The water surface was calm, shimmering with ripples. A gentle breeze stirred, reminding Mo Tiange of the sea she had seen when she first arrived at Linhai.
But she knew this was merely an illusion. When it raged, turbulent waves would surge and instantly swallow countless people.
As for the so-called Five Spirits Body-Slaying, Luo Fengxue had explained it to her like this: within it were five types of spiritual energy, each with its own formation. Only by passing through all five formations—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—would one be considered to have passed the trial. There was a small chance for the Five Spirits formation to mutate, selecting two to five of these spiritual energies to combine into a new formation.
Her luck was good. The formation before her had not mutated; it was just an ordinary water spirit formation.
But how was she to break it?
Metal begets water, water begets wood, earth restrains water, water restrains fire. Therefore, metal and fire techniques were unusable; wood and earth spells or magical treasures were suitable.
Mo Tiange pondered briefly. Among her magical treasures, none had a clear Five Spirits attribute. It would be more direct to use talismans.
Having decided, she retrieved earth-attribute spell talismans and soared high into the air.
Looking down from above, this expanse of water seemed boundless, yet without a single ripple, making it impossible to discern any danger. But the calmer it was, the more unusual it became. How could a formation specifically designed to test combat ability be peaceful?
Mo Tiange formed a hand seal, and several talismans shot down toward the water below. The moment these spirit talismans touched the water's surface, they erupted with a deafening, thunderous roar.
Wind and waves finally erupted. The previously calm water surface instantly churned with towering waves that threatened to drag her down, while turbulent spiritual energy attempted to tear her apart.
Mo Tiange hovered mid-air, stabilizing her mind. This formation was only the first hurdle of entering the Myriad Laws of Nature Formation and wasn't particularly formidable. Under her continuous barrage of earth-attribute talismans and spell attacks, the wind and waves soon lost their strength and gradually subsided.
The water beneath her feet began to blur. Mo Tiange revealed a smile. When it came to the Dao of formations, she still had some confidence. This Myriad Laws of Nature Formation was too vast for her to fully comprehend yet, but what was there to fear from a mere Five Spirits formation?
Just as this thought crossed her mind, a new formation materialized, and the smile on her face froze.
After a long moment, she showed a bitter smile and sighed. Indeed, one should never speak too absolutely. Before her raged violent winds, leaping lightning, rolling sand and stones, and blazing flames. She had clearly hit the jackpot—a mutated four-spirit formation of metal, wood, fire, and earth!
This time, she had no leisure to slowly ponder how to break the formation. The gale swept through, lightning struck down, and the spiritual light formed by the four types of spiritual energy all attacked her at once.
She summoned the white silk handkerchief, but instead of transforming into a brick wall, it slowly expanded, wrapping around her like gauze. This was a usage method she had comprehended during her ten years in the Virtue Attainment Tower. While its defense wasn't necessarily higher than the original brick wall, it excelled in flexibility.
Then, she reached into her Qiankun Bag and flung out two objects. They were two stone sculpture puppets.
After obtaining these two puppets, Mo Tiange had spent time refining them and could now wield them skillfully. They were perfect for tackling this Myriad Laws of Nature Formation.
The two stone sculpture puppets landed and charged toward the sand and stones, brandishing their giant swords. They possessed immense strength; for a time, the sword energy they unleashed tore through the sand and stones, forcing even the flames to make way.
But this wasn't enough. Lightning stemmed from metal, wind from wood, earth begets metal, wood restrains earth. These two stone sculpture puppets were wood-attributed and were helpless against the lightning and gale.
Mo Tiange thought for a moment and opened her spirit beast pouch, releasing Xiaohuo.
Xiaohuo was now a peak third-rank spirit beast, far from the first-rank beast she had captured initially, only useful for providing pill fire. With the power of its True Solar Fire, it had long since possessed the capability of a combat spirit beast.
Precisely because of this, Mo Tiange had specifically kept it in her spirit beast pouch to carry with her, rather than letting it roam freely in the Void Heaven Realm as before. Now it finally proved useful.
Xiaohuo had already formed a subordinate contract with her. Master and beast were mentally connected; without Mo Tiange needing to say anything, Xiaohuo had already leaped down, opening its mouth to spew True Solar Fire, engaging the gale and lightning in battle.
Mo Tiange hovered above, using her spiritual sense to command the stone sculpture puppets and Xiaohuo.
After advancing to late Foundation Establishment, relying on the convenience of several treasures on her person, her current strength feared no one below the Core Formation stage. Even if this was a formation left behind from the Ancient Era, given her familiarity with formations, there was nothing to fear.
Before long, under the attacks of the stone sculpture puppets and Xiaohuo, the lightning grew increasingly feeble, the flames gradually extinguished, the gale died down, and the sand and stones settled.
Just as Mo Tiange was about to relax, she saw the four types of spiritual energy on the ground slowly converge. Then, the sand and stones began to stir as if coming to life, gradually coalescing into a stone man.
Seeing this, a grave expression appeared on Mo Tiange's face. This stone man had a body of sand and stone, eyes of fire, and arms of wind and lightning—clearly a fusion of the four spirits.
Formations from the Ancient Era were indeed not simple.
With a wave of her hand, Xiaohuo, who had been glaring at the stone man, ran back into her embrace. Mo Tiange patted its head. "Don't act rashly. Attack only when I tell you to."
Xiaohuo whimpered twice and obediently curled up by her leg.
Mo Tiange focused her spiritual sense, and the two stone sculpture puppets brandished their stone swords, attacking the stone man.
The fire in the stone man's eyes flickered. It turned its head toward the puppets.
