This is going to be a big one!
Sensing the incoming shockwave, Formation Master Beimu furrowed her eyebrows.
Next, she immediately retracted her hands from Lu Tianzi's forehead, quickly taking a step away from him in caution.
With this one step, she strategically positioned herself in between Lu Tianzi and Beimu Fei.
After all, Formation Master Beimu was an Origin Core realm martial artist.
She was more than capable of protecting herself. But rather than her own safety, Formation Master Beimu was more worried about Beimu Fei getting hurt.
Indeed, a powerful shockwave immediately exploded out from Lu Tianzi, sweeping across the room in all directions.
Raising a hand towards Lu Tianzi, Formation Master Beimu easily deflected whatever came her way, protecting Beimu Fei, as well as the long table that was positioned behind her.
General Nanbai Zhaoyu similarly dealt with the shockwave that reached him, dispersing it easily.
However, the rest of the room was not as fortunate.
Crack-!
Bamboo chairs were smashed against the walls, mangled into unrecognisable shapes.
Facing the might of the powerful shockwave, even the walls creaked as it threatened to give way. Thankfully, Formation Master Beimu had reinforced the walls previously, and they managed to withstand the sudden onslaught solely because of that.
Standing safely behind her master, Beimu Fei's mouth gaped open in shock.
Even though the force that either Formation Master Beimu or General Nanbai Zhaoyu had to withstand was not exactly at a terrifying level, that was because they were only guarding against one direction of the shockwave.
Considering the full amount of energy that had just been released from Lu Tianzi, if all of that had been directed towards a single target instead of in all directions… it would no longer be as easy to handle!
Beimu Fei knew that she, for one, would definitely be hard pressed to defend herself against something like that!
If it was difficult even for her, then the number of people in the Essence Condensation realm who were able to block it could definitely be counted with a single hand.
Being able to contain such power within his body and releasing it in an instant…
Could it be that this Nanlu Tianzi was someone who only looked like he was in his teens, but was actually much older?
At this moment, Lu Tianzi finally fell to one knee, even having to use his hands to support himself lest he fell to the floor.
After releasing the ridiculous amount of energy within him, Lu Tianzi had managed to regain his awareness of his surroundings. But even so, all he could do was to pant breathlessly.
It truly was a sorry sight.
However, Lu Tianzi could not care less about what the other three people in the room thought about him right now.
The most important point was that he had survived!
Lu Tianzi immediately sank his perception into his inner world, trying to inspect himself for any internal injuries.
Thankfully, it seemed like his body was completely unharmed. His current weakened state was only because his inner world was depleted of Essence energy at the moment.
He had no idea what happened just now.
All he knew was that upon lifting the bamboo token, energy started rushing into him, and his eyes immediately took it as a signal to start refinement.
Wait, his eyes?
Lu Tianzi hurriedly inspected the state of his eyes, and was astonished by what he saw.
After withstanding the baptism of pain, his eyes had now broken through the threshold, finally qualifying to practise the Limitless Mirror Eye.
In fact, Lu Tianzi could feel that his eyes were now far stronger than what he had originally been aiming for.
Even though he was made to suffer quite a bit just now, at least he had managed to gain something significant out of it!
Now, he could finally start practising the Limitless Mirror Eye!
But even though his eyes were strengthened by a huge margin, it had come at the price of his entire body being depleted of energy. During the forced refinement process, all of his energy had been used to prevent his eyes from being crushed under the huge pressure.
"Nanlu Tianzi, are you all right?" General Nanbai Zhaoyu asked in worry.
Still trying to regulate his breathing, Lu Tianzi could only nod in response. But that was already sufficient to let General Nanbai Zhaoyu heave a sigh of relief.
After which, the General took a look around them before turning back to Formation Master Beimu in an apologetic manner. "I am sorry, Formation Master Beimu. It looks like Nanlu Tianzi has unintentionally caused you some trouble. If Formation Master Beimu doesn't mind, I will be more than willing to compensate you for the damages."
Formation Master Beimu shook her head gently, "No, I am the one who should apologise. If not for my carelessness, Nanlu Tianzi would not have been subjected to such distress."
Speaking up to this point, she walked up to the kneeling Lu Tianzi and reached out with an open palm.
"Here, take this."
Lying on her palm was a small round pill that emitted a mysterious medicinal energy. It was an energy recovery pill of quite high quality.
"T-Thank you," Lu Tianzi did not stand on ceremony.
He swallowed the pill and immediately sat down in meditation.
If he had tried to recover by himself, it might have taken him a few days in order to do so, unless he chose to rely on his essence stones and beast cores.
However, using precious cultivation resources for recovery purposes was a complete waste in his opinion!
That was especially so for beast cores, which he had a very limited amount of in his possession.
Fortunately, as long as he fully assimilated the medicinal efficiacy within the recovery pill given by Formation Master Beimu, it would be sufficient to bring him back to normal.
