Chapter 111: Breaking the Formation

Hearing the sudden uproar from within the market, the old man remained completely unfazed. Instead, he sneered coldly. 

"Hmph! So this is the great leader of the Mountain Alliance, a Foundation Establishment cultivator… Xu Pingyang, you dare twist the truth and spit such slander!" 

"It's clear as day you and your people are jealous of the profits our market brings in. You couldn't stand seeing Tengyun Market siphon off business from Sanhui Market, so you had your men disguise themselves as rogue cultivators, lying in wait around our market to ambush and kill wandering cultivators, trying to reclaim your lost traffic!" 

"And now you shamelessly shift the blame onto our law-abiding families? Truly disgraceful!" 

"You're not worthy of being an alliance leader!" 

To scold a Foundation Establishment cultivator while still in the Qi Refining stage, this old man showed no fear at all. On the contrary, he was full of fire. 

For him, just saying all that out loud made his entire life feel worthwhile. 

And his tirade did have some effect. 

Inside the market, where suspicion and resentment against the shops managed by the Tengyun families had been rising, the rogue cultivators suddenly found themselves uncertain. 

They couldn't tell who was telling the truth. 

But that uncertainty was enough to make them doubt Xu Pingyang and the group outside, which in turn kept them from acting rashly. 

That alone was enough to prevent internal chaos and the disruption of the protective formation. 

"You old bastard know how to flap your gums…" 

Xu Pingyang's expression darkened. "Once I break this formation and capture you, we'll see if you can still run your mouth!" 

"Break the formation? That Li guy of yours didn't even dare show up what are you gonna use to break it?!" 

"Even with your Foundation Establishment cultivation, breaking my formation won't be so easy. You're gonna suffer first!" 

Inside the control hall of the market, Tu Zhiyong let out a cold laugh and poured all his power into activating the formation. 

As the array restriction activated, the protective light covering the entire market instantly grew solid and intense so much so that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator wielding a top-grade magic weapon would struggle to breach it. 

The defensive strength had reached its peak. 

The old man standing within the formation now bore a proud smile, exuding unshakable confidence. 

Seeing this, Xu Pingyang's face grew even colder. 

He had already extended his divine sense, rapidly locking onto the weak points in the formation's operation based on the schematics Li Ye had provided. 

He raised his hand and tossed out a talisman silver, with glowing runes. 

It shot straight toward the largest flaw shown in Li Ye's diagram. 

"Hmph!" 

Seeing this, Tu Zhiyong sneered with even more contempt, his tone full of disdain. 

"A first-grade array-breaking talisman? It's useless against a formation of this level. At most, it'll disrupt a node briefly I'll have it repaired in moments. So much for Foundation Establishment techniques…" 

"Hahaha! Brother Tu is truly a master. Xu Pingyang is overconfident he's about to learn his lesson!" 

"If your formation manages to shut down Xu Pingyang, Tu Zhiyong, your name will be known far and wide!" 

The other family cultivators nearby began to flatter him, caught up in his confidence. 

Tu Zhiyong's pride only grew. 

BOOM! 

But in the next moment, the silver talisman flared brightly and struck the formation precisely at the vulnerable point. Its full power activated instantly, perfectly hitting a critical node. 

That triggered a chain reaction. 

Other nodes across the array started to destabilize, and in just seconds, the once-imposing formation collapsed with a deafening crash! 

It happened so fast, it was almost unbelievable! 

"This… this is impossible! I spent so much effort improving this array beyond first-grade standards. How could Xu Pingyang possibly find its flaw?!" 

Tu Zhiyong's eyes went wide. All his earlier pride and confidence shattered in an instant. 

He was in complete disbelief his formation, the culmination of his knowledge and skill, had been so easily undone! 

"What's going on, Zhiyong?! Why did a first-grade talisman break the array?!" 

"Hurry! Reinitiate the formation we can't let them charge in!" 

In the control hall, the same people who were praising him just moments ago were now panicking like ants on a hot pan. 

But all they could do was shout. None could act. 

Tu Zhiyong ignored them, still stunned. He fumbled with the array of flags in his hand, trying to reestablish the formation. 

It was no use. 

His prized formation had been entirely dismantled in the cascade failure. The array tools were destroyed, their connections severed. There was no way to restart it. 

A single talisman normally could only cause a brief disruption in an array of equal grades. 

It should never have caused this level of collapse. 

But Xu Pingyang had somehow done just that. 

It wasn't until this moment that Tu Zhiyong realized his "flawless" formation had a fatal weakness all along. 

Defeated and powerless, he collapsed to the ground, murmuring to himself. 

"Who was it… Who saw through it… Was it Li Ye… or some other array master…" 

That one strike had utterly crushed his spirit. 

The other family cultivators, seeing his state, knew there was no saving the situation. They no longer even looked at him. 

Other than those from the Tu family, the rest scattered like frightened birds. 

... 

The old man, who just moments ago had worn a confident smile, watched in horror as the formation collapsed in an instant, the thick protective light screen vanishing rapidly. His expression quickly shifted from confusion to shock and he turned to flee without hesitation. 

But having just been so brazenly insulted, how could Xu Pingyang possibly let him escape? 

"Charge in! Wipe out every last one of these family disciples and clear out this den of rogue cultivators! We'll avenge our fellow cultivators who fell to these thieves!" 

With a thunderous shout, he shot forward, wrapped in spiritual light. 

With a sweep of his sleeve, a top-grade longsword flew from his side, aiming straight for the old man's back. 

Whoosh 

Clang! 

A golden ring suddenly flew in from nowhere, intercepting the sword and knocking it away. 

Xu Pingyang's eyes narrowed. Ignoring the fleeing old man, he immediately turned his attention toward the direction the golden ring had returned to. 

"As expected… Chang Zhixin, so you have broken through to Foundation Establishment." 

Bathed in a glow of spiritual light, his sword circling by his side, Xu Pingyang calmly addressed the newcomer. 

The man had gray-black hair and a slightly rounded face, appearing no older than middle age. His expression was peaceful and composed. 

Chang Zhixin wore a faint smile. 

"Otherwise, how could us lowly survivors under your rule ever dare challenge you?" 

From a distance, he stood facing off against Xu Pingyang, though with a hint of regret. 

"What I didn't expect… was your patience. You waited until now to make your move. And to think you used a mere first-grade talisman to bring down that formation... It cost me a valuable advantage." 

"No one from Pingyang Mountain has such skill. I assume it was Li Ye's doing?" 

"So what if it was?" 

Xu Pingyang let out a cold snort. "The resources of this Chidi mountain range are scarce enough barely enough to sustain even one of us. I have no intention of sharing them!" 

"I'm not without mercy. I'll give you a choice: either you die here today, or you take your clan and leave!" 

Hearing this, Chang Zhixin's smile deepened. 

"And what if I choose to let you die instead?" 

Whoosh 

Suddenly, another streak of spiritual light flashed through the air carrying the same aura of Foundation Establishment. 

Luo Yiping of the Luo family had arrived! 

He flanked Xu Pingyang from the opposite side of Chang Zhixin, the two now forming a pincer formation. 

Xu Pingyang's gaze flicked between the two of them. Then he let out a cold laugh, more furious than amused. 

"Very well, very well! You two have truly schemed long and hard. Then let me settle this once and for all by killing both of you today!" 

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