Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 438 Already prepared
Fei Lian felt more nervous than when he pushed open the gate to the Dao.

Half an hour.

In just this short time, he can calibrate both the inner and outer formations and then escape from here.

On the throne of flesh and blood, Fei Lian's divine sense was highly concentrated.

On one hand, he had to control the sea beasts that were blinded by fear, making them spread out in all directions at an extremely slow, wriggling speed, to delay the black dog's "cleanup" efficiency as much as possible.

On the other hand, he was completely absorbed in the massive and complex formation beneath him.

Countless mysterious runes flowed beneath his feet, faintly echoing the "Reverse Star Sea Array" outside the Ruins of Return. He had to complete the final calibration and fully connect the inner and outer arrays before the sea beast army was completely slaughtered, only then would he have any chance of escape.

Moreover, on the other side of the Ruins, the Black Dog's slaughter continued, but the pace had clearly slowed down.

It seems to lack intelligence, and its operating principle is extremely simple: eliminate the fastest-moving target in its field of vision, or the target that is about to leave its field of vision.

After all the sea creatures slowed down, the black dog seemed to be confused as well. Its body, composed of flowing shadows, floated in the seawater, its crimson eyes slowly scanning the surroundings.

A massive walrus demon cultivator, under Fei Lian's control, was moving to the side at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Just as he was about to drift out of the black dog's "sight," the black dog's figure vanished instantly and reappeared on the walrus's head the next second.

Without any unnecessary movements, a black claw descended.

The walrus's massive body vanished silently, as if it had never existed.

After completing a kill, the black dog returned to the center of the arena, hovering silently, continuing to observe its slow-moving "prey".

Because there are still quite a few sea monsters, and none of them have attacked proactively, the black dog seems unable to distinguish which one poses the greatest threat, causing it to move very slowly and often to wait quite a while before making a move.

However, you can't keep these sea monsters completely still, because even if you don't run, the black dog will still float over and eat them. You can only try to maintain the slowest pace possible and delay the black dog's plans as much as possible.

Each time a shadowy figure appeared, it meant that one of Fei Lian's sea beasts had been killed. Fei Lian's face remained expressionless, but his complexion grew paler and paler.

How could those sea monsters possibly obey and not run away? It was all thanks to Fei Lian that they were suppressed.

Now that his mind is divided, he has no intention of regaining his focus when the sea beasts are killed, resulting in a backlash from the death of each sea beast.

Once or twice is fine, but now dozens of sea creatures have died, and Feilian is starting to feel the strain.

But no matter how difficult it is, we must persevere.

A quarter of an hour later, the number of surviving sea creatures had dwindled to less than thirty.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Fei Lian's forehead. The array runes beneath his feet flickered faster and faster, and invisible threads pierced through the void, struggling to find a connection point with the external array.

The black dog seemed to gradually adapt to this rhythm, or rather, its instincts began to grow impatient with the delay.

Its twisted, shadowy form began to tremble violently, and the surrounding seawater seemed to boil, with countless bubbles rising to the surface.

Suddenly, the black dog opened its huge mouth.

A massive whirlpool appeared, and all the surviving sea creatures, no matter how far away, were pulled into the black dog's mouth by the whirlpool.

Seeing this, Feilian immediately released the sea beast and set it free.

Freed from their restraints, the sea creatures, like frightened birds, once again fled in a frenzy. This time, it was faster than ever before.

But the struggle seemed futile, for the whirlpool had locked all the sea creatures firmly in place, and no matter how their tails whipped out phantoms, or how the seawater was shaken and boiled, they could not escape even a fraction of an inch.

Instead, all the sea creatures retreated at an extremely fast speed and were swallowed into the black dog's mouth.

In just a few breaths, all of Fei Lian's sea beast puppets were devoured by the black dog, leaving not even a trace of flesh or blood behind.

The black dog eliminated all its targets but did not turn back. It slowly raised its head, and the two crimson beams pierced through endless obstacles, precisely locking onto Fei Lian.

Fei Lian suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, as if his soul had been impacted.

But he couldn't catch his breath, because the black dog was already charging towards him at an extremely fast speed.

At this critical moment, a water mirror opened in front of Fei Lian, revealing Chen Ye's face.

Before Fei Lian could speak, Chen Ye said, "I already know the situation. Senior, you've been working hard to calibrate the formation. I've already ordered the Mirage Demons lurking throughout Guixu to immediately create illusions for you and distract that thing. You need to hurry."

Upon hearing this, Fei Lian felt somewhat relieved.

As expected, Chen Ye and the black dog were from the same background, and he knew how to deal with this thing.

Just as the two were talking, from another corner of Guixu, a hundred-zhang-long dragon rushed out at an extremely fast speed and swam towards the black dog.

