Chapter 1176: Sword Wielder's Submission

Xiaohua wasn't worried at all, understanding that any extraordinary move Xu Yang made on the battlefield was perfectly natural. His power had long surpassed the peak of this world's system of laws; in other words, as long as Xu Yang didn't want to die, no one in this world could kill him.

"Arrogant fool, prepare to die! I will make you understand the painful price of underestimating us!" Seeing Xu Yang's demeanor, the Silver-Haired Sword Soul was undoubtedly the most exasperated. After all, he had been instantly obliterated by this very person's sword before. Now, Xu Yang dared to face the sword soul formation he had conjured with such a dismissive attitude. This was truly beyond endurance.

This was already trampling on their dignity and boundaries. Their only option now was to stake their lives against Xu Yang, using the strongest attack they could muster.

At this moment, incredibly powerful sword soul energy began to perfectly merge towards the Silver-Haired Sword Soul. Since the other sword souls possessed their physical bodies, they couldn't transfer their entire soul essence into the sword formation. However, the silver-haired elder had already perished, making him the only suitable medium for integrating the soul power of others.

Thus, all the sword souls simultaneously integrated into the Silver-Haired Elder's singular sword soul, then used his innate divine sword to unleash the sword formation's strongest power. This perfectly compensated for the Ten Directions Six Harmonies Sword Formation's only flaw: its inability to deliver an ultimate attack on a single target.

The Silver-Haired Elder's maneuver perfectly compensated for the biggest weakness of this top-tier formation, bringing the power of this single-target attack to its absolute peak.

"Now! Life or death, it all comes down to this one strike!" The Silver-Haired Elder let out a frenzied spiritual cry. Simultaneously, he began frantically absorbing all the surrounding sword soul energy into himself, transforming his sword glow from its original bright silver into an incredibly profound silver light.

The outline of the massive sword glow he conjured expanded to dozens of meters in size, firmly locking onto Xu Yang's back before lunging forward with immense force.

"Perhaps later you will understand the gap between us. Even in ten lifetimes, you wouldn't be able to bridge it, hahaha!" Xu Yang's king-like demeanor persisted.

He made no further moves to counter. Instead, he stood with his arms crossed, calmly watching his teammates, leaving his most vulnerable back exposed to this wave of enemies, who were unleashing their most powerful attack.

During this time, Xu Yang clearly saw the eyes of every team member gradually shift from calm to relaxed, and finally to terror. Then, at the very last moment, the instant that trace of cool warmth touched his physical body from behind, all the converging sword energy quietly dissipated into nothingness.

The Silver-Haired Sword Soul thus inexplicably vanished into nothingness, and the swordsmen who had sacrificed their sword souls and divine swords were completely petrified on the spot. No one knew what had just happened in that instant. Everyone only saw Xu Yang turn around, smiling at them, after their minds had been momentarily delayed and then recovered.

"I regret to inform you that you have failed the challenge, comrades. Your power had not the slightest effect on me. As for your sword soul leader, he completely vanished the moment he touched my body. Don't ask me how he disappeared; you only need to know how you were defeated."

This time, Xu Yang no longer spoke to them amiably. The information he wanted and the goal he aimed to achieve were already perfectly clear to those before him.

Slowly, he conjured an incredibly brilliant sword glow in his palm and advanced towards the swordsmen before him. They now had no power to resist, like meat on a chopping block, completely at Xu Yang's mercy.

*Thud!* Old Seven led the way, kneeling on the ground and prostrating himself three times before Xu Yang, completely abandoning his dignity. In a battle of one-sided crushing defeat with no hope, Old Seven decisively chose to surrender.

The reason was simple: he didn't want to perish so quickly. Seeing him do this, even the nominal next leader of the team chose to give up. Naturally, the others also let go of their burdens and knelt on the ground, bowing in reverence to Xu Yang.

"Heh, you could have made this wise move much earlier. Why did you have to wait until now?"

Old Crow, from the Eight Gates team, also looked smug, questioning the swordsmen about their inner struggles with a condescending attitude. Since Old Seven had already chosen to surrender, he had nothing left to hold back and simply sighed helplessly.

"Our master has already perished, and the strongest Ten Directions Six Harmonies Sword Formation, led by him, couldn't even harm you in the slightest. This shows that there is originally a heaven-and-earth difference between us. How could foolish humans possibly contend with a lofty deity?

"As long as you are willing to spare me and my teammates, we are willing to lead you out of this Lover's Layer Dungeon. After all, this place will soon be submerged in the sea forever, just as you predicted regarding the separation of the outer and middle regions.

"This means the Lover's City Dungeon's core area will completely collapse within three days. During these three days, every independent mechanism within it will constantly be eroded by powerful external water currents, with the potential for localized collapse at any moment. Therefore, continuing this entanglement with your team would not benefit either of us."

Xu Yang smiled and patted Old Seven's shoulder. "Only the wise adapt to circumstances. Although this process was somewhat convoluted, I was willing to spend the time if it meant you could fundamentally realize your shortcomings. Now, then, you can lead our Eight Gates team out."

*Rumble!* At that very moment, just as everyone was fully assembled and preparing to leave the Lover's City Dungeon, the entire core spatial area of the dungeon began to collapse with extreme, violent tremors, shaking frantically without any warning.

It was clear that an independent mechanism in this core area had malfunctioned. Just like a ship adrift at sea, if one part is damaged, more and more seawater will pour in.

Ultimately, a single hole could sink the entire vessel. Currently, Xu Yang and his companions were trapped in the Lover's City core dungeon area, a situation almost identical to the sinking ship theory.

"Damn it, a localized mechanism must have been damaged, causing more and more seawater to pour in and subsequently destroy more of the mechanical systems. This is paralyzing the entire mechanism's operation. The abnormal fluctuations in the core area's space are due to the clash between the formation power sealed within those mechanisms and the incoming seawater.

"This is a vicious cycle. Our immediate priorities are, on one hand, to get to the exit as quickly as possible and break through the formation sealing the outside world. On the other hand, we must find a way to temporarily repair the damaged mechanisms to restore localized operations.

"Otherwise, if the dungeon's formation mechanisms in the entire core area cannot operate as a whole, it will be impossible to activate the central formation sealing the exit."

Upon hearing this interpretation, Xu Yang and his companions' expressions grew even grimmer. "Do you mean that if even one mechanism system in the entire core area stops working, we won't be able to activate the main formation that seals the exit?"