Mo Tiange knew that what lay before her was undoubtedly a formation. Yet, she couldn't make heads or tails of it!
Just moments ago, when Luo Fengxue and Wei Jiasi wanted to speak privately, she had left them alone, intending to find a spot not too far away to keep watch. Unexpectedly, she had discovered traces of a formation nearby. That alone wouldn't have been a problem, but despite her knowledge of formations, she couldn't for the life of her figure out what kind of formation this was, let alone how to break it. Helpless, she prepared to go back and find the other two. But to her surprise, without even realizing it, she had already become trapped within the formation and couldn't leave.
A vast expanse of white filled her vision, as if she were in a fog, unable to see anything clearly. Mo Tiange pondered for a moment, then stopped moving. Instead, she sat down cross-legged and expanded her Divine Sense.
Having reached Foundation Establishment, she could now focus her Divine Sense to explore an area spanning several li. Since this was a formation, that distance should be enough to locate its Formation Eye. But the moment she extended her Divine Sense, the surrounding mist seemed to come alive, swirling and surging, intentionally or unintentionally blocking her Divine Sense and pushing it back.
She opened her eyes, her brow deeply furrowed.
This was wrong. The formation before her was so sophisticated; it was definitely not set up by low-intelligence demon beasts. Could there be some senior expert hiding here?
The thought flashed through her mind, and she immediately thought of one possibility. Raising her voice, she called out, "Uncle-Master Shoujing, is that you? Are you here, Uncle-Master Shoujing?"
Her voice slowly dissipated within the mist. Mo Tiange waited for a moment, but no reply ever came.
Had she guessed wrong? She thought for a bit, then slowly began to walk forward.
The mist was as thick as clouds, almost tangible. After taking just a few steps, she found that everything looked the same in all directions—front, back, left, right. She could no longer distinguish any path; there was no way forward.
At that moment, a faint glimmer of light flashed within the mist. She sidestepped, and a bolt of lightning struck the ground beside her, leaving a charred mark.
Mo Tiange was startled, warily scanning her surroundings, but she found no other traces.
Behind her, the clouds and mist gradually coalesced into a human form, walking toward her.
A shiver ran down her spine. Mo Tiange ducked low, and this time, a flying sword embedded itself in the ground. She turned in the direction the sword had come from and gasped, exclaiming without thinking, "Second Uncle!"
Standing amidst the clouds and mist several zhang away was an old man in blue robes with a long beard—the exact image of Ye Jiang before he was injured!
But in the next instant, Mo Tiange grew even more vigilant. She knew Second Uncle was dead. The person before her eyes was definitely not him. Could it be that these clouds could replicate figures from one's imagination?
She had no time to think further. The Ye Jiang before her raised his hand and summoned a Jade Plate.
Seeing this Jade Plate, cold sweat broke out on Mo Tiange's back. This was Second Uncle's Thick Earth Disk, forged by her father after he formed his Core. Its power was extraordinary. But during their escape from Yunwu Mountain, when Second Uncle forced himself to act, this Thick Earth Disk had shattered.
She became even more certain that this was merely a figure replicated from her own memory. Yet, this formation could not only replicate imagined people but also conjure Magical Tools. That was truly remarkable. Judging by that flying sword earlier, its power was likely real too!
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She had no time to wipe it. With a wave of her hand, she summoned the Flying Sky Shuttle.
If this illusion of Second Uncle truly possessed the power he had in life, she might be killed on the spot if she wasn't careful!
The Jade Plate hovered in the air. Ye Jiang's face was expressionless as he formed hand seals with one hand and recited an incantation with his mouth. Streams of Spiritual Qi continuously struck the Jade Plate, causing it to expand until it was as large as a mat.
However, Mo Tiange knew the weakness of this Thick Earth Disk. Named 'Thick Earth,' it was naturally earth-attribute. Earth was thick, heavy, and solid. If she waited until the Spiritual Qi infusion was complete, the Jade Plate simply smashing down would be powerful enough to overwhelm her. But this object needed time to build up its power. If she struck first and seized the initiative, she could restrain it. Immediately, the Flying Sky Shuttle transformed into a golden net, flying directly toward the illusion.
