# Chapter 1002: Stacked Formation
Zhou Qinggao of the present, formerly Zhu Qie the leader of the Third Armor Account, was precisely as Zheng Juzhong had joked—truly the number one admirer of Chen Yin'guan acknowledged by both worlds.
Back when Chen Ping'an was stationed at the half-section Sword Qi Great Wall, Zhu Qie had once requested permission from the young Yin'guan to ascend the city wall, wishing to consult with Chen Ping'an and jointly review the battle situation.
Later, when the Confucian Temple and Tuoyue Mountain's joint negotiation members faced off across the two worlds, Zhou Qinggao made no attempt to conceal his admiration for Chen Ping'an in his speech.
Yu Xuan swept his gaze over the ashes of the talisman that Zheng Juzhong had destroyed, nodding as he said, "Good talisman."
It was just that the talisman artist's methods were somewhat insidious and clearly premeditated, obviously designed to specifically target this young Yin'guan.
Because this talisman had a threshold requirement—it needed to collect a person's blood. Additionally, hair, fingernails, saliva, and the like could all serve as this talisman's "talisman paper." If the talisman artist could obtain the enemy qi refiner's vital essence blood, or could extract some portion of their soul or mind, the grade of the talisman produced would naturally be even higher. Only after drawing the qi refiner's image on the talisman and writing their exact birth date and such would the talisman be considered complete.
Chen Ping'an furrowed his brow slightly, rapidly calculating in his mind.
Back in those days at the Sword Qi Great Wall, it wasn't just Chen Ping'an himself who was extremely cautious. As the butler of the Ning Estate, White Steward, and as the gatekeeper, Nalan Nightwalker, both elders were equally careful. They had long since instructed Chen Ping'an that even when washing his hair or trimming his nails, he needed to gather everything up and preferably destroy it on the spot, leaving not a single shred of "evidence." Additionally, every time Chen Ping'an drank at the tavern, he was very mindful of such details.
Furthermore, when he entered the Summer Resort and found himself on the battlefield several times, Chen Ping'an could not be said to have been anything less than cautious. To conceal his identity and avoid being targeted by the Wildlands' Sixty Armor Account, he even resorted to disguising himself as a woman—a matter that to this day remained a "fine tale" at Ascension City, often used by the Executioner's lineage of sword cultivators as an excellent dish to accompany their wine.
Thus, the only time a slip had likely occurred was before Chen Ping'an became Yin'guan, when he had taken Ning Yao's place in battle, fighting a one-on-one duel against Li Zhen, the closed-door disciple of Tuoyue Mountain's Grand Ancestor.
Mountain techniques were bizarre and varied; indeed, they were impossible to guard against completely.
After that, when he returned to Haoran and was in the Yellow Flower Observatory at Mirage City in the Great Spring Dynasty, Chen Ping'an had been pierced through the body by a sword artist named Pei Min, who was using an oil-paper umbrella as a flying sword...
Because of that seal, the Observatory Master Liu Mao had already passed the Confucian Temple's inspection and could absolutely be ruled out as a suspect—unless... it was those two little boy acolytes who hadn't yet begun qi refining?
Given the chance, Chen Ping'an would have to return to Tongye Continent to personally verify this, or he could send a flying sword message to Secret Snow Peak and have Cui Dongshan investigate immediately.
Lü Yan smiled and said, "A Daoist's divided attention drains the most spirit—this principle cannot be ignored."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "I'll be careful."
This Pure Yang Daoist was reminding Chen Ping'an that the earlier matter of dividing his mind required careful consideration.
