Hearing those words, Luo Qiqi's eyes immediately reddened. Unknowingly, Zhang Xuan was already standing before her.
Looking around, she saw more than a hundred formation flags erected in the surroundings. While they were placed in a unique formation, there wasn't the slightest disturbance from them.
"Teacher, are you done laying out your formation?"
"Almost!"
Chuckling lightly, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist, and a formation plate flew out.
Weng!
The formation plate was activated in midair, and spiritual energy was immediately drawn to it, forming a huge vortex.
"This is… Spirit Gathering Formation?"
Luo Qiqi was taken aback.
Wasn't he setting up a formation in the surrounding? Why was he activating a Spirit Gathering Formation now?
Besides, a Spirit Gathering Formation should be used for cultivating. She had never heard of anyone using it in a battle, especially against one that possesses the strength of a Saint.
Roar!
The puppet seemed to be taken aback by the formation plate as well, but after realizing that nothing had happened at all, it immediately charged forward like a rampaging beast.
As the other party swiftly closed the distance between them, Luo Qiqi grew tenser and tenser. But at that moment, the young man before her harrumphed coldly.
Following which, he stomped on the ground, and the area before him suddenly distorted. The puppet had disappeared, and silence returned to the chamber.
It was as if the earlier sight was only a figment of her imagination.
"What is going on?"
Luo Qiqi examined her surroundings anxiously, but she realized that the Crimson Blaze Cauldron and the books were still present. However, the area where the puppet was earlier had disappeared completely from view and from touch, replaced by deep darkness.
It seemed as though the young man's stomp had torn this space away to an entirely different dimension.
"This is… a Hidden Formation?"
A thought suddenly emerged in her mind.
There was only one type of formation which could produce this type of effect—Hidden Formations!
On top of hiding the formation itself, it would also hide a specific space. That was also the reason why they couldn't find the entrance to the underground chamber no matter how thoroughly they searched.
If not for deciphering the formation, even if they were given three more years and dug up the entire ground in that valley, they would not find the entrance leading down here.
She was curious as to what Zhang shi was setting up earlier, but after seeing this bizarre sight, she suddenly recalled the formation flags and such a thought came to mind.
'However… Hidden Formations require an immense amount of spiritual energy to trigger. One has to be at least a 6-star formation master to activate it. How did teacher manage to do so…'
Even though there was no doubt about the matter, she still found it hard to believe.
Grade-6 formations, not to mention such a profound Hidden Formation, required one to possess a cultivation of at least Transcendent Mortal 6-dan to activate. Given that Zhang shi was only at the Consonant Spirit realm… this was inconceivable!
'Could it be… the Spirit Gathering Formation from earlier?'
Luo Qiqi narrowed her eyes.
Just a moment ago, Zhang shi threw out a Spirit Gathering Formation. She didn't think much of it earlier, but putting everything together, she immediately came to a realization.
That grade-5 Spirit Gathering Formation must have served as the engine to activating this Hidden Formation.
Using a formation to activate another… this was the legendary Augmented Formation! Even 6-star pinnacle formation masters would find it hard to install something as complex as this!
Yet, not only had Zhang shi managed to do so, he even did it with incredible ease…
Luo Qiqi's eyes were about to pop out from their sockets.
Formations were formed by harnessing spiritual energy to influence the magnetic field in the environment to create specific phenomena. The concept of 'one plus one equals two' didn't apply here. The interference between two formations could easily prove to be destructive, thus rendering both formations ineffective simultaneously.
To use a Spirit Gathering Formation to activate a Hidden Formation… even though she had just seen it with her own eyes, she still found it hard to believe.
How formidable must one's understanding and control over formations be to achieve such a feat?
Oblivious to Luo Qiqi's shock, Zhang Xuan stepped forward and said, "Alright. Now that we're hidden, let's hurry up and forge the weapon to obtain Grandmaster Wu Yangzi's heritage!"
Given his current capability, it was impossible for him to activate a grade-6 Hidden Formation. In fact, even if he were able to activate it, he didn't have sufficient zhenqi to maintain it for too long.
In a sense, it was similar to a snail pulling a carriage. Even though he did possess strong zhenqi, it was insufficient to maintain the operation of a grade-6 formation.
Left with no other choice, he could only resort to the grade-5 Spirit Gathering Formation in his storage ring.
With this and a few hundred middle-tier spirit stones in his possession, he could activate and maintain the grade-6 Hidden Formation for a fair amount of time.
As for complementing the Spirit Gathering Formation with the Hidden Formation perfectly with one another, with the Library of Heaven's Path in hand, it truly wasn't a difficult problem for him at all.
And as expected, he succeeded eventually.
"Indeed. The urgent matter at hand is to forge a Spirit high-tier weapon, meet the requirements of Grandmaster Wu Yangzi's heritage, and uncover the way to leave this underground chamber…"
Recovering from her shock, Luo Qiqi nodded. Then, with a doubtful voice, she asked, "Is teacher going to forge the weapon personally?"
Even though her teacher was younger than her, he had shown capability that astounded her far too often.
At this point, she wouldn't be astonished even if the other party were to forge a Spirit high-tier weapon.
"Me?"
Zhang Xuan shook his head.
He couldn't do so even if he wanted to!
Blacksmith was one of the occupations of the Upper Nine Paths as well. Similar to pill forging, smithing emphasized heavily on one's basics. As such, it required many years of practice to refine one's movements. Given that Zhang Xuan had never forged a weapon before, how was he supposed to forge a Spirit high-tier weapon all of the sudden?
