Chapter 24: Breaking Through

Although Yu Qiushui and the others possessed some strength, they knew nothing about formations.
"Princess Yue, which direction do you think we should take?"
As An Yue’er heard this, golden light flashed in her eyes, as though two raging flames burned fiercely within them.
The protective formation left behind by the Supreme Yi Li appeared clearly before An Yue’er’s gaze.
"So Elder Zhu had already foreseen that this secret realm would require the royal secret arts of our Anluan Kingdom, and prepared by elevating my ocular technique to the realm of Sacred Fire Eyes."
An Yue’er now felt utterly at ease, as if everything lay within her grasp.
Elder Zhu was truly a divine master!
"Everyone, do not panic. Just follow me," An Yue’er said calmly, taking a deep breath.
The members of the Fire Moon Sect followed closely behind her.
Meanwhile, the sects who had already seized advantageous positions had begun breaking the formation.
At the Ethereal Pavilion, the Saintess Yin Luo glanced at the man beside her and smiled gently.
"May I trouble you, sir?"
The man’s name was Yi Xian. Upon hearing the Saintess speak, he immediately produced an ancient-looking round disk. "Saintess, you may rest assured. With me here, I guarantee you will enter this secret realm safely today."
With these words, Yi Xian took his disk to the site of the formation.
That disk was a formation plate—perfect for breaking the array!
Members of the Ethereal Pavilion swiftly brought a zither and placed it behind Yi Xian.
Yin Luo stepped behind the instrument, and with delicate hands, began to pluck its strings.
She played to help those around her maintain clarity of mind, preventing the secret realm from influencing them.
Yi Xian’s mastery of formations was indeed exceptional. In no time, he discovered the key to break the array and led the group directly into the secret realm.
As Ethereal Pavilion made progress, the Black Dragon Sect was not to be outdone.
Long Ziyan watched intently as the elder before her manipulated his artifact to dismantle the formation.
"How is it?"
Elder Li pressed his hands together and bowed lightly. "The Supreme’s formation here is shrouded and obscure, not easily discerned. For now, I must ask you both to assist."
An Wenxuan and An Fei’er stood nearby.
To break the formation, Elder Li needed to understand its structure, so he could analyze its weak points.
An Wenxuan and An Fei’er possessed secret arts in their eyes stemming from the same origin as the Yi Li secret realm. If they used their techniques to observe, they would surely not be affected.

An Fei’er stepped forward. "Allow me!"
Flames burst forth from her eyes, though only as a shadow, unclear and indistinct.
"I cannot see it clearly. It’s too vague; the whole pattern is blurred and impossible to discern."
After a while, An Fei’er shook her head, disappointment written across her face.
Suddenly, An Wenxuan reached out and handed her the Ring of Departure Fire. "Try again using this."
An Fei’er took the ring from An Wenxuan, closed her eyes, then opened them anew.
Once she wore the Departure Fire Ring, the entire formation’s patterns became lucid, and even the flames in her eyes grew stronger and brighter.
"Follow me, everyone!" An Fei’er called.
With every step, she directed Elder Li beside her.
"There’s fire here. Within three steps ahead, the flames surge violently..."
As she issued instructions, Elder Li unleashed one talisman after another from his hands.
Wherever the talismans passed, the flames were extinguished in an instant.
The Black Dragon Sect entered the secret realm unharmed.
Seeing the two supreme sects step into the secret realm, the other factions grew anxious.
They pressed forward.
"No!" A sudden cry rang out.
The brutal sound of burning flesh shocked everyone as a cultivator—no one knew from which sect—touched the formation and was incinerated to ash in the blink of an eye.
He was not alone.
Incidents like this occurred one after another, many cultivators swept up in the flames.
Yi Li Supreme’s secret realm was not a place to be trifled with by mere riffraff!
In just a short time, several hundred people perished in the flames for offending the formation.
Even a mid-tier sect was not spared; everyone who arrived suffered.
Fear began to take root.
Terror of death now outweighed the desire to ascend to immortality.
What’s more, this was only the protective formation—who knew what else awaited inside!
"Everyone, do not panic! If we unite our strength, perhaps we can break through this formation!"
"What good will that do? Do you think a Supreme would set only one barrier to safeguard his secret realm?"

"I say we should retreat. Who knows how many dangers lie within Yi Li Supreme’s domain? I fear even passing this checkpoint means death!"
"Perhaps we should wait. Our top forces, the Black Dragon Sect and Ethereal Pavilion, have entered. If they break the formation, we might get our share."
The other sects could not enter, yet refused to depart, lingering outside the formation.
The Black Dragon Sect and Ethereal Pavilion pressed forward, as if competing, breaking the formation with ever-increasing speed.
"My heavens, as expected from the two leading forces—their speed in breaking the formation is astonishing!"
"Look at the Black Dragon Sect—the two leading the way, are they the royal heirs of Anluan Kingdom?"
The pace at which the two supreme sects broke the formation drew waves of astonished exclamations.
Just then, someone shouted,
"Look over there!"
"What sect is that? Have you seen them before? They’ve broken through several barriers as well!"
The speaker’s tone was full of disbelief.
Everyone looked in the direction he pointed, and indeed, a small sect was struggling against the formation.
It was none other than Yu Qiushui and his companions led by An Yue’er.
Their own cultivation was not high, but thanks to Zhu Xiaoyuan’s guidance, An Yue’er’s ocular technique had reached the Sacred Fire Eyes.
With these enhanced eyes, the Yi Li secret realm posed no threat to her sight.
They could advance leisurely, unconcerned by any difficulty.
...
As time passed, Ethereal Pavilion finally reached the last barrier.
Yi Xian wiped the sweat from his brow.
The scene was silent, save for the continuous melody of Saintess Yin Luo’s zither, striving to soothe the anxiety in everyone’s hearts.
Yi Xian clenched his teeth, feeling that even so, he could not restrain the surge of restlessness within.
The flames piled before them like a wall, ferocious and clawing, as if ready to tear them apart at any moment.
Yi Xian held his breath, took a deep inhale, and steadied his inner turmoil.