Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

Even the dimmest edges of the white glow was still powerful enough to make Foundation Establishment cultivators keep a safe distance from it. It was clear that the cultivator who had left all these things behind was at least of the Origin Core Stages before they had died.

“Are you sure about this?” Xi Ran’s eyes burned brightly as he stared at Gu Suihan, afraid that Gu Suihan might think it was too dangerous or something.

For wandering cultivators like Xi Ran, this discovery had given them a new lease on life. They had managed to start their journey of cultivation purely because they happened to chance upon an incomplete cultivation technique manual and now that they could not proceed any further. It was hard for them to remain calm in the face of possible advancement with this new discovery.

“This is a sal tree, one of the trees listed in the 360 types of plants and creatures in ancient history. Once it gains sentience, it will be an expert in formations of the five elements. It will be able to heal itself very quickly and will live for a long time. However, making a breakthrough is very difficult. It’s a few hundred times harder for this tree compared to other plants and creatures,” explained Gu Suihan confidently as he slowly touched the surface of the dead tree.

Zhou Xing became very excited and his dry and stiff face looked like he couldn’t wait any longer. “What are we waiting for then?” He leaped onto the translucent bridge and ran off into the distance first.

“Wait!” Xi Ran held a hand up and yelled after Zhou Xing, but he was too late. Zhou Xing disappeared once he landed on the bridge.

“It’s nobody’s fault if he ends up dead with that level of rashness,” sniggered Wang Mingzhi. He wasn’t in any hurry, because he knew exactly why Xi Ran asked him along for this trip. There were countless formations within this formation, so someone as rash as Zhou Xing was going to run into a roadblock very often. It wouldn’t even be surprising if he ended up dead.

“Let’s go in together. Don’t worry, I’m not interested in this thing.” Gu Suihan had a disdainful look in his eyes as he glanced at the other two. Being at Origin Core was a big deal, but in the past, he had gone past that. He had reached Immortal stage, a stage that this world couldn’t contain.

These words made the other two laugh awkwardly in embarrassment. But that also eased the tension between them.

The three of them decided to enter the tree together. After exchanging a serious glance, they walked in at the same time.

Everything started spinning and Gu Suihan felt like puking. When everything calmed down again, he slowly opened his eyes to find himself at one end of a corridor that was so long, he could not see the other end.

Luscious greenery surrounded him and flowers kept blooming and falling. The rate of growth and death of the plants was unusually quick. It was as if he was watching the neverending cycle of life and death, except that it was playing a few hundred times the normal speed.

“We’re inside the tree.” Gu Suihan touched the dry and cracked walls next to him. This was a tunnel created by the weaving of the tree’s roots. A rotting smell that irritated the nose filled the air.

“Are you two alright?” he asked the other two who still looked a little dazed.

“We’re fine.” The two of them snapped out of their daze. They had a serious look on their faces as they cautiously observed their surroundings.

“We’re inside an illusionary formation,” said Wang Mingzhi with a nasty look on his face after looking around a bit more.

“The last time I came, things didn’t look like this. This place is no simple place indeed. It can actually repair itself.” Xi Ran held a ghost controlling flag in his hand as he scanned the area with a grave expression.

A thick layer of ghost Qi and ghosts surrounded Xi Ran as he walked around, howling eerily in the extremely quiet tunnel from time to time.

“This is a Cosmic Orbit Illusionary Spiritual Formation.” Wang Mingzhi had a formation compass in hand and adjusted its position on the ground, making hand seals and sending out spiritual energy from time to time. The compass would glow with a purple light now and then and the needle would move accordingly.

“This way.” Wang Mingzhi suddenly stood up, picked up the compass and stared at the trembling needle of the compass as he walked to the left.

“That’s a wall…” Before Xi Ran could finish his sentence, ripples appeared on the wall as Wang Mingzhi walked right through it and disappeared out of sight.

He was very excited because that meant there was a way out of this illusion. He dashed towards the same spot without bothering to tell Gu Suihan.

DOONG! Xi Ran rammed right into the wall.

“The door is over here.” Gu Suihan pointed to a spot on the other side and Xi Ran watched in disbelief as Gu Suihan walked right through and disappeared as well.

