29: Hongshiling

Mentally exhausted, Hong Yu fell sound asleep, and by the time he opened his eyes again, it was already broad daylight.

Everything that happened last night was still vivid in his mind, and it caused Hong Yu's mood to sink to an all-time low.

Even a single Ghost Puppet by Xu Jing's side possessed such terrifying means; a Cultivator on the same floor, or even the City Lord who was also at the Foundation Establishment Stage, hadn't noticed the slightest abnormality. One could only imagine how powerful her master must be, and how terrifying the Sect behind her was.

Such a powerful figure, yet she was... by him... Although the process was very pleasurable, Hong Yu really wanted to say that he was actually a victim too!

Hong Yu let out a long sigh; he had truly extinguished any other thoughts now. At the moment, two matters were placed at the top of his priority list.

First was to resolve the issue of the fine as soon as possible. Since Wild Goose Descending could see the problem, there was no reason the Xuan Yun Residence couldn't uncover the truth, so honestly repaying the debt was the optimal solution.

Second was to master the Blood Shadow Movement Technique within a week. He couldn't quite understand the Cultivation Technique, so he still had to rely on the System. However, the name of this technique sounded similar to the Blood Slaughter Sword Technique. Recalling the process of cultivating the Blood Slaughter Sword Technique, Hong Yu felt he needed to prepare essence blood in advance.

But essence blood wasn't like Chinese cabbage in a vegetable market; how could it be so easily obtained just like that?

Right now, he didn't dare to use the System to Cultivate recklessly. Who knew if that idiotic thing would go and steal City Lord Wang's belongings, kill Sun Yang and the others to practice the technique, or gift Mu Xue to him as a Dao Companion?

He still had to wait until he was fully prepared before trying.

Just as Hong Yu was having a massive headache, Wu Tie and Zhao Yuntao knocked on his door.

"Junior Brother Hong, we're ready to set off."

Hong Yu opened the door and asked curiously, "Set off? Where are we going?"

Zhao Yuntao said flatly, "Senior Brother Sun and Senior Sister Mu have gone to do another mission. We need to go to Red Stone Ridge first to investigate the situation and set up a Formation. Once Senior Brother Sun and the others finish their mission and meet up with us, we can kill the tiger demon."

Hearing this explanation, Hong Yu nodded in agreement, and then the three of them headed out.

Several hours later, outside Wolong City, Red Stone Ridge was covered in jagged rocks and devoid of vegetation. Everywhere one looked, there were stones that were dark red, like dried blood; Red Stone Ridge was named after these stones.

Zhao Yuntao stood on a relatively flat area, holding a Formation Plate in his right hand while his left hand formed seals and he muttered incantations. In front of him, many props used for setting up the Formation were laid out in an irregular pattern.

As the final incantation was chanted, Zhao Yuntao's Aura suddenly weakened, and his face turned pale as he gasped for breath.

However, Hong Yu wasn't concerned about his teammate at the moment; instead, he was shocked by the magical scene before him.

Mysterious patterns linked all the items on the field together, which then slowly floated into the air and began to rotate.

Wherever each item passed, it left behind mysterious and obscure runes in the Void Realm, which glowed as they landed on the stones.

Zhao Yuntao braced himself and lightly bit the tip of his tongue; suddenly, a mist of blood sprayed from his mouth.

"Blood dissolves into the Void, heart merges with the Formation, descend!"

With his loud shout, all the rotating objects fell to the ground, and in an instant, a brilliant light flared up, so bright that people couldn't open their eyes.

"The Formation is complete!"

With a satisfied smile on his face, Zhao Yuntao looked ahead with obsession, as if he were looking at his most satisfying masterpiece.

The Formation he had set up was perfectly hidden after the light vanished. Even with his full vision, Hong Yu couldn't detect anything wrong ahead; if he hadn't seen the other party set up the Formation with his own eyes, he might have stumbled right into it without knowing.

Envious of the other's magical methods, Hong Yu couldn't help but ask, "Senior Brother Zhao, is there a story behind this Formation of yours? Is the Dao of Formations difficult to learn?"

Sitting on the ground while regulating his breathing, Zhao Yuntao said with a look of pride, "This Formation is called the Dragon Prison Formation. It is the most powerful composite Formation I can set up, possessing multiple functions such as Aura concealment, soul confusion, offense, and defense. If it weren't for the difficulty of gathering Materials and my limited cultivation, I would dare to fight even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with this Formation."

Seeing that Zhao Yuntao wanted to continue showing off his Formation, Wu Tie quickly pulled him back, gave him a look, and said to Hong Yu, "Junior Brother Zhao is quite talented in Formations, yet it still took him over ten years of hard study to achieve this. Could it be that Junior Brother Hong is very interested in the Dao of Formations?"

Hong Yu rubbed his nose and said, "I am indeed quite interested. I see you guys often use those Formation Plates; they can instantly form a Formation when thrown. Are these things very expensive? Can they make a lot of money?"

Hearing this, Zhao Yuntao's brow furrowed, and he said angrily, "How can you use such vulgar things to defile the Great Dao of Formations?"

Wu Tie reached out and pulled him, and Zhao Yuntao realized his reaction and stopped talking.

After all, in their plan, Hong Yu was already a dead man, so why get angry with him now? If they displeased him and he left, they wouldn't be able to answer to Sun Yang.

So Wu Tie took over the conversation and said, "Junior Brother Hong, you should give up on that idea. There are never any shortcuts on the path of Cultivation. Whether it's the Dao of Formations or other immortal cultivation skills, they are never achieved overnight. Although you see those Great Masters who have succeeded in their cultivation earning a fortune every day, the initial investment they made was an unimaginable astronomical figure. Take Junior Brother Zhao for example; his Family is considered quite wealthy, yet to support his study of the Dao of Formations, the entire Family has supported him alone for so long, and he has only barely achieved something."

Hearing Wu Tie's words, Hong Yu also extinguished his desire to learn Formations, so the three of them waited on the spot for Sun Yang and Mu Xue.

Time passed minute by minute, and finally, as evening approached, Sun Yang and Mu Xue appeared in everyone's sight.

After meeting, the group discussed for a bit and decided to send someone to lure the tiger demon into the Formation.

Originally, they wanted Hong Yu to go, but Hong Yu refused on the grounds that he was unfamiliar with Formations and had never performed a mission before, saying he wanted to first observe how Sun Yang and the others carried out missions.

Left with no choice, Sun Yang had to send the faster Wu Tie.

Wu Tie didn't refuse either, and after a short while, he led a pure white tiger into the Formation.

Only then did Hong Yu have the chance to carefully examine the target of this mission.

The tiger demon was five meters long and two and a half meters high, with a quite terrifying appearance, especially its eyes, which were agile, cold, and majestic; every pounce and leap displayed the demeanor of a king.

After Wu Tie lured it into the Formation, he twisted and turned before escaping from it, leaving only the confused tiger demon to roar in impotent rage within the Formation.

Beasts that can Cultivate have all developed intelligence; although it wasn't high, after the tiger demon tried several times and failed to walk out of the Formation, it began to wreak havoc inside.

Zhao Yuntao also formed hand seals and began to guide the Formation to exert its power!