A Matter of Millimeters

Hearing that voice, the light surrounding Yuan Jinsheng, which had nearly dissipated in the bottom of the pit, gradually began to brighten again.

The State Preceptor was somewhat surprised to see that this group of people seemed completely unaffected by the Jishi.

But with the great formation on the verge of completion, he did not stop the ritual. He merely glanced back once before returning his attention to what he was doing.

As soon as Lord Jixian emerged, everything before him would be nothing but ants to be dealt with at will.

Seeing how utterly confident he was, the cultivators within the Azure Jade Lotus knew that the formation he was preparing could be nothing good.

One cultivator who had been watching their surroundings suddenly seemed to notice something. Pointing at the pit in the center, he cried out:

“It’s Fellow Daoist Yuan!”

Everyone followed his finger and looked closely, finally spotting Yuan Jinsheng in the bottom of the pit, looking utterly battered.

At the same time, they noticed that the damned State Preceptor had not stopped just because they had appeared. Instead, he was making his hand seals even faster, and they could not help growing anxious.

Although they did not know what purpose this formation served, they could imagine what sort of good thing these people might create.

They had to disrupt it!

The ten cultivators immediately launched their attacks.

Several powerful spells shot out from within the barrier of azure light surrounding the Azure Jade Lotus, roaring toward the State Preceptor.

However, the moment these spells left the Azure Jade Lotus’s barrier, the Jishi all around them began absorbing them frantically!

By the time the spells reached the State Preceptor, most of their power had already been drained away.

Without even looking at them, the State Preceptor simply waved his right hand, scattering every spell.

Seeing that spells were useless, the three Nascent Soul cultivators immediately unleashed attacks of divine sense.

Who could have expected that, after receiving the divine sense attacks from the three Nascent Soul cultivators, the Jixiu cultivators hiding behind the formation would all collapse to their knees, clutching their heads in agony?

Yet the State Preceptor remained perfectly fine, still sitting cross-legged on the ground.

The three Nascent Soul cultivators felt as though their attacks on him had struck a completely mindless stone. There had not been the slightest ripple.

Divine sense attacks only worked on the divine sense.

The three of them had joined forces. Even if their opponent’s cultivation was higher than theirs, it should have been impossible for him to remain completely unaffected. Yet they had not sensed even the slightest collision of divine senses.

Seeing this, the ten cultivators’ expressions grew solemn.

Although they had the Azure Jade Lotus, which allowed them to move freely within this mine cavern filled with Jishi, that freedom was limited to the range of the barrier formed by the Azure Jade Lotus.

Once outside its range, the mine cavern remained an enormous threat, severely restricting their movements.

Under such circumstances, let alone capturing these villains—even rescuing anyone was impossible.

They could disregard the lives of those ordinary mortals, but if they failed to save Fellow Daoist Yuan Jinsheng and his son this time, they would lose a tremendous amount of face.

Yet the State Preceptor’s formation was about to be completed, and they did not dare enter rashly.

Once the formation was complete, who knew what danger they might face inside?

Moreover, the spiritual power within their bodies was limited. In this environment, none of what they expended could be replenished locally.

Thus, the two sides fell into a stalemate.

The State Preceptor, whose work had just been interrupted, sneered inwardly when he saw this. He knew that they feared his formation and did not dare approach him for close combat, so he paid them no further attention and continued forming hand seals to activate the formation.

When he had stopped earlier, the ten red strands about to converge in midair and the two currents of energy below had paused as well. They had then begun slowly retreating.

Now that he continued forming hand seals and chanting incantations, the ten red strands and the azure-yellow energy ceased retreating and once again began inching forward.

They were only a hair’s breadth away from merging.

The ten cultivators grew anxious and launched another series of attacks.

But just as before, their attacks did nothing more than delay the State Preceptor’s movements for a short while. Otherwise, they were completely useless.

If they conserved their strength now, then once the State Preceptor finished activating the formation, they might be able to enter and fight him at close range. They might even stand a chance of victory.

But while they remained outside the formation, their spells were all drained away by the Jishi. That would be a terrible waste.

With the formation about to activate successfully, the ten cultivators became increasingly anxious.

At last, one Golden Core cultivator spoke to the other nine with a resolute expression:

“I’ll go deal with this bastard! Fellow Daoists, please lend me your support!”

With that, he stepped out of the azure-light barrier. Taking advantage of the fact that his spiritual power was still at its peak, he rapidly charged toward the State Preceptor in the formation.

Seeing this, the other nine cultivators hurriedly attacked the State Preceptor, disrupting his efforts to activate the formation.

The Golden Core cultivator had not gone far before he sensed the Jishi all around him frantically drawing away the power within his body.

Yet he was completely incapable of resisting.

He could only endure the strange sensation of his spiritual power being drained, along with the growing fatigue that made his body heavier and heavier, while racing toward the State Preceptor and preparing to attack.

But when he finally reached the State Preceptor and raised his hand to strike, his attack suddenly passed through empty air.

The State Preceptor standing before him abruptly transformed into a phantom and vanished.

The cultivator immediately looked around, only to discover that the State Preceptor had appeared at the opposite end of the formation.

He hurriedly turned and pounced at him, but once again struck nothing but air.

After several such exchanges, much of the Golden Core cultivator’s spiritual power had been depleted, and he began to struggle.

Still, the State Preceptor’s activation of the formation had also been delayed. It continued in fits and starts, unable to complete its final step.

The State Preceptor grew somewhat impatient.

Turning to look at the group of Jixiu cultivators who had collapsed after being struck by the Nascent Soul cultivators’ attacks of divine sense, he revealed a look of disdain.

A bunch of useless trash.

Since he could not rely on them, he simply stopped activating the formation altogether and raised his hand, beginning to gather power aimed at the Golden Core cultivator.

Earlier, when he had been pursued outside, he had been unable to launch many counterattacks because he had possessed too little Jishi.

But things were different now.

Jishi was everywhere here.

This was his home ground!

A dark spell orb the size of a fist condensed in his palm.

Jiang Sisi, who was holding the Azure Jade Lotus, needed only one glance to instinctively sense that if their Azure Jade Lotus were struck by this attack, it probably would not hold out for long.

She immediately transmitted an explanation to the people around her.

Upon hearing it, the other nine cultivators all retreated several steps, ensuring that they could withdraw at any moment and keep the Azure Jade Lotus as far from the attack as possible.

Although the State Preceptor did not know what the azure-light barrier these cultivators relied upon actually was, he had never intended to waste time and effort attacking that timid group just yet.

Once the dark spell orb finished charging, he flicked his hand, and it shot straight toward the Golden Core cultivator who had entered the formation.

The Golden Core cultivator raised his hand and tried to resist with a spell, but any spell before the dark orb was reduced to nothing more than fuel for its absorption.

As he watched the orb fly toward him at terrifying speed, like a dark abyss with no bottom, the Golden Core cultivator felt nothing but despair.