Chapter 663: The Woodification Crisis

“If the power of the formation alone is not enough to harm the opponent, the controller can introduce other destructive forces and combine them with the power of the formation…”
These were the most basic principles of formation magic, which Su Che certainly knew. However, he was still unsure whether the Yellow Wind Soul-Annihilating Formation could also follow this rule at this moment.
Since he had thought of it, he had to give it a try!
So, Su Che attempted to channel his own force of destruction into the Crystal Giant. This process went fairly smoothly, with a large amount of that destructive force being readily absorbed by the Crystal Giant.
Buzz…
The seventy-two crystals, which originally emitted a earthy yellow glow, merged with the grayish destructive energy, causing their color to instantly turn dark yellow.
If the Crystal Giant were a living being, blindly absorbing Su Che’s destructive force would surely cause severe damage due to its destructive nature, no matter how strong its external defenses were. After all, it had not received the power inheritance from the Sky-Devouring Rat and thus was not compatible with such energy.
But in reality, it was not a living being—it was merely a tool, a weapon, even a kind of immortal artifact. Therefore, there was no problem with its internal structure being used to conduct and carry the destructive force.
As a result, the Yellow Wind Soul-Annihilating Formation mutated. The tornado of yellow sand that trapped Lin Jiu immediately turned dark yellow and acquired the unique destructive nature of the force of destruction.
Hiss… hiss… hiss…
The rapidly spinning columns of wind saw their power increase several times over. Lin Jiu’s three defensive shields seemed to be severely corroded and quickly disintegrated.
“The power of the primal destruction?”
Lin Jiu’s expression changed as he immediately recognized the characteristics of this force.
Even if one had never eaten pork, one had seen pigs run. Although this was his first time encountering the power of primal destruction, as an experienced Immortal Xuan, he still had enough insight.
Normally, true immortals in the immortal realm could not control the primal forces of the world. Only those nearly extinct ancient demon gods or powerful shaman clans at the level of great shamans could possess such abilities. What true immortals cultivated and pursued were the powers of the Great Path.
Primal forces and the powers of the Great Path were entirely different systems. That’s why he hadn’t expected Su Che to be able to master such a destructive primal force.
“What kind of freak is this kid?”

For a moment, Lin Jiu really couldn’t figure out how Su Che, as a human, could possess the powers of both the primal essence and the great path simultaneously. How could the Heavenly Dao allow such a thing? Could it be that he truly was the favored one of heaven?
Chichichichi…
The once extremely sturdy steel shield seemed to have softened by many times, gradually wearing away and thinning at a visible pace under the grinding of the giant grinding wheel, its brightness also dimming rapidly…
In fact, if Su Che used his own Destruction Art, it wouldn’t pose any threat to Lin Jiu—after all, Su Che’s cultivation level was far too low; there was a huge gap of three major realms between Human Immortal and Mysterious Immortal, an insurmountable chasm.
But at this moment, the Yellow Wind Soul-Annihilation Formation wasn’t merely borrowing Su Che’s destructive power—it had integrated it, endowing itself with such destructive attributes and amplifying that power by thousands or tens of thousands of times. Coupled with the formation’s original power, it now had the potential to kill Lin Jiu.
“The effect is even better than I imagined…”
Watching Lin Jiu’s great defense technique rapidly collapse, Su Che wasn’t exactly excited, but he gained a series of insights: It seemed that the art of formations truly possessed unimaginable magical power. In the future, he should put more effort into this area…
Roar!
Inside the wind formation, the Yellow Wind Soul-Devouring Beasts let out earth-shattering roars. Combined with the primal power of destruction, these formation beasts also mutated, becoming extremely excited and almost insane.
In just a dozen breaths, Lin Jiu’s defensive light shield was already on the verge of collapse. Although he kept exerting all his strength to maintain the power of his great defense technique, he still couldn’t keep up with the rapid consumption.
Although the Great Defense Technique was a great path art, it could be enhanced by using immortal artifacts to improve its defensive effects. Lin Jiu’s Great Defense Technique was released through a top-grade immortal artifact— a magic shield— allowing it to manifest directly as a light shield. This meant that even if he switched to another immortal artifact, the defensive effect wouldn’t improve much.
“If things continue like this, I really won’t be able to hold on much longer. The situation is far more serious than I thought…”
While desperately maintaining his own defense, Lin Jiu appeared calm on the surface but was secretly anxious: “Has Guangqi finished preparing over there?”
Inside the tornado column, every grain of sand carried destructive properties, turning it into the most terrifying grinding wheel in the world—any shield, no matter how hard or thick, would be completely worn through.

