“Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!”
Li Qingshan tapped the ice with his knuckle three times, completely unafraid of the coldness. Compared to his main body, his Yin Demon was far too feeble.

  With a crack, fractures spread quickly, and the ice shattered loudly.

  Rāhu Xiaoming burst out of the ice. Standing within the pieces, he had no idea what to say.

  Li Qingshan patted him on the shoulder and smiled. “No need to thank me.”
Rāhu Xiaoming shook away his hand rudely. “Hmph, even without you, I still could have broken free.”
“That’s true. How can the likes of us remain trapped in the hands of insects for long?” Li Qingshan passed his cosmic pouch and slingshot over. “There’s still a long road ahead, so lend me your help again!”
“No problem!”
Rāhu Xiaoming smiled. He raised his right arm into the air and balled his fist. Endless darkness enveloped the stone room, gushing towards him like it was tangible and dispersing all of the icicles in his body.

  Within the strange sound of growing bones, his body extended. His torso became wider and more rigid as his arms lengthened and became filled with power. He was like a perfect creation of nature, born to kill.

  His eyebrows were straight and sharp, his gaze was like an ominous god’s, giving off a sense of malice. His handsome face immediately became viciously twisted, yet it also gave off the hint of a divine nature. It seemed like he possessed the boundless might to cut down all the obstacles in his path.

  The fourth heavenly tribulation was the first fruit of attainment for buddhism and the roots and shoots of immortality, but to him, someone that was already a god, it was the first step to completely recovering his strength. He began to demonstrate the bearing of a god again.

  Moving about a little, he muttered to himself, “Yeah, there’s still a long road ahead. How can I idle here for too long?”
……
At the same time, over five thousand kilometres away, an azure cloud and a dark cloud shot through the sky.

  The peng’s feathers were like clouds, coloured like the azure sky. With a gentle flap, the atmospheric winds surged, sending her hundreds of kilometres away.

  This was the first time Gu Yanying had extended her wings to the limit ever since the tribulation. She soared over the ocean, gazing down with the sky behind her. There was only the ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see. Without any restraint, she felt extremely free, both physically and mentally, almost forgetting about the fact that she was currently being chased down.

  However, the dragon swam like lightning, shooting through the air as he gathered the cloud and mists, moving even faster than her.

  Gu Yanying glanced back. Ao Xuan rapidly drew closer.

  So I still underestimated his strength. Kunpengs can wield the atmospheric winds, but true dragons can gather clouds, such that the longer they fly, the thicker the clouds become and the faster they move. At this rate, I’ll probably be caught in just a while, which will be horrible to Qingshan’s plan.

  However, she had only recently undergone the fourth heavenly tribulation, while Ao Xuan was already approaching the sixth heavenly tribulation. She was more than a major realm of cultivation away from him. The kunpeng’s natural abilities were already extraordinary enough that she could maintain such a great distance.

  “You bitch, stop right there!” Ao Xuan cursed loudly.

  His eyes shone with golden light, but before it could even reach the kunpeng, the light dimmed. She flew far too quickly. It was impossible for techniques to catch her.

  Heh, this dragon doesn’t seem to be particularly clever. I’ll toy with him!

  Gu Yanying suddenly flapped her expansive winds at the same time, making fierce winds surged. Using the gales, her colossal body turned around dexterously. With the sky above and the ocean below, she brushed past Ao Xuan.

  Ao Xuan raised his head in surprise before sneering. “Puny tricks!” He twisted his body and turned with even more agility than Gu Yanying, instead pulling closer.

  Gu Yanying smiled and abruptly flapped her wings again. The gales whistled, and the two gusts of wind collided, forming a swirl in the air.

  Caught off-guard in his turn, Ao Xuan was immediately sucked inside. He was unscathed, but it did make a lot of the clouds around him disperse, so he immediately moved much slower. He cursed, “You underhanded bitch!”
Gu Yanying soared away with a laugh. “Thank you for your praise!”
……
Li Qingshan looked up under the daylight. The deep hole carved the sky into a circle. Beneath his feet was a lake, and it directly connected with the ocean. The fierce waves created by Ao Xuan had yet to settle.

  This was the centre of the entire Xuanming dwelling—as indicated by the formation scroll—as well as the core of the Xuanming formation. However, it was empty as far as the eye could see, without any signs of any critical points.

  This was another wondrous aspect of the Xuanming dwelling to guard against the most extreme of situations. The core was hidden away carefully for situations like the current one, where an enemy infiltrated the place and might want to destroy the formation from within. It could not even be found, so of course, it could not be destroyed.

  It was like a secret room that only the owner could open. Even if others guessed its location, they could not enter the place.

  Li Qingshan was well-prepared. Without any hesitation, he powered the Xuanming formation disc, producing ripples of light.

  In an instant, the empty cavern became filled with thousands of beams of light and countless profound inscriptions, gathering in from all directions and condensing into a ball of resplendent light, reflecting in Li Qingshan’s eyes.

  There were a total of nine layers to the ball of light, constantly revolving around slowly and pulling the beams of light and inscriptions along with it, controlling the entire Xuanming formation.

  This is it!

  Li Qingshan beamed with joy. With that, destroying the formation would no longer be anything difficult, but that was not his intention. Instead, he was trying to become the new owner of this place.

  He had finally reached the most critical moments. The ball of light was like an extremely complicated treasure chest.

  He possessed the key and understood the structure inside, but if he wanted to obtain the treasure inside, he had to crack the code that the original owner had left behind. Using force would only destroy the treasure chest and the treasure together.

  By then, all of his efforts would go to waste when Ao Xuan returned. He could cast down a new protective formation, and Li Qingshan would lose the Xuanming dwelling completely, becoming saddled with a great debt for nothing. Once he was capable of breaching the formation by force and defeating Ao Xuan, he probably would not need the dwelling anymore.

  This was the only chance!

  Find the original at h*sted novel.

  That was why he had not been in a hurry to do anything. He simply stared at the core of the formation; his expression became calm and emotionless. His gaze sank like the deep ocean as if he was not in enemy headquarters, like none of this had anything to do with him.

  With the Spirit Turtle Transformation, he turned into a great turtle and sank into the lake slowly.

  Immediately, the billowing waves settled. The surface became as smooth as a mirror, clearly reflecting the ball of light as well as the beams of light and inscriptions.

  Start calculating.

  The ball of light in the water gradually began to revolve faster. The beams of light wove together as the inscriptions flashed, constantly changing with each passing second. It formed a clear contrast with the slow-spinning ball of light above.

  The so-called “code” definitely was not just the matter of a few numbers. Instead, he needed to understand the way the entire formation operated and find the imprint that the original owner had left in the depths of the core.

  If he could not erase this imprint fast enough, Ao Xuan would sense it, and he could alter the way the formation operated instantly even if he was thousands of kilometres away, resetting the code. By then, all of his efforts would go to waste.

  Time trickled by. A prayer bead leapt out from Li Qingshan’s clothes, turning into a skull that called out, “Qingshan, she can’t hold on for much longer!”
Li Qingshan suddenly reverted to human form and leapt out of the water, unleashing the Ape Demon Extends its Arm as he grabbed the ball of light in the air.

  “The Ape Demon Locks the Space!”