124: We still have to rely on Master!

Luo Ximei pulled Su Lin into a tighter embrace.

"Have you forgotten who needs protecting now?"

Before her words faded, several pitch-black Devilish Qi barriers appeared out of thin air, wrapping around Su Lin layer by layer, forming an absolutely safe cage.

"Stay here obediently and don't move."

She dropped this sentence, then turned to face the net of light again.

Clearly, that counterattack just now had completely enraged her.

"This Venerable One wants to see how many times your broken net can bounce back!"

Just as she was about to gather even greater power, her wrist was seized by a warm hand.

Luo Ximei turned her head; Su Lin had somehow already walked out of the protective shield and was standing beside her.

The Devilish Qi barrier she had set up, though done casually, should have been an insurmountable iron wall for a Cultivator in the Soul Transformation Stage.

"Revered Master, how did you get out?" Her tone carried clear displeasure. "Didn't I tell you to stay put?"

"The structure of your barrier is still the basic one I taught you a hundred years ago."

Su Lin did not let go of her hand; instead, he slowly pressed her arm down.

"Although you infused a vast amount of power from the Body Integration Stage, the core spiritual energy nodes haven't changed.

As long as you find those few nodes, getting out isn't difficult."

Luo Ximei, upon hearing this, not only wasn't angry but instead smiled, a smile filled with undisguised pride: "As expected of Revered Master.

Even if your cultivation hasn't recovered, this keen insight is still unmatched."

She turned her hand to hold Su Lin's, pressing his palm against her cheek and rubbing it, her tone instantly softening: "But Revered Master, it's very dangerous here, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know."

Su Lin's voice was calm. He stepped forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with her, his gaze fixed on the enormous net of light that still pulsed with strange radiance. "But your brute force method of breaking it won't work."

"Why won't it work?"

Luo Ximei raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. She pointed at the net of light, "I was just careless earlier, I didn't use my full strength.

As long as my power exceeds its conversion limit, I can shatter it with a single strike."

"Look closely at those runes again."

Su Lin pointed to some inconspicuous, dim patterns at the edge of the light net. "This isn't an ordinary defensive Formation, nor is it a simple counter-attack Formation.

This is likely the Grand Yin Reversal Formation, passed down from ancient times."

Luo Ximei followed his gaze, and only then did she notice something amiss.

"The core mechanism of this Formation is to grow stronger when met with strength."

Su Lin patiently explained, "It has no fixed upper limit for what it can withstand.

The stronger the attack energy you input, the faster its internal runes operate, and the higher its conversion efficiency.

Just now you only used fifty percent of your strength, and it reflected seventy percent back.

If you strike with full force, the power it reflects back might double."

"What if it doubles?"

Luo Ximei said proudly, "Even if it reflects back double the power, I can still withstand it!"

"You can withstand it, but this valley cannot."

Su Lin's tone grew heavier. "This is the bottom of the Sky Rift Valley, and the geological structure is inherently unstable.

If power at the Great Perfection of Integration Stage erupts here and is doubled back, the surrounding mountains will instantly collapse.

We will be buried alive tens of thousands of feet deep underground.

More importantly, this Formation is connected to the Yin Qi of the earth veins; forcibly breaking it will cause the Yin Qi of the entire earth vein to explode out of control."

He turned to look into Luo Ximei's eyes: "At that time, I definitely won't survive."

These words instantly struck Luo Ximei's Achilles' heel.

Her surging Battle Intent and fury, like a basin of cold water poured over them, extinguished instantly.

She wasn't afraid of getting hurt herself, nor even of destroying this Sky Rift Valley, but she absolutely could not tolerate Su Lin suffering even the slightest harm.

But what to do now? She had originally planned to go in and retrieve the heart of the primordial demon.

Now, she couldn't even pass the first obstacle?

"Then... then what should we do?"

"We can't just go back, can we? This Venerable One will never allow it!"

"Who said we're going back?"

Su Lin released her wrist and calmly walked to the front of the net of light.

He ignored the net of light, extending his hand, almost touching the flowing runes.

"Revered Master, danger!"

Luo Ximei's heart tightened, and she instinctively moved to pull him back.

"Don't move." Su Lin's voice was soft.

"It's very calm right now; as long as there's no violent attempt to break the Formation, it won't actively attack."

He didn't look back, his entire focus absorbed by the massive Formation before him.

In his eyes, this net of light that obscured the entire canyon entrance was no longer a mere energy barrier.

It was a living, breathing entity.

Those dark red runes were its meridians and Bloodline.

They were arranged in a special way, forming a perfect cycle.

The Yin Qi from deep within the earth veins was continuously drawn up by it, purified by the runes.

It was converted into energy to maintain the Formation's operation, with the excess stored in the Formation's core, used to counter any external attacks.

The designer of this Formation was definitely a Grandmaster of the Dao of Formations.

Its ingenious conception and seasoned technique were enough to rank among the top Formations Su Lin had seen even in his prime.

Its most core concept was conversion and leveraging power.

It didn't generate energy; it was merely a transporter of energy.

Any form of attack, whether spiritual energy or Devilish Qi, would be treated as raw material by it,

absorbed into its body, transformed by the runes, and returned with several times the power.

Luo Ximei stood behind him, watching Su Lin stare motionlessly at the net of light, her heart filled with anxiety.

She didn't understand Formations; to her, this thing was just a sturdy tortoise shell.

Since it couldn't be broken, what else could be done?

She clenched her fists tightly, the Body Integration Great Perfection cultivation surging within her, yet with nowhere to vent, a feeling that made her incredibly stifled.

It was also at this moment that three powerful auras came from afar in the sky, heading towards the Sky Rift Valley at an extremely fast speed.

The streams of light stopped in the air, revealing three figures: two women and one man.

The leading man, dressed in a cloud-patterned white robe, had a handsome face, yet exuded a hint of wickedness. He scanned the surroundings.

"Finally arrived. For this broken map, I slaughtered an entire Sect, and my hands are aching."

Phoenix Dance, a fiery woman in a tight-fitting crimson outfit with a voluptuous figure beside him, chuckled sweetly.

"Brother Yun Che, why complain? Didn't the essence blood of those Cultivators just become nourishment for your Azure Cloud Sword?

I, for one, think listening to their wails made the journey not entirely boring."

Another cold and elegant woman in a blue dress, Ice Lotus, spoke indifferently, her voice filled with chilling apathy.

"They were just a bunch of useless people; it's their honor to contribute their lives to our treasure hunt."

In just a few words, the annihilation of a Sect was glossed over by them, clearly demonstrating the viciousness of their Heart-Nature.

After speaking, the gazes of the three simultaneously fell upon the enormous net of light.