Chapter 303: Iron Sand Terrifies with Light, Difficulties Emerge One After Another (52k, Seeking Subscriptions)

At the breach in the high prison wall, Yang Dong was anxiously and hurriedly intensifying the reinforcement refining, while his divine sense remained connected to the surveillance of various locations inside the prison.

While casting spells to drive the spiritual fire, melting materials, and altering the restrictions—working in a feverish heat—he did not forget to issue various instructions to his subordinates, having them perform corresponding adjustments at various points in the hub to trigger all sorts of effects.

"Don't think that just because you've charged inside you can succeed and claim the reward. Do you really think that comfortable-looking place inside has no contingency measures? That is truly underestimating me, Yang! Activate! All measures, activate them all!"

"Lord Yang, do you really want to activate all measures?"

"Activate!"

Yang Dong spoke without raising his head, his voice hoarse and manic. After saying this, he seemed to realize something, calmed down slightly, and added a few sentences: "Lock your main focus onto those two; the other miscellaneous people can be slightly ignored. They probably won't be able to get past my Iron Sand Guardians anyway!"

A bunch of small fry, just here to join the fun and add to the atmosphere!

He simply stopped pretending now and directly revealed this contemptuous attitude.

When he locked the surveillance focus basically onto Du En's side, Yang Dong only saw the two of them acting in a leisurely manner, as if they were out for a stroll, which made his anger flare up even more.

Admittedly, in cultivation, spell duels, and other aspects, I am inferior to you all, but today, I stake my reputation as a Grand Craftsman: I must make you understand that I, Yang Dong, am not to be insulted!

In any case, this Spirit Craftsman Overseer of the Hub City Prison Construction Department was determined to go down the path of going berserk and losing control, without any intention of turning back.

In this way, the first to suffer would only be those considered small fry.

After charging into this prison, they still gathered together, attempting to make a single push to reach the very center and abduct the prisoners inside.

Of course, some people quickly sensed that something was wrong with this prison.

After all, it really didn't look like a normal prison; it felt like stepping into an illusion, yet it was very real, not at all like some hallucinatory barrier... Things had reached this point, so they could only ignore it, pay no mind to what was contained beneath such appearances, and charge ahead blindly!

This time there was a heavy reward involved; people die for wealth, just as birds die for food.

They advanced triumphantly, encountering no obstacles, and quickly reached a position very close to the center.

Then.

Bits of black iron sand, unknowingly, began to circle around them, growing more and more numerous, until finally, someone noticed.

"Wait, what is that?"

"Sand? Iron sand?"

"Why can't my divine sense catch it?"

"Forget divine sense, how did no one see them appear just now?"

"An illusion?"

"Doesn't look like it... it's moving!"

One could only see that the pitch-black iron sand, finally discovered and noticed, was now swirling up like a cyclone, suddenly closing in and pouncing over.

Several members of the Inspection Guard immediately stepped out from the crowd.

"Everyone..."

"Join forces!"

"Gale Spell!"

There was no need for words; they immediately joined forces to cast the spell, their powers overlapping and merging with great tacit understanding, instantly stacking into a high-grade spell of such mastery that it whipped up a fierce gale capable of scraping a layer off a hill.

This gale swept out, lifting away earth, stone, and buildings, and then... it was torn to shreds!

Pfft!

Several people couldn't help but vomit blood in terror!

"Something's wrong!"

"The backlash is too great!"

"This, this, could it be a derivative artifact of Dream Soul Sand?"

Dream Soul Sand is a strange object; as the name implies, it is related to dreams, and compared to the Dream Stone held in Du En's hands, it is a peculiar thing even closer to the side of dreams.

The "Soul" character in the middle indicates that it has a deep connection to the divine soul.

Therefore, the iron sand derivative artifact refined from it, mixed with other things, can interfere with divine sense and affect a cultivator's senses, making it difficult for people to detect in advance.

At the same time, after tearing apart a spell, it can follow the connection of the divine soul in the dark, causing the force of the backlash to increase dozens of times, potentially causing serious injury in an instant.

"Gahaha! How could my handiwork be so simple?!"

At this moment, a spiritual light screen suddenly appeared on the wall of the courtyard, projecting none other than Yang Dong, who was busy patching the wall at high speed.

That's right, he couldn't help himself after all, thinking of regaining a bit of his pride from this bunch of small-fry additions.

