Chapter 882: Extra 4: 119

The horn was conical, pointed at the top and thick at the bottom, with a vertical indentation that was transparent, allowing clear visibility of liquid flowing inside.

Only a tiny tip of the horn was exposed, yet it was already huge enough to make one's heart race.

Moreover, it appeared for an extremely short time—almost the instant it appeared, countless runes formed a net on the tip of the horn, wrapping it completely and forcibly pressing it back down.

The sand and stones below quickly fell back, and the water's color changed from black to transparent.

It seemed as if everything that had just happened were an illusion.

But Xiao Jiu clearly felt the power of the formation just now.

For over a thousand years, the mana of the formation has been continuously consumed.

As soon as the seal was lifted, that horn pierced through, indicating that the suppressing formation below had been almost exhausted.

Even if Xiao Jiu did not come to lift the seal, the thing suppressed below would eventually break out of the formation.

Xiao Jiu pulled off the Mòyù Bānzhǐ, and with a loosened hand, it fell downward.

At the moment the Mòyù Bānzhǐ sank into the sand and stones, countless black veins flashed by.

Immediately after, a rumbling sound was heard; the silt beneath the water suddenly moved, rotating outward from the center, forming a growing vortex.

Xiao Jiu and Liu Junyan both fell into the vortex together.

The center of the vortex had no sand or water, just a dark void where nothing could be seen.

But soon, light appeared ahead.

Xiao Jiu saw the tip of that horn again.

It repeatedly struck upward, and with each impact, the formation lit up once.

This time, Xiao Jiu saw the formation still as a net, but it was not merely wrapping the horn; it radiated outward in all directions underground, with no visible edge.

While Xiao Jiu was assessing whether, if they opened the formation now, she and Liu Junyan could immediately control what lay below, Liu Junyan landed beside her.

"Xiao Jiu, look over there."

At the moment the formation lit up again, Xiao Jiu followed the direction Liu Junyan pointed and looked.

She saw a human figure.

The person sat cross-legged beneath the formation's grid, in the southeast corner, body leaning forward, head drooping, hands forming a seal pressed against the chest, motionless.

Xiao Jiu instantly determined that the person was dead.

And she did not know how long they had been dead.

At the moment of death, they had made a seal to immobilize their own corpse.

Whether setting up or breaking a formation, the formation eye is extremely important.

Once the formation eye cannot be held, even the strongest formation will fail.

The formation lit up and then dimmed.

Xiao Jiu released the Soul-guiding Lamp.

As soon as the Soul-guiding Lamp appeared, it rapidly enlarged, flying around above the formation with Xiao Jiu's movements.

Just one circle, and Xiao Jiu found three more corpses from different positions.

They all maintained the same posture, dead yet still guarding this formation.

A formation's eye may be just one, or there may be multiple.

True top-tier formation masters can have their formations stacked layer upon layer, with formation eyes on different planes, making those who try to break the formation rack their brains and still possibly not find all the eyes.

Yet this formation has guarded for over a thousand years, and the masters stationed at its eyes have long since exhausted their oil and wick.

When a person dies, their soul is also burned out.

They cannot be reborn forever.

Those sent to guard this formation and suppress the thing below for over a thousand years are certainly not ordinary people.

It's a pity.

Xiao Jiu turned the Mòyù Bānzhǐ that had returned to her thumb, saying, "Āyàn, the formation is about to collapse; if we break through now, what are our chances of victory?"

"Ten percent," Liu Junyan said. "Xiao Jiu, just focus on breaking the formation; I'll handle what comes after."

Xiao Jiu gave Liu Junyan a slight smile: "Alright, you get ready; I'm starting!"

As the words fell, Xiao Jiu made a seal and summoned the Soul-guiding Lamp.

The few ghost faces inside the lamp's chamber flew out immediately, precisely rushing toward the several formation eyes Xiao Jiu had just located.

These ghost faces, having been nurtured inside the lamp by Xiao Jiu for years, have already gained Merit; as soon as they take flight, the trailing wings behind them are golden.

In a split second, they flew out and returned.

When the few ghost faces fully returned to the Soul-guiding Lamp, the formation below lit up once more.

This time, it shone especially bright.

Like the last glow of a dying light.

Like a candle burning down to its final spark, bursting into a firework.

Afterwards, the corpses sitting cross-legged on the formation eyes all toppled over.

The formation's final backlash surged forward; Liu Junyan grabbed Xiao Jiu's waist with one hand and instantly pulled her a distance away.

The next moment, a beast's roar rose up.

A huge conical horn thrust upward from below.

Liu Junyan shoved Xiao Jiu aside and struck the horn with his right palm.

That strike was unstoppable; the horn recoiled violently.

Just as Liu Junyan prepared to press the attack, Xiao Jiu grabbed him: "Āyàn, don't chase; when it reveals its horn again, don't attack immediately either—I need to confirm something."

Just now, when the formation was broken and the horn shot out, Xiao Jiu saw the entire ground below rise like a small hill.

It had just formed, but Liu Junyan struck it back.

Xiao Jiu couldn't tell for a moment whether the protruding "little hill" was raised by the horn, or whether it was actually connected to the horn as one.

Liu Junyan was pulled by Xiao Jiu and retreated upward some distance, but he dared not let his guard down, his hand continually gathering power, ready at any moment to oppose that thing below.

In such a situation, there cannot be any slip-up.

As for the earth vein matter, pulling a single hair moves the whole body; he must have complete control.

That thing below did not make Xiao Jiu and Liu Junyan wait long.

It had been suppressed for too long; even if it exerted all its strength, it could not let slip any opportunity to break through the formation and rush out.

When that horn broke through again, Xiao Jiu finally saw clearly.

The protruding "little hill" was not soil and stones lifted by the horn, but was actually one piece with it.

That thing below seemed to have no true form of its own.

At that moment, Xiao Jiu heard Liu Junyan draw in a sharp breath.

She turned her head to look at him.

Liu Junyan's eyes remained fixed on the lower area, her lips moving: "So that's how it is."

Xiao Jiu instinctively asked: "Which way?"

"That thing below is not some ferocious beast," Liu Junyan said, "it... should be an earth embryo."

Earth embryo?

Xiao Jiu recalled that when she had helped the Shi Family deal with those matters before, she had already encountered this kind of earth embryo.

Back then, Shi Rou and the others had told her that an earth embryo is formed from condensed earth vein spiritual energy, and it needs a certain medium to gestate and be born.

And the daughter of the Shi Family just happened to possess such an ability.

That is why the Shi Family was schemed against by the chief.

But it is obvious that the earth embryo schemed by the chief and the earth embryo naturally formed from earth vein spiritual energy before them cannot be spoken of in the same breath.