The Spirit Barrier Is Strong

Lily Bai first pulled out a blank talisman, painted it with her blood, and slapped it onto the barrier.

The shadow inside the barrier suddenly froze.

"Huh? It stopped smashing!" Nine Li edged closer, wanting a good look at what it was.

But inside, dust swirled everywhere—he couldn’t see a thing.

So, he pressed his face right up against the barrier, squishing his nose and eyes to the surface for a better look.

The ferocious beast slowly approached the edge of the barrier, revealing first its enormous, drooling fangs.

From Lily Bai’s angle, Nine Li’s height was just right to get stuck between its teeth.

Then came the armored scales, powerful limbs, golden eyes, and wings bristling with bone spikes—one after another.

Nine Li backed away step by step, tripped on a rock, and nearly went tumbling.

Someone caught him and said, "Don’t get too close! That’s Riftsky! Even with the barrier between you, just the shockwave from its ramming could turn your bones to dust!"

Nine Li whipped his head around and yelped, "Blood-Eye! Why are you here again?!"

"I heard something weird going on over here, so I came to check it out. What, you got a problem with that?"

Nine Li shook his head and made a dramatic 'please, be my guest' gesture.

Blood-Eye glanced at Riftsky, whistled, and strolled over behind Lily Bai. "What kind of talisman did you use? It actually calmed that thing down?"

Lily Bai shot him a sideways look. "Just a reinforcement talisman for the barrier."

"It's staring right at you! That killing intent is intense," Blood-Eye said. "Better be careful—your big bro’s here to protect you."

Lily Bai ignored him and looked around.

In the corner of the stone chamber, there was a faintly glowing Minor Spirit Barrier, and inside it sat a balance scale.

On each side of the scale rested a Celestial Stone.

But the scale wasn’t level—it tilted ever so slightly.

"The Unity Nexus Seal is all about one thing: balance. Lose that balance, and it’s useless; restore it, and nothing can break it!" Lily Bai said. "Right now, the scale is tipped—something’s throwing it off."

She asked Azure Flame and Baxa, "Can you open this barrier?"

Both shook their heads. "This barrier is tough. We’ve tried before—no luck."

Lily Bai frowned, pulled out a talisman paper, and drew a Barrier-Breaking Talisman to give it a shot.

The barrier opened.

Azure Flame: "..."

Baxa: "..."

"Maybe... it’s because the scale is off-balance," Lily Bai said. "Can one of you hold it steady, keep it balanced?"

"Will that even work?" Azure Flame asked, coming over.

"There should be four scales like this. I need to check each one for problems," Lily Bai said. "Just in case, you guys hold this one steady—don’t let it tip even a little."

Azure Flame nodded and cast a spell to hold it steady.

"Keep it super steady," Lily Bai ordered. "Otherwise, that thing’s coming out."

"Got it."

This formation had a ring of tunnels dug around the barrier trapping Riftsky.

At the four compass points, there were four stone chambers.

Lily Bai reached the second chamber and had Nine Li hold the scale steady.

At the third, Baxa took over.

When she got to the fourth, she finally found the problem.

On this scale, an ant was crawling all over one of the Celestial Stones.

No clue how it even got in there...

Lily Bai opened the barrier, gently picked up the ant, and squished it.

Boom! A soft thud sounded.

The suppression barrier snapped back to normal.

Lily Bai sent a voice transmission to the other three, telling them they could let go and seal the barrier again.

"Wow! Rune Masters really are amazing!" Blood-Eye said nearby.

"Can you stop following me?" Lily Bai said, heading back to the first chamber.

But Blood-Eye blocked her way.