Suddenly, Lila Li’s eyes flashed with realization. She asked, "Fellow Daoist Song, are you here for the Spirit Beast King?"
"More or less," Ian Song nodded.
"Since we're both here, why haven’t you gone in yet?" Lila pressed.
"This valley is shrouded by an Innate Grand Array. I’m not confident I can come and go freely, so I’m still deciding whether to enter or not!"
Hearing this, Lila instinctively fixed her gaze on the valley, scrutinizing it. Sure enough, she noticed something odd—the seemingly ordinary nine-colored spiritual mist actually hovered between reality and illusion, appearing both still and flowing.
It was both real and unreal, true and false, instantly giving her a sense of unpredictability.
Ian stared at the valley, his tone grave: "Under the grand array, the valley’s space is twisted and overlapping. Once inside, you might end up trapped in some unknown pocket dimension—maybe even die in there!"
"Is this Innate Grand Array really that powerful?"
Lila’s heart sank. She had planned to seize the Spirit Beast King ahead of everyone, but now that the valley was protected by an Innate Grand Array, her plan might fall apart.
Ian just smiled and said nothing, focusing instead on observing the changes in the nine-colored spiritual mist and calculating the operating laws of the Innate Grand Array in his mind.
Everything in heaven and earth follows rules, and the Innate Grand Array is no exception. As long as you grasp the array’s laws, even if you can’t break it, you can at least enter without getting trapped.
Seeing Ian standing there like a statue, completely motionless, Lila grew more and more anxious.
"No, no matter how powerful this formation is, I have to give it a try. If I wait until Fletcher Toba and the others arrive, I’ll have no chance to turn things around!"
With that thought, Lila strode toward the valley.
"Saintess, don’t go in!" Ian called out.
This time, Lila didn’t snap back at Ian. She replied in a low voice, "Fellow Daoist Song, I have my reasons—I have no choice but to go in."
Hearing this, Ian couldn’t bear to see Lila trapped inside. "Wait a bit longer. I’m still deducing the array’s operating pattern—maybe I’ll figure it out soon!"
"Can you really deduce it?" Lila’s tone held both doubt and a trace of hope.
"I’ll do my best!"
With that, Ian fell silent, locking his gaze on the nine-colored mist as his mind raced with frantic calculations.
Time slowly passed, and a fine sheen of sweat appeared on Ian’s forehead.
Meanwhile, Lila kept glancing warily around, then back at Ian.
In the blink of an eye, another half-stick of incense passed. Ian suddenly felt a surge of clarity—he estimated that with just half a quarter-hour more, he could deduce the grand array’s operating pattern.
"How’s it going?" Lila couldn’t help but ask, her voice tinged with urgency.
Ian smiled confidently. "At most, half a quarter-hour."
Hearing this, Lila actually smiled, but her smile vanished instantly. Her beautiful face turned cold as frost, and her eyes filled with killing intent.
A thousand meters away, a group of people was rushing toward the valley at high speed. Leading them were Fletcher Toba and Diana Toba, the Divine Son and Divine Daughter of the Fire God Church, and Damien Chi and Mira Xuan, the Witch Son and Witch Daughter of the Witch God Church.
Ian sensed their approach and glanced back, sighing softly. If only they’d arrived half a quarter-hour later!
"There’s no time left—we’re going in!"
With a flash, Lila appeared at Ian’s side, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him into the valley.
"Lila Li is over there—don’t let her get away!"
As soon as Mira Xuan spotted Lila, she shot forward, chasing after Ian and Lila and plunging into the nine-colored mist right behind them.
"Junior sister, wait for me!"
Damien Chi refused to fall behind and darted in after them.
Seeing this, the Fletcher siblings couldn’t let Damien and Mira take all the credit, so they rushed forward, almost side by side with Damien, and entered the nine-colored mist.
As for the rest, with their own Divine Sons, Divine Daughters, Witch Sons, and Witch Daughters already inside, they couldn’t stay outside either. So one after another, they all flew up and dove into the nine-colored mist.
Ian looked around. It was an extremely monotonous world—gray and hazy, with no sense of direction, up or down. Clearly, they’d been transmitted into a twisted and overlapping small world.
"Saintess, you’ve really put me in a tough spot!" Ian said with a bitter smile.
A hint of embarrassment flickered across Lila’s beautiful face. "Aren’t you a formation master? You should be able to deduce the array’s pattern from here too!"
Ian looked helpless. "Saintess, don’t you know? You can only observe an array’s operating pattern from the outside. Once you’re inside, it’s at least ten or a hundred times harder to figure out. And we’re unlucky—we got dropped straight into a twisted, overlapping small world. Forget deducing the array; even getting out of this little world is an unknown!"
Hearing Ian’s explanation, the embarrassment on Lila’s face deepened. "Fellow Daoist Song, I really am sorry. If we get out of here, I’ll make it up to you!"
"Forget it!" Ian waved his hand. "Let’s not worry about that—let’s focus on finding a way out of this small world!"
"Let me try!"
With a soft shout, Lila sent out her Mixed Heaven Sashes from her long sleeves, trying to pierce the void and forcibly shatter the small world.
Unfortunately, as soon as the sashes flew out, she sensed that this space simply didn’t ‘take force’—no matter how much power she used, she couldn’t break the small world.
Unwilling to give up, she put away the sashes and took out a flying sword.
But the result was the same; the flying sword couldn’t cut through the void either.
Next, she tried punches, palms, even kicks, and released a small split-thought, but none of it had the slightest effect.
"Fellow Daoist Song, I’ve done all I can. Why don’t you give it a try?" Lila said.
"All right, I’ll give it a shot!"
With a thought, Ian struck out with his palm—black and white light flashed, then slammed hard into the space ahead.
Unfortunately…it still didn’t work!
Ian’s heart sank completely. This was his Primal Heaven-Net Palm, capable of breaking through ten thousand methods—tearing open the void should be child’s play. But now…
"Let’s try the Art of Great Teleportation!"
*Whoosh!*
With a flicker, Ian vanished from his spot—only to find himself still in the same small world.
Unbelievable!!
As for his World-Shaping Avatar, Ian didn’t even bother trying—if Lila, with her early Dividing-Spirit strength, couldn’t budge the small world’s spatial barrier, his dharma body wouldn’t help.
Can’t break it, can’t teleport out—so what now?
"Fellow Daoist Song, you really can’t keep deducing the array’s pattern from here?" Lila asked again.
Ian shrugged helplessly. "Saintess, let me put it this way: right now, we’re like frogs at the bottom of a well—we can only see as much sky as the well mouth allows. If we want to see a bigger, wider sky, we have to jump out of the well. Do you get it?"
Hearing Ian’s blunt explanation, Lila’s face darkened. "Is there really no way out?"
"There is, but I need to think about it," Ian said seriously.