Lu Zhaozhao made the first move. She had been learning swordsmanship at the Qinghui Sect since childhood, and she had already mastered the Eighteen Forms of Qinghui. The sword energy she unleashed against the enemy made the Taoist priest take notice.

But he merely raised an eyebrow and said dismissively, "Your cultivation level is too low."

Lu Zhaozhao ignored them and drew her sword on her own. The people around her also used their best skills to help her.

The gatekeeper wasn't bothered by the addition of a few people. He raised an excessively pale hand and pushed it outwards. The ground suddenly shook violently. Lu Zhaozhao retreated hastily, but it was as if an invisible hand appeared on the ground, firmly grasping them and pulling them downwards.

"Thump." A dull sound came from her knee. Lu Zhaozhao looked around and saw that, apart from Yao Tong, who had summoned the seven-stringed zither behind her, and Cen Jianwen, who was waiting for his chance to enter, everyone else in the arena was bound by this strange gripping force.

"Junior Sister Lu!" Yao Tong was a little anxious when she saw this situation. She hurriedly waved the seven-stringed zither in her hand and plucked out several notes with her fingertips. The notes materialized and entered the arena, but it was still to no avail.

Bai Yuanzhou thrust the bamboo slip at the point where his ankle was bound, but missed. The slip pierced his ankle, and blood flowed freely, causing him to scream in pain.

Lu Zhaozhao caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye and suddenly stopped looking. After watching for a while, she seemed to understand something and abruptly looked up at Cen Jianwen.

After hearing her telepathic message, Cen Jianwen's expression changed several times. He nodded emphatically, took out a stack of talisman papers from his pocket, and began writing and drawing on them at an extremely fast pace.

The gatekeeper approached step by step, and said with a sinister smile, "Is this all you've got? Then stay here and become fertilizer in my soil!"

Having said that, he raised his hand to strike Lu Zhaozhao.

At the critical moment, several talismans flew from afar and landed at her feet. Yao Tong also plucked the strings of her zither and attacked the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper's palm strike was momentarily blocked by this sudden attack, giving Lu Zhaozhao a chance to catch her breath. She forcefully pressed Ni Ye into the gradually changing earth beneath her feet, used the force to pull out her bound feet, and rolled away.

"Bang!"

The gatekeeper struck down with his palm, sending up billowing dust.

He stared incredulously at the palm beneath his hand, his neck twisting back to its original position in a way that most people couldn't manage, glaring angrily at Lu Zhaozhao.

"What did you do!"

Lu Zhaozhao struggled to her feet, patted the dust off her body, and looked at him. “This ground was normal at first. I used a magical artifact to investigate, and there were no foreign objects underneath. It’s impossible for it to grow invisible hands out of thin air and pull us down. So I guess the spell you cast must have turned this soil into something like quicksand.”

Seeing the gatekeeper's grim expression, Lu Zhaozhao knew she had guessed correctly and continued, "I suspect there's an underground river here. The spell you used only caused the groundwater to surge to the surface, dispersing the soil that was originally tightly bound together. So, as soon as we step onto this place, we'll be pulled downwards by the unstable soil, and in our haste, we'll struggle, and the more we struggle, the faster we'll sink. Am I right, senior?"

The gatekeeper sneered, tore off the talisman that had appeared in the moment of crisis, glanced at the incantation on it, and sneered, "So you used this talisman to isolate the groundwater and absorb the water from the soil, restoring it to its original state. What a brilliant decision."

“You’re very clever. You realized what was going on as soon as you saw the ground where that kid was bleeding.” He pointed at Lu Zhaozhao with one finger and at Cen Jianwen with the other. “You’re not bad either. The talismans of the Kongshan Sect are indeed top-notch.”

Cen Jianwen looked at him warily, but the gatekeeper only slowly gave a contemptuous smile: "But, it's not enough."

As they were speaking, the talisman that had previously freed everyone trapped suddenly shattered, and sand and stones flew everywhere in this small space, obscuring their vision.

Lu Zhaozhao summoned the Yuanxu Mirror and placed it in front of everyone to protect them from the raging yellow sand.

"What is he trying to do? Is he trying to bury us in the sand?" Bai Yuanzhou shouted at the top of his lungs in the wind.

Even in this situation, Gao Yi instinctively wanted to retort, but before he could speak, the gatekeeper's voice came: "You guessed right. As a reward, I can write down any last words you want to write on your grave."

"Ahhh, I was just saying it offhand, are you serious?!" Bai Yuanzhou shouted.

