Chapter 221: Loophole
Rising Sun Mountain was a towering mountain ridge that stretched for hundreds of miles.
Chu Li stood at the bottom of the mountain. He looked up at the towering mountain ridge and furrowed his brow.
He found out that his Omniscient Mirror could not work. Rising Sun Mountain was shrouded in a layer of invisible energy, cutting off the surveillance of Omniscient Mirror. It was similar to Tai Hua Valley—both were shrouded in a Formation.
He had never heard that the Rising Sun Mountain actually had a Formation.
No wonder people could not find anything when they stepped into the mountain range. A big Formation that can envelop a mountain ridge was not something that an ordinary person can break. They might even get trapped in the Formation without realizing it.
Chu Li could not break the huge Formation before him. He had to admit his inferiority.
Before he came here, he went to the Temple of Autumn and set up a Formation there. He did his best but he can only envelop two miles radius of the Temple of Autumn. He could not protect the entire Star Bamboo Peak.
Fortunately, Temple of Autumn was away from the hustle and bustle. The Star Bamboo Peak was located very far away from the town. The temple’s disciples were self-sufficient. They usually grew vegetables and paddy behind the temple so they did not need to go outside to buy things, avoiding the worldly glitz and focusing on their Buddhist austerities.
He only needed to go back once a year to bring back daily use products and what they cannot afford to self-sustain, resolving the last weakness. The disciples of Temple of Autumn did not need to go out of the mountain. If someone wanted to attack the Temple of Autumn, they will not be able to find a weakness.
They can only break the Formation he set up if they found a Formation master. Once there was a change in the Formation, he will sense it and rush back immediately.
For the sake of Temple of Autumn’s safety so that he can have no worries in the future, Chu Li racked his brain and resorted to every conceivable means.
Standing at the bottom of Rising Sun Mountain, Chu Li did not only frown because of the Formation.
There was actually a faction on the peak of the mountain opposite the Rising Sun Mountain. On the hillside, there was a group of buildings: three basilicas and the rest was a string of pavilions. Written on the basilica were three words, “Rising Sun Faction”.
Through Chu Li’s surveillance, there were two Grandmasters in Rising Sun Faction.
If it was a first-cla.s.s faction like Snow Lunar Pavilion and Green Hill or even Tai Hua Valley, he will not be surprised that there were two Grandmasters. However, this Rising Sun Faction was not famous in the martial arts world. Almost no one knew about this faction and they actually had two Grandmasters. This was somewhat unusual and he had an inexplicable feeling about it.
With these two Grandmasters, he cannot focus on breaking the Formation wholeheartedly. Once he was immersed in the Formation, he needed to be focused, so he will be slow at reacting to the outside world, no longer having the usual wariness and strength.
He focused his mind at the bottom of the mountain, trying to figure out ways to break the Formation but he was at a loss. It was far beyond what he had learned.
Formation study was profound and deep. Even him, who was far more intelligent and knowledgeable than all other people in this world, still felt that he was inferior and needed to make arduous efforts to study it. It was more esoteric than martial arts.
Formation involved the natural law, just like his past life’s modern study of cosmology and philosophy, something that cannot be fathomed completely.
He had only read six Formation codex, so his knowledge of it was still shallow. He did not know what the Formation before him was and he had never seen it before.
He had the Omniscient Mirror, so he had a great advantage in breaking Formation, but he was powerless in the face of a Formation that he had never seen before and he admitted his inferiority.
The sky reflected his thoughts. Dark clouds gradually gathered and soon, a gale began. Snow came fluttering down like cotton and it was blown around vigorously by the gale.
The weather here was different from the weather in Chong Ming Town. It was still late autumn there while it was already winter here.
Heavy snow fell and the world was dyed white in a short time.
He flew into the Rising Sun Faction and entered a woodshed quietly. He sat on the couch and observed the entire Rising Sun Faction.
