Chapter 1081: Self-Sacrificial Rescue

On the other side of the golden desert, Lei Yuce and the others were currently gathered before a reddish-brown stone archway.

A series of runes were engraved onto the archway, seven or eight of which were currently flashing with faint, golden light. Inside the archway was a dark red light barrier, bound to which were nine dark golden chains.

Upon close inspection, one would discover that these chains were also riddled with tiny scale-like runes, and they were giving off extremely formidable restrictive power.

"What's the verdict, Fellow Daoist Lei? Can you unravel this Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array or not?" Jin Liu asked with slightly furrowed brows.

Instead of immediately giving a response, Lei Yuce spoke briefly with Wen Zhong in hushed tones, then said, "This Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array has been tampered with by someone, making it more difficult to unravel than otherwise, so I'm going to need some time."

"How long will it take?" Su Anqian asked.

"This array is very complex to begin with, and even with just a single Dragon Scale Chain altered, the difficulty of unraveling the array will increase significantly. At the very least, four of these chains have been tampered with, so by my estimates, it's going to take around two to three days," Lei Yuce replied.

"Two to three days? That's way too long!" Jin Liu exclaimed.

"If you have some other faster way to break the array, then feel free to do so yourself, Fellow Daoist Jin," Wen Zhong said with a displeased expression.

An angry look flashed through Jin Liu's eyes upon hearing this, but he offered no response.

When it came to arrays, his aptitude was very mediocre. Otherwise, he wouldn't have misidentified the Star Palace Standoff Array as the Yin Yang Latch Array earlier. Hence, he was naturally unable to unravel this Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array.

The Lan siblings exchanged a glance with each other, then shook their heads in unison, clearly also powerless in the face of this array.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Lei Yuce said, "There's something else I can try, but I don't have much confidence that it's going to succeed."

"If there's something else we can try, then we naturally have to try it! We can't afford to be delayed here like this!" Jin Liu immediately said.

"You make it sound so simple! Senior Martial Brother Lei is referring to a way to break the array by force, and even the slightest mishap could result in grievous bodily harm!" Wen Zhong snapped in a disgruntled manner.

A hint of concern appeared in Su Anqian's eyes upon hearing this, while Jin Liu stroked his own chin with tightly furrowed brows as he mused, "In that case, it looks like we'll just have to wait."

"Fellow Daoist Lei, if the alternative method is too risky, then it would be better to be safe than sorry, even if it means a delay of two or three days," Su Anqian said.

"It's fine, Celestial Maiden Su, I can give it a try," Lei Yuce replied.

A hint of exasperation flashed through Wen Zhong's eyes upon hearing this, and he wanted to try and dissuade Lei Yuce, but he knew that it would only be in futility, so he remained silent.

"In order to break this array quickly, I'll have to use the Six Integrations Wilderness Array to force open the Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array, thereby temporarily creating an opening for us to pass through. In order to accomplish this, I'm going to need everyone's help," Lei Yuce said.

"I'm aware of the Six Integrations Wilderness Array. It's an array that's far inferior to the Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array, so how can this possibly work?" Jin Liu asked with a skeptical expression.

"The Six Integrations Wilderness Array naturally won't be enough to get the job done on its own. I'm going to be using a Nine Dragon Jewel to serve as the core of the array in order to enhance its power," Lei Yuce explained.

"A Nine Dragon Jewel? If you really do have such a treasure up your sleeve, then this plan becomes a lot more plausible," Jin Liu replied with a nod.

"Lan Yan and I will do everything in our power to assist you," Lan Yuanzi assured, while Su Anqian nodded in agreement.

With that, Lei Yuce flipped a hand over to produce a collection of array tools, which he began laying out around the stone archway with Wen Zhong's assistance.

Before long, the foundation of a hexagonal array had emerged.

Shortly thereafter, the Six Integrations Wilderness Array was complete, and after thoroughly examining the array to ensure that nothing was amiss, Lei Yuce declared, "The array is complete. Please step inside with me, fellow daoists."

Everyone did as they were told, with each person standing on one of the six corners of the hexagonal array, waiting for Lei Yuce to activate the array.

Lei Yuce exchanged a glance with Su Anqian, then flipped a hand over to produce a fist-sized purple jewel, which flew through the air before descending upon the center of the Six Integrations Wilderness Array.

