Three months ago, Author: Xun Chun Xu Zhou
In the blink of an eye, another whole day had passed.
Looking out again, the vast waves of the sea stretched endlessly, where the sky met the ocean at the horizon, and upon closer inspection, there was no trace of the Lingfu Island to be found.
But suddenly, it seemed as if a light was reflecting, revealing something discordant.
As one searched for the flaw and paused to observe carefully, they would soon see that the discordant area was actually shrouded in layers of mist.
It appeared as if a stupa was entangled and hanging down.
The layered mist swirled in place, allowing one to vaguely glimpse the outline of what seemed to be an island.
Despite the waves and fierce winds sweeping past, the mist remained undisturbed.
If that cultivator had some skill, capable of employing a method to pierce through illusions, no matter how hard they squinted, they would only catch a glimpse of a few glimmers of the dark water within the layered mist.
In the words of Chun Yu Zhi, methods like the "Five Phoenixes Summoning the Phoenix" and "Nine Faced Mysterious Turtle's Taichi Spell" are common spells.
Once connected with the formations and the natural forces of heaven and earth, what one observes is no longer the cultivator's realm of cultivation, but rather the loftiness of the method itself.
At that time, if one wished to see the true essence of the island through this layer of dark light, it would no longer require surpassing Chu Wei Yang in cultivation level, but rather the true essence of the techniques employed, surpassing the Nine Faced Mysterious Turtle, the Five Phoenixes Summoning the Phoenix, the Taichi True Water, and the Southern Bright Li Fire!
Unless... one truly ventured into the clouds and mist, amidst the shroud of poisonous qi, stepping through the formation of the innate Eight Trigrams!
To guard an island, this was already an extremely prudent method.
At this moment, looking towards the center of the island, the few thatched cottages had already been completely dismantled by Chu Wei Yang, and the precious materials hidden within had been thoroughly collected by him.
In the very center, a large wooden house had been simply constructed, almost encompassing the entire area where the original cottages stood.
It could even be called a wooden Dao Hall.
Even at the door of the wooden house, Chu Wei Yang had carved ancient seal characters into a long board using sword qi, and then melted a piece of alchemical scrap to embed it, leaving a mark belonging to the master in this truly unique space—
"Looking at the weak water surging over the vast sea, calling out to the secluded residence of the small Penglai."
Crossing the threshold and looking inside, there were no incense candles swirling around the four walls, and even the ground was no longer flat.
In the center, a large hole had been dug by Chu Wei Yang, dark and deep.
The edge of the top hole had already been wrapped by Chu Wei Yang using alchemical materials.
Upon closer inspection, there were interwoven jade talismans embedded within, inscribed with seemingly ambiguous characters from the "Five Phoenixes Summoning the Phoenix" spell.
At first glance, the various talismans appeared different, but upon closer observation, the winding and twisting patterns intertwined in the center of the jade talismans formed a complete image resembling a bird seal.
Although all the talismans were identical, a more careful look revealed that the bird seal shape diverged from the Five Phoenixes, as if the original orthodox method had taken a wrong turn, yet observing the profoundness of the talismans, it seemed to be another common path.
After a while, a clanging sound suddenly echoed from within the hole.
This winding and twisting narrow cavity beneath the layer of rock was shrouded in darkness, yet in Chu Wei Yang's eyes, it was still a place that could be seen with ordinary vision.
In Chu Wei Yang's view, the underground stone cave revealed damp and slippery rocks, covered with some unknown dark green moss, with occasional small insects scurrying through the crevices.
At this moment, Chu Wei Yang stood on a flat rock, one hand holding a compass, while the other pointed towards a flatter stone platform behind him.
As he spoke, Chu Wei Yang glanced up at the hole wrapped in alchemical materials and jade.
"The formation should still be placed above! This way, the Earth Fire and the Sha Qi can be drawn upwards together. This dark river within the island will likely turn into magma, and at worst, the seawater will boil, causing the gentle demon fish nurtured within to be wasted!
It would be better to dig a pool on the stone platform to keep them inside, still nourished by the Earth Sha, Fire Qi, and Water Qi, close to the formation, perhaps there will be some benefits. When the time comes, if I want to eat them, I can open another passage and personally go down to catch them!"
At this point, Chu Wei Yang had almost made up his mind.
In his mind, Chun Yu Zhi's voice slowly echoed.
Chu Wei Yang smiled and looked down again, as a dark river wound its way past him.
