"The competition begins!"

As soon as Master Taichu's words fell, Ye Tianfan saw the person opposite him reach into his own chest with an arm moving at a speed that left afterimages. After Ye Tianfan blinked, he saw that person already throw out several flags.

Ye Tianfan didn't have time to think much. He instinctively felt these flags were dangerous and quickly summoned the Xuanhuang Tower.

Just as Ye Tianfan summoned the Xuanhuang Tower, those flags swiftly thrust into the ground, and immediately, the flags interlinked to form an oval-shaped transparent barrier, trapping Ye Tianfan inside.

"Hmm? You actually have a defensive magical treasure. It seems you're stronger than those other few failures before." The person opposite Ye Tianfan saw him summoning a defensive magical treasure and his face immediately turned grim.

"Hey, surrender. Even if you have such a defensive magical treasure, it's useless. My array can cut off the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, so any Immortal Techniques or magical treasures you activate now all depend on your own Spiritual Qi, completely unable to use any Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. So as long as I drag it out, I win." The person sneered, "And this array operates by absorbing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, so I won't be consuming any energy. Just surrender quickly and stop wasting my time."

Before Ye Tianfan could speak, the opponent's endless chatter already infuriated him.

"Quite impressive, aren't you? It seems you've never met a true expert. The failure of those before you made you arrogant. Since they couldn't, let me, Ye Tianfan, straighten you out!"

Without wasting words with his opponent, Ye Tianfan swiftly formed a sword technique with his right hand. A three-foot Immortal Sword emitting crimson light was summoned inside the Xuanhuang Tower. He summoned the Fire Lotus Sword without using the Carefree Sword immediately, saving it for the final challenge against Bai Feng. Otherwise, his personality would guarantee he'd be hassled endlessly by Bai Feng after the match.

Ye Tianfan pointed forward with his hand, and in an instant, crimson light shone brightly like lightning. The Fire Lotus Sword surged forward in a crimson torrent, charging at the opponent.

However, to Ye Tianfan's surprise, the Fire Lotus Sword lost control and its spiritual energy dissipated completely, falling to the ground after only traveling a few meters from the Xuanhuang Tower.

Seeing this, a thought formed in Ye Tianfan's mind—could this array also absorb spiritual energy?

Immediately, Ye Tianfan's thought was confirmed by the opponent.

The person laughed maliciously and said, "Didn't I say so? Surrender sooner. Let me tell you the true function of my array, so you can realize your limitations."

"The first thing, as I mentioned, is that it isolates the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, making you unable to sense even the slightest bit of it inside the array.

The second feature is that it can sustain itself indefinitely by absorbing spiritual energy from two sources: one, it absorbs the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, which I've mentioned to you; the second, it can absorb spiritual energy within the array to replenish and strengthen itself. This is why your techniques lose their spiritual energy.

The third feature is defense. Even if you managed to unleash spiritual energy that this array can't absorb immediately, you still can't escape because its defense is exceptionally strong, stronger than you can imagine.

The fourth feature is that it can attack you based on my control, like this."

After saying that, Ye Tianfan's opponent pointed his finger at him.

Ye Tianfan saw numerous stone spikes emerging around him, continuously stabbing toward him.

"They're quite tough, but I don't need to consume any spiritual energy for this, whereas your spiritual energy will be continually depleted. How can you compete with me? Just surrender!" Ye Tianfan's opponent was starting to get impatient.

That's indeed a problem. How should he break through this array? Ye Tianfan carefully observed the array from within the Xuanhuang Tower.

But no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't figure it out. He was not proficient with arrays; his knowledge was limited to what he had learned in the Taihuo Peak library.

In fact, Ye Tianfan could break it directly with the Carefree Sword, but he didn't want to rely on high-grade magical treasures whenever he faced difficulties. Such dependency could lead to complacency in his skills.

So Ye Tianfan decided not to use the Carefree Sword to solve this battle and also considered one more issue: as his fifth senior brother mentioned that morning, this person had over a hundred array banners, and he had only used less than ten so far. This meant, once he broke through this array, he might face one or even multiple arrays afterward.

For now, Ye Tianfan hadn't thought of a solution!

As for the opponent's claim about depleting his spiritual energy, despite some consumption while maintaining the Xuanhuang Tower, it was negligible since it wasn't under full defense, just maintaining enough. Moreover, during the earth spike attacks, it consumed slightly more.

At this rate, Ye Tianfan could hold out for two days without issue.

But, of course, just holding on this way isn't ideal; ultimately, he'll still suffer if it drags on.

Wait, among the seventy-six techniques of the Ye Family, there was one move to attack through obstructions. He had tested it before, and it worked well using spiritual energy. Although uncertain if it would work here, given the array absorbs spiritual energy, it was worth a try.

This array absorbs spiritual energy, and it's uncertain whether losing the spiritual energy enhancement would leave just the raw force enough to harm the opponent.

Thinking of this, Ye Tianfan decided to test it first. If it didn't work, he'd forcefully crash into the array using the Xuanhuang Tower to break through.

Wait? Breaking through? Why didn't he think of this earlier? Ye Tianfan smacked his forehead. He had been overthinking, wasting so much time when this could be a straightforward solution. Regardless of success or failure, with the protection of the Xuanhuang Tower, he wouldn't be harmed.

Ye Tianfan opted not to use that unreliable technique but instead prepared to crash directly into the edge of the array.

The opponent, seeing Ye Tianfan smack his own forehead, mockingly jeered, "Oh, oh, oh, even if you can't get out, you shouldn't self-harm. Well, for amusing me, let me tell you who you're losing to. Unlike those other failures, you should consider yourself honored!"

"Remember, at this Nine Meridians Martial Competition, the one defeating you is the next Head of the Tai Array Peak, Bai Penga!" Bai Penga said arrogantly.

"Vitiligo? Someone with such a name?" Ye Tianfan paused his collision attempt, not expecting his opponent's name to be so peculiar.

It must have been a mishearing! Ye Tianfan comforted himself.

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