Vanguards of the War of Resistance! Let's travel back in time together, classmates!

331 Journey to the East, Chapter Twenty-Three: The Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation

When Shangguan Yun recovered from the illusion, the two fellow disciples opposite him had already disappeared without a trace. Shangguan Yun thought to himself that these two were too shameless; they ran faster than rabbits when they couldn't beat him.

The people of the Ninja Faction are indeed good at escaping, heh... He shook his head inwardly and then urged the Golden Spirit Sword to give chase.

Meanwhile, Takeda Inoue dragged his two junior brothers to Asama Taisha Shrine in one breath, then, catching their breath, began preparing to cast a spell.

Takeda Inoun first walked to a jade disc behind the screen in the main hall, quickly cast a spell, and then sent out a transmission talisman.

Only then did he take a battle sword from the altar, carefully wipe it with a white cloth, turn it over and look at it again, and nod.

Renjiro Retsuyama was also quite shocked. "Senior brother, how can this person be so powerful? Our spells and magical artifacts are completely useless against him..."

After a dozen or so breaths, Takeda Ion finally received a reply and was shocked. "Lieshan, no wonder this person is so powerful. He is very likely the one who wiped out the Iga faction a couple of days ago, Shangguan Yun, the commander of the Chinese Tiger Guard Army..."

Oshino Retsuyama was shocked. "I do know that he is Shangguan Yun, but how could he have the ability to destroy the Iga Sect? Could it be a coincidence that he appeared here..."

"Hmph... Regardless of whether it's him or not, since he's come knocking on our door today, we might as well let him taste the power of our Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation."

Even with his incredible abilities, once he arrives here, he's doomed... Haha... Junior brother, now let's join forces to activate the great formation and capture this thief..."

As Shangguan Yun walked, he cursed the two cowardly rats, and in the blink of an eye, he rushed to the fifth station.

This is a shady hillside with few trees. A shrine covering several acres is built against the mountain, with three magnificent torii gates at the entrance.

The entire complex was predominantly red, with a dense aura of spiritual energy emanating from it, resembling a sleeping giant beast that exuded a chilling aura.

As Shangguan Yun scanned the area with his divine sense, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. The spiritual pressure emanating from the building opposite him was immense, giving him an involuntary sense of being unable to resist it.

Gritting his teeth, Shangguan Yun still strode towards Asama Taisha Shrine. Now that he was here, how could he possibly back down like this? He had to give it his all.

As they were talking, the shrine in front of them, bounded by the torii gate, suddenly burst forth with a dazzling light. The white light slowly rose from the ground, swept upwards over the torii gate, and then expanded outwards, gradually covering the entire complex, like a large silver-white cauldron.

Shangguan Yun frowned, thinking that this must be a barrier. This place is usually just an ordinary tourist spot, and ordinary people would not think of any barrier even if they came here.

This barrier is only activated when encountering a powerful enemy, and it's unknown how much energy it consumes or whether one can break it.

Now that we're here, we can't just let them go. Whatever kind of barrier it is, we have to try it out first.

Thinking of this, Shangguan Yun slowly drew out the Golden Spirit Sword, preparing to test the restriction.

However, he remained cautious and did not attack directly, but instead used the sword energy conjured by the Five Elements Sword Technique to probe.

"Swish swish swish..." Shangguan Yun unleashed three sword strikes in quick succession, the golden sword energy slicing across the ground with a "sizzling" sound.

"Bang bang bang... Hmm?" Shangguan Yun frowned. Nothing happened... not even a trace.

Let's try something else. Then Shangguan Yun took out the Sun-Shooting Bow, held the bow back with his left hand, and pulled the string with his right hand. "Whoosh whoosh whoosh..." Three arrows were shot.

The result was the same as throwing a stone into the sea—nothing happened. Hmm? Shangguan Yun didn't believe it and exchanged for several intermediate-level Heaven-Shattering Thunderbolts, throwing them all over. As a result, apart from getting himself covered in dust, the barrier remained completely unharmed, just like before.

"It's over..." Shangguan Yun felt a sense of fear. He recalled his previous encounter with the Iga Faction and couldn't help but feel a chill. He thought to himself that Japan was indeed a powerful force and should not be underestimated.

Just now, the methods I used would have posed a threat even to an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, yet the protective array of Asama Shrine withstood them without a trace.

It seems I can't go any further today. The system's energy is insufficient right now, so I can't act impulsively. I'll take a step back and think about it another day.

Thinking of this, Shangguan Yun turned around. After taking only a dozen steps, a series of booming sounds suddenly came from under his feet, followed by a shockwave of spiritual energy around him, and a feeling of dizziness arose spontaneously.

"Rumble..."

Shangguan Yun was shocked. He quickly calmed himself down and looked around with his divine sense.

The area within a hundred miles was shaking violently. At the same time, eight tall mountain peaks were particularly strange, not only were they shrouded in mist and spiritual energy, but they also emitted billions of rays of light.

The eight mountain peaks are positioned exactly according to the arrangement of the Eight Trigrams of the Earlier Heaven. Almost simultaneously, they shoot out light into the sky, which then intertwine in a net-like pattern, as if weaving a giant net to cover the entire sky.

Shangguan Yun had a bad feeling. After communicating with the system, he found that the space within a hundred miles seemed to be sealed off and isolated from the outside world. It seemed to be the location of an array.