To buy time, Lin Jiu reduced his defensive range to its minimum to enhance the strength of his protective shield. Yet even so, in just a few more breaths, the shield would be worn down by the tornado into a thin layer of paper that could be pierced with a single push. Once the major defense technique was broken, Lin Jiu’s physical body would be reduced to ashes in an instant under the onslaught of the tornado. Even if he could summon other defensive immortal artifacts to hold out for a short while, it would only be a matter of delaying inevitable destruction. At the level of a Dark Immortal, one could only control top-tier immortal artifacts; even if he possessed supreme-grade ones, he wouldn’t be able to control them, rendering them useless decorations. After enduring another dozen breaths, Lin Jiu was extremely anxious, muttering to himself, “Guangqi, if you don’t take action now, I really…” In his thoughts, he secretly took out the Boundary-Piercing Immortal Talisman—his last resort for survival, though it might not even work. “Haha, this bastard is about to give up! His shell is about to be broken!” Lao He was thrilled, seeing Lin Jiu’s protective shield dim to the point of looking like a thin layer of iron sheet. Su Che, on the other hand, remained fully alert, his vigilance unrelenting, for he already had a premonition that things couldn’t be this simple and smooth… Sure enough, as soon as Lao He’s shout faded, a dark green beam of light suddenly shot from hundreds of feet away! Guangqi, who was sitting in seclusion, formed a strange hand seal with his right hand, and the dark green beam was emitted from between his palms. The beam was highly precise, instantly penetrating the array space and heading straight for Su Che’s chest. “How can he see me?” Although Su Che was prepared, he was still shocked. Logically, since Guangqi was trapped in the illusion of an endlesswater domain, as long as he couldn’t break through this maze, he wouldn’t be able to see Su Che’s true location, and none of his attack methods could penetrate that array space. Faced with an attack from a Dark Immortal, Su Che didn’t dare to resist head-on—none of his defenses combined could withstand it; he could only dodge, not fight! Fortunately, Su Che’s vigilance never wavered, and his reaction speed was fast. He quickly turned and hid behind the crystal giant’s head. The crystal giant was ten zhang tall, with a single head over a zhang in diameter—more than enough to shield Su Che. Whoosh!

The dark green light penetrated into the colorful crystal, but it did not pass through the Crystal Giant’s head nor directly harm Su Che behind him. However, the light scattered through the translucent crystal, turning the area around Su Che and the Crystal Giant—covering dozens of feet—into a light green hue, as if a green lampshade had been lit.

“A Wood Element divine ability!”

Su Che exclaimed in shock. He immediately felt his entire body go numb, his limbs stiffen, and he lost control over himself, unable to move at all. Even more terrifyingly, his skin turned dark brown, and a thick layer of hard scabs formed rapidly, resembling dried tree bark.

Bang!

Completely stiff, Su Che even lost his ability to float and plummeted heavily from a height of ten feet. The gravity in the Immortal-Demon battlefield was thousands of times that of the normal world, so the fall was extremely severe. Fortunately, Su Che had consumed the Da Luo Jiu Zhuan Golden Elixir, giving his physical strength an immortal-level strength, preventing internal injuries from the fall.

Falling headfirst, Su Che lay motionless on the ground like a withered log. At this point, any immortal could easily capture him alive. Even if those soul slaves in the Immortal Prison were released, they would be of no use. Under the cover of this scattered green light, they would merely become more logs.

Even Su Che, who already possessed immortal strength, could not withstand such woodification attacks. Those slaves in the Mahayana or Tribulation stages would surely suffer even more, possibly dying outright.

The dark green light emitted by Guang Qi continued unabated. He remained in a seated position, silent and indifferent, not even opening his eyes.

On the other side, Lin Jiu, trapped inside the tornado column, also felt the pressure decrease significantly. Since Su Che could no longer continuously supply the Crystal Giant with the power of destruction, the destructive essence force associated with the Yellow Wind Soul-Annihilating Formation was quickly exhausted, turning the tornado column back into an ordinary one, no longer threatening Lin Jiu.

Although Lin Jiu was inside the Yellow Wind Killing Formation and could not see Su Che’s condition, he could guess that Guang Qi had taken action and succeeded. That brat must have been struck, which explained why the power of his tornado column had diminished so much.

“Haha!” Lin Jiu laughed. “You fool! This is what happens when you underestimate the price we have to pay! You must be stiff there now, unable to move at all, right?”

“Don’t be afraid; you can’t die yet. Because you can only die at my hands, and I’ll make you endure countless tortures before granting you death. Of course, first, I’ll make you watch as everything you once had falls into my grasp!”
“You brat, just lie there quietly and wait for us to break through the formation so we can capture you alive!”
Su Che heard Lin Jiu’s shouts very clearly. His body was stiff as death, but his hearing was still normal; however, his vision was gone—everything before his eyes was just a thick, dark green, with nothing else visible.
What was even more alarming for Su Che was that his mental power was also trapped within his rigid body. The bark-like hard crust on his body’s surface had an incredible isolating effect, sealing off his thoughts, consciousness, and spiritual energy. No matter how hard he tried to call out, he couldn’t issue any commands to the crystal giant right beside him.
As a result, the crystal giant, which had no ability to adapt on its own, simply stood there dumbly, showing no reaction at all, unaware that Su Che was lying at its feet.
It was merely the control core of a formation, not even considered a mechanical puppet—it had no thoughts or consciousness at all…