The Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends Array is an integrated array formation, quite powerful, and can be arranged by people.
However, a powerful array requires everyone to be familiar with its operation and to cooperate skillfully to unleash its full power.
The more people involved, the harder it becomes to make everyone release their strength according to the array’s rules, which is why Yun Conghui had to personally teach the people at Black Water Stronghold how to do it.
This process is the most time-consuming; even after practicing until midnight, the formation was not fully developed.
Shen Wang glanced over and noticed that the malevolent spirit did not show up tonight, cursing under his breath at its cowardice.
He was hoping for the spirit to cause trouble so that Profound Thunder Zhenren could conveniently wipe out this scourge, but it now seemed difficult as the creature was no fool.
He continued with his own work, while the people outside stayed up all night, learning from scratch the Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends Array and practicing in cooperation.
The group consisted of at least Innate Grandmasters, superior to ordinary people in many ways. Even though the array was complex, the division of labor meant that once they focused on their respective parts, it wasn’t too difficult.
After a night of learning and cooperating, over a hundred people were able to successfully channel their individual strengths through the array.
At noon the next day, Yun Conghui reported to Profound Thunder Zhenren, "Third Elder, everything is ready."
"If you’re ready, then attack. How much longer do you want to delay?"
Profound Thunder Zhenren said coldly.
Yun Conghui was frustrated, having worked hard all night to quickly organize over a hundred people into an array formation. Shouldn’t he at least get some acknowledgment, even if not praised?
He dared not complain, bowing his head as he said, "Yes, I will now direct the array to attack and start the consumption process."
Turning to the people of Black Water Stronghold, he said, "Brother Gong and everyone, please inject your strength into the array. I will guide your power towards the attack."
Upon hearing this, the group of usual bandits was immediately displeased.
"Worked all night plus a morning, can’t we at least take a break before starting?"
"Yeah, even if we’re Grandmasters, we can’t sustain such continuous exhaustion."
"Since arriving here, we haven’t even had a sip of water before being put to work. Anyone would think we were slaves!"
Many voiced their grievances, with some sarcastic complaints mixed in.
Most of them came from ordinary backgrounds and were naturally resentful of these powerful families. If not for the village chief, they would have complained long ago.
Seeing they didn’t speak up, the members of the Yun Family pushed their luck, using them tirelessly without even offering benefits, as if they were mere beasts of burden.
Yun Conghui hadn’t expected such outrage, so he forced a smile and said, "Everyone, please calm down. My Yun Family will not treat you unfairly."
He looked towards the village chief, "Gong, how about all the loot from this operation goes to your stronghold, and you distribute it among your brothers?"
Gong Yu gave a forced smile, "Steward Yun, that’s not quite enough."
"Hmph, if you want more, you can talk to me."
Profound Thunder Zhenren gave a cold humph, instantly silencing the complaining crowd; their expressions changed, and they fell quiet.
They could mock Yun Conghui, but no one dared to speak rashly before Profound Thunder, as he could easily kill them without the village chief being able to say anything.
Gong Yu chuckled nervously, "Everyone, work a bit harder. I’m sure the senior and the Yun Family will not treat us poorly."
People gathered in two circles, with thirty-six inside and seventy-two outside.
He entered among them to lead the Celestial Spirit Small Array, with Ge Changzhuang beside him managing the Earth Demon Array, while Yun Conghui was responsible for the final Grand Array; the collaboration of these three allowed the entire array to operate.
At the signal, the Innate Grandmasters released their True Qi and the Grandmasters their True Essence, with various energies converging towards the center following the array’s rules.
While one person’s power might seem insignificant, the combined strength of over a hundred, even if all Innate Grandmasters, could easily muster an attack surpassing Foundation Establishment.
Among these individuals were many mid and high-grade Grandmasters, as well as Grandmasters and Foundation Establishment Cultivators of equivalent rank; their combined force was potent enough to threaten Golden Core Cultivators.
The inner and outer circle’s powers converged, high and low, then combined again to form a chaotic energy light beam.
With an array flag in hand, Yun Conghui, alongside Ge Changzhuang and Gong Yu, controlled the light beam and directed it towards the ancestral residence.
A circle of golden light shields was activated, clashing with the beam and causing the former to warp.
A circle of blue ripples emerged, continually absorbing and dispersing the light beam’s power, minimizing direct damage to the Vajra Shield.
The array attack from over a hundred coordinated individuals was undoubtedly formidable, engaging the entire ancestral residence’s arrays. Under the Vajra Shield, the Shield Mountain Array had to release a layer of earth-yellow shield to stabilize the array and further disperse the attack.
Yet, the defense array was still not breached.
"This person’s array setup is surprisingly strong!"
Gong Yu, seeing the Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends Array’s failure to breach, was taken aback.
He had assumed such a collaborative force in this small locale should not have been stoppable.
Yet not only was it stopped, but it seemed almost easy.
A streak of Thunder Sword Light flew out, striking hard at the warped section of the array, piercing through the golden light and blue water, landing on solid earth, unable to delve further.
Despite piercing through the arrays, going further proved quite difficult, causing Profound Thunder Zhenren’s face to darken once more.
He leaped up, landing nearby, scrutinizing the seemingly stronger defense array for a moment, noting the clever operation of the Power of the Five Elements within it.
This guy was full of surprises; the demonstrated power of the array exceeded the last encounter.
Observing the scenario of attacking and defending arrays, he smirked coldly, "Hmph, these three defense arrays are strong, but under such fierce collision, how long can your arrays last? How many Spirit Stones can you expend against us?"
Shen Wang stayed silent. Their method of attack was clearly a dull approach, using arrays to break other arrays, attempting delay until exhaustion if breaking wasn’t feasible.
He indeed didn’t have many Spirit Stones but possessed the far more precious Spirit Crystals. However, using them up would cause him heartache.
Profound Thunder Zhenren’s face was gloomy, "Then keep attacking. Exhaust his Spirit Stones completely, and the arrays will crumble."
Shen Wang watched the trembling arrays, continuing his cultivation with eyes closed, only splitting his attention to monitor the arrays’ status.
The activity of the arrays was immense, shaking the entire ancestral residence, rapidly dwindling the Spirit Stones Shen Wang had prepared.
After half a day, with Spirit Stones running low, Shen Wang gritted his teeth and melded a Spirit Crystal into the array.
The trembling arrays, infused with pure power, stabilized quickly, with immediate effect.
The faltering array gained reinforcement, especially the Weak Water Array, and perhaps due to attribute similarity, upon the Spirit Crystal’s integration, its radiance shone brilliantly, performing exceptionally, absorbing and neutralizing all attacks.
Shen Wang noticed with a flicker in his eyes at the Spirit Crystal’s immense power, which he hadn’t realized before.