Chapter 646: A Shoe

Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97

"Forget it, this is a dire situation. I'll use that!"

Flicking his wrist, Zhang Xuan took out the spirit stone that he obtained as the prize for the Master Teacher Tournament.

The spiritual energy harnessed within a high-tier spirit stone was immense. Since there was no better choice, Zhang Xuan could only make use of it to temper his physical body first.

Hong long long!

While he was still hesitating over the issue, the ground trembled once more. Then, he heard some m.u.f.fled voices above the water surface.

Following which, many surges of zhenqi began gus.h.i.+ng into the lake, and the dying spiritual lake came to life once more.

"This…"

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

He was just troubled about how he should return spiritual energy back into the lake when someone suddenly sent zhenqi over. It was as if a pillow was delivered when one was about to nap, or a feast was spread out just as one was hungry!

"Furthermore, this is zhenqi, refined spiritual energy. It'll be easier for me to absorb it…"

If Zhang Xuan were to use spirit stones, given that the spiritual energy contained inside wasn't refined yet, it would be inconvenient for him to absorb it. However, zhenqi was different.

Zhenqi was similar to a concentrated extract of spiritual energy, thus making it much easier to absorb.

"Could someone above know that I'm in dire need of tempering my physical body and intentionally delivered zhenqi over?"

Zhang Xuan scratched his head in confusion.

He had been too busy trying to return his soul back into his body to care about what was happening above. Could the others have realized that he needed spiritual energy, and decided to expend their own zhenqi to help him?

They were all too kind!

Touched, Zhang Xuan turned to his clone.

"You should draw the earth flame up. I'll find the most suitable place to temper my physical body!"

"Alright!"

His clone nodded before rus.h.i.+ng to the center of the lake, where the source of the heat was coming from.

As a G.o.d artifact, the Nine Hearts Lotus was fazed by neither heat nor cold. While the earth flame might be a formidable force, it wasn't sufficient to damage it.

After the clone left, Zhang Xuan carried his physical body to look for the location most suited to temper his physical body.

Soon, Zhang Xuan came to a stop. He maneuvered his body such that it was sitting cross-legged on the ground. After a lot of trouble, he managed to open the pores throughout his body, and only then did the zhenqi floating in the river begin to gush into his body.

The single origin conceives two, two conceives three, and three conceives all. Heaven's Path zhenqi was refined from the most fundamental and most accurate cultivation technique. It possessed no attribute, and it could fuse together with zhenqi of any attribute. Thus, even though there were many different types of zhenqi around him, it made no difference to him at all.

Just by drawing it into his body and driving it toward his dantian, it would be automatically refined to remove all impurities and form the purest Heaven's Path zhenqi.

And under the tempering of these aura, Zhang Xuan's body was gradually getting stronger and stronger.

…

With a compa.s.s in hand, Guild Leader Wu walked a few rounds around the entire lake silently. Seeing the sight, Wei s.h.i.+ couldn't help but ask, "Guild Leader Wu, have you found a solution yet?"

"Calm down, this is a grade-6 formation. With my capability, I can only reinforce it. It would be extremely difficult to modify it." Guild Leader Wu frowned deeply.

He was only a 5-star pinnacle formation master, and even if he were to give it his all, he still wouldn't be able to set up a grade-6 formation. The most he could do at the moment was just to sustain the formation. Even though he did say he intended to modify the formation based on the change in geographical terrain, it would be rather unlikely for him to succeed.

"Then what should we do? We can't possibly go on infusing our zhenqi in like this!" Wei s.h.i.+ exclaimed.

Infusing zhenqi into the Cleansing Lake could postpone the danger, but it wouldn't resolve the problem they had at hand.

"Give me some time!" Guild Leader Wu waved his hands. "Even though it's out of desperation that we're infusing zhenqi in, the consumption in maintaining the barrier through such isn't too high. With so many people, we should be able to last for two hours!"

As a lake that was concentrated in spiritual energy previously, it carried the ability to store spiritual energy and zhenqi. While this method might be troublesome, it should still buy them a decent length of time. Within this time period, perhaps he could find a solution to repair the formation!

"Alright then…"

Knowing that there was no better solution, Wei s.h.i.+ nodded. Just as he was about to speak, Ye Wentian's face suddenly warped in shock. "Wei s.h.i.+ and Guild Leader Wu, look…"

Turning their gazes over, they saw the center of the lake shaking violently, and a huge vortex gradually appeared.

Tzzzzz!

The vortex gradually grew larger. The zhenqi which the crowd had just pumped into the water seemed to have been swallowed whole, disappearing entirely.

"It seems like it's consuming our zhenqi…"

"That seems to be the case. My zhenqi has disappeared…"

"It's our zhenqi that is preventing the formation from collapsing. Once it is consumed dry…"

…

Everyone stared at one another with widened eyes.

What was going on?

Wasn't this lake a place that could be used to store zhenqi? If that was the case, how was all of their zhenqi consumed in the blink of an eye?

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Wei s.h.i.+ turned around and exclaimed, "Guild Leader Wu… the lake is consuming our zhenqi. I fear that… we won't be able to last two hours!"

"Then… How long can you all hold on for?"

Guild Leader Wu frowned.

Wei s.h.i.+ did a rough calculation based on everyone's cultivation and said, "At most… ten minutes."

"Ten minutes?"

Guild Leader Wu's face warped in shock, and he clenched his jaw. "Ten minutes is fine too. As long as the earth flame doesn't surge up, we will be safe. I'll try to find a solution within this period of time. Or else…"

As he spoke, he stared at his compa.s.s intently to study the formation. However, at the moment, the ground shook once more.

"What happened this time?"

