Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 383 Forced Charge
In any case, having an extra Ice Crystal Illusion Pearl is ultimately a good thing.

This thing, activated by its residual demonic power alone, can affect two newly promoted True Monarchs, making it a top-grade fourth-tier spiritual object.

Moreover, it's a very rare psychedelic type, which makes it even more valuable.

Afterwards, Xiao Chen also tasted the ice crystal jellyfish with everyone else.

The taste was surprisingly good.

The main reason is that the spiritual energy content in the body of a fourth-order great demon is very abundant, making it a truly high-end ingredient.

Therefore, it will taste good no matter how you cook it, and it's not easy to make it taste bad.

But after this lighthearted little incident, everyone will face a major challenge.

From the second day onwards, for about ten days in a row, the human race failed to make any effective progress.

We've tried every possible method of investigation.

However, instead of finding any weaknesses in the linked formation, they gained an even deeper understanding of its power.

"Among the great sea monsters, there must be some who are proficient in formations. Every three days, they will adjust the distribution of some of the restrictions and change the flow of spiritual energy."

Gangyuan Zhenjun said with a hint of helplessness, "Most of the intelligence we have now is outdated."

"The rest will expire in a few days."

"Faced with this situation, we either charge in forcefully to disrupt their rhythm and interfere with their formation changes."

"Either we have to spend more time waiting for them to run out of the tricks they have and start repeatedly adjusting the distribution of restrictions before we can find any loopholes."

Neither of these are good choices.

The former is too reckless and carries a high degree of danger.

The latter, however, is unpredictable and requires waiting an unknown amount of time.

"Since the sea creatures want to stall for time, we cannot easily give in to their wishes."

Yunwo Zhenjun suggested, "Let's try to break in first thing tomorrow morning and see if we can destroy some of the outer array bases."

As a sword cultivator, he didn't want to drag things out.

Iron Fan True Lord also nodded in support: "In my opinion, if we are more careful, there shouldn't be any major problems if we don't go too deep into it."

"No matter what changes occur, just withdraw first."

"Let's try it no matter what, and if we find that this path doesn't work, we'll think of another way."

From the very beginning, Xiao Chen had already expressed his willingness to act as the vanguard, and of course he would not object.

So everyone finalized the plan and route, and prepared to charge forward.

The best time to act is naturally after the morning reiki tide has ended.

Taking advantage of this brief period of weakened spiritual energy, the eight human True Monarchs who had previously participated in clearing the formation joined hands and broke into the linked formation from the right side.

The first word that came to everyone's mind was "fiery".

On the outermost side of the right, the fire-type formation has just been rotated.

On the outside, there was nothing unusual, but once you entered, you could immediately feel the scorching heat rising up, and the violent fire elemental power washing over everyone's bodies.

Everyone has already cultivated a golden body that is impervious to heat and cold since the Golden Elixir stage.

However, standing in this fiery formation is like an ordinary person entering a fiery mountain.

Within just a few breaths, he was drenched in sweat, the heat becoming unbearable, forcing him to expend his true energy to resist.

It can be said that they were already under tremendous pressure from the very beginning.

Moreover, this isn't a negative situation, but rather a genuine high temperature.

Therefore, Xiao Chen was not exempt either, and he activated the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Shield to resist the heat wave.

Fortunately, it wasn't all bad news.

Perhaps because they disliked the stifling heat within the fire-based formation, there seemed to be no sea monsters stationed there.

In any case, the group did not encounter any additional attacks immediately after entering.

This can be considered a good start.

"Keep your distance and don't get separated!"

Gangyuan Zhenjun commanded from the center: "Our goal this time is to dismantle two array bases nearby, so let's start from here."

He pointed ninety feet away, indicating that he should start from that ordinary array base.

Everyone immediately understood and moved towards that direction.

However, they had only gone halfway when a wall of fire rose up and blocked their way in front of the formation.

Immediately afterwards, countless walls of fire rose up from all directions, trapping everyone inside in an instant.

Xiao Chen looked around and roughly counted at least eight or nine hundred.

