105: Chapter 105 Playing with formations? I know a little bit too.

The moment Liu Rurao's voice pierced through the Life and Death Isolation Array, the atmosphere on the Law Execution Platform dramatically changed.

The last trace of hesitation in Fairy Caidie's eyes completely vanished, replaced by a resolute madness.

She bit her tongue, and her essence blood gushed out, but instead of falling to the ground, it transformed into twelve blood talismans in the air, shooting towards the twelve Meiying Sect Disciples—including those who were already injured and lying down.

"With blood as the guide, and Soul as the sacrifice—" Fairy Caidie's voice became sharp and eerie, "Phantom Thousand Kill Array, rise!"

Boom—!!!

The twelve Meiying Sect Disciples all let out inhuman roars, and their bodies erupted with their final spiritual power.

This spiritual power did not attack Xu Ruyu but instead converged into the twelve blood talismans in the air.

The blood talismans burned, transforming into twelve crimson pillars of light that shot into the sky, interweaving above the Law Execution Platform into a massive, slowly rotating scarlet Formation Plate!

In the center of the Formation Plate, countless distorted phantoms began to emerge—mountains of knives and seas of fire, endless Hell, betrayal by loved ones, Heart Demons devouring the heart... every phantom pointed directly to the deepest fears and weaknesses in people's hearts.

Even more terrifying, these phantoms were not merely mental attacks; under the enhancement of the Formation, they began to interfere with reality!

The black jade surface beneath Xu Ruyu's feet suddenly turned into scorching lava, countless ice blades condensed in the surrounding air, and a corrosive bone-melting poisonous rain descended from above—the boundary between phantom and reality began to blur at this moment!

"Phantom Thousand Kill Array..." On the high platform, Elder Hu's face turned pale. "This is one of the Meiying Sect's guardian killing arrays. It requires the essence blood and Divine Soul of thirteen Disciples as a sacrifice. Once formed, the distinction between illusion and reality within the array is difficult to discern, and the killing intent is endless!

It once trapped and killed a Nascent Soul Stage Early Stage Cultivator!"

The crowd below immediately erupted.

"Nascent Soul Stage?!"

"Th-this is something that Qi Refinement Stage can't resist at all!"

"Junior Brother Xu, quickly admit defeat!"

Even the Disciples who had previously criticized Xu Ruyu were now extremely anxious.

They all saw it; the Meiying Sect had completely torn off its disguise and intended to use a forbidden Formation to forcibly suppress and kill Xu Ruyu!

Inside Ningyin Hall, Xiao Nianyin suddenly stood up, a surge of chill erupting around her.

"Liu Rurao—!"

She was about to rush out recklessly but was held back by an aged hand on her shoulder.

Madam Qingli had appeared beside her at some point, a strange light flashing in her cloudy old eyes.

"Don't rush," Madam Qingli's voice was frighteningly calm. "Look closely."

Xiao Nianyin was startled and followed her gaze to the water mirror.

In the mirror, Xu Ruyu still stood in the center of the array core.

The Phantom Thousand Kill Array had completely formed, and the surrounding lava, ice blades, and poisonous rain began to converge on him. But there was still no trace of panic on his face.

Not only that—

Xiao Nianyin's pupils contracted sharply.

She saw it.

Beneath Xu Ruyu's feet, deep within the black jade surface seemingly covered by lava, four extremely faint silver light spots were flickering on and off in a peculiar pattern.

Those were... array cores?

"He's also setting up a Formation," Madam Qingli whispered. "And it's almost complete."

No sooner had she spoken than Xu Ruyu in the water mirror moved.

He did not cast any defensive spells, nor did he try to break the Formation.

Instead, to everyone's astonishment, he slowly sat down cross-legged.

The lava had already spread to the hem of his robe, the ice blades were only three feet away from him, and the poisonous rain was about to fall.

But he merely closed his eyes.

His hands formed a seal on his knees.

An extremely strange hand seal, completely unlike those of the Hehuan Sect, or even any known Cultivation World school.

"What is he doing?" A Disciple below shrieked. "Waiting to die?!"

"No..." Ning Caihe stared intently at Xu Ruyu's hands. "He's forming a seal... but what kind of seal is this? I've never seen it before!"

Liu Rufeng also frowned deeply. As a Great Master of music, he was extremely sensitive to spiritual power fluctuations.

He could feel that an... extremely strange spiritual power rhythm was beginning to emerge around Xu Ruyu.

That rhythm was not the common flow of the Five Elements in the Cultivation World, nor was it the bloody brutality of the Demonic Path.

