Chapter 663: A Shoe

"If all else fails, I'll use this!" With a flick of his wrist, he took out the spirit stone he had received as a reward from the Master Teacher Tournament.

A high-grade spirit stone contained astonishing spiritual energy. If things truly became desperate, he could only use this item first to rapidly enhance his physical body.

Boom! As he was thinking, he felt another tremor, followed by chaotic and noisy sounds from above the pool.

Immediately, countless streams of true qi surged down from above, causing the pool, which had already lost its spiritual energy, to become turbulent once more.

"This..." Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

He had been wondering how to make the pool water contain spiritual energy again, and now someone was sending true qi down. It was like getting a pillow when you're sleepy, or food when you're hungry!

"Moreover, this was true qi, which was refined spiritual energy, making it much easier to absorb."

If he simply used spirit stones, the spiritual energy within them wasn't 'tamed', making it inconvenient for the physical body to absorb. True qi was different!

True qi was refined by cultivators, like purified medicinal liquid, which could be absorbed directly without the hassle of purification.

"Could it be that the people above knew I needed to enhance my physical strength and deliberately sent true qi down?"

Scratching his head, Zhang Xuan was puzzled.

He had been so engrossed in researching how the soul enters the physical body that he hadn't paid attention to what was happening above. Could it be that these people knew he needed spiritual energy and, without hesitation, expended their own true qi to inject it into the pool?

That would be truly embarrassing!

Moved by this thought, Zhang Xuan turned to look at his clone.

"Go, draw up the Earth's Core Fire, while I search for the most suitable place to temper my physical body!"

"Alright!" The clone nodded and, with a leap, swam directly towards the bottom of the pool.

As a divine object, the Nine Heavens Lotus Embryo was impervious to heat and cold. Although the Earth's Core Fire was powerful, it could not cause him any harm.

With the clone gone, Zhang Xuan's main soul body, accompanied by his physical body, searched the spiritual energy pool for the most suitable place to temper his physical body.

At present, although his physical body was stiff and immobile, he could still use it to find the most suitable position.

Soon after, Zhang Xuan stopped, controlled his physical body to sit cross-legged, and after a long effort, managed to open all the pores on his body. Only then did he feel a wave of coolness as countless scattered true qi streams from his surroundings rapidly surged into his body.

Heavenly Dao True Qi was formed by the most fundamental and correct cultivation method. It had no specific attribute and could merge with true qi of any attribute. Therefore, even though the surrounding aura was mixed, it had no effect on him.

As soon as it entered his body and flowed into his dantian, it would automatically purify itself, transforming the slightly turbid aura into the purest Heavenly Dao True Qi.

Under the tempering of these auras, his body also became increasingly resilient.

"President Wu, have you found a solution?" Master Wei couldn't help but ask, seeing President Wu circling with his compass for several turns without speaking.

"Don't rush," President Wu said, his brows furrowed into a knot. "This is a Level 6 grand formation; even with my strength, I can only reinforce it. To alter it is difficult!"

He was only a peak 5-star master teacher and couldn't set up a Level 6 grand formation. Even using all his strength, he could only maintain it. Trying to alter it by leveraging the already changed terrain was still quite difficult.

"Then what do we do? We can't just keep injecting true qi indefinitely!" Master Wei said.

Injecting true qi into the pool could alleviate the immediate crisis, but it certainly wouldn't be enough to completely control the current situation.

"Give me some time!" President Wu waved his hand. "Although infusing true qi is a last resort, the actual consumption isn't very great. With so many of you, you should be able to last for an hour!"

The Cleansing Pool itself contained spiritual energy and inherently possessed the ability to accommodate spiritual energy. Though troublesome, infusing true qi could be sustained for a considerable period. Within this time, he might be able to find a solution and successfully repair the grand formation!

"Alright..." Knowing there was no other option for now, Master Wei nodded. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Ye Wentian's expression change on the side. "Master Wei, President Wu, look..."

As his words ended, they saw a violent tremor at the very center of the Cleansing Pool before them, and a massive whirlpool appeared.

Swish! The whirlpool grew larger and larger, and the true qi they had just injected into the pool seemed to be swallowed up, vanishing completely.

"It seems to be devouring the true qi...""It is! My true qi is gone too...""True qi maintains the balance, preventing the grand formation from collapsing. Once it's all swallowed..."

Everyone looked at each other, their eyes wide with shock.

What's happening? Wasn't this place previously a storage for spiritual energy, possessing the ability to accommodate it? How did it turn into a devourer in the blink of an eye?

"President Wu... the pool is devouring the true qi. I'm afraid... we won't last an hour!" Master Wei swallowed hard and turned his head.

"Then... how long can we last?" President Wu's eyebrows twitched.

"Ten minutes at most!" Master Wei said after calculating everyone's strength.

"Ten minutes?" His face distorted, President Wu gritted his teeth. "Ten minutes will have to do! As long as the Earth's Core Fire below doesn't surge up, we'll be safe. I'll try to find a solution within this time. If not..."

As he spoke, he looked down at his compass, searching for directions, when suddenly the ground trembled again.

