the formation!"

At a hoarse yet piercing command, the ranks of cultivators waiting in full readiness at the rear formed hand seals and chanted in unison, in units of two hundred. Their low chanting merged into a strange torrent as vast amounts of spiritual energy were drawn frantically from the air and gathered above their heads.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Torrents of spells in different colors, each containing terrifying power, slammed once more into the deeply indented formation barrier like enormous siege hammers hurled by invisible hands. Fireballs, Ice Cones, boulders, wind blades... the tide of energy formed by countless low-tier spells struck precisely at the center and edges of the depression left by the Mountain-Splitting Ballistas.

Hummm-!

The formation barrier let out a groan that set teeth on edge! The depression grew deeper and wider. Stretched to its limit, the earthen-yellow membrane collapsed far inward, forming an enormous, irregular, funnel-shaped pit. Spiritual light flickered wildly within it, flaring and fading as it maintained its final resistance. But extremely fine fissures of energy, like cracks in porcelain, had already appeared around its edges, leaking wisps of spiritual energy.

"Left and right wings! Break through!" Another command rang out.

"Kill!" The Cloud-Pattern Cavalry and the Enforcement Team's elites, already poised to strike, moved at the same time like two sharp arrows.

The Cloud-Pattern Horses neighed, faint wisps of cloud beneath their hooves as their speed soared. Every mounted rider of the Cloud-Pattern Cavalry had reached late-stage Qi Refining. Magical Artifacts blazed in their hands-spears, swords, and sabers-each gathering their lifetime of cultivation into an all-out strike. Rather than charging straight into the center of the depression, they cut viciously into the weak points along its edges like two keen knives!

The Enforcement Team refused to be outdone. These keepers of the Zhou Household's order had now become the coldest of formation breakers. Though their cultivation was slightly inferior to that of the Cloud-Pattern Cavalry, they had greater numbers and coordinated their movements with greater precision. Streaks of fierce sword light, attacking Magical Artifacts, and cunningly aimed spells struck precisely at the places on the sunken barrier where the light flickered most violently and the cracks were most obvious.

These two forces were small in number but exceptionally strong, and their attacks struck at cunning, lethal points!

Rrrip! Rrrip!

The piercing sound of tearing rang out clearly! After the heavy damage inflicted by the Mountain-Splitting Ballistas and the cultivators' sustained pressure, the arrival of these two elite forces was like the final straw that broke the camel's back. The formation's spiritual light in the sunken area flickered and twisted violently. Those fine cracks spread, widened, and joined together at a speed visible to the naked eye! The entire sunken membrane heaved like boiling water, on the verge of total collapse!

"All forces-! Break the formation!!!"

A voice filled with resolve and authority exploded like thunder within every cultivator's soul. It came not from the ground, but from the enormous flying vessel hovering behind the battlefield, radiating an immense oppressive presence!

Every cultivator-the members of the ranks who had just finished casting their spells, the Cloud-Pattern Cavalry and Enforcement Team attacking from the flanks, and even the other cultivators holding the rear-poured out all their spiritual power without reservation: whatever remained, whatever had just recovered, and even whatever they could squeeze out by forcing their potential!

Spells, Talismans, Flying Swords, Magical Artifacts... their attacks no longer needed precision or technique. There was only one target-that enormous, sunken area on the verge of shattering!

In an instant, countless streaks of attacking light, in every color and shape, lit up the entire sky! It was as though the celestial river of the nine heavens had come cascading down, as though countless meteors were falling! The raging torrents of energy converged into an unstoppable crest of destruction, carrying the will to crush everything as they slammed into the formation barrier struggling to hold!

Creeeak-!!!!

An unprecedented, piercing grinding sound rang out, so shrill that it seemed to freeze the soul. It was not the sound of metal, but the formation's anguished cry as it was forcibly torn apart and twisted to its limit!

At that moment, the enormous sunken barrier was completely "punched through"!

A pitch-black hole with irregular edges, roughly the size of a room, appeared starkly in the earthen-yellow screen of light! Through it, they could even see figures fleeing in terror and collapsed buildings inside the Market District!

Had they succeeded?!

Indescribable elation and excitement instantly erupted in the hearts of every attacking cultivator! Every gaze fixed on that breach, blazing light bursting from their weary eyes.

Yet that elation lasted less than a single breath!

Hummm!!!

The instant the hole appeared, countless faint points of spiritual light seemed to ignite simultaneously across the ground of the entire Zhou Household Market! The earthen-yellow barrier on the verge of shattering suddenly erupted with a blinding radiance! A surge of formation power, far vaster and steadier than before, burst forth like a sleeping beast startled awake!

Under the force of that formidable formation power, the breach, its jagged edges still slowly widening, actually began to shrink and close at a speed visible to the naked eye! At this rate, it would probably take only a few breaths for the opening to seal completely!

"Damn it! The Zhao Family's core defensive formation has been activated! This was only the outer barrier!"

An experienced cultivator howled in despair. Watching the breach they had opened at such great cost begin to vanish, a crushing sense of defeat and helplessness swept over their newly kindled hope like an icy tide.

Just as everyone's heart sank, in that moment of despair when they thought this attack would once again come to nothing and might even invite a counterattack from the Zhao Family-

Three figures shot from the flying vessel's deck like meteors plunging to earth! They moved so fast that they left three blurred afterimages in the air!

They unleashed their spiritual pressure without the slightest restraint-they were none other than three cultivators at the great perfection of the ninth level of Qi Refining!