Chapter 160: It’s Not That There Aren’t Several People, It’s That There Is Only One
Several people then devised a plan to make the Si clan members willingly walk into the formation, and subsequently executed four heavenly prodigies. After parting ways with Cheng Zhaowen and the others, they finally went to search for the imperial family.
But they soon discovered something was wrong.
Within the Great Sui Secret Realm, there was no sign of the imperial family.
Cheng Zhaoyang belatedly recalled that she had only seen the imperial family when she first entered the secret realm, but had never encountered them since.
Although she had spent the past two days simply finding a spot to cultivate, the imperial family had also not appeared when she was executing those scions of noble families, and now even with her divine sense fully extended, she couldn’t find any trace of them.
With so many masters accompanying them, it was impossible for the imperial family to have perished in this secret realm. In fact, one could say they should have been able to obtain at least half of the primordial spirit fruits, but in the end, almost all the primordial spirit fruits fell into the hands of these treasure-hunting murderers.
The imperial family obtained almost none.
That is to say, from the moment the imperial family entered this secret realm, they were not after the primordial spirit fruits, but for something much more important.
Ming Zhaoshuang also realized this. She sat down, and the Mountain River Brush lightly sketched on the paper, depicting the locations of those sky-reaching trees.
From the beginning, she had felt that this secret realm was unusual, more like a giant formation.
These members of the imperial family were hidden by this formation, planning to do evil deeds sneakily!
Her divine sense was not yet capable of covering the entire Great Sui Secret Realm, but she guessed that this Great Sui Secret Realm must be based on a formation, though she was not yet clear about what kind of formation it was.
What kind of formation could allow a secret realm to stand for over three thousand years and produce one hundred primordial spirit fruits annually?
A formation absolutely could not achieve this. Even Wei Shuo, who was hailed as the Talisman Saint, could not make the Talisman Saint’s Secret Realm produce different trial rewards each year.
Unless, beneath this formation, there was something.
Something extremely powerful was suppressed and extracted by this formation, year after year.
The Mountain River Brush in Ming Zhaoshuang’s hand paused, and she said:
“You all go and check for me how the sky-reaching trees and the spiritual beasts beneath them are distributed. It’s very important!”
She suspected that this Great Sui Secret Realm was formed by the superposition of many formations!
As soon as Ming Zhaoshuang spoke, the few people naturally dared not linger any longer and went directly to the four cardinal directions respectively. Before long, they handed the recording stones to Ming Zhaoshuang.
Layers of paper were spread out, and intricate golden patterns flowed from Ming Zhaoshuang’s brush, causing Qin Feilong to frown.
He vaguely felt that this was a formation, but he couldn’t understand what kind of formation it was, and why it was so complex and obscure that he couldn’t comprehend it.
Ever since Qin Feilong delved into the path of talismans, even if he couldn’t draw a formation, there was no formation he couldn’t recognize.
Even if he didn’t know what the formation looked like, he could identify its core appearance, but this formation before him made him feel dizzy.
The more Ming Zhaoshuang drew, the more familiar these formations felt.
One, two, three… Ming Zhaoshuang gently depicted them, and the sun and moon at the end of the Mountain River Brush seemed to flicker.
Suddenly, Ming Zhaoshuang fiercely clenched the paper, finally recalling where she had seen this central formation, or rather, where she had seen this rune.
This was a rune, or rather, it was a seal.
She had seen this rune in the Talisman Formation Book written by the Talisman Saint Wei Shuo, and she had seen this seal in her own sea of consciousness.
It had sealed her Innate Ice Spirit Root.
That was right; this body of hers was inextricably linked to Setting Sun Mountain Range.
And the power holder of Setting Sun Mountain Range tens of thousands of years ago was the legendary Talisman Saint Wei Shuo. This meant that her seal was set by someone from Setting Sun Mountain Range.
Why would Setting Sun Mountain Range place a talisman formation on her, and even separate her soul, so that one part existed in the modern era and another in the cultivation world?
Ming Zhaoshuang didn’t think much further and directly began to decompose this formation again.
The core formation was none other than the seal in her mind, but the other formations were not to be underestimated either.
To Ming Zhaoshuang’s surprise, although these formations were vastly different, most of them originated from the Talisman Formation Book written by Wei Shuo, or rather, from Setting Sun Mountain Range.
As she gradually decomposed the formations, Qin Feilong could finally understand them.
His gaze also revealed a look of astonishment.
These formations were simply too exquisite, as if they had gathered the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the essence of the sun and moon!
And Ming Zhaoshuang was actually able to draw them.
Suddenly, Ming Zhaoshuang’s brush paused, and that soul-tearing sensation struck again.
Ming Zhaoshuang: “No, I didn’t even use soul power or spiritual power to draw, so why is my soul power already depleted.”
After all, she could be considered a master of the Virtual Soul Realm!
The System said: “It’s not that your soul power is low, but that the person who set up these formations is too powerful. Although I don’t know who drew this formation, I guess they should be a little more powerful than Wei Shuo.”
Scrutinizing talisman formations also required spiritual power. This formation was so powerful that even if Ming Zhaoshuang didn’t use soul power and spiritual power to wield it, just observing it was enough to consume all her energy.
More powerful than Wei Shuo?
Ming Zhaoshuang frowned and said, “Are there any Talisman Masters in this world more powerful than Wei Shuo?”
The System said: “Host, you need to understand one thing. The Five Sages were only ‘Saints,’ not ‘Gods.’ They were indeed exceptionally talented, and their understanding of the Five Paths was unparalleled, but there must be people more powerful than them.”
“Take the Talisman Saint Wei Shuo for example. Although she has reached the Half-step Divine Soul Realm, her cultivation has barely broken through to the Tribulation Crossing Early Stage. As long as there is a Talisman Master who surpasses her in both aspects, the talisman formation they draw might be the same as hers, but its power might not necessarily be inferior to hers.”
It was much more difficult for Talisman Masters to improve their cultivation than for Sword Cultivators. There were certainly not many people with soul power and spiritual power cultivation levels like Wei Shuo’s.
Ming Zhaoshuang sighed, “Then there are probably not many people left in this world.”
The System said slowly: “Not ‘not many people,’ but only one person.”
Ming Zhaoshuang immediately asked: “Who?”
The System said: “Wei Shuo’s senior disciple, the former Palace Master of Setting Sun Mountain Range, but he… he has probably already perished in the Dragon Domain by now.”
Wei Shuo had a total of three disciples. One was entangled by love and ventured alone into the Dragon Domain; another inherited Setting Sun Mountain Range and served as Palace Master; and the third was Bu Chengle, whom they had seen not long ago.
Her senior disciple’s soul power cultivation reached the Half-step Divine Soul Realm, while his spiritual power cultivation reached the Tribulation Crossing Mid Stage, just slightly more powerful than Wei Shuo.
Upon hearing this, Ming Zhaoshuang had no choice but to put down her brush and say to everyone:
“My cultivation is limited, and I cannot comprehend this formation. I can only go this far.”
If she had to wait for her soul power to fully recover, it would likely take another day. Most importantly, this formation was so complex that even if she spent several days, she might not be able to see through its formation core.
This was what troubled Ming Zhaoshuang the most.
Why did Wei Shuo take so many disciples? One created the Heaven and Earth Yin Yang Formation, another created the Great Sui Secret Realm, and both of them didn’t look like anything good.
Cheng Zhaoyang comforted her, “Don’t worry, this secret realm has another four to five days, or even ten days. We have plenty of time.”
Ming Zhaoshuang nodded, but her breathing unconsciously became lighter.
