You, a living person, are telling me I've served in the underworld for ten years?

"I warned you! When are you going to curb your curiosity?!"

Chen Yang was both anxious and angry, but more than that, he was worried.

"Stop...stop making sarcastic remarks...quick...pull me down...I feel...my bones...are going to break..."

Liu Piaopiao turned her head with difficulty, her voice broken and filled with pain and pleading.

"hold onto!"

Without further hesitation, Chen Yang bent down, reached out, grabbed Liu Piaopiao's outstretched arm, and pulled her back sharply with all his might!
However, something happened that made his heart sink.

His pull was powerful enough to move a boulder weighing a thousand pounds, but Liu Piaopiao's body remained motionless, as if it were cast into the entire arena! Instead, because of his pulling, Liu Piaopiao's arm joints made a teeth-grinding "crackling" sound, and she let out another muffled groan of pain.

"Pull... I can't pull it... Brother Chen... you... you don't need to worry about me..."

Liu Piaopiao was in so much pain that tears streamed down her face, and her voice was filled with despair.

"This arena...it's weird...you'd better leave quickly...don't drag yourself down with it..."

"What nonsense!"

Chen Yang abruptly stopped him, released his hand, but his eyes became even more determined.

"We're comrades, how could I abandon you? Hold on, I'm coming up to check on you!"

"Don't!

Brother Chen! Please don't come up here!

Liu Piaopiao was extremely anxious.

"This pressure is terrifying! You'll be trapped if you come up here!"

What's the point of two people dying here together?!

Chen Yang seemed not to hear. He took a deep breath, his sharp eyes scanning the dark red patterns on the surface of the arena. He activated the Qingwei Yuanjiang Great Technique to its limit, his protective spiritual light shining within him. At the same time, he silently communicated with Li Rou, who had just recovered some of her consciousness.

"Li Rou, help me!"

"Master, be careful, this arena... is not simple."

Li Rou's voice was solemn.

Without further hesitation, Chen Yang stepped onto the black stone steps!

The moment his feet stepped onto the ring—

"boom!"

A terrifying pressure, far greater and more solid than what Liu Piaopiao had endured, seemingly originating from the very source of the entire space, instantly engulfed Chen Yang like an invisible tsunami!
He felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, a ringing in his ears, and his bones groaning under the strain. His knees buckled, and he involuntarily sat down cross-legged on the edge of the arena with a "thud," no more than ten feet away from Liu Piaopiao, yet equally unable to move!
The feeling was as if the entire weight of the "Refining Furnace" space was pressing down on him! Not only his physical body, but also his soul, magic power, and even his thoughts became sluggish and solidified under this vast, heavy pressure with an ancient and savage aura!
He tried to use his magic to resist, but found that his meridians were blocked and his magic was difficult to circulate.

He tried to use his divine sense to break through, but found that his divine sense was stuck in the mud and could not move an inch.

"Brother Chen! You...see! What did I tell you!"

When Liu Piaopiao saw that Chen Yang was also trapped, she was anxious and ashamed, and her voice was trembling with tears.

"Now look what's happened...we're all trapped like fish in a barrel..."

Chen Yang endured the terrifying pressure that felt like it was going to crush him into mincemeat. Cold sweat poured down his forehead, and his face turned pale, but he managed to force out a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry...we'll...think of a way together...we'll always...find a way out..."

Both were trapped on the arena, enduring terrifying pressure. They fell silent for a moment, desperately trying to muster their remaining strength to resist while racking their brains for a way to escape.

Chen Yang forced himself to calm down, no longer blindly resisting the omnipresent pressure with brute force, but instead began to try to "feel" it.

He focused his mind into his body, trying to make his soul vibrate, to touch and sense the heavy force exerted on every inch of his body and soul.

His body trembled slightly under the pressure, his muscles and bones were under extreme strain, but he tried to relax his tense nerves and try to understand the "rhythm" and "trajectory" of this force.

Just then, Li Rou's voice, tinged with a hint of realization and solemnity, rang out once again from the depths of his consciousness.

“Master… I think I understand something. Perhaps we… have all been deceived by appearances.”

Chen Yang's spirits lifted, and he suppressed the pain to respond in his mind.

"Li Rou? What did you find out?"

“This arena… no, it’s not just this arena! I feel that many array nodes in this ‘Refining Furnace’ space, including the external restrictions, the arena here, and even the structure of the entire space, all contain the same ancient array principle!”

