Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 722: Breaking the Formation

In the darkness, a suffocating silence descended, making everyone feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Then came an even more piercing creaking sound, as if the rock was being torn apart.

Those statues, once covered in darkness and purple lightning and now gleaming with a metallic sheen, came to life!

No longer the shadowy attackers that once lurked in the darkness, they now resembled evil spirits awakened from their slumber, their dark bodies twisting and stretching, their joints emitting a sickening metallic scraping sound.

The power of the Chance Stone granted these creatures the ability to disregard the rigidity of stone, transforming them into bizarre yet grotesque shapes: some had arms that extended several times their original length, becoming whips covered in spikes; some had lower limbs that fused and swelled, like heavy battering rams; some had their backs split open, sprouting blade-like bone wings!
Even more deadly is that the purple arcs of electricity leaping across their bodies are not just decorations, but have been transformed into actual weapons!

"Hey!"

Without any warning, dozens of bolts of purple lightning, as thick as buckets, erupted from different statues, like raging pythons tearing through the night sky, instantly traversing the distance of space and striking fiercely.

"what!!"

The screams rang out almost simultaneously.

Even with prior precautions and the use of lanterns for defense, the ferocious attack amplified by lightning was simply beyond the lanterns' ability to withstand.

The scarlet lantern-shaped fire lotus suddenly caved inward, swayed, and became thin!
Several candidates with intermediate aptitude on the edge had their lanterns shatter and go out like soap bubbles in the blink of an eye, while the electric light relentlessly bombarded their defenseless bodies.

Suddenly, a mixture of burnt and bloody smells began to fill the air.

"Hold on, we outnumber you, concentrate your firelights for defense."

Chen Cheng's eyes were bloodshot, his hair and beard bristled, and he pushed his own suspension lamp to its limit. The blood lotus suddenly expanded, attempting to share the pressure with those around him. The Tan brothers and other cultivators with superior roots also exerted their power.

The effectiveness of this suspending lamp technique is actually not very strong, especially since the version Xiao Ran gave them was a simplified one.

But as Chen Cheng said, there were many of them, and each of them had a mid-grade root talent. After their bodies were demonized, they were superior to the D-level beginners outside.

The lanterns were lit, and streaks of scarlet flame intertwined, forming a larger crimson light curtain that barely held up above their heads, resisting the second and third waves of torrential purple lightning.

"Rumble..."

Each strike of lightning caused the light screen to vibrate violently. Those with slightly weaker intermediate-level cultivation turned pale, and the flames of the lamps hanging above their heads rapidly withered under the immense pressure, their energy and spirit draining away at an unprecedented rate!

"Quick, find a way to open the door!"

Chen Cheng turned to the Tan brothers and said.

The gate has now undergone three implosions, and the cracks have widened from the size of a thumb during the first implosion to the size of a palm.

Since there's a crack, using external force should be able to open the door faster.

"No, the crack is too small. It needs to implode at least once more." The second brother, Tan Shanyuan, stared at the fourth opportunity stone being swallowed up on the gate, and suddenly had a good idea.

He rushed to the gate and began stuffing his clothes into the crack, shouting as he turned around, "Anything you have on you that can plug the crack will do, anything will do."

"Have!"

Shao Hongzhang immediately understood what the Tan brothers were up to, and promptly grabbed the packaged corpse from the side and threw it over.

"Thank you!"

Tan Shanyuan called out "thank you," but when he took the item and looked at it, his face immediately turned distorted with anger.

The corpse that Shao Hongzhang threw over was the remains of his own brother.

The two brothers, Shanyuan and Shanming, now looked at Shao Hongzhang with ferocious eyes.

But Shao Hongzhang didn't realize this. He had completely forgotten about it and kept urging, "Hurry up, if we don't plug the crack soon, it will burst into flames."

"Fuck your grandma!!!"

Tan Shanyuan cursed loudly, but at that moment he couldn't find anything else. The situation was urgent and he didn't have time to think. He could only tearfully stuff his brother's body into the crack.

The corpse was deformed from being squeezed in the crack, its bones and flesh twisted into a ball, stuffed tightly by the two people.

"younger brother!"

"elder brother!"

The two brothers wailed as they stuffed the body inside, but they managed to get it firmly inside the crack before the fourth implosion.

As the fourth opportunity stone was swallowed into the groove, a piercing grinding sound came from inside the gate again, followed by a huge roar that exploded from within.

In that instant, the tightly sealed crack was torn open by an irresistible force, and the corpses stuffed inside were flung out by this force, just like boneless beef fresh from a pressure cooker, with blood and flesh splattering everywhere, leaving not even a single intact piece of meat behind.

Seeing their omnipresent brothers, Shanyuan and Shanming were already on the verge of tears. However, this time, the small crack on the door behind them had been widened to a full half-meter long and a palm wide.

The two were filled with grief, but they dared not be negligent in the slightest, because the fourth implosion had also further strengthened those statues.

