"Ah, no wonder the Amo clan could circle around here without being discovered. They actually got their hands on this kind of map. Now the Tower will be in trouble. With this map, unless they re-establish defenses, the Amo clan's troops will have a clear path through their heartland! Haha, this is going to be quite a show."
Qingqing smacked her lips, looking like she was ready to spectate.
"You all also think the Amo clan's detour here was thanks to this map!" Chu Tian's expression shifted.
The others nodded in agreement.
Sister Hong added that it was an extremely detailed map of the city's defenses, incredibly difficult to obtain. The original, presumably a unique copy, must still be with the Tower clan. Someone must have made a copy. If the original was lost, the Tower clan would surely have re-established defenses.
"Even with this map, it wouldn't have been easy for them to bypass. Gathering such a force would likely require them to come in batches. It probably wouldn't be possible in less than a year or half a year," she stated.
After she finished speaking, Chu Tian confirmed his suspicions. That Moon Scar fellow was definitely up to something. He should have sent the map back to the Amo clan long ago, but he lied to Chu Tian, claiming he was captured before he could deliver it. Although Chu Tian felt angered by the deception, he didn't probe further, acknowledging that everyone had their secrets.
With a mere thought, Chu Tian retrieved the upper two levels of the Nine-Tiered Universe Pagoda and returned them to his dantian. Three days had passed. No matter where Moon Scar was, Chu Tian had already helped him enough.
After circling a considerable distance, Chu Tian and the other four headed towards the mountain range. However, not long after, Chu Tian's divine sense jolted. He stopped abruptly and looked up at the sky.
"What's wrong?" Sister Hong asked.
"There's a barrier formation! And it covers quite a large area; the entire sky is enveloped!" Chu Tian’s divine sense had just been triggered, and he felt it connect with a protective formation.
"A formation? How is that possible? This is the border between the Tower clan and the Shadow clan. They aren't at war... why would a protective barrier be activated?"
"The Tower clan and the Shadow clan have been friends for generations. I don't recall them having any defenses built here!" The four of them spoke one after another, all finding it impossible.
However, Chu Tian was certain; it was indeed a very powerful protective formation. He had encountered many such large-scale defensive formations in the Yin-Yang Realm. But this one, with such immense coverage, was a first for him. Although his divine sense didn't cover such a vast distance currently, he could infer from the strength of this barrier formation that its coverage area was definitely not small.
"What do we do now? This formation should be the Tower clan's border guardian barrier, left behind by the Tower clan's Supreme. If we go through like this, we'll definitely be discovered. Besides, we can't break through such a Supreme-level guardian!" Sister Hong, usually decisive, was at a loss.
"Do we absolutely have to pass through here?" Chu Tian inquired.
"Yes... The area covered by the guardian barrier encompasses the entire Great Domain. Of course, some powerful races have significantly expanded their domains, and their Supreme guardians remain at their original size. The Tower clan, while strong, hasn't expanded its territory. This is already the border. Beyond the mountain range ahead, we'll be completely outside the Tower clan's domain, and the Shadow clan will be there! It seems the Tower clan has encountered a formidable enemy, otherwise, they wouldn't have activated the Supreme guardian. Such guardians are used sparingly, and their consumption is immense!"
After he spoke, Chu Tian understood that they had no choice but to pass through this barrier. There were two options: wait for the guardian to deactivate, or attempt to break through. Chu Tian couldn't wait. If it was over in a day or two, it would be fine, but if it lasted a year or more, he didn't have that much time!
"I'll find a way to open a gap!" Chu Tian said, narrowing his eyes. "No need to say more, it's decided!" Seeing Sister Hong and the others about to speak, Chu Tian knew they intended to dissuade him, so he interrupted them directly.
Staring at the invisible guardian barrier ahead, he mused, "A Supreme barrier, huh... Lin Ran, your items, I wonder if they'll be of any use."
Chu Tian then rummaged through his belongings, pulling out a pile of items—various bottles and jars, talismans, jade tokens, and the like. The others' eyes widened as they recognized these as materials for crafting formation tokens. They thought to themselves, so this guy is also a formation master, no wonder he's so confident. However, they still shook their heads.
Supreme guardians were different from ordinary formations. Ordinary formation masters mobilized the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for their use, transforming it into defenses or offensive measures. Supreme guardians were woven with laws into grand arrays. No formation master in this world dared claim they could break a Supreme guardian, unless that formation master was also a Supreme. However, this fellow came from the ancestral star; perhaps he had some peculiar methods.
But what Chu Tian did next made them gape. He arranged all the items and then took out a book. He then sat down on the ground and began to read it. The book's cover had handwritten characters: "Wan Zhen Jie" (解). The entire book had only three or four pages, thin enough for Chu Tian to hold. Seeing Chu Tian's concentration, he began to read. Sister Hong and the other three's eyes bulged. They thought to themselves, what's going on? Does he have to learn it on the spot? Instantly, the words "utterly unreliable" flooded their minds.
A full three hours passed. During this time, Chu Tian frowned, occasionally showing a look of sudden realization. He painstakingly flipped through the four or five pages, spending the longest time on the last page. After three hours, he finally closed the thin book.
Seeing him close the book, the vigilant companions quickly gathered around. Although they felt it was unreliable, they had no other choice. The intelligence they had gathered for their mission was crucial, and they urgently needed to deliver it to the Yanhuang Great Domain. They could only place their hopes on Chu Tian.
"How is it? How is it?" Qingqing, being the more impatient one, asked directly.
Chu Tian didn't speak but smiled mysteriously. He waved his hand and put away all the bottles and jars he had previously taken out. Seeing him do this, everyone looked disheartened, assuming Chu Tian had given up.
"Let's go, get closer!" he said, taking the lead and flying forward. Sister Hong and the others exchanged glances, showing their helplessness, and followed closely behind Chu Tian.
After traveling about ten kilometers, Chu Tian stopped. Before him was a region with imperceptible fluctuations. Even Sister Hong and the others could see it now, though it was very subtle. Without careful observation, one would blunder straight into it.