Of the ten people who entered the Great Desolation Realm, nine were very calm—only Night Emperor was most miserable.
External martial artists could clearly see through the camera his fierce expression and the sweat beads emerging on his forehead.
Something’s not right.
Wasn’t this guy supposed to be very strong?
Everyone else was fine—how come only he was suffering the most?
A martial artist said: “If this person collapses, does it count as failure, or does everyone fail?”
“I heard that for challengers who enter as a team, at any checkpoint only total failure counts as losing, and then they’ll be directly killed.”
“That being the case, whether that guy fails or not doesn’t matter—as long as the others can pass through, he can ride their coattails into the Second Directional Realm.”
It was fortunate Night Emperor couldn’t hear this, or he would definitely be jumping with rage. After all, with his arrogant personality, he absolutely couldn’t tolerate the label of ‘getting a free ride’!
“Junior Brother Ye, hang in there!”
Li Qingyang and the others continued to cheer Ye Xingchen on, while he endured the hundredfold pressure, still struggling to steady himself without yielding.
If external martial artists knew that this Eternal Sect disciple was bearing Great Desolation Aura five times that of others, and had held on for over ten minutes without collapsing, they would definitely show solemn respect.
“Whoosh whoosh!”
The pressure continued to permeate, and every inch of Ye Xingchen’s skin felt as if it were being placed on a chopping board and beaten fiercely with the flat of a blade.
This feeling was indescribably excruciating!
Outside the camera, Shangguan Xinyao’s forehead was also gradually beading with sweat, though not from the pressure but from continuously studying the formation.
Zhen Dejun on the outside was the same.
Although he hadn’t experienced the Great Desolation Aura’s oppression, using his spiritual thoughts to frantically probe the formation also consumed considerable mental energy.
“Still haven’t penetrated it?” Jun Changxiao transmitted.
Zhen Dejun said: “Sect Master, this formation set up by the Formation Emperor is truly too strong—I feel there’s no hope at all!”
“Don’t give up.” Jun Changxiao encouraged.
Zhen Dejun remained silent, knowing in his heart that penetration was only the first step.
A formation from ten thousand years ago would definitely have an extremely complex internal structure. Even if he penetrated it, he probably wouldn’t know where to start!
“Sect Master, Elder Zhen!”
Just then, Shangguan Xinyao transmitted: “I’ve penetrated it!”
“So fast?” Zhen Dejun’s face showed surprise.
The formation existing outside protected the entire Ten Directions Death Tower, so penetration difficulty was greatest. The interior, due to damage, had relatively lower difficulty.
“Girl.”
Zhen Dejun inquired: “What’s the situation inside?”
Shangguan Xinyao said: “There are many, many formation cores and formation lines—probably over a hundred thousand!”
“A hundred thousand?” Zhen Dejun’s eyes widened.
The strongest formation recorded in the Thirty-Two Extraordinary Formations only had two to three thousand formation lines and cores. This ancient formation started at a hundred thousand—analysis and breaking it was definitely impossible!
Shangguan Xinyao said: “Elder Zhen, I’m getting dizzy looking at it all.”
At this moment, she had penetrated the interior of the formation left by the Formation Emperor in soul form. Before her eyes existed countless points of light and traced patterns, like the sands of the Ganges River!
“Let this Seat take a look.”
While enduring twenty times pressure, Jun Changxiao split his attention to touch the formation. After penetrating it and seeing the formation spread like stars, he broke down: “There’s way too many!”
The ancient formation felt to him like an endless universe, with formation cores like planets and meteors, formation lines like swaths of galaxies.
“You two look for any independently partitioned areas of formation cores and lines—they might be connected to the external formation.” Zhen Dejun said.
Jun Changxiao and Shangguan Xinyao looked with dazzled eyes.
Sure enough, within the space resembling a cosmic expanse, they found a relatively independent star system!
“Elder Zhen, there’s an independent one!”
“Can you analyze it, or change its operational method?”
“…”
Jun Changxiao fell silent.
He had aptitude in formations, but it all came from consuming aptitude liquids, and he hadn’t studied it dedicatedly. Wanting to analyze it would probably be quite difficult.
“Let me try!” Shangguan Xinyao said.
