403: Ways to break the formation

From the beginning, Yue Xiaojie never intended to share the treasures in this palace with Zhou Xun, which is why she wanted to keep it hidden until the end to catch them off guard.

Yet, she never imagined that this momentary lapse in judgment would land her in such a perilous situation.

"Doesn't he have any other methods? If I had known, we should have just returned the way we came!"

Wu Wenlong spoke painfully.

By now, they no longer cared about obtaining the treasures here.

After all, their lives were nearly at an end; what use would more treasures be?!

"We..."

"It's not completely hopeless, Brother Chen. It's just that we haven't found a complete formation. If we could find a complete one, wouldn't that mean it could be broken?"

Zhou Xun was the first to spot the loophole in Chen Tianming's words, and he also understood the underlying meaning behind what Chen Tianming had said.

"Zhou Xun is right. If I can get a complete formation, I can break it. Furthermore, their formations are interlinked; if one is broken, the rest will also cease to function."

Hearing this follow-up from Chen Tianming, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The task of scouting the formations would certainly fall to those of them who couldn't break formations, as they would feel quite guilty if Chen Tianming had to do everything himself.

"At least we only need one formation, so let's focus our search on one."

Zhou Xun said, deliberately ignoring the details.

But Yue Xiaojie was never a fool; even after Zhou Xun proposed the so-called solution, she realized the difficulties involved.

There were many formations here, so finding just one of them would not be easy; in fact, it could be said to be extremely difficult.

Furthermore, there was a malicious figure in black acting behind the scenes, manipulating the shifts of these formations. If they just kept one corner hidden, they would never be able to leave!

Even knowing the difficulties, Yue Xiaojie had no way to speak up and could only accept this outcome.

"I'm truly speechless."

Wu Wenlong rested once again.

The wounds on his body throbbed with pain, and no matter how much medicine he took, he could barely hold on.

Yue Xiaojie looked back, then withdrew her gaze.

Her gaze was extremely complex, and the feelings she held for Wu Wenlong in her heart were hard to describe.

Now that the other party was truly about to die, she found herself feeling reluctant to let him go.

Zhou Xun was also exhausted at this moment. He didn't even know how many bottles of spiritual energy recovery pills he had consumed, yet he still didn't know if even half of the current formation was complete.

Everyone's stamina was reaching its limit. If they couldn't break it, they would really be worn to death here.

"Brother Chen, how is it going?"

Zhou Xun really didn't dare to urge him too much, fearing it would make Chen Tianming feel uncomfortable.

After all, saying so might annoy him, and if he ended up not resolving the formations here, everyone present would lose their lives.

"It's still lacking a bit. The other party might have realized our intentions, so the current formations have all been obscured, and they aren't even a coherent formation anymore."

Hearing this answer from Chen Tianming, everyone revealed an "as expected" look.

They had more or less guessed this earlier, but now that they heard it confirmed, they felt rather distressed.

Knowing and clearly realizing this point wasn't difficult; the difficulty lay in the fact that, even knowing this was the result, they had to bite the bullet and accept it.

That was the most difficult part.

Letting out a heavy sigh, a stifling atmosphere lingered in everyone's hearts.

They had somewhat given up hope.

Chen Tianming looked at their expressions and shook his head helplessly.

It wasn't because he was helpless against this formation, but rather that he already had a plan. To ensure it could be executed smoothly, he chose this method to hide it from everyone.

Only by making everyone think he was helpless could he truly deceive the person behind the scenes.

"If there's no way, should we just wash up and go to sleep?"

Wu Wenlong spoke with utter dejection, his eyes filled with unbearable pain.

Zhou Xun naturally understood Wu Wenlong's worries, but right now they were all like mud bodhisattvas crossing a river—unable to even save themselves—so no one would sympathize with Wu Wenlong's plight.

In the current situation, to put it bluntly, at most Wu Wenlong would just go a step ahead, and the rest of them would follow; it was no big deal.

"Don't be anxious. You don't think his traps and poisonous insects are inexhaustible, do you? One day, he will run out of these things!"

After saying this, the expressions of Zhou Xun and the others remained solemn.

Seeing this, Chen Tianming could only give up. He could only provide hints to this extent; if he said any more, the person in black would notice.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Zhou Xun coughed a few times and looked at Yue Xiaojie, who seemed to want to say something but held back.

"How is Uncle Zhang's injury? I still have some medicinal pills; you can pay me back later, Yue Xiaojie."

Regarding Zhou Xun's assistance, Yue Xiaojie did not hesitate and took the medicine handed over by the other party.

Uncle Zhang, however, frowned with disapproval.

"Miss, this injury of mine is nothing."

"Uncle Zhang, listen to me, use this!"

Yue Xiaojie knew too well that Uncle Zhang was her greatest reliance right now. If anything happened to him, she could say she was completely finished.

After using the pills, Yue Xiaojie might be able to accept Zhou Xun's favor.

Even knowing Zhou Xun was doing this on purpose, she had no choice, as every pill was precious at this time.

If she asked Zhou Xun for them, he might not necessarily give them later.

Now that the other party was offering them voluntarily, if she refused again, it would truly be ungrateful.

"Sigh!"

With a sigh, Uncle Zhang finally took the pill.

Because he knew that even if he didn't take the medicine in the end, as long as Yue Xiaojie had accepted it, it meant she had received Zhou Xun's favor. Whether this pill was eaten or not, it would have to be repaid in the end!

"Miss, it is this old servant who has dragged you down."

Uncle Zhang said this with deep shame, old tears streaming down his eyes.

Wasn't he the one who had dragged her down now?

"This is truly absurd!"

Chen Tianming was not interested in these touching old platitudes, his expression and demeanor remaining extremely indifferent.

Regardless of whether the relationship between Uncle Zhang and Yue Xiaojie was as deep as they portrayed, if everyone couldn't get out, they were all doomed to die anyway.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's hurry and break the formation."

Zhou Xun saw Chen Tianming's attitude and couldn't be bothered with him, simply speaking up.

"Let me see."

Chen Tianming nodded and then looked in the direction of the formation.

Although Chen Tianming had the strongest power among this group, he was not a formation master and had no confidence in destroying this formation.