"What's this 'Seven Stars in a Row'? Don't make it sound so mysterious." Lin Yu's voice sounded lazily. "This is called a 'distributed local area network'. Before, you had a single-player version, one formation plate managing one area; if one broke, that area went blind. Now we're going to link them together."

Lin Yu paused, then added, "But in the cultivation world, this is called 'Qi Resonance'. Bury the seven main nodes on the 'acupoints' of the spiritual vein, and use the twenty-one secondary nodes as the 'meridians'. Once this net is woven, unless someone rips up this entire patch of land, no one will be able to sneak in without a sound."

Su Ming gave a slight nod, his gaze sweeping across the entire defense zone.

Under the "Observation Micro" state, the nodes already buried were emitting faint spiritual energy fluctuations. These fluctuations did not exist in isolation; they had a peculiar rhythm, like breathing. When a node in the east brightened, a node in the west would dim in response, as if an invisible thread tightly bound them together.

This was what Su Ming wanted to construct—the Spiderweb Interconnected Defense System.

"Bury it!"

With Su Ming's command, Zhao Tiji thrust the wolf bone formation stake hard into the bottom of the pit.

*Hum.*

An extremely faint tremor sounded.

The snow on the ground gave a slight jump.

Immediately after, as if a domino had been pushed over, starting from the main node, streams of ghostly light imperceptible to the naked eye darted rapidly beneath the snow layer, instantly lighting up the other twenty secondary nodes.

The previously scattered spiritual energy fluctuations suddenly became uniform and orderly.

An indescribable sense of heaviness enveloped the entire Bing-7 Defense Zone.

"It's done."

Su Ming straightened his back, patted the dirt off his hands, and let out a long, deep breath.

"That's it?" Old Liu came over, his single eye scanning the surroundings. "Looks no different from before to me? No light barrier rose up either."

"Light barriers consume too many spirit stones; they're for withstanding demonic arts head-on. Our 'Iron Bucket Formation' emphasizes the principle of 'stickiness'." A faint curve appeared at the corner of Su Ming's mouth as he turned to look at Chen Chuan, who was wiping his sword. "Brother Chen, care to give it a try?"

Chen Chuan raised his eyelids at the words, his longsword emitting a clear, crisp hum.

"How?"

"Attack with full force to get in here." Su Ming pointed to the outer perimeter of the defense zone. "Hold nothing back; treat us as the wolf pack."

Chen Chuan wasted no words. Sword in hand, he turned and walked about fifty zhang outside the defense zone.

He took a deep breath, and the spiritual energy of his Qi Refining Perfection realm erupted abruptly. His entire body transformed into a blur, the longsword wrapped in a biting, cold light, thrusting straight towards Su Ming at the center of the defense zone.

Fast.

Swift as a startled swan.

Chen Chuan came from a wandering cultivator background; his swordsmanship had no flashy moves, only killing techniques.

If this thrust landed solidly, even a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator would have to temporarily retreat.

Zhao Tiji and Old Liu both involuntarily held their breath.

The moment Chen Chuan stepped within thirty zhang of the defense zone.

The seemingly ordinary jade pendant hanging at Su Ming's waist suddenly glowed with a flicker of red light.

"Three breaths." Su Ming whispered the count.

This was the warning.

There was no need to constantly extend divine sense. As long as any foreign spiritual energy fluctuation intruded into the "spiderweb's" coverage area, the resonance between nodes would be disrupted, triggering the alarm.

Chen Chuan's speed was extreme; in the blink of an eye, he had already advanced to within ten zhang. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Rise."

Su Ming's left hand formed a seal, pressing lightly against the void.

The previously calm air suddenly became viscous.

It wasn't a substantial wall-like obstruction, but a sluggish sensation as if one had sunk into a swamp.

Chen Chuan felt the sword tip in his hand plunge into a thick wad of cotton batting; his originally sharp and fierce sword momentum instantly faltered.

The flowing spiritual energy around him was no longer an aid but had turned into countless invisible little hands, stubbornly dragging at his wrists and ankles.

His speed visibly slowed down.

By at least forty percent.

"This..." Zhao Tiji's eyes widened.

On the battlefield, being a fraction slower meant death.

Slower by forty percent? That was washing your own neck clean and waiting to be slaughtered.

Chen Chuan frowned tightly, let out a low shout, and stirred the spiritual energy within his body, attempting to forcefully break through this restraint.

The sword tip trembled, accelerating once more.

"Turn."

Su Ming's right hand formed a sword finger and lightly flicked it.

The flow of spiritual energy that had been stubbornly dragging at Chen Chuan suddenly changed.

It was no longer blocking, but pushing sideways.

It was like a raging river suddenly taking a turn.

Chen Chuan's sure-kill thrust, when it was still three chi away from Su Ming, bizarrely slid to the right.

*Sssshhh!*

The sword qi grazed the corner of Su Ming's clothes, viciously slashing into the frozen ground beside him, sending a spray of gravel flying.

Chen Chuan sheathed his sword and stood still, looking at his slightly trembling wrist, his eyes filled with disbelief.

In that instant just now, he felt he wasn't thrusting at a person, but wrestling with the entire heaven and earth. That stifling feeling of being unable to exert his strength made him want to vomit blood in frustration.

"What kind of ghostly formation is this?" Chen Chuan couldn't help but ask, his voice carrying a trace of awe.

"Spiderweb." Su Ming smiled, dispersing the hand seal in his hand. "Once you're in the web, the more you struggle, the tighter it entangles you. Unless your power can instantly tear apart the combined spiritual energy of these twenty-one nodes, the flow of spiritual energy is under my control."

"Incredible! Truly goddamn incredible!"

Zhao Tiji slapped his thigh, his face flushed red with excitement, "With this thing, next time the wolf pack comes again, I won't have to chase their tails; standing still, I can chop down three more wolves!"

Old Liu also wore a look of joy, stroking the stubble on his chin: "And it's quiet, perfect for ambushing. If those beasts charge in, slip under their feet, and we go up for a slash, heh heh..."

Looking at the excited group, the smile on Su Ming's face did not reach his eyes.

The reason he went to such lengths to set up this "Spiderweb Interconnected Defense" was not merely to deal with the wolf pack.

More importantly, this system was equally sensitive to vibrations underground.

In a life-or-death moment, this was the distance between life and death.