Chapter 307

Chapter 307: Analysis of the Formation

Beichen Ming and the others were invaded by Yin Ming energy, causing them to fall into temporary unconsciousness. Lou Yun couldn’t do anything but wait for them to wake up themselves. However, he walked over to Ao Wushen. By this time, Ao Wushen had stubbornly forced himself to sit up from the ground and had withdrawn the magical weapon that had transformed into armor worn by Lou Yun. He prepared to sit in meditation to regulate his breathing and heal his injuries.

Lou Yun said quietly, "Brother, let me help heal your injuries!"

Ao Wushen was stunned. "How can you help me?"

"I possess the Heavenly Fire Fusang. It has special healing abilities. But my spirit sense cannot penetrate your body, so I need you to guide it using your own spiritual energy to heal your injuries."

Ao Wushen thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I’ll trouble you then!"

Thus, Ao Wushen sat cross-legged properly. Lou Yun placed his palm against Ao Wushen’s back. A cluster of Heavenly Fire Fusang flowed into Ao Wushen’s body through his palm and, guided by Ao Wushen’s will, arrived at his dantian area.

Following Ao Wushen’s signal, Lou Yun had the Heavenly Fire Fusang remain there. From within the flames sprouted a small Fusang Tree, growing at an astonishing speed. Ao Wushen guided the branches of the Fusang Tree to extend towards his injured internal areas, wrapping them, and slowly began repairing the wounds.

Although Ao Wushen was well-traveled and knowledgeable, he had genuinely never seen such a miraculous method of healing injuries. While marvelling inwardly, he also focused his mind, cooperating with the Fusang Fire’s treatment to make the best use of the time for breathing regulation.

Lou Yun, while controlling the Fusang Fire, also periodically monitored Gui You Quan’s movements. Strangely, Gui You Quan was surprisingly quiet. He sat alone in a corner of the stone chamber, also assuming a cross-legged meditative posture with closed eyes, as if deeply absorbed in meditation.

The healing power of Fusang Fire was indeed extraordinary. Less than half an hour later, Ao Wushen nodded and said, "Alright, brother, you can withdraw the Fusang Fire now!"

Under the treatment of the Fusang Fire, the injuries within Ao Wushen’s body were essentially cured. What he needed now was to absorb spiritual energy himself to regulate his breathing fully.

Lou Yun withdrew the Fusang Fire. Shortly after, Beichen Ming and the others woke up one after another. Opening their eyes to see Lou Yun completely unharmed before them, they all felt immense shock, as they had no knowledge of what had happened just now.

Lou Yun had no time to explain in detail. He just had them emulate Ao Wushen: with his help, he would first use the Fusang Fire to heal their respective injuries. The other matters could be addressed after everyone recovered.

So, the four men, filled with perplexity, began healing their wounds with Lou Yun’s assistance.

In this manner, nearly three hours later, all four men’s injuries were basically healed. However, because their spiritual energy had been severely depleted, they were still somewhat weak. Yet their inner confusion had reached its peak. Unable to focus on absorbing spiritual energy just yet, they crowded around Lou Yun, keeping an eye on the solitary Gui You Quan in the distance while waiting for Lou Yun to give a detailed explanation.

Lou Yun could only offer a brief account of what had transpired. After hearing it, the four found it incredibly strange and almost unbelievable that a fearsome person like Gui You Quan would willingly recognize Lou Yun as his master. But the fact was right before their eyes, and they had little choice but to believe it.

Taking advantage of the moment when the others were all meditating, Lou Yun approached Leng Cangqiong. With Chang Xiang’s help, he carefully examined Leng Cangqiong’s injuries.

Leng Cangqiong had originally cultivated two magical weapons. The one of lower rank had been completely destroyed by Gui You Quan, leaving only one magical weapon.

Aside from this, however, Leng Cangqiong’s life was not in immediate danger. His coma was largely due to rage and frustration affecting his heart.

By this time, Ao Wushen, who had fully recovered his cultivation, also came over. Using his spirit sense to assess Leng Cangqiong’s condition, he said, "How about this: you still use your Heavenly Fire Fusang to treat Brother Leng. I’ll use my own spiritual energy to help guide the Heavenly Fire Fusang within him."

Lou Yun nodded and said, "Alright, I’ll trouble you then, brother."

The two men began to cooperate, one providing the Heavenly Fire, the other contributing spiritual energy, to aid Leng Cangqiong’s healing.

Leng Cangqiong regained consciousness moments later. Although he had lost one magical weapon, his remaining one had already reached the emperor rank. Therefore, his cultivation level hadn’t dropped significantly. The moment he opened his eyes, he immediately sensed Lou Yun and Ao Wushen helping him heal. With their aid, he actively began regulating his breathing himself.

Finally, the critical injuries Leng Cangqiong’s body sustained were healed as well. He slowly let out a breath. Lou Yun withdrew the Heavenly Fire Fusang, looking at him with concern.

Lou Yun deeply understood his big brother’s character: supremely proud and aloof. Being severely injured and having a magical weapon destroyed by Gui You Quan in just two moves would be a tremendous blow to his pride. Even though his physical injuries were now healed, Lou Yun couldn’t help but worry that Leng Cangqiong might be taking it very hard.

Leng Cangqiong opened his eyes. His first sight was Gui You Quan sitting in the corner. A piercing cold light shot out from his eyes, and an aura of killing intent instantly radiated from his body.

Lou Yun spoke urgently, "Big brother, don’t act rashly! Hear me out first!"

