Chapter 107: Let’s see what this old array has got

"Stop! Nobody take another step without my word," Jiang Wei commanded sharply from the front. He knelt down, brushing a layer of dust away from the stone floor. Underneath the grime, ancient, faintly glowing purple lines began to appear, tracing massive, intricate geometric patterns that stretched across the entire narrow pass.

"This is the first layer," Jiang Wei muttered, sweat already beadings on his forehead despite the freezing mountain air. "The Gorgon Earth-Crusher Array. It’s a classic defensive formation from the old era. The plates are balanced on spiritual weight. If you step on a negative rune, the array will immediately target your qi and trigger an active stone-spike formation."

"Looks complicated," I noted, casually resting my chin right over the Fire Empress’s shoulder to look down at the floor, enjoying the way her body instantly went rigid against my chest.

"Barry! Get away from me!" Qing Yan squeaked in a low, furious whisper, her cheeks turning a beautiful, soft shade of pink in the dark. She gave my ribs a firm nudge with her elbow, though she didn’t step away from my side. "Jiang Wei is risking his life to decipher the pathways, and you are still focusing on your ridiculous antics!"

"Hey, I’m just keeping you warm, Fire Empress," I grinned, keeping my grip tight on her slender waist. "The fog is cold, but your blush is keeping the whole area at a comfortable room temperature."

"Be quiet!" she hissed, though she didn’t pull her hand out from under the blanket where our fingers were still laced together.

Jiang Wei ignored our banter completely, his eyes darting across the glowing purple lines. He pulled a small, worn text from his robes, analyzing the structure. "Alright... the first three rows follow the path of the Azure Dragon. Row one, plate three is safe. Row two, plate five is safe. Follow my exact footsteps. Do not let your qi leak into the stone."

Jiang Wei took a slow, calculated step forward, his boot landing perfectly on the third plate. The purple light beneath his feet flickered softly before turning a calm, steady green. The two wounded survivors followed him with absolute precision, their faces pale with intense concentration.

I looked back over my shoulder at Lu Chen, who was still fuming in the rear, his serrated steel sword clutched tightly in his hands. He was staring at the way Qing Yan was leaning into my side, his eyes burning with pure, unadulterated jealousy and rage.

"Hey, poetry boy," I called out, my voice dripping with classic, lazy mockery. "Make sure you look at the floor instead of glaring at my handsome face. I don’t want to have to pick you up out of a rock pile again. It’s bad for my lower back."

"I don’t need your advice, wanderer!" Lu Chen hissed, his face turning an ugly, furious red in the dim purple light. "I am a trained cultivator from a formal sect! I know more about formations than a crude rogue who simply relies on physical speed!"

"Lu Chen, just follow the path!" Jiang Wei shouted back from the second row, his voice tight with alarm. "Plate five! Step only on plate five!"

But Lu Chen’s lingering anger and blind jealousy completely overrode his common sense. His eyes were so heavily fixed on the sight of my hand resting against the Fire Empress’s waist that he didn’t even look down at the stone floor. He took a massive, heavy stride forward, his boot thudding loudly against the solid black rock.

He didn’t step on plate five. He landed square in the middle of plate four—a glowing, jagged purple node shaped like a cracked skull.

’crack-crack-crack!’

The entire basin violently shuddered. The green lights Jiang Wei had activated instantly turned a deep, blood-red color, and the geometric arrays across the stone floor violently pulsed with an aggressive, screeching spiritual frequency.

"You absolute idiot!" Jiang Wei blurted out, his face losing all color as he desperately threw himself forward onto the safe zone with the two wounded companions. "The array is completely triggered! It’s expanding into a full containment sweep!"

The ground beneath our feet didn’t just tilt—it violently tore open. From the red lines on the floor, dozens of massive, jagged stone spikes, each over six feet long and sharp as razor blades, shot out of the earth like a row of giant teeth. Within seconds, a dense, towering cage of violent earth elements completely surrounded us, blocking the paths ahead and behind, trapping us inside a closing circle of stone blades.

"Ah! Help me!" Lu Chen screamed, his noble persona instantly shattering as three massive stone spikes shot out right beneath his heels, shattering his footing and launching him backward. His sword flew out of his hands once more, and he fell hard onto his backside, completely surrounded by closing rock spears that were about to skew him.

"Barry!" Qing Yan shouted, her lethal crimson eyes snapping back to life instantly as her Genesis Peak aura flared, her hands lighting up with a massive circle of roaring fire to blast the stones away.

"Stay behind me, Fire Empress," I commanded, the lazy grin completely vanishing from my face as my voice turned to pure, chilling ice.

I took a massive step forward, stepping right into the path of the closing stone cage. The long-standing bottleneck I had broken last night thrummed violently within my soul. I didn’t draw a sword from my inventory yet—it wasn’t time for the [Heaven-Splitting Sword Strike]—but the sheer, crushing weight of my newly achieved Meridian Stage core erupted outward in a majestic, blinding wave of solid golden light.

The pressure alone was so dense it caused the air inside the stone cage to warp, the shockwaves violently cracking the closing rock spikes into harmless pebbles before they could even touch us.

"Let’s see what this old array has got," I murmured, my dangerous smirk sliding back onto my face as my golden aura wrapped around my fists like solid armor .