In his previous life, Lu Yang had painstakingly studied formations. The grand formation he finally inscribed upon the Blood Sun Sword Pellet was a sword formation named the "Bloodwash Heavenly River Sword Formation Diagram".

The formation was divided into Three Powers and Nine Palaces, with the long river of sword qi unleashed by the Blood Sun Sword Pellet as its core and the Heavenly Demon Transforming Blood Divine Light as a supplement. Lu Yang had also specially designed three hundred and sixty formation eyes.

According to his plan, as long as he could find three hundred and sixty cultivators to take charge of them, he could unleash the formation's power to its absolute limit. He had already thought this through.

After he took back his Innate Primordial Qi Myriad Spirits Banner from Liu Xin's hands, he would have the banner spirits take charge of the formation eyes. Not only would this be convenient and save effort, but he could also carry it with him. But for now, he could only preside over the formation himself.

"Open!"

Lu Yang formed a hand seal, and the Blood Sun Sword Pellet hummed. Within the formation, a heavenly river surged forth from south to north, covering the entire sky, stretching endlessly as far as the eye could see. And Lu Yuanchun, Zhao Xuhe, and everyone else now found themselves within that heavenly river.

The river water surged violently, equivalent to endless sword qi slashing down every second of every minute. A few cultivators with slightly weaker cultivation levels only had time to let out a miserable scream before they turned into blooms of blood within the heavenly river. Seeing this, Lu Yuanchun's expression changed drastically.

"This is impossible! Although Master mentioned before that this person knew formations, I didn't give him any time to set one up. Why would I still fall into a formation?"

Naturally, Lu Yuanchun could not understand. Because the Blood Sun Sword Pellet was not an ordinary magical artifact, but a formation treasure. A so-called formation treasure used a formation as its treasure; the formation would manifest with a single thought, completely eliminating the need to set it up!

And now, being trapped in the formation had already far exceeded Lu Yuanchun's expectations. After all, formations utilized the wonders of heaven and earth, borrowing their power, and were said to make one invincible against those of the same realm. Although he prided himself on his considerable strength, he lost his confidence after being trapped in the formation.

Could it be that he would truly suffer an unexpected defeat today? At this thought, Lu Yuanchun's expression grew even uglier, losing its former air of guaranteed victory. Even Zhao Xuhe beside him became anxious and uneasy.

"Senior Brother, this formation..."

"Junior Brother, be careful. I'm afraid there are unexpected turns to today's matter."

Lu Yuanchun instructed in a low voice while simultaneously sending a golden light treasured mirror into the air to protect himself. At this moment, Lu Yuanchun still held a glimmer of hope in his heart. In his view, Lu Yang was merely an ordinary disciple who had a fortuitous encounter.

Although he knew many things, he had, after all, only recently joined the sect. Even if he understood formations, how much could he have mastered? As for the formation before them, perhaps it was an inheritance from a predecessor?

However, in the next second, Lu Yang shattered his fantasy. With a cold expression, Lu Yang had a thought and pointed a finger. The originally clear heavenly river of sword qi was immediately suffused with a piercing crimson color.

Heavenly Demon Transforming Blood Divine Light! Although this divine ability was incredibly powerful, known to injure on a graze and kill on a touch, this also meant it could only display its might by hitting its target. If it missed, it was completely useless.

However, within the "Bloodwash Heavenly River Sword Formation Diagram," Lu Yang had solved this flaw. As long as one was inside the formation, it was equivalent to being immersed in the divine light! In other words, he only needed to cast it, and it was guaranteed to hit!

In an instant, Lu Yuanchun felt the world tremble. The remaining junior brothers screamed miserably one after another, and then, in a flash, they were reduced to nothing but human skins!

"Not good!"

Lu Yuanchun's expression changed drastically in an instant. He immediately gritted his teeth, changed the hand seal he was forming, and the aura of the golden light treasured mirror above his head instantly became chaotic and violent. Lu Yang realized what was happening with just a single glance.

"Self-destructing a magical artifact? Naive!"

