297: Chapter 297 Tearing the Array

On the mountain peak, the collision between resentment and green light had reached a fever pitch.

The green talisman treasure light shield in Yun Ling's hand grew completely dim as ghostly blue flames spread frantically along his arm, searing his Meridians.

Seeing this, Xuan Yin's strange laughter became even more piercing: "Struggling in vain! Before long, you will become a Devilish Qi Puppet, and even your soul will be refined by me!"

He charged forward, his Resentful Fire Spear suddenly surging several feet in length. The ghostly fire at the tip condensed into a hideous ghostly face, letting out a shrill scream as it stabbed toward Yun Ling's heart once more.

Seeing this, Gui Suer watched helplessly as Yun Ling's chest was pierced through and blood gushed out while she fended off Fan Lang's attacks.

"Yun Ling!"

Gui Suer cried out in alarm, only to be struck on the shoulder by Fan Lang's blade, leaving her arm dripping with blood.

Yun Ling, enduring the bone-piercing pain, forced out a sword strike, hacking toward Xuan Yin.

This strike mobilized all his strength; the green sword moved with extreme speed, flying toward Xuan Yin.

Xuan Yin controlled the ghost shadow, constantly defending.

Yun Ling's sword wind hacked through the ghost shadow's torso layer by layer, but just as it was about to strike Xuan Yin...

...the sword wind reached its limit and vanished.

"Damn it! Just a little more!"

Yun Ling spat out blood; with old and new wounds compounding, his cultivation had begun to plummet.

At this moment, he also sensed something was wrong. Ever since entering this place, his spiritual power had been constantly weakening. Could this Formation be doing more than just trapping them—was it also absorbing their spiritual power?

Seeing this, a hint of joy appeared in Xuan Yin's eyes: "Yun Ling, it seems you've reached the end of your rope!"

At this moment.

The fierce battle at the foot of the mountain was also drawing to a close.

Tao Yue was firmly entangled by the swarm of Spirit Sparrows. Although her demon-locking needles could continuously kill them, the Spirit Sparrows were endless, and her spiritual power consumption was immense.

The purple barrier around her was already covered in cracks, the wound on her wrist grew more severe, and her movements gradually slowed.

Just as she was about to collapse, a figure suddenly charged out from the barrier; the newcomer was none other than Ruan Xiao.

He had fought dozens of rounds with Ye Tianhao. Although his cultivation was stalled at the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment, he managed to temporarily suppress Ye Tianhao using a secret technique of the Lingxiao Sect, even seizing the chance to break away from the battle and head toward Tao Yue.

"Useless! You can't even handle a group of First-Order Spirit Beasts!"

Ruan Xiao roared angrily, swinging the Gilded Longsword in his hand. A golden Sword Qi swept out, instantly slaying dozens of Spirit Sparrows; the swarm immediately scattered, dissipating into a sky full of golden light.

Tao Yue breathed a sigh of relief and, clutching her bleeding wrist, thanked him: "Thank you, Senior Brother Ruan!"

Seeing this, a cold light flashed in Ye Tianhao's eyes. The moon-breaking sword attacked again, its pitch-black Sword Qi stabbing straight at Ruan Xiao's back: "Ruan Xiao, your opponent is me!"

Ruan Xiao spun around suddenly, blocking with his Gilded Longsword. With a crisp "clang," the two were locked in combat once more.

This time, Ye Tianhao no longer held back, his Mid-stage Foundation Establishment spiritual power erupting without reservation.

The flowing light on the moon-breaking sword grew more dazzling, and its Sword Qi became fierce. Every strike carried the power to split mountains and shatter rocks. Ruan Xiao gradually fell into a disadvantage, his surrounding golden spiritual power becoming increasingly chaotic, and his barrier began to show cracks.

Taking advantage of the gap while Ruan Xiao was supporting Tao Yue, Ye Tianyao approached Huang Shanyin. Pressing her crimson iron whip against his neck, she said coldly, "Speak! What exactly happened inside? Is it true that you people from the Lingxiao Sect are colluding with the demonic cultivators of the Xuanyou Sect?"

Huang Shanyin was covered in wounds, his face pale. Looking at Xiao Chi, who stood before Ye Tianyao and still glared at him, his eyes were full of trepidation.

Yet he remained stubborn: "I don't know! The Lingxiao Sect is an orthodox sect; how could we collude with evil ways? Stop your slandering!"

"Stubborn fool!"

Ye Tianyao was furious upon hearing this. She could sense the stench of the Xuanyou Sect even from the periphery, yet this Lingxiao Sect Elder was still playing dumb.

Sensing its master's killing intent, Xiao Chi immediately roared. Flames rose from its front paw as it struck at Huang Shanyin.

