Chapter 741: Stone Stakes

“Alchemy Saint He, Master Ye, we’ll rest and reorganize for a bit in Clear Reed City, then head for that ancient grotto. That grotto isn’t far from here. I worry that the long night will be fraught with dreams. Better to enter earlier.”

Ying Tianya and the others came to a neighboring city, Clear Reed City, through the transmission array.

But after Ying Tianya arrived here, he seemed unwilling to stay in the city. No idea if it was concern about his junior, or things he wished to hide.

Regarding this, Ye Yuan and the rest naturally did not have objections.

This trip, Ying Tianya brought along Luo Fang and several late-stage Boundless Realm followers. The party of eight to nine people was rather conspicuous.

On He Shuming’s side, the Heaven’s Destiny Trading Company also sent out a Heaven Enlightenment Realm martial artist to protect him.

In this group of people, just the Heaven Enlightenment Realm powerhouses were as many as five.

Of course, He Shuming this Heaven Enlightenment Realm was basically equivalent to useless, a little better than nothing.

Along the way, He Shuming naturally faced Ye Yuan with fierce glares, but Ye Yuan had an indifferent air.

Towards this kind of ridiculous provocation, he did not care at all.

As long as the Heaven Enlightenment Realm martial artist he brought could not beat Jun Tianyu, naturally, no one dared to touch him.

Through Ye Yuan’s bout of giving pointers, Jun Tianyu finally advanced another level on sword intent.

Although he still did not comprehend a supreme true intent, he found the path to comprehending a supreme true intent.

The party stopped over for a short while, then they headed straight for that ancient grotto.

The ancient grotto was situated on a chain of mountain ranges. Ying Tianya actually found the grotto’s entrance directly through no idea what kind of means.

Accurately speaking, it was a stretch of precipices.

Everyone looked for a long time, but there was no entrance at all, only ice-cold rocks.

Ying Tianya frowned and said, “How can it be? It should be here. Why isn’t there an entrance?”

He Shuming said, “City Lord Your Excellency, could it be wrong?”

Ying Tianya slowly shook his head and said, “The location Junior Apprentice Brother transmitted to me is definitely here beyond doubt. It’s just that there is no entrance. How did he enter? Everybody split up and search, see if there are any places resembling an entrance.”

Those subordinates he brought all scattered, searching for the ancient grotto’s entrance in the surroundings.

Very soon, someone shouted, “City Lord Your Excellency, there’s a stretch of stone stakes here!”

Everyone went over to take a look. Indeed, they saw a stretch of stone stakes 500 feet in circumference.

“It’s an array formation! As long as we crack the array formation, we’ll be able to enter the grotto!” He Shuming said with an excited look.

Regarding breaking into the ancient grotto this time, Ying Tianya made a solemn promise to not only give He Shuming a large reward, but the things obtained this trip would also belong to himself.

Therefore, He Shuming was still quite enthusiastic about this exploration.

Speaking of which, He Shuming was indeed an alchemist whose strength was rather formidable. Not only did he reach the Alchemy Saint Realm in pill refinement, but he also reached Tier 7 level in the Formations Path too. Therefore, he recognized that these stone stakes were an array formation with a glance.

Ying Tianya was overjoyed when he heard that and said, “Does Alchemy Saint He have any confidence in crack this set of array formation?”

He Shuming smiled and said, “Leave it to me! If even I can’t do it, everyone can only just look on powerlessly as well. However … City Lord Your Excellency, in our agreement for this trip, it didn’t include this segment!”

Among the people present, there was only him, one Tier 7 array master. If even he could not do it either, then indeed no one could do it.

Except, He Shuming did not know that among this group of people, there was still a Tier 9 array master.

He Shuming’s view was around the same as Jun Tianyu’s. Ye Yuan had immensely high attainments in alchemy. In other areas, he was probably just a normal person.

Ye Yuan naturally recognized that these stone stakes were a set of array formation with a glance. But he had not seen this set of array formation before.

Moreover, Ye Yuan perceived that even though this array formation’s rank was not high, there were several areas extremely easy to make mistakes.

The person who set up the array formation clearly wanted to intentionally induce people to be duped.

Ye Yuan was originally planning on making a move. But looking at He Shuming being so enthusiastic, he could only shut his mouth and not speak.

This trip, his strength was the weakest. Better to be more low-profile.

If He Shuming was really able to crack the array formation, then it was naturally good. But if he could not, it was also not late for him to step forward then.

It was just that since the owner of the grotto dug so many traps, their group of people was probably going to suffer some hardships.

He Shuming blackmailing right away, Ying Tianya naturally had unhappiness in his heart.

Except, at this sort of time now, where would he go to find another array master?

“Alchemy Saint He, rest assured; after I rescue my junior, the rewards promised to you will add another 10%!” Ying Tianya said.

He Shuming was overjoyed once he heard and said, “Heh, it’s still City Lord Your Excellency who is straightforward! This He will crack the array formation right away!”

As he said, he came to the middle of the stone stakes and directly pushed a stone stake that was slightly higher all the way underground.

These stone stakes had different heights. The thickness was different too. The method to crack it was to press down some crucial stone stakes.

This area of land had around a thousand stone stakes. The array formation formed was also quite profound.

After He Shuming pressed down one stone stake, he stopped for a moment and found another stone stake to press down.

When Ye Yuan saw He Shuming press down the first stone stake, he involuntarily shook his head slightly.

But Jun Tianyu noticed this minute action of Ye Yuan and asked softly, “Why? Anything wrong with He Shuming?”

Ye Yuan said with a smile, “Very wrong. This guy bragged so confidently, I even thought that he has some skill. Didn’t think that the first step was wrong! Be careful in a while, there will probably be something unforeseen.”

Jun Tianyu was slightly startled in his heart when he heard but secretly went on alert.

He didn’t think that Ye Yuan was actually even proficient in the Formations Path!

This guy, what did he not know?

Regarding Ye Yuan’s words, Jun Tianyu did not have much doubts. Because he had long witnessed Ye Yuan’s prowess before.

Crack!

He Shuming pressed a stone stake down once again. All of a sudden, it seemed to have triggered something. Everyone’s faces changed.

“Not good! Everyone, be careful!” Ying Tianya cried out.

His voice had yet to fade when countless arrows shot out from all directions, interweaving into a large dense net, enveloping everyone inside!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The power of the arrows was extremely strong. Even Heaven Enlightenment Realm powerhouse had to respond cautiously too.

“You few, come to my side!” Ying Tianya said to those few Boundless Realm followers.

With this, Ye Yuan finally experienced Ying Tianya’s strength.

He abruptly released essence energy out, wrapping those few followers inside immediately.

Countless arrows pierced right through his essence energy barrier, but became weak and feeble, without any threat at all.

But He Shuming did not have such formidable strength.

Even though he was Heaven Enlightenment Realm too, his strength was too poor.

Although his essence energy protective screen was able to defend against those arrows as well, it caused considerable injuries to him. This was still under the circumstances where that Heaven Enlightenment Realm powerhouse he brought here helped him block the majority of the arrows.

The arrows lasted roughly 15 minutes time before ceasing completely.

The clothes on He Shuming’s body was already poked into a hornet’s nest by the arrows. He suffered external wounds that were not light himself too; looking very miserable.

What made him even more awkward was that he solemnly pledged to crack the formation earlier. The result was that it actually ended up like this. His face involuntarily felt as if it was burning red-hot.