The sudden change caused a surge of crisis in the hearts of all the Sovereigns, along with immense bewilderment.

They couldn't understand how they had triggered the danger of the Seven Stars Lamp Array.

Zhang Yuanqing immediately embraced his aunt, who was clad in rattan armor, activating the skills of the Blazing Sun War God and the defensive form of the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon. Simultaneously, he raised his left hand and snapped his fingers in quick succession, unleashing nihilistic energy.

Level 7 Sovereigns were most adept at turning spiritual power into nothingness. The all-encompassing, plummeting sword energy clearly weakened by a notch. The Demon Eye Heavenly King manifested his three heads and eight arms, his eight dragon-like arms bulging with muscles.

He wielded weapons like knives, spears, staves, and clubs, creating an impenetrable defense. The torrential sword energy was partly shattered and deflected by him, while the remaining portion pierced through his defenses, leaving behind penetrating wounds and bone-severing injuries.

Princess Yinyao blocked and dodged some of the sword energy, but the descending rain of swords was simply too much. Soon, her head was chopped off, and her arms were severed, leaving her looking like a dismembered, beautiful doll.

The first wave of sword rain quickly ended. The seven stars lamps floating overhead came to a halt, and the atmosphere returned to calm.

Zhang Yuanqing released the Palace Master Zhisha. His left ear and left shoulder had been shattered and pierced by the sword rain from the sky, and he had several non-life-threatening sword wounds on his body.

The Demon Eye Heavenly King grabbed a blood-colored dagger from his inventory and took a deep breath like an addict. Wisps of blood mist emanated from the dagger and flowed into his nostrils.

The blood color of the dagger rapidly faded, while the Demon Eye Heavenly King's injuries healed at an accelerated pace.

This was the Blood Bank regularly prepared by the Bewitching Imp. The profession's weapon had the function of devouring and storing essence blood, perfectly complementing the Bewitching Imp's bloodthirsty and berserk skills, adding to their endurance.

The Demon Eye rarely used Blood Frenzy, as there were few people in reality who could push him to this point.

Among the group, only Fu Qingyang remained unscathed. His white suit was spotless, in stark contrast to the blood-stained refugees.

He was already in the mid-stage of Level 8, and coupled with the augmentation of the Swordmaster's Cloak, he was fully capable of handling sword energy from the same profession.

However, Fu Qingyang's expression showed no sign of relief, and was even quite grave. "Princess Yinyao is offline." Zhang Yuanqing sighed and took out Little Red Riding Hood's basket to collect the princess's severed arms, torso, and head.

During the process, he saw a hint of resentment in those eerie red eyes. Even without Clairvoyance, Zhang Yuanqing understood Princess Yinyao's thoughts at that moment: *I finally advanced to Sovereign, but you're always fighting high-level battles.*

As a Sovereign-level Yin spirit, Princess Yinyao would not die from this, but she had temporarily gone offline due to the lack of vitality.

Yin spirits could not repair their bodies through Life Source Elixir. Xiahou Aotian retrieved his damaged Sovereign-level props into his inventory, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"My defensive props are damaged. It will take an hour to repair them. But based on the patterns I've observed, the Seven Stars Lamp Array will move again in five minutes."

Moving meant that the rain of swords would descend. As a living target, he would undoubtedly be sent to his death.

This was the reason for Fu Qingyang's solemn expression.

Although he wasn't afraid of sword energy, his teammates were not.

And if his teammates died in the array, it would be difficult for him alone to defeat the final boss.

"Too bad my Gluttonous Beast is already full!" Zhang Yuanqing sighed.

The Gluttonous Beast was currently in the first stage of devouring matter. As long as he didn't use the devouring matter state, it would remain in a standby state until the Gluttonous Beast's penalty refreshed after 24 hours, and it began to demand energy, ending the standby state.

"Palace Master Zhisha can revive us once, which is our last trump card. If we can't break the array, being revived will only mean dying again!"

Fu Qingyang's mind raced. "Yuanshi, do you have any ideas?"

Zhang Yuanqing furrowed his brow. "I don't understand formations, so I can't offer any ideas. But I can summarize the patterns for Xiahou Aotian to help analyze the details, which might be useful."

He looked at Xiahou Aotian and said, "Our current location is also Kaiyang in the Big Dipper. The Kaiyang lamp array has three rules. First, walking cannot exceed a distance of five steps, otherwise, Kongming lanterns will descend as a warning. Second, you cannot leave the area covered by the lamplight."

"This may be the rule for the entire lamp array. Third, every five minutes or so, the Seven Stars Lamps will change their orientation, and during this period, a rain of swords will fall."

Xiahou Aotian frowned and thought, standing there without saying a word.

"We have four minutes until the second wave of sword rain arrives," Zhang Yuanqing said.

Everyone remained silent, each deep in thought.

"Three minutes left," Zhang Yuanqing reminded, timing.