The next moment, apart from the location of the array base, the fire walls in the other three directions seemed to come alive, and they all rushed towards the group.

"I'm blocking the left side."

Xiao Chen moved to his left side, releasing his true essence to expand the coverage of the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Shield until it enveloped the entire left side.

"Leave the rest to me."

Iron Fan Zhenjun simply held his fan upright behind everyone.

He opened his mouth and blew out a breath of spiritual energy, and the iron fan immediately expanded to a size of several hundred feet, completely sealing off the back.

It seems that his fan can not only serve as a weapon, but also has additional functions.

"Then let me handle the right side."

Crane Cry True Lord took a step to the right, took out a brocade handkerchief from his sleeve, and gently shook it open.

The handkerchief then emitted a shimmering white spiritual light, which grew increasingly intense, eventually transforming into a white jade-like wall on the spot.

As the continuous stream of shimmering white light shone upon it, the white jade wall grew thicker and thicker.

Before the wall of fire arrived, it had actually expanded to a full ten feet wide.

"Boom!...Boom!"

Soon, a series of violent explosions rang out.

Xiao Chen immediately felt waves of impact passing through the Four Symbols Mountain Suppressing Shield and heading directly towards him.

This wall of fire was almost as powerful as a spell cast by a Nascent Soul demon.

With hundreds and thousands of walls of fire combined, it was as if a dozen or so great demons were attacking them in turn.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen had already acquired the Vermilion Bird Spirit Rune, which could effectively resist the bombardment of fire-type spells.

As the Vermilion Bird spreads its wings on the surface of the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Cover, the impact of the fire wall is immediately reduced by 20%.

Despite the series of impacts, the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Cover remained completely unmoved.

This is probably the easiest one to deal with.

Iron Fan True Lord sensed something was wrong and promptly formed a hand seal, imbuing his iron fan with a layer of spiritual restriction.

With the blessing of the spirit barrier, the iron fan, which had been swaying under the bombardment, immediately stabilized and successfully blocked all the attacks.

However, it wasn't so easy for True Lord Crane Cry.

He clearly hadn't expected the attack intensity within the formation to be so high.

The white jade wall that had been opened was shattered piece by piece upon impact, quickly shrinking from more than ten feet wide to less than two feet wide.

At the critical moment, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a talisman, which he then placed behind the white jade wall.

This barely managed to stabilize the situation.

However, before everyone could relax for a moment, less than three breaths later, hundreds and thousands of walls of fire appeared outside again.

It squeezed back towards the center.

Xiao Chen, through the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Shield, discovered that the quantity this time was even greater than before.

Then came the third and fourth waves, each with more firewalls than the previous one.

The resulting pressure naturally increases.

Xiao Chen was alright; with Hextech enhancement, he was least afraid of attacks that were numerous but whose individual quality was not high.

If this level of attack intensity is maintained, then even if the number increases several times over, it won't be a big problem.

But the others didn't have it so easy.

When the fourth wave of fire walls arrived, Iron Fan Zhenjun also took out talismans to help alleviate the pressure on the spiritual artifacts.

As early as when the third wave of fire wall attack came, True Lord Crane Cry had already taken out a pearl umbrella and replaced the original brocade handkerchief.

This new magical artifact is clearly more effective and easier to defend against.

But this is only a temporary relief. As the number of firewalls continues to increase, it will become increasingly difficult in the future.

In short, even before the powerful demon guarding the formation could launch an attack, the formation's own attacks alone were already putting immense pressure on everyone.

Of course, during this process, True Lord Gangyuan and the others were not idle either.

Together, they quickly broke through the wall of fire blocking their path and arrived at the base of the formation.

Yinhao Zhenjun was responsible for blocking the wall of fire in front, while Gangyuan Zhenjun and Hanchuan Zhenjun were busy dismantling the array base.

The reason it's called disassembly, rather than simple destruction, is because it involves disassembly.

The idea was that by taking the array base out, they might be able to find the weaknesses in the large array more quickly.

