559: Chapter 559 The Great Formation Resumes, Everyone is Trapped Like Turtles

To the east was a withered old man wearing a gray Daoist robe covered in patches. His hair was graying, and the wrinkles on his face looked as if they had been carved with a knife.

His eyes were closed as if he were asleep, but his aura was terrifying, like a volcano that had been dormant for ten thousand years, ready to erupt at any moment.

To the west was an obese old woman wearing a gaudy red and green robe. Her hair was filled with gold and silver hairpins, making her look like a nouveau riche.

Her face was coated in thick powder, white as a ghost, and her lips were smeared with bright red lipstick, making her look quite ridiculous.

But no one laughed.

Because the aura she emitted was no weaker than any Half-step True Immortal.

To the south was a middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance, wearing a black robe and holding a whisk.

His eyes were open, but his pupils were gray, as if he were blind.

He stood there motionless, like a statue.

To the north stood Ancestor Xuan Yin.

He walked out from the crowd on the Martial Arts Arena and took his position in the north.

It turned out he hadn't been standing at the very front earlier; he had been taking his proper position.

Four Half-step True Immortal Elders surrounded the entire Hehuan Sect from four directions.

The old man in the east opened his eyes. They were gray, as if covered by a layer of dust. He looked at Xiao Nianyin, his voice sounding as if it came from far away: "Xiao Nianyin, we have been waiting for you for a long time."

"We thought you wouldn't show up."

The old woman in the west cackled, her laughter shrill and piercing, like nails scraping on a stone slab.

"Little girl, you certainly have some nerve. Knowing the four of us old fogies were here, you still dared to come out."

Xiao Nianyin did not look at them.

Her gaze fell upon the traitors on the Martial Arts Arena, lingering for a brief moment before shifting away.

She raised her hand slowly, as if performing a very ordinary task.

"Hehuan Great Array, manifest."

Her voice was not loud, but every word was like a clap of thunder exploding over the Martial Arts Arena.

Then, the Grand Array lit up.

It didn't start lighting up from the mountain gate, but from the very center of the Martial Arts Arena.

The light was not silver-white, but an indescribable color—part gold, part red, part purple—as if it contained all the colors of the world, yet also as if it contained nothing at all.

The light surged from underground, from the cracks in the stone slabs, from the texture of every brick, every tile, and every pillar, as if something that had been dormant underground for a long time was finally awakened.

The Array Pattern that had already been breached by the Righteous Path Alliance lit up once again.

They didn't reconnect from the broken points; instead, they emerged from even deeper down.

It turned out those Array Pattern were only a surface layer. Beneath them was another layer, a deeper one, like an iceberg where only a small part floats above the water.

The layer the Righteous Path Alliance had breached was merely the shell of this true Grand Array.

Ancestor Xuan Yin's expression changed completely.

He spun around, looking at the old man in the east, the old woman in the west, and the middle-aged man in the south.

Their expressions had all changed as well.

They had lived for nearly ten thousand years; what kind of Formation had they not seen? But they couldn't understand the array before them.

It wasn't that it was complex, but that it was unfamiliar, like a creation from another world.

"Retreat!" Ancestor Xuan Yin shouted. "Everyone, retreat quickly! This is a trap!"

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

The Righteous Path Alliance Cultivators who were lunging toward the Hehuan Sect Disciples suddenly slammed into an invisible wall.

It wasn't a wall, but a light screen—a light screen rising from beneath their feet, surging from all directions.

There were no Array Pattern or flowing light on the light screen, only a pure, heart-palpitating radiance devoid of Impurities.

They were trapped.

The entire Martial Arts Arena and the entire Hehuan Sect were enveloped by this true Grand Array.

A Disciple of the Tianxuan Sect, refusing to believe it, swung his sword at the light screen.

The sword hit the light screen without a sound or a spark. The sword seemed to lose all its power in an instant, falling limply to the ground.