She closed her eyes, dividing her spiritual thoughts into countless threads, then enveloping the complex formation cores and lines. Her mind constantly deduced, continuously generating scene after scene.
If Jun Changxiao could peer into Shangguan Xinyao’s sea of consciousness, he would surely be amazed at this woman’s vast imagination and rich creative thinking!
In this aspect, even Zhen Dejun, who had reached Formation Emperor level, had to bow in admiration. When they had studied the Thirty-Two Extraordinary Formations together, he had sincerely sighed: “Throughout history, a rare extraordinary woman.”
This ‘extraordinary.’
Referred to a mind that could always think of various problems from tricky angles.
…
Half an hour later.
Li Qingyang, Xiao Zuiji, and the others still calmly endured the 20 times Great Desolation Aura. Ye Xingchen had now bent his proud spine, supporting himself in a half-squat.
The oppression from a hundredfold was truly too strong.
So strong that he was now drenched in sweat, his bones and skin seemingly having undergone tens of thousands of temperings!
Although the process was painful, it was actually a good opportunity to forge his body. At least his meridians, blood, and flesh were all getting excellent tempering in adversity.
Simply put.
If he could endure an hour in the Great Desolation Realm, it would completely surpass cultivating in the Training Tower for a month or even longer!
Also drenched in sweat was Shangguan Xinyao. Although her mental capacity was large enough and her imagination broad enough, trying to analyze even just the tip of the iceberg of an ancient formation was still extremely difficult.
However.
After efforts that could be described in thousands of words, she finally found a trace of difference through repeated deduction and self-questioning, saying: “Elder Zhen, I think in this area, there’s a formation core that maintains contact with the external formation. If modified, it should allow you to easily penetrate inside.”
Jun Changxiao immediately became nervous.
Formation lines all had strict arrangements—the slightest change could cause an explosion!
“Girl, are you certain?” Zhen Dejun said.
“I…”
Shangguan Xinyao paused, then said with firm eyes: “I’m certain!”
“Then change it!”
After getting Elder Zhen’s agreement, Shangguan Xinyao looked toward the Sect Master, waiting for him to give the order.
Jun Changxiao hesitated quite rarely, because after all, touching even one line of the formation would cause an explosion. With so many disciples inside, they might all become collateral casualties.
The current situation was somewhat like Shangguan Xinyao transforming into a bomb disposal expert, scissors poised over a red wire, waiting for orders from superiors on whether to cut it!
“Tick! Tick!”
The countdown on the bomb rang invisibly in Jun Changxiao’s ears, making him say decisively: “Cut… change it!”
“Crack crack!”
The moment the words fell, his entire body was armed with steel—Spirit Armor and Nine-Scale Guardian Armor fully equipped, releasing extremely strong spiritual energy that formed a defensive qi wall, enveloping himself and all his disciples within!
Wealth comes from risk.
To repair the formation and obtain the tower’s inheritances, Jun Changxiao decided to gamble!
Moreover, if he chose to give up at this time, it would be equivalent to questioning Shangguan Xinyao’s judgment and would hurt her heart.
“Go ahead, girl!” Zhen Dejun said.
With the Sect Master’s and Elder’s support, Shangguan Xinyao controlled her spiritual thoughts, then slowly erased the originally existing formation lines while slowly tracing from two formation cores.
Although the entire process was brief, Jun Changxiao had full defense activated, prepared to withstand an explosion at any moment.
Let the storm rage even fiercer!
“Hum!”
Suddenly, the formation interior trembled slightly, and the area Shangguan Xinyao modified flickered with faint light.
Zhen Dejun, who had been continuously trying to penetrate from outside, suddenly felt the defensive line loosen and easily pushed through the ‘door.’
“Sect Master, Elder Zhen!”
Shangguan Xinyao said joyfully: “I succeeded—I guessed right!”
Hearing the words ‘guessed right,’ Jun Changxiao nearly sat down on the ground, inwardly breaking down: “How can she rely on guessing for something so dangerous!”
“Girl, don’t celebrate too early.”
Zhen Dejun entered the formation interior, looking at the dazzling layout with gravity: “We must quickly find the damaged areas and repair them to restore the formation to completeness.”
“Mm!”
