Chapter 292: Escaping to Heaven (Part 1)

More than ten days later, a team of cultivators arrived in a grand procession at the Stone Village where Su Haizhen was located. These people looked bedraggled, as if they had been traveling for days. At the front of the group, Zhang Nuo stood with his hands bound, his expression uncertain.

When the leaders of the other four villages saw this scene, they all revealed looks of astonishment. How overbearing was Tang Xing back in the day? How could he have been so easily defeated by a junior?

After searching through the crowd for a long time, they did not find a trace of Tang Xing. At this moment, Jiang Ji walked up to Zhang Nuo with a smile on his face and said.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, where has Tang Xing gone?"

"I killed him!"

There was not a hint of emotion in his words, as if exterminating Tang Xing was as simple as pinching an ant to death! After a dry laugh, Jiang Ji did not ask further. The youth before him was too terrifying; he had destroyed a Stone Village with a mere wave of his hand. The other three leaders also felt a chill in their hearts. If they hadn't readily agreed to Zhang Nuo earlier, their fate would likely be the same as Tang Xing's.

After returning to the Stone House, Su Haizhen and the others discussed the "Hundred-Person Array-Breaking Formation" in detail. Seeing that there were no flaws, they began to assign personnel to prepare.

The resources of the several Stone Villages combined were not exactly abundant. Based on their cultivation and the positions they would occupy in the array, Su Haizhen distributed many Demon Cores and Spirit Stones. Additionally, she had to set about crafting some Array Disks, which was a project that consumed an extreme amount of materials.

After half a year of preparation, when the one hundred cultivators appeared before Zhang Nuo, one could see that they all had some degree of Spirit Power fluctuation on their bodies. Although it could not be said that their cultivation had fully recovered, restoring one or two tenths of their previous levels was possible.

After explaining the specific process of the "Hundred-Person Array-Breaking Formation" to these people, everyone left the Stone Village and headed toward the massive water column ten thousand miles away.

Due to limited Spirit Power, no one used escape light to fly. The group walked on foot, occasionally looking back at the Stone Village where they had lived for many years.

The cultivators who entered this place had never thought that they would be able to leave in their lifetime. For a time, their moods were quite complex. Jiang Ji followed by Zhang Nuo's side; his cultivation had recovered by about sixty percent, but compared to the Spirit Power fluctuations on Zhang Nuo, it was still much weaker.

Sensing the people behind him, the old man felt heavy-hearted. Although the "Hundred-Person Array-Breaking Formation" could undo the Restriction around the water column, what kind of dangers would be inside the water column? No one knew! Perhaps many cultivators would perish within the water column.

However, he held a firm belief in his heart: no matter what, he must stay by Zhang Nuo's side. Perhaps this young fellow could save his life with a casual move!

Su Haizhen's expression was as usual. She loathed the boundless darkness before her to the extreme. In order to walk out of here, she did not know how many days and nights she had pondered bitterly. Today, she finally saw the dawn of getting out!

Everyone had their own thoughts, the most prominent being how to protect themselves. Although freedom was precious, life was also particularly important. If one didn't even have their life, what use was freedom?

The group walked for about a few months. This day, while Zhang Nuo was walking, his eyebrows suddenly twitched, and his footsteps came to an abrupt halt. Seeing him stop, Jiang Ji beside him also stopped immediately. During this period, he had been chatting with Zhang Nuo, wanting to draw closer the relationship between the two.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, what happened?"

"There is movement ahead!"

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Zhang Nuo released his Divine Sense rapidly. A moment later, his gloomy face suddenly brightened, and he said:

"It seems I have arrived at the place!"

Hearing this, the crowd erupted into a burst of cheers. Su Haizhen also sensed it and nodded slightly, saying:

"Fellow Daoist Zhang is right. Judging from the fluctuations coming from ahead, this should be it! Everyone else stay put, I will go over and take a look first!"

After the young woman finished speaking, she did not consult with anyone else, turned into a streak of escape light, and rushed forward. After about half an incense stick of time, Su Haizhen returned.

"It seems we are very lucky. No one has touched the 'Tianyi Water' array during this time! As long as we follow what was agreed upon beforehand, breaking the array will certainly succeed!"

The young woman's words were like heavenly music. Coupled with this great news, it made these cultivators even more excited. Immediately, everyone began to prepare on the spot.

One day later, following Su Haizhen's order, the team of several hundred cultivators continued forward. After walking for half a day, a massive water column shooting into the sky appeared ahead.

This water column was over ten miles wide; its top shot straight into the sky, while its base was deeply embedded in the ground, leading to who knows where. The rapid rotation sucked in some of the surrounding rocks, and the ground within tens of miles of the water column was constantly shaking, occasionally emitting 'Boom—' sounds of explosions.

Around the water column, streaks of five-colored glow flashed. They appeared very weak, but the powerful suction of the water column had no effect on these glows.

"The glow ahead is the 'Tianyi Water' array. Don't look at it as harmless now; as soon as something approaches, it will trigger immediately! What we must do is stand in our positions first, and then one hundred people will activate the Array Disks in their hands simultaneously. Only in this way can we break the array!"

