"..."
The Fourth Elder's face was practically purple, but he dared not speak his mind.
He finally took a deep breath, and shamelessly followed the two.
The Seventh Elder swung her sword again.
The Fourth Elder could only leave in dejection.
"What did he say?" Upon seeing the Fourth Elder return, the Sect Master of the Wujin Sect hurriedly asked.
"He... should have a way. He's already gone to try it." The Fourth Elder quickly replied.
As for being cornered earlier, he naturally couldn't mention it.
The Sect Master of the Wujin Sect didn't ask further and plunged back into the battle.
Five minutes later.
Ye Fan and the Seventh Elder stopped.
The surroundings were still enveloped in white mist. This place seemed to have nothing special about it.
Ye Fan squatted down and extended the index finger of his right hand.
After guiding the surrounding spiritual energy to his finger, Ye Fan began to draw on the ground.
One by one, runes that emitted a faint golden light were inscribed by Ye Fan onto the ground.
The Seventh Elder naturally couldn't understand what Ye Fan was writing.
She couldn't comprehend any of the talismans; each one seemed more profound and complex than the last.
In any case, it felt very powerful.
As the last stroke fell, a slight cracking sound came from the ground.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
The ground covered by the runes began to split at a visible speed!
A muffled sound came from underground, as if something was about to emerge!
The Seventh Elder grabbed Ye Fan with her arms and retreated rapidly.
"Seventh Elder, there's no danger yet..." Ye Fan said with annoyance, "You can put me down now..."
The way the Seventh Elder had grabbed him earlier almost sent him tumbling into a ditch.
"Oh, oh..."
The Seventh Elder's face flushed with embarrassment, and she quickly brought Ye Fan back down to the ground.
"Rumble..."
With a slight tremor, a stone pillar burst forth from the earth!
The stone pillar was about a foot thick and as tall as a person.
It was densely inscribed with runes, making the Seventh Elder's scalp tingle.
Ye Fan looked at the pillar.
Energy recirculation twenty-four...
Constructed based on Yun Fei's theory...
Concealment rune system...
Guardian summoning...
...
Understood!
It was the fourteenth-tier Desperate Path of Lost!
Once he understood what kind of illusion formation it was, the rest became simple.
"Seventh Elder, when I'm deciphering it later, demonic beasts will attack around the stone pillar," Ye Fan warned. "I'll have to trouble you to protect me then."
"No problem!" the Seventh Elder quickly replied.
"Also, after I break this stone pillar, a large wave of demonic beasts will attack. Please be prepared in advance."
"Okay!"
After giving instructions, Ye Fan got busy with the stone pillar.
The first thing to do was to sever the twenty-four energy recirculation points.
This step was not difficult, it just took some time.
Ye Fan once again drew spiritual energy from his surroundings and used his finger to draw on the stone pillar.
With three severing runes, the first energy recirculation was rendered useless!
Then came the second, the third...
By the time the fourth energy recirculation was cut off, a surge of demonic energy suddenly fluctuated around them!
Fortunately, Ye Fan had warned them beforehand, and the Seventh Elder counterattacked immediately!
Although she still couldn't see the demonic beasts' bodies, she could still pinpoint their targets based on the fluctuations of their demonic energy.
The demonic beasts' attacks were not very strong, but they were incredibly fast!
The Seventh Elder found it difficult to cope.
Suddenly!
The demonic beasts' attacks skillfully bypassed the Seventh Elder and went straight for Ye Fan!
The gust of wind stirred by their movement blew Ye Fan's hair about!
Even Ye Fan's left cheek was cut by the wind pressure!
Ye Fan seemed oblivious, still concentrating on deciphering the runes on the stone pillar.
In reality, he wasn't unaware; he simply couldn't afford to be distracted at the moment!
If he stopped now, all his efforts would be in vain!
Of course.
The main reason was that with his current meager combat power, he couldn't dodge it at all.
So, he could only gamble...
Fortunately, Ye Fan's gamble paid off.
At the critical moment, the Seventh Elder's sword caught up!
"Whoosh!"
The sword's blade met with resistance, as if cutting through something, but the demonic beasts' forms were still invisible.
As time passed, Ye Fan finally deciphered the last energy recirculation.
During this period, the Seventh Elder had dealt with six waves of invisible demonic beasts.
Although they eventually won, the process was incredibly perilous.
It felt like walking a tightrope every moment!
Even the slightest mistake, and he and Ye Fan would be finished!
After severing all the energy recirculation points, Ye Fan began to decipher the remaining runes.
Fortunately, no more demonic beasts appeared, and the Seventh Elder could finally catch her breath.
In fact, the difficulty of deciphering the remaining runes was much higher than the energy recirculation points. The formation setter had embedded several incredibly insidious traps within them!
Any mistake would lead to eternal damnation!
Compared to these, the invisible demonic beasts earlier were merely an appetizer.
If it were an ordinary fourteenth-tier formation master, their scalp would probably have exploded from fear!
However, they had encountered Ye Fan, this monstrous talent.
Deciphering fourteenth-tier runes for him was, at most, equivalent to upgrading from 1+1 to the multiplication table.
The most dangerous part had become completely non-threatening.
After the final stroke, Ye Fan quickly retreated to the side.
"Now!"
"Crash!"
As his voice fell, the entire stone pillar collapsed!
Where the stone pillar had been, a black vortex appeared, and dozens of demonic beasts of various forms surged out instantly!
It had to be said that the person who set up the formation was truly dark-hearted.
The deciphering of the stone pillar was like a key – the key to opening this summoning vortex!
This was also what made Ye Fan feel so annoyed.
If he had enough time, he could still have dealt with this trap.
But the problem was, he didn't have the time to do so now.
The Seventh Elder scooped Ye Fan up with her left hand and retreated rapidly.
With her right hand, her sword unleashed an attack towards the demonic beasts!
Ye Fan clung tightly to her waist, feeling extremely nervous.
From this point on, his knowledge of formations would be useless; everything would depend on the Seventh Elder's performance.
As a precaution, Ye Fan activated the defensive measures on his Daoist robe.
Before coming here, he had inscribed some small defensive formations on his robe.
However, limited by the quality of the materials, the defensive capabilities were not very high.
Doing this now was more for psychological comfort.
Seventh Elder, oh Seventh Elder, you must be strong!
The demonic beasts that appeared this time were not invisible, which should have been good news.
However, the Seventh Elder couldn't feel happy at all.
For no other reason than they were too ferocious!
These demonic beasts were not only as fast as her but their attacks were much more ferocious than the previous ones!
After only a few exchanges, her wrists began to feel numb.
At this moment, a small, round mass of flesh flew towards her!
She didn't recognize what it was, as it seemed to be just a ball of meat.
The Seventh Elder instinctively swung her sword to slash at it.
The meatball did not dodge, its stance incredibly resolute!
"Sizzle!"
The sword energy easily sliced through the meatball.
A fierce energy fluctuation instantly erupted from within the meatball!
"Oh no..."
The Seventh Elder's expression changed. She turned, clutching Ye Fan, and rapidly flew away!
"Boom—!"