He used his divine sense to focus on examining the blue stone. However, there were no spiritual fluctuations on it, indicating it was just an ordinary rock. As such, it held no value for a cultivator.
Fire Dragon Shangren held a red communication talisman in his hand, gently tapping it with one finger. The talisman transformed into a streak of fire, circling around him several times before identifying a direction and disappearing in a flash.
“Please wait a moment, someone will come to pick us up.” After releasing the communication talisman, Fire Dragon Shangren said to Zhang Ling.
Zhang Ling nodded. Fire Dragon Shangren had previously introduced him to the personnel involved in exploring the ancient cultivator's ruins.
Although he didn't know the exact number of people, he estimated it to be between five or six. The one who initially discovered this ancient ruin was a friend of his, who was also a Golden Core late-stage expert.
A quarter of an hour later, Zhang Ling suddenly felt something with his divine sense and turned his head to look at the sky on the left.
Fire Dragon Shangren did the same, glancing in that direction before laughing heartily. “It seems I, Fire, am late. Forgive me, Brother Yang.”
While speaking, Fire Dragon Shangren cupped his fist towards that direction.
“Hehe, Brother Fire Dragon, oh, this fellow Daoist has dense earth spiritual power. With him and you, we have a fifty to sixty percent chance of breaking the formation.”
A hearty laugh came from afar. As the sound approached, a white light landed not far from the two.
As the light dissipated, a middle-aged man in a purple Daoist robe was revealed. This man had graying hair but a ruddy complexion, and he held a jade-white horsetail whisk in his hand. Judging by the spiritual fluctuations on his body, he seemed even more profound than Fire Dragon Shangren.
It seemed this person was the friend Fire Dragon Shangren had mentioned.
After seeing Zhang Ling and the other two, the purple-robed Daoist flicked his horsetail whisk and looked at Zhang Ling before offering a salute. “Greetings, fellow Daoist. This old Daoist is Yang Shan.”
Zhang Ling dared not be negligent and returned the greeting, saying, “You are too kind, Daoist brother.”
The three chatted for a few words, and then the Daoist Yang Shan led the two towards the front.
After flying for more than two hundred miles, they saw a tall, yellow earthen mountain. This mountain was about a thousand feet high, entirely composed of loess rocks, with very little green vegetation.
Zhang Ling's divine sense detected that at the foot of the mountain, a dozen or so cultivators were busy with something, building huge stone pillars around the area.
At a glance, there were seven or eight stone pillars, some of which were flashing with spiritual light, seemingly array tools.
In a short while, the three approached the foot of the mountain.
However, Daoist Yang Shan did not land next to those stone pillars but circled around them, landing on a flat boulder about a mile away.
This was a circular boulder, measuring fifty or sixty zhang in diameter. Zhang Ling immediately recognized that it was not naturally formed but rather a platform created by cultivators using spiritual power to alter the structure of the earth and stone.
This was easy for Golden Core cultivators, especially those who cultivated earth-attribute techniques, who could easily alter the structure of earth and stone within a certain range.
More than a dozen stone houses could be seen built on the flat boulder. Clearly, cultivators had been here for some time.
Before Zhang Ling and the others landed on the boulder, the stone doors of three of the stone houses opened on their own, and four cultivators, three men and one woman, walked out.
Zhang Ling took a second look at one of the bald old men among the three.
This person was also a Golden Core late-stage expert, followed by a dark-skinned, one-armed man, who also had a Golden Core early-stage cultivation. The other person was a middle-aged woman with Golden Core mid-stage cultivation.
Seeing the arrival of the three, the bald old man immediately greeted them with a smile.
“Fellow Daoist Yang Shan, with these two fellow Daoists, it seems we will be able to break through that earth prison formation.”
Daoist Yang Shan led Zhang Ling and Fire Dragon Shangren to land next to the others, and with a chuckle, he introduced them to each other.
“This is my friend Fire Dragon Shangren, an honorary elder of Myriad Manifestations City. This fellow Daoist Zhang is a cultivator skilled in earth techniques, invited by Brother Fire Dragon.”
“Fellow Daoist Zhang.”
As he introduced them, the bald old man turned his gaze to Zhang Ling, sizing him up. Zhang Ling gave a slight bow.
At the same time, he was also assessing these cultivators.
The bald old man's surname was Shen, and he was a rogue cultivator. Zhang Ling also sensed deep earth spiritual power from this old man, clearly a cultivator who practiced earth-attribute techniques. The one-armed man behind him was actually Old Shen's disciple, named Xu Weifeng.
However, what was rather strange was that the one-armed man had a Golden Core cultivation, and in principle, restoring his severed arm wouldn't be too difficult. But this person hadn't restored his arm.
The female cultivator, who was also at the Golden Core mid-stage, was a middle-aged beauty. This woman had a charming appearance, wore a black dress, and walked barefoot. A bell sound could be heard as she walked.
The beautiful woman seemed quite interested in Zhang Ling and Fire Dragon Shangren, her bright eyes constantly darting between them.
“My surname is Cao, you can call me Madam Cao.” This woman only said her surname was Cao, and Zhang Ling also sensed a strong earth spiritual power fluctuation on this woman.
The bald Old Shen, the barefoot Madam Cao, plus himself, made for three high-level cultivators practicing earth-attribute techniques.
After getting to know each other, Daoist Yang Shan led them into a stone house to discuss the matter of breaking the formation.
“We have gathered enough people to meet the requirements for breaking the formation. I have thoroughly investigated this ancient ruin. The outer formation is an earth prison formation, which requires the cooperation of three fellow Daoists to break.” Daoist Yang Shan carefully introduced the plan for breaking the formation.
Zhang Ling also had some understanding of the earth prison formation, which was a type of stacked spiritual formation.
The simplest earth prison formation could be broken by Foundation Establishment cultivators. But the reason this formation was so powerful was that it could be used in a stacked manner. Once it exceeded three array eyes, its power would increase exponentially.
For the better part of the day, everyone discussed the matters of breaking the formation.
Zhang Ling also learned that this was an earth prison formation with seven small array eyes. An earth prison formation with seven array eyes was equivalent to a small forbidden grand formation, enough to protect a small sect.
Fortunately, Daoist Yang Shan said that two of the seven array eyes had already been damaged. This was also the basis for him to discover that there was a formation here, thereby determining that there were ancient ruins.
Now that there were three cultivators practicing earth-attribute techniques, as long as they used a golden light formation to temporarily seal three of the array eyes, the remaining task would be much easier. With their strength, they could forcibly use means to break it open.
After roughly discussing it, everyone walked out of the stone house, and the group flew directly towards the foot of the mountain.