Besides the dragon, there were thousands of shadows of various sea beasts, which gathered into a massive torrent and surged toward the black dog.

These are all illusions created by mirages, but they are so realistic that even the churning of the seawater is lifelike, and ordinary people cannot distinguish between them.

The black dog seemed to be drawn to the commotion as well.

This monster has long lost its intelligence, leaving only the instinct to guard the Gate of Return to Nothingness. With such a commotion, it seems to pose a much greater threat than Fei Lian's side.

Without the slightest hesitation, the black dog abandoned Fei Lian, who was not far away. In a flash, it transformed into a black streak of light and instantly pounced on the army made of illusions.

Sensing the black dog's departure, Fei Lian was overjoyed. He immediately seized this hard-won time and devoted all his attention to the formation beneath his feet, making final arrangements and adjustments.

However, this time the commotion was far greater than any before.

Countless runes weaved through the array, transforming into billions of rays of light that shot toward the dome of Guixu.

Outside the dome, endless starlight, drawn by the Reverse Star Sea Array, also multiplied into billions, each corresponding to the light within.

Once these rays of light are successfully connected, the two great arrays, one inside and one outside, will be able to link together, allowing Feilian to pass through this barrier and leave Guixu.

The beams of light, thinner than a human hair, were aligning, making Fei Lian extremely anxious.

I wonder how long those illusions can last.

On the other side, the black dog had just pounced into the illusionary army formation, tearing hundreds of "sea beasts" to shreds with a swing of its claws, but it immediately sensed something was wrong. These prey had no real presence and were just pure illusions.

Even if it lacks intelligence, it should sense that something is wrong by now.

Moreover, as Fei Lian's formation connection was about to be completed, an aura incompatible with the laws of Gui Xu began to spread outwards, and the originally flawless restrictions of Gui Xu seemed to be affected.

The black dog was most sensitive to this, and immediately abandoned those meaningless illusions. Its huge body twisted violently in the seawater, transforming into a black lightning bolt that could not be caught by the eye, and rushed straight towards Fei Lian at a speed ten times faster than before.

Sensing the black dog's oppressive aura once again, Feilian nearly ground his teeth to powder.

"Chen Ye! The formation is almost complete!"

Fei Lian let out a hysterical roar. As the black line of death rapidly enlarged in his vision, he slammed his hand on the array's core, activating the final connection with the outside world.

……

Onboard the Beluga Whale.

Within the starlight water mirror, the light representing the completion of the formation shone at its brightest, signifying that the formation's connection was about to be completed.

At the same time, everyone saw the glowing spot representing the black dog in the array's reaction. This monster had also entered the teleportation range.

There's nothing we can do about it. The outside is a massive array spanning thousands of miles, making it impossible to connect with an array eye the size of a person. It's like how all the hairs on a cow can't pass through the eye of a needle at the same time.

Therefore, the "small formations" in the Ruins of Return are actually quite large, enough to protect a major sect.

That is to say, Fei Lian's cultivation was profound, and he had the help of many sea beasts, which enabled him to complete the arrangement.

Because the formation was so large, the black dog had already entered the teleportation range before it even saw Fei Lian.

In other words, if the teleportation array is opened now, Fei Lian and the black dog will be teleported out at the same time.

Elder Qinglin stood beside Chen Ye, his expression extremely solemn.

Looking at the scene in the water mirror, he finally couldn't help but suggest, "Sect Leader, why don't we... just let this demon die inside? If he dies, we will certainly be breaking our promise, but it's better than letting that terrifying shadow have a chance to leave Guixu. Besides, with Feilian dead, no one in this world can easily open the gate to Guixu anymore, which can be considered a permanent solution."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ye gave a wry smile.

“How could I not know that would be better?” He sighed. “If I could kill him inside, I would not hesitate for a moment, even if I was accused of being treacherous. It’s just that this plan was rejected by Sect Leader Qu Heng and the other sect leaders when we discussed it.”

Elder Qinglin frowned: "Why?"

"Because Fei Lian would not be content to wait for death."

Chen Ye had mentioned to everyone before that while setting up the formation, they should keep a trump card and let Fei Lian die in the Ruins of Return.

But it wasn't just Qu Heng who opposed it; even the Five Elements True Man and the Mermaid True Man disagreed.

Qu Heng put it even more bluntly: "Don't be fooled by Fei Lian being trapped in Guixu. If we really push him to the brink, he might just drag us down with him."

For righteous cultivators, self-destructing their physical body and soul is already an extremely powerful ultimate method. However, the origin of this move is the 'Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique' of the demonic sect.

Demonic cultivators have many ways to save their lives, and even more ways to fight to the death.