"Ah!" The golden net struck solidly. The illusion let out a miserable scream. Seeing the expression of extreme pain on the face of the Second Uncle before her, Mo Tiange's hand involuntarily trembled.
Upon taking action, she discovered that this conjured person did not have the reaction capabilities of a real person. But it was too lifelike. Even though she knew the Second Uncle before her was fake, the resemblance made it almost impossible for her to strike.
The illusion's eyes suddenly flashed with a malicious light. With a point of its finger, the already enlarged Thick Earth Disk abruptly smashed down toward her.
Mo Tiange's figure flickered, instantly appearing several zhang away. She brought her hands together, and with another cry of pain, golden light pierced through the illusion's body. The Second Uncle before her gradually faded away, and the Thick Earth Disk also shattered inch by inch, dissipating like smoke.
Mo Tiange wiped the sweat from her face, slowly calming her emotions. A fake was a fake after all. Second Uncle would never have such a gaze, nor would he attack her.
She turned and took two steps, then froze once more.
Standing several zhang away was a person with clear, handsome features and a face as still as water—it was the likeness of Qin Xi.
In an instant, Mo Tiange released the Flying Sky Shuttle. However, unlike the illusion of Second Uncle, which had no reaction to her attack, this Qin Xi illusion raised a hand. The golden light gathered and merged, transforming back into the Flying Sky Shuttle, which he caught in his hand.
Mo Tiange was astounded! Ever since she obtained the Flying Sky Shuttle, she knew its power—it could scatter to form an array, gather to become a needle, having form but no substance, killing without a trace. She controlled the formation to operate this object and had refined it for a long time. How could someone so easily take it away!
But this was just a fleeting thought. Now was not the time to ponder this. She reached into her Qiankun Bag and pulled out a flying sword and several small flying daggers.
The flying daggers were originally the sharp teeth of the Iron-Toothed Crocodile. After reaching Foundation Establishment, she had them forged into Magical Tools at a weapon-refining shop within the Xuanqing Sect. Although not particularly powerful, they were excellent for sneak attacks.
The flying sword engaged the enemy head-on, while the flying daggers attacked from behind. Qin Xi didn't use the Flying Sky Shuttle. Instead, he drew a sword—the very sword she had seen before, awe-inspiring in its presence, its blade entirely golden and flickering with flames.
With a light flick of that sword, her flying sword was knocked down. Another flick, and all the flying daggers were sent flying.
Mo Tiange was stunned. Although she still had other Magical Tools on her, she hadn't refined any of them. She could only hurriedly take out several defensive talismans and slap them onto her body, then throw out a wind-element spell talisman.
By the time she finished this, Qin Xi's sword had already arrived. In an instant, it transformed from one into two, two into four, four into eight, attacking from different directions.
Mo Tiange had no time to react. She could only watch helplessly as the swords pierced her body!
Yet, she did not feel the expected, excruciating pain. Instead, her body felt light. The imposing force of the swords vanished in an instant. The Qin Xi before her eyes gradually dissipated, and the Flying Sky Shuttle fell to the ground.
Her heart still racing from the fright, Mo Tiange thought for a moment and understood. The person was fake, the surrounding environment was fake, so the attacks were also fake. They merely used Spiritual Qi fluctuations to create illusions!
Her mind settled. She retrieved her flying sword, the Flying Sky Shuttle, and other items, then sat down cross-legged to slowly recover her Spiritual Qi.
At that moment, another person materialized before her eyes—it was Xu Jingzhi, who had already died!
Xu Jingzhi had perished at the hands of an unknown person during the Foundation Establishment Pill competition. After that, she herself had faced numerous problems and hadn't thought of him again until now. Seeing Xu Jingzhi now inevitably stirred emotions within her.
However, a moment later, she adjusted her mindset, closed her eyes, and focused on regulating her breathing. Sensing Xu Jingzhi's talismans smashing toward her, she didn't move at all. Now that she was at Foundation Establishment, the attacks of Xu Jingzhi, who was still at Qi Refining stage, were very weak.
