Chapter 187 — One Hour

He knew that once they weathered this round, the initiative between the two sides would instantly reverse.

Not all sixty-seven cultivators were of the heavy-assault type, after all. Zou Han, for instance—his Hundred Venoms Fan could unleash all manner of toxic fiends, sinister beyond words, yet in a battle of sheer brute collision it counted for little.

The truly threatening ones were powerhouses like Zhang Hao.

Zhang Hao's flying sword was most distinctive: broad of blade, like a spade or an axe, following the path of sheer ferocity, its length wreathed in a layer of red light. Every strike fell like a great axe splitting a mountain, with the weight of a thousand catties!

Of all the cultivators, Zhang Hao posed the greatest threat to Zuo Jin; every blow set Zuo Huanzhong's heart lurching.

The hair-fine threads of the Sky-Ring Moon-Chime Formation were forever sent flailing and quivering, setting the halos strung along them clinking and chiming.

After so long a tempering, the Brahma Chime Ring had gained a measure of yang hardness and fire. Where before the chime had been clear and crystalline, now it rang deep and fierce, and even its echoes seemed to carry a scorching, fiery breath.

Zuo Yan kept his composure, more or less—especially after several heart-stopping moments in which he found the Sky-Ring Moon-Chime Formation wholly intact. Only then did he recall that at the Sword Trial Assembly, a Sky-Ring Moon-Chime Formation of seventy-two sub-formations had withstood a severe test, and that more Condensed Meridian cultivators had entered that formation than now.

To think such brute-force pounding could shatter a Sky-Ring Moon-Chime Formation of two hundred and sixteen sub-formations was pure wishful thinking.

He knew the enemy would soon realize this.

And then the battle would truly begin.

Zuo Yan raised his head and glanced at the sky; through the threads and wisps of silk, he could make out even the madness and savagery on the enemies' faces.

He lowered his head, and his gaze turned somewhat cold.

He began drawing formation disks from his ring one after another, tossing them now and then into the various formations. Under cover of the Sky-Ring Moon-Chime Formation, he quietly dropped disk after disk.

He had not the slightest intention of holding back now; the formation disks in his ring flew from his hand as though they cost nothing.

He would turn Barren Wood Reef into a hunting ground—a hunting ground sown with traps!

Gongsun Heng and his party had hidden themselves in the magma cavern, the safest place on Barren Wood Reef. The cavern ran deep into the earth, ringed about with countless talisman arrays laid by Zuo Yan—a vital point among vital points.

Hearing the faint chiming from outside, worry rose on every face in the cavern.

Chunyu Cheng sighed. "A pity we can do nothing to help!"

At those words many could not help clenching their fists. They were all production cultivators, yes, but young men still, at the age when blood runs hot. And they knew well what fate would await them should these men break the great formation.

What these roving bandits wanted was men who could fight; production cultivators like them, with no fighting strength at all, would be the first to be killed.

Gongsun Heng was the calmest of them all. Stretched out on the ground, he said carelessly, "Don't worry. Breaking Senior Brother Zuo's formation won't be so easy. And I say Senior Brother Zuo has grown more formidable than before—have you all forgotten that Azure-Spike Crocodile?"

At that, everyone's spirits lifted!

They remembered Senior Brother Zuo going blow for blow with the Azure-Spike Crocodile, time and again, without a shred of trickery, and confidence surged up in them; their panicked hearts settled once more.

In the sky, the assault gradually slackened.

Zuo Yan lifted his face for a look, then lowered his head again and went on laying his arrays.

Suddenly an absurd notion popped into his head.

One hour—the time was hardly generous...