Chapter 601 81: Song Changsheng vs. Zhang Hongguang

Song Changsheng's powerful voice echoed across Celestial Yang Peak.

But there was not the slightest response.

Knowing he was no match, Zhang Hongguang chose to avoid battle. He holed himself up inside the array, not daring to even show his face.

When the Lieyang Sect disciples saw their own Sect Leader acting like a coward, they couldn't help but feel both angry and anxious. 'How could we have such a spineless Sect Leader? This just invites others to look down on us!'

In the end, it was Wang Yuesong who came forward. He flew into the air on his sword and, neither servile nor overbearing, cupped his hands toward Song Changsheng. "Greetings, Clan Leader Song."

Song Changsheng frowned at him and said coldly, "Where is Zhang Hongguang? Why doesn't he dare come out and fight?"

"You jest, Clan Leader Song. As the saying goes, a gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall. With three Purple Mansion Great Cultivators present, how could our Sect Leader show himself so easily?" Wang Yuesong's mind raced as he came up with an excuse to save Zhang Hongguang's face. After all, no matter how pathetic Zhang Hongguang was, he still represented the honor of the Lieyang Sect. If that was abandoned, their morale would plummet before the fight even began.

"Bah! You bastard Wang, who the hell are you trying to fool? That coward who runs from a fight... Forget three Purple Mansion Great Cultivators being here, even if it were just me, would that old bastard dare to show his face?"

Standing at the ship's bow, Song Lutong wasn't buying Wang Yuesong's excuse for a second. He immediately let loose a stream of curses, and the vulgar language made the veins on the foreheads of the Lieyang Sect disciples throb. They desperately wanted to rush out and fight him to the death.

"Vulgar!" Wang Yuesong was furious, his whole body trembling with anger.

Song Changsheng glanced helplessly at Song Lutong, then at the trembling Wang Yuesong, and immediately felt there was no need to continue with the formalities.

"Words are useless. Let our actions decide. Attack the array!"

At Song Changsheng's command, the Black Star Ship, which had long been ready to fire, immediately opened up with its full firepower. A pillar of white light tore across the sky and crashed onto the barrier formed by the Lieyang Sect's Sect Protection Array. It erupted in a blindingly brilliant flash of light, and the Lieyang Sect disciples felt as if the entire mountain had trembled.

Wang Yuesong stared at the ripples spreading across the Grand Array's barrier, his heart lurching in shock. 'Is this the power of a Quasi-Celestial Ship?'

The Lieyang Sect's Sect Protection Array was the Fiery Heaven Barrier Array, a Tier Three Middle Grade array balanced in both offense and defense, and extremely formidable.

But the problem was, a Tier Three Array required an Array Master of a matching tier to unleash its full power. The Lieyang Sect did not specialize in arrays; across the entire sect, they only had two Tier Two Top-grade Array Masters, one of whom had already been killed outside Vast Mist Peak.

With only a single Tier Two Top-grade Array Master, they could at most unleash fifty percent of the Grand Array's power. Even with the three Control Tokens belonging to the Supreme Elder, the Sect Leader, and the Grand Elder, that would only rise to seventy percent at best.

However, one of the Grand Array's Control Tokens had gone missing with the death of Hex Tai and had most likely fallen into Song Changsheng's hands.

With only two Tokens, they could unleash a little over sixty percent of the Grand Array's power.

Facing three Purple Mansion Great Cultivators and a Quasi-Celestial Ship, Wang Yuesong had no confidence in how long they could hold out. What's more, Song Changsheng and Song Xianming were both Tier Three Array Masters and had numerous methods for breaking arrays.

Wang Yuesong's expression changed rapidly. He finally looked at Huang Liqun beside him and said, "Hold them off with all your might! I will go ask the Sect Leader to come out of seclusion!"

"As you command!" Huang Liqun gritted his teeth and took the Control Token. 'This thing is a deathtrap right now,' he thought.

While the two were making the exchange, the Song Clan's Foundation Establishment Cultivators also made their move.

The nine of them—Song Lutong, Song Luyun, Song Chang'an, Song Changxuan, Song Changxue, Song Changxiu, Song Qingqing, Song Qingqian, and Song Qingming—formed groups of three and established the Three Talents Heavenly Star Array. They launched a magical bombardment at the few weak points Song Changsheng had pointed out.

Empowered by the Battle Array, each of them unleashed power far beyond their own, and the Grand Array's barrier immediately began to vibrate violently.

Seeing this, Huang Liqun immediately called for the sect's Elders and disciples to go and resist. He himself bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of scorching Essence Blood onto the two Control Tokens in his hand.

The Tokens, originally white as jade, were instantly covered in a demonic, blood-red hue.

The next moment, a crimson bead transformed into a streak of light and shot to the summit of Celestial Yang Peak. It released a scorching radiance, and vast swathes of vegetation on the peak withered in an instant.

This was the Grand Array's hub, the Middle-Grade Treasure known as the Fiery Flame Star-Burning Bead. Its appearance not only stabilized the Grand Array's defensive barrier, but it could also be used to unleash "Celestial Fire Meteor"—an attack equivalent to the full-power strike of an Early-stage Purple Mansion Cultivator—a total of nine times. It was incredibly powerful.

But the drawback was that after being used nine times, the Fiery Flame Star-Burning Bead, serving as the Array Hub, would fall into a slumber, and the Grand Array's defensive power would drop drastically.

Huang Liqun was now hesitating whether to use this precious offensive opportunity to relieve the pressure on the array. But seeing that the enemy's three Purple Mansion Cultivators had yet to make a move, he thought for a moment and decided to hold back for now.

But what he hadn't considered was that while Song Changsheng and Song Xianming appeared to be still, they were in fact already searching for flaws in the Grand Array.

Aided by his Eye of Truth, the entirety of the Lieyang Sect's Sect Protection Array—its strengths and weaknesses—was laid bare before him. One flaw after another appeared in his vision.

Although they were all minor, insignificant flaws, a massive dike can collapse from a single anthill. 'I just have to link these openings together,' he thought, 'and they will form a single, massive vulnerability sufficient to shake the entire Grand Array!'

That would be the moment for the final, decisive blow!