Chapter 1224: Releasing the Ruthless One

Soon after finishing reading the books, Zhang Xuan let out a breath.

After a moment of contemplation, he walked to a corner of the room and sat down cross-legged.

After an unknown amount of time, his clone approached, full of doubt: "What are you doing?"

"Whenever I encounter a problem I can't solve, I like to face the wall and think, contemplating the universe and the vicissitudes of life..." Turning his head, Zhang Xuan's face was slightly pale.

"Face the wall and think? The universe and vicissitudes?"

The clone was utterly bewildered.

When did I ever have this skill?

Why have I never known about it before?

Though he didn't understand what was going on, he knew that the original body must have his own purpose for doing this, so he said no more: "I'll take a look around; you continue..."

With that, he turned and left.

After about an hour, Zhang Xuan let out a breath and stood up.

His eyes were now somewhat bloodshot, as if mentally exhausted; he swayed a few times and nearly collapsed.

The clone quickly came to his side and supported him, steadying him.

"I'm fine!"

Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan circulated the Heavenly Dao True Energy through three cycles, and only then did he feel much better.

"I've checked the entire area; aside from these things, there are no more mechanisms. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the lowest level of the island!"

Seeing him recover, the clone lowered his voice.

Over the past hour, he had examined the entire surroundings.

Having absorbed the original body's knowledge from this period, his understanding of formations and Heavenly Works had reached the peak of Seven Stars. If even he couldn't find any issues, it meant there were likely no more mechanisms around.

"Mm," Zhang Xuan nodded.

"Then what do we do?" the clone frowned. "Are we really going to destroy this Heavenly Works Lock and release the Ruthless One?"

He knew the original body must have learned something but clearly didn't want to say.

"If we actually try to destroy the Heavenly Works Lock, we'll definitely be killed by the altar and become nourishment for the Ruthless One inside the lock!" Zhang Xuan shook his head.

"Then..."

"Find a way to destroy this altar. Once the altar is destroyed, the Heavenly Works Lock should naturally open..." After a moment of thought, Zhang Xuan said.

"That simple?" The clone found it hard to believe.

The Heavenly Works Lock was designed to be unopenable. Destroying the altar would open it... Was that true or false?

"We can only try. Besides, even if we want to break the Heavenly Works Lock, we must first destroy the altar; otherwise, there's no way to get close..." Zhang Xuan shook his head.

"That's true..."

The altar had special sword qi guarding the Heavenly Works Lock. To get close, they had to destroy it first.

Approaching, Zhang Xuan looked at it.

The altar was even more complex than the one he had seen before, with dizzying patterns and inscriptions whose functions were impossible to discern.

With a flick of his wrist, he took out a low-grade saint artifact without spirituality, obtained from the Qiuwu Palace, and tossed it in.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

In the blink of an eye, the saint artifact was shredded by the sword qi.

The clone's mouth twitched.

Although his physical body could be reconstituted even if chopped to pieces, his soul was not yet strong enough. If he went in, given the power of this sword qi, his soul would surely be obliterated.

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

"What are you doing with formation flags?"

The clone was puzzled.

Weren't they trying to destroy the altar?

What use were these?

"The person who set up this altar was extremely skilled, having reached the Eight-Star level. If we charged in to break the formation, it would trigger an explosion, extremely dangerous. So... I plan to use a formation to break the formation!"

Zhang Xuan said.

"Use a formation to break the formation?" The clone understood.

Using a formation to break a formation meant deploying a new formation to interfere with the current one's operation and disrupt its structure.

Easier said than done.

The existing formation already affected the environment; setting up a new one with comparable power was incredibly difficult.

However, the clone knew that since the original body had decided to do this, he must be prepared, so he said no more and stepped back to the stone steps.

Zhang Xuan took a deep breath, his body floating in the air, and suddenly shook his hand.

Whir, whir, whir, whir!

The hundred or so formation flags in his palm shot out straight and landed in every corner of the room.

Rumble!

A great formation immediately began to operate.

"It's the 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 eighth level, it was at the quasi-eighth level, using the power of the stars to gather spiritual energy.

Using this to destroy the altar?

"It really is a good idea..."

Though he sometimes thought the original body was weak, far inferior to him in strength, at this moment, he was utterly impressed.

The altar's power was immense, and the original body's strength was insufficient to set up an eighth-level formation capable of destroying it. But with this level of Star Gathering Formation, things were different.

Gathering spiritual energy for the altar seemed like a composite formation that would make it more powerful, but... everything has a limit to what it can withstand.

Even an Eight-Star level item was no exception.

Originally, the altar drew spiritual energy from somewhere, with ample power and no need for more. But now, the gathered spiritual energy was increasing, and it couldn't bear it.

