To be able to repair the formation with a single word, could it be that the other party possessed the same bloodline as her, allowing him to use the Word of Law ability?
But very soon, Kong Shiyao realized that was not the case.
While the move that Zhang Xuan had used appeared similar to the Word of Law, there were some differences between the two. To be more exact, it was a more advanced use of the Impartation of Heaven’s Will.
However, this Floating Coffin Heaven Mending Formation harnessed the energies of the heavens, so even activating it manually was extremely grueling. How could it possibly be so easily swayed by the Impartation of Heaven’s Will?
Ancient Sage Yan Qing, who harbored the same doubts in his mind, swiftly posed the question to Zhang Xuan.
“Well, the formation blueprint you gave me had quite a few problems, so I made some corrections while I was setting up the formation,” Zhang Xuan replied with a smile.
“Corrections?” Kong Shiyao’s body froze in shock. “That’s not possible. This formation was created by Kong shi himself, so there’s no way there could have been any flaws in it!”
How could there be any imperfections in the things left behind by Kong shi?
“Well, the formation that Kong shi created didn’t have any flaws… The problems originated from the huge changes in the Kunxu Domain in the past tens of thousands of years. The formation that Kong shi created is no longer optimal given the current environment in the Kunxu Domain. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have to keep repairing it generation after generation,” Zhang Xuan said.
There was nothing in the world that time could not erode.
Without a doubt, the Kunxu Domain from tens of thousands of years back was bound to have been very different from what they saw before them. Since even the world had changed, how could formations remain flawless without adapting to the changes?
Those words rendered Kong Shiyao speechless as shock swept through her mind once more.
The young man’s words did make perfect sense… but this was Kong shi’s formation they were talking about. The young man had actually modified Kong shi’s formation!
Furthermore, he had even succeeded in doing so!
Kong Shiyao felt as if the world was whirling around her.
All along, she had never doubted her own talent. She had felt that there was nothing that she was incapable of as long as she gave it her all. However, compared to the monster before her, she felt like she could sprint for her entire life and never catch up with him.
On the other hand, seeing that the mercury-like energy had been completely sealed away, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. He turned his gaze away from the stupefied Kong Shiyao to the relatively calmer Ancient Sage Yan Qing and said, “I guess the situation is stable for the time being. Ancient Sage Yan Qing. May I trouble you to explain the situation to me?”
He felt like Kong Shiyao was making a huge fuss out of nothing. It was as if she had never seen the larger world out there before.
Taking twenty breaths to set up this formation was really no remarkable feat at all. If anything, it was rather slow. If he had achieved a breakthrough to Ancient Sage, such a thing would not have taken him two breaths!
“… Zhang shi, what do you think of that heavy energy from earlier? Do you think that you will be able to absorb and assimilate it into your body?” Ancient Sage Yan Qing replied with another question.
Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment before replying. “The heavy energy shares some commonalities with spiritual energy, but its sheer weight makes it impossible for anyone from the Master Teacher Continent to absorb. If I absorb it, the chances are that my meridians will collapse as a result of the weight.”
Hearing those words, Ancient Sage Yan Qing sighed deeply before saying with a bitter smile, “I see… To be honest with you, that heavy energy is the spiritual energy from the Azure!”
“Spiritual energy from the Azure?”
“That’s right. Have you ever wondered why the beings from the Azure are so much more powerful than us? That’s because the spiritual energy they absorb is very different from ours. It’s much more condensed, and being constantly exposed to it has tempered their constitution to the point that even their younglings wield tremendous fighting prowess at birth!” Ancient Sage Yan Qing explained.
“They actually absorb that heavy spiritual energy? Is it really alright for them to do so?” Zhang Xuan was stunned.
Even with his Blood Reincarnation realm prowess, he felt as if his internal organs would be crushed if he absorbed just a bit of it. Were the natives of the Azure really able to absorb such heavy energy without suffering any backlash?
“Follow me!” Seeing the look on Zhang Xuan’s face, Ancient Sage Yan Qing turned around and beckoned Zhang Xuan to come along with him. Gritting his teeth to endure the frailty he felt, he headed off in a certain direction.
He had lost too much blood in the earlier battle, such that he had nearly expended all of his vitality. Even though he was still breathing, he did not have much time left.
