Chapter 861

Chapter 861: Wilderness Residence (Continued)

“Hmm!”

Su Ziling loved this cavern enriched with spiritual energy, but she was quite disgusted by the terrible hygiene. She wrinkled her nose and volunteered, “Let me clean it up!”

“Okay.”

Wang Chen smiled and said, “I’ll find you some helpers.”

He lightly raised his right hand, and the bones on the ground stood upright, quickly assembling into a head, torso, and limbs.

Wang Chen pointed, and a faint spiritual light gleamed at his fingertip, hitting the forehead of the assembled skeleton.

Spirit Finger!

In the next moment, the hastily pieced-together skeleton seemed to suddenly come to life, its body swaying and limbs trembling, with “crack” and “clank” sounds coming from its joints.

A glowing white aura illuminated its chest.

Thus, a sentient skeleton servant was born!

Wang Chen replicated the process and created four more skeleton servants for Su Ziling to command.

These skeleton servants possessed basic intelligence, could understand simple commands, and neither ate nor drank, nor did they sleep. They were the most diligent and hard-working laborers.

Moreover, as long as he injected magical energy at intervals and replaced worn parts, they could be used indefinitely.

Most importantly, the skeleton servants would never betray him or reveal their master’s secrets!

After creating the skeleton servants, Wang Chen let Su Ziling take charge.

He then began to study the formations laid out in the cavern.

This cavern left behind by previous practitioners had no doubt been protected by formations, which appeared to be in a constant operational state.

However, the restrictions of the formations seemed to have failed; otherwise, a black python would not have been able to occupy it, and Wang Chen and Su Ziling would not have entered so easily.

Now, Wang Chen decided to claim this cavern for himself, which meant he had to master the formations; otherwise, he would merely be a tenant, not the master!

The structure of the cavern was quite complete, featuring a hall at the outermost area, with bedrooms, a study, a storage room, and a quiet room inside. However, apart from some stone tables and chairs, nothing else remained.

Using his knowledge of formations, Wang Chen began to explore with his divine sense, slowly probing the area.

After half a day of investigation, he made significant progress.

The formations were embedded beneath the cavern, intricately merged with it, making them extremely tight and secure.

If he forcibly damaged the formations, it would inevitably lead to the collapse of the cavern.

Conversely, the opposite was true as well!

Wang Chen certainly was not there to cause destruction, but he had not found a means to control it. Thus, he decided to take a risk.

The core of the formations was located inside the quiet room. Wang Chen sat down on the ground there, trying to connect his divine sense with the formations while infusing it with true essence.

He approached it from both angles, and suddenly the cavern trembled, revealing intricate and dense lines of talismans on the ground.

Wang Chen felt a jolt in his mind, as if he were losing control!

He was astonished to discover that the rank of the formations in this cavern surpassed his expectations.

It seemed that after a long period of time, it had lost most of its destructive power, including the original restrictions, which allowed Wang Chen to easily “interfere.”

At this point, Wang Chen had no reason to retreat.

He focused his mind and unleashed his divine sense, continuously injecting true essence into the formations.

As long as the true essence filled the formations and transformed them into his own shape, they would surely belong to him!

Although this method of invasion was quite rough, it proved to be very effective.

As time passed, Wang Chen deepened his mastery over the formations, while countless pieces of information flowed back to him.

The name of this cavern’s formation was: Xuan Yuan Formation, which primarily defended and gathered energy, but also had retaliatory abilities!

When a formation had the word “great” in its title, it undoubtedly belonged to a higher rank. With Wang Chen’s current cultivation level, he couldn’t discern the exact rank of the Xuan Yuan Formation at that moment.

But there was a basic judgment—at least above the third-grade!

The third-grade corresponded to the Golden Core level, and the rank of the Xuan Yuan Formation was certainly higher.

Unfortunately, this great formation had been abandoned for too long; although it continued to operate now, it had lost more than half its power, likely having only less than one-tenth of its peak capabilities remaining.

However, it was precisely because of this that it could be mastered by Wang Chen!

Based on the feedback from the formation, a control spell gradually took shape in his Sea of Consciousness.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a rumbling sound. The ground in front of Wang Chen cracked open, and a small altar rose up.

On the altar was a bronze ritual basin.

Wang Chen glanced at it, and understanding filled his heart.

Without hesitation, he opened his Xumi Ring and “dumped” the spirit stones stored inside into the ritual basin.

No matter how many spirit stones he poured in, they would vanish the moment they touched the bottom of the basin, as if the basin were a greedy beast, devouring Wang Chen’s wealth.

To be precise, it was the Xuan Yuan Formation’s demand!

It was clearly starved for too long.

When the number of spirit stones reached a certain level, the true seal characters engraved on the surface of the altar began to light up one by one.

Each lit character reflected in Wang Chen’s Sea of Consciousness, supplementing the contents of the formation’s control spell.

At this point, Wang Chen felt as if he were riding a tiger and could not get off; he had no choice but to continue consuming his precious spirit stones, pouring in spirit fragments, Intermediate Spirits, and even Upper Spirits to complete the spell.

Because if he stopped now, all his previous efforts would be in vain!

No matter how much it hurt to part with them, he had to persist.

Finally, when only about one-fifth of the original spirit stones were left in his Xumi Ring, the formation’s control spell was completed, coalescing into an arcane technique in his Sea of Consciousness!

The next moment, the altar and ritual basin silently sank into the ground.

A fist-sized copper seal floated up, hovering in front of him.

This copper seal had six faces, each one imprinted with a complex rune, the lines smooth and radiant!

Wang Chen couldn’t help but reach out to grasp it, instantly feeling a connection as if they were blood and flesh intertwined.

Xuan Yuan Seal!

With the seal in hand, Wang Chen’s control over the Xuan Yuan Formation instantly rose to a new level.

He effortlessly injected true essence, activating one side of the seal’s rune.

The ground shook violently as an invisible force swept across the entire cavern and rapidly extended to the surface.

The water in the pool churned violently, countless misty tendrils rising up, forming a thick fog that enveloped the little valley.

If someone stood high above and looked down at the little valley now, they would be astonished to find that it had “disappeared”!

What Wang Chen had just activated was the concealment capability of the Xuan Yuan Formation; with the formation’s power augmenting it, not only was it impossible to see with the naked eye, even a Golden Core cultivator’s divine sense would have no hope of breaking through!

Next, he activated the defensive power of the great formation.

From now on, except for Wang Chen and those he recognized, no one—including demons and Evil Spirits—would be able to enter without breaking the formation!

As for the other four sides of the Xuan Yuan Seal’s functions, Wang Chen did not have the ability to activate them for now, leaving that for later.

No matter what, the Xuan Yuan Formation was truly in his grasp!