Above the source of Tao

Yun Chang'an fell from the locust tree and hit the ground heavily. His head was still dizzy, and the aftereffects of the wine were still lingering. He was in a daze and didn't know how long he had slept.

The night went on until the sky darkened, and then a cold air came. Yun Changan tightened his clothes and mobilized a trace of fire energy in his body to dispel the cold. His slightly pale face was still expressionless. I wonder what he was thinking at this moment.

The sky was gradually showing signs of getting darker. This place was sparsely populated and was one of the few secluded places in the town. It was in Beishanfang, close to the dense forest of Yuan Beasts. Apart from the faint sounds of birds, the only sound around was the biting cold wind.

In the distance, there was an old scholar with fluttering clothes, looking around. He seemed to have discovered Yun Chang'an, and then he walked towards here quickly, bringing with him a breeze and light steps, without making any sound.

Yun Chang'an collected his thoughts at this moment and stood under the old locust tree. He did not practice his boxing in the afterglow of the red sun. Instead, he stood there with the Saint-Slaying Sword in his hand, motionless, thinking about something.

As the footsteps approached, Yun Changan turned around and looked over. His dejected expression disappeared in an instant, and was replaced by a smile. "Senior Lin, why are you here?"

Lin Chong stopped slowly and stood in front of him. Yun Changan turned his head for a moment and noticed the bitter look. He sniffed the smell at the tip of his nose, slightly surprised. He stretched out his arms, stretched his waist and stroked his beard. A gust of cold wind blew, and it was still a bit chilly. Lin Chong whispered, "Did you drink?"

Lin Chong, an old man who has lived for nearly a thousand years, didn't he know what happened to Yun Chang'an? Young men didn't like drinking, because the smell was harmful to the body and intoxicating, which was especially unpleasant. The smell of alcohol was so strong that even if he didn't want to smell it, he couldn't help but inhale it.

Daosheng wine is a strong wine. Although Yun Changan felt that the wine was as sweet as the Hundred Crystal Fruit when he first tasted it, the strength of the wine became more and more noticeable the more he drank it. Of course, if Yun Changan didn't have so many troubles in his mind, he wouldn't have tasted the strong wine. In Lin Chong's eyes, he had lived for nearly a thousand years, and he had drunk all kinds of wine in the world. But in recent years, he stopped thinking about drinking. Time is unforgiving, and it passes by like a meteor in a flash.

Although the loneliness beneath the young man's smile was hidden deep inside, it made Lin Chong see himself when he was younger, feeling just as helpless and confused.

It was a peaceful night like any other night. When he was young, Lin Chong often sat beside the Xiaoquan River that rushed eastward in front of his family's gate and looked up at the sky. The Dingfengzhou family was not a wealthy and prominent family. The Lin family controlled an extremely important commercial and postal passage between the Canaan Continent of the Guitian Domain and the Dingfengzhou Continent of the Xinyang Domain. They relied on guarding the north gate of the Xinyang Domain to collect some entry fees to maintain their livelihood.

The clan was located in the extreme north of Dingfengzhou. One day, a boxing cultivator raised the wind in Dingfengzhou, shaking the light for 90,000 miles. In one day, the wind and clouds surged to the sky. The four continents of Xinyang Domain were all in extreme chaos. The sky was filled with thousands of feet of black clouds, trying to suppress the vitality of the land within a radius of thousands of miles. Dingfengzhou, which was at the center of the storm, inevitably became a place of disaster. In the sky, black clouds rubbed against the lightning of hundreds of feet. Countless clouds gradually gathered together. The Lin family was at the center of the storm. A terrifying divine punishment from heaven fell directly on the earth, destroying most of the cities and mountains in the north of Dingfengzhou, and razing the land within a radius of thousands of miles to the ground.

Inevitably, the Lin family was destroyed in this punishment from heaven, leaving only dilapidated ruins. Lin Chong looked at the scene before him, his mind blank, remembering nothing. He just wanted to see if there were any living relatives in his family, but after searching aimlessly for a whole night, he didn't find a single living thing. In his parents' residence, he only saw two corpses, lying quietly under a heavy stone slab, without any life.