Turning his gaze back to the Cleansing Lake, he saw Wei s.h.i.+ and Ye Wentian looking at him with tearful faces. "It seems that the earth flame has surged up!"

"…" Guild Leader Wu felt as though he was about to faint.

What the heck was this!

When he thought that the Cleansing Lake could store spiritual energy, and by infusing zhenqi into it, the formation could last for a significant period of time, all of the zhenqi ended up being consumed instead. Just as he said that they would be safe as long as the earth flame doesn't surge up from the volcano, it immediately happened…

Dear heavens, are you toying with us?

Hong long long!

As the earth flame threatened to leap out from the lake, the Cleansing Lake raged once more, and unable to take the impact, an elder was sent flying as mouthfuls of fresh blood spurted from his mouth.

'Kacha!', the formation flag before him also broke into two halves.

"We're done for…"

With a pale face, Guild Leader Wu couldn't help but stagger backward feebly.

The formation was already on the verge of breakdown when there was no spiritual energy in the Cleansing Lake to maintain it. Now that even the earth flame was gus.h.i.+ng up to the earth… the eruption of the volcano was inevitable now.

"We should hurry up and leave…"

Guild Leader Wu waved his hands in desolation.

With the eruption of this volcano, the entire Huanyu Capital would be plunged into a ma.s.sive catastrophe. Countless lives would die due to this disaster.

"Is there really no solution at all?"

Ye Wentian clenched his jaws tightly.

"None at all, unless…"

Upon recalling something, Guild Leader Wu shook his head and said, "No, it's impossible to pull off!"

"Unless what?"

Ye Wentian and Wei s.h.i.+ turned their sights over to Guild Leader Wu.

"There's no point. It's something that can't possibly be achieved!" Guild Leader Wu sighed.

"Why don't you tell us? Maybe we can find a solution together," Ye Wentian said anxiously.

With the earth flame gus.h.i.+ng up, the group probably didn't even have three minutes left. If Guild Leader Wu had a solution in mind, they could at least give it a try. After all, they couldn't possibly watch idly as millions of lives were extinguished before them.

"The main purpose of the formation is to maintain balance among the energies from the Verdant Mountain, Dragon-scaled River, and the earth vein, thus suppressing the volcano underneath. This was the reason why Huanyu Capital was able to enjoy so many years of peace. However, in the end, a formation can only be considered as an external regulator… If we could find the exact point where the energies of the trio intersect and direct them to cancel one another out, we would be able to return stability to the region even without the formation!"

"But… we don't have the luxury of time to do so at this point. Besides, this matter involves the energies from the entire Verdant Mountain, Dragon-scaled River, and earth vein. If we were to make a mistake here, we might just make things much worse…" Guild Leader Wu said.

Wei s.h.i.+ and Ye Wentian fell into deep contemplation.

The both of them understood the meaning behind Guild Leader Wu's words.

In truth, the main purpose of the formation was to regulate the energies from the three sides to create a balance.

If they could find the balancing point where the three energies intersected and direct their flow such that they canceled one another out, they could create an equivalent effect as well.

But… how were they supposed to find this point?

Putting aside how the Verdant Mountain and Dragon-scaled River stretched for thousands of kilometers, just the fact that the earth vein was located underground already made it impossible for one to determine the intensity of its energy at specific locations.

If they were to make an error and have the energies superimpose on one another instead of canceling one another out, they could possibly worsen the disaster!

This was similar to balancing a gold coin. The slightest deviation would lead to the coin falling… it was no easy feat to balance the three energies!

Not to mention, they had no time now!

The earth flame was surging up, the zhenqi everyone pumped into the Cleansing Lake had been devoured, and one of the formation flags was destroyed… In less than three minutes, this entire area would be turned into ruins. Nothing would be left behind at all.

"Let's evacuate everyone now…"

Guild Leader Wu waved his hands.

"Yes!"

Knowing that there was nothing they could do, Ye Wentian hurriedly issued instructions to everyone.

Hualala!

The beast tamers on duty were immediately beckoned, and eight aerial spirit beasts came flying over.

Knowing how dangerous the situation was, Ye Wentian had already made preparations should the worst occur.

"Everyone, hurry up and get on the aerial beast…"

Ye Wentian beckoned the group over. But at that moment, the ground trembled once more.

Hong long long!

The shaking was much more intense this time round. In that instant, it was as if the Cleansing Lake had been overturned. A searing heat wave gushed forth as though a majestic dragon from the bottom of the lake.

Seeing that an explosion was imminent, Hong s.h.i.+ asked, "What will happen to Zhang s.h.i.+ if we were to leave like that?"

"It's too late to save him, let's go…" Ye Wentian shouted.

Hong long!

Before he could finish his words, a huge pillar of fire gushed into the air. Everyone felt a searing gust of wind rus.h.i.+ng at them, burning their skin.

"It's too late… We can't get away anymore…"

Ye Wentian thought that they would at least have three minutes, but before they could even get onto the aerial beasts, the volcano was already erupting. A tight squeeze gripped his heart, and subconsciously, he closed his eyes, awaiting his imminent death.

But after waiting for a moment, he realized he wasn't engulfed by the flames. Just as he was perplexed by what was happening, someone amidst the crowd suddenly shouted, "Wait a moment, look! Why is there a person on the flames?"

Ye Wentian quickly raised his head and looked over, only to see a man standing above the fire dragon. The other party had a sharp gaze reminiscent of a bolt of lightning.

Amidst curious gazes, the other party took off his shoe and threw it casually.

Jiya!

The fire dragon immediately withered. The clash among the energies from the Verdant Mountain, Dragon-scaled River, and earth vein immediately calmed down, as though a balance had been achieved.