Lu Zhaozhao rubbed her forehead, then turned to look at Yaotong. Yaotong nodded to her, and Lu Zhaozhao understood. After handing the Yuanxu Mirror to her, she disappeared into the yellow sand alone.

The gatekeeper remained oblivious, continuing to wield the yellow sand. Soon, a yellow dragon rose into the distance, its roar like that of a bull, so powerful that it was difficult to discern even with outstretched fingers. The yellow sand swirled incessantly in the air, forming enormous vortices, like funnels piercing the clouds.

The wind blew harder and harder, like the roar of a mad lion, and the yellow sand was knee-deep, making it difficult to move an inch.

Lu Zhaozhao found the position, put her index finger in her mouth, and bit down hard, creating a cut on her fingertip. She squatted down and used her cut finger to draw a talisman on the ground. The earth seemed to come alive the moment it touched the blood, greedily sucking up the fresh blood, and soon, a clear pattern appeared.

As the pattern on the other end was completed, the two patterns appeared in the air, and their connected spiritual energy quickly intersected, shining with golden light in the air.

The gatekeeper frowned as he stared at the talisman in the air. He had been guarding this place for many years and had long forgotten many things, but the talisman in the air felt vaguely familiar.

Lu Zhaozhao didn't understand why the gatekeeper hadn't reacted yet, but it was a good thing for her.

Golden threads intertwined and crisscrossed, using this land as their canvas to freely create their own patterns, and soon, the formation was complete.

Lu Zhaozhao stood in the central position, drew out the Reverse Karma, poured all her spiritual power into it, and thrust it downwards with force.

In an instant, a brilliant golden light appeared, and the intertwined golden lines became incredibly sharp, striking towards the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper reached out to block him.

"boom--"

The two magical forces collided with a loud bang, but the golden light was violent and rampant, leaving nothing behind in its wake. The gatekeeper's hand was twisted off by the golden light.

If he had only felt a sense of familiarity before, the gatekeeper was now completely overwhelmed by disbelief. He stared in astonishment at the vanished hand, and soon he was completely enveloped in golden light.

The cocoon formed by the golden light lasted for a long time before slowly dimming, and then the dim threads fell off one by one.

Lu Zhaozhao and the others watched nervously, quietly waiting for the outcome of the investigation.

The golden light vanished completely, the golden threads all fell off, and the array on the ground disappeared into the yellow sand, leaving only a few of them on this vast land.

Is this... a success?

Lu Zhaozhao was a little slow to react. The six people opposite her rushed towards her, excitedly shouting, "We did it!"

Lu Zhaozhao was still somewhat incredulous. In the original book, among the top ten or so people at the Golden Palace Banquet, there were quite a few who had already reached the Nascent Soul realm. Even so, they had fought against the gatekeeper Daoist for a long time. And now, they had defeated him with just one of the killing formations from the Zhili Yi formation? Was this killing formation really that powerful?

Bai Yuanzhou exclaimed excitedly, "It's all thanks to me channeling spiritual energy into the formation just now, otherwise it wouldn't have had such great power."

"If it weren't for Senior Sister Lu and Senior Brother Cen drawing the array, you wouldn't have had the chance to show off." Gao Yi bickered with him, then turned around and asked Cen Jianwen with great curiosity, "Senior Brother Cen, what array did you use just now? It was so domineering! That was a Nascent Soul cultivator, and he didn't have a chance to fight back at all!"

Cen Jianwen was about to explain when Lu Zhaozhao interrupted him.

"Yes, I've heard that the Kongshan Sect has many powerful killing formations, but I didn't expect them to be this strong."

Cen Jianwen looked at her with a puzzled expression, but still continued, "It is a secret technique taught to me by my master. Please excuse my poor performance."

Bai Yuanzhou patted his back forcefully, saying that he was being modest, and then whispered to him that he wanted Cen Jianwen to teach him.

Cen Jianwen was preoccupied with him and didn't have a chance to ask Lu Zhaozhao why she didn't explain the truth. She had clearly told him about the formation through telepathy, but she seemed to not want others to know, so he had agreed. But this formation was indeed powerful; even the Kongshan Sect, famous for its talisman formations, rarely saw anything like it.

"Perhaps my academic skills are lacking." Cen Jianwen clenched his fist secretly, thinking to himself that he must work twice as hard in the future.

The temple gate opened, and the group entered.

Outside the door, the gatekeeper who had been strangled was standing there, exactly as before. He said to the person beside him, "Did you see clearly? It really is that person's formation."

The person next to him said, "Indeed, although the power is not as great, the painting method is exactly the same. I'll go inside and let them know."

After saying that, he turned into a wisp of smoke and dissipated.