Lin Chong burst into tears and tried desperately to dig out the bodies of his parents. However, at that time, he had neither practiced cultivation nor had the strength. He could only watch helplessly as his parents collapsed into a deep pit as the ground shook, and he was powerless to do anything.

He sat in the dilapidated house, in a daze for several days, without eating, drinking, or speaking.

Until one day, a group of monks wearing red, black and gold armor came to him. Looking at the scene before them, they saw the child again. They came to Lin Chong, looked calm, and said softly, "Are you the only living person here?"

Lin Chong just shook his dull head, unconscious, and muttered to himself in the air, "I am the only one left. My father, mother, and elder brother are all dead, all dead..."

The leading monk felt pity and took Lin Chong in.

Although a thousand years have passed, I still can't forget the feeling at that time. For a long time, Lin Chong was always dull and depressed.

Going to see this young man now, he is exactly the same, except that Yun Chang'an can still greet him with a smile. It is not a big deal. Everyone in the world has unspeakable worries, and no one is an exception.

After Yun Chang'an put away the Saint-Slaying Sword, he still couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it and asked about the reason, "Senior Lin, I'm afraid you came here because of the conference again?"

Lin Chong did not mention this matter. Instead, he stared at him with a smile and said nothing. He put his hands behind his back and looked at the dense forest in the north. During this period of time, except for meeting Yun Chang'an, he came here incarnated all day long for the Hundred Sects Conference. Knowing King Damin's mind, he took many shadow water murals in the dynasty and asked the errand minister to deliver a piece to the Four Mountain Square, just to let those cultivators who could not participate in it to see this conference. The world is not peaceful.

There are naturally Yuan beasts gathering in the depths of the dense forest. After all, this is their territory, and there are many rare treasures unearthed here. There are constant dangers in the caves, and there are huge and invincible Yuan beasts guarding them.

Lin Chong said: "Someone wants to see you."

Yun Changan was puzzled, but after thinking carefully, he could guess roughly, and waved his hand and said: "Senior, if I am not mistaken, you came here this time because of the high officials in your court. Why do you want to see me?"

Yun Chang'an already knew what Lin Chong meant without him having to explain it clearly. A smart person is always smart. Once he realized it, the curiosity of the cultivators in the court about Yun Chang'an reached its peak. Not only his colleagues, but even King Damin, the ruler of the dynasty, learned about the existence of such a young man from Su Tao's mouth and their conversation, and their hearts were full of curiosity.

Especially when Su Tao talked about Yun Chang'an, who was able to master the art of formation. Although the Damin Dynasty had a formation inheritance, those cultivators who claimed to be formation masters seemed to be stretched to the limit even to set up a formation to cover the small town. The formation surrounding the entire town was really not worth looking at. There were formations full of loopholes, and they still called themselves formation masters. If a cultivator who was proficient in formations really came, he could break it with just a flick of his finger.

With his own cultivation level, Lin Chong was able to break it with one punch, so he naturally saw through it. What was the formation of the small town trying to defend against? Those masters who had not even set foot in the Divine Realm dared to lick their faces and call themselves the strongest formation masters in the Dongqing Realm. They were all here. In fact, they were just a group of people who knew some tricks and dared to show off in front of others because they relied on the fact that they had studied formations and other cultivators did not understand them. They were conceited and arrogant.

Lin Chong did not respond. He pointed to the sky with one hand, and pointed at an almost imperceptible barrier of formations. He turned around and asked a question, "The dynasty spent a lot of money to find some formation masters and set up several formations to cover the town. What do you think of these formations?"

Yun Changan scratched his head, not knowing what he meant. "I am not a master of formations, so I cannot give you any advice..."

