The six members of Nanspring's squad reacted quickly—no sooner had they fallen into the formation than they unleashed their strongest magic treasures against the surroundings. But after a round of frantic attacks, they still couldn't shake the array.
For a moment, Nanspring's eyes turned especially dark. He waved his hand and said, "Everyone, stop!"
"Captain, what should we do?" one of the team members asked, a hint of panic showing in his expression.
Glancing around, Nanspring noticed that the other four members all showed some degree of unease on their faces. In a crisis, keeping calm is most important, so right now his priority was to reassure everyone. He said:
"Don't panic, everyone. Before we set out, I already reported our mission to the Duke of Qi Residence. Reinforcements should arrive soon. We may be unable to break this formation, but I doubt it can do anything to us either—at most, it'll just trap us for a while. As long as we hold out, someone will come to get us out. Then we can settle things with that kid."
"Captain's right—as long as we keep our heads, this array can't do anything to us!" the fat guard said.
Hearing Nanspring's words, the last traces of panic in everyone's hearts quickly faded away.
Outside the array, Ian Song, who had overheard their conversation, just sneered. These formations were laid out with painstaking care and had cost him over ten thousand top-grade spirit crystals and some Illusory God-Iron. Killing six late Out-of-Body experts wouldn't be hard—but to wipe them out right away would be a waste.
The next moment, his figure flickered and he appeared directly inside the array.
"You little thief, you actually dare show yourself in front of us—are you looking to die?"
As soon as Ian Song appeared, Nanspring and the others all showed anger. One of them couldn't hold back any longer—brandishing a spirit sword, he charged straight at Ian.
"Die!"
Sword light flashed—the guard charging at him suddenly froze in place. The next instant, his body split in two, guts and blood splattering everywhere.
"What the—?"
Seeing this, the remaining five all sucked in a breath.
One sword killed a late Out-of-Body expert instantly—even an early Divine Transformation master might not be able to do that!
"Could this kid actually be a Divine Transformation expert? But his cultivation level clearly shows only mid Out-of-Body!"
"Anyone else want to die?"
Ian Song's gaze slowly swept over the five, his tone unhurried.
No one answered, not even Nanspring. He was stronger than the average guard, but only up to a point. To defeat the guard Ian Song had just killed with one sword, Nanspring himself would have had to put in real effort.
Ian Song spoke up: "Now, I'll give you all a chance. If any one of you can withstand twenty moves from me, I'll let that person leave the array!"
Still, no one spoke up.
Seeing the five remain silent, Ian couldn't help but sneer, "Do you really think this array can only trap people and can't kill?"
As he spoke, Ian formed two array hand-seals. Instantly, Nanspring and the others felt the gravity around them surge to more than twenty times normal—their bodies sank, forcing them to circulate zhenyuan to resist.
"So this is your trick? Doesn't seem that impressive."
One of the guards mocked him.
Ian said nothing, just let a strange smile curl at the corner of his mouth.
The next instant, a flurry of wind blades appeared in the air. Each one was only palm-sized, but they radiated a razor-sharp aura.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
The wind blades moved, surging down on the five like a tidal wave.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
Instinctively, the five huddled together, each using their own magic treasures to block the wind blades.
The wind blades weren't especially strong—each had the force of a full-powered strike from an early Nascent Soul expert. But there were so many of them that, at first, it was manageable; soon, though, all five began to struggle.
There were simply too many wind blades—practically endless. Plus, they still had to resist the twentyfold gravity, so their zhenyuan was draining fast every second.
Nanspring was sure that if this kept up, in at most half an hour, their zhenyuan would run dry—and then they'd be helpless before the endless wind blades.
"This is just an appetizer—let me turn up the heat!"
As he spoke, Ian formed two more incantation seals. Instantly, Nanspring and the others were alarmed to find the gravity around them ramp up again—now at least thirty times normal. Worse, the wind blades grew even deadlier, each packing the force of a full-powered strike from a late Nascent Soul expert.
If before they could last half an hour, now they'd be lucky to hold out fifteen minutes—maybe not even that—before their zhenyuan ran out.
"Captain, what do we do? Should we just accept his terms?" the fat guard shouted.
Hearing this, hesitation flashed in Nanspring's eyes. Then he called out to Ian Song, "We'll take your challenge—but you can't use that sword move from earlier, alright?"
"Alright, I agree!" Ian Song waved his hand—the gravity vanished, and the wind blades disappeared too. Instantly, the five breathed a sigh of relief.
"Who's first?"
Ian Song looked at the five and asked.
"I'll go!"
The fat guard stepped forward. His magic treasure was a pair of spirit hammers, fourth-grade.
"Zhao Kang, be careful!" Nanspring warned gravely.
"Don't worry, Captain!"
Zhao Kang nodded, then charged at Ian Song wielding both hammers.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
Ian Song met him with a longsword. Sword and hammers collided again and again, sending out deafening explosions.