The phantom shifted, slightly wrinkling as the wind blew against. It then gradually smoothed out, extending toward the rat, an invisible power pushing at it.
The frightened mountain rat nimbly fled into the ground.
It only had time to get its little head inside.
Two fingers lightly gripped it, snatching it and raising it into the air.
In a series of ripples, a man’s face appeared.
The man placed the rat close to his face to examine. He muttered, “A decent snack.”
He threw the rat into his mouth and started chewing.
Blood trickled from his mouth, and a satisfied look appeared in the man’s eyes.
“Duan Fourth, after all these years, you still haven’t fixed that habit of yours,” said a man behind him. It was none other than Deng Yuqing, the Hawk Hall’s second Deputy Eagle Master.
The rat-eating Duan Fourth eerily chuckled. “‘Fix’? Why fix it? This is the source of power!”
He lightly waved, and a glob of blood flew from his fingertip. Mid-flight, it turned into a bloody cloud that descended on a boulder. Hiss! The bloody cloud instantly corroded a large hole into the boulder.
The blood continued to eat away at the stone, ultimately piercing all the way through it and leaving it riddled with holes.
There was a gust of wind, and the boulder instantly dissolved into dust that scattered in the wind.
Deng Yuqing was shocked. “I didn’t think that your Blood Corrosion Art would have already reached the substantiation phase.”
In Godhead Palace, the Blood Corrosion Art was a most insidious art. It turned the blood into a poison that could eat away at all things. Those who cultivated this art were essentially immune to poisons.
Initially, this art wasn’t very powerful, just the average poison blood. But in the substantiation phase, one drop of blood could create a corrosive cloud with dreadful power. And if one could reach the spiritualization phase, even Celestial Heart and Violet Palace experts wouldn’t dare to touch it.
The rat-eating Duan Fourth just smugly laughed.
The two of them stood on the mountain for a while, until finally, a golden-robed disciple rushed up the mountain and kneeled in front of Deng Yuqing. “The target has appeared.”
Deng Yuqing asked, “Is it Tang Jie or You Shaofeng?”
“The target is wearing a veiled hat to cover his face, so we can’t confirm.”
Hearing this, Deng Yuqing waved his hand, and a scene depicting the situation in front of Ten Direction Valley appeared before him.
A student in moon-white robes stood in front of Ten Direction Valley. Sure enough, he was wearing a veiled hat to cover his face.
Deng Yuqing grunted. “Already in front of the valley and still acting all mysterious.”
He thrust a finger, releasing a surge of spiritual energy.
As this spiritual energy touched the picture, a wind kicked up in the valley below, sweeping out and blowing hard on Tang Jie’s veiled hat.
But while the wind was strong, Tang Jie held the hat firmly on his head. Beneath the veil, that obscured face mysteriously smiled.
Once the storm had passed, he strode into the valley.
As he stepped into the valley, his surroundings instantly changed. Tang Jie found himself on a vast and empty plain.
He knew that this was the first formation of the Nine Executions Immortal Formation, the Infinite Illusion Zone.
Befitting its name, the Infinite Illusion Zone was a vast and borderless realm. No matter in which direction you went, you would never reach its end, nor would you see any person.
This was one of the most wondrous properties of the Nine Executions Immortal Formation. The vast majority of illusion formations befuddled the senses to keep the victim running in circles. But the Infinite Illusion Zone was different. It seemed to actually exist, and no matter how many creatures you threw into Ten Direction Valley, you would never be able to fill this illusion. The people in the valley would never be able to meet each other, unless they were able to get out of the illusion zone and reach the formation wall.
This was the apex of illusion formations, and it was only here, within the Nine Executions Immortal Formation, that Tang Jie could truly experience the power of top-class formations.
Without Xu Muyang’s guidance, Tang Jie feared that he might not have been able to get through even this first trial.
As he stood on the grass, he formed a spell, but it was a simple Illuminate spell that he tossed into the air.
The Infinite Illusion Zone’s natural time was day, so this Illuminate spell should have been useless. But under its light, a faint golden line appeared in the dark grass, extending into the distance.
This was the safe path Godhead Palace had laid down by using the weakness in the formation.
After finding the safe path, Godhead Palace had paved it with Roselight Stone. Through special processing, the Roselight Stone was made to only appear under the light of Illuminate.
Thus, if an outsider came into the illusion zone, as they didn’t know this secret, they would still end up trapped in the formation.
For Tang Jie, getting through this formation was very simple. Just by following this path, he could reach the formation wall, and past the formation wall was the second formation, the Weakwater Formation. Godhead Palace had also managed to break through this formation, but the formation wall was still present. Thus, when he arrived at the second formation wall, he would have to use his brain.
