Chapter 277: Array siege (6) |
As Chen Ren poured everything he still had into the defensive wall, part of him already knew it might not matter.
The beam pressing down on them was not something a foundation establishment cultivator should have been trying to stop head-on. It was too dense and too overwhelming. But what else was he supposed to do? He had no better answer, no hidden move left to pull out, no clever trick rising in his mind at the last moment.
In the end, though, it turned out he did not need one.
A voice came from behind them, sounding familiar, calm and annoyingly pleased with himself.
“It seems you truly needed my help after all, Chen Ren. You should feel honored that I am this gracious.”
Relief hit Chen Ren before he even turned.
The next moment, a wall of blue appeared just beyond their crumbling shield. It rose into place with a coldness sharp enough to be felt even through the heat of the beam, and as it spread wider, the golden force that had been pressing down on them was diverted to either side.
Yalan dropped the flames immediately.
She let out one long breath and then simply collapsed back onto the boat, too drained to bother pretending otherwise. Around them, the others looked no better. The twins sagged where they stood. The royal guard with the burned shoulder almost fell to one knee. Even Li Xuan, who had stayed tense the whole time, finally looked like he could breathe again.
No matter how long he looked, it did not crack. The beam crashed against it and slid away as though it were striking something far beyond its ability to break.
Only when Chen Ren was certain they were truly safe did he turn.
City Lord Xiangrui stood behind them with a grin on his face, the sort of expression that suggested he was waiting—quite reasonably, in his own mind—for Chen Ren to fall to his knees in gratitude.
And honestly, Chen Ren would not even have minded that much.
The man had just saved his life.
Still, Chen Ren could not help the small suspicion that rose in him as he looked at the city lord. Xiangrui had probably been watching for some time already. More than likely, he had only chosen to intervene at the very last moment so that, when he did step in, there would be no doubt at all who had played the savior.
Though, in the end, that hardly mattered.
They were alive.
And that was because City Lord Xiangrui had chosen to step in.
If he was being honest, he had not really expected the man to show himself after staying absent for so long. But now Xiangrui stood there in the air as if he had been meant to appear at exactly this moment, smiling in that infuriating way of his, and Chen Ren knew well enough what was expected of him.
So he stepped toward the edge of the boat, bowed without hesitation, and said, “Thank you for your assistance, City Lord Xiangrui.”
Xiangrui gave a low hum, clearly pleased. “It is not much,” he said. “Only a single attack from the [Grand Aegis Array]. Still, yes, you should be grateful that I decided you were worth saving.”
Chen Ren kept his head lowered.
A wry smile tried to form on his face, but he buried it before it could be seen.
“I’m also grateful that you decided to help us break through the array.”
Xiangrui gave a small huff. “You asked and I considered it and decided there was some value in breaching this array after all. So here I am.” Then his eyes settled on Chen Ren more sharply. “But only if you still remember what you promised me.”
Chen Ren raised his head slightly and nodded at once. “Of course I remember. You’ll have what I said, Lord Xiangrui.”
That seemed to satisfy him.
Xiangrui gave a small nod and let his gaze drift across the others on the boat. Most of them were still staring at him in open shock, far less composed than Chen Ren. Only Yalan seemed too exhausted to care very much. Then, while they all watched, the golden beam finally began to fade.
Chen Ren turned at once.
The attack thinned slowly, the light draining from it until the sky returned to something closer to normal. Even after it was gone, though, the smell of burning lingered in the air, thick enough to settle over everything.
Above them, the cultivators who had fled higher during the blast were finally beginning to descend again, looking down at the scene as they made their way back.
A few of them looked openly shaken as they came back down, whether from seeing Chen Ren and the others still alive or from seeing City Lord Xiangrui standing there, he couldn’t tell. Shrey, however, did not bother hiding his surprise. He was the first to descend fully, arriving on the back of his mount and narrowing his eyes at Xiangrui before saying,
“So Chen Ren actually managed to persuade you. That’s unexpected.”
City Lord Xiangrui gave a soft snort. “I should be saying the same about you. For a merchant who pretends to want nothing but quiet, you’ve involved yourself in something rather large.”
Shrey only shrugged. “Chen Ren offered a price worth my time.”
At that, Xiangrui smiled. “He did the same for me.” His eyes flicked briefly toward Chen Ren before returning to Shrey. “It seems we have that much in common.”
Shrey answered only with a grunt.
By then the rest of the group had drawn close enough that the conversation was no longer private. Princess Yanyue led the way on her boat, and from the look on her face, it was obvious she had heard enough to become deeply curious about what exactly Chen Ren had promised the two city lords. But this was not the time for that sort of questioning, and she knew it.
