Every single energy sword precisely blocked the energy lines.
Countless energy swords froze in the air as though they were stuck in a spiderweb.
Yu Shangrong looked up.
The energy lines connecting the rocks were still there and did not vanish.
“Not enough.” He had no choice but to pour more Primal Qi into the energy swords and improve his control over them.
A Mystic Enlightening cultivator could only control one or two energy swords. With every subsequent increase in realm, the number of energy swords one could control would increase as well. At the Nascent Divinity realm, he would be able to create up to 1,000 energy swords while relying on a weapon. Alas, humans had their limitations.
An energy line would connect every two of the 361 rock pillars.
Yu Shangrong had to form more than 60,000 energy swords to block all the energy lines.
Buzz!
The energy swords dispersed.
Yu Shangrong knew he needed more power.
When he landed on the ground, the rock slab at the center of the Formation glowed with faint light. Under the sunlight, the glow from the Formation veins was not obvious. If one stood outside the rock forest, it would be almost impossible to see it.
Soon after, the 361 rock pillars started to shake. They buzzed in synchrony with the rock slab that had the Formation veins. It seemed to generate a pulling force as well.
“Vitality?” Yu Shangrong looked around himself. He saw a flying beast that accidentally entered the Formation briefly struggling before it fell to the floor, dead.
“It’s devouring vitality?” With this discovery, he tapped his meridian point and gathered his vitality into his sea of Qi and Extraordinary Eight Meridians. He was someone with a short lifespan. Although he had reached the Nine-leaf stage, his life was still limited. Without the golden lotus, his lifespan did not increase.
As he looked at the peculiar Formation in the rock forest, he recalled what Jiang Xiaosheng had said. ‘So, this Formation can really devour a person’s life!’
The bird was now dried and shriveled. No trace of vitality was left in it.
Yu Shangrong stopped cultivating. Instead, he tried his best to fight against this pulling force. Even so, the vitality inside his body was drawn out like wisps of smoke.
“Ji Liang, get out,” Yu Shangrong ordered.
Ji Liang did not listen to his order. Instead, it made a shocking move. It circled around Yu Shangrong.
Ji Liang made for a majestic sight with its white coat, red mane, and golden eyes. Those who rode on it would gain 1,000 years of life.
Ji Liang’s golden eyes shone faintly as wisps of vitality surged out of its body into Yu Shangrong’s body.
Yu Shangrong was shocked. He suddenly recalled his master’s other mount, Whitzard. Its power was like an auspicious rain. All those who were bathed in its power would have their injuries healed and the Primal Qi replenished. Was Ji Liang’s ability to restore life?!
He could not help but feel like he was fated with Ji Liang.
The short-lived melilot blossomed in the day and wilted at night.
After a time, Yu Shangrong no longer felt like his vitality was being sucked away. Instead, under Ji Liang’s constant protection and replenishment of life, the vitality in his body had clearly increased! Even if had only increased for 100 years, it was still surprising!
The glow of the Formation veins disappeared, and the rock pillars stopped shaking. It was silent again in the rock forest.
Yu Shangrong stood up and looked at Ji Liang.
Neigh!
Before Yu Shangrong could react, Ji Liang leaped into the air and flew into the air.
Bam!
The heavenly net blocked Ji Liang.
“You want to return?”
Neigh!
Ji Liang moved its head up and down.
Yu Shangrong patted Ji Liang’s rump. He said with a faint smile, “Give me some time. If I can’t break this Formation, I won’t use the sword again.”
He looked at the rock forest again. Before everything else, he had to regain all his power.
Time was of the essence.
He sat down cross-legged again. He placed his palms on his lap as the Longevity Sword flew around him as though it was standing guard.
Ji Liang followed the flying sword and flew into the air as well.
Yu Shangrong wondered if it was merely bored or if it truly wanted to get out.
…
Cloud Mountain.
Lu Zhou was cultivating with his eyes closed.
His surroundings were extremely quiet at this moment.