However, this slows down the speed considerably.

Even with the two of them working together, the dismantling process was extremely slow.

The fifth wave, the sixth wave... the eleventh wave.

"Fellow Daoist Gang Yuan, how much longer?"

Two quarters of an hour later, Iron Fan True Monarch's face was flushed, and the spiritual energy surging around him even caused his robes to flutter.

At first glance, it seems like it's very strenuous, but in reality, it's more than just strenuous.

Rather, it is a sign that the excessive depletion of true essence in a short period of time has led to some loss of control over spiritual power.

"It'll be quick, just a quarter of an hour more."

Gangyuan Zhenjun was also not having an easy time. At this moment, his robes were also bulging, but he couldn't bother to deal with it. He was focused on using the compass in his hand to fight against the layers of array restrictions.

This does not mean that his skills are not good.

However, forcibly removing the array base from a functioning array is indeed several times more difficult than simply destroying the array base.

If a less skilled formation master were to come, they wouldn't be able to do it even if given several hours.

However, the sea creatures would not stand idly by and watch the array base be taken away.

In fact, Haihong was alerted the moment the human race entered the formation.

However, it was also quite clever. Instead of rushing out, it led the demons to hide to the side and carefully observed the movements of the human race's True Lords.

It does this for three reasons.

The first objective is to use the formation to deplete the true essence of human cultivators and weaken their combat power.

The second objective was to test their respective methods by attacking the formation.

For example, right now, Iron Fan Zhenjun has revealed that his iron fan is versatile, capable of both offense and defense.

Crane Cry True Monarch has already revealed two of his spiritual artifacts.

This includes information such as Xiao Chen possessing an exceptionally strong spiritual energy barrier, and Gang Yuan Zhenjun and Han Chuan Zhenjun being more proficient in formations.

In addition, there was the incident on the first day when True Lord Qian Shu manipulated the puppet.

The general situation of the human race has been roughly figured out.

Haihong's third objective was to lure the enemy deep into her territory.

If they rushed out to intercept the humans as soon as they entered, the humans would only remain on the perimeter. But if they hid and deliberately did not show themselves...

Perhaps the human race will push deeper into the formation.

Since there are no enemies blocking our way, are you really not going to come in and take a look?
If someone is left alone, or if a large group ventures deep into the territory, they will have an opportunity to surround and kill them.

If we can kill one or two humans before they become familiar with the formation, we can create a greater advantage.

Therefore, Haihong and the demons patiently waited by the side, guarding for a full quarter of an hour without going out.

Until they realized that the humans seemed to be heading straight for the array base.

There's absolutely no indication that they intend to delve deeper into the matter.

The six-finned sailfish finally couldn't help but speak up: "Your Excellency, we can't let them dismantle the array base like this."

“I know them too well. Once they achieve this goal, they definitely won’t go any further; they’ll just run away.”

"Why don't we take action now and try to keep that weakest old man completely?"

Haihong originally thought that even if one of these basic array bases were missing, it wouldn't matter at all.

Therefore, it planned to wait until the humans dismantled the first base and continued to advance before taking action.

However, after hearing the advice of the sixfin sailfish, he couldn't help but waver a little.

"Sir, if we delay going out any longer, it seems a bit too deliberate."

The thousand-year-old sea turtle also spoke up, saying, "Human cultivators are always shrewd and will likely know when to stop while they're ahead."

That's what it said, and it immediately changed Haihong's mind.

However, it did not immediately order an attack, but instead hesitated and said, "What you all say makes sense, but I think we should wait a little longer."

The sixfin sailfish suddenly became anxious: "Sir, if we wait any longer, they will escape."

Haihong whispered and scolded, "Shut up, you idiot!"

"This is a plan, don't you understand?"

"What if they turn around and run away if we go out now?"

"Let's wait until the human cultivator in the very center is just a hair's breadth away from dismantling the array base before we make our move."

"By then, after working so hard and seeing that they are about to succeed, they will definitely not be willing to give up."

"But if we leave it, it will take a little while before it can be completely removed."