Tallow candles in the Rising Sun Faction basilica burned brightly, illuminating the basilica like it was during the daytime.
There were two old men sitting inside the basilica who were drinking tea while chatting.
One of the old men, who was fat with an amiable face and rosy complexion, looked like a rich old man. While the other old man was thin and cold, with a stone-like, expressionless face.
The fat old man looked outside the basilica and sighed, “Brother, another year has pa.s.sed and we are one year older. When can we return to Fairy’s Capital?”
The thin old man put on a gloomy face but he just lowered his head to drink his tea.
“If we continued to be like this, we are going to be here for the rest of our lives!” the fat old man shook his head and shouted, “I’m so disgruntled!”
“There’s no use being disgruntled!” the thin old man said coldly, “The Emperor’s decree has been given. No one can disobey it!”
“I always felt that there is someone deliberately spreading the rumor, playing around with us!” the round and fat old man snorted, “Bulls.h.i.+t Multiform Demon Lord, he is not even here! A decade! How many decades do we have in our lives?”
“If we cannot find the Multiform Demon Lord, we cannot go back even after another decade!”
“That High Official Lee is also incompetent. He can’t break the Formation so he let us guard it,” the round and fat old man pursed his lips and said in disdain, “And he called himself the best Formation master in the Imperial House!”
“He is the only Formation master in the Imperial House so naturally, he is the best,” the thin old man said, “I heard the Temple of Tempest also has a Formation master. We have to find the Multiform Demon Lord’s Abode before them!”
“Brother, I have seen through it,” the fat old man snorted, “The reason the Emperor let us guard here is not to get the Multiform Demon Lord’s Abode but to prevent the Temple of Tempest from getting it!”
“Temple of Tempest does not seem interested in this Multiform Demon Lord’s Abode.”
“They just seem like they are not interested. We can’t be sure if they are truly not interested!”
“The full moon night is around the corner,” the thin old man lifted his head and looked out the basilica. He sighed, “This time, I’ll go into the Formation in person!”
The fat old man laughed and beamed with joy, “Who will expect that there will be an entrance in the Formation on a full moon night?”
“Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. We have the advantage since we have more people,” the thin old man shook his head.
Rising Sun Faction had hundreds of people patrolling the Rising Sun Mountain every day. On a very rare occasion, the patrolling disciples discovered a strange phenomenon. They followed the clues and found a secret of Rising Sun Mountain.
This huge Formation had an entrance every full moon night, but it will only last for a short while. The entrance will disappear after a few breaths’ time.
It was a loophole that was almost infeasible to find. However, they saw it and this can only be said that it was G.o.d’s will. They only found this secret coincidently.
The two did not report it because they wanted to distinguish themselves.
After a year, they sent some people inside but they found nothing. Not only did they not find anything, they also lost more than twenty disciples. These disciples were never to be seen again, not even their corpses were found and this induced fear in the people of the Rising Sun Faction. If this continued, the people’s morale will collapse and it will be the end of the faction too.
This time, the thin old man decided to go inside in person.
“Brother, let’s go in together,” the round-faced old man said, “In case something goes wrong, we can help each other.”
“Someone must guard outside,” the thin old man shook his head, “Now, the people’s morale is low. If there is no one to guard outside, these disciples will run away!”
“Not necessarily,” the round-faced old man laughed, “If both of us went in, they can be at ease too.”
“What if someone comes?” the thin old man scoffed.
The fat old man thought for a moment and sighed, “Brother, forget it. n.o.body knows the situation inside. Even if it’s us, we are still very weak in the face of the Formation.”
“Dead or alive—I will leave it to fate!” the thin old man said, “I am also tired of this place. If I cannot get out, report to the higher-ups immediately.”
“Brother, I think we should report directly to the higher-ups!” the fat old man frowned, “We can’t lose you.”
“If so, our efforts during this decade will be in vain!” the thin old man snorted, “We will achieve nothing!”