Chu Zhenshan stood with his hands behind his back in front of Qingmang Mountain. His cloudy eyes glowed with restrained brilliance, and the aura surrounding him was as heavy and solid as a mountain.
As he extended his divine sense toward the mist-shrouded Qingmang Mountain, he offered a confident smile.
‘This formation is indeed extraordinary!’
‘But in the eyes of a Grandmaster who has spent a hundred years immersed in the Path of Formations… it is nothing more than this!’
Chu Zhenshan stroked his beard and chuckled.
With a wave of his hand, seventy-two array flags flew out from his sleeves, suspending themselves around his body in the pattern of the celestial cycle.
A spiritual glow flowed over every flag, faintly resonating with the world.
When the Chu Clan members saw this, their spirits were instantly lifted.
“The Great Elder is getting serious!”
“Seventy-two Tian Gang Formation Flags! This is the Great Elder’s ultimate trump card!”
“Even if this formation was set up by the Immortal Dynasty, how could it possibly stump the Great Elder?”
Listening to the discussions around them, Ji Xuanyuan glanced at Chu Yuan’s side profile and sent a sound transmission:
“Young Master Chu Yuan, regarding what comes next… are you certain?”
The bet Chu Yunlan had proposed was actually part of their original plan. Of course, this was under the premise that the formation Chu Yuan had set up could actually defeat the Great Elder of Chu.
In response, Chu Yuan looked at her resolutely and nodded.
“Rest easy, Your Highness. Just watch me.”
After speaking, his fingertips lightly brushed an ancient-looking **[Chaos Bead]** hidden in his sleeve, controlling the **[Nine Bends Heaven-Confusing Array]** laid within the mountain.
Chu Yuan knew very well that once the Array Disk merged with the earth veins, even a Domain Transformation Realm expert would find it impossible to peek through.
At this moment, the entire mine was enveloped by the formation. No matter how the Great Elder tried to break it, he would only return in defeat.
Seeing Chu Yuan so confident, Ji Xuanyuan could not help but wait in anticipation.
Their gazes met, and though no words were exchanged, an invisible understanding seemed to flow between them.
This exchange of looks caused Gu Qingwan to tighten her grip on the corner of her robe.
She lowered her eyelashes.
Once upon a time, that look of Chu Yuan’s had belonged only to her.
When she was a child and fell while practicing her sword, he was the first to run over and help her up. When she was bullied by other children, he would charge forward to fight them without a second thought. When she was sick, he would stay by her bedside all night without sleeping, clumsily changing the wet cloth on her forehead over and over again.
Back then, she had taken it all for granted, believing it would always be this way.
But earlier today, she was the one who personally pushed him away.
She thought she was doing it for his own good. She thought it would keep him away from danger. She thought… he would chase after her to ask why.
But Chu Yuan had not.
Gu Qingwan closed her eyes in pain.
The last rays of the setting sun sank into the mountain range as twilight gathered and a chill closed in from all directions. Her heart sank along with it, piece by piece, into a bottomless, lightless valley.
‘It is all because of me.’
Because of the scene she had directed herself, she had pushed him toward someone else.
By the time Ji Xuanyuan appeared, there was already an empty spot beside him… a spot that clearly should have been hers!
But what use was there in thinking about this now?
The words had been spoken, the play had ended, and the way he looked at others was already gentler than the way he looked at her.
Gu Qingwan stood there, separated by the crowd and by the distance she had carved out with her own hands today, able only to watch from afar.
She stared at the figure in the twilight, her eyes burning, but she fought desperately to keep anyone from noticing.
However, the others were not paying her any attention. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on one person.
The Great Elder of Chu stepped into the formation, and the scene before him changed instantly. The previously clear mountain path was suddenly shrouded in thick fog, with the same scenery appearing in every direction.
He let out a cold snort. “A mere illusion array, and you dare to show off before a master?”
He raised his hand and formed a seal. The seventy-two array flags suddenly scattered, disappearing into the mist.
Chu Zhenshan gave a low shout as his divine sense poured out like a tide, sensing the flow of the earth veins along the array flags.
‘No matter how mysterious this formation is, its foundation must be in the earth veins!’
‘As long as I find the location of the eye of the formation, I can break it with a single strike!’
1 breath.
10 breaths.
30 breaths.
Chu Zhenshan’s brow furrowed slightly.
