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The basic theory of formations was to create a special space by utilizing natural terrain, collaborating with Yin and Yang energy, and integrating with the five elements. Depending on specific environment and formation map used, this space could have offensive, defensive, facilitating, or restraining powers.

The patterns on the Seal of Patriarch Sa was in fact a miniature formation map that could seal off and protect an enclosed area. The formation map did not have a name, so Gu Yu gave it one as straightforward as his names always were—Small Sealing Formation.

Such a formation left behind by a celestial master was no trivial matter. In the several months of his seclusion, he had spent most of his time studying the formation. Even so, he was only able to comprehend a limited proportion. He was resolved to use what he’d learnt as the basis, and with some simplification, he came up with a makeshift formation.

Based on the bearing of the mountain vein, the flowing direction of the rivers, and the vein of the earthly energy of Phoenix Mountain, he made 36 formation plates with the jade stones provided by the Tao Family first.

Of those, he buried 35 in various spots on the mountain as the connection points of the formation. The last worked as the eye of the formation, which he buried under that spiritual ginseng.

That was a clever trick. Because the spiritual ginseng had the ability to manipulate the energy veins of mountain and earth, and by using it as the eye of the formation, this ability would be amplified infinitely, making the formation more complete and flexible.

He then took 108 Grade Three spiritual stones as the energy source, which he set into the formation plates.

“All right. Let’s begin!” Right now, Gu Yu was standing in front of the spiritual ginseng. With those words, he pointed at the ground with a finger, and a thin thread of the purest spiritual essence was injected into the eye of the formation.

Hum!

The eye of the formation was activated, giving out a faint and strange sound. The Grade Three spiritual stones glowed, then turned into a beam of light which shot up into the sky.

Immediately after that, another beam of light shot up, followed by a third, a fourth, a fifth… all 36 beams of light took up all the nodes of the earth energy veins.

Gu Yu flew into the air and looked down. The 36 spots were corresponding with one another, and had formed a complete formation map.

“Rustle!”

Meanwhile, the spiritual ginseng also began to work its magic. As its long leaves swayed, there came a loud rumbling sound. Phoenix Mountain looked like a picture that was having its pixels upgraded, and everything within—the sky, the earth, the cloud, the water, all the living things—had a layer of mortal dirt scraped off the surface.

A giant dragon seemed to come to life, with its head on the east and tail on the west. Following the direction of the formation map, it was slowly crawling along the mountain ridges.

The river rushed in turbulent waves, also flowing from the west to the east. It changed direction at the river bend like a folding ruler, which looked like a water dragon turning its head around, corresponding with the mountain dragon in the distance.

The earth energy veins of the entire mountain soon threaded together into an integral whole, which turned into a gigantic whirlpool with a mighty suction power, attracting spiritual essence from all directions. It intertwined and collided with the original spiritual essence of the mountain, and only found the right track to follow after much confusion.

Qian and Kun corresponded, the energy of Yin and Yang were in harmony, and together with the five elements taking effect, the mountains looked higher, the trees greener, and the water clearer… everything was reborn.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Instantly, three figures flew near from different directions and landed under the old tree. They watched the mountain changing with shiny eyes. Even Xiaozhai was visibly excited.

It was a feeling more striking then an earthquake and subtler then a drizzle at the same time. It was penetrating; it was comfortable; it was enlightening.

In a word: awesome!

A hundred times more awesome than a night of love-making!

***

“Great… ouch!”

“Another one has failed. What this kid can do is unnatural!”

“It’s unnatural to us. For them, it’s just normal practice.”

Outside the mountain on the square, a challenger was a split second too late to dodge the first strike and became another one falling under Zheng Kaixin’s sword, raising another wave of sighs from the crowd. That was the seventh of today.

But Zheng Kaixin was a child after all and he was getting tired. He was panting a little when he withdrew his sword this time.

‘Excellent stances, but poor physical strength…’ That man with martial arts training had been observing in the front row the entire time, and now drew his conclusion. Although he had successfully dodged the sword and could enter the mountain gate, he made no such move.

For “entering the mountain gate” was a literal permission: yes, you could begin to climb the mountain.

‘Damn it! What good would it do to me to climb the f**king mountain? I’m not a tourist!’

The rule of the three strikes was an idea the patriarch came up with, and a little game to prevent the bored people from making trouble. The winners could enter the mountain gate, enter the inner mountain, and meet the real immortals… but nowhere in the rules was “becoming a pupil” mentioned, which the crowd realized as well.

But this challenge was still important to them. One could at least make their faces known to the immortal if they got to meet one, which was an opportunity, if not anything else. Hence, everyone was still diving for it.

“Ah!”

It took almost no time for the ninth person to fail. Zheng Kaixin glanced around, forced back his uneven breath, and asked, “The quota today is still ten. Anyone else?”