Instead, it was a... precise, regular rhythm, like the operation of some kind of machinery.

On the Law Execution Platform.

Fairy Caidie was first startled to see Xu Ruyu sit down, then burst into maniacal laughter: "Giving up resistance? Too late! Phantom Thousand Kill—Strangle!"

The twelve Meiying Sect Disciples all spat blood simultaneously, and the scarlet Formation Plate's rotation speed surged!

Countless phantoms materialized into actual blades, spears, swords, and halberds, stabbing towards Xu Ruyu from all directions!

However, at this very moment—

Xu Ruyu opened his eyes.

A cold arc curved at the corner of his mouth.

"Playing with Formations?"

His voice was not loud, but it clearly pierced through the roar of the Formation and reached everyone's ears.

"I know a little bit too."

The moment his words fell, his hands, which were forming a seal, suddenly separated to both sides!

"Buzz—!"

Four silver pillars of light shot up from the four corners of the Law Execution Platform!

The light pillars were not thick, even somewhat slender.

But their appearance coincided precisely with the spiritual power circulation nodes of the Phantom Thousand Kill Array's twelve blood talisman light pillars!

Four against twelve, a huge disparity in numbers.

But the moment the silver light pillars appeared, the originally unified scarlet Formation Plate suddenly began to tremble violently!

The spiritual power flow within the twelve blood talisman light pillars showed a visible stagnation!

"What?!" Fairy Caidie's face changed drastically. "He... he interfered with the Formation's spiritual power circuit?!"

How was this possible?!

The Phantom Thousand Kill Array's spiritual power circuit was extremely complex. Even a Great Master of Formations would need at least an incense stick's time to deduce and find the nodes.

How could Xu Ruyu not only find them but also precisely set up interfering array cores in such a short time?!

"No!" On the high platform, Liu Rurao finally couldn't sit still. She stared intently at the four silver light pillars. "This isn't a simple interfering Formation... This is, this is..."

She couldn't continue.

Because she saw Xu Ruyu slowly stand up.

The lava solidified beneath his feet, the ice blades melted a foot away from his body, and the poisonous rain was blocked by an invisible barrier.

He patted the non-existent dust from his robe, then raised his head to look at the scarlet Formation Plate in the air, which was already unstable.

His eyes were full of pity.

"Come, come."

Xu Ruyu smiled, his hands forming another seal. This time, the hand seal was even stranger, his ten fingers interweaving, twisting, and clasping in a way that almost defied human anatomy.

As his hand seal changed, the four silver light pillars began to bend, interweaving in the air to form a simple, yet geometrically perfect, three-dimensional array diagram.

"You guys also try—"

He paused, then enunciated each word:

"The power of my 'Acetylene Array'."

Acetylene?

What was that?

Everyone below was stunned.

There were countless Formations in the Cultivation World, some named after the Five Elements, some after their effects, some after their creators... but they had never heard the word "Acetylene."

Only Madam Qingli in Ningyin Hall had a flicker of realization in her cloudy eyes.

"So that's it..." she murmured softly. "Using Taixu True Qi as a guide, and the most basic elements between heaven and earth as materials, to construct the simplest yet most violent energy structure... This child, the path he walks is even more dangerous, and even more... interesting, than I imagined."

On the Law Execution Platform.

Xu Ruyu completed his last hand seal.

He held his hands as if grasping an invisible valve.

Then, he gently twisted it.

"Acetylene Array · Initial Form—"

"Burn."

Boom—!!!!!

Not an explosion.

It was burning.

Pure to the extreme, violent to the extreme, yet precise to the extreme... burning.

The four silver light pillars transformed into four silvery-white lines of fire, spreading in reverse along the spiritual power circuit of the scarlet Formation Plate!

Wherever they passed, the blood talismans condensed from essence blood and Divine Soul ignited instantly, like oiled paper meeting a raging fire!

"Ah—!!!"

The twelve Meiying Sect Disciples simultaneously let out mournful screams!

They felt as if the spiritual power, essence blood, and even their Divine Souls within their bodies had been ignited!

That burning sensation didn't come from outside, but erupted from the deepest part of their Souls!

The Phantom Thousand Kill Array began to collapse.

The scarlet Formation Plate shattered inch by inch, and those terrifying phantoms dissipated like smoke.

In its place was a new Formation, simple yet deadly, woven from four silvery-white lines of fire—

The Acetylene Array.

Xu Ruyu stood in the center of the array core, the silvery-white flames reflecting on his calm face.

He looked up at Fairy Caidie, whose face was now devoid of color.

"Now."

He said softly:

"It's my turn."