All seventy-two array flags had landed, yet they were like stones sinking into the ocean, providing no feedback whatsoever. He could clearly feel the flags merging into the earth veins, but the information they transmitted was chaotic and disorganized.
The sensation from the east suggested the eye was to the west.
The sensation from the west pointed south.
And the sensation from the south claimed the eye was in the sky?
‘Good boy, you actually know how to disrupt the heavenly secrets?’
Chu Zhenshan let out a cold hmph and reached out, pulling three array flags back into his hand. He bit his fingertip and used his essence blood to trace profound patterns onto the flags’ surfaces.
The three flags vanished into the fog once more.
This time, he finally caught a clear sensation. The eye of the formation was 30 feet ahead!
Chu Zhenshan’s spirit lifted, and he strode forward.
1 stick of incense later.
Outside the mountain, the members of the Chu Clan were whispering.
“Why hasn’t the Great Elder come out yet?”
“What do you know? The Great Elder is testing the formation’s strengths and weaknesses.”
“Exactly! I’m sure it won’t be long before the Elder breaks the formation.”
Chu Linfeng even leaned in toward Gu Qingwan, lowering his voice. “Qingwan, once the formation breaks, let’s see how that Chu Yuan keeps up his act.”
Gu Qingwan did not look at him. She only stared at the churning mist within the formation, as if looking at her own confused heart.
—
Inside the mountain.
Just as the Great Elder was about to reach the eye of the formation, his foot suddenly stepped into nothingness.
‘Something’s wrong!’
He stopped abruptly, but it was too late.
The “eye of the formation” in front of him suddenly shattered, turning into a sky full of starlight. The real eye… was actually 100 feet behind him.
“A fine transition between the false and the real!”
Chu Zhenshan did not get angry; instead, he laughed. A fierce fighting spirit ignited in his eyes. It had been many years since he had encountered such an interesting opponent.
He took a deep breath, and his aura suddenly surged. “In that case, do not blame this old man for using brute force to break your cleverness!”
He pointed his finger, and a sharp beam of light blasted toward the spot 100 feet behind him.
This single finger strike condensed 80% of his cultivation, nearly reaching the Domain Transformation Realm. It was powerful enough to pierce through mountains!
The beam of light shot through the air.
Then —
“BOOM!!!”
A massive force struck him from behind. Caught off guard, Chu Zhenshan was sent flying several feet forward, the hem of his robe charred black.
He scrambled to his feet, his face ashen.
That strike just now had been redirected by the formation to hit him from his own rear!
2 sticks of incense later.
The mist began to churn violently, and low rumbles could be heard from within.
Outside the mountain, the members of the Chu Clan looked at one another, their smiles gradually freezing.
“This commotion… is the Great Elder breaking the formation?”
“Nonsense! Of course he’s breaking it!”
“Then why… has he been in there for so long?”
Chu Linfeng swallowed hard and forced a smile. “A grand formation like this naturally takes more time.”
Just as he finished speaking, another rumble echoed — louder and closer than before.
As the mist suddenly dispersed, a wretched figure stumbled out.
The crowd stared intently.
Chu Zhenshan’s hair was disheveled, a patch of his beard was singed, and his ritual robe was covered in scorch marks and mud. Where was the slightest hint of a Grandmaster’s poise?
His face was terrifyingly pale, and a trace of blood hung from the corner of his mouth. He had clearly suffered internal injuries.
The members of the Chu Clan froze on the spot.
Chu Linfeng’s mouth hung open, unable to utter a single word.
Fang Henian was stunned at first, but then he clapped his hands and laughed loudly. “Hahaha! Great Elder of Chu, were you playing with fireworks inside and blew yourself up? How did you end up in such a state?”
Chu Zhenshan’s chest heaved violently, but he could not say a single word.
What could he say?
That he had exhausted everything he had learned in his life, lost all seventy-two of his array flags inside, and ended up coughing blood after being hit by his own full-power strike?
That he, a renowned Grandmaster of Formations, had been toyed with by a formation set by a mere junior?
He glared fiercely at Chu Yuan.
‘Where on earth did this kid get such a powerful formation?’
Chu Yuan maintained a calm expression, as if none of this had anything to do with him.
However, Chu Zhenshan could clearly see the smile the boy could not hide in the depths of his eyes.
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