Palace Master Zhisha, who had no clues, said, "Prepare for the worst. Yuanshi, if you can deduce the scene of our attack, can you minimize the damage?"

Zhang Yuanqing shook his head helplessly. "Star gazing deduction requires more than 11 minutes. Besides, there's a black smoke cover, obscuring the celestial phenomena. I can't deduce any information."

Black smoke was equivalent to concealment. Palace Master Zhisha stopped talking.

"Two minutes left." Seeing that Xiahou Aotian was still not responding, Zhang Yuanqing's tone became low.

At this moment, the mutterings of the Qin Dynasty Fangshi came from the ring, "We cultivators seek immortality and freedom. You are even more pathetic than dumb insects, making one feel pity."

Xiahou Aotian, who was already anxious, felt his mentality collapse upon hearing these words. He angrily said, "Stop talking nonsense, you useless old geezer. Other people's grandpas can help the protagonist cheat. You can't do anything, what use are you?"

The Qin Dynasty Fangshi "Hehe" said, "The Spirit Realm is your biggest cheat. How could a weak youth advance to Sovereign in our era, it's unimaginable."

Xiahou Aotian gritted his teeth: "If we die here, don't even think about getting out again."

"Heh, this place is full of rich Yin energy, which is also a great supplement to me," the Qin Dynasty Fangshi laughed. "This is a sacred place!"

Zhang Yuanqing's tone was urgent. "There's only one minute left."

He listened to the two performances, his heart almost bursting with anxiety. The Qin Dynasty Fangshi sighed, "Kaiyang Star is also known as Wuqu Star, which governs order."

Xiahou Aotian and Zhang Yuanqing were both stunned. The latter relayed the old grandpa's words.

Fu Qingyang asked, "Why does Wuqu Star govern order instead of violence or force?"

He had some knowledge of astrology, but the stars were complex, obscure, and difficult to understand. He was not a Night Wanderer and had not studied it in depth.

"Po Jun, which is Yaoguang, governs courage and martial prowess." The Qin Dynasty Fangshi transmitted his mental fluctuations. "Wuqu Star's 'wu' should be understood in your modern terms as maintaining law and order, so it governs order."

"I understand!" Xiahou Aotian exclaimed excitedly, his face full of joy. "I know the reason for the attacks. Kaiyang governs order, so when someone moves forward alone, Kongming lanterns will descend as a warning. One person moving alone while everyone else stays still represents disorder. Therefore, they will be attacked."

Fu Qingyang frowned. "When the Kongming lanterns were drifting, we were moving together, but the attacks still came."

Xiahou Aotian was stunned. The Demon Eye Heavenly King said unhappily, "You understand a ball! Before, Yuanshi manipulated the Yin corpse to come in, and there was only one person. Logically speaking, he shouldn't have lost order, but he was still attacked."

Xiahou Aotian was speechless, and his face instantly turned pale.

Zhang Yuanqing sighed, "Only thirty seconds left, prepare yourselves."

The Demon Eye once again manifested his three heads and eight arms. Fu Qingyang focused his mind and prepared to defend. The Qin Dynasty Fangshi said lightly, "His train of thought is not wrong, but you modern people don't understand ancient cultivators, so you haven't figured out a solution. If I'm not mistaken, you have to walk together using the Yu Step."

"What is the Yu Step?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.

Fu Qingyang, Palace Master Zhisha, and the Demon Eye revealed identical expressions of confusion. Xiahou Aotian, as befitting a scholar, had a flash of inspiration and exclaimed, "The Yu Step is a common footwork action used by Taoists in prayer rituals. It involves stepping on the Big Dipper and treading the gang and walking the stars. There's limited time, I'll only demonstrate it once." As he said this, he quickly walked a segment of rhythmic steps.

Just at this moment, the Kongming lanterns in the sky began to drift. This time, everyone did not rush to chase the Kongming lanterns. Instead, under Xiahou Aotian's call, they uniformly and tacitly began to take the Yu Step.

Slow but steady, chasing the eerie green candlelight of the Kongming lanterns. Silent and without any crisis or danger.

The Demon Eye Heavenly King exhaled.

"Not bad. We've found a way to survive in the array. Next, we need to find the array's core."

Everyone looked at Xiahou Aotian.

Xiahou Aotian rarely became the team's backbone, gaining immense emotional value, but he was not very happy. "Through my observation and analysis, it should be two Kongming lanterns hidden among these Kongming lanterns. Destroying them will break the array."

Xiahou Aotian sighed, "But that's almost impossible. Old man, do you have any discoveries?"

The Qin Dynasty Fangshi transmitted mental fluctuations. "I don't know where the array's core is. But I do know that the Seven Stars Lamps have already moved twice. The handle points to the east, representing spring. The handle points to the west, representing winter. The current handle is in the east, it is spring. Once more and winter will come."