Lin Chong had some anger between his eyebrows. He patted Yun Changan's shoulder with one hand. His tone was slightly angry and cold, which made him a little scared. He had already made up his mind. If he wanted to hide his incompetence in front of others and didn't want to show that he knew the formation, then he was wrong. "Do you really think that I am a good-tempered person? You rejected me three times and didn't care about anything with you. Can you really hide the fact that you know the formation? Who can hide what happened in the secret realm? A formation hanging over the entire mountain city can't be set up at will, and you broke it. Who would believe that you don't know the formation? Just lie to yourself, don't treat others as fools. Answer my questions truthfully, otherwise you will get into trouble."

Yun Chang'an was held down by this big hand, unable to move, his shoulder was almost broken. He seemed to have forgotten that the old man in front of him was not only the Duke of the Damin Dynasty, but more importantly, he was a real cultivator in the Divine Realm.

The majesty of entering the divine realm cannot be bullied.

Yun Chang'an's forehead was covered with sweat. Seeing that he had no intention of letting go, he opened his mouth with difficulty and murmured, "If you are really angry, please forgive me! But everything I said is true. I am indeed not a master of formations."

Lin Chong was stunned.

Finally, he loosened his grip, his anger still not dissipated, he stretched out his arm, pointed at his nose and said: "Although I'm not a master of formations, I can always explain my views."

Yun Changan gritted his teeth. The pain in his shoulder temporarily disappeared. He rubbed his injured shoulder and murmured, "From the perspective of a junior, the formation is incomplete and the formation points are arranged in a mess. There is no beauty at all. Although it is a composite formation, at first glance, several formations overlap and intersect. In fact, it is just a few formations arranged together."

Lin Chong looked normal as he glanced at Yun Chang'an. What Su Tao had said that day about breaking the formation was not false. Being able to see the flaws in the formation, didn't this prove that Yun Chang'an had indeed studied formations?

Lin Chong smiled, a smile of surprise at discovering a treasure, and came to Yun Changan's side, and then asked: "If the formation of the town was left to you, how would you perform it?"

Yun Changan was muttering in his heart. Of course, he knew how to arrange the formation. The means of performing the formation in this town were too crude. They paid too much attention to some minor details and ignored the most basic method of covering the formation eye. The formation eye was exposed and only relied on a small covering formation to hide it. This was a taboo in the art of formation.

These guys who set up the formation were too careless and had no idea how to hide the eye of the formation within it.

Yun Chang'an looked at Lin Chong, wondering what he was thinking. If he was allowed to perform the formation with his own hands, he would not arrange it like this. He even wished that the center of the formation would disappear completely, as if it was a great formation that did not use ordinary objects to construct the formation. Of course, with his current abilities, he was unable to perform it, and his low level of cultivation was the most fatal reason.

Yun Changan murmured, "Hide the formation in heaven and earth."

This is the only thing that has been determined after thirty years of study in Haoxing Palace. The essence of the formation is no different from other means of survival. It is like a boxing practitioner. The power is accumulated in the fist, and it is not noticeable on a normal day. But when it comes to a life-threatening situation, this power will become an invincible backup. No matter it is hidden in the body or integrated into the world, the essence is to hide.

Once the back-up plan is used, the killing is endless, so no matter what method the cultivators use to fight for luck, it is nothing more than a hidden word that will burst out when necessary.

Lin Chongrao was interested and stroked his beard slowly, feeling very satisfied. They all knew what Yun Changan said. The closer they got to the peak, the more they felt that this hidden word was profound.

Lin Chong did not say anything more and pulled Yun Chang'an. He had no choice. No matter how Yun Chang'an struggled, it was of no avail. The two came to the towering palace, and Yun Chang'an was reluctant. Lin Chong's method of imprisoning the body was exactly the same as Huang Qianlei's eight-character mantra. With just a simple flick of his finger, the body could not move.

After arriving at the palace gate, Yun Chang'an found himself in a somewhat awkward situation. There were nearly a hundred sword-wielding guards guarding the door. The deeper he went, the more he could feel the strong pressure from the guards. Among them was a middle-aged man, holding the hilt of a sword, standing in front of the palace gate. When he saw Lin Chong coming back, he bowed and showed great respect.

After Lin Chong greeted him, the middle-aged guard stepped aside to make way and opened the palace door behind him. From beginning to end, he never even glanced at Yun Chang'an.