The talismans trembled upon touching her body and then disappeared, along with Xu Jingzhi.
After that, Murong Yan, Senior Brother Zhou, Luo Fengxue, and others appeared one by one. Having already grasped the secret of the formation, Mo Tiange simply acted as if she saw nothing, silently meditating and regulating her breathing.
When she opened her eyes again, the scenery before her was no longer the indistinct misty sea of clouds, but an endless expanse of yellow sand under a blazing sun.
Mo Tiange thought for a moment, then stood up and looked around.
Boundless yellow sand, a high-hanging sun, and fierce winds—it looked very much like the desert in the far west of Tianji.
She released her Divine Sense again and found that it extended without any obstruction.
Sensing this, Mo Tiange was overjoyed. She immediately closed her eyes and focused on exploring with her Divine Sense.
Soon, a smile appeared on her face. The Formation Eye! She had found the Formation Eye!
After carefully sensing for a while, Mo Tiange opened her eyes and judged the direction.
Based on the feeling from her Divine Sense, the Formation Eye's location was about half a li away. This distance was reasonable. If she could reach the Formation Eye, she should be able to escape.
The yellow sand beneath her feet was extremely soft. Stepping into it, she sank up to her knees, making walking as difficult as trudging through snow—she had originally wanted to fly, but discovered she couldn't fly here. She could only calm herself and move forward step by step.
The wind whipped up the yellow sand, howling mournfully and fiercely striking her face, causing intense pain. The blazing sun beat down, making her feel as if her whole body was about to catch fire.
Sensing this, Mo Tiange was taken aback. She was now a Foundation Establishment cultivator, impervious to heat and cold. Why did she feel uncomfortable under the sun's glare and in pain from the fierce wind?
Realizing this problem, she immediately wanted to circulate the Spiritual Qi within her body to set up a defensive shield around herself—but then she froze. Her body was completely empty. Whether it was her dantian or her meridians, there wasn't a trace of Spiritual Qi!
After standing for a while, sweat broke out on Mo Tiange's face. This formation had actually turned her into a mortal! Wiping the sweat from her face, she reached for her Qiankun Bag—useless. Opening the Qiankun Bag required a tiny bit of Spiritual Qi, and now she didn't even have that.
The Qiankun Bag was unusable. She had no possessions on her, and without Spiritual Qi, she couldn't use a single spell. The only thing she could still mobilize was her Divine Sense. However, her soul-refining technique hadn't yet developed any power; it was completely useless!
After thinking for a while, she calmed her emotions and continued walking step by step toward the location of the Formation Eye. No matter what, finding the Formation Eye would surely bring a turn of events.
She walked with her head down for a while, then turned to look back. The wind and sand were gradually burying her footprints. Closing her eyes again, she sensed the location, only to be shocked once more. The distance to that location hadn't changed at all! She thought rapidly. Had she not moved at all? But the footprints were real. Then, did the location itself move?
Thinking of this, her face couldn't help but pale. If that were the case, she currently had no ability to resist at all!
"Calm down, calm down!" she repeated silently in her heart. Mo Tiange steadied herself and began to think from the beginning.
This formation was clearly an illusion formation, but the fact that she currently had no Spiritual Qi was real. How to break the formation? There was no immediate lethal danger around, but the blazing sun, yellow sand, and fierce wind were a kind of torment. Therefore, it was either meant to trap someone or to test one's Willpower...
After thinking for a while, she gritted her teeth and continued walking forward. If she didn't move, that would align with the 'trapping' intent. If she moved, there might still be a sliver of hope!
Step by step, she didn't know how long she walked. Her vision began to blur, but her Willpower remained firm, her teeth clenched tightly. Her arms ached terribly, her legs could barely lift. The wind grew stronger, the sun more intense... Finally, her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
A long time later, the sky seemed to tear open, revealing a rift. A man in Daoist robes drifted in from outside and muttered softly, "Not bad, little girl. You actually held on for so long. A'Ling, for your sake, I won't make things difficult for her..."