307: Weave this place into an iron barrel

"What 'Seven Stars Aligned'? Don't make it sound so mysterious," Lin Yu's voice rang out lazily. "This is called a 'Distributed Local Area Network.' Before, yours was a standalone version—one Formation Plate managed one piece of land, and if one broke, that spot went blind. Now, we're going to daisy-chain them together."

Lin Yu paused, then added, "Though in the cultivation world, this is called 'Qi Resonance.' We bury the seven main nodes on the 'Acupoints' of the Spiritual Vein, and use twenty-one sub-nodes as the 'Meridians.' Once this web is woven, unless someone flips this entire patch of earth over, no one is getting in here without making a sound."

Su Ming nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping across the entire defense zone.

Under his 'Micro-Observation' vision, the nodes that had already been buried were emitting faint fluctuations of spiritual power. These fluctuations didn't exist in isolation; they had a peculiar rhythm, like breathing. When a node in the east lit up, a node in the west would dim accordingly, as if an invisible thread tied them tightly together.

This was what Su Ming wanted to construct—the Spider Web Joint Defense System.

"Bury it!"

With Su Ming's command, Zhao Tieji slammed the Wolf-Bone Formation Stake deep into the bottom of the pit.

Buzz.

An extremely faint vibration sounded.

The snow on the ground jumped slightly.

Immediately after, as if a row of dominoes had been knocked over, faint lights invisible to the naked eye shot out from the main node, traveling rapidly beneath the snow layer and instantly lighting up the remaining twenty-one sub-nodes.

The originally scattered fluctuations of Spiritual Qi suddenly became uniform at this moment.

An indescribable sense of heaviness enveloped the entire Defense Zone Bing Seven.

"It's done."

Su Ming straightened up, patted the dirt off his hands, and let out a long breath of turbid air.

"That's it?" Old Man Liu leaned over, his single eye scanning the surroundings. "It looks no different than before. The light curtain didn't even go up."

"Light curtains consume too many Spirit Stones; they're meant for tanking Demonic Techniques. Our 'Iron Bucket Formation' focuses on the word 'stickiness.'" The corner of Su Ming's mouth curled into an arc as he turned to look at Chen Chuan, who was wiping his sword. "Brother Chen, want to give it a try?"

Hearing this, Chen Chuan lifted his eyelids, and the long sword in his hand let out a clear, sharp chime.

"How should I try it?"

"Attack with everything you've got," Su Ming pointed toward the perimeter of the defense zone. "Don't hold back. Just treat us as a pack of wolves."

Chen Chuan didn't waste words. He gripped his sword, turned, and walked about fifty yards outside the defense zone.

He took a deep breath, and his Qi Refining Perfection spiritual power suddenly erupted. He transformed into an afterimage, his long sword carrying a chilling cold light as it lunged straight for Su Ming at the center of the zone.

Fast.

Fast as a startled swan.

Chen Chuan came from a background as a Loose Cultivator; his swordsmanship had no flourishes, only killing techniques.

If this strike landed, even a Cultivator at the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment would have to temporarily retreat from its edge.

Zhao Tieji and Old Man Liu both involuntarily held their breath.

The moment Chen Chuan stepped within thirty yards of the defense zone...

The seemingly ordinary jade pendant hanging at Su Ming's waist suddenly glowed with a red light.

"Three breaths," Su Ming muttered softly.

This was the early warning.

There was no need to keep his Divine Sense active at all times; as long as foreign spiritual power fluctuations entered the 'Spider Web's' coverage, the resonance between the nodes would be disrupted, triggering the alarm.

Chen Chuan's speed was extremely fast; in the blink of an eye, he had already broken through to within ten yards.

"Rise."

Su Ming's left hand formed a seal, and he pressed down lightly against the Void Realm.

The originally calm air suddenly became viscous.

It wasn't a physical wall blocking him, but a sense of sluggishness, as if he had fallen into a marsh.

Chen Chuan felt as if the tip of his sword had plunged into a thick pile of cotton, and his originally fierce sword momentum instantly stalled.

The flowing Spiritual Qi around him was no longer an aid; instead, it became countless invisible little hands, deathly clutching at his wrists and ankles.

His speed slowed down visibly to the naked eye.

Slowed by at least forty percent.

"This..." Zhao Tieji's eyes widened.

On the battlefield, being a fraction slower means death.

Forty percent slower? That was practically washing your neck and waiting for the slaughter.

Chen Chuan's brow furrowed, and he let out a low shout. The spiritual power within his body surged as he attempted to forcibly break through this constraint.

The sword tip vibrated, accelerating once more.

"Shift."

Su Ming's right hand flicked a sword-finger gesture.

The flow of spiritual power that had been dragging Chen Chuan back suddenly changed.

It was no longer a blockage, but a sideways push.

It was like a rushing river suddenly taking a sharp turn.

Chen Chuan's killing strike, while still three feet away from Su Ming, actually slid eerily to the right.

Screech!

The Sword Qi grazed the corner of Su Ming's clothes and slammed into the frozen earth beside him, kicking up a shower of stone fragments.

Chen Chuan withdrew his sword and stood still, looking at his slightly trembling wrist, his eyes full of disbelief.

In that moment just now, he felt like he wasn't stabbing a person, but contending against the entire world. That frustrating feeling of having strength but nowhere to apply it made him want to cough up blood.

"What kind of ghost Formation is this?" Chen Chuan couldn't help but ask, his voice tinged with a hint of awe.

"Spider Web," Su Ming smiled and dispersed the hand seal. "Once you're in the web, the more you struggle, the tighter it wraps. Unless your strength can instantly tear through the combined spiritual power of these twenty-one nodes, the flow of spiritual power is up to me."

"Incredible! It's bloody incredible!"

Zhao Tieji slapped his thigh, his face red with excitement. "With this thing, next time the wolf pack comes, I won't have to chase their tails. I can just stand here and hack down three more wolves!"

Old Man Liu was also beaming, stroking the stubble on his chin. "And it's quiet; it's a masterpiece for ambushing. If those beasts charge in and slip up, we just go up and give 'em a blade, hehe..."

Looking at the excited group, the smile on Su Ming's face didn't reach his eyes.

The reason he had gone through so much trouble to set up this 'Spider Web Joint Defense' wasn't just to deal with wolf packs.

More importantly, this system was equally sensitive to underground vibrations.

In a moment of life and death, this was the distance between living and dying.