Third Brother Yuan

Then Lin Xiao turned around and sped away through the air beneath the moonlight.

He did not see that, after he left, the young and middle-aged men remained kneeling in the direction he had gone for a long time.

The forests and mountains fell away on either side, leaving behind layer upon layer of fading afterimages.

Lin Xiao hurried toward the grand formation.

Someone was breaking through it!

Although the formation had been produced by the system, and Lin Xiao did not believe that anyone could easily break it after gaining a preliminary understanding of the various sects’ foundations in the mortal world, there were always exceptions.

He still felt more at ease going over to investigate as quickly as possible.

After all, the things sealed inside were all deadly.

At the same time, he did not arrogantly assume that he could face the enemy alone. He took out a voice transmission talisman and sent a message to the leader of the Pusi Kingdom’s forces in the allied army, saying that there might be remnants of the Jishi incident and asking them to send people over immediately to provide support and capture them.

Qin Jianghe had given the talisman to Li Zhouxuan in the capital. It had been a free gift when the imperial family and the three great sects purchased a large batch of voice transmission talismans from the Lingxian Sect.

That way, the armies dispatched by the imperial family to participate in the war would be able to contact the Lingxian Sect more conveniently in case of trouble.

Now, it had come in handy for Lin Xiao.

Although the territory of the Huanyou Kingdom was no smaller than that of the Pusi Kingdom, fortunately, Poplar Village was not terribly far from the Jishi mine. With Lin Xiao’s current Golden Core cultivation, he did not waste too much time on the journey.

About an hour later, he arrived at his destination.

After reaching the outside of the formation, he hurriedly swept his gaze around to make sure there was nothing unusual nearby, then immediately stepped inside.

He sensed the formation for only a moment before speeding toward a certain direction.

As the person who had set up the formation, he could clearly sense whether anyone was trapped inside it.

A middle-aged man with a rugged appearance and a full beard was currently trapped deep within the formation. Illusions surrounded him on all sides, making it impossible for him to find the correct direction. On top of that, danger lurked everywhere inside the formation.

At that moment, the middle-aged man was doing everything he could to break out.

His cultivation was quite impressive—roughly at the late Golden Core stage.

Although he was not as powerful as Wei Hai and Li Zhanying, both Nascent Soul cultivators Lin Xiao had encountered before, Lin Xiao could tell from his attacks against the formation that this man was extraordinarily formidable.

If he were at the same cultivation level as Wei Hai and Li Zhanying, he would definitely be able to overpower the two of them.

It was no wonder that, since the formation had been established, countless intruders had entered it, yet only this man’s attacks had been strong enough to alert Lin Xiao and make him worry enough to come personally inspect the situation.

However, Lin Xiao was somewhat surprised to see him breaking through the formation alone.

He had not expected one of the Jishi incident’s remnants to be so bold as to enter the formation by himself.

Did he not know that many of his companions were already trapped inside?

Yet in the next moment, Lin Xiao, who was hidden in the air, heard the man below. His eyes were bloodshot, and as he continuously formed hand seals to attack the formation, he muttered in a trembling voice full of rage:

“Let me out… Give me back my son…!”

The ever-changing walls of the formation boomed under his increasingly forceful attacks, yet they remained as steady as a rock, completely unmoved.

Despair continued to build layer upon layer in the man’s heart.

Hearing this, Lin Xiao hesitated.

This man… did not seem to be one of the remnants of the Jishi incident.

Just then, another person broke into the formation.

The newcomer appeared to be no more than thirty years old. He had a lean, impassive face and wore a fitted martial outfit. His appearance was quite similar to Mo Que’s usual attire.

It was a strange coincidence. Normally, anyone who entered the formation would be randomly transported to a different location.

Yet these two had happened to appear in the exact same place.

Seeing the middle-aged man’s familiar full beard, the newcomer exclaimed in surprise:

“Third Brother Yuan?!”

The middle-aged man, Third Brother Yuan, had spent more than half a day exhausting himself inside the formation as he focused on breaking through it. He had never imagined that he would encounter someone familiar in this damned formation.

Although everyone in the allied army now knew that the formation had been set up to seal off the Jishi mine, to him, it was merely an obstacle standing in the way of finding his son.

Hearing the familiar voice, Third Brother Yuan froze. He stopped what he was doing and turned to look at the newcomer.

“L-Lord… What are you doing here?”

The man whom Third Brother Yuan addressed as Lord walked up to him and shook his head.

“I was in the capital when I suddenly sensed something important. The matter was both serious and urgent, and it would have been inconvenient to mobilize a large force, so I came alone…”

Seeing the sweat covering his face and the bloodshot, disheveled look in his eyes, Lord gazed at him with concern.

“Third Brother, weren’t you searching for my nephew? How did you end up trapped here?”

At the mention of it, Third Brother Yuan lowered his eyes in grief.

“It’s because I’m useless. I spent several days tracking them, but I still couldn’t rescue my son. I followed those bastards all the way here, and their presence disappeared in front of this formation. I thought they must have been trapped inside, so I entered without a second thought. Who could have imagined that I wouldn’t see a single person and would instead waste half a day here…”

“Those remnants are utterly ruthless. They even dare to use something as heaven-defying as a spirit-destroying stone, regardless of the consequences. My son has been in their hands for several days now. Who knows whether he’s still alive…”

As he spoke, his emotions grew increasingly turbulent. Rage and anguish collided within him, and he suddenly threw back his head and let out a furious roar.

Lord hurried forward and patted Third Brother Yuan on the shoulder, soothing him.

“Don’t panic, Third Brother. My nephew is blessed and will surely survive this. Those remnants went to such great lengths to capture him instead of killing him on the spot, so they must have some use for him. Don’t be anxious. The two of us can join forces to break through the formation and find a way out. Then we’ll rescue him as quickly as possible!”

With Lord’s reassurance, Third Brother Yuan managed to steady his emotions. The two were just about to work together to break the formation when, unexpectedly, the formation wall in front of them—which had been shifting without pause—suddenly opened of its own accord.

As the formation wall parted, the two of them saw a lifeless landscape outside.

Countless bleak, pitch-black mine entrances stretched across the desolate terrain.

“What is this…?”

The two stepped out of the formation and looked at the scene before them in surprise.

Third Brother Yuan did not realize that they had already left the formation. He thought they had merely fallen into another illusion.

But Lord stared at the barren, gloomy mine entrances before them, his face darkening like ink.

“This is the Jishi mine.”

As he spoke, he raised a hand and clutched his heart tightly. His gaze filled with fury as he let out a cold laugh.

“The moment I see this thing, my blood begins to roar. I can’t stop my heart from filling with disgust.”

Then Third Brother Yuan pointed at one of the entrances and cried out in shock:

“My son Yingzi is over there!”

Perhaps because of the bond between blood relatives, Third Brother Yuan suddenly felt an intense connection to one of the tunnels.

Having identified the direction and overcome with worry for his son’s safety, he lifted his leg and was about to rush over.