The scripts of the Heavenly Writing scrolls kept spinning in his mind.
The golden scripts and runes grew clearer and cleared.
He could clearly feel the changes in his extraordinary power.
Lu Zhou stirred. ‘Is the last Open Heavenly Writing scroll finally taking effect?’
Ever since he used the last Open Heavenly Writing scroll and meditated on them, he had not been able to activate its power until now. The sudden change bewildered him.
The runes of the Heavenly Writing scrolls started off as indecipherable scripts before they slowly morphed into recognizable words and formed a sentence.
“For everything in the universe, their lives, deaths, kindness, evil, merits, and sins can be clearly seen…”
This mantra was the same mantra he encountered when he meditated on the Human Scroll back then. As he expected, it appeared again in his subsequent meditation. There were also a plethora of scripts surrounding this mantra. He could not understand them at all.
Lu Zhou’s extraordinary power was now at its fullest. Hence, he started to recite the mantra. “For everything in the universe…”
At this moment, his eyes suddenly glowed blue. With this, he could see whatever he wanted.
With his eyes closed, he saw Yu Zhenghai seated on the cloud platform with his palms on his lap as the Jasper Saber hovered in front of him.
In just a single breath, Lu Zhou discovered half of his extraordinary power was gone! He quickly stopped using the Heavenly Writing power!
“Uh…” He did not know if he should feel shocked or happy.
‘Doesn’t this mean that I’ll be able to peek at everything at my own convenience with this power? But, if I accidentally peeked at someone taking a bath, wouldn’t that be awkward?’
He shook his head. ‘Why am I always letting my mind wander?’
He had lost half of his extraordinary power in one breath. This consumption rate was giving him a headache. It was a great loss to waste the power that could be used to fight a Ten-leaf cultivator on something like peeping. In this regard, the power seemed quite useless.
Lu Zhou checked the system dashboard.
Merit points: 117,440
Remaining life: 219,740 days
Mount: Whitzard, Bi An, Ji Liang (resting), Qiong Qi, Dang Kang.
“Ji Liang? Resting?” Lu Zhou found this strange. Whitzard would only enter a resting state after using its ability. Did Ji Liang use its ability as well?
Lu Zhou sighed softly. Although the power was useless, there were still uses for it if he was not planning on fighting. Moreover, with the Violet Glazed Ceramic, he would be able to replenish his power quickly.
Then, Lu Zhou recited the mantra again, and his eyes glowed blue.
Extraordinary power began to ripple out.
Soon enough, he saw a rock forest.
Ji Liang was tackling energy lines as it chased after a broken sword.
Soon after, he saw Yu Shangrong sitting cross-legged on the ground.
When he saw the broken sword, something in him. He cried out instinctively, “Ji Liang, protect him.”
Ji Liang, who was chasing after the weapon, stopped moving immediately as though it could hear Lu Zhou’s command. It raised its front hooves and looked up at the sky before it neighed loudly. Then, it obediently trotted to Yu Shangrong’s side and lay on the ground, obeying Lu Zhou’s order.
Yu Shangrong opened his eyes and looked at Ji Liang curiously. It was flying around wildly just a moment ago, but it was staying still now.
Ji Liang who was lying on the ground quickly fell asleep.
When Lu Zhou opened his eyes, he called out, “Anyone there?”
A Cloud Mountain disciple appeared and said, “Your orders, Senior Lu.”
“Call Yu Zhenghai over.”
“Understood.”
Shortly after, Yu Zhenghai arrived. “You called for me, master?”
“Your Second Junior Brother is in a difficult situation. He should be nearby, but I don’t know exactly where. Go and help him. However, remember not to spend too much time fighting powerful opponents. Your mission is to find and help your Second Junior Brother,” Lu Zhou said.
A surprised expression flitted across Yu Zhenghai’s face when he heard his master’s words. However, he did not question his master. He said immediately, “Understood, I’ll look for him immediately.”