Before the moment could stretch any farther, Chen Ren clapped his hands once, getting everyone’s attention on him.
“I think we’ve spoken enough. We need to break through the array now. I don’t know when it might fire that golden beam again.”
They all simultaneously looked at the barrier.
The sight of it made Chen Ren’s chest tighten. The first layer was still damaged in places, but much of the work they had done was already being undone. The second layer had nearly stitched itself back together, and the third looked untouched like before.
For a second, his heart sank.
So much effort, so much danger, and the array was already trying to erase the proof of all of it.
But there was no point standing there mourning that. If they were going to break through, then this was never going to be a matter of one perfect strike. It had to be sustained. Something closer to a siege in the truest sense than a sudden breach.
So Chen Ren raised his voice again and shouted,
“Everyone! City Lord Xiangrui of Goldspire City is with us now! We can break through it now, so don’t lose heart!”
But the words had barely settled when one of the Frostpeak Sect cultivators called back, “What about that golden beam? It nearly killed us. What if it fires again?”
Chen Ren turned toward the voice, ready to answer, but Han Qingshi moved before he could. The giant swung one of his chains through the air with enough force that the cultivator had to jerk his flying sword aside to avoid getting clipped. He barked. “Don’t call yourself a cultivator of the great Frostpeak Sect if a single beam is enough to scare you. We hunt wyverns. This is nothing.”
And as if to prove it, he simply strode forward through the air in those same long, absurd steps of his and hurled himself back into the assault. His chains smashed across the first layer and then struck the second with a heavy crash. The blow still was not enough to open a crack there, but Han Qingshi kept going anyway, battering the array as though the only way to answer fear was with more noise and violence.
That was enough.
The Frostpeak Sect disciples who had hesitated a moment before no longer had much choice but to follow their senior brother’s lead. One after another, they started moving again, swords and artifacts all turning back toward the array.
Princess Yanyue glanced at her royal guards, and they understood her without needing a word. Their ranged attacks resumed immediately. Even the contraption started firing again, this time releasing a pale beam that resembled the golden one in shape, though not in strength.
The siege slowly found its rhythm again.
Chen Ren watched it for only a moment before turning toward the two city lords. “I’ll leave myself in your care.”
Both of them gave small nods.
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Shrey moved first, guiding his mount forward with that same casual air as if breaking an ancient array were just another trade he had decided to honor. Xiangrui, however, lingered for a few seconds longer. He looked at Chen Ren, and there was the faintest trace of amusement in his face.
“If that beam comes again, I’ll deal with it. It has been a long time since I stretched my legs properly anyway.”
Then he moved.
He shot through the air so quickly that for a second Chen Ren almost lost track of him, and in his wake a trail of ice hung in the sky.
Chen Ren had no real sense of City Lord Xiangrui’s fighting style before that moment, nor of the scale of destruction the man could actually unleash, so he kept his eyes on him.
What he saw next made it very clear that subtlety was not part of Xiangrui’s nature.
Large swords of ice began appearing around the city lord one after another, spinning in cold circles around his body before shooting forward all at once. They pierced cleanly through the damaged first layer and smashed into the second, and wherever they landed, the array froze over in wide patches. The silver sheen dulled under the spreading ice, and the moment Xiangrui reached one of those frozen sections, he formed a spear of ice in his hand and drove it straight in.
Cracks burst outward immediately, but he didn’t stop there.
In the next breath, he created not dozens but thousands of ice swords. The sheer number of them was enough to make even Han Qingshi pull back from the area before Xiangrui sent them driving into the second layer from every direction. The array shook under the assault as more and more sections of it froze, split, and cracked.
Beside Chen Ren, Yalan let out a breath and muttered, “He’s kind of wasteful.”
Chen Ren nodded, still watching the rain of ice.
“I think he likes being dramatic,” he said. “And I doubt telling him to focus on a single spot would get us very far.”
Then he looked down at her.
She was still breathing hard from the beam, and even though she looked steadier than before, the strain had not fully left her.
“Can you still fight?”
Yalan sighed in reply. Two pills floated out from her spatial ring, and she swallowed them both before answering.
“I’ll be fine. Just don’t do anything stupid this time.”
That earned a faint smile from Chen Ren. “No promises.”
Then he jumped back onto Li Xuan’s sword.
This time, Yalan came with him, landing lightly onto his shoulders as if she had already decided that leaving him unsupervised again would be a mistake. Chen Ren didn’t mind that. He only turned toward Princess Yanyue. “We have all our firepower now. Let’s make sure this ends quickly.”