"What will happen when winter comes?" Zhang Yuanqing asked quickly.

The Qin Dynasty Fangshi chuckled and said, "It means the Seven Stars Lamps will transform into a killing array. Even if you master the rules, don't even think about surviving. Hehe, formations are ultimately created for killing people. How could it let those trapped in the array truly be safe?"

Zhang Yuanqing's heart trembled. The joy of averting the crisis vanished. The array's core was hidden among hundreds of Kongming lanterns, and these Kongming lanterns could not be forcibly destroyed, otherwise, it would attract attacks from sword energy.

The worst thing was that they only had six minutes to find the two array's core among hundreds of Kongming lanterns. This was something that no human could do.

When Zhang Yuanqing relayed the Qin Dynasty Fangshi's words, even teammates as composed as Fu Qingyang changed their expressions.

"It's suddenly entered hell mode," the Demon Eye Heavenly King chuckled. "Fu Qingyang and I have a 70% chance of surviving the killing array and seeing the boss. Yuanshi Tianzun has a 30% chance, Palace Master Zhisha has a 40% chance, as for Xiahou Aotian, there's not even a 1% chance."

A 30% chance and a 40% chance are no different!

Xiahou Aotian was bound to die.

Undoubtedly, the chances of me and the Palace Master surviving were slim, Zhang Yuanqing worried.

What he hated most was not the crisis, but encountering a life-or-death crisis in an area that he was not good at.

Palace Master Zhisha pondered. "My Refining Demon Pot is a supreme treasure, and no attack can destroy it. If we really reach a desperate situation, I will hand the Refining Demon Pot over to the one of you who has the best chance of surviving. It contains your avatars. After returning to reality, find a way to obtain the Mother God's womb. If everyone dies in the dungeon, then we can only wait for Guild Leader to find the Nan Yuan dungeon and take away the Refining Demon Pot."

"However, the Refining Demon Pot is an item with administrator privileges. I'm not sure if the Spirit Realm will take it back after the dungeon is reset."

Xiahou Aotian interrupted forcefully, "Don't panic, it hasn't reached that point yet."

His eyes were deep, his expression serious, and his chuuni and arrogant aura was restrained.

"Formations emphasize balance. Since winter is a killing array, spring must be safe." As he spoke, he took out a puppet and manipulated it to move forward.

The puppet took more than a dozen steps, and did not encounter any attacks.

Xiahou Aotian then manipulated it to walk out of the range covered by the lamplight. As expected, the sword energy came and destroyed the puppet.

This result was quite a pleasant surprise to everyone.

This meant that they could travel through the seven lamp arrays within five minutes without being attacked.

Zhang Yuanqing said in a low voice, "How do we find the array's core? We don't have much time left."

His words had the effect of making men silent and women weep.

The Qin Dynasty Fangshi interjected, "The array's core is the formation's center. Unlike the other Kongming lanterns, it does not possess any offensive power. It is only responsible for energy transmission. Among so many Kongming lanterns, the one that doesn't attack people is the one."

Zhang Yuanqing immediately rejected the idea after hearing this. To find the array's core using this method, they would have to attack each Kongming lantern individually. The cost of trial and error was too high, and there wasn't enough time.

Fu Qingyang suddenly said, "There is a way to find it. We can use the Spirit Realm's rules to find the array's core. Items with spirituality in the Spirit Realm all have attributes. The array's core is different from the other Kongming lanterns, so its item attributes must also be different."

Xiahou Aotian shook his head. "It won't work. Black smoke has a concealing effect. We can't see the item attributes. If you don't believe me, you can try."

In the Yaoguang Hall, they couldn't see the item attributes of the Immortal Slaying Flying Knife and the statue.

"No, Boss's idea is right." Zhang Yuanqing became excited. "I can use Sunrise and Blazing Sun War God to purify the black smoke in this area. Without the concealment buff, you will be able to see the item attributes. However, in that case, you won't be able to use your skills and can only touch the Kongming lanterns one by one. Two minutes isn't enough time for you to find the array's core, but it can eliminate some of them."

"As expected of Boss. He doesn't speak often, but when he does, he hits the nail on the head."

Fu Qingyang "Mmm" said, "We'll go to different lamp arrays and search separately. With good luck, three minutes might be enough."

With time running out, Zhang Yuanqing immediately activated the Sunrise and Blazing Sun War God combination skill. A sun mark appeared between his eyebrows, his skin turned dark gold, and a miniature sun appeared behind his head.

Pure and bright golden light dispelled the surrounding darkness and suppressed the ghastly green ghost fire.

The spiritual power within their bodies seemed to be expelled and rapidly dissipated, but they didn't care and began to take action.

They ran out of the Kaiyang lamp array and followed the linear Kongming lanterns connecting the six lamp arrays, heading to Yuheng, Yaoguang, Tianji, Tianxuan, and Tianshu.