Lu Chen smiled bitterly and said, "What Senior said is true. After the eight of us were trapped in the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array, we couldn't find an exit. I have some proficiency in formations and tried to break it, but the array is ever-changing. After escaping from one place, we immediately fell into another predicament, and so it goes in cycles, endlessly repeating."

Situ Yao asked with concern, "How did you all get out?"

Huang Yuankui said to Gan Qian with more curiosity, "You aren't interested in formations, and being trapped in the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array, you probably couldn't have escaped on your own?"

Gan Qian blushingly replied, "I tried to force my way through with brute strength but after breaking through one phase, the next seemed to return to the original place. The more mistakes I made, the stronger the power of the mechanisms in the array became, putting me in constant danger. After barely making it through three times, I dared not move recklessly and was trapped in a cave for a whole three months."

"Three months?" Ying Wujiu suddenly exclaimed, "Are you sure you were trapped there for three months?"

Gan Qian hastily replied, "Yes, Senior. By the way, the time flow in Earth Space is much faster than here. A day here might be three days there."

Ying Wujiu nodded, "That makes sense. Since your Lingxiao Sect disciples entered that Earth Space, only a little more than two months have passed altogether."

Li Yang asked, "How did you manage to escape then?"

Gan Qian said to Lu Chen, "It was Brother Lu who brought me out."

Everyone turned their gaze to Lu Chen.

Situ Yao joyfully said, "You broke the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array?"

Lu Chen shook his head with a bitter smile, "I don't have such abilities. I met two Earth cultivators, and they freed me from the constraints of the array."

"Oh?"

Everyone's eyes lit up, and Li Yang curiously asked, "Given that Earth's spiritual energy has just revived, the cultivators there shouldn't be strong. Yet they had people capable of escaping the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array?"

Lu Chen nodded, "Yes. The person is named Yang Fei. After we were trapped, he found us following the tremendous changes brought by White Jade City. He must be a genius on Earth, blessed with luck. He and his wife also were trapped in the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array, but he acquired the inheritance of someone named Li Er, who is the creator of the array..."

"Li Er?" Shang Daocheng couldn't help but speak, frowning as though in contemplation.

Some other Core Formation Masters also furrowed their brows, pondering.

Chu Kuangge shook his head and said, "This name doesn't seem like one associated with any prominent figures in the long history of the Cultivation World."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Ying Wujiu said, "Therefore, this Earth space isn't a Cave Mansion World established by some powerful predecessor from the Cultivation World, but rather an independently discovered Plane World."

"It should be."

"However, it's odd that this person understands the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array."

"Indeed, legend has it that the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array was created by the Ancient Taoist Ancestor Three Pure Saints. Even the most basic array has immense power, and non-experts in formations find it extremely challenging to break through with brute strength alone. How could someone in the Earth Plane leave such an array?"

"This person named Li Er might not have originally been named Li Er, it could just be an alias."

"That's possible."

After some discussion, Li Yang said, "Please continue your story."

Lu Chen continued speaking.

He mixed truth with lies and described how Yang Fei and Qin Yanyang rescued the members of the Lingxiao Sect. He concluded, "This person has gained Li Er's inheritance, is a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and possesses a magic treasure of vast power. Even within the Foundation Establishment realm, he can achieve short-range continuous teleportation. Thus, none of us in the Lingxiao Sect were able to defeat him."

"What kind of magic treasure did he use?" Li Yang asked curiously.

"A silver-white long whip. When wielded, it can seize a person's soul and render them soulless instantly," Lu Chen said.

Everyone's eyes gleamed with a trace of greed.

Li Yang was surprised, "Doesn't it resemble my Glazed Soul-Seizing Banner in operation?"

Lu Chen shook his head, "This magic treasure should be more powerful than the Glazed Soul-Seizing Banner. Later, when Xiang Yuncong used the banner against Yang Fei, he was suppressed on the spot."

Li Yang's eyes flickered with a trace of murderous intent as he stared at Lu Chen, "Although Yang Fei and his wife saved the members of the Lingxiao Sect, why did things turn hostile?"

Lu Chen sighed with a bitter smile, "Although Yang Fei was kind to us, the Lingxiao Sect clearly wanted to claim the massive spirit ore resources of White Jade City for ourselves after discovering it. We informed him that he and his wife could be recommended to join the Lingxiao Sect and receive spiritual stones and cultivation resources as compensation. However, Yang Fei claimed that White Jade City was wealth personally left to him by Li Er, exclusively his, and told us not to covet its resources."

Situ Yao snorted coldly, "A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator wanting to guard such vast mineral resources? Foolishness."

Lu Chen hastily added, "What you said is true, Master. We told him the same at the time, but he refused to listen and became very angry. Some of us even spoke rashly, and the situation escalated. On the spot, Ye Wuya and Brother Li Yue were seized of their souls by that person's silver whip magic treasure, and when some other brothers fought him, he was notably familiar with our cultivation techniques. None of us were his match."

Situ Yao couldn't help but say, "Since this person received the inheritance of the creator of the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array, he likely gained a godly perspective through the array, foreseeing your secrets and techniques in advance."

Lu Chen admired, "Master, you're right. This person indeed relied on the unique power of the Nine-Nine Returning to One Array to understand our attack methods, and with the surprise of his magic treasure, we were caught off guard. Even though there were eight of us, we weren't their match."

Gan Qian couldn't help but supplement, "Brother Lu, you didn't mention the ancient divine beast they had with them."

"Right," Lu Chen said. "The couple also had a creature resembling one of the ten ancient divine beasts recorded in the 'Compendium of Mountain and Sea Anomalies,' the Heaven-devouring Divine Beast."

"What?"

"Heaven-devouring Divine Beast?"

"Really?"

Everyone was shocked, and Shang Daocheng's expression was full of concern as he sharply eyed Lu Chen.

Lu Chen and Gan Qian didn't conceal anything about this matter and didn't fear the crowd's scrutiny. They both nodded and said, "Yes, according to the descriptions in the 'Compendium of Mountain and Sea Anomalies,' that beast is indeed the Heaven-devouring Beast. It's merely a young cub, but even as a cub, its combat power isn't weak. I could only temporarily constrain it using the Dragon Suppressing Talisman."

Several Core Formation Masters' expressions grew more and more excited.

Shang Daocheng inquired, "So, out of our eight disciples from the Lingxiao Sect, it was just the two of you who managed to escape?"

Lu Chen and Gan Qian nodded in unison, as this response had been prearranged between them.

Shang Daocheng said sternly, "Are the other six dead?"

Ying Wujiu, Chu Kuangge, and members from the three major cultivation clans also asked, "Did something happen to our people as well?"

Lu Chen and Gan Qian suddenly looked ashamed and sad, nodding, "Yes, later a group that went next also suffered heavy losses, even losing the Spirit Ship to Yang Fei. If not for Bai Yu and Jin Ling fighting back and reclaiming the Spirit Boat for our escape, no one might have returned to inform the sect."

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