The two of them flew for quite a while before arriving at a tightly-sealed palace. Ancient Sage Yan Qing pushed open the door of the palace and walked in. There was an Isolation Formation within the palace, and in the Isolation Formation was a massive metal cage. Zhang Xuan could not quite tell what material it was made of, but there were runic inscriptions all over it.
Two youths were imprisoned in the metal cage. Upon seeing Ancient Sage Yan Qing, their eyes immediately narrowed in fury. If they could, there was no doubt that they would have killed Ancient Sage Yan Qing.
Zhang Xuan swiftly assessed the two youths and noticed that they were both Sempiternal realm consummation experts, just a step away from reaching Ancient Sage. In terms of disposition and strength, they did not pale in comparison to Yan Xue!
“Why did you lock them inside the cage?” Zhang Xuan asked doubtfully.
While the Hundred Schools of Philosophers had strayed from Kong shi’s ideal of education without discrimination, Zhang Xuan could tell that they were not the type to harm others without any justification.
Could those two have committed some kind of heinous crime?
“Zhang shi, are you able to tell who they are?” Ancient Sage Yan Qing asked.
Hearing that question, Zhang Xuan frowned. Based on the other party’s words, it seemed like he was expected to know these two youths, so he took a closer look at them. However, he was still unable to figure out their identities, so he eventually shook his head.
“They are Otherworldly Demons!” Ancient Sage Yan Qing replied.
Those words made Zhang Xuan freeze on the spot. “They are Otherworldly Demons? How can that be? Could it be that they are Otherworldly Demon Emperors in disguise?”
The Otherworldly Demons’ Zhenqi of Slaughter was so overpowering that it was impossible to disregard it. The two youths standing before him were releasing no killing intent at all, so how could they be Otherworldly Demons?
Could it be that they were Otherworldly Demon Emperors who had used some kind of special means to disguise themselves?
But that should not be either. Except for Luo Ruoxin’s disguise amulet, there was no disguise that had been able to escape his Eye of Insight thus far.
He was certain that the two youths before him were not disguised; they were in their natural form.
“I know that you have your doubts, but they are really Otherworldly Demons. They absorbed the heavy energy earlier and turned into their current states,” Ancient Sage Yan Qing replied.
“This…” Zhang Xuan’s body shook in astonishment.
He was still wondering whether that mercury-like energy could be absorbed or not, but it turned out that it was so powerful that it could even turn Otherworldly Demons into humans. Was this for real?
Hu!
Without explaining himself, Ancient Sage Yan Qing stepped forward and flicked his wrist. The mercury-like energy from the elevated platform earlier immediately gushed toward the two youths in the cage.
In response to the arrival of this unique energy, the two youths did not show the slightest hint of fear. Instead, their eyes lit up in excitement as they swiftly sat down, opened their acupoints, and absorbed the energy.
As the energy flowed into their bodies, it immediately began to billow like boiling water. Their aura and energies swiftly grew more and more condensed.
It’s really possible, Zhang Xuan thought as he clenched his fists tightly together.
The Otherworldly Demons were actually able to absorb the mercury-like energy that even he was unable to absorb, and it increased their rate of cultivation a frightening degree.
He immediately turned to Ancient Sage Yan Qing, hoping to receive answers about this curious observation from the other party.
“This has something to do with one’s innate constitution. As long as one’s innate constitution is sufficiently strong, one will be able to adapt to the heavy energy and assimilate it into one’s body. The innate constitution of the Otherworldly Demons is far stronger than that of humans. Just the fact that they are blessed with the strength of a Transcendental Mortal at birth speaks volumes. Nevertheless, of the ten I have experimented on, these are the only two survivors!” Ancient Sage Yan Qing said.
“Furthermore, I have tested this on over ten thousand men over the past year, but none of them survived in the end!”
Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan’s face warped in horror.
What he was horrified by was not Ancient Sage Yan Qing’s callousness but the significance of what he had just said.
He had thought that while Otherworldly Demons had a head start in front of humans due to their innate constitution, they would be on equal footing with one another in the later stages. However, it seemed like the rift was much wider than he had thought…
If this mercury-like energy one day covered the entire Master Teacher Continent, would mankind not go extinct and the Otherworldly Demons rise in power?
Alarmed by this notion, Zhang Xuan asked, “Is this why Kong shi used Ancient Sage Zi Yuan’s corpse to create that massive formation to block the dimension passageway? Is it all to prevent the heavy energy from leaking into this world?”
