Chapter 1243: Release the Ruthless

Zhang Xuan quickly finished reading the book and let out a breath. After a moment of thought, he walked to a corner of the room and sat down cross-legged.

Some time later, the clone walked over, full of confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Whenever I encounter a problem I can't figure out, I like to contemplate while facing a wall, pondering the universe and the vicissitudes of human life..." Turning his head, Zhang Xuan's face was slightly pale.

"Contemplating a wall? The universe and its vicissitudes?"

The clone looked utterly bewildered. When did I acquire this skill? Why have I never known about it before?

Although he didn't know what was going on, he knew the main body must have a purpose for doing this, so he said no more. "I'll look around; you carry on..." With that said, he turned and left.

About an hour later, Zhang Xuan finally let out a breath and stood up. His eyes were slightly red, as if from mental exhaustion, and he swayed a few times, almost falling. The clone quickly came forward to support him, allowing him to steady himself.

"I'm fine!" Shaking his head and circulating the Heaven's Path zhenqi three times, Zhang Xuan finally felt much more comfortable.

"I've checked everything around here," the clone said, lowering his voice. "There are no other mechanisms apart from these things. Unless I'm mistaken, this should be the lowest level of the island!"

Seeing that he had recovered, the clone lowered his voice. During the past hour or so, he had examined the surroundings thoroughly. Having absorbed the main body's recent knowledge, his understanding of formations and Heavenly Art had reached the peak of seven stars. If even he couldn't find any issues, it meant there should be no more mechanisms around.

"Hmm," Zhang Xuan nodded.

"What should we do then?" The clone frowned. "Are we really going to destroy this Heavenly Art Lock and release that ruthless man?" He knew the main body must have learned something but clearly didn't want to say.

"If we really try to destroy the Heavenly Art Lock," Zhang Xuan said, shaking his head, "we'll definitely be killed by the altar and become nourishment for the ruthless man inside the lock!"

"Then..."

"We need to find a way to destroy this altar. Once the altar is destroyed, the Heavenly Art Lock should open naturally..." Zhang Xuan said after a moment of thought.

"It's that simple?" The clone sounded disbelieving. The core principle of the Heavenly Art Lock's design was that it couldn't be opened. Destroying the altar would open it... Was that true?

"We can only try," Zhang Xuan said, shaking his head. "Besides, even if we want to break open the Heavenly Art Lock, we must first destroy the altar. Otherwise, there's no way to even get close..."

"That's true..." The altar was guarded by special sword qi, protecting the Heavenly Art Lock. To approach it, they had to destroy the altar first.

Walking closer, Zhang Xuan looked at it. The altar was more complex than any he had seen before. The patterns and writings on it were dazzling, and their purpose was impossible to discern. With a flip of his wrist, he took out a low-grade Saint artifact he had obtained from Qiuwu Palace, which had no spiritual consciousness, and threw it in.

Swish, swish, swish! In the blink of an eye, the Saint artifact was torn to shreds by the sword qi.

The corner of the clone's mouth twitched. Although his physical body could reassemble even if chopped into pieces, his soul was not yet strong enough. If he were to go in, judging by the power of the sword qi, his soul would definitely be obliterated.

As the altar operated, Zhang Xuan closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them again and, with a flip of his palm, took out a pile of formation flags.

"What are you doing with the formation flags?" The clone was puzzled. Weren't they supposed to find a way to destroy the altar? What were these for?

"The person who set up this altar is extremely skilled, having already reached the eight-star level," Zhang Xuan explained. "If we force our way in to break the formation, it will cause the formation to explode, which would be extremely dangerous. Therefore... I plan to use a formation to break a formation!"

"Use a formation to break a formation?" The clone understood. Using a formation to break a formation meant using a new formation to interfere with the operation of the current formation and destroy its structure. It sounded easy, but in reality, it was extremely difficult. The original formation already influenced the surrounding environment. To then set up a new one with similar power to the existing one... the difficulty was unimaginable.

However, the clone knew that since the main body had decided to do this, he must be prepared. He immediately said no more and retreated a few steps back to the stone steps.

Zhang Xuan took a deep breath. His body floated in the air, and his palm suddenly flickered.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The hundreds of formation flags in his palm shot straight out, landing in every corner of the room.

Boom! A grand formation immediately began to operate.

"It's a Star Gathering Formation..." The clone recognized it. It was neither a killing formation nor an illusion formation, but a... Spirit Gathering Formation!

Although this formation hadn't reached the eight-star level, it was at a quasi-eight-star level, using the power of the heavens and stars to gather spiritual energy. Using this to destroy the altar?

"Indeed, it's a good method..." Although he sometimes felt the main body was weak and far less powerful than himself, at this moment, he was utterly impressed.

The altar's power was extremely strong. The main body's strength was insufficient to set up an eight-star formation capable of destroying it. But with a Spirit Gathering Formation of this level, it was different. Gathering spiritual energy for the altar seemed like a composite formation that would make its power even stronger, but... everything had a limit to its capacity. Even things at the eight-star level were no exception.

The altar had originally drawn spiritual energy from an unknown source, and its power was sufficient, requiring no further replenishment... But now, with more and more spiritual energy gathering, it simply couldn't bear the strain.