There were arcs of lightning flashing over the jewel, and nine dragons could be seen roaming incessantly over its surface amid bursts of dull rumbling.

With the Nine Dragon Jewel in place, Lei Yuce began chanting an incantation, and everyone immediately followed suit while making a series of hand seals before each of them pointed a finger at the jewel.\

Six beams of spiritual light of different colors shot out of their fingertips before converging within the purple jewel, and countless arcs of purple lightning instantly surged out from within, forming a purple light barrier that encompassed the entirety of the Six Integrations Wilderness Array.

A draconic roar rang out as the nine dragon projections flew out of the Nine Dragon Jewel, following which all of them swelled to around ten feet in length before pouncing at the stone archway.

A resounding boom rang out as the archway shuddered violently, and it immediately began to tremble after the nine purple dragons surged into the dark red light barrier.

Everyone immediately began injecting their immortal spiritual power into the array upon seeing this, and a hole began to slowly appear at the center of the dark red light barrier, revealing another space beyond it.

"It's working!" Jin Liu exclaimed with an ecstatic expression.

"We're still nowhere near done yet, so don't get complacent," Lei Yuce cautioned.

As soon as his voice trailed off, the nine Dragon Scale Chains bound to the stone archway suddenly began to glow with radiant, golden light, and a series of golden ripples erupted out of the chains to fill the entire dark red light barrier.

Furthermore, a burst of incredibly chaotic suction had emerged at the point where the golden light and the purple lightning met, sucking in all of the surrounding world's origin qi in a frenzy.

At this point, all that could be seen through the hole was a vast expanse of darkness, and the violent aura of spatial turbulence could be detected from the other side.

Everyone's expressions changed slightly upon detecting this, and Lei Yuce yelled, "It looks like we've underestimated the power of the Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array. We have to make a concerted effort to open up a spatial passageway before the power of the array is fully activated!" Lei Yuce yelled.

As soon as his voice trailed off, the black vortex at the center of the stone archway suddenly shuddered violently, following which a burst of violent power erupted out from within.

At the same time, nine golden dragon projections shot out of the Dragon Scale Chains bound to the archway, then pounced at Lei Yuce and the others.

Everyone felt a burst of terrifying power surging directly toward them, and Jin Liu abandoned the array to make his escape, followed closely by the Lan siblings.

In the wake of their abrupt departure, the entire array instantly fell apart, and the Nine Dragon Jewel at the center of the array also exploded in an uncontrolled state, sending purple lightning erupting in all directions.

Wen Zhong also backed out of the array, and thus, Lei Yuce and Su Anqian were the only ones remaining inside, left to face the golden dragon projections and purple lightning on their own.

Both of them reacted very quickly, but they were standing on the two corners of the hexagonal array that were closest to the stone archway, leaving them with no time to escape.

Lei Yuce immediately sprang forward without any hesitation to place himself in front of Su Anqian, and a suit of purple lightning armor was beginning to take shape over his body, but it clearly wasn't going to fully materialize in time.

A resounding boom rang out as the golden dragon projections and purple lightning exploded violently.

At this point, Jin Liu and the others had already retreated to a safe distance away, and they were all observing the explosion with tense expressions.

Rays of golden light and arcs of purple lightning erupted in all directions in a chaotic fashion, violently stirring up all of the world's origin qi within a radius of dozens of kilometers.

The chaotic phenomenon raged on for close to a minute before finally subsiding, and as the dust settled, it was revealed that an enormous, charred crater had appeared in the ground.

All of the surrounding golden sand had been melted by the intense heat from the explosion, then cooled and solidified into huge golden plates of irregular shapes.

Outside the crater, the stone archway remained completely unharmed, and it had already reverted back to its original state.

Jin Liu and the others hurriedly flew over to the edge of the crater before looking down to discover a charred figure with a more petite figure held tightly in their arms.

The suit of silver lightning armor that had previously encased Lei Yuce's body had already completely disintegrated, and his robes were also in tatters.

His back was heaving violently, and his aura was fluctuating in an extremely unstable fashion, indicating that he had sustained very severe internal injuries.

In contrast, Su Anqian was completely unscathed.