Free Web NovelChapter 194: Chapter 194: Assigning Tasks
"Yun Han, if this really is the Trapped Dragon Formation, do you have a way to break it?" Ning Xuan asked.
"I do, but to find the core of the Array, we’ll need a detailed Array Map. This bit of information alone isn’t enough," Yun Han replied.
"We’ll head back for today. Wang Yue, make a few more hot air balloons. We’ll try using them first," Ning Xuan said.
"That won’t be necessary, Master," Di Youlin said, eager to try. "If the Array he mentioned is really in there, it only targets living things. Sending up a simple hot air balloon should be fine, but it might be a different story if there’s a person on it. So, just let me go up and take a look."
Ning Xuan hesitated. It wasn’t that she distrusted Di Youlin’s power, but she didn’t want him to take the risk.
"Don’t worry, Master. I swept across the interstellar battlefield as a teenager. Even though my power is somewhat suppressed here, I still have more than enough to protect myself. I’ll just go up and take a look. If anything seems wrong, I’ll come right back." With Di Youlin having said this much, Ning Xuan nodded. "Alright. But you must be careful. If you notice anything unusual, retreat at once."
Di Youlin grinned, a flash of excitement in his eyes. "Don’t worry, Master. It’s just a pile of broken rocks. Even with an Array, it’s no match for me."
With that, he unfurled his wings, and in a flash, shot upward as a streak of light.
Ning Xuan activated her Spiritual Power as well, stepping onto the Flying Disc made of Flying Elephant Ant Wings. She rose into the air right after him, ready to provide support at a moment’s notice.
Di Youlin flew several dozen meters above the Stone Forest and began a tentative descent. He estimated he would only need to drop to about ten meters or so above the ground to see the shape of the stone pillars clearly.
Just as Di Youlin descended to about twenty meters, he suddenly felt the surrounding air thicken, as if invisible shackles were latching onto his limbs.
Di Youlin snorted. Golden light erupted from his body, forcibly shattering the binding force.
’There’s definitely something strange here.’ His gaze sharpened, and he became even more cautious. He slowed his descent considerably. After dropping a few more meters, Di Youlin could vaguely make out the arrangement of the pillars below. Just as he was trying to discern the pattern of the shorter, rounded pillars, he discovered that the pillars within the Stone Forest had actually begun to move. They shifted and intertwined, revealing a massive Array pattern on the ground that began to emit a blinding black light.
The black light coalesced into the shape of a giant hand and shot toward Di Youlin.
"Di Youlin, watch out!" Ning Xuan cried out nervously, urging her Flying Disc made of Flying Elephant Ant Wings forward, intending to rush in and help.
"Stay back! I’m fine!" Di Youlin roared. Facing the lunging black hand, he didn’t retreat but instead charged straight toward it. With a flap of his wings, the edges of his iridescent feathers ignited with searing flames.
’A mere remnant spirit, nothing worth mentioning.’ The flames on Di Youlin’s body forced the black hand back. He then dove, slashing his sword at a suspicious-looking pillar below. The powerful sword energy sheared the tops off several of the towering pillars.
On the ground, Wang Yue stared up, dumbfounded. "He... he’s too strong!"
"Miss Ning, I can go lend him a hand," Qinghe requested, cupping his fists. ’He, too, longed to call Ning Xuan "Master," but he wasn’t yet worthy.’
"Don’t!" Yun Han called up to Ning Xuan. "The Array is fully activated! Rushing in now will only make things worse!"
Ning Xuan nodded and said to Qinghe, "Let’s just observe for now."
Di Youlin unleashed a dozen more sword strikes, leaving the pillars below in a chaotic mess of flying debris. However, the black, shadowy tendrils flowing through the Stone Forest were also growing more numerous. Di Youlin’s flight became increasingly unstable. He would occasionally be struck by a shadow, causing him to plummet suddenly. Though he managed to stabilize himself each time and avoid crashing into the jagged pillars, Ning Xuan watched with a knot of anxiety in her stomach.
"Di Youlin, come back now!" Ning Xuan shouted.
Hearing Ning Xuan’s command, Di Youlin didn’t hesitate. He immediately put all his strength into flying upward. After three attempts, he finally broke free, and the strange pulling force vanished once he was nearly forty meters above the ground.
Di Youlin flew back and slowly descended. He had just reached Ning Xuan’s side when he heard the sound of stones grinding behind him. He turned to look at the Stone Forest and saw that the pillars he had just shattered had, in a few short moments, returned to their original state.
His face was a little pale, and his eyes held a hint of shame. "Master, that Stone Forest’s Array... it’s definitely strange."
Ning Xuan quickly stepped forward, steadying his slightly swaying body. "Arrays are always a hassle. Rest for a bit. There’s no rush to break it; we’ll figure out a way together."
"If my power weren’t suppressed, I could have dug all those damn rocks out with a single strike," Di Youlin said, sounding wronged. "This feeling of being held back is so infuriating."
"However," he added, "I managed to memorize the general positions of the shorter pillars. I’ll draw them out now." Di Youlin had been attacked while trying to memorize the pillars’ layout. Fortunately, thanks to his high spiritual power, his memory was exceptional.
Even though he had only glanced at it for a moment, he had memorized it with near-perfect accuracy.
When Yun Han saw the new details Di Youlin added to the diagram Zhang Nan had started, he nodded firmly at Ning Xuan. "It’s definitely the Trapped Dragon Formation. His additions are quite detailed. Let me try to calculate the position of the Array’s core."
The reason Yun Han had been able to raise an Independent Corps to the status of a first-class elite unit in just a few years wasn’t just his combat prowess or his family’s backing; it was also because of his expertise in various Arrays.
Yun Han spent a little over half an hour before circling three locations on the diagram Di Youlin had amended. "Destroy these three stone pillars, and the Array will be broken."
"Excellent. Di Youlin, you take this pillar," Ning Xuan said, pointing to the one farthest from the edge to assign his task. "Fly up high and dive down again. Use your full power to destroy it. Can you do it?"
"I can," Di Youlin answered without hesitation.
"Yun Han and I will take the one in the middle."
"Qinghe, you’re responsible for the outermost one. We’ll time it so we all strike at once, aiming to break it in a single blow. Lin Mo, you’ll be Qinghe’s backup." Ning Xuan finished assigning the tasks.
"Contractor, it’s too risky for you to go," Lin Mo protested.
Although Yun Han didn’t dare to contradict Ning Xuan directly, he nodded furiously when Lin Mo objected. The others were also in unanimous agreement that she shouldn’t take the risk.
"Besides Di Youlin, I’m the only one here who can fly. It’s far more convenient to attack from above than to venture into the Stone Forest. As long as we coordinate our timing, there won’t be any problems."
