Death... and me

Droman felt like he was struck by lightning. In the past, he wouldn't even know what a short circuit meant. However, he had heard and experienced it way too many times already.

'Would it work here?'

Rean nodded.

'It should work, no? Red Lightning is still electricity. Fortunately, this is a Natural Formation. All that happens is natural, so those who are controlling it won't be able to deal with this problem. In any case, it's not like we have a much better idea.'

Rean already asked Sister Orb about her ability to control it, however...

[Are you crazy? Do you have any idea just how gigantic this thing is? Worst of all, it doesn't follow any manmade pattern. I won't say it's impossible, but with the Soul Gem System's actual processing power, I believe it would take over a year to simply finish analyzing it, let alone controlling it.  I don't think anyone here wants to wait that long.]

That's why Rean decided to try a short circuit in the formation instead.

Droman then looked around with his Spiritual Sense and quickly found a few low-level demon beasts and other animals. He needed to check the Lightning Current first, so those beasts would need to be the sacrifice.

Droman then left the other Formation Masters behind for a moment. A few minutes later, he brought a lot of those beasts to test.

"Droman, what are you doing?"

"I have an idea. Get away from the barrier. I need to test something."

The other Formation Masters looked at each other and nodded. Not long after, Droman used the same method as before and opened another hole in the Formation.

"There you go!"

He then threw the demon beasts through it. Sure enough, the Red Lightning quickly gathered around the hole, striking the demon beasts soon after. Rean and Droman then paid close attention to it. Naturally, the rest of the people were puzzled by Droman's actions. It was as if he liked to see the demon beasts being killed by that.

"Alright, this should be enough."

Droman came down and immediately began to draw a new formation. This one used a few concepts from the Circuitry Formations but wasn't really considered part of them. The other Formation Masters looked at his Formation and became perplexed. They could tell that Droman was making a Lightning-type Formation. However, they had never seen the one he was making before.

"Still, it seems to be quite weak. Is he planning to use Lightning against Lightning?"

"That would be useless. If there's one thing this barrier is good at, it's Lightning Type attacks. Besides, if just attacking the barrier was enough, the Saint Realm ancestors would have broken through it a long time ago."

Of course, Zuan, Kocei, and Rago tried that already when they went up to check how tall the red barrier is. Unfortunately, their strongest attacks couldn't even scratch the barrier.

Droman ignored everyone as he worked on the formation. Thankfully, it was quite a simple one. It's just that others wouldn't be able to recognize it. That being said, it only took him a few minutes to finish making it.

Rean and Qia also understood that Formation very well, so they knew it would work just fine. The only doubt was whether Droman could create a short circuit against the Red Lightning.

"Alright. Let's try it out!"

Droman put a few Rank Two Spirit Stones in the formation before activating it. Following that, the Formation generated a specific type of Electrical Current, which was then transformed into Lightning that struck the barrier.

The barrier immediately noticed the incoming attack as Red Lightning gathered in front of it.

Judging by the power shown by the two formations, anyone could tell which one would lose. Droman's Lightning Strike was hundreds, if not thousands of times weaker than the barrier. Neither the Formation Masters nor the other cultivators expected it to work at all. However, it was then that something incredible happened.

The Red Lightning easily held Droman's Lightning back. Unfortunately, it began to act strange soon after. Red Lightning then began to accumulate on the position where the attack was made. Seeing that, Droman immediately warned everyone.

"Get back!"

There was no need to say that twice. Everyone saw what happened to the last guy who was struck by the Red Lightning, so no one would be idiotic enough to stay close.

Red Lightning continued to accumulate in that place. The Formation Masters finally understood that the Red Lightning was turning chaotic. A few moments later...

*Boom!*

An enormous explosion of Red Lightning Spread throughout the red barrier, followed by an intense red light. Everyone had to close their eyes due to how bright it was. A chain reaction seemed to occur as the entire thing several kilometers around the center point suffered the same fate. The next time they opened their eyes, the area around the initial attack was wiped out. As for the red barrier itself, there was a gigantic gap expanding tens of kilometers. Of course, compared to the red barrier's size, several tens of kilometers was basically nothing.