The golden light treasured mirror was clearly a superior magical artifact. If Lu Yuanchun detonated it, there was indeed a chance he could tear open the formation diagram and create a path to survival. But that was only if Lu Yang didn't understand formations.

An ordinary formation, even with someone presiding over it, could only operate according to predetermined rules. It was a dead formation. However, it was completely different with a formation master presiding over it.

Because a qualified formation master could adjust the formation on the fly according to the changing battle situation. In this way, a dead formation became a living one, and its power naturally couldn't be compared. Not to mention, the "Bloodwash Heavenly River Sword Formation Diagram" was personally created by Lu Yang, and he could use it with perfect ease.

Therefore, the instant Lu Yuanchun detonated the magical artifact, Lu Yang moved. With one hand, he pinched his fingers to calculate, while the other manipulated the formation patterns, instantly dispersing the power of the explosion, which had been concentrated at a single point, to all corners of the formation. Once the explosion was dispersed, its power was reduced severalfold.

The formation that would have been breached naturally remained unharmed. It even seized the opportunity when the golden light treasured mirror shattered to swallow Lu Yuanchun and Zhao Xuhe in one fell swoop. Zhao Xuhe didn't even have time to scream before he was instantly turned into a dried corpse.

"Impossible! This scoundrel is actually a formation master!?"

Lu Yuanchun's face was deathly pale. He felt his flesh and blood gushing out like a bursting dam, and it seemed he was about to follow in Zhao Xuhe's footsteps and die a violent death.

"Blood-transforming Divine Light..."

With life and death on the line, intense fear quickly extinguished his anger. Lu Yuanchun's eyes looked as if they would split from their sockets, but he was helpless. Finally, as if accepting his fate, he lowered his head.

Boom!

The next second, a jade pendant at Lu Yuanchun's waist quietly shattered, immediately bursting forth with endless, brilliant light that actually broke through Lu Yang's grand formation in an instant! Seeing this, Lu Yang's pupils shrank, and he raised his head to look at the sky.

Where his gaze fell, he saw the brilliant light outline a giant face high above his head, ten thousand zhang up in the sky. It was a calm and solemn face, naturally imposing without any show of anger! That face showed no emotion, and its eyes were as bright as the sun and moon.

Even though Lu Yang only met its gaze for a single instant, his own eyes welled up with tears from the piercing pain. Moreover, the True Qi in his entire body was weakened out of thin air by seventy to eighty percent, and he almost failed to maintain his escaping light, nearly causing him to fall from the sky.

The face looked down, its voice like thunder rolling out from the mountains: "Insolent!" The voice was not loud, yet it was as if it held the law of heaven in its mouth, making Lu Yang an existence loathed by heaven and earth.

The surrounding spiritual energy even seemed to move away, as if trying to avoid him at all costs. The formless gaze actually seemed to press down on Lu Yang's body with the weight of Mount Tai. The surrounding ground even began to crack inch by inch because of it.

Such a scene naturally alarmed the entire Heaven Mending Peak. For a time, all over Heaven Mending Peak, countless disciples in seclusion were startled awake. They walked out of their cave residences and looked at the giant face in the sky, their own faces filled with terror.

"Greetings, Peak Master!"

Some of the older disciples of Heaven Mending Peak recognized the face's appearance. Their scalps immediately tingled with fear, and without a second word, they knelt and prostrated on the ground, kowtowing continuously. The Heaven Mending Peak Master!

Lu Yang finally knew the identity of that mysterious master behind Zhao Xuhe—the Heaven Mending Peak Master, a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master in charge of one of the Primordial Saint Sect's four inner sect peaks!

Rumble!

As the voice fell, the formation diagram that Lu Yang had painstakingly refined in his previous life immediately began to crumble and collapse. Large swathes of formation patterns even exploded on the spot. Seeing this, Lu Yang couldn't help but reveal a look of helplessness.

The gap between the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment realms completely exceeded his imagination. The fruits of his twenty years of painstaking effort could not even stand against two words from a Foundation Establishment Daoist Master! A single soft rebuke, and it had come to this?

(End of Chapter)