“…”

No one responded for a while, for everyone knew how hopeless their skills were by now. All of a sudden, a voice rang out. “I’ll have another go!”

The crowd turned towards the direction at the voice. Well, it was that fellow again.

Zheng Kaixin frowned. “You have tried once.”

“Is it mentioned anywhere in your rules that a person cannot try a second time?” asked that fellow.

“Um…”

The kid was speechless, for it was not.

“Oh my, aren’t you ashamed of yourself? A grown man taking advantage of a child?”

“Exactly! Coming out again when he’s tired. Why don’t you come back tomorrow?”

“Bro, where are you from? Your hometown should be ashamed of having you!”

Despite all the taunting remarks, the man did not waver. He only stared at the child and asked, “Since it doesn’t say in the rules, why can’t I try again?”

“Ha… ha…”

Zheng Kaixin was panting more heavily now. The man was good. He was experienced, dexterous, and had very good reflexes. After observing for this whole time, Zheng Kaixin realized that the man might actually make it.

However, he had no fear of what was coming. The first day he picked up the sword, he was taught by Sister Xiao Qiu: “Since you have taken up the sword, you should never fear. For once you let fear get to you, your sword will be a mere piece of wood or iron and nothing more.”

Therefore, he looked into the man’s eyes, and pointed at him with his little wooden sword. “Bring it on!”

‘Wow!’

The fellow was surprised by the child’s demeanor, and felt a little abashed, though he soon fought it back.

He stood there with his legs parted, then set his posture and got ready. The stance the child was the most used to was to thrust forward following a straight line. As long as he chose to use that stance, with his preparation, the man was confident that he could dodge it.

“The first strike!” Zheng Kaixin called out in his childish voice, and moved into action, which was indeed a straight thrust. The man was delighted, and shifted his body beforehand. He was about to steer clear of the sword when there came a sound.

Boom!

The ground shook violently all of a sudden. He lost his footing and was struck by the sword again. However, no one was looking at them any more. The crowd was falling over like ninepins with all color drained from their faces. The earth was shaking, and even the sky seemed darkened.

“Earthquake! Earthquake!”

“No, it’s not that! The mountain is shaking! It’s the mountain!”

“We can’t stay near the mountain gate! Move!”

Like a wildfire spreading across a grassland by the wind, panic was taking over the crowd. Everyone was shouting and screaming as they tried to run away from the square.

“Aaaah!”

Zheng Kaixing was frightened as well, and did not know what to do. He picked a direction at random and was going to run as far away as his short legs could take him. Suddenly, his feet left the ground, for Li Dong had picked him up.

“Brother Dong, what happened?” The child was almost weeping.

“I have no idea. It all happened so suddenly!” Li Dong looked around and saw that Old Shui, Yan Han, and the others were running towards him. He called out, “Brother Shui, is it an earthquake?”

“I don’t think so!” Old Shui ran to them, looking very serious. “They’re probably setting up a formation up there, and we don’t know if they made it yet. Come, let’s help the people first!”

He was the backbone of this lot, and took the lead to direct the crowd so that this wouldn’t turn into a stampede.

The crowd ran away from the mountain gate and stopped somewhere further away. The earth was still shaking, but less violently now. The thousands of people then watched Phoenix Mountain as if they were in a trance. They had stopped thinking and their face all looked blank.

Boom!

Rumble!

It seemed forever before the shaking finally stopped and the earth stood still. Before they could let out a breath of relief, someone shouted again, “Look! The cloud is falling down!”

“The cloud is falling down!”

The crowd turned in unison. From deep inside the green mountain, a cloud of fog was rolling out; the enshrouding mist was spreading out so quickly that it soon rose to halfway up the mountain. The next second, the mountain peak was no longer visible.

Because the cloud of mist was expanding very fast, from the angle of the foot of the mountain, it indeed looked like a cloud falling down from the sky, rolling around on the mountain, then returning to the sky again.

Momentarily, the entire mountain was covered by the mist, which just stopped at the mountain gate and did not expand further.

They could still faintly make out the two gilded words over the gate way: Phoenix Mountain!

“…”

A hush fell over the square. There were over a thousand people here, but no one made a sound.

“We did it! We did it!” Old Shui was the first to react, laughing loudly.”Hahaha! We finally have our own defensive formation!”

Zheng Kaixin and the others also had excitement written all over their face. As members of Phoenix Mountain, they naturally took great pride in this achievement.

Whoosh!

Just then, there was a green flash in the mist, and a few objects flew out. Old Shui caught them in his hand and saw that they were a stack of oblong jade tablets, each with one of their individual names on it.

Immediately after that, Gu Yu’s voice rang out in their ears. “These tokens will give you permission to come in and out of the mountain gate. You can all come back now.”