"This..."

"How did such a weak formation achieve this result?"

"That explosion was frightening..."

Droman ignored everyone, though. He quickly grabbed another demon beast and shot it through the gap in the red barrier. This time, however, no Red Lightning came down as the Demon Beast landed far inside.

"It worked!"

"Great!"

"We can finally enter!"

"Wait, should we really enter?"

"What, are you going to stay outside? Fine by me. If there's any treasure in there, it'll be easier for me to get it."

"Hmph! We'll see about that."

Droman didn't care about those words.

"Look at the Barrier. It's recovering."

Zuan noticed something else as well.

"That's not all. Look at the demon beast you threw inside the barrier."

Everyone then followed Zuan's eyes, looking at the demon beast. At the moment, it began to move extremely fast. They all knew that it was nothing more than a Stage One demon beast, so how could it achieve such a speed?

"Wrong. It's not that it became faster all of a sudden. Pay attention to its movement. It feels more like I'm seeing an accelerated jade slip recording."

"This..."

"It's true."

Everyone couldn't believe what they were seeing. However, one thing was obvious. The time flow inside the barrier was several times faster.

Droman couldn't help but comment.

"Time is the only thing that even Formation Masters can't deal with."

The other two agreed with him.

"I've heard about the legends that the ascenders can use it, but I thought it was a joke."

"You aren't the only one. I really can't fathom how it's happening."

Everyone looked at that with startled expressions. However, Kocei and the other ancestors quickly recovered.

"That doesn't matter right now. What we need to know is whether we should enter or not. From what I can see, that demon beast moves at least 15 times faster than it should. So we should expect a time flow increase of that magnitude."

Zuan shook his head as he said.

"This is just the border of the red barrier. There's a chance that the effects would become even stronger as we go further inside."

Rago agreed with Zuan.

"I'm sorry, but I won't be able to accompany you. I have my Rohe Sect to take care of, after all."

Kocei and Zuan didn't find that strange. In fact, neither of the two intended to enter that thing either. The Royal Family had only two Saint Realm cultivators, so losing Kocei would be a massive blow to them. Let alone Zuan and Rago, who were the only Saint Realm cultivators of their sects.

Suddenly, another group of cultivators began to approach them. Not only one, but two different groups.

"It's the Lagan Sect and Laan Sect."

Laan Sect was the newly created sect after Jialin won the war. Their two Saint Realm cultivators came from Laan City that disappeared in the past. Well, only one of those two came this time, Fuka. As for the Lagan Sect, Burin Falan was their only Saint Realm expert, so he was obviously the one who came.

"That was quite the explosion. Thanks to that, we finally found you guys," said Fuka from the Laan Sect.

Zuan shrugged his shoulders, not finding it strange.

"Well, this is a problem that involves all sects of our countries. In fact, I can already imagine other countries taking action as well since this barrier also invaded their territory. It's good that you arrived."

Burin then asked.

"What about the Imperial Family? Should we warn them?"

Qia, who had been close to Tiria and Zuan all this time, nodded.

"Hello, seniors. I'm Qia Sasamil. I already used a Thoughts Transmission Talisman to tell them about what is happening here. However, the capital is that far, so they will take some time to arrive."

The others then looked at Qia and Rean. Sure enough, they also received the information that Rean married a Sasamil Family Member, and a direct descendant at that. Even the Umbral Sect dropped any ideas of trying something against the twins after that.

"Oh! Nice to meet you, princess."

Those ancestors then introduced themselves to her. Of course, due to their difference in cultivation, they didn't overdo things, nor Qia wished for that. After that, Zuan gave them a quick explanation of what they found so far through a Spiritual Sense Message.

Droman warned everyone in sequence.

"The barrier is closing. What are the ancestors' decisions?"

Zuan, Kocei, Fuka, Burin, and Rago pondered for a bit before saying.

"Let's each send a team to check things. That's the best we can do."

Rean and Roan, of course, contacted Zuan with a Spiritual Sense Message.

'We're going inside with them.'