Li Rou quickly analyzed.

"This is a very ancient and very powerful 'gravity' or 'potential field' formation!"
Its core is not direct killing, but using an immense and unparalleled 'momentum'—which could be the momentum of the earth's veins, the momentum of the stars, or even some 'momentum of the strong' that has been plundered—to form an absolute suppression domain!
If those trapped try to resist with brute force, they will only be continuously consumed and suppressed by this 'force' until they are exhausted. Their flesh, blood, and soul will be slowly ground and absorbed by this 'force field', becoming 'nutrients' to maintain the formation or nourish the furnace master!
It's like...like grinding grain with a millstone!

Chen Yang was horrified when he heard this.

"Such a vicious and insidious formation! Who on earth is the demon who set it up?!"

"The method is indeed ruthless, but it is also an ultimate defense and tempering technique."

Leaving Judo.

"For those who cannot adapt to and control this 'momentum,' this is a dead end."

But for those who can adapt to or even master it… this might be an excellent place to temper the physical body, refine the soul, and comprehend the mysteries of 'momentum'! Master, didn't you ask me before if there was a way to break it?

"You have a plan?!"

Chen Yang pressed for more information.

"Yes, but it's very dangerous, and you need to have extremely high comprehension and resilience."

Li Rou said solemnly.

"The solution is—not to 'confront,' but to 'integrate' and 'adapt'! Try to let your soul fluctuations, your mana flow, and even the rhythm of your physical blood gradually sense and resonate with the fluctuation frequency of this formation's 'energy field' itself! When your own 'frequency' and the formation's 'frequency' reach a certain degree of synchronization, you will no longer be a 'foreign object' that is rejected and suppressed, but a 'part' that can move relatively freely within this 'energy field'!"
Perhaps... one might even gain a glimpse into the application of 'momentum' through this!

"Integration? Adaptation?"

Chen Yang pondered these two words, a flash of understanding appearing in his eyes.

"It's like... once a drop of water merges into the ocean, it no longer feels the pressure of the seawater?"

"That's one way to understand it, but the process is far more difficult and dangerous than that."

Leaving Judo.

"First, you need to completely empty your mind, actively withdraw most of the opposing protective power, and fully bear the pressure of this 'momentum'!"

This is practically tantamount to entrusting one's life and death entirely to the formation!
Once the mind loses control, or the body cannot withstand the strain, one will be severely injured or even crushed in an instant!
Secondly, you need to have extremely strong perception and control to capture the extremely subtle fluctuations and rhythms in that vast 'potential field' and adjust yourself to synchronize with it.

This requires exceptional talent and a stroke of luck.

Chen Yang remained silent for a moment, feeling the increasing pressure on his body, and hearing the faint cracking sound of his bones, but the light in his eyes grew stronger.

"There's no other choice, is there? Tell me exactly what to do, Li Rou. Help me!"

"it is good!"

Li Rou no longer hesitated.

"Master, try to completely relax your body first. Don't try to fight the pressure. Let the pressure work on you naturally."

At the same time, I will use my soul power and special sensitivity to energy fluctuations to assist you, helping you 'illuminate' the flow of the surrounding 'potential field'. Remember, don't be afraid. Just like you felt the water and steam just now, feel the 'direction' and 'pulsation' of this 'potential'!

As instructed, Chen Yang began to painstakingly and gradually withdraw the spontaneously generated and resisting magical power within his body, relaxing his tense muscles.

This process was extremely painful. As the protection weakened, the terrifying pressure crushed down like a real mountain. He felt his bones groaning under the unbearable weight, his internal organs feeling like they were about to be squeezed together, and his vision blurred. He almost fainted.

"Hold on! Master! Feel it!"

Li Rou's voice, like a clear spring, rang out on the edge of his blurred consciousness. At the same time, a cool, pure soul power, carrying a mysterious feeling like the trajectory of stars, slowly flowed into Chen Yang's soul, helping him stabilize his mind and opening a pair of special "eyes" for him.

With the help of these "eyes," Chen Yang's almost crushed consciousness began to "see" something different.