Mo Tiange had witnessed the strength of these two stone sculpture puppets before; calling them immensely powerful was no exaggeration. Now, as the stone swords hacked fiercely at the stone man, it neither dodged nor evaded, meeting them head-on.
With a dull, thunderous boom, the stone sculpture puppets were forced back several steps, actually repelled by the stone man!
Mo Tiange's expression turned grave. Fortunately, the material of these stone sculpture puppets was special; although their strength was no match for the stone man, they sustained no damage.
After some thought, Mo Tiange patted Xiaohuo. "Xiaohuo, go attack it. Keep your distance; don't let it touch you."
Xiaohuo grunted in acknowledgment, leaped up from her leg, and directed fire-attribute spells at the stone man.
The stone man moved slowly. Seeing Xiaohuo's spells, it neither dodged nor evaded, merely turned its body. Its sand-and-stone form faced Xiaohuo's True Solar Fire and actually blocked it steadily.
Stone belongs to earth, fire begets earth. Who would have thought this stone man formed from the four spirits would possess rudimentary intelligence?
Mo Tiange had never seen such a formation before and raised an eyebrow.
This stone man was a fusion of the four spirits. The principles of the Five Spirits' mutual generation and restraint couldn't destroy it. It was incredibly sturdy, immensely powerful, and had no spiritual sense at all... None of her attack methods seemed applicable.
Since she was mid-air, the stone man couldn't fly and could only swing gusts of wind and lightning energy at her. Mo Tiange had the white silk handkerchief protect her body, dodging left and right while racking her brains.
Spells wouldn't work, sharp weapons wouldn't work, the Spirit Refining Art wouldn't work... What other methods did she have? Right, trap it! Use a formation to break a formation!
Once decided, Mo Tiange reached into her Qiankun Bag, raised her hand, and flung out several formation flags. These flags were painted with special beast blood, covered in formation patterns. After placing them around the stone man, Mo Tiange took out the largest formation flag, concentrated energy in her finger, her finger moving like flying lightning, and tapped the flag. All the formation flags arranged around the stone man stood up.
Mo Tiange waved the formation flag in her hand. The flags around the stone man all emitted bright light, suddenly intertwining into a net of light that enveloped the stone man completely.
The fire in the stone man's eyes flickered, wind and lightning faintly stirred in its arms, and countless wind and lightning spells poured forth continuously, but it could no longer sense Mo Tiange's presence.
It had no consciousness, no emotions, only simple intelligence. When these formation flags were placed around it, it didn't know to retreat from the formation's range, only standing there woodenly. Now that the formation was fully deployed, it had completely lost Mo Tiange's position. It could only use the simple intelligence bestowed by the creator of this formation to employ wind and lightning attacks, attempting to break the cage trapping it.
If it were an ordinary formation, it would likely have been forcibly broken under its wind and lightning assaults. But however, the one Mo Tiange had set up was an improved formation she had studied from the Mysterious Mechanism Formation Manual, combined with related texts from the Void Heaven Realm. The stone man's wind and lightning strikes hit within the formation, causing the flags to sway unsteadily, yet they never fell.
Mo Tiange continuously channeled spiritual energy into the formation flag, firmly trapping it.
This was a clumsy method. It took hundreds, even thousands, of high-grade spirit stones to activate this massive formation, indicating the immense spiritual energy required. There were three hundred of them entering in total, each undergoing the trial alone. Therefore, the trials they experienced must have spiritual energy limitations; otherwise, others' trials would be affected. As long as she held on for a period, depleting the spiritual energy, the trial would end.
Mo Tiange had no choice. Although she was now at late Foundation Establishment and feared no cultivator below Core Formation, this was, after all, a formation from the Ancient Era, and she had the misfortune of encountering a mutated four-spirit fusion formation. That she could think of this clumsy method to break the formation was still due to her proficiency with formations.
Time passed bit by bit. The sounds of wind and lightning on the stone man finally slowly ceased, and it collapsed with a thunderous crash. The formation flags on the ground, which had endured the stone man's fierce attacks all along, also went limp.
Mo Tiange let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she had taken the right step.
Unfortunately, this stone man was truly formidable. This set of Mysterious Mechanism Maze Formation flags was considered ruined.
She picked up the destroyed maze formation flags from the ground and stored them in her Qiankun Bag. The surrounding scenery slowly transformed; the previously wild, primordial landscape gradually vanished, revealing its true appearance—merely a stone cave. What was frightening was that after such attacks, the surrounding cave walls showed not a single trace.
Mo Tiange pondered thoughtfully. The formation's strength was truly beyond expectations. The several types of talismans she had used in the formation, plus the immense strength of the two stone sculpture puppets and Xiaohuo's True Solar Fire, had actually left no marks on the cave walls. It was evident this formation could completely dissipate all forces within it.
The sound of Xiaohuo's whimpering reached her ears. Mo Tiange followed its gaze and saw it drooling over a spirit herb in the corner.
She laughed, picking Xiaohuo up. "Stop looking. No matter how much you look, it's not yours. If you want spirit medicine, wait until this is over and enter the Void Heaven Realm. You can eat whatever you want there, but not this one."
Xiaohuo let out a dejected grunt and stopped struggling.
Mo Tiange set it aside, took out the medicine pouch specially used for storing spirit herbs, and collected the mature spirit herbs growing on the cave walls and corners, storing them inside. As for those that appeared to be seedlings or hadn't reached sufficient age, she left them to continue growing.
After completing this, she stored the medicine pouch in her Qiankun Bag, took Xiaohuo with her, and walked deeper into the stone cave.