Chapter 226: Breaking the Stoneman Formation
As the stone man formation was difficult to break, Mo Juren couldn't bear to see his friends die on the spot, so he had to stay and rack his brains to see how to break the stone men.

Since the three tests of "looking, listening, asking and feeling" have already appeared before, they must be responded to in a clever way.

And it seems that the stone men here cannot be killed simply by brute force.

While Mo Juren was struggling to resist with the Five Friends of Mengshan, he was also observing his surroundings.

Then he quickly discovered that these stone men were working in groups of five to deal with different monks, and his eyes immediately lit up.

The five are the five internal organs, corresponding to the five elements, gold, wood, water, fire and earth, implying mutual generation and mutual restraint.

Although there is no direct correspondence from the appearance of the stone men, after carefully analyzing the way the stone men cooperate, Mo Juren soon discovered that the five stone men were indeed cooperating based on the relationship of mutual generation of the Five Elements.

The stone man used the five weapons in an orderly and coordinated manner, using the big knife to chop, the iron stick to sweep, the long spear to penetrate, the giant hammer to attack, and the strong spear to control the enemy.

The talismans and spells cast by Mo Juren and his men hit the stone men like tickling them. They could only delay the stone men's movements for a while, but it was difficult to kill any of them.

Mo Juren flew out the Xuan Guang Sword and helped Zhao Han knock away an iron rod that was attacking his lower back. Then he jumped to his side and shouted,
"After the iron rod, there must be a spear! I'll block it, and Brother Zhao can attack the stone man with a big knife!"

Zhao Han turned his head and saw that Mo Juren was holding the Xuan Guang sword in his hand, struggling to entangle the stone man with the gun, eliminating his worries.

So he didn't have time to think about it, and just as Mo Juren said, he attacked the stone man with the big knife from a distance, forcing it to turn the knife around and resist Zhao Han.

Once the stone man with the big knife was distracted, no one on the other side of the stone man with the Jian Ge as a weapon would cover it. The third brother Zhang Xing, who was fighting against it, was preparing to take the opportunity to turn defense into offense, when Mo Juren shouted loudly,

"Fellow Daoist Zhang! Hit those giant hammers first!"

Zhang Xing paused when he heard this, but fortunately he did not hesitate and immediately threw out a rock-falling talisman to block the stone man with the giant hammer from a distance.

After these two moves, the combo of the five stone men was destroyed, and the continuous offensive that had been maintained was instantly dissolved.

The eyes of the five friends from Mengshan all lit up, and Zhao Han quickly smiled and said,

"Haha, Brother Zhang is really sharp-eyed. To deal with these stone men, we can't resist them in their order, we need to do the opposite!"

After the offensive of the five stone men here was disrupted by the Five Friends of Mengshan, the positions of the stone men began to become chaotic, and soon they began to hinder each other and became disorganized.

With this countermeasure, the six people took another step forward and broke the formation of the other five stone men again, getting closer and closer to the passage inside.

Once the stone men on this side lost their composure, it caused a chain reaction, and even the stone men in the middle were affected.

Just as the five friends from Mengshan were preparing to enter the passage first, they unexpectedly discovered that Mo Juren had disappeared.

It turned out that Mo Juren was relieved after seeing that the five people on his side understood the method to break the stone man formation. However, he saw that Hu Pinggu was about to die in the group of independent cultivators. So he softened his heart and did not move forward, but retreated to support Hu Pinggu.

The team of independent cultivators that Hu Pinggu belonged to had low strength. After being forcibly divided into a team by Hong Jin, they rushed into the stone man formation and were quickly killed. Hu Pinggu held a pair of Wu Gou swords and tried her best to resist a stone man with a spear, but she was unable to dodge and was about to be smashed away by the two hammers. At this time, Mo Juren struck with a sword and deflected one of the heavy hammers, and then gently pulled Hu Pinggu out of danger.

Hu Pinggu almost fell into the arms of the person who came in. When she saw that it was Mo Juren who saved her, her desperate eyes finally brightened up a little, and she whispered,

"Brother Zhang, it's you!..."

Mo Juren then said,
"Sister Hu, there is no need to say more. Follow me! Let me help you break this stone formation!"

After saying that, Mo Juren's Xuan Guang Sword turned heavy and powerful, and went straight for the stone man holding the iron stick, creating a breakthrough in the stone man formation.

Hu Pinggu's already sad gaze was focused on Mo Juren, who looked like a god descending from heaven, and she quickly followed him.

After the stone men with iron sticks came the stone men with broadswords... With Mo Juren's skillful attack, the stone man formation was successfully broken, and the team of scattered cultivators in the middle that was almost wiped out was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Everyone found that they were led by Mo Juren and Hu Pinggu, so they gathered around them, forming a formation like sharp knives, breaking the stone men, and following closely behind the Five Friends of Mengshan.

Although Hong Jin had the strength to build a foundation and could not do anything to the stone men alone, he still had enough strength to protect himself.

He observed around and soon saw the cleverness of the situation from the responses of the independent cultivators, so he followed their example and easily defeated the remaining stone men, becoming the third team to pass through the stone man formation.

On the contrary, Diao Yuanzheng, who was also a foundation-building cultivator, only thought of looking at the conditions of others when he was at the last resort, and only then did he discover the technique to fight against the stone man.

However, Hong Jin, who had left the stone man formation earlier than him, pretended to be ignorant and did not give any hints or help. Instead, he watched with interest.

So, in the end, Diao Yuanzheng and the Gu sellers fought to the end, only the four strong men carrying the square platform carried Diao Yuanzheng out of the stone man formation, while the other Gu sellers in black were almost wiped out.

Mo Juren led Hu Pinggu out of the stone man formation. When the five friends from Mengshan in front of them saw him, they realized that he had gone to rescue people.

Wang Zhuo and others asked Hu Pinggu,
"Friend Hu? How did you end up here? Could it be that..."

When Hu Pinggu heard this, her expression darkened and she explained,
"My husband and I were deceived by the Gu seller and were brought here. We were forced to swallow the 'Corpse Worm Pill' by Diao Yuanzheng. All the independent cultivators who came with us became his pawns to help him explore the way. My husband... was killed by the quicksand ahead."

After she finished speaking, her body went limp. Mo Juren, who was closest to her, quickly supported her. Then her fifth sister Qin Xiaorong, who was also a female monk, hurried forward to comfort her.

Although the five friends of Mengshan also sympathized with Hu Pinggu's misfortune, they quickly returned to business. The eldest brother Wang Zhuo said to Mo Juren,

"I didn't expect that Diao Yuanzheng was so vicious. In order to explore this secret realm, he sacrificed the lives of so many independent cultivators. Fellow Daoist Zhang, let's quickly enter the next passage to avoid being threatened by Hong Jin and Diao Yuanzheng together."

Mo Juren let go of Hu Pinggu and asked the two girls to go to the side. Then he said thoughtfully,

"That's exactly what I meant. However, it seems that these independent cultivators have been badly harmed by Diao Yuanzheng. I guess they all harbor hatred. I wonder if we can win over a few of them?"

(End of this chapter)