Yanyue gave a small nod. She drew her qi bow down again, but this time the arrow forming on it was silver rather than the usual elemental glow.
“Try not to die, Sect Leader Chen.”
Chen Ren gave a faint smile and tapped Li Xuan on the shoulder, and the flying sword shot forward through the air.
Until then, Chen Ren had mostly stayed toward the back of the assault, letting the others hammer at the array while he focused on keeping the whole thing moving and supporting wherever he could. But now, Xiangrui was involved, and that changed the feel of the battle completely. With one city lord already battering the layers apart and another striking at weak points, this no longer felt like a desperate attempt to scratch at the impossible. For the first time, Chen Ren felt like they might truly force their way through.
So he stopped hanging back.
The flying sword shot forward, weaving through the sky between bolts, arrows, flame, and the constant barrage coming from the cultivators, the puppets, and the contraption. Around them, the array kept firing smaller beams in response, but those were being intercepted quickly enough by the cultivators carrying the deflecting mirrors. Every time one flashed across their path, another mirror caught it and turned it aside, sending the force back into the barrier while more cracks spread through the wounded layers.
Before they reached the first layer, Chen Ren took out a few pills and pushed them into his mouth.
The effect came almost immediately. Warmth spread through his chest, sharp enough to make him draw in a slow breath as the drained parts of his qi began to stir again.
“Ready?” he muttered.
From his shoulders, Yalan gave a snort that was as good as an answer.
The next moment, Li Xuan drove the sword through one of the larger breaks in the first layer and into the space between it and the second. The instant they entered that gap, Chen Ren felt something strange brush against his body. It was not pain exactly, but pressure, like the qi around them had thickened and was trying to press inward from all sides.
He ignored it. There was no room left in him to waste attention on discomfort.
The moment they were inside, he and Yalan attacked.
Flame and lightning burst out together, mixed in quick succession and aimed straight at the places where Shrey and Xiangrui had already damaged the second layer. Chen Ren had no illusion that he could hit the array with anything close to the force the city lords could bring, but that was not the point. The two of them were striking wide, trying to open more of the layer and keep the pressure spread. Chen Ren’s role was simply to support them.
So he focused on every crack, every weak point, every fractured stretch of silver and ice he could reach. Li Xuan, meanwhile, settled fully into his role as the one keeping them alive. He guided the sword with far more precision than Chen Ren would have guessed possible, curving around the drifting force of nearby attacks and even avoiding Xiangrui’s ice assaults, which seemed cold enough to freeze the very air they passed through.
Even Han Qingshi’s chains, which he kept swinging around with the sort of reckless abandon that suggested he had forgotten other people existed near him, were something Li Xuan had to account for. Fortunately, the gap between the layers was wide enough that there was room to work with, and that kept the whole thing from turning into a disaster.
Chen Ren settled into the motion of it quickly.
His lightning lances and his bursts of qi were not powerful enough to open the second layer by themselves, not against something like this. But Yalan’s flames softened the fractured places first, burning into the weak points and worrying at the cracks until Chen Ren could come in behind them and drive sharper attacks through. Every time a section gave way, the sound was crisp and brittle, like thick glass breaking under pressure, and before long that noise had started to fill his ears often enough that he stopped flinching at it.
Around them, the rest of the assault found its pace again.
This time there was another city lord in the fight, and that changed everything. The attacks kept raining down from outside. Beams, arrows, qi slashes, puppet projectiles, and the stranger outputs of the contraption all battered the damaged sections while the array answered in the only ways it still could. It kept firing its smaller beams, but now those were being dealt with almost casually, dodged where they could be dodged and turned back where the mirrors could catch them.
Slowly, the second layer began to resemble the first.
More and more of it broke away until close to a tenth of its visible surface had been torn open. Once that happened, both city lords moved in again toward the golden layer.
Shrey returned to his brutal method, smashing at the barrier over and over with fists soaked in qi, while Xiangrui took a different route. He spread ice over the golden surface in broad patches and then drove hundreds of sharp projectiles into it, trying to force weakness through cold, impact, and repetition.
At first, it did not seem to matter.
The third layer did not crack. Not even slightly.j
Still, Chen Ren kept watching it, because he could feel the pressure building even if the barrier did not show it. Sooner or later, something had to give. And in the end, they did not need to destroy the whole thing. They only needed one crack. One opening. If even a single person could force their way inside the city proper, then the array could be dealt with from within.
That thought stayed in Chen Ren’s mind as he moved along the second layer, looking for more fractures to widen, more places where he and Yalan could make themselves useful.
But then the array reacted as it started shining again. And at the same time, the gaps around them began to draw inward, trying to trap them.
***
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