Leng Cangqiong withdrew his gaze from Gui You Quan. Sweeping his eyes around the entire stone chamber, he saw that everyone else was unharmed. A flicker of confusion naturally appeared on his face.

Lou Yun quickly recounted the events that had just taken place, keeping the explanation brief once more. After listening, Leng Cangqiong remained silent. He didn’t speak, didn’t react, his face utterly devoid of expression, making it impossible to guess his thoughts.

Suddenly, Leng Cangqiong stood up and strode towards Gui You Quan. Startled, Lou Yun leapt up to stop him. However, Leng Cangqiong spoke without turning around, "Third brother, rest assured. I won’t fight him. Because… I am simply no match for him."

Such words, spoken by Leng Cangqiong, the White-haired God of Death himself, would have been unbelievable to anyone who hadn’t heard them firsthand.

Yet these words actually relieved Lou Yun. They meant Leng Cangqiong’s mind was exceptionally clear. He wouldn’t recklessly risk his life against a clearly superior opponent; that was merely the action of a fool, and Leng Cangqiong was definitely not a fool!

Leng Cangqiong stopped before Gui You Quan. Gui You Quan opened his eyes just then, raised his head, and met Leng Cangqiong’s gaze. Both faces were expressionless, making it impossible to guess their thoughts at that moment.

After staring down for a long time, Leng Cangqiong said coldly, "Gui You Quan, I don’t care who you are to my third brother. The debt for you shattering one of my magical weapons today—I will come to collect it from you someday in the future."

Gui You Quan gave an equally cold smile. "I’ll be waiting."

Although Gui You Quan had recognized Lou Yun as his master, it was purely out of respect for Mr. Commoner, to repay a life-saving debt from the past. As for Lou Yun’s brothers, they held no weight in his eyes. Had it not been for Lou Yun’s strict command against it, he wouldn’t have hesitated, even blinking, to kill them all!

Having received Gui You Quan’s response, Leng Cangqiong said nothing more and turned back.

At this moment, Lou Yun finally breathed a sigh of relief. The current situation was the best possible outcome: everyone was safe and sound, and Gui You Quan would no longer kill indiscriminately. So now, the task was to find a way to leave this godforsaken place!

Thus, Lou Yun began to study the structure of the formation set within the Thousand Layer Cave. Strangely enough, the process of replicating the Binding Dragon Formation earlier had brought Lou Yun sudden enlightenment regarding many aspects of formations. Therefore, looking back at the Thousand Layer Cave’s formation now, he had a much deeper and more detailed understanding.

Thinking as he worked, Lou Yun used his finger to trace fine lines on the ground. Gradually, an octagon appeared before everyone. Inside the octagon was a perfect circle, divided by Lou Yun through its center into two semi-circles with slight curves.

Beichen Ming frowned. "This… it looks like a Ba Gua pattern!"

The others nodded in agreement. Indeed, the pattern Lou Yun drew resembled a Ba Gua (Eight Trigrams).

Lou Yun also raised his head and offered a faint smile. "Correct. This represents the entire formation set up within the Thousand Layer Cave. It uses the Ba Gua as its core structure. Although there might be derivations based on the Ba Gua principle, the foundations of formation arts remain fundamentally similar regardless of variations. In essence, it is a Ba Gua Formation!"

Lou Yun started to speak fluently, both explaining to the audience and thinking aloud.

"Within the Thousand Layer Cave, completing each small passageway always reveals eight caves. This can be seen as representing one side of the Ba Gua. The Ba Gua has eight sides, meaning theoretically there are only sixty-four caves in total, far from the ‘thousand layers’ it suggests. However, the outermost ring can rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise, creating the false impression that the number of caves is enormous."

"If you draw lines connecting each pair of opposing sides within the Ba Gua pattern, it forms a closed figure. In reality, this closed figure corresponds to the stone chambers where we find ourselves. There are exactly eight such chambers. Judging by the demon beasts you encountered and those Gui You Quan killed, each chamber should have originally sealed a demon beast. Therefore, the purpose of whoever laid this formation all those years ago was likely to trap these eight demon beasts!"

"Gui You Quan himself killed two beast. Big Brother and the others killed one. That leaves five demon beasts somewhere within these chambers. Although, we don’t need to worry about them. I believe the exit of this formation, the entrance, should be right at the very center, within this circular space. So, if we can reach this center point, we will find the way to leave this Ba Gua Formation!"

As Lou Yun spoke the last part, his finger stabbed decisively at the very center of the pattern he had drawn on the ground.

While everyone else was utterly unfamiliar with formation arts, Lou Yun’s explanation was very straightforward. Combined with their own experience spending several months trapped inside this formation and understanding some of its peculiarities, they all nodded in agreement, finding Lou Yun’s deductions entirely correct.

Beichen Ming gazed at Lou Yun with curiosity. "Third brother, how are you also so knowledgeable regarding formation arts?"

Lou Yun smiled slightly. "I dare not claim expertise, only a superficial grasp of the basics. Besides, the person who originally set up this formation probably only intended to trap demon beasts. No matter how intelligent a demon beast might be, they wouldn’t understand formations. So, this particular formation appears quite simple. If a few more complexities and permutations had been added, I likely wouldn’t have found the exit so easily!"

Beichen Ming shook his head. "Third brother, perhaps you don’t realize it yourself, but the way you just analyzed this formation made you seem, in our eyes, like a true Grandmaster of Formations!"

"Haha, second brother, don’t joke with me! I wouldn’t dare call myself a Grandmaster!" Lou Yun stood up, patted his hands clean, and said, "All right. Now, let’s prepare to leave this place!"