Chapter 354: The Hardships of Constructing the Formation

Ji Hongdao spoke as if he hadn't noticed the other person's disappearance, still saying to himself, "What Lord Shang should worry about is nothing more than the loss of freedom while being inside the Tianxuan Locking Spirit Array."

"As for safety, there is no need to worry."

"Just as the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance has always advertised, Combined Dao Cultivators are already beyond the range of the Tianxuan Locking Spirit Array's capabilities."

"With your strength, Lord Shang, you shouldn't be afraid of a mere Formation, should you?"

"If a little bit of freedom can be exchanged for enough benefits, I believe you will definitely be willing, Lord Shang."

"Aren't you truly curious about what exactly exists beneath the abyss and beyond the mist, Lord Shang?"

After Ji Hongdao finished speaking, Lord Shang's distorted figure reappeared on the crossing dust boat.

He didn't say a word, just looked at Ji Hongdao coldly, waiting for his next words.

Ji Hongdao was not surprised by his return: "Once the Tianxuan Locking Spirit Array is completely constructed, the tianxuan mirror will also complete another sublimation."

"At that time, the unfinished business from two hundred years ago might have a great chance of success."

"Furthermore, if the sublimated tianxuan mirror wants to go a step further, besides encroaching on the Five Old Men Association's territory, it will have no choice but to explore beyond the boundaries."

"As a Breakthrough point, it naturally won't easily give up on the Devouring Yuan White Mist."

"As long as it frees up its energy, the Devouring Yuan White Mist certainly won't be able to stop it. It's just a matter of how much time it takes."

"What Lord Shang needs to do is wait patiently."

"So many years have already passed, do you still care about this moment?"

Lord Shang didn't seem to be deluded by Ji Hongdao, his voice carrying a hint of mockery: "Ji Hongdao, you really haven't changed at all."

Without waiting for a response, his figure disappeared once again.

Ji Hongdao slowly turned his head, looking back at the busy Cultivators inside the distant Eternal Immortal Fortress, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

…

The next day, Li Fan's hard work in the Chizha Abyss officially began.

The Formation Masters responsible for coordinating the construction of the Tianxuan Locking Spirit Array included Xue Mu and five Cultivators belonging to the Ce Zhen Hall of Tian Yu State.

Unlike in ordinary states where one only needs to consider the construction of the Formation without worrying about safety issues.

Constructing a Lock Spirit Array outside this Chizha Abyss could be described as extremely difficult, requiring the combined efforts of many departments.

First, the garrison stationed at the Eternal Immortal Fortress, named the Qingxuan Army, under layers of protection, laboriously carved out empty channels in the White Mist where the Formation could be laid.

Then, Cultivators from the Tianji Hall would come forward to select suitable positions within the channels.

Yanwu Hall Cultivators cooperated with the Qingxuan Army to quickly build dozens of footholds before the White Mist reclaimed the lost ground.

These footholds served as the resting places for Li Fan and the others after each Formation session.

To improve construction efficiency, at the suggestion of an experienced Formation Master named Dou Xingsi, the Lock Spirit Array covering the Chizha Abyss adopted a method of multi-point blooming and simultaneous construction.

The seven Formation Masters each began expanding outward from one direction, and finally, the outer Formation would close up.

Then, they would construct the central core Formation inward.

Finally, when everything was ready, the core Formation pivot would be installed for final debugging.

There were no major problems with the plan, but the actual construction was incredibly arduous.

Even someone as resilient as Li Fan was almost exhausted by the process of building the Formation.

For example, to set up a Formation node in the White Mist, the Devouring Yuan White Mist had to be driven away first.

The vacuum zones opened by the Qingxuan Army could not last long.

Before the White Mist returned, Li Fan had to race against time to complete the creation of a small Formation node so that it could be connected to other Formation structures later.

If a mistake or accident resulted in only a half-finished product within the specified time, Li Fan had to retreat temporarily in the face of the surging Devouring Yuan White Mist.

This was equivalent to all previous efforts being wasted, and he would have to start over next time.

As for the Formation nodes that had already been completed, they were submerged in the thick White Mist.

If any problem occurred and maintenance was needed, Li Fan would have to risk his life, accompanied by several Cultivators, to go deep into the White Mist for investigation.

Not to mention, during the entire process, one had to be constantly on guard against the invasion of the Abyss Demonic Sound.

Most of the time, the outbreaks of the demonic sound were like tides, following a regular pattern.

The Qingxuan Army would provide the timing for each Sound Tide, allowing Li Fan and the others to avoid them.

However, there were also sudden situations where a massive wave of demonic sound would strike without warning.

Although the location where Li Fan was building the Formation was already outside the Chizha Abyss and most of the demonic sound's power had been absorbed by the Eternal Immortal Fortress.

But when truly facing the surge of the demonic sound, Li Fan really felt like a flame that could be extinguished at any moment in a storm.

Those resentful, sharp, and terrifying sounds surrounded him.

Causing his sanity to almost slip away.

On one occasion, the danger was so great that even the protective charge of Huan Zhen dropped by several percentage points.

Fortunately, the Qingxuan Army was also professional in dealing with the Abyss Demonic Sound.

During these critical moments, they remained calm despite the alarm.

They would protect Li Fan in the center while each took out exotic treasures that devoured sound.

A peculiar black stone covered in holes.

A faceless head with only two pairs of ears.

Green grass that danced to the sound.

And so on, in many varieties.

Li Fan had even seen those Red-haired Exotic Beasts from Wanlai Island a few times.

The effect was also extremely significant.

Once summoned, the demonic sound that had been like a mountain-shaking tsunami a moment ago instantly vanished.

However, Li Fan keenly noticed that after devouring a certain amount of demonic sound, these exotic beasts and treasures seemed to undergo some kind of change.

The exotic beasts became more frenzied and difficult to control, while the treasures would occasionally emit strange sounds spontaneously.

Therefore, the Qingxuan Army basically replaced the treasures every once in a while.

When the reserves on hand were exhausted, they would need to go to the Eternal Immortal Fortress to replenish materials.

Besides the sound-canceling treasures, the black death talismans that maintained the outposts and allowed Cultivators to survive in the Devouring Yuan White Mist were also consumables.

If for some reason the allocation was delayed, construction would also be forced to stop.

In short, building the Tianxuan Locking Spirit Array in the vast White Mist was definitely several times more difficult than in an ordinary state.

Perhaps for this reason, even though progress was slow, Li Fan's ranking on the Grand Competition's Golden Ranking List didn't fall behind much.

He basically remained stable around the top one hundred.

The current point gap hadn't widened too much, and the names in the top ten were constantly swapping.

But even more eye-catching than those at the top was the very last place among the seven hundred and eighty-three people.

The Golden Core cultivator Guo Yezhong.

It had been nearly a year since the Grand Competition officially began, and his points still remained at zero, completely motionless.

On the entire list, he was the only one like this, so he was much more conspicuous than the person in first place.

Cultivators speculated that Guo Yezhong had either gone missing and was trapped somewhere, or had directly defected.