Lin Wu witnessed the barriers made by the cultivators cracking due to the opposition of the formation array. The force of the flames was far too much for the weaker cultivators to bear it on their own.

Even if they were equally spread to distribute their spirit Qi evenly, it was simply not enough.

"ARGH!!!" The Qi refining realms cultivators were the first to get killed.

The flames easily devoured them and once one of the links was gone, it easily spread into the rest of the corridor made by the barriers.

~shua~

The flames moved like a tide during a storm and ate everything in its way. No matter which cultivator came in front of it, they were burnt alive. Even the Core condensation realm cultivators did not last longer than a couple of seconds before their defensive techniques and skills failed.

"NOOO!!!!" they couldn't help but wail in pain.

Their blood boiled, hair melted, and bones turned to ash. In the span of a few seconds, over a hundred cultivators were killed and their souls lost forever.

"QUICK PUSH THROUGH TO THE STATUE!" Jiao Fan urged, as he put all his power into the barrier and rushed ahead.

Old Man Tiandi and the other Nascent Soul realm cultivators did the same and followed behind Jiao Fan. It was getting difficult for even them, but they were still able to maintain their defensive skills for a bit longer.

Unlike Elder Qian, who had been caught unaware by the vermilion flames, they already knew about it and knew the effects. Thus, they were already using their defensive skills and the defensive tools that they had.

Due to this, they were able to stay alive longer and finally managed to reach the statue. But now came the tough part… Jiao Fan and the others did not know how to deal with this formation array. The fourth team that was composed of the formation masters had already perished in the flames.

"What do we do now?" The subordinate of Jiao Fan couldn't help but ask.

Jiao Fan gritted his teeth as he saw the flames licking at the barrier. He knew that if he took too long the barrier would eventually collapse and they would be reduced to nothing. Finally, a crazy idea appeared in his mind as his eyes lit up.

"I have a method, but it is risky!" Jiao Fan stated.

"Say what it is! We don't have much time here. We will take whatever it is now!" Old Man Tiandi replied.

He did not want to die and would be fine with whatever Jiao Fan proposed. In terms of formations, his understanding was even below that of Jiao Fan. If he could not do anything, then they all would be dying anyway.

"We'll use the Mind Expanding Lardite to the full extent by combining our spirit sense. Then we overwhelm the formation array with it. While it would probably not shut down completely, it should temporarily be stopped." Jiao Fan said.

The four Nascent Soul realm cultivators looked at each other faces, analyzing this option. The risks in it were truly quite high. Not only was this a blind try to they did not know for sure if it would work or not, but them using the Mind Expanding Lardite in this manner would damage their spirit sense.

"We'll do it! We have no choice!" Old Man Tiandi said with gritted teeth.

The other two also nodded in response and Jiao Fan took out the Mind Expanding Lardite. They all placed their hands on the Mind Expanding Lardite and extended their spirit sense. The spirit sense tendrils entered the Mind Expanding Lardite and started to merge.

"GAH!" All of them grunted in pain as their spirit sense was being forcefully being merged.

This was a rather dangerous method of using the Mind Expanding Lardite and was thought by Jiao Fan as a fluke. He knew that his own spirit sense would not be enough to overwhelm the formation array, but the combination of four Nascent Soul realm experts, two of which who were at the Adult stage should be enough, he thought.

Normally their spirit sense would not be able to merge like this, but under the unique effects of the Mind Expanding Lardite, they collided and warped together before being wound like a braid.

The Mind Expanding Lardite then started to reinforce it and they felt a drain on their spirit Qi. Since spirit sense was just spirit Qi itself, just organized and oriented in a certain manner, it obviously needed more spirit Qi to increase in size.

Usually, this took multiple efforts by the cultivator and the spirit Qi lost in failed attempts would not be returned. But with the Mind Expanding Lardite, one did not have this problem. It could allow one to skip the trial and error, allowing them to directly reinforce and extend their spirit sense.

"Oh my, didn't expect there to be a use like this too. Now, this just makes me even more interested in the Mind Expanding Lardite." Lin Wu said upon seeing Jiao Fan and the others doing this.

To Lin Wu, the Mind Expanding Lardite was proving to be a more valuable treasure than anything in this town. He kept on observing the changes in their spirit sense and saw that it was now reaching a thickness of half a meter.

Lin Wu could not even tell the length of the spirit sense but knew that if it truly extended it would likely go beyond ten kilometers at this moment, or perhaps even double that. But the cost of this was also high.

"HAA! BREAK FOR MEEEEEEE!" Jiao Fan uttered with rage as blood dripped from his nose, ears and eyes.

The other Nascent Soul realm cultivators were in the same condition as the two Infant Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators in an even worse condition. The spirit sense moved with the urging of the four cultivators and struck the broken statue of the Vermillion bird, or mores accurately, the formation hidden within it.