The Disciple bent down to pick it up, but as soon as his hand touched the blade, silver-white flames erupted from him, burning from his fingertips to his wrist, from his wrist to his arm, and from his arm to his entire body.

He didn't even have time to scream before he turned into a pile of ash, scattering on the bluestone floor.

The Martial Arts Arena erupted into chaos.

"Run!"

"The Grand Array is activated! The Grand Array is activated!"

"Help! Help me!"

The Cultivators of the Righteous Path Alliance scurried around like headless flies.

Some ran east and were bounced back by the light screen; some ran west and were bounced back. Some tried to fly away, but as soon as they were three feet off the ground, an invisible force dragged them down, slamming them into the earth and making them spit blood.

Some spun in circles, some knelt and begged for mercy, some crouched on the ground clutching their heads, and some trampled over each other.

Those Righteous Path Alliance "experts" who were mocking the Hehuan Sect just a moment ago were now more pathetic than anyone.

An Elder of the Tianxuan Sect, in the Early Saint Realm, tried to break the light screen with a Divine Ability. His Divine Ability slammed into the light screen, which didn't budge an inch, but he himself was shattered internally by the rebounding force, bleeding from his seven orifices as he collapsed.

An Elder of the Tianquan Sect, also in the Early Saint Realm, tried to carve a path with his life-bound Magical Artifact. The moment the artifact touched the light screen, it was ground into dust by an invisible force. He was also caught in the aftermath; half of his body was blown away, and after one scream, he stopped moving.

The red-robed female cultivator from the Three Saints Gate also stopped smiling.

Her horsewhip fell to the ground, and she didn't try to pick it up.

Her face was as white as paper, and her lips were trembling.

Her sisters weren't laughing either; they huddled behind her, not even daring to show their faces.

"Stop, everyone stop!" Ancestor Xuan Yin's voice boomed over the Martial Arts Arena with an unquestionable authority. "Don't rush blindly. The Grand Array is already active; rushing blindly will only lead to a faster death. Everyone fall back, retreat to the center of the Martial Arts Arena!"

His voice was loud enough that the terrified Righteous Path Alliance Cultivators finally listened.

They began to run back, stumbling to the center of the Martial Arts Arena, huddling together like a flock of sheep driven to a dead end by wolves.

Over a thousand people were squeezed into the center of the Martial Arts Arena, shoulder to shoulder, with no room even to turn around.

Some were squeezed until they couldn't breathe, some had their ribs crushed, and some were knocked down and never got back up.

Ancestor Xuan Yin stood at the very front of the crowd, his face ashen.

His gaze passed through the light screen and landed on Xu Ruyu.

Xu Ruyu was still standing there, still bound by the immortal binding rope, and still smiling. It wasn't a smile of triumph, but a smile of someone who had seen through everything.

"Xu Ruyu, you have quite the methods." Ancestor Xuan Yin's voice was as cold as ice. "It turns out the previous Grand Array was a fake."

Xu Ruyu looked at him and said nothing.

Ancestor Xuan Yin struggled with force, but the immortal binding rope didn't budge.

His expression grew even uglier. He had lived for nearly ten thousand years and had never been played like this.

The old man in the east spoke up.

His voice was calm, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"The energy source of this array is not Spirit Stones. This old man cannot sense the aura of any Spirit Stones. What is powering it?"

The old woman in the west shrieked, "Stop wasting your breath! Take down Xu Ruyu first. Once he is captured, this array will naturally break!"

The middle-aged man in the south nodded, a sharp light flashing in his gray pupils.

The four Half-step True Immortal Elders moved simultaneously.

Their speed was so fast that the low-level Cultivators couldn't see them at all, only four afterimages lunging toward Xu Ruyu from four directions.

Xiao Nianyin did not move.

She stood in the Void Realm above the main hall, watching the four Elders lunge toward Xu Ruyu without moving.

Her hands made no hand seals, and her face showed no expression of nervousness.

She just watched, as if watching a play.