552: Chapter 552 Just watch closely as we break through your Joyful Union Sect's grand formation.

Hua Xunhuan also walked over, standing at the edge of the high platform, looking at the dense crowd of figures outside the mountain gate.

Her face was expressionless, but her lips were pressed together tightly, as if she were biting down on something.

"What's there to fear?" she suddenly spoke, her voice not loud but very firm. "At worst, it's just death.

If the Grand Array truly breaks, then we fight. We fight to the death and never compromise."

Her voice wasn't loud, but the square was silent, and everyone heard her.

Zhao Yan was the first to respond. He stood in the center of the square, shirtless, his chest heaving violently like a wild beast trapped in a cage.

"Right! Fight! I, Zhao Yan, will be the first to charge out!"

Ning Caihe didn't speak, but his sword was already unsheathed.

A cold killing intent flowed along the blade, and the hum of the sword echoed in the mountain wind.

Qingyan stood among the crowd, gripping her Butterfly Short Blades tightly; the pair of blades glinted with a blue light under the sun.

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

"Fight!"

The voices of over three hundred Disciples merged into a flood, echoing across the square.

The Grand Elder's eyes reddened, Hua Xunhuan gripped her short sword even tighter, and Granny Liu's hand on her cane trembled—not from fear, but from excitement.

Xu Ruyu did not look back.

Listening to those young voices behind him, a complex surge of emotion rose in his heart.

He wanted to say something, but his mouth opened and closed, and in the end, he said nothing.

His gaze pierced through the light curtain, falling upon the Righteous Path Alliance Cultivators who were attacking the Grand Array outside the mountain gate.

Those people were divided into several teams, taking turns to step forward.

While the first team attacked, the second team rested nearby; when the first team withdrew, the second team moved up to replace them.

They had plenty of Spirit Stones, Medicinal Pills, and Magical Artifacts, as well as enough manpower and patience.

They were in no hurry. They knew this Grand Array wouldn't hold for long.

Ancestor Xuan Yin stood at the very front, hands behind his back, looking like an old man taking a stroll in his own garden.

A faint smile hung at the corner of his mouth, and he nodded occasionally, as if affirming or encouraging something.

A Cultivator rushed too close and was sent flying by the light curtain's counter-shock, crashing onto the mountain path and spitting blood.

Ancestor Xuan Yin glanced at him and waved a hand; immediately, people dragged the Cultivator to the back for treatment.

Then with another wave of his hand, more people moved up to fill the gap.

"Xu Ruyu," Ancestor Xuan Yin's voice pierced through the light curtain and reached into the Hehuan Sect, "watch closely and see how our Righteous Path Alliance breaks your Hehuan Sect's Grand Array step by step!"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was very clear, as if he were speaking right into Xu Ruyu's ear.

Xu Ruyu did not answer. He remained silent not because he didn't know what to say, but because he didn't want to speak.

His eyes were fixed on the increasingly dim Spirit Stone nodes, his mind rapidly calculating the time.

The High-Grade Spirit Stones could last another two hours, the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones at most one hour, and the Low-Grade Spirit Stones could shatter at any moment.

Once the Low-Grade Spirit Stones began to fail, the chain reaction would be swift—too swift to remedy.

The Grand Elder approached again, his steps heavy this time, as if each step intended to stomp a hole into the ground.

"Sect Master," his voice was deep, "at the southwest corner of the Grand Array, the Low-Grade Spirit Stone nodes have already begun to loosen.

The quality of those few stones is too poor to withstand such high-intensity attacks; they'll last half an hour at most."

Xu Ruyu nodded.

He knew about the stones in the southwest corner.

Those few stones had been scraped together by the Disciples from their own savings; they weren't suitable for a formation in the first place, but there was no other choice.

The Hehuan Sect had nothing left; they even had to split a single Low-Grade Spirit Stone in two to make it last.

"Sect Master, perhaps we should..."

The Grand Elder hesitated.

"Perhaps what?"

Xu Ruyu asked.

The Grand Elder was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"It's nothing."

He actually wanted to suggest withdrawing the Disciples to the back of the mountain first to leave a path of retreat.

But he didn't say it.

He feared that saying it would shake morale and make everyone feel that even the Sect Master had no confidence.

Hua Xunhuan stood at the edge of the high platform, hands gripping the railing. Her nails dug into the grain of the wood, leaving several shallow crescent marks.

"Sect Master, say something. Everyone is feeling uncertain."

Her voice trembled slightly—not from fear, but from a suppressed energy with nowhere to go.

Xu Ruyu finally spoke.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was steady, like a stake driven into the ground.

"There's nothing much to say.

If the Grand Array breaks, we fight.

Like you all said, we fight to the death and do not compromise."

Hua Xunhuan was stunned.

She hadn't expected Xu Ruyu to say something like that.

She thought he would encourage everyone, saying things like 'we can definitely hold out.'

He didn't.

What he said was, 'If the Grand Array breaks, we fight.'

In other words, he also had no certainty of holding this Grand Array.

Hua Xunhuan's eyes suddenly reddened.

Her eyes didn't redden from fear, but because Xu Ruyu had told the truth.

She didn't know how to describe the feeling; it was like walking in the dark for a long time when suddenly someone lights a lamp. The light is dim and doesn't reach far, but you know someone is ahead waiting for you.

"Good." Hua Xunhuan's voice was a bit choked, but firm. "Then we fight. Even if we die, we'll die with dignity."

Zhao Yan heard Hua Xunhuan's words from the square and burst into a few loud laughs that scattered in the mountain wind.

"The Fifth Elder is right! Even if we die, we'll die with dignity! I, Zhao Yan, have lived for so many years, and the thing I fear least is death!"

His words were like a fire, igniting the entire square.