Dividing one's spirit was a classic case in the mountains of high threshold but low reward, where the benefits did not match the risks. First, one needed to use a precious substitute talisman made from rare talisman paper, but the avatar's realm and cultivation would inevitably be far lower than the true body, and the substitute could not cultivate on its own, making it rather useless. Second, because Chen Ping'an was a Martial Artist at the Stopping Realm, his physique was tough and far surpassed that of ordinary qi refiners, allowing him to simultaneously deploy that many talismans. Otherwise, attaching a grain of mind to a talisman for it to walk independently through heaven and earth was like lighting a lamp or burning a candle—the spiritual energy consumption rate of a puppet talisman would be very fast. For Upper Five Realm cultivators, such conduct offered almost no benefit to the Great Dao. On the contrary, if those avatars encountered mishap and could not be reclaimed by the true body, causing the cultivator's mind to be damaged and their soul incomplete, they would regret it bitterly and cry out in distress—it was simply not worth the cost.
Zheng Juzhong said, "Don't make the same mistake twice. I believe that over on the Wildlands side, some great demons have already begun researching Cui Chan in depth. So step up your efforts in finding all of your Destiny Porcelain."
Because once some portion of a cultivator's mind could not be reclaimed by the true body, the aftereffects were numerous, each more troublesome than the last. At the mild end, it could prevent the cultivator from breaking through a certain realm's bottleneck, making it impossible to achieve a complete Dao heart. At the severe end, enemy cultivators like Feiran and Zhou Qinggao could seize the opportunity—for example, using that grain of mind as talisman core, refining it into a talisman, thereby casually wearing down one's Dao cultivation, or even damaging the very foundation of the Great Dao. The most terrifying consequence was that the Wildlands side might learn from Embroidered Tiger Cui Chan, using a method similar to imitating porcelain dolls or talisman puppets. Even if such an attempt fell far short of Cui Chan's level and could never "turn guest into host," it still had a certain chance of creating a situation that would give Chen Ping'an tremendous headaches. The relationship between the two would be like that between the porcelain doll beside Cui Dongshan and the hero Gao Cheng from the Skeleton Beach Jingguan City—a connection severed but still dangling by a thread.
If a single grain of mind could cause such trouble, what would happen if the Destiny Porcelain fell into the hands of the Wildlands?
Chen Ping'an nodded silently.
Zheng Juzhong continued, "Still, you've seen too little of the mountaintop scenery, which is excusable."
If not for Li Xisheng detecting the anomaly earlier and alerting everyone, causing Bai Jing's sword light to only blast apart a small portion of those talismans...
Otherwise, letting Chen Ping'an drop an entire realm from this would surely give him a more memorable lesson.
This was also why Zheng Juzhong had long known about it yet deliberately turned a blind eye.
Someone with a bit of cleverness who doesn't take a major fall, merely suffering some trivial, inconsequential hardship, would easily attribute it to luck rather than admitting their own mind wasn't very sharp.
The third wave of spiritual energy tide failed to shake the majestic dharma image of Ritual Sage by even a hair, and then swept past the talisman mountains and talisman seas.
Standing before the crowd, that Mr. Three Mountains and Nine Marquis was like a pillar in the midst of the current—the tide waters parted on their own as they passed him.
Three Mountains and Nine Marquis was universally recognized as the grand master of techniques and divine abilities, the ancestral master of both talismans and alchemy in the world.
After the Battle of Ascending Heaven, he was hailed by later generations of mountaintop cultivators as the Master of Ten Thousand Techniques, the Ancestor of Earth Immortals.
During his last trip to the Great Li capital, Chen Ping'an had learned many secrets from Aunt Feng and the old coachman.
For instance, regarding the firing of Destiny Porcelain in Li Zhu Cave Heaven, the secret method had originally been passed down by Old Man Yang of the medicine shop and Three Mountains and Nine Marquis.
Additionally, the sword case carried by Shouchen, as Zhou Mi's first disciple in the Wildlands, had a very significant origin. As a return gift for taking him as a disciple, Zhou Mi had bestowed this heavy treasure. The sword case was painted with an ancient map of Three Mountains, Four Seas, Five Peaks, and Ten Rivers. It was vastly different from the widely circulated, almost ubiquitous Daoist talisman true-form diagrams of later generations. Among them, the three mountains' true forms each possessed an orthodox "posture," like a divine being sitting upright in corpse pose, a mountain ape walking with a hunched back, or a cloud-hidden dragon soaring through the nine heavens. The three mountains respectively governed yin-yang creation and the five elements, determined the periods of life and death and the affairs of long and short, presided over star signs and territorial divisions, and also governed the destinies of water-dwelling beings like fish and dragons. After Zhou Mi personally refined it, this sword case gained even more divine abilities, being refined into a "sword tomb" that could nurture nine flying swords while simultaneously gestating nine different innate divine abilities. Even if the original user was not a sword cultivator, obtaining this case made them a sword cultivator in all but name.