After all, despite his extensive knowledge of pill forging, he still wasn't able to forge a single pill at all. This was even more so for smithing.
"Teacher won't be doing it?" Luo Qiqi was taken aback.
"I won't. You should do the forging instead!" Zhang Xuan said.
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"Me?" Luo Qiqi was astonished.
"Un. It won't be appropriate for me to acknowledge another person as my teacher. If the other party insists on taking me in as his student after I win his recognition, I would be put in a tight spot!" Zhang Xuan replied nonchalantly.
"This… Your teacher is Yang shi, right? He… imparts the Way of Smithing to you as well?" Luo Qiqi was taken aback.
That day, at the Cleansing Lake, Yang shi rose from a blazing dragon and resolved the calamity with a single shoe. This astounding feat had left her incredibly impressed.
She'd thought that Yang shi was only Zhang shi's cultivation teacher, but to think that he would be teaching the latter smithing as well…
"Indeed!" Zhang Xuan nodded.
"But…"
Luo Qiqi was filled with envy upon hearing those words. But soon, a bitter smile surfaced on her lips, and a deep frown appeared on her forehead. "… I'm only a 5-star primary blacksmith. I don't think that I can forge anything that could satisfy Grandmaster Wu Yangzi…"
"Don't worry, I'll guide you along," Zhang Xuan said.
"Thank you!" Hearing that the other party would guide her along, Luo Qiqi's face flushed in agitation.
One must know that Zhang shi was the person who guided her to forging a grade-6 pill!
"Un. You should quickly recuperate from your injuries first. Otherwise, you might collapse while you're smithing…" Zhang Xuan waved his hands.
"Yes!"
Knowing that her severe injuries would impede her from forging a satisfactory weapon, Luo Qiqi immediately sat down and swallowed a recovery pill.
Gugugu!
Warm medicinal energy flowed through her body, healing her wounds slowly.
Hu!
While the other party was in the midst of recuperating, Zhang Xuan hurried over to the bookshelves.
Honestly speaking, while he did possess some knowledge of smithing, it was terribly limited.
While he had read some books on smithing in Tianxuan Kingdom and Tianwu Kingdom, they were limited in quantity, and as such, he was unable to form a complete system of the art. In other words, his Heaven's Path Smith Art was incomplete.
Under such circumstances, while it was possible for him to guide another to forge an ordinary weapon, a Spirit high-tier weapon was far out of his league.
Thus, the only course of action he could take at the moment was to quickly brush up on his knowledge.
Unlike the Hidden Formation set up outside previously, where the formation was harmonized with nature and gathered spiritual energy from the entire mountain range spanning over several thousand kilometers, this formation was only powered by his middle-tier spirit stones…
Once his hundreds of middle-tier spirit stones were sapped dry, the Hidden Formation would immediately fall apart.
By then, the puppet would be able to get in, and they would be doomed!
Fortunately, the books on the shelves were all regarding smithing.
It was either Grandmaster Wu Yangzi's own collection or it was given to him by the group who kidnapped him so that he could refer to it.
But nevertheless, the presence of these books was good news. Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan placed his finger on the first book and began running.
In a tea's time, he finished gathering the hundred thousand books on the shelves into the Library of Heaven's Path.
'Compile!'
With a thought, the hundred thousand books fused together to form six books.
They were the [Heaven's Path Smith Art] books from 1-star to 6-star.
As long as he studied all of them, his understanding of smithing would become on par with a real 6-star blacksmith.
He began flipping through it.
'Smithing is the art of creating tools suitable for human use. The best tool is a human's body, and the essence to Heaven's Path Smith Art is to forge a weapon through a human's body…'
The profound logic contained within the book left him refreshed, and countless doubts that had baffled him before immediately resolved themselves.
There might be countless variations to pill forging and smithing, but standing at the center of each of them was a set of fundamental laws. And those were exactly what the Heaven's Path books recorded.
Mastering the knowledge within the Heaven's Path Smith Art books meant to master the fundamental laws of smithing. With this, it wouldn't be difficult for him to smith any weapons.
Closing his eyes, Zhang Xuan began studying them book by book.
One hour, two hours, three hours, four hours…
Soon, twelve hours passed.
Zhang Xuan had finished mastering the knowledge within the six Heaven's Path Smith Art books.
At the same time, he had also turned from an ignorant amateur into a true grandmaster blacksmith.
Even if Wu Yangzi were to come to life now, it was unlikely he could compete with Zhang Xuan in the field of smithing.
But of course, this only applied to knowledge, not skill. Despite his extensive and profound knowledge of the art, it was likely that he would fail terribly if he were to try to smith a weapon.
Smithing is was a profound art that required many years of practice. Just forging the 'Metal Ingot' in itself required much practice.
It would be impossible to master the art within an instant.
If Zhang Xuan wanted to pursue this path, he would have to devote substantial time into practicing.
'Looks like there's no physical body cultivation technique here!'
After studying the Heaven's Path Smith Art, Zhang Xuan went through the remaining books and shook his head in disappointment.
His main purpose here was to obtain Wu Yangzi's physical body cultivation technique, but there wasn't one on the bookshelves.
Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan stood up and looked at Luo Qiqi. However, a frown immediately appeared on his face.
"You haven't… recovered from your injury yet?"
Luo Qiqi was still meditating on the spot, recuperating from her injury. Even though her aura felt significantly stronger than before, she hadn't completely recovered from her internal injury yet. Judging from her ragged breathing, she was still in pain.