Distributing the thick stack of Array Disks in her hands to the one hundred cultivators breaking the array, Su Haizhen kept warning them that they must act in unison and not act on their own.

Those who received the Array Disks all had cultivation at least at the Golden Core Early Stage. Because they had been given some resources earlier, their strength was relatively stronger.

The crowd nodded gently upon hearing this. At this time, Zhang Nuo also held an Array Disk in his hand. These Array Disks were all personally crafted by Su Haizhen, and the operation method was extremely simple.

For the sake of safety, the young woman sent these one hundred people to their designated locations one by one, and then gave them special instructions. After nearly a day or more passed like this, everything was finally prepared.

Zhang Nuo and Su Haizhen stood together. The two of them belonged to the eye of the "Hundred-Person Array-Breaking Formation". This position was particularly important and required someone with powerful cultivation.

"Success or failure hinges on this one move!"

A brilliance flashed in her beautiful eyes, and Su Haizhen looked at Zhang Nuo with deep meaning. If they failed this time, then they would never be able to find so many resources in the several Stone Villages again, and they would remain trapped here. What was even more terrifying was that if too many cultivators died during the array-breaking process, it would be even harder to gather one hundred people again in the future!

"Rest assured! It will definitely succeed!"

At this moment, Zhang Nuo appeared very calm. This matter had been prepared for such a long time; it could be said that the plan was meticulous. If it really failed, it could only be considered Heaven's will!

The cultivators who did not participate in the "Hundred-Person Array-Breaking Formation" all stood far behind, each with a solemn expression, cold sweat breaking out within their tightly clenched fists. This time concerned their life's destiny!

"Fellow Daoists! Begin!"

Su Haizhen took a deep breath and transmitted her voice to the one hundred people simultaneously. For a time, everyone cast Dharma spells toward the Dharma disks in their hands.

'Hum!'

Each person's Dharma disk erupted with a light hum. Subsequently, under the flickering of five-colored brilliance, they flew above the heads of the crowd. Immediately after, these people sat cross-legged on the ground, and a beam of divine light shot out from their crown chakras, connecting directly to the Dharma disks above.

'Swish! Swish!'

Over a hundred beams of light shot into the sky, and the five-colored glow illuminated the surroundings like daylight. At this time, the Restriction around the water column seemed to sense the unusual movement of these people and suddenly emitted a 'Boom—' sound. Following the sound, the 'Tianyi Water' array around the water column was triggered, shooting out ten thousand rays of glow from the array. These rays of glow constantly condensed and underwent Transformation Stage, and the forms of ferocious and terrifying ancient demon beasts appeared, numbering over a hundred when counted carefully.

'Awoo!'

An ancient demon beast formed from the glow let out a roar toward the sky, and with a turn of its body, it charged toward one of the people in the "Hundred-Person Array-Breaking Formation".

That person had their eyes tightly closed, divine light shot into the sky from their crown chakra, and the Array Disk above their head rotated slowly. Sensing the attack from the array, the Array Disk turned into a streak of flowing light and rushed out, slashing directly onto it.

'Boom!'

The ancient demon beast transformed from the glow of the 'Tianyi Water' array appeared fierce, but after being struck by the Array Disk, it still dissipated, and the Array Disk returned to above the cultivator's head.

Zhang Nuo was also sitting on the ground, his expression solemn while his eyes were slightly closed. At this time, two ancient demon beasts pounced toward him. His eyelids only twitched slightly, and he waved one hand to release two sword Qi.

After two 'Chi-chi' sounds of breaking through the air, the demon beasts turned into dots of faint light and drifted around him. The 'Tianyi Water' array's attack was so powerless that many cultivators felt puzzled in their hearts! The array did not seem as powerful as Su Haizhen had said.

"Everyone be careful! This is the first wave of attacks from this array. The next few waves will be even more violent; you must not be careless!"

Holding the Array Disk in one hand, her beautiful eyes swept over everything in front of her, and Su Haizhen said via voice transmission with her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed.

The 'Tianyi Water' array was composed of nearly a hundred types of arrays. Every combination of two or three arrays would launch a different attack, which was exactly a major feature of this array. If one strike failed, it would immediately switch to a second type of attack method.

Sure enough, as the young woman expected, when the ancient demon beasts transformed from the glow were all slashed to death, the array erupted with a loud sound again. This time, what appeared were humanoid cultivators like a thousand troops and ten thousand horses. These cultivators' figures were flickering, as if formed by many wronged souls!

The crowd watched in terror and trepidation, not knowing how many cultivators' lives the Maze Sea Vortex had swallowed. These wronged souls wore expressions of pain and, under the shroud of the 'Tianyi Water' array's light, pounced upon everyone.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang! It's up to you!"

Su Haizhen's expression sank. Don't look at how his Array Disk was effective against the ancient demon beasts transformed from the glow just now; against these wronged souls, it was absolutely not as effective as the Black Butterfly in Zhang Nuo's body.

Hearing this, Zhang Nuo's heart stirred; before the breaking of the formation began, Su Haizhen had already told him that the Tianyi Water grand formation might launch attacks using vengeful spirits, and in order for everyone to preserve their strength, the Hell Butterfly must take action when encountering such a situation!