And this object had originally been forged by Three Mountains and Nine Marquis, only later falling into Zhou Mi's hands.
Because Three Mountains and Nine Marquis was present, Yu Xuan had earlier refrained from telling Chen Ping'an several rumors out of respect for the senior.
It was said that among the Ten Heroes of the World, the two female cultivators—Refiner Lan Qi, and the qi refiner who had pioneered numerous heretical paths—both had an excellent relationship with Three Mountains and Nine Marquis.
Cui Dongshan had once made an analogy: Beyond the heavens, it wasn't just Flying Ascension Realm cultivators—even Fourteen Realm cultivators were like bare-handed children. The "world" they faced was simply an iron ball.
Yu Xuan sighed. "One must admit, Zhou Mi's move is still an open conspiracy."
Chen Ping'an asked doubtfully, "If we regard the entire Wildlands world as a sky-walking ferry boat, then deep within the Wildlands there must exist a place serving as the formation nexus driving this giant ferry—using heaven and earth spiritual energy as 'firewood'?"
Yu Xuan stroked his beard and shook his head. "This old man hasn't yet seen through the intricacies."
Lü Yan narrowed his eyes, gazing at some location in the Wildlands, and said solemnly, "Half is spiritual energy bought with money; the other half is... sword qi that suddenly appeared."
Zheng Juzhong curled his lip. "If Lord Yin'guan had insisted on rushing to aid instead of changing course midway to go challenge Tuoyue Mountain, it would have been adding even more firewood."
Li Xisheng waved his sleeve, and a diagram resembling a celestial star trajectory appeared in the air. He explained, "Zhou Mi once used the vast mountains and rivers, including Jiao Long Trench, Fuyao Continent, and Tongye Continent, to personally construct a hidden formation. The traces were extremely faint at first, like an ordinary person scratching a line on their arm with a fingernail. This formation only recently came to light, and it has subtly divided Haoran and Wildlands into yin and yang, causing the two worlds, originally separate, to now be like two pieces of magnetite attracting each other. When Feiran presided over activating the great formation, the entire Wildlands world's bow immediately began to shift. Combined with the great demon Chu Sheng's long-planned machinations beyond the heavens, this ferry boat turned and entered a 'green path' trajectory with ever-increasing speed."
The third wave of spiritual energy tide was approaching.
Because she had nearly caused a major disaster, Bai Jing uncharacteristically took a step back. "Mountain Lord, this time, let's split the profits eighty-twenty."
Chen Ping'an said, "No need. Let's just go by the old rules."
Roughly estimated, opening once was equivalent to pocketing the full spiritual energy reserves of a Flying Ascension Realm cultivator.
And heaven and earth spiritual energy was the equivalent of immortal money.
After all, the three kinds of immortal money—Snowflake, Lesser Heat, and Grain Rain—could become universally used currency in the mountains precisely because they contained varying degrees of pure spiritual energy.
The reason sword cultivators could firmly hold the top spot among the four troublesome types in the mountains was that when fighting, sword cultivators needed to use and consume far less spiritual energy than ordinary qi refiners.
Take, for example, Huang Luan, one of the fourteen old Throne great demons. He refined temples, palaces, and Daoist compounds, as well as ancient shattered secret realms and other secondary cave heavens. Thus, when both sides had roughly equal offensive and defensive capabilities, a same-realm cultivator could easily be worn to death by Huang Luan's endless supply of spiritual energy.
