“Old Cow Nose, still no progress?” asked Master Ku, his face as calm as ever.
“The approach must be correct. But the technique used in this formation is not only ingenious; the real problem is the tremendous amount of true energy required. Even with this clever workaround we’ve devised, it might still take quite some time to unravel,” said Zhang Shisan with reddened eyes, taking another swig from his large gourd.
“If it still doesn’t work… perhaps we should return to our sect for help. Otherwise, what about Xiao Bi…” Master Ku hesitated slightly as he spoke.
Zhang Shisan also turned to look. Bi Zhen sat motionless by the rock, silent and dazed, while the white ape on her shoulder remained equally still.
Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Zhang Shisan said, “This girl’s cultivation was insufficient to begin with. Forced by that kid Mei Qing to take this step, she’s inevitably somewhat lacking in mental fortitude now. However, if she can pass this trial, it will ultimately benefit her. Besides… speaking of that fellow Mei Qing, we’ve discussed this before. With his fate, risks are unavoidable. Dragging the sect into this might not necessarily be good for his future. Anyway, he’s practically a true cultivator now—how could he avoid some hardships?”
Master Ku replied, “That’s true, but if we keep going like this, when will it end? I’m afraid this ancient formation might take another year or two, and we still might not crack it.”
With a gloomy tone, Zhang Shisan asked, “So, what do you suggest, old baldy? If we two old men can’t solve it, do you think there’s someone stronger in your Huayan Sect?”
Master Ku shook his head. “Everyone specializes in different arts; no one can claim others are definitely inferior. We don’t know what secrets this place holds—perhaps someone might coincidentally be able to solve it?”
Zhang Shisan stared blankly for a while before sighing, “Perhaps you’re right. Sigh, a few days ago I was thinking of letting Bi Zhen try to use her divine consciousness to search for that kid, but who would have thought that after all that effort, even creating a small opening, we couldn’t find the slightest trace of Mei Qing for half a day. Instead, it only made the girl extremely worried.”
Master Ku also smiled bitterly. Then he stood up and said, “We can’t keep dragging this out. Let’s try one last time. If there’s an opportunity, we’ll proceed further. If not, I’ll send word to some of my fellow disciples back at the temple to come help us break the formation.”
Zhang Shisan glared at Master Ku with an odd expression, seeing the old monk wouldn’t even look at him. He couldn’t help but snort. He knew once Master Ku had made up his mind, there would be no convincing him otherwise. It was strange that even after all these days of effort, they still couldn’t see any hope of breaking the formation. Now that the other party had proposed calling for help, he couldn’t really object without seeming unreasonable.
“Fine then. I’ll go along with your plan. Let’s call Bi Zhen over here as well. I actually had an idea the other day, although it’s somewhat risky. Since you’ve made up your mind, I’ll share it with you and we can discuss it. If it works, we’ll have to give it a try,” said Zhang Shisan hesitantly, then slapped his thigh decisively.
Mei Qing was extremely tense, though he dared not show it. Secretly, he chanted incantations and gradually deployed the true energy he needed. With these two powerful figures facing him, his actions were extremely risky. But no matter what, he had to take the gamble.
Fortunately, the earlier accident had caused the bronze figure unexpectedly to show a bit of affinity towards him. This greatly increased Mei Qing’s confidence in his plan. Additionally, the large influx of true energy provided him with more resources. However, this also brought him considerable distress.
Now, Mei Qing was like a pressure cooker. The amount of spiritual energy inside him, though not enough to cause his body to explode, was so intense that it pressed down on him, making it hard to breathe. Yet he dared not release even the slightest ripple outward. He could only desperately suppress all the fluctuating energy within the small cauldron. The yuan-ying, driven by the immense true energy, was frantically absorbing and exhaling while enduring tremendous pressure and pain. Its previously clear facial features were continuously distorted and writhing under the purple energy’s evaporation.
There was no choice. If even a slight anomaly were detected, Zhang Liusun would surely attack immediately. Although when Mei Qing first entered the cauldron, he had unexpectedly expelled him from his body, if Zhang Liusun were prepared this time, Mei Qing had little confidence that he could withstand his attempt to take over his body.
So engrossed was Mei Qing in setting up the formation and suppressing the true energy within that he didn’t notice a very obvious change occurring in the small cauldron inside him.
The small cauldron, which had been rotating slowly before, had unknowingly stopped. Under the illumination of sun and moon within his body, it no longer emitted purple energy as before. Instead, it absorbed all the downward shining light, making the entire cauldron appear unusually dark. Even stranger was that the purple mist inside the cauldron, which had previously been swirling, had unknowingly condensed at the bottom into a pool of water. A small vortex had formed within, continuously rotating slowly. With each rotation, an unknown breath of energy was injected into the pool, making the water stronger and the water level rise slightly.
Mei Qing gently placed the final formation node and secretly exhaled in relief. His heart, usually as calm as a still pond, now couldn’t help but feel a bit excited. He couldn’t help but raise his head slightly to glance at Zhang Liusun and Xu Fu. Although he dared not directly probe the two with his divine consciousness, he could roughly guess that their confrontation had reached its most critical moment.
