Immortal Father

Wei Yanzhi frowned and said, "What does Elder Xiaoyue mean?"

"Just let him enter the Formation," she said.

Xiaoyue picked up the cup that glowed in the dark and sipped the Immortal Brew inside, her slender fingers, each like jade, gently tapped the cup in her hand.

"He has made a fool of my named disciple twice, causing me to lose face. If I don't let him suffer a bit, it will be hard for me to stand firm in the sect in the future."

"This is merely a maze; there is not a hint of lethal prohibition."

"If he can pass through this maze, I will not make things difficult for him afterward and will even speak a few words in his favor back at the sect."

"If he cannot get through the maze, we can just keep him inside for three to five days before pulling him out. What do you two think?"

Wei Yanzhi frowned and said, "This maze has even confounded Immortals; he's just a minor cultivator who has condensed light. It would be a ghostly feat if he actually made it out!"

Elder Yansheng glanced at this sect's newly ascended Immortal, and Wei Yanzhi shook his head without saying more.

"If Elder Xiaoyue wishes to temper young friend Ping'an, it naturally may turn into an opportunity for him," Elder Yansheng said with a smile:

"Just, please prepare some rewards, Elder Xiaoyue. If he makes it out of the maze, wouldn't it be good to give him some prizes?"

"Oh?"

Xiaoyue, acquainted with Elder Yansheng's temperament, saw such words from the old Immortal and her eyes filled with curiosity.

"Could it be that he has a bit of expertise in Formations?"

Elder Yansheng smacked his dry pipe and simply stated, "Everyone knows Elder Xiaoyue is rich in treasures; just make sure not to let young friend Ping'an think that a senior of high status is stingy."

"Look at what you're saying. If young friend Ping'an can get out of this Formation, he surely is a rare talent in the arts of Formation, and the sect will gain another remarkable person. I would be overjoyed... Hmm?"

Xiaoyue was speaking when the bracelet on her wrist suddenly trembled slightly, and the jade pieces on it emitted faint ripples.

This bracelet was quite a precious voice-transmitting Magic Artifact, capable of transmitting messages over thousands of miles but with significant usage restrictions, only to be used in urgent situations.

Wei Yanzhi asked curiously, "Is there an emergency within the sect?"

"A message has been transmitted from the town; an ancient ruin has emerged on the shores of the East Sea," Xiaoyue smiled and said:

"It's not too far from our Wanyun Sect's base in the town, and the closest fellow sect members have already hurried over. I wonder if they can seize some fortune."

Elder Yansheng sighed, "Old ruins often herald deadly calamities, not easily an opportunity."

Xiaoyue said seriously, "It's not too far from us; if we need to send reinforcement later on, we need to be ready to go as well."

"Of course," Wei Yanzhi said, laughing, "it's a major event for our sect. If things don't go well, we can let young friend Ping'an hide out here for a few days, and then we can come back to escort him."

"Look," said Elder Yansheng, "he's entered the Formation."

Xiaoyue and Wei Yanzhi looked down and indeed saw Li Ping'an's figure drifting into the mist enveloping the nearby spiritual mine, with the girl who brought him here standing quietly at the bow of the boat.

Xiaoyue's lips moved slightly, but she was transmitting a message to Wen Ling'er:

"Follow him into the Formation and take note of everything he does."

Wen Ling'er hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly leaped into the maze, still not forgetting to call out the name 'Brother Ping'an'.

Xiaoyue's bare hand swept over the desk in front of her, a wisp of fog drifted by, and a picture slowly cleared from the haze on the desk.

She used the art of the Cloud Mirror to fully display the situation inside the Formation.

Li Ping'an stood with his hands behind his back, standing quietly, seemingly sensing something.

Wen Ling'er stood by his side, carefully observing the thick fog around her.

Wei Yanzhi wondered aloud, "Can Ping'an really break the Formation? Elder, although I haven't been watching him every day, I have a general understanding of his capabilities. I know that Ping'an is skilled in Alchemy and even has unique alchemical techniques... But as for formations, I really haven't seen him use them."

"He might not be good at laying out Formations, but he is skilled at breaking them, especially those that confound the six senses like this maze."

Elder Yansheng said with a smile:

"It's normal that you are unaware of this matter.

"Approximately over a year ago, Master Dazhi came to drink with me and got me thoroughly inebriated, then took away my lifetime pride, the 'Detailed Formation Atlas.'

"Though I promised while drunk, I can't demand back the atlas, so I had to accept my loss... However, since it's my life's work, I still wanted to see what Master Dazhi intended to do with it."

"Who knew that Master Dazhi didn't want to ponder over it himself, but brought it to young friend Ping'an."

"Since then, I've been paying attention to young friend Ping'an's study of formations," he said.

