Chapter 741: Stone Pillars

"Master He, Master Ye, let's rest a bit in this Qingwan City before heading to that ancient cave dwelling. It's not far from here, but I worry that delays may lead to complications; better to enter sooner."

Ying Tianya and his party arrived via teleportation array at a neighboring city called Qingwan City.

But after arriving, Ying Tianya seemed reluctant to linger in the city. Whether he was worried about his junior brother or had other reasons was unclear.

Ye Yuan and the others had no objections to this.

For this trip, Ying Tianya brought Luo Fang and several attendants at the Infinite Realm late stage, a group of eight or nine people quite conspicuous.

As for He Shuming, the Tianyuan Trading Company had also sent a Heavenly Initiation Realm martial artist to protect him.

Among this group, there were as many as five Heavenly Initiation Realm experts.

Of course, He Shuming, though at the Heavenly Initiation Realm, was essentially useless—better than nothing.

Along the way, He Shuming naturally glared coldly at Ye Yuan, but Ye Yuan acted indifferent.

He simply didn't care about such meaningless provocations.

As long as the Heavenly Initiation Realm martial artist he brought couldn't beat Jun Tianyu, no one would dare touch him.

After some guidance from Ye Yuan, Jun Tianyu had finally advanced a level in sword intent.

Though he still hadn't comprehended the Supreme True Meaning, he had found the path to understanding it.

After a brief rest, the group directly left the city and headed for the ancient cave dwelling.

The ancient cave dwelling was located in a mountain range. Ying Tianya, through some means, directly found the entrance to the cave.

To be precise, it was a cliff face.

The crowd looked for a long time but found no entrance, only cold rock.

Ying Tianya frowned and said, "How can this be? It should be here, why is there no entrance?"

He Shuming said, "City Lord, could there be a mistake?"

Ying Tianya slowly shook his head and said, "The location my junior brother passed on to me is definitely here, but without an entrance, how did he get in? Everyone spread out and look for something resembling an entrance."

The attendants he brought scattered, searching the surroundings for the entrance to the ancient cave dwelling.

Soon, someone called out, "City Lord, there's a patch of stone pillars here!"

The crowd went over and indeed saw a field of stone pillars covering an area of fifty zhang in diameter.

"It's a formation! Once we break the formation, we can enter the cave dwelling!" He Shuming said excitedly.

For this expedition into the ancient cave dwelling, Ying Tianya had made heavy promises. Not only would he give He Shuming a large reward, but anything obtained on this trip would belong to He Shuming himself.

So He Shuming was quite enthusiastic about this adventure.

To be fair, He Shuming was indeed a skilled alchemist. Not only had he reached the Saint Alchemist level in alchemy, but he had also reached the seventh rank in formation dao. So he recognized at a glance that these stone pillars were a formation.

Ying Tianya was overjoyed and said, "Master He, can you break this formation?"

He Shuming smiled and said, "Leave it to me! If even I can't do it, everyone will just have to stare helplessly. But... City Lord, this task wasn't included in our agreement!"

Among those present, he was the only seventh-rank formation master. If even he couldn't do it, then truly no one could.

But He Shuming didn't know that among this group was a ninth-rank formation master.

He Shuming's view was similar to Jun Tianyu's: Ye Yuan had extremely high attainments in alchemy but was likely a dunce in other areas.

Ye Yuan naturally recognized at a glance that these stone pillars formed a formation, but he had never seen this particular formation before.

Moreover, Ye Yuan could see that although this formation was not high in rank, there were several places where mistakes were easily made.

The person who set up the formation had clearly intended to mislead others.

Ye Yuan had originally planned to step in, but seeing He Shuming so eager, he kept his mouth shut.

He was the weakest on this trip, so it was better to keep a low profile.

If He Shuming could really break the formation, that would be fine. If not, he could step in later.

But since the cave dwelling's owner had set so many traps, this group was likely in for some hardship.

He Shuming's price gouging naturally annoyed Ying Tianya.

But at this moment, where could he find another formation master?

"Master He, rest assured. Once I rescue my junior brother, I'll add another ten percent to your promised reward!" Ying Tianya said.

He Shuming was overjoyed and said, "Hey, the City Lord is truly straightforward! I'll break the formation right away!"

With that, he walked into the middle of the stone pillars and directly pressed a taller pillar into the ground.

These stone pillars varied in height and thickness. The method to break the formation was to press down certain key pillars.

This area, about a thousand pillars, formed a rather intricate formation.

After pressing down one pillar, He Shuming paused for a moment, then found another and pressed it down.

When Ye Yuan saw the first pillar He Shuming pressed, he shook his head slightly.

Jun Tianyu noticed this subtle movement and quietly asked, "What's wrong? Is He Shuming doing something wrong?"

Ye Yuan smiled and said, "Very wrong. This guy talked so big, I thought he had some skill, but he made a mistake on the first step! Be careful in a moment; something might happen."

Jun Tianyu was inwardly startled and secretly went on alert.

He hadn't expected Ye Yuan to be proficient in formation dao as well!

Was there anything this guy couldn't do?

Jun Tianyu didn't doubt Ye Yuan's words, having long witnessed his prowess.

"Crack..."

He Shuming pressed down another stone pillar, and suddenly something was triggered. Everyone's expression changed.

"Not good! Everyone be careful!" Ying Tianya shouted.

Before his words faded, countless arrows shot out from all directions, weaving into a dense net that enveloped everyone!

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."

The arrows were extremely powerful, requiring even Heavenly Initiation Realm experts to be cautious.

"You few, come close to me!" Ying Tianya said to his Infinite Realm attendants.

At this moment, Ye Yuan finally witnessed Ying Tianya's strength.

He suddenly released his Yuan power, directly enveloping those attendants.

Countless arrows pierced his Yuan power barrier but became weak and harmless.

However, He Shuming was not so strong.

Though also at the Heavenly Initiation Realm, his strength was too poor.

His Yuan power barrier could also block the arrows, but it caused him considerable damage, even with the Heavenly Initiation Realm expert he brought blocking most of the arrows.

The arrows lasted about a quarter of an hour before finally stopping.

He Shuming's clothes were riddled with holes like a beehive, and he himself had suffered significant external injuries, looking utterly disheveled.

What made it more embarrassing was that he had just sworn to break the formation, only to end up like this. His face burned with shame.