But at this moment, Tang Jie had an idea.
Why do I have to take the safe route?
While the path of Roselight was the safe path, it wasn’t the solution. It was only a path that had emerged due to flaws in the formation.
This was like an old house. Though the house had a door, many years of disrepair had caused a hole to appear in the wall. The person breaking through the formation had merely widened the hole into a door to get inside the house.
But it still wasn’t the real door!
The first formation of the Nine Executions Immortal Formation had never been truly solved!
In these last few years, Godhead Palace had spent night and day studying how to break the second formation wall, but it had never even thought of going back and studying the first formation.
What better way was there to understand the Nine Executions Immortal Formation than this?
Wasn’t this much better than researching other ancient formations throughout the world?
As this thought emerged, even Tang Jie was in disbelief.
He quickly realized that it wasn’t that Godhead Palace hadn’t thought of this, but that it might have needed the Infinite Illusion Zone.
In the end, Ten Direction Valley didn’t belong to Godhead Palace, and it had only been able to keep this place a secret because of the formation itself. Once the illusion formation was undone, no one would be able to predict what might happen. There was a high chance that the illusion zone would completely dissipate, and Ten Direction Valley would experience momentous changes. At that time, if Godhead Palace couldn’t break through the Nine Executions Immortal Formation in short order, it would be very difficult to keep it a secret.
But just because they couldn’t undo it didn’t mean that they couldn’t research it. Godhead Palace was clearly lacking in this aspect, indicating that even without the above reason, Godhead Palace might not have actually seriously studied the Infinite Illusion Zone.
The limitations of mindset foreordained that they would not pay much attention to something that they already possessed.
Only Tang Jie understood that truly solving the Nine Executions Immortal Formation would probably involve starting from the beginning.
Only by truly solving the first formation could he understand the mindset of the person who had laid down the Nine Executions Immortal Formation, could he truly understand and grasp the mysteries of this formation.
Moreover, the Infinite Illusion Zone already had a safe route, so no matter what Tang Jie did, he didn’t have to fear being trapped. With such an excellent chance, wouldn’t he be a fool if he didn’t use it?
At this thought, Tang Jie laughed. He reached into his Mustard Seed Bag and took out a handful of sand that he threw into the air. Just like with the Nine Palace Illusion Formation, to break this illusion formation, he needed to get his bearings first…
A large number of golden-robed people had blocked up the entrance to Ten Direction Valley.
The moment Tang Jie had gone in, Godhead Palace had taken back complete control of Ten Direction Valley, and he could no longer even hope to get out.
Even though he had yet to get the Martial Mirror, Deng Yuqing still sighed in relief when he saw Tang Jie enter the valley, his heart relaxing.
He had gone through far too much effort to try and capture this kid, paying a most grievous price.
But in this Immortal Fortune Conference, this kid had thrown himself into the net.
Victory had come so easily and simply that Deng Yuqing didn’t feel like it was real.
And as time passed, the unrealness intensified.
Standing on the mountain, Deng Yuqing gravely said, “He still hasn’t come out?”
“Eagle Master, the target has not been seen at the formation wall.”
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Deng Yuqing frowned. “Fourth Brother, how long would it take at most to get from the Infinite Illusion Zone to the formation wall?”
Duan Fourth replied, “If sprinting, fifteen minutes would be enough. If taking a casual stroll, an hour.”
He was the supervisor sent by Godhead Palace to this place, so he was very familiar with the site.
“But it’s been two hours,” Deng Yuqing impatiently said. “Why hasn’t that Tang Jiye come out of the formation yet?”
“It shouldn’t be.” Duan Fourth scratched his head. “Could Xu Muyang have not told him the correct way to get through the Infinite Illusion Zone?”
“Impossible!” Deng Yuqing shouted. “Wouldn’t that be the same as sending him to his death?”
He was essentially saying, “Kid, if you didn’t know the path, what did you come here for? You could have just asked us!”
But no matter how long they waited, Tang Jie wasn’t coming out.
“What do we do now?” Duan Fourth blandly asked Deng Yuqing.
Deng Yuqing’s face was shifting between green and red.
According to their plan, if Tang Jie could open up the later formations, they would let him open them and only capture him once they understood his methods. If the situation changed, they could also take action early.
They hadn’t expected things to go awry so quickly.
Duan Fourth looked at Deng Yuqing, and after a long while, Deng Yuqing finally said, “Let’s keep waiting, using no change to respond to all possible change. No matter what sort of scheme he’s trying, this is still the territory of my Godhead Palace. Since he’s gone in, he should rid himself of any thought of causing trouble!”
Deng Yuqing clenched his fists, his eyes glinting.
He wanted to see what sort of trick Tang Jiye could play.