How could the spiritual-power-depleted Huang Shanyin withstand a powerful blow from a Second-Order Demonic Beast? He instantly screamed repeatedly, and both his body and Primordial Spirit were burned to nothingness.

Ruan Xiao was enraged upon seeing this.

"Bitch! You dare kill our sect's Elder!"

Tao Yue charged forward, waving the fine needles in her hand to attack Ye Tianyao. Ye Tianyao was completely unafraid; she swung the red whip in her hand, its iron plates instantly extending to transform into a swimming snake, blocking all the needles.

The red whip flexibly bypassed the needles and lashed directly onto Tao Yue's body, tearing both the woman's clothes and flesh to shreds.

Tao Yue screamed in agony. She wanted to attack again, but the Red Fox caught up to her, scaring her so much she didn't dare move.

Now, only Ruan Xiao remained of the three, and Ye Tianhao easily defeated him, leaving him without any combat strength.

Perhaps due to the scene of Ye Tianyao killing Huang Shanyin just now, the rest of the Lingxiao Sect Disciples also became fearful and no longer had any Battle Intent.

Ye Tianyao came to Ye Tianhao's side. Looking at the Red Copper Mountain already surrounded by the Formation, she hurriedly asked, "Brother, what should we do? The Sect Masters' situation is still unclear."

Killing intent emerged in Ye Tianhao's eyes. He stared at the Formation, then looked at the trembling Tao Yue in front of him and asked coldly, "How do we break this Formation?"

Tao Yue said fearfully, "I... I don't know!"

Upon seeing Ye Tianhao's increasingly cold expression, she cried out in panic, "I really don't know! This Formation was personally set up by the Sect Master. I'm just a Foundation Establishment Cultivator; how could I break it?"

Ruan Xiao cursed with disdain, "You don't need to worry about your Sect Master! Soon, they'll be reuniting with the Ganglei Sect Master in the underworld!"

"You!" Ye Tianyao was furious and was about to order Xiao Chi to kill Ruan Xiao as well.

Just then, a sense of spiritual power fluctuation suddenly came from afar. Ye Tianhao felt a familiar aura and looked up to see Ye Jing riding the red-patterned, silver-horned Hei Feng toward them.

"Grandpa! Grandpa is here!" Seeing her grandfather arrive, Ye Tianyao's face lit up with joy, and she immediately retracted her killing intent.

When Ruan Xiao saw the dog, his eyes nearly split: "It's you! You're actually Patriarch Ye?!"

Ye Jing swept a cold gaze over the Lingxiao Sect group and then asked Ye Tianhao, "Tian Hao, what's the situation inside?"

Early on, he had received news in the Immortal Willow of the death of several Spirit Sparrows. After questioning the surviving Spirit Sparrows, he learned that something had happened at Red Copper Mountain.

Yun Ling and Gui Suer were trapped in the Formation by Fan Lang, their fates unknown, so he immediately rushed over to support them.

Ye Tianhao stepped forward quickly and said in a heavy voice, "Grandpa, Sect Master Yun Ling and Senior Gui are trapped on the mountain peak by Fan Lang. We also sensed the aura of someone from the Xuanyou Sect; I'm afraid things look grim.

We tried to break the Formation but had no way to start. This Formation was personally laid out by the Lingxiao Sect Master."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over the trembling Tao Yue nearby and Ruan Xiao, who was restrained by Ye Tianhao, his tone full of urgency and killing intent.

Ye Jing rode Hei Feng to the edge of the Formation and placed his hand on the barrier, which glowed with a grayish-black halo. As spiritual power surged slightly from his fingers, his brows suddenly tightened.

This Formation's power was profound; ordinary means could not break through it.

On the side, Ruan Xiao was extremely smug: "It's useless. This is the Xuanyou Sect's Spirit-Locking Immortal-Trapping Formation, mixed with the Lingxiao Sect's Heart-Clearing Formation patterns. It will continuously devour the spiritual power of those inside. No one but the Sect Master can break it!

I advise you to just honestly wait for our Sect Master to kick out your Sect Master's head!"

Ye Jing glanced at him indifferently and said coldly, "So you admit that your Lingxiao Sect is colluding with demonic cultivators?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding Disciples all looked shocked.

Ruan Xiao was instantly enraged: "So what?! The defeat is certain. I advise you to beg me for mercy so that I can say a few good words for your Ye family in front of the Sect Master and leave you with intact corpses! Otherwise..."

"Hei Feng, Bite it to pieces!"

Ye Jing couldn't be bothered to listen to Ruan Xiao's filth anymore and immediately gave the order.

Hei Feng immediately charged forward and activated the Divine Ability, Dark Moon Void-Breaking Bite. Under the disbelieving eyes of everyone, the Black Dog bit into it, and the sturdy Formation instantly cracked open a gap, just like fragile glass.