Yu Xuan narrowed his eyes and said, "The only fly in the ointment is that this thousand-li territory is ultimately too small. Even though all of us have the means to invert Sumeru and mustard seeds, any Daoist compound that approaches or infinitely approaches the truth is ultimately constrained by reality. Moreover, with such a limited territory, it may be difficult to fully display our abilities—there's a suspicion of trying to do alchemy in a snail shell. All of us crowded together, and instead of fighting on the battlefield, we need to face the collision of an entire world. If... in an instant... it wouldn't be too good. Even if we manage to split the Wildlands more deeply with a combined strike, it might still be difficult to block that momentum."
No matter how great their divine abilities, they couldn't directly cleave the Wildlands world in half.
Unless everyone present were Fourteen Realm cultivators?
Thus, the old elder deliberately spoke vaguely. In the end, he felt the content was somewhat unlucky and shouldn't be said outright, lest it become a self-fulfilling prophecy—that would be truly disastrous.
Chen Ping'an said, "Elder Yu, this heaven and earth of mine can be split apart without affecting the 'one' of the formation."
Yu Xuan was momentarily stunned.
Why didn't you say so earlier?
Of course, it wasn't that Chen Ping'an was deliberately being mysterious. Accepting the three waves of spiritual energy tides three times was not only about making money on the surface but also a means of testing results and determining the degree of operation of the heaven and earth's Dao laws.
Now it wasn't just a paper estimate, but a solid understanding. So Chen Ping'an explained, "However, the split-off sub-heavens should not be too far apart—at most no more than three thousand li between them. Within three thousand li, the impact and loss to each of your Daoist compounds should not exceed ten percent."
Yu Xuan nodded with a smile. "Enough, more than enough. Don't mention ten percent—even twenty percent loss, relying on our techniques and refined items, we can easily make up for it."
If each of their Daoist compounds could occupy three thousand li alone, compared to being all crowded together in a thousand-li territory, it was truly a difference between heaven and earth.
Zheng Juzhong suddenly asked, "If I gave you some more Gold Essence Copper Coins to cram for, could you increase the depth and width of this heaven and earth?"
Chen Ping'an replied without hesitation, "Yes, but there's a prerequisite—at least five hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins must be invested, otherwise it won't mean much and won't bring about a qualitative change. If it's only a supplement of three or four hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins, at most it would make the 'universe' large and the 'time' small, instead affecting the stability of the entire heaven and earth. Like a cultivator's dharma image being overly diluted—an empty shell, better left undone."
The four directions up and down were called "universe" (yu), and from ancient times to the present was called "time" (zhou).
This was the fundamental divine ability of Chen Ping'an's two life-bound flying swords, "Caged Sparrow" and "Moon in the Well."
This had happened suddenly, without any preparation.
If he had known about today's events beforehand, Chen Ping'an would certainly have carried on his person the remaining three hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins in his own treasury.
But a thousand gold coins couldn't buy "foreknowledge"—plans could never keep up with changes.
Chen Ping'an had originally planned to carry those three hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins on his person only after he had advanced to the Jade Pure Realm and next traveled through the continents of Haoran with Liu Jinglong.
To raise the rank of two life-bound flying swords, especially to obtain some brand-new innate divine abilities, was not easy.
For the first sword, "Caged Sparrow," the so-called sword refinement was essentially Chen Ping'an's realm improvement. The higher the realm, the larger the heaven and earth. The only shortcut was to "eat" Dragon-Slaying Stones.
As for the second sword, "Moon in the Well," the most intuitive manifestation of rank improvement was the quantity of flying swords. Back when Chen Ping'an formed his Golden Core on the city wall, he could differentiate into approximately one hundred thousand flying swords. When he became a Nascent Soul cultivator, especially when he successfully advanced to the Jade Pure Realm, crossing a major threshold, the number jumped directly from two hundred thousand at the Nascent Soul stage to four hundred thousand. Although he walked through the Wildlands and his cultivation fell back to Nascent Soul, the rank of the flying swords did not decrease accordingly.