Shangguan Xinyao collected herself, then began earnestly searching with Elder Zhen through the extremely complex formation cores and lines.
Entering the interior was only the first step. Finding the problem and repairing it was the top priority, which would inevitably require time.
…
“Whoosh—”
Ye Xingchen, still enduring hundredfold pressure, exhaled with difficulty, his body sinking even more under the heavy oppression.
He now resembled a weightlifter—legs already curled in a squatting position, completely unable to stand under the heavy barbell’s pressure, even at risk of being crushed to the ground at any moment!
“Junior Brother Ye, hang in there!”
Li Qingyang and Su Xiaomo and others continued to cheer him on encouragingly.
Ye Xingchen inwardly broke down.
I’m fucking rigid under hundredfold pressure with my whole body in pain, while you all stand there talking without your backs hurting!
Baby Ye’s heart was bitter.
Baby Ye’s heart was aggrieved.
With pressure at its extreme, even as a former Martial Emperor he couldn’t resist, so Ye Xingchen’s body sank again and again, approaching a sitting position.
He now held on to a single breath, refusing to let it out no matter what.
But once he sat down, he would completely collapse, yielding to the hundredfold pressure.
“Xingchen.”
Jun Changxiao transmitted: “Will you be defeated here before even reaching the Upper Realm?”
Ye Xingchen, who had been about to squat down, heard the Sect Master’s words. His fierce expression immediately surged with towering fury, and his already bent spine suddenly straightened.
Great vengeance unrequited!
How could I, Ye Xingchen, fall here!
“Ah—”
Roaring skyward, the upper garment he wore suddenly burst, revealing solid muscles with bulging veins.
Never admit defeat.
Never give up.
And absolutely no free rides!
Ye Xingchen’s eyes turned blood-red. Under the gaze of tens of thousands, his buttocks gradually rose bit by bit.
“What’s happening?”
“That guy looks really angry?”
Everyone was stunned.
Slowly, in the light screen, Ye Xingchen went from nearly squatting on the ground to forcefully lifting his buttocks, as if arduously lifting the heavy mountain-like barbell pressing on his shoulders!
“Amazing!”
Xiao Zuiji’s eyes gleamed with admiration.
Although he didn’t know if he could endure hundredfold pressure, when Junior Brother Ye was about to fall but instead rose against the odds, that willpower and endurance alone was worth learning from and praising!
Dominated by towering fury, Ye Xingchen stimulated his body’s potential to the extreme, stubbornly refusing to fall!
Jun Changxiao thought to himself: “Just how great must the grudge be in the Upper Realm?”
…
Time continued to pass.
Shangguan Xinyao and Zhen Dejun kept analyzing the formation, and after another half hour passed, they still hadn’t made much progress.
“Whoosh!”
Suddenly, the Great Desolation Aura existing in the realm dispersed, and the Great Desolation Martial Emperor’s desolate voice transmitted: “All challengers have passed the trial and may enter the Second Directional Realm.”
“Hum!”
Before them, in the picturesque grassland, space trembled slightly, revealing a stairway leading upward.
“They passed!”
Everyone exclaimed in surprise.
Jun Changxiao, Xiao Zuiji, and the others appeared calm, making them realize early on that passing the First Directional Realm was no problem. What surprised them was that Ye Xingchen had actually held on until the end without collapsing!
“Although he was nearly sitting down, in the end he stood back up. This person’s willpower is astonishing!” City Lord Han commented.
“Thud!”
When the Great Desolation Aura vanished and the hundredfold gravity dispersed, Ye Xingchen finally couldn’t support himself and sat on the ground, then lay flat on his back, breathing rapidly while drenched in sweat.
Enduring for an hour.
That taste was truly unpleasant!
However, during the gradual recovery process, Ye Xingchen squeezed out an arrogant smile with difficulty and thought: “Great Desolation Martial Emperor, your Great Desolation Aura couldn’t do anything to this Emperor!”
With a possessed body and Martial King cultivation, enduring hundredfold pressure for an hour.
He had the capital to brag!
“Xingchen.”
Jun Changxiao transmitted: “Entering the Second Directional Realm, you won’t also have to endure trials several times higher than everyone else, will you?”
Crack.
The smile on Ye Xingchen’s face immediately froze.
—