"At that time, we can not only use the array base as bait to lure them in, but also force them to stay and fight with us inside the array."

"At the same time, the array base can also restrain at least one person, preventing them from making a move."

"Isn't this a hundred times better than you recklessly rushing out now?"

Haihong's plan shocked all the surrounding demons.

The six-finned sailfish was taken aback at first, but then, instead of being annoyed, it exclaimed excitedly, "You are truly brilliant, even more so than humans!"

"The timing was perfect!"

This is the difference between sea creatures and humans. Even though sea creatures have awakened intelligence, most of the great demons have not yet developed concepts such as dignity.

They still follow the rule that the weak obey the strong.

Even if someone in a lower position is publicly rebuked as an idiot by someone in a higher position, they will not be particularly angry.

Of course, there are also great demons that are almost indistinguishable from humans, but these are mostly a small number of races with innate intelligence, such as fox demons, or land-based demons that frequently come into contact with humans.

This does not include the sea fish and marine animals that came from the distant sea.

Soon, another fifteen minutes passed.

The outer firewall has reached its seventeenth wave.

The number has also expanded from nearly a thousand at the beginning to almost six thousand now.

At this scale, even Xiao Chen felt a certain amount of pressure.

Although the Four Symbols Mountain-Suppressing Shield can still hold up, he still needs to actively channel his true essence to repair it.

Iron Fan Zhenjun was now truly blushing.

One reason was the extreme heat, and the other was that his iron fan had turned red-hot in the flames.

The influence on one's natal artifact will naturally also affect the cultivator himself.

Fortunately, his iron fan, though made of some unknown material, was of exceptional quality.

Even though it had been burned to this state, it still did not change shape at all and continued to block the ever-growing wall of fire.

All I can say is that customized magical artifacts are indeed powerful.

As for True Lord Crane Cry, he has now taken out his third spiritual artifact, which he is using in conjunction with the Pearl Umbrella to defend against the attack.

It was a seemingly ordinary palm-leaf fan, but with each wave, it could drive away a large amount of flames several hundred feet away.

With the help of this magical fan, his guard duty is now much easier.

Xiao Chen and the others saw all of this.

It can only be said that as a successor of the Chongzhen Temple, True Lord Heming carries quite a few spiritual artifacts.

In conclusion, everyone used their unique abilities and successfully persevered until now.

The dismantling of the enemy base by Gangyuan Zhenjun has reached its final stage.

Just then, Haihong, who had been hiding in the shadows for half a day, finally gave the order: "Now! Follow me and kill!"

After saying that, the first one to reveal himself rushed out.

As soon as it came up, it fully revealed its true form: a red crab that was over 600 feet long.

Compared to the gilded king crab behind him, which was only 300 feet long, it was twice the size.

The pair of giant pincers on its head were even more extraordinary, with the pincers alone measuring seventy or eighty feet in length, and when opened, they could almost clamp down on a small mountain.

More importantly, it is different from other crabs.

The light-colored carapace is barely visible on the abdomen.

You have to stare intently and search carefully to find a small area about three feet in the very center that is light red.

Compared to its enormous body, this small weakness is almost negligible.

Moreover, if it can continue to purify its bloodline or make breakthroughs in its cultivation in the future, it can continue to reduce its weaknesses until they disappear completely.

By then, all enemy attacks will be blocked by the solid, deep red armor.

In addition, besides the four shallow-sky sea monsters that Iron Fan True Lord mentioned earlier.

There were also three giant sea turtles, each four hundred feet long, a lionfish over two hundred feet long, and an anemone shrimp just under two hundred feet long.

The former was also a reinforcement sent by the Venerable One, while the latter two were among the three great demons who had escaped from the Listening Waves Sea.

With the addition of the six-finned sailfish, a total of eleven fourth-tier demons suddenly appeared.

This is only if Xiao Chen had already killed the previous ice crystal jellyfish; otherwise, there would have been twelve.

To be honest, this number far exceeded the expectations of the human race.

They truly hadn't expected that so many powerful demons from the sea tribe would suddenly appear.

