152: Star Ruins Ancient Array, where emotions subtly surge.

The moment they stepped into the Star Ruins, a stellar pressure, several times heavier than at the periphery, descended with a boom, pressing down on everyone's shoulders like an invisible mountain.

The air was permeated with an ancient and vicissitudinous aura.

Amidst the shattered rubble, one could occasionally see fragments of Magical Artifacts that had long lost their spiritual light, and massive skeletons half-buried in the dust, silently recounting the fierce battle that had once taken place here.

"Such strong pressure!" Gongsun Yu's small face tightened.

Lightning light involuntarily erupted from her body, resisting the omnipresent pressure, and her steps appeared somewhat heavy.

Yun Shang's breathing was even more rapid; if not for her Flowing Cloud Star Gauze garment automatically gathering starlight to share the pressure, she would likely have found it difficult to even take a step.

Lin Xuan's thoughts stirred.

He quietly combined his own Qi and blood power with his Taichu Sword Intent, transforming it into a gentle yet resilient force field that enveloped the four people around him, especially alleviating most of the pressure on Gongsun Yu and Yun Shang.

Sensing this force field, both Su Wanqing and Qu Feiyan were taken aback, and their gazes toward Lin Xuan became even softer.

"Follow closely, and watch your step and surroundings," Lin Xuan said in a deep voice, his gaze scanning ahead sharply.

The System continuously scanned and analyzed, marking out the energy flows, potential traps, and the locations of the wandering ancient battle spirits and Star Power phantom beasts.

The ruins were not an easy path; everywhere were collapsed palace walls and bottomless rifts.

Even more troublesome were the remnants of ancient Restrictions hidden in the shadows.

If triggered carelessly, they would attract Starfire Thunder Gang or twisted spatial power.

Having traveled less than a hundred zhang, a teeth-gritting sound of metal grinding rang out.

On a relatively intact plaza ahead, three ancient battle spirits clad in broken bronze star armor and holding rusted long spears stood up slowly from the dust, their eye sockets burning with ghostly blue soul fire, locking onto the intruders.

Their aura had clearly reached the Late Golden Core Stage!

"They are Star Ruins guards. Watch out for their star spears; they can trigger the remaining star killing Formations here!" Yun Shang hurriedly warned.

"I'll handle them!" Qu Feiyan shouted, seemingly wanting to regain the ground she had lost when being "outdone" by Su Wanqing during their joint effort earlier.

Her figure flickered, and three blood lotus Illusory Bodies split off, entangling one of the star-armored battle spirits from different directions.

Her crimson serpent whip struck like a viper, targeting its joint connections.

The battle spirit's movements were slightly stiff, but its strength was immense.

With a horizontal sweep of its long spear, it stirred up shrill starlight, directly shattering two of the illusory bodies!

However, Qu Feiyan's true body had already approached like a ghost, blood light swirling around her jade hand, as she slapped a blood lotus Seal fiercely onto the battle spirit's back.

"Bang!"

The battle spirit's body shuddered violently, cracks appeared on the star armor on its chest, and its soul fire flickered.

Yet it did not dissipate immediately; instead, it backhanded its spear, thrusting toward Qu Feiyan's face!

Just at this moment, a cold moonlight arrived first despite being launched later, precisely striking the weak point of the long spear!

"Ding!"

Su Wanqing had appeared on the flank at some point, and a casual strike from her frost silence sword, containing extreme cold and sharpness, actually severed the head of that bronze long spear!

The battle spirit's movements stalled.

Seizing the opportunity, Qu Feiyan's crimson serpent whip coiled around its neck like a spirit snake, and blood evil Qi erupted!

"Rip!"

The star-armored battle spirit's head was forcefully twisted off, its soul fire extinguished, turning into pure Star Power and dissipating, leaving behind only a broken set of star armor and the broken spear.

"Meddlesome," Qu Feiyan put away the spoils and glanced at Su Wanqing, her tone ambiguous between gratitude and complaint.

Su Wanqing stood with her sword sheathed, her icy eyes indifferent: "You might not have escaped its counterattack unscathed."

Her tone was calm, yet carried a hint of unquestionable certainty.

Lin Xuan watched this scene and sighed inwardly, but he could not say anything.

He swung his sin-severing sword, and his Taichu Sword Intent transformed into several Chaos Sword Gang, enveloping the other two star-armored battle spirits that had just rushed over.

The anti-magic property contained within the Sword Gang was highly effective against such energy entities, and he quickly annihilated them.

"Let's continue forward," Lin Xuan took the lead to clear the path, avoiding further conflict between the two women.

The deeper they went, the more obstacles they encountered.

Besides the star-armored battle spirits, there were various phantom beasts composed of pure Star Power, such as Starlight Giant Wolves and Flowing Light Falcons.

They had no physical bodies but were even harder to deal with.

Everyone had to act frequently, and their mana consumption was rapid.

During one encounter where they faced a siege by five Late Golden Core Stage Starlight Giant Wolves, Lin Xuan's Taichu Sword Domain was deployed again.

Although the range could only cover three zhang around him, it successfully disrupted the giant wolves' pouncing rhythm.

Su Wanqing and Qu Feiyan were on the left and right, with sword light and whip shadows intertwining, quickly resolving the threats on both sides.

Gongsun Yu fully activated her Chaos Thunder Gang, and a thick bolt of lightning slammed into the center of the wolf pack, causing wide-area paralysis.

Yun Shang continuously pointed out the momentary flaws in the wolf pack's energy cores.

The five of them cooperated with increasing tacit understanding.

