On the golden barrier enveloping the island, there was a small circular gap. He Zhenghao led Li Fan into the protective formation through this gap.
“When you meet the Formation Masters later, don’t bring up the matter of contribution points in front of them. Act accordingly, and after everything is settled, transfer the contribution points to me. I’ll then pass them on to Zhang Zhiliang,” He Zhenghao whispered to Li Fan.
Li Fan smiled slightly, indicating his understanding.
“Haha! Fellow Daoist He came just in time!”
At that moment, the laughter of Gong Boyu came from afar. Li Fan looked towards the sound and saw several Formation Masters from the Formation Hall gathered here.
In front of them was a large vertical screen, on which many tiny formation units flashed rapidly. Formation Masters occasionally pointed at the screen, discussing things with varied expressions.
“What’s this…” Li Fan’s gaze flashed as he looked towards the golden formation in the sky.
Sure enough, he vaguely saw many small disks, like crawling insects, attached to the surface of the formation.
While absorbing the power of the formation, these discs simultaneously transmitted the data of the units that formed the protective formation to the central screen.
“Formation Breaking Disks.”
In the twelfth life, Zhang Zhiliang’s legacy mentioned this kind of treasure.
It could analyze the composition data of a formation without damaging its structure, providing a reference for cracking the formation.
A set of one thousand one hundred and eighty Formation Breaking Disks was quite valuable.
Li Fan had never had the chance to see them before, but unexpectedly, he encountered them today.
“Come, come! Fellow Daoist He, come and take a look at the latest analysis data. See if the reappearance of this island from the sea floor is related to changes in the earth veins!” Gong Boyu enthusiastically called.
Though He Zhenghao was excited about the study, he hadn’t forgotten about the main business. He turned to Zhang Zhiliang and said, “Fellow Daoist Zhang, this is the cultivator I mentioned before, Li Fan, who is willing to follow you as a Formation Repairer. He has a Foundation Establishment cultivation and some understanding of formations.”
Zhang Zhiliang casually glanced at Li Fan, tossed over a testing ball, and said, “Test yourself first. As long as you’re not completely ignorant of formations, there should be no problem.”
Li Fan took the testing ball, and after his spiritual sense circulated through it, the test quickly ended.
Zhang Zhiliang looked at the number of glowing points on the testing ball and was somewhat surprised.
“You’ve only been self-studying formations so far? With these results, you’re quite good. As a Formation Repairer, you have more than enough ability!”
Zhang Zhiliang knew the difficulty of the questions inside the testing ball: some of them could be considered quite tricky. Even apprentices in the Formation Hall might not perform as well as the person before him.
“Master, you’re too kind! This junior has limited talent. The only thing I rely on is constant ‘diligence’!” Li Fan calmly responded.
Zhang Zhiliang nodded, increasingly satisfied, and handed Li Fan a jade token.
A diagram of the main building of the Formation Hall was engraved on the jade token.
Zhang Zhiliang instructed, “With this jade token, register your identity at the Government Hall first, then collect the relevant items at the Ten Thousand Mirror. After activating your permissions, if you have any questions, you can also find answers in the Ten Thousand Mirror.”
Li Fan nodded in acknowledgment, put away the jade token, and thanked him with a bow.
Seeing that things had gone smoothly, He Zhenghao also showed a pleased expression and immediately focused his attention on the screen of the Formation Breaking Disks.
The atmosphere became focused, and his temperament changed suddenly as if he had transformed into a different person in an instant. Li Fan couldn’t help but marvel at the sight.
On the screen, the speed of the flashing images continued to increase.
He Zhenghao also seemed to be struggling a bit, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Above his head, a scroll unfolded slowly.
In the scroll, faintly visible were continuous mountain ranges and a densely laid-out network of water.
Mountains and rivers intertwined, stretching for countless miles.
The grandeur was magnificent and spectacular.
“This should be Fellow Daoist He’s Foundation Treasure, the ‘Mountain and River Vein Formation Diagrams.’ Judging from its power, it seems to be more than just a mere Human Treasure,” Li Fan observed carefully, silently pondering.
After about half a stick of incense, He Zhenghao finally took a deep breath and retracted the peculiar phenomenon.
“Fellow Daoist Gong has an extraordinary eye! Your vision can be described in one word—accurate!” He Zhenghao praised first.
He then continued slowly, “Indeed, this island is currently situated on top of an earth vein. There must have been significant changes at some other node on this earth vein, causing this island, which had been submerged in the sea for three thousand years, to reappear on the surface.”
“But that location seems to be extremely far from the Cong Yun Sea. With my Foundational Establishment cultivation, it’s difficult for me to sense the specific location,” He Zhenghao regretfully said.
He Zhenghao’s words immediately sparked a heated discussion among the group of Formation Masters.
“So, it was caused by changes in the earth vein? How big of a disturbance must that be?”
“If Fellow Daoist He can’t sense it, the location of the incident should be quite far away. With such a distance, the impact of the incident should have been tremendous to sink an island all the way over here.”
“Just go back and inquire about which province it happened in.”
“That’s not necessarily the case, earth vein changes may also occur in the deep underground. The surface may experience only slight tremors.”
…
While the discussion was intense over there, Zhang Zhiliang, who had not participated, suddenly asked, “Fellow Daoist He, what do you think of this golden protective formation?”
He Zhenghao squinted his eyes, pondered for a moment, and replied, “This golden formation is connected to the earth vein. If my guess is correct, it should be based on the ‘Mountain and River Formation.'”
“As long as the earth vein is intact, this defensive formation will be endless. And the Ten Thousand Immortals Grand Formation can condense the earth vein of a whole province for protection. Its defense is so strong that even three or four cultivators in the Dao Integration realm may not be able to break it.”
“It’s stronger than the current formation by more than one level.”
Zhang Zhiliang nodded slowly. “Although this formation’s defensive power is strong, if the formation is broken, it will cause some damage to the earth vein. I wonder what happened at that time to force people to resort to a solution as extreme as the Mountain and River Formation.”
Gong Boyu also approached at this moment. “Why bother with so much? This free Mountain and River Formation is right in front of us. You can study it without spending any contribution points. Such a good thing is a once-in-a-century opportunity.”
He Zhenghao agreed, saying, “Fellow Daoist Gong makes sense. These opportunities should not be missed. We should study it carefully.”
Saying this, the group immersed themselves in the continuously flashing images on the screen of the Formation Breaking Disks.
Li Fan also observed for a while. Unfortunately, with his current foundation in formations, he was not yet able to comprehend anything from it.
Watching the several Formation Masters engrossed in their study, Li Fan decided not to linger any longer.
After bidding farewell, he quietly returned to Ten Thousand Immortals Island.
He headed straight for the central Formation Hall on the island.