Eastern Sea.
The sword jiao whipped up waves, spewing sword radiance.
Streams of white dragon-breath slammed into the Gu formation, causing it to genuinely tremble.
"There's something off about this. Shadowless and the others aren't fools—operating a ninth-rank Gu formation drains far more Immortal Essence from them than from me. Yet they keep deadlocking instead of retreating, letting me attack at will. Could they have some other scheme?"
Fang Yuan pressed his assault with fierce intensity. Though he hadn't broken through the Gu formation, he firmly held the initiative. His mind churned with thoughts, never ceasing to strategize for even a single moment.
"They should know I have the Supreme Sky Eagle. Aren't they afraid I'll use it to pierce through space and enter the formation directly? Or is this Gu formation itself a trap designed to counter my Supreme Sky Eagle?"
"Or could it be that over at the Langya Sect, Mao Liu has already learned through the Langya Earth Spirit that my Supreme Sky Eagle is merely an egg, and therefore isn't worried?"
"Wait."
Fang Yuan suddenly halted his offensive and dove headfirst into the sea.
Beneath the waves, he observed the reactions of Shadowless's side while simultaneously activating an Immortal Killer Move.
Fortune Resonance.
"They really are all inside the formation—not a single one missing." Fang Yuan felt a measure of relief. "It seems I was overthinking things."
Fang Yuan resumed his assault on the Gu formation, but he gradually realized that from beginning to end, the formation had remained purely defensive, and neither Shadowless nor Bai Ningbing had shown themselves again.
Fang Yuan suddenly had a change of mind and stopped attacking.
He currently held the initiative—whether to attack or not was entirely at his whim. The other side, on the other hand, was stuck on the defensive, never knowing when Fang Yuan might strike. They were also maintaining the Gu formation, constantly expending Immortal Essence to keep it running.
Once Fang Yuan ceased his offensive, he consumed almost no Immortal Essence beyond maintaining his sword jiao transformation. The other side, however, continued powering the formation without pause.
After half an hour of silent standoff, Fang Yuan gradually sensed something was wrong.
The Gu formation was like a deep, still pool—no movement visible within. The enemy had actually adopted an unshakable posture, choosing to stalemate with Fang Yuan indefinitely.
"Shadowless seems to have some other scheme and needs the Gu formation to create a safe environment. Regardless, I can't let him carry out whatever he's planning so smoothly. I should strike quickly to disrupt it. It seems I can't hold this trump card in reserve any longer—I'll have to deploy it ahead of schedule!"
Shadowless's scheme had succeeded in one regard: the result of Fang Yuan's Fortune Resonance had been misleading.
But Fang Yuan still possessed a keen judgment of the overall situation. He decided to act decisively, no longer concealing any trump card.
Before, the sword jiao's dragon breath had been his strongest method. But that was no longer the case.
The next instant, a dragon's roar erupted, resounding across thousands of miles!
Ancient Battle Formation—All Directions.
Shadowless's vision shifted abruptly. When he steadied his gaze, he found himself at the World Wall.
This was the Azure Water World Wall of the Eastern Sea, deep blue like an enormous curtain propping up heaven and pressing against the earth, vast beyond measure. Four Immortal Gu Masters (with Tai Bai Yun Sheng having entered Hei Loulan's Immortal Aperture) stood before the World Wall—tiny as ants, while heaven and earth loomed overwhelmingly grand.
If they entered the World Wall, the ancient battle formation would become unusable, and they would have to traverse on foot.
Within the World Wall, activating Gu or Immortal Killer Moves would trigger an Immortal Aperture tremor. The ancient battle formation, in particular, would suffer devastating backlash.
Just as they were looking, Shadowless's expression changed drastically. Bai Ningbing instinctively turned her head, cold light flashing in her eyes as she stared back the way they had come.
"The Gu formation has been broken," Bai Ningbing said in a low voice.
"That fast?!" Hei Loulan was visibly shaken.
She recalled how she had been trapped before—Fang Yuan had broken the formation this quickly. Even accounting for the fact that one side was inside and the other outside, it spoke to the terrifying combat power of their enemy.
"Could it be that he used the Supreme Sky Eagle?" Hei Loulan quickly thought of a possibility.
"No." Bai Ningbing shook her head.
When Fang Yuan broke through the Gu formation, he found no one inside, nor could he obtain a single Gu insect. Once the formation was broken, all the Gu within had self-destructed—how could Bai Ningbing have left them behind to aid the enemy?
Though the losses had been severe, the scene of Fang Yuan's attack had been transmitted to them.
When Immortal Gu Masters fought, intelligence was an essential factor—critically important.
Bai Ningbing, Shadowless, and the others naturally would not pass up such an excellent opportunity to gather information.
"Fang Yuan used an entirely new killer move—it seems to be something he only recently perfected," Shadowless said.
"This killer move is terrifying in its power." Bai Ningbing's face was grave as deep water. "If we didn't have methods to counter it specifically, I doubt even working together we could withstand more than a few breaths."
"What?!" Hei Loulan gasped. Even Stone Slave, who had remained silent and expressionless all along, showed a flicker of alarm.
Shadowless's heart sank. He had set up the Gu formation and devised this scheme for one purpose only: to buy time.
The plan had initially worked, but in the end, they had only managed to delay things for this short a time.