“Yes!”

Although the man was not standing in front of them, they were so overwhelmed by this sensation that they all bowed involuntarily. Then, with Old Shui leading the way, they gingerly walked to the mountain gate and made a tentative step in.

Whoosh!

With the token in hand, the mist sensed it automatically and split open, making a narrow passageway.

“Haha! Let’s go!”

While they were off, the rest did not want to be left here. Many were calling after them, “Hey! Wait! Wait!”

“Don’t go! I want to join the mountain!”

“Please take me!”

Right away, a few people stumbled after them, but as soon as they made contact with the mist, they were devoured like a stone thrown into a lake.

One of them felt his mind go dark, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw that he was surrounded by the white fog.

Four or five people had come in together, but he was all by himself now, and the others were nowhere to be seen. The fog around him was so thick that he could not see anything else. A moment later, even his auditory sense was deprived.

It was depressing, inhibiting, suffocating, maddening…

In the end, all five senses seemed to have abandoned him, and he was as numb as a living corpse.

The man had long been scared out of his wits. The tiny bit of emotion that was left in him brought tears to his eyes. Yet despite the falling tears, no sound came out of him. His silent open mouth only made everything even more horrifying.

Just as he thought he was going to die, the fog around him heated up and pressed against him. He was then lifted up and fell back despite himself.

Thump!

As he fell heavily on the ground, he was greeted by sunlight, and all his senses were restored.

“…”

Opening his eyes widely, his mind could not digest what had happened. He sat there with a blank face for several seconds before he burst into tears.

“Ah!!!”

Almost at the same time, the others were thrown out as well, all with similar reactions. The impact was worse on some of them, for they were talking incoherently in a confused state of mind.

‘!!!’

Seeing this, the crowd felt a chill seep into their hearts, soon taking up their entire body. When they looked at that Phoenix Mountain hidden behind the fog again, all the slight, indifference, slackness, and willfulness they might have had towards the mountain vanished right away.

Modern people lived in a time of information explosion. With so many stimuli, they were hardly ever truly awed by anything. The respect one held for their superiors at work was a show they put on for their salary. Were they really in awe of their bosses?

No.

But at this moment, they could finally see for themselves what immortals were capable of and how different was their world from this mortal one!

“…”

The silence stretched on.

As the atmosphere of the square grew more depressed, one person seemed to come to himself, for he rushed out and fell to his knees, then banged his forehead loudly on the ground.

“I am Tang Bole from Bin Zhou. I sincerely want to pursue the Great Dao. Please take me in!”

Right after that, a girl ran out and knelt down beside him, crying, “I’m Su Xiaoye and my mum has an incurable disease. Please save her! I’ll do anything!”

Thump! Thump!

Over a dozen people ran out of the crowd after that, kneeling down in a row outside the mountain gate, all with their requests and misfortunes.

While they knelt down there, more people watched silently from behind, as if they were in two different worlds now. Everyone talked about searching for the immortals and looking for a master, but how many of those actually meant it? How many could stick to their decisions?

“Sigh…”

Suddenly, a soft sigh came from somewhere, which sounded both from up in heaven and by their ears. After that, a voice rang out for all the thousands of people on the square to hear.

“Phoenix Mountain will set up an altar to talk about Taoist theories in the beginning of the month of Gao. Anyone that hears this news can attend. There will be trials and those that pass will be accepted as pupils… now, go!”

After those words, the fog surged and grew thicker, covering the faintly visible mountain gate completely. The entire mountain seemed to have disappeared.

***

“Attention! Attention!”

Inside a certain base in the capital city, warning lights suddenly switched on. The monitoring personnel shouted, “Phoenix Mountain has disappeared! We have lost sight of Phoenix Mountain!”

The man in charge jumped at the report and asked right away, “What happened?”

“The satellite surveillance came back empty! We’ve tried everything!”

“Get me an image! High power image!” The head ran towards the screen, feeling he was losing his mind.

The entire base tensed up—they couldn’t help it, for that Phoenix Mountain was a time bomb that could go off just about any time.

Before long, a clear image taken by the satellite was put onto the big screen. The roomful of people saw that there was only a large cloud of mist, and no mountain at all.

“Any meteorological abnormalities in the area?”

“There is no such forecast. Everything appears to be normal!”

“Keep monitoring! I’m making the report!”

Similar situation was going on in several other secret departments. After getting this information, they all reported to their superiors.

As early as four years ago, when Phoenix Mountain and the government reached their cooperative agreement in Urumqi, it was decided that every movement of the mountain was of top priority that went right to the desk of the biggest boss.

After they gathered all the information and analyzed it…

Disappearing or not, that was no longer important. Who on earth could tell them what was with setting up an altar and giving a lecture???