"Small fry! Experience it well, my Iron Sand Guardians, specially designed to sweep away Nascent Soul stage foreign enemies!"

You're not even pretending anymore, are you!

Hearing this title, several hundred Golden Core stage cultivators were instantly enraged, one after another revealing their methods; the intensity of their mana surged, the light of their magic treasures gathered, and the invisible ripples produced by their collective effort even shook and repelled the swirling iron sand, causing the spiritual light projection on the courtyard wall to distort and flicker.

Yang Dong's expression couldn't help but change.

He had been too arrogant just now, not taking them seriously enough, but thinking about it calmly, these people were no ordinary folks—they were all strong first-rate and first-rate, with the lowest cultivation at the mid-Golden Core stage. Now, working together, they could even barely fight a first-rate early Nascent Soul stage expert.

"Kill!"

"Strike first to gain the advantage!"

"Put your strength into one place!"

"Charge! Charge!"

"Roar!"

Various shouts, mixed with the roars of spirit beasts—before Yang Dong could react, a torrential rain of various attacks bombarded the direction of the central courtyard.

Several hundred people moved, displaying great tacit understanding as they began to form a formation. Although they hadn't trained in advance and hadn't used any true joint-attack techniques, each person had their own awareness, and in the blink of an eye, they distributed themselves in a three-dimensional, staggered distance that wouldn't interfere with themselves and could cooperate with others as much as possible.

This is the Golden Core collective of Hub City!

Yang Dong couldn't help but widen his eyes, only to see them falling around his projection like dumplings, smashing through buildings and flowers, yet precisely avoiding the wall of the projection.

The flickering of the spiritual light screen stopped. His originally stunned expression turned sharply, looking as if his plan had succeeded; he was extremely pleased, and he couldn't suppress the corners of his mouth.

"Hahahahaha!"

"No way? No way! You don't really think I'm just a petty person reveling in success, do you? What the situation is like here in Shu City—I've eaten more rice and salt here for a hundred or two hundred years more than you have; how could I not know?"

"So I'm saying, you lot, whose roots and bottom lines I know inside out, are just small fry, just fillers, just here to join the fun!"

Yang Dong had a foul mouth, and this burst of opportunistic output left the Golden Core stage cultivators embedded in various places with dark, ghastly complexions; some were even unable to bear the humiliation, vomiting blood and fainting on the spot.

But more of them couldn't help but shiver, fear spreading in their eyes.

Because in their field of vision, those Dream Soul Iron Sands had long since gathered together, forming a humanoid figure with blurred features, only one zhang tall.

It looked only like that, and unexpectedly slender, far inferior to the Tier 3 demonic beasts of the beast tamers among them.

However, the moment the two sides made contact, within the scope of divine sense, it expanded sharply, suddenly reaching a height of a thousand zhang, far exceeding the range of their divine sense, causing them to instantly feel dizzy and their vision to go black.

Then it raised a hand and swept across; they only vaguely heard a 'Whoosh—' in their ears, and it shattered their three-dimensional offensive, broke their collective coordination, and tossed them like dumplings into a pot, embedding them into the walls and the earth!

"You, you this, you are purely toying with us!"

The few strongest among them steadied their hearts, feeling the immense gap between themselves and this Iron Sand Guard; they couldn't help but panic, yet unwilling to let the heavy reward slip away, they all made their own accusations.

"It is clearly not just a defensive measure of the early Nascent Soul stage!"

"You said this place was geared toward the Golden Core stage, called us over, but in the end, it's all a scam!"

"If you don't give a clear explanation, this matter is absolutely not over!"

Their voices quickly steadied, and as they spoke, they all simultaneously intended to join forces and use their influence to pressure him.

Although Yang Dong's status, position, and cultivation realm were all higher than theirs, they were able to prepare and participate, clearly indicating they all had connections and backgrounds behind them.

Thus, the others heard this and realized it too; without much thought, they prepared to gang up on him together.

There were several hundred of them, after all; even if it was difficult to reach the Great Cultivators, they basically all had Nascent Soul stage backing. You are playing us like this now, which is also a disguised slap in their faces—do you really dare to stand firm and refuse to admit your mistake?!

"I really do dare!"

Yang Dong suppressed his leaping heart, the sadistic look in his eyes almost overflowing, malice mixed within it, as he spat out the words he had been anticipating and brewing: "Because this project is endorsed by the Great Cultivators!"

Huh?