The oppressive aura, which was originally formless and intangible and only felt heavy, now seemed to have become tangible!
It was not still, but rather like heavy, viscous, yet slowly flowing mercury, like magma surging deep underground, or like some invisible gravitational ripple in the vast starry sky, slowly flowing, vibrating, and compressing within the arena in a grand, obscure, yet uniquely rhythmic way!
This kind of "seeing" is not visual perception, but a higher level of perception.

Chen Yang endured the extreme pain and began to try to actively approach and imitate the rhythm of that "force field" by controlling his mind, his breath, the faint flow of his remaining magical power, and even every slight tremor of his body caused by the pressure.

At first, I had no clue what to do, and I only felt that the pain was doubled, as if I was being torn apart by two forces that were not on the same frequency.

However, as time went on, with Li Rou's continuous support and precise guidance of his soul power, Chen Yang's unwavering will and extraordinary comprehension began to take effect.

He gradually detected a faint yet relatively stable "basic pulse" within that vast "potential field".

It's like finding a relatively stable direction in the ocean currents amidst raging waves.

He began to try to adjust his heartbeat, breathing, and even the slight vibrations of his soul to synchronize with this "basic pulse".

Difficult, extremely difficult! Every adjustment was accompanied by immense pain and a severe drain on the spirit.

His body creaked under the oppressive force, and fine beads of blood even seeped from his skin—a sign that his capillaries had ruptured under the terrifying pressure.

But he gritted his teeth and persevered tenaciously, relying on the solid foundation he had built through long-term cultivation of the Qingwei Yuanjiang Dafa and the assistance of Li Rou.

Time seemed to stretch out infinitely during this agonizing ordeal.

On the other side of the arena, Liu Piaopiao watched as Chen Yang's seated figure trembled violently, his skin bled, and his breath weakened to the point of almost disappearing. She was terrified, but dared not make a sound to disturb him. She could only silently shed tears, her heart filled with regret and prayer.

I don't know how much time passed, maybe an hour, maybe two hours.

Suddenly, Liu Piaopiao's eyes widened!
She saw that Chen Yang, who had been sitting cross-legged like a stone statue with his breath extremely weak, actually... moved very slightly!
It's not trembling from pressure, but a voluntary, slow adjustment of posture!
Although the magnitude is extremely small, it is almost impossible to happen within such an absolute suppression domain!

Immediately afterwards, Chen Yang's head, which had been hanging down, slowly... lifted up!
His face was still pale, and his lips were cracked, but his tightly closed eyes slowly opened at that moment!

The pain and struggle of before were gone from his eyes, replaced by an unusual calmness and a glimmer of... profound light as if he had seen through something essential.

What surprised her even more was that the overwhelming aura of despair that Chen Yang was exuding was slowly but steadily rising and solidifying!
Although he was still under immense pressure, he was no longer as helpless as before. It was as if... he had formed a peculiar "coexistence" relationship with the arena and the oppressive force!
"Brother Chen... Brother Chen?"

Liu Piaopiao gasped in disbelief.

Chen Yang turned his head to look at Liu Piaopiao, forcing a slightly stiff but comforting smile at the corners of his mouth.

"Piao Piao... I think I've... figured it out."

His voice, though still hoarse, was no longer intermittent, but carried a peculiar calmness.

"How...how did you do that?"

Liu Piaopiao was both surprised and delighted, as if she had seen a glimmer of hope in her desperate situation.

After a moment's thought, Chen Yang explained to her what he had just realized with Li Rou's help, using language that was as simple and easy to understand as possible.

"Don't just think about resisting... Try... imagine yourself as a drop of water... or a feather... Don't fight against the water and the wind... but feel their flow and rhythm... Let your 'fluctuations'... adapt to the 'fluctuations' here... Empty your mind... Don't be afraid..."

Liu Piaopiao only vaguely understood what she was hearing, but seeing the changes in Chen Yang, hope was rekindled in her heart.

She tried to calm herself down and began to try to follow Chen Yang's instructions.

However, it's easier said than done.

She was talented, but compared to Chen Yang's comprehension and foundation, and the assistance of an ancient being like Li Rou, she was ultimately far inferior.

After trying for a while, although I felt that the pressure seemed to have eased up a little and was no longer so overwhelming, it was still extremely difficult to move like Chen Yang or even stand up.

"I...I don't think I can do what you do..."

Liu Piaopiao felt somewhat discouraged, as she felt her body was still being firmly pressed down, and she could only barely twist her neck. (End of Chapter)