The only issue was that Lu Tianzi would have to meditate for a while in order to fully assimilate the recovery pill.
While Lu Tianzi was meditating, Formation Master Beimu turned towards General Nanbai Zhaoyu.
"Since Nanlu Tianzi would take some time to recover, having him return might be quite inconvenient," Formation Master Beimu remarked. "Why don't we have him stay over for a night?"
"Stay over? Here?" General Nanbai Zhaoyu was surprised.
For Formation Master Beimu to invite Nanlu Tianzi to stay over in the Beimu Residence that was famous for not usually allowing guests to stay… it seemed like Formation Master Beimu was truly apologetic about this incident!
"Don't worry, I will definitely not do anything impolite to your junior," Formation Master Beimu assured him after seeing the General hesitate.
"Formation Master Beimu has misunderstood. That's not it at all," General Nanbai Zhaoyu laughed. "The thing is that I am just bringing him along with me today. As for him staying over, please excuse me while I inform an Elder from his sect."
General Nanbai Zhaoyu immediately contacted Elder Xingmeng from the Nine Suns Sect.
They had gotten acquainted during General Nanbai Zhaoyu's couple months long stay in the capital, and had long recorded each other's communication marks in their respective communication rings.
Elder Xingmeng replied quickly after receiving the news from General Nanbai Zhaoyu.
His decision was just as the General expected.
Upon hearing that the renowned Formation Master Beimu wanted to have a junior from his sect stay over at the Beimu Residence, Elder Xingmeng agreed without hesitation!
In Elder Xingmeng's eyes, if he managed to form a connection to the famous formation master, then it would be much easier for the Nine Suns Sect to establish a foothold in the capital!
"Actually, there is no need to impose on Formation Master Beimu," Lu Tianzi interjected. "I am already feeling much better. I should return to my residence in order to continue recuperating then."
Even though Lu Tianzi was meditating to recover, it was not as though he was completely oblivious to what was happening around him.
If given a choice, he would definitely prefer to return to the City Lord's residence where he would feel much safer!
After all, who the hell were these people anyway?
"I cannot allow that," Formation Master Beimu turned him down resolutely. "I should have told you beforehand that breaking the table top formation without first deactivating it will result in an energy backlash. This carelessness of mine has resulted in much distress for you. If I even allow you to leave in your current state, I will become the laughing stock of the entire kingdom!"
"But I really don't mind it!" Lu Tianzi could not believe it.
"Enough," Formation Master Beimu waved off his objections. "Fei'er, see Nanlu Tianzi to a spare room upstairs. Come down after that so you can send General Nanbai Zhaoyu back."
"Y-Yes, master," Beimu Fei broke out of her daze before shooting a glance at Lu Tianzi. "Follow me."
"This…" Lu Tianzi turned to look at General Nanbai Zhaoyu as a last resort, hoping that he would insist on bringing him back.
However, all he saw was someone who was beaming with a satisfied smile.
It seemed like he had no other choice…
In any case, it was only for one night.
Surely it could not be too bad?
Letting out a deep sigh, Lu Tianzi could only follow Beimu Fei up the stairs.
"Well then," Formation Master Beimu passed a spatial ring over to General Nanbai Zhaoyu. "This is what you wanted."
"Oh!" General Nanbai Zhaoyu inspected the items within before handing over a spatial ring of his own. "Thank you for the help. Here is the payment!"
Formation Master Beimu nodded and received the spatial ring.
With that, after trying repeatedly for the past months, General Nanbai Zhaoyu had finally managed to complete the transaction, obtaining the item that he wanted!
Beimu Fei swiftly returned after showing Lu Tianzi to his room.
"I will be bidding farewell here then," Formation Master Beimu smiled towards General Nanbai Zhaoyu. "Don't worry about Nanlu Tianzi. I will make sure that he is delivered back safe and sound."
"Farewell then," General Nanbai Zhaoyu clasped his fist towards the prestigious formation master before following Beimu Fei away.
Formation Master Beimu gently closed the door behind them before slowly walking back to the centre of the room.
She reached out her hand, and a small bamboo token that had been left on the floor flew up into her outstretched hand.
This was the very same bamboo token that Lu Tianzi had removed from the table top formation.
In her mind, the scene of Lu Tianzi proudly picking up the bamboo token replayed itself. The smug grin on his face was simply unforgettable.
Formation Master Beimu looked at the bamboo token in her hand as she contemplated.
That kid really had no idea about the art of formations…
Just how was he able to accurately find the core of the formation, and this quickly to boot?
What exactly happened within his body, such that he was completely devoid of injuries despite receiving the full backlash of the table top formation?
Formation Master Beimu let out a faint smile before placing the bamboo token back down on the long table.
There was definitely something different about this Nanlu Tianzi.
But no matter what, there was one thing that she was absolutely sure of.
This Nanlu Tianzi was practically born to be a formation master! A naturally gifted individual!
She definitely could not let him leave just like that!