As expected, is it?

Tsk! Damn it!

For a moment, most people were only stunned into silence, while a small portion had actually sensed it long ago.

But regardless of which one they were, at this moment, they could only vomit blood from frustration and swallow their dissatisfaction.

That's right!

This is it!

Hahaha, I just love the look on your faces when you hate me so much it makes your teeth itch, yet you are powerless to do anything and can only swallow your broken teeth into your own stomachs!

This is just so damn satisfying...

Boom!

A loud noise suddenly appeared; an Iron Sand Guard violently broke through the air and smashed directly into the Iron Sand Guard here, and both turned into a pile of loose sand on the spot.

An eight-sided precious sword landed on the ground, tapping lightly like a dragonfly skimming the water, then retracted like a streak of light; with a 'Swish—', it vanished without a trace, flying back.

Yang Dong's expression froze instantly.

What is the situation?

I clearly preset the guards here based on the strength of a genius early Nascent Soul stage, so why could even Tang Tiancai smash one guard over and smash another one to pieces in the process?

Have I been touching too much Dream Soul Sand lately and couldn't help but start daydreaming?

He was unable to comprehend this reality for a moment, so he was suddenly startled and hurriedly shifted all his attention to Du En and the others.

Here, the spiritual light screen had just dimmed, and the few strongest top-tier Golden Core perfection cultivators, amidst the even greater astonishment of the others, pulled themselves out and took the opportunity to act as if nothing had happened.

As expected, those two can definitely continue to carve out a path!

Haha, worthy of being genius figures!

Now, while that scoundrel Yang Dong is preoccupied!

Seize the person!

These few people had been hiding their strength just for this moment, so they did not hesitate at all; they immediately unleashed all their methods and swiftly swept toward the central courtyard.

The flower splits into two, each blooming on a branch.

Just as the main force was charging in aggressively, Du En finished discussing the ins and outs of the situation with Tang Wenren and also encountered the situation of the iron sand quietly gathering.

"Hm?"

Du En immediately stopped in his tracks, feeling a sharp, skin-pricking sensation.

Tang Wenren was a beat slower than him, but he also sensed something wrong, though it was not as obvious.

The two looked at each other, and Du En immediately raised his hand and slowly clenched his fist.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!

The wind and sand rose suddenly, no longer just covering, but swirling and then violently expanding, cutting through the surroundings like splashing water, directly sweeping away all the courtyard buildings and various decorative items inside.

The reason the buildings here appeared so fragile was, of course, because their positioning was originally only a blank foundation; in the official version, the resident practitioners would need to arrange them as they pleased—in any case, it was not a proper prison.

Then, in the open space that had been blown clear, those black iron sands were clearly reflected in their eyes; ordinary wind and sand could not blow them away at all.

"Dream Soul Sand? No, the proportion of exotic materials should only be ten or twenty percent; the main body should be Profound Iron Sand, Tier 4. Hmm, looking at it this way, once gathered into a mass of a certain size, it should have the strength of an early Nascent Soul stage, comparable to our own talent. If we consider the worst-case scenario, if it all gathers, it might be late stage or even perfection—not to be fought head-on!"

Tang Wenren recognized the general background at once; after all, he had nothing else to do besides cultivation, so he liked to read more books for entertainment.

And the collection of books in the home of a True Person's disciple, needless to say, was definitely better and more complete than those in the Scripture Depository.

As for Du En, regarding the Dream Soul Sand, he only generally identified the relevant indicators through its characteristics, but could not immediately confirm whether it was or was not.

However, he could also see that the main body was Profound Iron Sand, because this was a fairly common spiritual material that he had handled a great deal when he worked part-time in artifact refining.

Therefore, compared to the broad but not profound Tang Wenren, Du En could see some of the tricks through his own moderately accomplished artifact refining skills.

This was actually quite normal, because moderately accomplished artifact refining corresponds to Tier 4; it could be said that although his artifact refining skills were inferior to Yang Dong, who frequently handled Tier 4 items and could easily refine related artifacts, in fact, there was no essential difference, only a lack of proficiency.

It was also because of this that his breaking of the wall earlier had seemed so effortless.

And at the present moment.

"If you are confident, you can start from the boundary of these artifact-prohibiting constraints. Of course, that Inspector Yang did not actually use only artifact-refining methods; there are other multiple, different types of restrictions as well, but as long as they are restrictions, they are generally much the same."