When borrowing the Fourteen Realm from Lu Chen, because Chen Ping'an hadn't yet set about creating a River of Time at that time, according to the extrapolations and estimates at that point, if he were to eventually reach the Fourteen Realm, the rank of the flying sword "Moon in the Well" would improve to "Moon at the Wellhead" or "Moon in the Sky," allowing it to differentiate into a million flying swords. Facts proved that Chen Ping'an's earlier estimates had still been too conservative. Based on the current situation and re-extrapolating, as long as he ate enough Gold Essence Copper Coins, it was very possible that the number of flying swords could climb all the way to two million or even more.
No wonder they said there was never a well-off sword cultivator under heaven.
Zheng Juzhong smiled. "I happen to have three hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins on hand. Exchanged for Grain Rain Coins at a rate of one to ten—three thousand Grain Rain Coins, with three percent interest per year. How about it?"
Chen Ping'an's face was expressionless as he said solemnly, "Deal!"
One Gold Essence Copper Coin exchanged for ten Grain Rain Coins. If this were thirty years ago, apart from mountain-water spirits needing to repair their golden bodies, almost no qi refiner would be willing to make such a trade.
But the key was that nowadays, Gold Essence Copper Coins were no longer like the early years—they were a scarce commodity that had a price but no market. Once they appeared on the market, they would be snapped up immediately, a rare find not to be missed.
Chen Ping'an truly didn't believe that Mr. Zheng only had three hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins to his name.
Zheng Juzhong waved his sleeve, and a Sumeru object appeared before Chen Ping'an—an ancient inkstone, regrettably without any inscription.
It was of the "Sun and Moon Sharing the Wall" hand-rest inkstone type, with eyes and pillars carved on the back. Chen Ping'an was knowledgeable and immediately recognized it as arranged in the pattern of the twenty-eight lunar mansions.
Xiao Mo immediately looked at Bai Jing, who was busy "picking up money."
Bai Jing, having reverted to her true appearance, was a stunningly beautiful woman with a tall figure. She laughed heartily, "All part of the dowry."
Zheng Juzhong was obviously... casting a brick to attract jade.
Lü Yan spoke up with a smile, "As for wealth, this poor Daoist is destitute. I truly have the will but not the means, and cannot help Lord Chen."
This statement from Pure Yang Daoist was clearly alluding to something.
It was universally acknowledged that Yu Xuan never lacked immortal money—he had never been short of it in his entire life and had never worried about money.
Li Xisheng followed with a smile, "This junior doesn't have a single Gold Essence Copper Coin on him either."
Gold Essence Copper Coins were top-tier hot commodities.
Yu Xuan had no choice but to say, "Lord Chen mentioned needing at least five hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins. To be on the safe side, since Mr. Zheng has already given three hundred, this old man will also take out three hundred. Following Mr. Zheng's rules, the principal accumulates year by year, calculated at three percent interest."
Actually, in the mountains, once interest was calculated annually, it bordered on loan sharking.
Then Yu Xuan added, "It would be best to trade goods for goods, with both principal and interest calculated in Gold Essence Copper Coins."
It wasn't really Yu Xuan taking advantage of the situation—it was simply that nowadays, Gold Essence Copper Coins were too scarce. For the next hundred or even thousand years, they would only decrease in circulation.
The key was that this matter involved Yu Xuan's development of two major talismans, which both touched upon the "River of Time."
These two talismans, along with his several other trump card talismans, were the mainstays after Yu Xuan advanced to the Fourteen Realm.
If not for this, with Talisman Yu Xuan's temperament, even if it were three hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins or double that, he would have no problem. Forget about buying and selling—if it suited his fancy, gifting them away would have been fine.
Chen Ping'an nodded. "No problem."
Since his own treasury had three hundred, he could repay Yu Xuan immediately after this matter was concluded.
The other party's agreement was so straightforward that it instead made Yu Xuan feel a bit guilty.
Being addressed as Elder Yu by a young man, being called an old immortal—that was itself a burden.