"What's wrong now?" He quickly turned his head to see Master Wei and Ye Wentian looking at him with long faces. "It seems... the Earth's Core Fire is surging up!"

"..." President Wu's vision went black.

What kind of luck was this! He had just thought the Cleansing Pool could accommodate spiritual energy, and that their injected true qi could sustain it for a while, but then the true qi was devoured. He had just said that as long as the Earth's Core Fire didn't surge up, it wouldn't be a failure, and then the Earth Fire surged up...

Good heavens, are you determined not to rest until we're dead?!

Boom! Amidst his profound frustration, the surging Earth Fire threatened to burst out of the pool, causing the Cleansing Pool to churn violently once more. An elder could no longer control himself, spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, and flew backward.

The formation flag in front of him also snapped in half with a 'crack!'

"It's over..." His face paled, and President Wu couldn't help but stagger back two steps.

Without spiritual energy to maintain it, the formation was already uncontrollable. Now that the Earth's Core Fire had surged up, it could be said... there was no hope of stopping the volcanic eruption.

"Quickly, let's leave..." Waving his hand, President Wu looked utterly dejected.

If they couldn't stop the volcano, the entire Phantom Feather Empire's capital would fall into disaster, and countless lives would be lost.

"Is there truly no other way?" Ye Wentian gritted his teeth.

"None, unless..." President Wu thought of something, then immediately shook his head. "However, that's impossible to achieve!"

"Unless what?" Ye Wentian and Master Wei looked over simultaneously.

"Alas, it can't be done?" President Wu's face was filled with despair.

"Tell us about it," Ye Wentian urged, his face filled with urgency. "Perhaps we can all work together to find a way!"

With the Earth's Core Fire surging up, they estimated they couldn't even last three more minutes. If there was any method, they had to fight for it; they couldn't just stand by and watch billions of lives perish before their eyes.

"Mount Qingji, Dragon Scale River, and the earth's meridians had maintained their stability for so many years thanks to a balance sustained by a formation. But... a formation is, after all, man-made, an external force... If we could find the intersection point of these three powers and guide them so they mutually generate and counter-act each other, then even without a formation, they could remain stable!"

"It's just... there's definitely not enough time. Furthermore, this intersection point... involves the entire mountain, the entire river, and the entire earth's meridians. It's impossible to deduce. If we get it wrong, it will backfire, leading to a massive backlash..."

President Wu said.

Master Wei and Ye Wentian were both speechless.

They understood his meaning.

The previous formation suppressed the converging forces of the three, creating a cultivation holy land. In reality, it merely used the formation to maintain a balance.

If they could find the balance point of these three forces and make them mutually generate and counteract each other, it could achieve the same effect.

But... how could they find this point?

Leaving aside that Mount Qingji and Dragon Scale River stretch for tens of thousands of kilometers, the earth's meridians, deeply hidden underground, were inaccessible and untraceable. How could one know their size or strength?

Even a small error in analysis wouldn't lead to mutual generation and counteraction, but rather collapse... and the disaster would be even greater!

This was like stacking coins vertically; even a slight deviation would cause a collapse... And this so-called balance point was simply impossible to control!

What's more, there was no time now!

With the Earth's Core Fire erupting, the true qi they injected being devoured, and the formation flags destroyed... this place would likely become ruins in less than three minutes, with nothing left intact.

"Quickly, tell them to leave, the farther the better..."

President Wu waved his hand.

"Yes!" Understanding his meaning and knowing that there truly was no other way this time, Ye Wentian quickly gave orders.

Whoosh! Hearing the command, the beast tamers present waved their hands, and seven or eight flying spirit beasts flew straight towards them.

Knowing the danger, he had already instructed people to prepare.

"Everyone, quickly get on the beasts' backs..." With a shouted command, Ye Wentian hastily called out to everyone, but before his words finished, the ground violently rumbled once more.

Boom! This tremor was even greater. The pool seemed to be lifted instantly, and a scorching flame, like a giant dragon, could no longer be contained, threatening to burst out from beneath the pool at any moment.

"If we just leave like this, what about Master Zhang?" Master Hong couldn't help but ask, seeing that it was about to explode.

"It's too late! Hurry and go..." Ye Wentian roared.

Boom! Before his words had even finished, the fire dragon below surged skyward, and everyone felt a blast of hot air, their bodies nearly scorched.

"It's too late... we can't leave anymore..." They had thought they could last another three minutes, but unexpectedly, it completely erupted before anyone could even jump onto the beasts' backs. Ye Wentian instinctively felt his heart clench, and he closed his eyes, awaiting death.

"Wait, look! How is there someone in the flames?" After a moment, not feeling engulfed by flames, and in confusion, he heard someone in the crowd shout.

Ye Wentian quickly looked up and saw above the surging fire dragon, a figure standing suspended in mid-air, with eyes like lightning and an expression as cold as frost.

Filled with surprise, he saw this person take off a shoe and casually toss it.

Whoosh! The fire dragon immediately subsided, and the conflicting forces of Mount Qingji, Dragon Scale River, and the earth's meridians... immediately stabilized.