In his line of sight, the warm river water had a hint of dark red, and upon closer inspection, several pale red demon fish, with nearly translucent bodies beneath their scales, swam by.
At this moment, Chu Wei Yang's expression was filled with seriousness.
"Different, Miss Zhi, it's like encountering a fateful connection in cultivation. Perhaps it's a scripture, perhaps it's a pill, it's the opportunity to attain the Dao. The Sha Qi, Water Qi, and Fire Qi can overlap together, and if they can be combined with my cultivation, it is far too precious!
If that pot of stew is a pill, then this demon fish might just be the main ingredient I've been searching for! It can teach me the method to glimpse a way out from the accumulation of Sha Qi. Miss Zhi, do you think that is not so?"
As his voice fell, on the other end of the restriction, Chun Yu Zhi had not spoken for a long time.
It had nothing to do with past realms and perspectives.
Chun Yu Zhi, born from Ting Chang Mountain, often fell into a kind of extravagant shock when encountering unavoidable matters in the marketplace, whether playing tricks or being forced to be frugal.
After all, she was someone who dared to storm into the Demon Suppression Cave with a heated head.
Chu Wei Yang felt increasingly grateful for the difficulty of escaping alive in the past.
Upon this thought, he smiled, stowed the compass away, and as he pointed his sword down, streams of sword qi wrapped in bright light had already carved into the stone platform.
Looking at it, it seemed far more laborious than the tasks in the past Demon Suppression Cave, yet looking at Chu Wei Yang's end, it seemed to have a hint of sweetness, with his spirit invigorated more and more.
Thus, in the blink of an eye, three days had swiftly passed.
At this moment, within the central wooden house of Lingfu Island, the hole leading directly to the underground dark river was long gone.
In the place, under Chun Yu Zhi's guidance, Chu Wei Yang had early on melted alchemical materials to lay down a flat floor, even those jade talismans that had once been partially exposed were completely buried beneath the alchemical material, vanishing without a trace.
At this moment, the originally smooth alchemical floor, upon closer inspection, had been carefully engraved by Chu Wei Yang with intricate patterns, with cloud patterns forming the base, interwoven into nine tiers, harmoniously blending into five layers of thunder seals.
Commanding thunder with the number of nine five.
Just looking at the arrangement on the edges, it was already an extremely profound foundation for the formation!
Moving towards the center, there was an even finer bird seal.
This was a type of seal script that Chu Wei Yang did not recognize, imprinted into his memory by Chun Yu Zhi, and he used his extraordinary talent to replicate these unfamiliar seal characters onto the ground as if they were originally there.
At first glance, it seemed like an extremely unfamiliar scripture, yet it resembled a deep Dao diagram, depicting the scene of a hundred birds facing the phoenix.
And at the very center, in the middle of the wooden Dao Hall, in the center of the alchemical floor, at the center of the formation, was carved a large sun halo with lotus petals, within which a phoenix was curled up, as if sleeping in the great sun, or resting in the center of the lotus.
At this moment, Chu Wei Yang quietly stood at one corner of the alchemical floor, beneath his feet was a cloud step supporting a layer of thunder seal.
According to Chun Yu Zhi, this was precisely a formation eye, the position that would be impervious to water and fire after the formation was activated.
Thus, he steadied his mind, and not feeling at ease, lowered his head to sweep over, ensuring that the engraved formation patterns had no errors, before Chu Wei Yang finally spoke.
At this moment, on the other end of the restriction chain, Chun Yu Zhi rarely revealed a wave of sadness.
Immediately after, her voice rang out.
"When I first saw this formation back then, I was already at the Dan Tai realm. Logically speaking, I was just a few steps away from the Golden Dan, with the Dao fruit right before my eyes, but upon seeing the formation, I was struck with an endless shock, as if five thunders had struck me.
You are not someone who studies talisman formations, perhaps you will never understand that kind of shock in your lifetime. Just a little pondering, and I comprehended various meanings and essences from it, it is the foundation of the Five Phoenixes Summoning the Phoenix, yet it walks the path of the Phoenix's Heavenly Fire, mixed with the divine charm of the Vermilion Bird.
This talisman formation is born to draw the power of heaven and earth to refine the elite, and it requires the true spirit of demon fire with a fierce and tyrannical intent, binding it with clouds and thunder, and binding the heavenly will to the heavenly phenomena! At that time, I thought, so this is the gap in talent between people...