“Damn it!” Xi Ran’s eyes glowered furiously and he swung the ghost controlling flag downwards violently, as though he was venting his frustrations. Countless ghosts flew out from the flag like a rushing river, howling as they filled up the space.

“Over there!” Xi Ran’s eyes lit up when he sensed that he had lost contact with ghosts in a certain area. He quickly kept the ghosts back in the flag and dashed to that spot.

“See? I knew it. He’s come here before, so there’s no way he’d be trapped in there,” Wang Mingzhi said smugly to Gu Suihan as he watched Xi Ran appear like an apparition.

He had purposely walked through the wall first without telling the other two because he wanted to test how much Gu Suihan and Xi Ran knew about formations. If they didn’t know anything, he would just leave them trapped in there so that they wouldn’t interfere in his exploration of this tunnel. However, if they managed to get out of this first formation, he would have to be more wary of them.

“Humph!” Xi Ran had heard Wang Mingzhi’s remarks and scoffed loudly, but did not say anything else.

Xi Ran had his own plans too. If Gu Suihan turned out to be clueless, he could help Gu Suihan get out of the formation and Gu Suihan would owe him a favor. At the same time, he wanted to see if Wang Mingzhi was really as good as his reputation was.

All three of them turned out to be pretty good with formations. In fact, Xi Ran had turned out to be the worst of the three.

“That’s quite enough, we shouldn’t be arguing among ourselves in such a dangerous place,” said a hoarse voice from nowhere. Zhou Xing turned out to be just round the corner.

“Xi Ran has emptied this entire place of everything the last time he came, so let’s move on to the next formation. I’ve already located it.”

This place resembled a tree hollow and there were three podiums on one end. Clearly there used to be something on the podiums, but they were empty now. Xi Ran had probably taken those items the last time he came, just like what Zhou Xing said.

“The formation we just came out of can be broken by even a cultivator at Qi Activation. As long as one is patient enough, you’d find a way out. But the next one is not going to be easy,” muttered Xi Ran as he glanced creepily at Wang Mingzhi.

“This is…” Wang Mingzhi stared at the faintly glowing entrance with tiny sparks on it and paled in shock.

A Heavenly Spirits Sanguinary Formation. Gu Suihan had a grim look in his eyes as he stared at the entrance before him warily. The sword in his hand flew just half an inch out of its sheath, but a violent and murderous aura instantly filled the entire place, slicing at least half an inch off the wooden walls around them.

The other three felt a chill down their spines and could not help but glance at Gu Suihan warily. This young man must be a demon, they thought. They wondered how many innocent lives he must have taken in order to accumulate this much murderous Qi.

“This is a formation that is designed to kill, so once we’re inside, it’s either we live or we die. The only way out is by brute force.” Wang Mingzhi put his formation compass away and took out an ancient-looking mirror. The top part of the mirror gleamed brightly and a purple dragon appeared from time to time. The mirror itself was like a whirlpool. If you looked straight at it, you might be hypnotized by it and someone could kill you very easily.

“Everyone, since we’ve got to use brute force, let’s make sure we don’t quarrel among ourselves,” said Zhou Xing as he stared blatantly at Xi Ran. A beam shot out from his fingers and a bloody smell filled the air. His nails suddenly grew three inches longer and glinted in the light like they were steel blades.

“This formation has 36 formation eyes. We can only break the formation after all 36 have been taken out. Otherwise, the formation eyes will be revived again and again until we’re dead from exhaustion. During this time, they would form other small but fatal formations such as the Three Talents, the Four Elephants, the Six Harmonies and the Seven Stars, so it’ll be like facing an endless wave of soldiers. Once inside, we must work together to locate and destroy all the formation eyes and break the formation, or else we’re all going to die!” That was Wang Mingzhi’s stern warning to the other three.

The four of them looked at one another very solemnly. They had to cooperate and work as one, since their fates were intertwined.

“Let’s go!” shouted Wang Mingzhi as he stared nervously at the sparkling stars of the formation entrance and sweat dripped down his face.

The four of them stepped into the formation at the same time. A bright light shot out from the formation, as brilliant as the stars. The formation was like a giant beast that had just been woken from its slumber and an incredible wave of murderous Qi instantly surged toward the four of them.