Du En used a previous successful case to interpret and corroborate his words.

Regarding this, Tang Wenren naturally followed the advice, and while the Iron Sand Guards had not yet gathered, he sent a Whistling Gold Sword strike directly over; however, it failed to repel it.

His expression stiffened at this.

"Hmm, perhaps it is because my skills are not refined enough, so I failed to see the deeper trick to it..."

"No, Your Excellency does not need to save face for me!"

Tang Wenren immediately waved his hand; he had to regain his dignity.

It just so happened that at this moment, the main force over there had been completely wiped out, so he flew up into the air to survey the situation and confirm it, while his natal dharma treasure flew out simultaneously.

"Go!"

Locking onto the one in the distance, he said nothing more, determined to make Du En understand that he did not need him to save face.

I will retrieve it myself!

The Golden Jun Sword let out a light chime, flashed suddenly, and struck the key point Du En had mentioned, directly lifting the Iron Sand Guard that had just gathered and had not yet launched its attack, causing it to stiffen, whooshing straight into the sky, and finally hitting another one precisely—a one-sword-two-guard feat!

"Truly spectacular."

Du En said in a flat tone, and Tang Wenren did not notice his perfunctoriness. After landing back down, he just smiled and said: "You flatter me too much. For guards like these, if not for Your Excellency spotting the flaw, I could not have succeeded so easily!"

This was a fact; if he had fought them head-on with force, he might only have been beaten into a scurrying mess, ending up covered in dust and dirt, and it would have been basically impossible to win across ranks.

The difference in rank and realm is like a natural chasm!

But after all, the Iron Sand Guards are not cultivators, nor are they immortal-cultivating creatures like demon beasts or zombies; they are merely a refined aggregate, quite close to a dharma artifact, so as long as one spots the fundamental loophole, one can directly crush them!

Because of the interference from Du En's Sandstorm Art earlier, Yang Dong had actually lost surveillance for a while, so from his perspective, he did not know the specific situation that had occurred in the short time just now.

Why would this be?

The main reason was that he was not at the hub at this time, and the secondary reason was that he himself needed other subordinates to cooperate in order to exert the power of the various arrangements one hundred percent.

At this moment, he hurriedly gave orders to quickly adjust and reset, eliminating the strange interference factors, and immediately new spiritual light projections appeared directly in the air here.

As soon as he came up, Yang Dong could not help but praise: "Genius Tang is worthy of being Genius Tang; I never expected that you could spot the flaw in my Iron Sand Guards so quickly!"

"Uh..."

Tang Wenren was an honest man after all, and upon hearing this, he could not help but blush with shame.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to explain, he received a voice transmission from Du En.

"Split up. You stabilize him and pretend I am still here; I am going to break into the prison."

"... Alright."

Although Tang Wenren felt this was a bit sudden and even more stressful, he did not refuse, and he could not help but feel that it was a good chance to try the methods here on his own.

It couldn't be that he had to rely on Du En for guidance every time, right?

He also had his own pride!

And in Yang Dong's eyes, the person here was slightly shy, but then immediately held their head high and chest out, not saying any sarcastic remarks to him despite his show of weakness—what a humble, modest, and polite character!

For a moment, Yang Dong was quite moved, and then, his expression changed, and he said viciously: "However, I am afraid you two will be disappointed, because I don't just have Iron Sand Guards here! Come, rise!"

Accompanied by his startled shout, a hazy white light instantly covered the entire field.

Ah!

In the distance, there seemed to be lingering screams, sounding horrifying!

"Hmph! A bunch of self-righteous fellows, did they really think I hadn't discovered their little schemes? It is simply ridiculous; one by one, they have stayed in Hub City for too long, becoming narrow-minded and arrogant!"

This one sentence from Yang Dong was like an insinuation, making Tang Wenren, who had just barely managed to stabilize Du En's water-spirit mirror image, twitch his face.

"Ah, I was not talking about you!"

Yang Dong appeared to be slow to realize, but it would have been better if he hadn't explained; the more he explained, the more unclear it felt.

"Enough idle talk, let me face Inspector Yang's methods alone!"

Tang Wenren took the opportunity to shout, stepping forward directly to face the hazy white light and the pitch-black sand alone.

Fire trees and blooming flowers, the Whistling Gold rang out.

The two sides immediately fought into a mass.

At the same time, Du En had already quietly begun his action.

(End of this chapter)