Zhang Liusun slowly made his final move, feeling a sudden emptiness throughout his body. Alarmed, he quickly focused his mind. At a time like this, any slight carelessness could prove fatal.
After all, he was a yuan-ying body, and his recovery was much slower compared to Xu Fu. Although he wasn’t at a disadvantage in the current situation, if he were to leave the cauldron now, given his current condition, he would immediately reveal his true identity.
Although Xu Fu was a loose immortal whose constructed body couldn’t absorb spiritual energy as quickly as a true immortal’s, compared to ordinary cultivators, it was naturally much faster. However, once inside the cauldron, the three of them successively set up restrictive formations, almost completely cutting off the spiritual energy in this space. As a result, the consumed true energy recovered very slowly, which allowed Zhang Liusun to hold his own against Xu Fu without being overwhelmed.
Moreover, since Zhang Liusun and Mei Qing had previously worked together and consumed less energy, he had enough resources to continue battling Xu Fu until now.
However, Zhang Liusun hadn’t expected that Xu Fu’s true energy could be so profound. Although the bronze figure was extremely powerful in battle, controlling it also consumed an enormous amount of energy. Especially in a chessboard confrontation like this, commanding the bronze figure to fight was actually a huge disadvantage.
During the period when he pretended to be powerless, Xu Fu held nothing back, fully exerting himself, consuming even more energy. Yet even so, he still hadn’t run out of energy.
Of course, Zhang Liusun hadn’t anticipated that Xu Fu would secretly sabotage him. If it weren’t for the variable of Mei Qing, he might have already been crushed by Xu Fu into some corner.
Since neither side’s cultivation or control of their artifacts had determined a clear victor, the outcome could only be decided on the chessboard.
However, even though they were down to the final moves, the situation was still not entirely clear.
Zhang Liusun commanded Mei Qing to make a move, his heart still tense as he carefully watched the bronze figure’s reaction, observing where it would place its next move.
But he had completely forgotten—how had Mei Qing managed to endure until now, considering he had shown no signs of energy left earlier, and Zhang Liusun himself had stopped supporting him due to his own energy depletion?
Moments later, the bronze figure began to move slowly.
It held a sword in one hand and a water orb in the other, slowly stepping forward, pointing precisely at an empty spot in front of Mei Qing.
The bronze figure slowly came to a stop, bent down, and was just about to place the water orb onto the chessboard when suddenly an unexpected change occurred.
The four black stones around the bronze figure suddenly began to rotate simultaneously.
Simultaneously, the four stones emitted four beams of light in different colors, intertwining and crisscrossing, immediately enclosing the bronze figure within their circle. At the same time, Mei Qing’s figure flickered, already appearing behind the bronze figure. He gently placed one palm against the back of the bronze figure.
Outside the cauldron, the bronze figure stood as solid as a mountain. But inside the cauldron, for the purpose of playing the game, it had shrunk in size. Even so, Mei Qing, hiding behind the bronze figure, still stood slightly shorter than it.
Mei Qing’s hands moved rapidly, channeling torrents of true energy. One after another, talisman-like symbols appeared on the bronze figure’s body from top to bottom. In the blink of an eye, they covered from its head all the way down past its waist.
Both Zhang Liusun and Xu Fu were greatly startled. However, their reactions were completely different.
As soon as Xu Fu saw Mei Qing’s actions, he was shocked and immediately activated his technique, commanding the bronze figure in an attempt to break free from Mei Qing’s control.
To his surprise, although the bronze figure received his divine command and moved slightly under his control, a sudden immense force was felt, forcibly holding back his divine consciousness. At the same time, they heard Mei Qing loudly shout, “Xu Fu! Zhang Liusun! Don’t dare to move recklessly!”
Upon hearing this, Xu Fu was shocked. He had always regarded Mei Qing as a manifestation of Zhang Liusun. Now, hearing Mei Qing command both himself and Zhang Liusun to stop, it was clear something unexpected had occurred. His mind flashed back to the strange smile Mei Qing had given him at the beginning. He realized that breaking free from the bronze figure’s control might require him to expend all his strength, perhaps even then not succeeding. Looking at the watchful Zhang Liusun, a chill ran through him, and he immediately withdrew his divine consciousness, stepping back a few paces to observe the situation.
Zhang Liusun, upon seeing the sudden change in the scene, immediately activated his yuan-ying consciousness. However, upon testing, he discovered to his shock that the spell he had used to suppress Mei Qing had somehow been broken without his noticing at some point.
Startled, Zhang Liusun immediately moved his body, intending to rush forward regardless of everything else and take over Mei Qing’s body first.
However, Mei Qing’s shout was infused with his full cultivation power, using the Huayan Sect’s secret technique. Although he was behind the bronze figure, a chilling aura still caused Zhang Liusun to sway slightly.
Zhang Liusun hadn’t expected Mei Qing to still possess such strength at this moment, causing him to hesitate in shock. Looking at Xu Fu retreating several steps, the three now stood in a triangular standoff. Knowing the situation was beyond his control, he reluctantly slowed his steps and also retreated a few paces.
Seeing this, Mei Qing secretly exhaled in relief but didn’t stop his hands for a moment. He continued sending streams of talismanic symbols downward, completely covering the bronze figure from head to toe before finally stopping his hands.
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