So Yu Xuan couldn't help but change his tune. "If there are truly difficulties, we can still negotiate. The interest can also be converted to Grain Rain Coins."
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "No need. Let's settle everything in Gold Essence Copper Coins."
Zheng Juzhong communicated with Chen Ping'an via heart voice, giving a number: one thousand five hundred.
Although there was only a number, Zheng Juzhong's meaning was obvious—was crossing the next major threshold, did Chen Ping'an need this amount of Gold Essence Copper Coins?
Chen Ping'an directly shook his head. The meaning was that even if the quantity were sufficient and he could have one thousand five hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins right now, he couldn't refine them in a short time.
Zheng Juzhong also shook his head. White Emperor City had this many Gold Essence Copper Coins, but he wouldn't give them.
Chen Ping'an then even omitted the nod. Then this junior won't open his mouth to invite trouble.
Almost simultaneously, Yu Xuan communicated with Zheng Juzhong via heart voice, asking if both sides contributed more Gold Essence Copper Coins, whether Chen Ping'an's heaven and earth could take a further step forward.
Obviously, Yu Xuan was prepared to let three hundred or even more Gold Essence Copper Coins go completely to waste.
After receiving the answer that no additional Gold Essence Copper Coins were needed, Yu Xuan sighed, clearly somewhat regretful.
In fact, Zheng Juzhong had begun intentionally collecting Gold Essence Copper Coins as early as a thousand years ago, purchasing fragments of divine golden bodies through various channels.
Approximately a hundred years ago, White Emperor City began acquiring this item on a massive scale, regardless of cost. What started as Zheng Juzhong's personal endeavor became a lesson for all Upper Five Realm qi refiners in White Emperor City—every direct disciple and retainer had to contribute a varying number of Gold Essence Copper Coins according to their realm.
Additionally, many wild cultivators from the mountains and marshes could use this item as a stepping stone. White Emperor City had even set up a special "heretical" mountain peak that violated convention, without registering names, but where they could cultivate and obtain secret manuals and Daoist texts lent by White Emperor City.
Chen Ping'an asked Li Xisheng via heart voice, "Can you hold it back?"
"Impossible to give an answer right now."
Li Xisheng told the truth. "Any situation could occur next. In short, we must all be prepared for the worst. Especially you—although you're just presiding over the formation, seemingly only needing to watch from the sidelines, in fact, just maintaining the two flying swords without falling is already quite strenuous."
Chen Ping'an nodded. He was mentally prepared.
Li Xisheng smiled. "Only by being prepared for the worst result can one have the right to hope for the best outcome."
The Great Sword Immortal of the Sword Qi Great Wall, Chen Qingdu. The Great Preacher of the Jade Capital in the Green Underworld, Kou Ming. The Ritual Sage of the Central Earth Confucian Temple, Yu Ke. They all seemed to be the kind of existences that could be infinitely trusted.
Chen Ping'an received six hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins and immediately began refining them. At the same time, he stretched each Daoist compound within the heaven and earth to a distance of three thousand li.
In the distance of his vision was the back view of a "youthful" cultivator.
This Mr. Three Mountains and Nine Marquis, a former alternate for the Ten Heroes, stood with three talisman mountains and one talisman river at his feet.
The First Sage could indeed act, but if the First Sage expended his Dao cultivation here, it meant that Zhou Mi would gain an extra chance of victory in the future.
Furthermore, in this situation, the First Sage faced a difficulty similar to that of the Second Sage, Literary Sage, and the Confucian Temple's Master: the Three Ancestors of the Three Teachings were the ultimate in "conforming to the Dao through favorable geography." Of course, the Three Ancestors of the Three Teachings did more than just conform to the Dao through geography.
Thus, it had to be the lesser of two evils. At the root, besides the Wildlands, the greatest threat shared by all four worlds now was Wenhai Zhou Mi alone—the one who had already ascended and departed.
In a sense, in the past ten thousand years, the most ambitious hero, bar none, was Zhou Mi.
