At the third quarter of the Zi hour, a piercing, mournful horn blast tore through the Iron Wall Pass's night sky without any warning.

The sound didn't seem to come from an ox horn or conch shell, but rather like the simultaneous shrieks of countless wronged souls, carrying a soul-shaking, penetrating force. It instantly pierced through the thick stone walls of the hut, stabbing straight into the eardrums.

Su Ming was just holding the jade slip containing the "Eight Gates Lost Trace Incomplete Formation." His fingers trembled violently, nearly dropping the slip.

Almost at the same instant, the "Earth Hearing" talisman he had buried under the stone slab began to vibrate frantically. What it transmitted back was no longer a rhythmic pulsation, but a chaotic, disorderly roar, like a boiling pot of porridge.

"They're here."

Within his Consciousness Sea, Lin Yu's voice was unusually devoid of its usual laziness, instead carrying a cold, metallic hardness. "Don't just stand there. Put on your armor, grab your pack, get out. Move fast, look cool doing it—and most importantly, don't take the main roads."

Su Ming didn't hesitate in the slightest.

He stowed the jade slip into his storage pouch, reached back to grab the standard-issue leather armor hanging on the wall and pulled it on, then tied the cloth pouch filled with repair tools and "Bumper Harvest No. 1" around his waist. The entire process was smooth and fluid, clearly rehearsed countless times in his mind.

Pushing open the heavy stone door of the hut, a gale of wind mixed with the smells of sulfur, scorched material, and blood assaulted his face.

The originally pitch-black camp was now illuminated as bright as day by countless torches and illumination spells. Shadows of figures flickered everywhere. Shouts, the clashing of weapons and armor merged into a cacophony, yet it didn't seem panicked. Instead, it exuded a suffocating sense of order.

"Formation Maintenance Battalion, Third Squad! Celestial Pivot Position flank, Node A-Three! Move! Move! Move!"

Zhao Tiji's booming voice exploded through the wind, even drowning out the distant thunder.

Su Ming blended into the ranks, keeping his head down and hurrying along. He didn't look around like the new recruits, but instead kept his eyes fixed on the path underfoot, avoiding the spiritual energy transmission pipes that were glowing as they charged up.

Stepping on one of those now could result in anything from having a leg broken by the spiritual pressure to being flung away as an obstacle disrupting the spiritual energy flow.

"BOOM—"

A thunderous roar echoed from overhead.

Su Ming instinctively looked up, his pupils contracting sharply.

He saw that the originally semi-transparent, pale golden light curtain of the Big Dipper Seven Stars Demon Locking Grand Formation now looked as if it were being pressed inward by an invisible giant hand, forming a shocking concave arc.

Beyond the light curtain was boundless darkness.

And within that darkness, countless pairs of crimson eyes lit up like will-o'-the-wisps, densely packed, blotting out the sky.

Bolts of lightning thick as water vats, fireballs, and streams of venomous liquid rained down on the light curtain like a downpour, stirring up blinding ripples. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Stop gawking! Want to go blind?"

A rough, large hand slammed down on the back of Su Ming's head, forcing it down. It was Zhao Tiji.

The face of this old veteran was taut with tension, his scar engorged and purple-red. He held a giant formation clamp half a man's height, roaring, "That's concentrated fire from third-order demon beasts, 'Thunder Roarers'! Stare at it too long and your divine sense will shatter! All of you, get to your positions now!"

Su Ming felt a buzzing in his mind. If Lin Yu hadn't immediately used his soul power to protect Su Ming's Consciousness Sea, that single glance might have damaged his divine sense.

"Thanks, Brother Zhao."

Su Ming gasped, put force into his feet, and charged up onto the second-level platform of the city wall.

This was the location of the "Celestial Pivot Position" formation base, and the battlefield for Technical Assistant Repair Specialists like them.

The scene before his eyes was even more shocking than the view from below.

The massive formation base rotated slowly like a millstone, gears meshing with a teeth-grating friction sound. Countless spiritual energy pipes converged here, transforming the immense spiritual energy drawn from the earth veins into energy for the defensive shield.

But now, this colossal machine was groaning.

"Node C-Six overloaded! Cool it down!"

"Spiritual pressure at D-Nine unstable! Reinforce with talismans, now!"

"Damn it, where are the backup spirit stones? Fill them in, fast!"

Shouts rose one after another.

Su Ming was assigned next to the auxiliary formation plate at Node A-Three. His task was simple, and deadly—to ensure this node didn't blow up under extreme operation.

"VVRRMM—"

The formation plate before him suddenly shook violently. The originally deep blue runes instantly turned crimson red, and a wave of scorching hot air blasted towards his face.

"Spiritual pressure exceeding limit by thirty percent!" Lin Yu reported rapidly within the Consciousness Sea. "It took a heavy blow head-on. The returning spiritual energy can't be channeled away in time, it's blocked here. If we don't cool it down, the plate will melt."

Su Ming's gaze sharpened, his hands instantly forming a hand seal.

But he didn't use the conventional "Freezing Spell" or simply splash cold water. Using cold directly on a metal formation plate this hot would only cause the embrittled Star Pattern Steel to shatter instantly.

"Like Water Art, Guide!"

Su Ming shouted low, and ten threads of water spiritual energy, fine as gossamer, surged from his fingertips.

This spiritual energy wasn't icy cold, but carried a strange suppleness and warmth. They moved like living tendrils, winding and seeping along the crimson rune patterns on the formation plate.

Water vapor enveloped the scalding formation lines, not resisting them, but rapidly carrying away the heat, transforming it into billowing white mist.

"Sizzle—"

The white mist billowed up, instantly swallowing Su Ming's figure.

The heat traveled back along the spiritual energy threads. Su Ming felt as if his fingers had been plunged into boiling oil.

"Endure it." Lin Yu's voice was calm, almost coldly so. "Every bit of heat right now is runaway energy. What you need to do is act as a 'heat sink' and channel it out."

Su Ming clenched his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. Sweat barely seeped out before being vaporized.

He watched as the skin on the back of his hands visibly reddened, blistered, and even emitted a faint, cooked-meat aroma.

But he didn't let go.

Because he clearly saw that at the core of the formation plate, the numerical value representing the defensive strength was slowly rising again. The crimson runes were reverting to a stable deep blue.

Right at that moment, a crisp, tearing sound, like ripping cloth, came from the light curtain overhead.

"Watch out! Breach!"

Someone shouted.

Su Ming instinctively looked up. Through the billowing steam, he saw an Iron-Feathered Eagle with a wingspan of at least two zhang had actually forced its way through a gap in the light curtain. Covered in crackling arcs of electricity and blood, it shrieked as it dove towards the second-level platform.

Its target was precisely Node A-Three, where the spiritual energy fluctuations were most intense—exactly where Su Ming was.

The golden eyes of the eagle were filled with cruelty and bloodlust. Its sharp iron feathers sliced through the air like throwing knives, emitting a piercing, sharp screech.

Su Ming's fingers were still on the formation plate. He couldn't dodge.

If he let go, the formation plate would go out of control and explode, killing him for sure. If he didn't let go, the Iron-Feathered Eagle's talons would shatter his skull in the next instant.

"Duck!"

A furious roar exploded by his ear.

A flash of snowy-bright sword light swept across like a bolt of silk.