It should be noted that the Shallow Sky Sea originally only had four great demons, and even if the number doubled, there should only be eight.

Therefore, according to everyone's speculation, even if there is some error, the total number of sea creatures will not exceed ten.

Considering that Xiao Chen has already captured the Ice Crystal Jellyfish, there should only be a maximum of nine left in the formation.

This is also one of the main reasons why everyone thinks it's worth trying to force a charge.

If everyone had known from the beginning that there were eleven powerful sea monsters inside the linked formation, they certainly wouldn't have come.

But now, looking at the murderous monsters all around...

No one complained or blamed anyone else.

Everyone here is at the Nascent Soul stage, so they can all distinguish between what is important and what is urgent.

The most urgent task is to unite as one and overcome the crisis together.

Even if you want to curse, you have to get back alive first.

Therefore, apart from Xiao Chen and Gang Yuan Zhenjun, everyone silently took out elixirs to speed up the recovery of their true essence and swallowed them.

Then each of them unleashed their magical artifacts and talismans, preparing for the impending fierce battle.

"Senior brother, it's too late."

Seeing that Gangyuan Zhenjun was still urging the compass to dismantle the array base, Hanchuan Zhenjun hurriedly reminded him in a low voice: "There are too many sea creatures. We need to find a way to break through now."

"There's no time left for us to continue dismantling the array base."

Gangyuan Zhenjun was actually aware of this as well.

But just as Haihong had planned, he was extremely unwilling!

If things had changed earlier, he would definitely have stopped.

But now he's only a tiny bit away, just a tiny bit, less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, before he can put the array base into his storage ring and take it away.

However, the sea creatures chose this exact moment to make their move.

This made True Lord Gangyuan extremely sad, and he felt a thousand regrets in his heart.

Hearing his junior brother's advice, he turned to Xiao Chen and said, "Fellow Daoist Xiao, it will only take half a cup of tea's time to take away the array base."

"Whether we go straight or give it a try, I'll listen to your suggestion."

At this critical moment, he wanted to know if his side could hold on.

Xiao Chen was taken aback when he was asked to make this decision, and immediately replied, "If we stay, I can't guarantee that everyone will leave safely."

"But I'm confident I can fight my way out, and I can be the last one to leave."

"Whether to stay or leave depends on everyone's opinion."

Although it's not realistic to fight against so many sea creatures inside the formation.

Fortunately, due to the influence of the earth's veins, the sea creatures were also unable to unleash attacks far exceeding the fourth rank through the great formation.

At the same time, Xiao Chen also has a good habit of hiding his trump cards.

It's worth noting that he also learned two very crucial auxiliary spells.

Those are the "Junqi Fire Avoidance Technique" and the "Fentao Sea Stabilization Mantra".

The former can effectively weaken the power of fire spells, which is just right to deal with the fire array where everyone is.

The latter can suppress the surrounding water elemental energy, making it especially effective when fighting against sea creatures.

When Xiao Chen was resisting the wall of fire, he deliberately did not activate the fire-avoiding spiritual light, in order to keep a backup plan in case of unforeseen circumstances.

If we reveal these two cards...

Even if his side is outnumbered and at a disadvantage in terms of environment, he is confident that he can help everyone break through.

However, as Xiao Chen said, breaking through is one thing.

Whether everyone gets out alive is another matter.

"Fellow Daoist Xiao, you...."

Upon hearing this, True Lord Hanchuan was first greatly surprised.

He then looked at the crowd around him and said, "Fellow Daoists, shall we give it a try?"

Yunwo Zhenjun's lips curled into a smile as he drew his flying sword: "Since we're already here, let's have a fight before we leave."

True Monarch Heming once again took out a banner and a small drum from his robes: "I trust Fellow Daoist Xiao's judgment."

Iron Fan True Lord and Silver Hair True Lord exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously: "We have no problem."

True Monarch Qian Shu remained silent, but took out all six fourth-tier puppets he had accumulated over the years in one go.

(End of this chapter)