This enhancement focused on speed, instantly doubling the speed of the already shape-shifting statues. While the lightning could be barely parried with the Lantern-Hanging Technique, the examinees discovered that their demonized bodies were as fragile as lambs when these statues, enhanced four times, charged forward.

The jet-black metal bodies flashed with purple lightning, and their movements were as fast as ghosts. Combined with the immense power of these statues, they were machines made entirely for killing.

Faced with a fist that rushed towards him in an instant, a candidate with medium root strength unleashed the full power of his bone spurs in an attempt to block it.

But the next second, the bone spur shattered into countless fragments the moment it touched the statue's fist. The enormous fist smashed into the chest of this person with average aptitude without any obstruction, and the tough body was directly pierced through by the fist.

"Kill!! Push forward, don't retreat!!"

A being of superior talent swooped down, his arms extending into massive bone blades, and a pair of fleshy feathers torn from his back. He too possessed the blessing of opportunity. The moment his greatsword cleaved the statue in front of him, a blinding flash of fire erupted from the blade, piercing directly through the statue's chest.

The other individuals with superior spiritual roots took action, using the Suspended Lamp Technique to enhance their protection, and led the other individuals with average spiritual roots in a counterattack against the statue.

Instantly, flesh and stone collided, blood flew everywhere, and rubble flew everywhere.

Lightning bolts kept exploding in mid-air.

Xiao Ran didn't know how many people had died in the blink of an eye, but he could clearly see through the disappearing lanterns that the light hanging above them was rapidly fading.

"No, we can't act recklessly like this. If all these guys die, I won't be able to escape unscathed either."

Xiao Ran glanced back at the Tan brothers and saw that the two of them and Shao Hongzhang were still discussing how to break down the door as quickly as possible. She knew that she could no longer stand idly by.

He immediately grabbed his staff and leaped forward.

Just as he reached the edge, several beams of light came crashing down on Xiao Ran.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran clenched her fingers, and the blood-red light screen hanging above her head suddenly fell down, blocking her way.

"Bang Bang Bang!!!"

Lightning flashed everywhere, and several unlucky people were caught in it, instantly charred and cracked.

Xiao Ran, who was in the eye of the lightning, was completely unharmed.

This lantern-suspending technique is a product of my own careful simplification, but simplification does not mean downgrading. I can control this power at any time for my own use.

This is why Xiao Ran dared to pass on this technique to Chen Cheng so simply.

If they dare to use the Suspended Lantern Technique to attack him, Xiao Ran only needs to think for a moment to quickly reverse the power and catch them off guard.

At this moment, this power was controlled by Xiao Ran. A blood-red light screen protected Xiao Ran's body, blocking the incoming lightning and allowing Xiao Ran to rush forward without restraint, leaping to the front of a statue.

"In my drunken stupor, I pick up my lamp to examine my sword; in my dreams, I hear the bugles echoing through

Xiao Ran brandished his writing staff, reciting poetry. His words were filled with murderous intent, causing the staff in his hand to tremble and burst forth with brilliant talent. It transformed into a large blade, which, as Xiao Ran slashed down, instantly split the head of the statue in front of him from its neck.

Immediately following his change in form, he left afterimages in the void.

"Eight hundred miles of roasted meat are distributed among the troops, fifty strings of music resound beyond the border, and the autumn review of troops is held on the battlefield..."

"Shhhhh..."

Wen Hua flashed, his talent flowed like a spring, forming pieces of literature. As Xiao Ran moved around, they burst into a dazzling light in the void.

"Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!"

A series of enormous explosions erupted, sending debris flying everywhere. Even with their indestructible bodies, these statues could not withstand the onslaught of energy.

What seemed like a huge drain on energy was actually much less than Xiao Ran had anticipated.

The staff emitted a pleasant resonance, echoing the poems spoken by Xiao Ran. In three hundred years of accumulated talent, there were very few articles and poems that could evoke this resonance.

Especially towards the end of a dynasty, the world became warlike, powerful clans controlled the government and monopolized the imperial examinations, which became a mere formality, and truly talented people became increasingly rare.

Not to mention Xiao Ran's poem, which is both epic and full of murderous intent.

As Xiao Ran recited the last line, "Having accomplished the affairs of the king and the world, he won fame before and after his death. Alas, his white hair...", the staff in his hand emitted a thousand layers of silver frost, suddenly covering an area of ​​dozens of meters around Xiao Ran.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"

The silver frost covered the cauldron, and even the statues that had been strengthened four times could not withstand the pressure of this talent, and they were all crushed into pebbles.

This scene left the group of 'people' behind Xiao Ran both amazed and wary.

"Waaah..." Shao Hongzhang covered his face and cried.

The line, "Winning fame both before and after death, yet pitifully growing old," is like a sharp knife, reflecting his entire life and piercing his heart to the core...

(End of this chapter)