Xiaoyue was amazed: "Is he truly a Formation genius? He's just at the Condensed Light realm now; can he comprehend the profound variations of such major formations?"

"This," Elder Yansheng pondered for a moment, "he cannot understand the many changes of formations... and doesn't need to, as he's pondering another path."

Xiaoyue's phoenix eyes brimmed with even more puzzlement.

Elder Yansheng sighed,

"Ping'an said, a Formation should be divided into three parts."

"The first part is the appearance, which is the operation part of the Formation. In a killing Formation, various killing moves are used, and in an illusion Formation, various illusions are created. The part that those who enter the Formation can come into contact with is called the appearance."

"The second part is the Formation itself, made up of various Array Plates combined with different formation bases."

"The third part is the foundation of the Formation, the Array Plates and formation bases; the Array Plates and formation bases are the foundation of the formation, and the formation operates on top of the Array Plates and formation bases. Therefore, the Array Plates and formation bases are the foundation of everything, which he refers to as... hardware."

"These three, from the outside to the inside, connected by spiritual energy and spiritual power."

Xiaoyue chuckled, "This doesn't sound particularly profound."

"I thought so too at first, but upon hearing the young friend Ping'an continue, it felt like a sudden enlightenment."

"This division is just the foundation for his way of breaking formation."

Elder Yansheng shook his head, smiling wryly,

"He says... the trickiest part of a Formation is the killing formation since it unleashes the full power of the grand formation to strike those within, and one can only dodge or withstand it directly.

"Illusion formations, binding formations, however, are somewhat useless."

"Every Formation must have formation bases, which are the nodes where spiritual power converges within the formation. One just needs to figure out the underlying routes of the spiritual power to locate where the formation bases are hidden."

"Within a Formation, each formation base has a different function and is associated with different elements of the Five Elements; distinguishing the formation bases reveals one's position within the Formation... there is no need to touch the formation bases; merely discerning their unique properties is enough."

"He has memorized almost all of my lifetime's insights into formations just to study the formation bases, recording the characteristics of various types of formation bases."

"Furthermore, our young friend Ping'an also summarized thirty-six major rules and more than three hundred subtle variations in the forging of formation bases, reclassifying the formation bases of various formations according to their characteristics..."

Wei Yanzhuer suddenly said, "He's started to move!"

Elder Yansheng and Xiaoyue both looked down at the Cloud Mirror on the table, only to see Li Ping'an taking out a brocaded box from his bosom, from which he retrieved a compass-like Magic Artifact.

With that, Li Ping'an stepped forward, strolling ahead casually.

One step, two steps.

Xiaoyue saw him walking towards the deeper parts of the illusion formation, his mouth curving into a somewhat disdainful smile.

Three steps, four steps.

Li Ping'an suddenly stopped, looking down at the grass before him.

Wen Ling'er nearly bumped into his back but was stopped by a burst of mana three feet away.

Li Ping'an smiled, waving his hand forward, the mist stirred slightly, and his compass began to hum.

He turned and took the fifth step back the way he came, then closed his eyes, moved two steps to the side, and stepped forward again.

Blood-red lights started to emanate from the thick fog ahead.

Xiaoyue on the cloud showed a trace of astonishment.

Within the Formation, Li Ping'an turned to look at Wen Ling'er beside him and said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist, you may go ahead."

With a gloomy face, Wen Ling'er lowered his head and walked into the thick fog.

Li Ping'an attuned his senses, followed with his steps, and suddenly, the sound of clinking and clanking echoed beside his ear;

As his right foot touched the ground, the thick fog in front of him abruptly vanished, revealing a mine nestled deep in the forest.

Calling it a mine was simply referring to a large, orderly pit, where hundreds of commoners dressed in short robes were carefully chipping away at rocks at the bottom of the mine, searching for precious items within the layers of stone.

Mining for the Immortal Sects was an important duty for the commoners of the Immortal Dynasty.

Li Ping'an and Wen Ling'er stood at the edge of the minefield, and their sudden appearance clearly startled the several Qi Cultivators from Wanyun Sect guarding the place.

Above the clouds, Elder Yansheng's face beamed with a smile, while Xiaoyue's delicate brows were tightly furrowed.

Wei Yanzi said with a smile, "We shouldn't just temper the young disciples without giving them some benefits, don't you agree?"

Xiaoyue responded softly, "That's only natural. Today has truly been an eye-opener; this friend Ping'an indeed has something extraordinary about him."

Some commotion was happening on the ground.

The Qi Cultivators hiding in the mine, awaiting the so-called 'evil cultivators,' popped their heads out, one middle-aged male cultivator could not help but cry out:

"Ping'an! Ping'an?"

Li Ping'an smiled nonchalantly.

It was Master Chen.