Although there were occasional dangers, they were always able to assist each other at critical moments.

During this time, Lin Xuan keenly noticed that although Su Wanqing and Qu Feiyan still did not communicate much, they would subconsciously pay attention to each other's situation during battle.

When Qu Feiyan once exposed her back to protect Yun Shang, it was a timely moonlight Sword Gang that helped her block a Star Power arrow attacking from the flank.

And when Su Wanqing was entangled by two invisible Star Nightmares, it was a blood-colored lotus that bloomed at her feet, forcibly devouring the Star Nightmares.

This silent tacit understanding was especially precious on the edge of life and death.

After nearly two hours of arduous trekking, the five of them finally crossed most of the ruin area and arrived at the edge near the central cavern.

The stellar pressure here had almost solidified into substance, and visible silver light particles floated in the air; every step felt as heavy as a thousand jun.

Ahead was a relatively open area, the ground engraved with a massive and complex star Formation diagram, and at the end of the diagram was the cavern entrance, gushing with a silver pillar of light!

However, at this moment, dozens of Cultivators had gathered in this area, clearly divided into several groups, wary of one another.

Ling Tianyu's group was also among them; besides them, there were teams from several large tribes of the Northern Ice Plains, as well as some powerful Loose Cultivators.

Everyone was staring at that cavern entrance, yet they were wary of each other and the heart-palpitating, destructive energy fluctuations shrouding the Formation diagram.

"It is the 'Zhou Tian Star Remnant Formation'!" Yun Shang's face turned pale.

"Although broken, it can still trigger the killing power of the stars. Forcing one's way through the Formation is a nine-in-ten chance of death!"

Lin Xuan's gaze swept over the incredibly complex Formation diagram, and the System was rapidly deducing and analyzing.

[Analyzing... Zhou Tian Star Remnant Formation (73% damage), three core energy nodes, seventeen safe paths exist (dynamically changing), requires breaking the nodes in sequence or passing along the safe paths.

Warning: The Formation contains 'Star Annihilation Light', which even a Nascent Soul Cultivator would not dare to confront head-on.]

Just as Lin Xuan was deducing the path, Ling Tianyu saw them too.

A trace of viciousness flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly spoke loudly to the surrounding Cultivators: "Everyone! This Star Remnant Formation is dangerous, but if we fight on our own, none of us will get in! Why not join forces to break the Formation? As for after we get in, let's rely on our own abilities, how about that?"

His proposal immediately received quite a response.

After all, no one wanted to be cannon fodder for pathfinding.

Ling Tianyu's gaze turned to Lin Xuan, and a malicious smile curled the corners of his lips: "This Fellow Daoist Lin has profound strength, and there are many capable people around him.

Why not invite Fellow Daoist Lin's team to take the lead for us and scout the path?"

Once these words were spoken, many gazes focused on Lin Xuan's group of five, carrying scrutiny and a hint of coercion.

Clearly, many people saw that Lin Xuan's team was extraordinary; making them scout the path could both reduce risks and consume their strength.

Su Wanqing's icy eyes chilled, and her frost silence sword hummed slightly.

Qu Feiyan sneered repeatedly, and blood evil Qi faintly appeared.

Facing the many malicious gazes, Lin Xuan's expression remained calm.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping past Ling Tianyu, and then looked at the complex Star Remnant Formation, suddenly smiling faintly: "Scout the path? Why go to such trouble?"

He took a step forward, not toward the seemingly dangerous Formation diagram, but to an inconspicuous, broken stone stele half-buried in the ground at the edge of the Formation.

On the stele were carved a few blurred ancient star characters.

Amidst the puzzled gazes of the crowd, Lin Xuan joined his fingers like a sword and, based on the results deduced by the System, directed a wisp of his own spiritual power containing the Taichu Concept, in a specific order, toward those star characters on the stele.

"Hum—"

The stele vibrated gently, and a faint light rippled across its surface.

Immediately afterward, the energy flow in one area of the massive star Formation diagram ahead suddenly changed, and streams of starlight gathered, actually condensing within the Formation into a temporary path paved with starlight, wide enough for only one person to pass, leading straight to the cavern entrance!

"This... how is this possible?!" Ling Tianyu was dumbfounded.

All the surrounding Cultivators were in an uproar!

The killing Formation they had racked their brains over on how to force through or break had actually been opened into a passageway by this person so casually?

Lin Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Ling Tianyu, his tone carrying a hint of mockery: "Young Lord Ling, the road, I have already opened.

Whether you have the ability to walk it, that depends on yourselves."

Having said that, he ignored the crowd and said to the four women behind him: "Let's go."

He stepped onto the starlight path first, and Su Wanqing followed closely without hesitation.

Qu Feiyan smiled charmingly, glanced at Ling Tianyu provocatively, and followed as well.

Gongsun Yu and Yun Shang hurriedly followed.

The five figures soon disappeared at the end of the starlight path, entering the cavern entrance gushing with the pillar of light.

The crowd of Cultivators left behind looked at each other, and then a huge commotion erupted, with everyone scrambling to rush toward that starlight path!

However, the path was extremely unstable, capable of accommodating only a few people at a time, and it seemed to have a time limit.

In order to fight for priority entry, a chaotic battle instantly erupted at the edge of the Formation diagram!

Ling Tianyu's face was livid, watching the direction where Lin Xuan had disappeared, his fists clenched so tightly they rattled, his eyes filled with resentment and murderous intent.

"Lin Xuan... I will definitely tear you into ten thousand pieces!"

Below the cavern, what kind of scene would be waiting for Lin Xuan and the five of them?