551: Chapter 551 This looks intimidating, but it won't last long?

Yun Hezi's corpse lay before the mountain gate, blood seeping from beneath him and trickling down through the cracks in the stone slabs.

His eyes were still open, staring at the gray sky, his pupils already dilated, his face frozen in the expression of his final moment—not fear, not anger, but something inexplicable, like relief, yet also like self-mockery.

The corpses of Sect Leader Qing Fengzi and Mingyuezi also lay nearby, only a few steps apart.

They had died leaning against each other, as if still supporting one another.

The corpses of those Disciples were scattered everywhere, some face down on the stone steps, some fallen in the grass, some curled into a ball, and some with limbs splayed out.

Over a hundred people, and not a single one left alive.

The people of the Righteous Path Alliance did not stop.

They didn't even spare a second glance at the corpses.

A few Disciples kicked the corpses blocking the way to the roadside, while the others already stood before the light barrier of the Grand Array.

The old man in the Early Saint Realm stepped aside, and an even older person with an even more terrifying aura walked to the very front.

That person had white hair and a gaunt face, but a pair of eyes that were terrifyingly bright.

He wore the white Daoist robe of the North Pole Ice Soul Palace, but the style of the robe was very old, with the collar and cuffs worn white, clearly an old item kept at the bottom of a chest.

He was called Ancestor Xuan Yin, the number one person below the True Immortal Realm.

This name had circulated in the Cultivation World for a long time; some said he should have died five hundred years ago, but he had been hanging on to a breath of life just to wait for an opportunity.

After Tian Jianzi's death, the North Pole Ice Soul Palace invited him out.

He was not the Sect Head, nor an Elder, but a Grand Elder among the Grand Elders.

He wouldn't act unless necessary, but once he did, it was to exterminate an entire Sect.

Ancestor Xuan Yin stood before the light barrier, reaching out a gaunt finger to gently touch that layer of silver-white light.

A ripple spread across the light barrier, expanding outward before disappearing.

His fingertip was scorched, and a wisp of blue smoke rose.

He didn't withdraw his hand; instead, he pressed his entire palm against it.

"Such a thin array," his voice was raspy, as if his throat were filled with sand, "not enough Spirit Stones."

He withdrew his hand, turned around, and looked at the rows of Righteous Path Alliance Cultivators standing behind him.

Some of those people wore the Daoist robes of the Tianxuan Sect, some wore the Tianji Sect's, some wore the Tianquan Sect's, and some wore the white clothes of the North Pole Ice Soul Palace.

There were even more small Sects, their attire a mishmash of colors, standing together like a piece of cloth that had overturned a dye vat.

"Do you all see?" Ancestor Xuan Yin's voice wasn't loud, but everyone could hear it. "The Hehuan Sect's Grand Array is sustained by Spirit Stones.

They returned as refugees; they don't have many Spirit Stones on hand.

This array looks intimidating, but in reality, it won't last long."

Someone let out a low laugh.

The laughter seemed contagious; more and more people began to laugh, from snickers to chuckles, and from chuckles to wild laughter.

The laughter of over a thousand people echoed before the mountain gate, shaking the leaves so that they rustled and fell.

"First squad, go."

Ancestor Xuan Yin waved his hand, his voice very flat, as if ordering a trivial matter.

The first squad charged.

Leading them was an Elder of the Tianxuan Sect in the Early Saint Realm, followed by over fifty Disciples ranging from the Golden Core Stage to the Nascent Soul Stage.

They held Magical Artifacts and simultaneously struck at a node on the light barrier.

The Magical Artifacts smashed against the light barrier, making a dull sound like a beating drum.

The silver-white light on the barrier flared intensely and then dimmed again.

The Array Pattern at that spot flickered several times but did not break.

Several Disciples were thrown back by the counter-shock force, crashing to the ground and spitting blood.

But more people moved up to take their place.

Ancestor Xuan Yin didn't look at them.

His gaze crossed the light barrier and fell inside the mountain gate of the Hehuan Sect.

He couldn't see anything.

But he knew people were watching them from inside.

Inside the Hehuan Sect, Xu Ruyu stood on the high platform in front of the Main Hall, looking at everything outside across that silver-white light barrier.

Xiao Nianyin was not by his side.

Xiao Nianyin was absent.

She hadn't been there since Yun Hezi and the others were besieged; where she had gone, no one knew, and Xu Ruyu didn't say.

The Grand Elder stood behind Xu Ruyu, Hua Xunhuan stood to his left, and Granny Liu stood to his right.

Leng Ningshuang, Zhao Yan, Ning Caihe, and Qingyan stood below the high platform.

Over three hundred Disciples stood on the plaza; no one spoke, everyone staring at that layer of light barrier outside the mountain gate that was growing brighter and brighter.

The light barrier was vibrating.

The attacks from the Righteous Path Alliance came wave after wave, like a tide crashing against that thin silver-white barrier.

With every attack, the light barrier flared; with every flare, the Spirit Stones were consumed a bit more.

Xu Ruyu could feel the Spirit Stones embedded in the Array Pattern' nodes gradually losing their luster; first the High-Grade Spirit Stones dimmed, then the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, and finally those Low-Grade Spirit Stones that had been barely squeezed in.

They were burning rapidly, like candles; once burned out, nothing would remain.

The Grand Elder couldn't help himself; he walked to Xu Ruyu's side and said in a low voice, "Sect Master, there are too many people outside.

At this rate, our Grand Array won't last long."

Xu Ruyu did not answer.

His eyes were fixed on a node on the light barrier that was dimming, beneath which a Mid-Grade Spirit Stone was embedded.

He had known from the start that it wouldn't be enough and had expected it wouldn't last long, but he hadn't expected the Righteous Path Alliance to come so quickly, nor had he anticipated they would attack so fiercely regardless of the cost.

Every wave of attack consumed a large amount of spiritual energy, and the source of that energy was the Spirit Stones; there were only so many Spirit Stones, and each one used was one fewer.