This Jia Sheng of Haoran from days gone by had successively passed three trials and quietly advanced to the Fourteen Realm in the Wildlands.
He breached a Sword Qi Great Wall that had stood for ten thousand years.
In his former hometown of Haoran, he caused three continents—Tongye, Fuyao, and Golden Armor—to completely sink.
Ultimately, he entered and occupied the ancient Heavenly Court, overlooking the entire mortal world.
It was like a splendid and colorful tale of deities and monsters, with a timeline spanning ten thousand years. On the pages of the book, countless heroes and legends emerged, each taking the stage and dominating their era.
Yet the final page—or perhaps the penultimate page—dense and repetitive, only wrote two characters: one person's name.
It was like the inner thoughts of many mountaintop cultivators across the several worlds nowadays.
Chen Qingdu, or Embroidered Tiger Cui Chan, had both already departed this world.
Only Zhou Mi still remained alive.
And the Ritual Sage standing at the very front—was he any less burdened? In fact, the Ritual Sage was the one who bore the heaviest burden, bar none.
Because his method of conforming to the Dao was through the "Ritual" of the entire Haoran world, when blocking the Wildlands' collision, the Ritual Sage could very possibly only rely on his physical body and dharma image, without being able to use divine abilities.
This was the reason why Chen Ping'an had earlier asked Li Xisheng whether it could be held back.
Otherwise, it would simply have been a redundant question.
Chen Ping'an refined six hundred Gold Essence Copper Coins into the River of Time at an extremely fast speed, then spoke, "This junior has a thought—could we stack the formations?"
Yu Xuan smiled. "Oh? Stacked formations? Lord Chen is also skilled in the way of formations?"
Then Chen Ping'an rapidly explained his general idea via heart voice.
For this following stacked formation, Yu Xuan struck first. He tore off the "Purple Qi" dharma robe embroidered with a yin-yang fish and eight trigrams pattern and cast it outward—it blotted out the sky and covered the sun.
Yu Xuan extended his hand and drew talismans, outlining the Two Apparatuses of the Supreme Ultimate. Based on the two miniature sun and moon within the original "Caged Sparrow" heaven and earth, the scale expanded severalfold, and suddenly a great light shone forth.
At the same time, Yu Xuan's yin spirit left his body for a distant journey, taking up residence within the bright moon. As for that new great sun, it changed from Bai Jing's earlier position to that of Pure Yang Lü Yan.
Behind Talisman Yu Xuan's yin spirit appeared a bright moon treasure wheel, while behind the dharma image of Daoist Lü Yan was a massive, brilliant golden sun.
Additionally, there was the Three Powers Formation of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Zheng Juzhong's yang spirit, true body, and yin spirit were separated into high and low positions, each sitting in one location.
After that came inspiration drawn from the opening of Xian Wei's manuscript. Chen Ping'an divided the four directions of heaven and earth into four seasons, rotating slowly at a speed much slower than the rising and setting of the sun and moon.
Li Xisheng helped create the heavenly phenomena of wind, rain, thunder, lightning, clouds, fog, and the like.
As the founder and presider of this great formation, following the results of Zheng Juzhong's earlier extrapolation, Chen Ping'an had to "reluctantly" grit his teeth and offer up five life-bound items belonging to the Five Elements. This was slightly better than other cultivators piecing together Five Elements items of higher grade.
Yu Xuan offered up twelve talismans, belonging to the twelve months, with the sword cultivators Bai Jing and Xiao Mo taking turns to sit in whenever a leap month occurred.
What followed was the superimposed twenty-four solar terms—Li Xisheng's handiwork.
Then came the more detailed seventy-two seasonal markers. Chen Ping'an was once again thrust into action, offering up seventy-two seals he had personally carved.
Finally, Li Xisheng, Zheng Juzhong, and Yu Xuan respectively presided over and offered up a Daoist Grand Heavenly Ritual, a Complete Heavenly Ritual, and a Universal Heavenly Ritual. Merit candles shone upon the upper universe, virtue radiated in the middle heaven, frost congealed upon the jade realm, and water rippled across the cinnabar sky.