As he was marveling, he saw the main body, to accelerate the formation's spirit gathering speed, take out tens of thousands of high-grade spirit stones and throw them into the formation.

Rumble! With such a large supply of spiritual energy, the grand formation shook, and the abundant spiritual energy immediately formed a massive energy storm, causing the entire underground palace to shake continuously. The spiritual energy, like a tornado, under the formation's control, drilled straight towards the altar. The previously dormant altar began to operate, its light flickering incessantly, and in the blink of an eye, it expanded continuously like an inflated balloon.

With a violent roar, it could no longer bear the strain and exploded from within.

"It succeeded..." The clone's eyes lit up. Originally, with the Star Gathering Formation's capabilities, destroying the altar would have taken at least a month. But with the main body throwing in so many spirit stones, the speed accelerated by an unknown number of times. In less than an incense stick's time, it was already destroyed.

With the altar destroyed, Zhang Xuan let out a breath of relief and, with a wave of his hand, collected all the formation flags into his ring. Just as he was about to go and check the Heavenly Art Lock, he felt the previous aura of slaughter intensify, and at the same time, a sound of excited maniacal laughter rang out.

"Haha... Zhang Xuan, it seems bringing you here was the right decision! Thank you for helping me break free from my confinement. I, the ruthless one, can finally be like a dragon entering the sea, soaring through the world!"

Accompanying the voice, both Zhang Xuan and his clone felt as if their bodies were instantly bound, and a tremendously vast power threatened to crush them at any moment.

"Oh no... He wasn't inside the Heavenly Art Lock? The altar was what trapped him!" Only then did the clone understand, his face turning deathly pale. Before, when they felt the aura of slaughter emanating from within the Heavenly Art Lock, they instinctively believed that the ruthless one must be inside and that destroying the altar would lead them to him... Now it seemed the altar was the key to trapping him! It had nothing to do with the Heavenly Art Lock.

"Quick, get out of here..." Seemingly having just realized it himself, Zhang Xuan's pupils contracted, and he let out a loud cry. Grabbing his clone and putting it into his storage ring, he fiercely struck out with a palm towards the front.

Rip! The Great Sorrow Heaven Demon Palm was infinitely powerful and instantly tore apart the confined space. With a flicker of his feet, his Boundaryless Traveler technique activated, and his body flashed, already at the end of the stone steps.

Ten breaths later, he had already arrived at the location of Hall Master Xing and the others. At this moment, the others still hadn't found the entrance and were trapped in the underground palace, unable to escape.

"Master Zhang..." Seeing him approach, everyone simultaneously let out a breath of relief.

"Quick, leave!" Zhang Xuan said urgently. The ruthless one had broken free from his shackles and was far beyond anything they could contend with. Their only option now was to escape as quickly as possible.

"There's a Dragon Severing Lock above... How can we leave?" Master Wu asked. When they arrived, the Dragon Severing Lock had already sealed off the exit, making it impossible to get out!

"Don't worry about that, follow me!" Without answering their questions, Zhang Xuan continued to rush forward.

The others quickly followed, passing through the narrow stone steps, and once again saw the Dragon Severing Lock before them, blocking the path, as if trapping everyone there, with no escape.

"What do we do?" Master Wu's face was filled with anxiety.

"If worst comes to worst," Hall Master Xing said, gritting his teeth, "everyone can combine our strength. Even if our nine people's power isn't enough to destroy it, with the enhancement of a combined attack formation, we should still be able to force a way out..."

"That's the only way..." Master Wu nodded. Just as he was about to speak again, he saw Master Zhang in front of him, already at the Dragon Severing Lock, gently stroking its surface with his palm and saying, "Good boy, open quickly, we need to get out..."

Creak! To everyone's astonished gaze, the Dragon Severing Lock, which even peak Ethereal Body realm experts might not be able to open, developed a crack and slowly opened.

"This..." Everyone's eyes widened simultaneously. Once the Dragon Severing Lock closed, no one could leave—this had become an established rule... Yet the person before them had merely touched it and spoken a few words, and it had opened... This was too exaggerated!

"Quick, move!" Zhang Xuan rushed out first. Seeing him leave and knowing this was not the time to dwell on it, they hastily followed, and everyone soon escaped the island.

Rumble! The island's shaking grew increasingly violent. Not daring to stop, they reached the previous island, and just as they found their footing, they saw dirt splash from above the ghost cave, and the entire island began to float upwards. Everyone's eyes widened, their faces turning pale with fright.

It was common knowledge that flying was impossible in the Jibei Marsh. Now, with the entire island floating, it was hard to believe even when witnessing it firsthand.

Creak! Creak! The island flew higher and higher, breaking free from the marsh. Then it flipped ninety degrees, its original surface facing the group, while dirt from the island continuously fell into the marsh.

"This is... a human head?" Suddenly, Hall Master Liao cried out, his body trembling.

Everyone froze, then looked again. As the dirt from the island scattered, the entire island indeed resembled a head flying in the air, with the two pools of water serving as two massive eyes.

"Hahaha, I, the ruthless one, have finally come back to life... How do you wish to die?" With a flicker of its eyes, a colossal voice rang out.

The ruthless one of Jibei Marsh... had finally come to life.