Chapter 278

Chapter 278: Predicament

At that moment, light flashed again and again under their feet.

Shen Sang Ruo and the Snake Maiden finally noticed there was another formation on the platform. Red and black light crossed over each other, eerie and unsettling.

The Snake Maiden had already tried it; she could not break this formation either.

This was the “warm water” the Great Devil had prepared for them.

They tried attacking, but the light on the formation only grew brighter. They clearly felt their souls draining faster, so they stopped at once.

This formation could only be broken by the correct method. It could not be forced.

A Barrier Ward trapped them inside the formation and was slowly eating away at their souls. In the end, they would become living bodies without souls.

Then the Great Devil could easily take that clump of Divine Soul Power.

Once she understood all this, the Snake Maiden’s face turned grim.

She spoke with some irritation, “Striking the Barrier Ward is useless. The Great Devil is so far away, our attacks cannot reach him. Are we just going to wait to be drained?”

The Snake Maiden excelled at close combat and could not touch the distant Great Devil.

Even as a Great Demon already at half step Divine Transformation, she was helpless before this trap. For the first time she felt useless, and a wave of powerlessness rose in her chest.

Shen Sang Ruo’s Sunset Glassfire Art was long range, but as they had just seen, her attack had not reached the Great Devil either.

Even if the flames reached, they were only at the edge of the Glazed Flame and the damage would be low.

Worse, dense Devil Qi layered and layered, shaving off the Glazed Flame’s power.

For now, other than Little Koi, the two of them were still unharmed, yet both looked extremely solemn.

From every angle, it was a dead end.

Shen Sang Ruo tossed a piece of Spirit Jade Marrow to the Snake Maiden so she could temporarily resist the soul drain.

Holding another piece herself, she drew in Divine Soul Power. Only then did Little Koi’s condition in her sea of consciousness ease a little.

She packed the Dodder Flower Sprite, the Swift Snail, and the Giant Beetles into a cloth bag and set it beside the Spirit Jade Marrow.

She put the clump of Divine Soul Power into her Cosmos Pouch. The formation could not reach through the Cosmos Pouch to affect it.

That clump of Divine Soul Power must not be taken out, and it could not be used to strengthen their souls.

Otherwise the formation would siphon it straight to the Great Devil.

Shen Sang Ruo considered every possible way to escape. [There has to be a path out.]

The Barrier Ward that confined them and the soul-drawing formation both offered no entry point.

The only good news was that Immortal Lord Chang Li and the others had surely noticed something was wrong. They were probably trying to break the Barrier Ward to rescue them right now.

But whether they could break it, and whether they could find them afterward, was another matter.

Shen Sang Ruo never placed all her hope on others.

Right now, she could only rely on herself.

After thinking it through, she saw only one approach: start with the Great Devil. He was the only possible breakthrough in this deadlock.

“No matter what, let’s try first,” Shen Sang Ruo said as she gripped the Luan Feather Fan with her other hand, her gaze sharp as she stared at the Great Devil hidden in the dark.

The Snake Maiden stepped behind her to give her space.

This time, Shen Sang Ruo poured in all her Spiritual Power and swept the fan five times in a row, each stroke stronger than the last.

The flames rolled forward like wave after wave.

At first they were unstoppable, but as the distance grew, the Devil Qi grew thicker.

The Devil Qi canceled the Glazed Flame’s energy, weakening it again and again.

That Devil Qi was the Great Devil’s main life-saving shield.

The Glazed Flame slowed, its glow fading, and finally stopped a dozen meters in front of the Great Devil.

He seemed surprised for a heartbeat, but mockery quickly filled his eyes.

Shen Sang Ruo knew this was the limit of her Glazed Flame, just as she had expected.

The Sunset Glassfire Art dealt area damage. The wider the range, the more Spiritual Power it burned.

Even though she had already used Miniaturization to squeeze it down and focus the Glazed Flame within a width of two meters, she still could not reach the far-off Great Devil.

“Still not enough?” The light in the Snake Maiden’s eyes dimmed like the Glazed Flame.

She did not show it on her face. She simply curved her lips in a small smile and told Shen Sang Ruo, “We were only a little short. That was already good.”

But the smile was a bit forced.

The formation drew their souls faster and faster. Even with Spirit Jade Marrow, they could not hold out for long.

In Shen Sang Ruo’s sea of consciousness, Little Koi’s body had already turned translucent. Because of their Spirit Pact with her, Zhu Miao and the Kui Ox also had their souls suppressed. Their condition was bad.

She could only call them all back into her sea of consciousness and then seal it for now.

She would shoulder the soul drain herself to shield them.

Inside her sea, the Kui Ox and Zhu Miao refused to accept it. They struggled to break out and share the burden with her.

She forced them down with the Spirit Pact.

The Divine Soul Power in the Spirit Jade Marrow was almost gone. She used what remained to protect the Dodder Flower Sprite, the Giant Beetles, and the Swift Snail.

At this rate, in less than two days the formation would drain their souls dry.

The situation had reached the worst point.

Everything was going exactly as the Great Devil had planned, and greed flashed in his eyes.

He had not expected the two of them to last this long.

He had first figured it would take half a day to turn them into living corpses.

Yet they were still barely standing even now.

The Snake Demon being close to Divine Transformation was one thing, but what surprised him was the female cultivator only at Nascent Soul Early Stage.

It seemed her soul was very strong.

That meant he could take in even more Divine Soul Power. He licked his lips.

He rasped, “Divine Soul Power will soon be mine. I will leave this cursed place soon, heh heh heh…”

The strange laugh echoed through the space like a death sentence for Shen Sang Ruo and the Snake Maiden.

With her soul being pulled out again and again, Shen Sang Ruo’s head felt foggy. She kept staring across the space, still searching for a way to break the trap. [If I can focus my Spiritual Power, I can punch through the Devil Qi.]

The Sunset Glassfire Art spread its damage too thin. If she could concentrate it, maybe she could pierce the Devil Qi, reach the Great Devil, and kill him.

How could she focus her Spiritual Power?

Her fingers brushed the Luan Feather Fan without thinking. The soft green feathers moved ever so slightly though there was no wind.

Shen Sang Ruo suddenly paused. [That’s it.]

Yes. Use Immortal Lord Chang Li’s Heart-Guard Feather and the Dragon Sinew to refit the Luan Feather Fan into a bow and arrow.

Once remade, the bow and arrow would focus her Spiritual Power. They would pierce the black mist and strike the Great Devil.

When the Snake Maiden saw her look, she sensed that Shen Sang Ruo had found a solution and felt a breath of relief.

After all, Shen Sang Ruo was the one who had seen through her disguise and could infer the truth from the smallest clues.

The Snake Maiden stepped close and kept her voice low, “You figured out a way?”

Shen Sang Ruo nodded and told her plan, “I will remake my artifact into a bow and arrow. Then we’ll have a sliver of hope.”