Later, I repeatedly inquired and accidentally learned from my master... from the old mother of Danxia, that this talisman formation was originally created by my direct uncle to certify the Golden Dan path, but unfortunately, he died on the path of certification, leaving only this talisman formation.
Back then, as I refined the Dan Tai repeatedly, the path grew higher and higher, seeing the Dao fruit of the old mother of Danxia right before my eyes, I had thought of walking my uncle's path, but who would have thought that when I truly laid it down for the first time, only the true spirit and remnant soul remained..."
For the first time, outside of revealing her memories, Chu Wei Yang heard Chun Yu Zhi speak of the past.
He did not urge her; on the contrary, Chu Wei Yang listened patiently, even using the restriction chain as a bridge to convey his intentions, striving to soothe Chun Yu Zhi's violently fluctuating soul and true spirit.
Thus, there was a long silence.
When Chun Yu Zhi finally regained her spirits to speak, Chu Wei Yang had already arranged various precious materials beside him.
At the bottom was a small mountain of alchemical material, half a person high, this was the foundation of all treasures, the most indispensable; above it was about half the amount of dark iron, this was Mo Dao Zhong's accumulation, according to Chun Yu Zhi, it was mined from deep-sea veins, rich in spiritual essence.
At the very top was a piece of Beihai Xuan Copper, the size of a palm.
Chun Yu Zhi's voice rang out, as if she had forgotten her earlier emotional outpouring, and turned to ask Chu Wei Yang.
Hearing this, Chu Wei Yang smiled and nodded.
Chun Yu Zhi's clear voice resonated steadily in Chu Wei Yang's mind, and he then firmly placed one law seal after another, precisely dropping them into various corners of the talisman formation.
Each law seal that fell immediately illuminated with bright light, and soon the bright light shone brilliantly, flickering like candle flames, swaying with the wind, flickering uncertainly, yet it never extinguished.
In just a short time, over a hundred law seals had been placed by Chu Wei Yang.
Looking again, the ground had long been covered, hiding the original color of the alchemical material.
The bright light illuminating all around intertwined, resembling a sea of stars hanging upside down.
In the next moment, Chu Wei Yang pinched the law seal, gently pressed it against the direction of his heart's palace, and slowly transformed it into the Master Seal as he pushed it forward, a strand of pure jade flame had already illuminated in the palm of his hand.
When this palm fell, it needed to carry a fierce momentum!
Boom——!
In the next moment, the wave of air surged upwards, almost toppling Chu Wei Yang to the ground!
As the scorching wave was about to roar fiercely towards Chu Wei Yang, the edge of the formation, the cloud and thunder seal patterns glimmered with spiritual light, seemingly connecting with the protective island formation's energy in an instant, drawing forth the powers of water and fire together.
Gentle water vapor transformed into cascading curtains, enveloping Chu Wei Yang within.
Only then did Chu Wei Yang take a breath, focusing again to look, as the formation's spiritual light that had originally illuminated every corner seemed to return like swallows to their nests, as if a hundred birds were facing the phoenix, gathering together as Chu Wei Yang's jade flame fell in the center, suddenly condensing!
There were still wild winds and waves surging!
That jade flame hung above the lotus sun, initially only the size of a palm, but soon, under the influx of spiritual light, it swelled in the wind, in the blink of an eye, it grew larger than a person, continuously swirling, emitting explosive thunderous sounds.
At the same time, as the water vapor curtain descended, the formation had completely contained the fire's momentum, causing Chu Wei Yang's perception to become blurred, yet he still saw clearly.
In just a few breaths, the jade color of the flame first transformed into a sky blue, then that blue deepened further, as if it were about to turn completely dark, in an instant, the momentum surged to its peak, and when he looked again, the purple flame was burning fiercely, illuminating the bright golden color of the formation.
At the center, interwoven with purple gold, was the air that had been burned to a distortion.
Seeing this scene, without needing Chun Yu Zhi's urging, Chu Wei Yang no longer hesitated, raised his hand to grasp the fragment of Beihai Xuan Copper, and directly threw it into the high-hanging purple gold flame.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths...
That Beihai Xuan Copper seemed to show no change.
But suddenly, just as Chu Wei Yang was about to ask Chun Yu Zhi what her surname was while making light of the situation, with a barely perceptible cracking sound, when Chu Wei Yang looked again, a layer of faint copper rust appeared on the Beihai Xuan Copper, flaking off under the forging of the law flames.
In an instant, Chu Wei Yang clapped his hands and laughed heartily.
Xun Chun Xu Zhou
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