Chapter 1859: Nine Tribulation Formation

Soon after, Xu Yang found a stone monument not far in front of the dream space. It radiated a powerful aura and had the words "Return Journey" carved on it.

Encountering a "Return Journey" monument in the "Lost Mountain Range"—what could it mean?

Xu Yang fell into a new round of contemplation, but without much hesitation, he simply bypassed the monument and continued deeper into the area.

Not long after, the Vast Sword Soul emitted an incredibly powerful soul energy fluctuation, stopping Xu Yang from advancing further.

"Master, this place has a very formidable formation aura. It must be hidden in an unknown corner of the surrounding jungle. If we rashly enter this formation's domain, I won't be able to exert my full power. As I am currently just a sword soul, there's a limit to the sword energy I can release."

Xu Yang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Are you saying that the hidden formation here possesses power beyond your capabilities?"

The Vast Sword Soul nodded slightly.

"Indeed. I can only discern a portion of the illusions. However, I can confirm that the Boneless True Spirit, which carries that woman's soul essence, has truly hidden itself within the area covered by this formation. If Master truly wishes to find that Boneless True Spirit, you must break this array before us."

Understanding the situation, Xu Yang nodded slightly. With a powerful tremor of his foot, an extremely potent aura radiated from his body.

Soon, the core of the Ghost Valley Odd Gate Array rapidly materialized beneath Xu Yang's feet. Aided by its positioning, the surrounding jungle quickly underwent a complete geographical transformation under the influence of Xu Yang's Earth Law, moving away all the vegetation, rocks, and mountains blocking his path.

The nine array-eye stone statues, truly hidden behind these jungle features, soon arrayed themselves before Xu Yang. The arrangement of these nine statues actually formed a massive circular array, with each pair of adjacent statues equidistant from each other, creating a large, enclosed circular area.

"Yes, this is the full extent of the formation blocking our way. If my judgment is correct, this should be the Nine Tribulation Array, a lost formation from ancient times. The woman's hiding place should be among these nine stone statues."

Hearing the Vast Sword Soul speak with a furrowed brow, Xu Yang showed almost no hesitation. With a raised hand, he unleashed an incredibly powerful Eternal Sword Glow. The massive sword glow instantly shattered one of the stone statues before him.

"Hahahaha, you're quite bold, aren't you?"

As one of the nine statues crumbled with a crash, the Boneless True Spirit, which carried the woman's soul essence and had temporarily vanished, slowly reappeared.

Its true spirit form was now protected by the central area of this massive circular array. Each statue corresponded to its true physical body, possessing a powerful aura link that served as its guardian.

"You've finally shown yourself. No need for pointless theatrics here, wasting our time is meaningless. Even if you escape to the ends of the earth, you'll never escape my grasp."

The True Spirit form nodded helplessly.

"I must admit, your strength has truly exceeded my expectations. That's why I had to employ these tactics to delay you as much as possible.

Of course, there's also some unexpected fun to be had here. I can tell you clearly that a portion of your two companions' soul essences has been sealed by me using special methods within two of the remaining eight statues.

The statue you just shattered contained no sealed soul essence.

But I must warn you: if you continue to attack in that reckless manner, the shattering of a statue will also mean the sealed soul essence within it will be destroyed along with the statue's collapse.

As for how you can break the corresponding statues without harming the soul essences and release your two companions' souls, that will depend on your own skill."

Xu Yang scoffed, "I can even see through your Boneless True Spirit. Do you really think a few statues can obscure my vision? You're truly too naive!"

The Boneless True Spirit burst into laughter. "Do you really think these are just ordinary statues?

The raw material used to form these nine statues is Phantom Primeval Jade, the most powerful and one of the rarest materials from ancient times.

They naturally possess the ability to block spiritual power. I'd like to see what methods you'll use to see through their true nature."

The Boneless True Spirit appeared quite confident, as this formation, which she had personally designed, was being used against an enemy for the first time.

It was undoubtedly one of her true trump cards.

After receiving this puzzle from his opponent, Xu Yang immediately began a soul communication with the Vast Sword Soul hovering beside him.

"Master, with my current sword soul strength, I can at most identify five of them. If we're lucky enough to find the statues sealing Long Kun's and Po Xiao's soul essences, the problem will naturally be solved. But if we can't, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Hearing the Vast Sword Soul's words, which carried a deep undertone of worry, Xu Yang didn't put any more pressure on it. Instead, he slowly smiled and spoke, encouraging it.

"You don't need to feel any pressure. After all, I'm the one making the choice. As for your concern about the sword soul's insufficient strength, I'll release some of my soul essence to merge with your sword soul body, helping you maximize your judgment."

Hearing Xu Yang's words, the Vast Sword Soul immediately gathered its courage. Knowing that this was its moment to contribute to its master, it no longer hesitated and promptly nodded in agreement. Xu Yang then touched his own brow, releasing a concentrated stream of soul essence.

A portion of it separated from his soul body and merged into the Vast Sword Soul behind him. Soon, the light emanating from the sword soul intensified, and the aura possessed by its core became even more formidable.

"What terrifying sword energy! This guy truly holds many secrets."

The Boneless True Spirit couldn't help but murmur to itself, also feeling a certain anticipation for the true power of this sword.

After absorbing a portion of Xu Yang's soul essence, the Vast Sword Soul moved directly into Xu Yang's palm. Under the control of Xu Yang's soul body, the sword unleashed an incomparably brilliant Vast Sword Glow, which spread from Xu Yang's feet throughout the surrounding illusory dream space.