That Mr. Three Mountains and Nine Marquis, appearing as a young man, finally turned his head for the first time to look back at the scene behind him.
Although he soon withdrew his gaze, just that one subtle movement still made Bai Jing feel a bit sour.
She wasn't unfamiliar with this guy—when they had met before, he hadn't shown her any particular recognition.
Just then, several figures from the Wildlands appeared beyond the heavens.
But none dared to approach this layered great formation; the distance between the two sides was extremely far.
Bai Jing, having nothing better to do, propped her chin on her hand and waved toward those "old friends" she was seeing again on the "other shore," smiling. "How fate plays tricks—turning friends into foes."
That group of cultivators were ancient great demons awakened by Bai Ze. For now, it was unknown whether they were coming to watch the spectacle or to stir up trouble.
The great demon Guan Yi was a beautiful woman with a pale complexion and bright red lips. Her innate divine ability was water methods. It was said that ten thousand years ago, she could freeze a section of the River of Time, but when the river thawed, all living things would have already dissolved within it.
Beside Guan Yi was still that young man who liked to squint when looking at people and always had a smiling face, going by the pseudonym Hu Tu.
An old Daoist carrying a sword and riding a deer, wearing a bamboo crown on his head, now bearing an extremely vulgar pseudonym, Wang Youwu, but his Daoist title was quite elegant, "Mountain Lord."
The old Daoist had always considered himself a personal disciple of that "Daoist." Awakening this time, he had a wish: to visit the mountain and seek his master, hoping to renew their master-disciple fate.
A short old woman, seemingly hunchbacked, holding a staff with both hands. Among this line of Wildlands great demons, only she was frantically absorbing the heaven and earth's spiritual energy and the Dao energy scattered everywhere. Her decaying physique and aged appearance began to show visible rejuvenation. Seeing this, Bai Jing simply curled her lip, turned her head, and explained to Chen Ping'an with a smile, "This old woman's specialty is refining qi to transform spirit, turning emptiness into reality. Ten thousand years ago, no one knows how much heaven and earth spiritual energy she devoured. Later, that Huang Luan followed her old path."
Having said this, Bai Jing grinned mischievously. "Mountain Lord, Mountain Lord, you've read many books and have great learning. If it were you, how would you curse that Huang Luan?"
Chen Ping'an said calmly, "One who follows the same tracks as an overturned carriage."
His voice wasn't loud, but the old woman heard it clearly. She rested her chin on her walking stick and sneered, "So this is the final Yin'guan of the Sword Qi Great Wall? What a lofty realm!"
Xiao Mo raised his Mountain Walking Staff and pointed it at that young boy with double pupils, introducing him to Chen Ping'an. "Young Master, he now goes by the pseudonym 'Li Gou' and his Daoist title is 'Flying Coin.' Among this group of great demons, he has the best defense. Reappearing after ten thousand years in the Wildlands, he reclaimed eight immortal artifacts in one go—all returned to their original owners. His nickname is 'Bookworm,' and he loves eating books. Li Gou long ago had an idea to create a Daoist compound called 'The Book City Never Sleeps.'"
Bai Jing nodded vigorously. "This guy is covered in treasures, every one of them valuable! Take that yellow Universe-in-a-Bag and that Demon-Catching Gourd—I've had my eye on them for a long time. Mountain Lord, when the opportunity comes, if I don't break the rules, how about we join forces and take him down?"
Beside the youthful-faced Li Gou stood a stocky, tough-looking man holding the back of his head with both hands. This ancient great demon, called "Nameless" by Bai Jing, had his greatest interest in the young Yin'guan, who was the only pure martial artist on the opposing side.
The young Confucian scholar behind the Ritual Sage turned his head to look at this group of unruly Wildlands great demons.
Except for that Nameless fellow, who remained lazily indifferent, all the other great demons were on high alert, holding their breath and concentrating.