Yun Xi didn't tell the others what she had discovered. She had no way to explain why her divine sense was far stronger than her cultivation. Still, she quietly left a thread of her consciousness attached to that male cultivator.
He wore a black robe, dressed plainly like a Loose Cultivator. Aside from the spiritual sword in his hand, nothing else on him was worth much spirit stones. His appearance was unremarkable, the kind that wouldn't draw a second glance.
An hour later, everyone gathered in the courtyard of the City Lord's estate. They were exchanging information, hoping someone had discovered something. But each attempt ended in disappointment.
Zuo Die'er seemed focused entirely on finding a way out of this place. She no longer pestered Zhou Langchen, leaving Ming Ya to sneak glances at him every so often.
Quietly, Yun Xi sent a voice transmission to Qin Tongshuang about her discovery. Qin Tongshuang's expression twisted into disbelief, as if saying, "You still have time for gossip at a time like this?" She almost broke character from her usually aloof persona.
"You didn't find anything else?"
"…Not yet."
Yun Xi didn't close the door on the possibility either.
The others hadn't found anything useful either. The longer they remained trapped, the more despair settled in. Their chances of escape were growing thinner by the day.
After a moment of thought, Zhou Langchen said, "Let's not give up hope just yet. Just because we haven't found anything doesn't mean there's nothing to be found. Perhaps we're waiting for the right moment for something to reveal itself."
He paused briefly, eyes glinting. "If I'm not mistaken, tomorrow is the day Li Cangyuan formalizes his Dao companion bond. We wait and see." He had a strong feeling that something would change tomorrow.
The group could only console themselves with that hope and returned together to their temporary dwellings.
Yun Xi and the others gathered in private, quietly discussing everything that had happened since they arrived.
Zuo Die'er was in no mood to keep clinging to Zhou Langchen. They were on the verge of being buried alive in this strange space. She had to think of a way to escape. Ming Ya could only follow behind her golden thigh reluctantly, glancing back every few steps.
When dawn came, the empty Shuangshan City looked the same as ever. It was as if the spatial crushing from last night had never occurred.
The group endured another grueling day. When night fell, every gaze turned toward the empty city outside the City Lord's estate.
As the hour of midnight struck, the entire space began to tremble again. The pressure of spatial compression returned—but this time, it was different from any instance before.
The trace of spiritual sense Yun Xi had left on the Loose Cultivator revealed that he had secretly slipped into the back courtyard of the City Lord's estate. There, he flung a talisman into the water pool. The moment it hit, waves surged and a red glow spread outward from the pond, rippling across the estate.
The disturbance immediately alerted the other cultivators. Someone extended their divine sense and instantly noticed the anomaly.
"Qu Sheng! What did you just do?"
The man called Qu Sheng, a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, responded calmly.
"Forgive me. I just want to survive."
With that, he crushed a teleportation talisman in his hand, intending to flee.
Everyone reacted instinctively, attacking the fading silhouette. This man clearly knew the truth. They couldn't let him escape.
The first few strikes missed. Qu Sheng's figure vanished into the air.
But the very next moment, he reappeared—just as startled as everyone else. A streak of sword light slashed him down before he could respond. It was Zhou Langchen who struck the blow.
Qu Sheng groaned and crumpled to the ground.
Then, before the group's stunned eyes, figures began appearing throughout the City Lord's estate.
Yun Xi stared toward the outer city in shock. The once empty Shuangshan City was merging with the real one. People appeared on the once desolate streets, inside homes, walking blank-faced and lost.
"What's going on?"
Someone cried out in alarm.
Zhang Yan said grimly, "The two spaces are merging. The real Shuangshan City might have been pulled into this spatial realm."
"What's the person behind this trying to do?" Zuo Die'er asked, her voice filled with unease.
Yun Xi blinked, scanning the growing crowd of confused cultivators and townsfolk. A terrible premonition began to stir in her chest.
Mu Ningzhu clearly sensed it too. She immediately barked a warning. "Activate all your defensive artifacts. This isn't simple."
Everyone obeyed, staying alert as more cultivators began appearing around them. Zhou Langchen dragged the wounded Qu Sheng over. His face was grave as he forced a spell into Qu Sheng's body to wake him.
"Spill everything you know. You're no longer useful to anyone and you're stuck here like the rest of us. Keep your mouth shut and you're dead."
Qu Sheng clutched his chest, knowing he had no way out. He took a deep breath and confessed.
"It was Li Zhēnrén who ordered me to do this. He told me to monitor the cultivators teleported into this space. If you discovered anything, I was to report it to him immediately—and then activate the formation hidden in the pond at the appointed time."
"What's that formation meant to do?"
"I don't know. Li Zhēnrén never told me."
"How did you end up here?"
"Li Zhēnrén sent me in."
Qu Sheng had only been trying to earn some spirit stones. He never thought his life would be on the line. Now, that hope was gone.
As everyone reeled from the implications, a red beam of light shot out from the pond in the back courtyard. It rose into the sky, forming a massive array centered on the City Lord's estate.
Elsewhere in Shuangshan City, other red beams emerged, each expanding into enormous arrays. Nine massive formations slowly turned in the sky, blanketing the entire city and every cultivator inside it.
"This is bad! That's the Ninefold Sacrificial Array!"
A cultivator who specialized in formation arts cried out in horror.
Yun Xi wasn't deeply versed in formations, but even the name alone spelled disaster. A sacrificial array could only mean one thing—lives would be forfeit.
Someone beside her explained quickly.
"That's a forbidden formation! It should've been destroyed long ago. How did it appear here?"
"The mastermind is sacrificing an entire city of cultivators. What are they trying to accomplish?"
"Has City Lord Li gone insane? So many deaths won't go unnoticed!"
"But isn't City Lord Li in seclusion?"
Yun Xi gripped the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff tightly. The situation had escalated far beyond what she expected.
"This space is merging with the real Shuangshan City," someone said. "Even if we all die here, the city will vanish with us. No one will know it happened."
"So the empty city being crushed before was Li Zhēnrén testing the fusion of both spaces. We're the guinea pigs."
"What now?"
"Is there a formation master among us? We need to act quickly!"
Amid the chaotic shouting, the cultivators were piecing together the truth. But the mastermind still hadn't revealed themselves, and everyone could only fight to survive.
A quarter-hour later, the Ninefold Sacrificial Array fully activated. The array masters among them were frantically trying to calculate a weak point, but every moment wasted increased the danger.
Two breaths later, everyone felt it.
The array began drawing in their spiritual energy.
"Quick! Activate your defenses and replenish your spiritual energy! Don't let the array drain you dry. If it does, it'll start pulling your soul next!"
A formation expert shouted, their voice echoing overhead.
Already, some Qi Refining cultivators had collapsed. Their spiritual power was completely siphoned. Their souls rose into the sky toward the formation, while their bodies slowly turned to dust.