While he was marveling, he saw the original body, to speed up the formation's spirit gathering, take out ten thousand high-grade spirit stones and toss them into the formation.

Rumble!

With so much spiritual energy supplementing it, the formation shook violently, and the abundant spiritual energy immediately formed a massive energy storm, causing the entire underground palace to tremble incessantly.

Under the formation's control, the tornado-like spiritual energy drilled straight into the altar.

The previously dormant altar began to operate, its light flickering continuously. In the blink of an eye, it swelled like an inflated balloon.

Boom!

With a violent roar, it could no longer withstand the pressure and exploded from within.

"Success..."

The clone's eyes lit up.

Originally, with the Star Gathering Formation's power, destroying the altar would have taken at least a month. But the original body's addition of so many spirit stones accelerated the process countless times.

In less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, it was already destroyed.

With the altar destroyed, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. He waved his hand to collect all the formation flags into his ring. Just as he was about to approach the Heavenly Works Lock, he felt the killing intent grow even stronger, and an excited, maniacal laughter rang out.

"Haha... Zhang Xuan, it seems luring you here was the right move! Thank you for helping me break the seal. I, the Ruthless One, can finally return to the sea and roam the world!"

With the voice, both the original body and the clone felt as if they were instantly restrained, an immense power ready to crush them.

"Damn... He wasn't inside the Heavenly Works Lock? What trapped him... was the altar!"

The clone finally understood, his face turning pale.

Earlier, sensing the killing intent emanating from the Heavenly Works Lock, he instinctively assumed the Ruthless One was inside, and destroying the altar would reveal him. Now it seemed the altar was the key to trapping him!

It had nothing to do with the Heavenly Works Lock.

"Get out quickly!"

Seeming to have just realized this, Zhang Xuan's pupils contracted. He shouted, grabbed the clone and put him into his storage ring, then suddenly struck forward with his palm.

Rip!

The Great Compassion Demon Palm, immensely powerful, tore through the restrained space. With a flicker of his feet, he activated Traveler Without Boundaries, and in a flash, he was at the end of the stone steps.

After ten breaths, he had reached the place where Xing Tangzhu and the others were.

At this moment, the group still hadn't found the entrance and were trapped in the underground palace, unable to escape.

"Teacher Zhang..."

Seeing him arrive, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Leave quickly!"

Zhang Xuan urged.

The Ruthless One had broken free; they were no match for him. The only option was to flee as fast as possible.

"There's a Dragon-Slaying Lock above... How do we get out?" Wu Shi said.

When they came in, the Dragon-Slaying Lock had sealed the exit; they couldn't get out!

"Don't worry about that; follow me!"

Without answering their questions, Zhang Xuan continued rushing forward.

The group followed closely. After passing through the long stone steps, they saw the Dragon-Slaying Lock blocking the path again, as if trapping them here with no escape.

"What now?"

Wu Shi was frantic.

"If all else fails, we combine our strength. Even if the nine of us can't destroy it, with the boost from the combined attack formation, we should be able to carve out a path..."

Xing Tangzhu gritted his teeth.

"We have no choice..." Wu Shi nodded and was about to continue when he saw Teacher Zhang approach the Dragon-Slaying Lock, gently touch it, and say, "Be good, open up quickly. We need to get out..."

Creak!

To everyone's astonishment, the Dragon-Slaying Lock, which even peak Out-of-Body realm experts might not be able to open, cracked and slowly opened.

"This..."

Everyone's eyes widened.

Once the Dragon-Slaying Lock fell, no one could escape—that was a known fact. This man just touched it, said a few words, and it opened...

Too incredible!

"Quick, go!"

Zhang Xuan dashed out first.

Seeing him leave, knowing this was not the time to dwell on it, the others hurriedly followed. Soon, they all escaped the island.

Rumble!

The island shook more and more violently. Not daring to stop, they reached the previous island. Just as they steadied themselves, they saw mud and dirt flying from the Ghost Cave, and the entire island rose into the air.

Everyone's eyes bulged, their faces turning pale with fear.

It was common knowledge that one couldn't fly in the Jibei Swamp. Now, seeing the entire island floating, even witnessing it with their own eyes, it was hard to believe.

Creak! Creak!

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

"Is that... a human head?"

Suddenly, Liao Dianzhu shouted, his body trembling.

The group was startled. Looking again, as the dirt scattered, the entire island indeed resembled a head flying in the air, with the two springs as its huge eyes.

"Haha, I, the Ruthless One, am finally alive... How do you want to die?"

With a flash of the eyes, a huge voice rang out.

The Ruthless One of the Jibei Swamp... had finally come to life.