Fei Lian must have several methods that involve burning one's essence, lifespan, or even consuming one's soul to activate forbidden secret techniques.

If Fei Lian were to discover that Chen Ye intended to break the agreement, he would undoubtedly use these methods to amplify his 'words become law' supernatural power a hundredfold or a thousandfold.

At that time, he might actually force open the gate to the Void with a single sentence, or curse most of the righteous cultivators present across the void with a single sentence.

We must not underestimate the dying counterattack of a demon in the Dao Integration Realm.

There's no chance to turn the tables now. Even if Fei Lian doesn't react in time and gets eaten by that black dog, there's no way he can escape now.

Who can guarantee that the black dog won't leave Guixu?

The restrictions of this Ruins are part of it; it can open or close them at will.

At that time, Chen Ye and his group will just be its first snack after it leaves.

Therefore, this black dog needs to be dealt with in any way.

When they first set up the formation, they had already discussed how to deal with the current crisis.

Chen Ye turned around and ordered the crowd, "Activate the formation and open the teleportation array."

At Chen Ye's command, all the cultivators on the giant white whale ship sprang into action simultaneously.

The immense spiritual power surged like a river bursting its banks, flooding into every node of the "Reverse Star Sea Array".

The enormous array, covering thousands of miles, shone brightly at this moment.

Three thousand six hundred primary stars and tens of thousands of secondary stars seemed to ignite simultaneously, and the boundless power of the stars pierced through the atmosphere, converging into a dazzling pillar of energy visible to the naked eye, which blasted vertically into the depths of the sea.

However, Chen Ye himself did not stay on the White Whale to take charge of the overall situation.

After giving the order, he took a step forward and plunged into the sea.

The moment he entered the seawater, Chen Ye transformed into a jet-black dragon.

The dragon swung its enormous tail, moving nimbly through the deep sea without disturbing any living creatures, and silently swam towards a certain location of the "Reverse Star Sea Array".

Almost at the same moment, deep within the Ruins.

The array beneath Fei Lian's feet was completely connected to the vast stellar energy outside.

An irresistible force, powerful enough to tear apart the laws of space, suddenly descended, enveloping his flesh throne and the black hound that was pursuing him from behind.

Fei Lian felt a blur before his eyes, as if the entire world had been broken down into countless colorful ribbons of light. The dizziness of traversing space made even his Dao Integration Realm cultivation feel unstable.

It truly is a formation that took all the power of the righteous path to set up; only the mighty power of heaven and earth could possibly free him.

Finally, I'm going to escape this damn cage!
However, when the surrounding light and shadows re-coalesced, Fei Lian was startled by what he saw.

Feilian was neither in the depths of the ocean nor on the surface of the sea.

Instead, there was an extremely gray sky, and the air was filled with the stench of decay and death, as if it were a slaughterhouse of some demonic sect.

He looked around and found himself suspended atop a barren, desolate mountain. The entire mountain range was a lifeless gray-black, the ground covered with cracks, and there was no vegetation in sight.

On the hillside and at the foot of the mountain, there were hunched-over, strangely shaped humanoid monsters wandering around.

These monsters were entirely gray-black, with bellies swollen like drums, and their movements appeared stiff and slow, as if they were evil puppets created by some secret method, but their numbers were so numerous that it was terrifying.

This is where?

Fei Lian's heart sank. He realized that Chen Ye had not teleported him directly outside of Guixu.

Just as he was filled with doubt and uncertainty, the space not far away suddenly twisted violently, and the figure of the black dog was forcibly thrown out.

The moment the black dog appeared, it sensed Fei Lian's presence and was about to pounce again. But its terrifying aura instantly alerted all the monsters in this desolate mountain range.

"Ho... ho ho..."

The previously sluggish, gray-black monsters, as if smelling fresh flesh and blood, suddenly raised their heads. A crimson light flashed in their empty eye sockets.

The next second, the entire mountain range came to life.

Thousands upon thousands of gray-black monsters let out piercing roars. They were no longer slow, and they crawled swiftly on their hands and feet up the steep mountainside, like a gray-black tide, surging wildly from all directions toward the black dog that had just appeared.

The black dog seemed enraged by the overwhelming tide of monsters. It let out a silent roar, its massive shadowy body suddenly expanding, and a giant black claw swept out, instantly wiping out hundreds of monsters at the forefront.

This was an extremely brutal and chaotic battle.

Seeing the black dog frantically fighting the monster horde, Fei Lian was momentarily speechless.

Just then, a familiar voice rang out behind him.

Fei Lian turned around abruptly and saw that Chen Ye had appeared not far behind him at some point.

Chen Ye said to Fei Lian, "This place is not safe to stay any longer. Come with me quickly."

(End of this chapter)