White-Robed Chief
chapter-221

Rising Sun Mountain was a towering mountain ridge that stretched for hundreds of miles.

Chu Li stood at the bottom of the mountain. He looked up at the towering mountain ridge and furrowed his brow.

He realized that his Omniscient Mirror did not work. Rising Sun Mountain was shrouded in a layer of invisible energy, cutting off the surveillance from the Omniscient Mirror. It was similar to Tai Hua Valley — both were shrouded in a Formation.

He had never heard that the Rising Sun Mountain actually had a Formation.

No wonder people could not find anything when they stepped into the mountain range. A big Formation that could envelop a mountain ridge was not something that an ordinary person could break. They might even get trapped in the Formation without realizing it.

Even Chu Li could not break the huge Formation before him, in which he had to admit his inferiority.

Before he came here, he went to the Autumn Temple and set up a Formation there. He did his best but he could only envelop a two miles radius of the Autumn Temple. He could not protect the entire Star Bamboo Peak.

Fortunately, Autumn Temple was away from the hustle and bustle. The Star Bamboo Peak was located very far away from the town. The temple's disciples were self-sufficient. They usually grew vegetables and paddy behind the temple so they did not have to go outside to buy things. By doing that, they would also avoid the worldly glitz and focusing on their dharmic base.

They only had to go back once a year to bring back daily use products, as well as things that they could not afford to self-sustain. Therefore, that resolves their last weakness and the disciples of Autumn Temple did not need to go out of the mountain. If someone wanted to attack the Autumn Temple, they would not be able to find a weakness.

However, the only way they could break the Formation he set up was if they found a Formation master. Yet if there were any changes in the Formation, he would be able to sense it immediately and rush back to fix it.

For the sake of Autumn Temple's safety and his worries in the future, Chu Li had racked his brain and resorted to every conceivable means.

Standing at the bottom of Rising Sun Mountain, the Formation was not the only thing Chu Li was frowning at.

There was actually a faction on the peak of the mountain opposite the Rising Sun Mountain. On the hillside, there was a group of buildings — three basilicas and the rest was a string of pavilions. Written on the basilica were three words, "Rising Sun Faction".

Through Chu Li's surveillance, there were two Grandmasters in the Rising Sun Faction.

If it was a first-class faction like Snow Lunar Pavilion and Green Hill, or even Tai Hua Valley, he would not be surprised that there were two Grandmasters. However, this Rising Sun Faction was not famous in the martial arts world. Almost no one knew about this faction and they actually had two Grandmasters which was somewhat unusual. This gave him an inexplicable feeling about it.

With these two Grandmasters, he could not focus on breaking the Formation wholeheartedly. Once he was immersed in the Formation, he had to be focused. Hence, he would be slow to react to the outside world and he would no longer have his usual wariness and strength.

He focused his mind at the bottom of the mountain, trying to figure out ways to break the Formation but he was at a loss. It was far beyond what he had learned.

Formation study was profound and deep. Even him, who was far more intelligent and knowledgeable than all other people in this world, still felt that he was inferior and had to make arduous efforts to study it. In fact, it was more esoteric than martial arts.

Formation involved the natural law that was just like his past life's modern study of cosmology and philosophy — something that could not be fathomed completely.

He had only read six Formation codex, so his knowledge of it was still shallow. He did not know what the Formation before him was and he had never seen it before.

Although having the Omniscient Mirror would give him a great advantage in breaking the Formation, he was powerless in the face of one that he had never seen before; he admitted his inferiority.

The sky reflected his thoughts. Dark clouds gradually gathered and soon, a gale began. Snow came fluttering down like cotton and it was blown around vigorously by the gale.

The weather here was different from the weather in Chong Ming Town. It was still late autumn there while it was already the winter season here.

Heavy snow fell and the world was dyed white in a short time.

He flew into the Rising Sun Faction and entered a woodshed quietly. He sat on the couch and observed the entire Rising Sun Faction.

Tallow candles in the Rising Sun Faction basilica burned brightly, illuminating the basilica as if it was during the daytime.

There were two old men sitting inside the basilica who were drinking tea while they chatted.

One of the old men, who was fat with an amiable face and rosy complexion, looked like a rich old man. While the other old man was thin and cold, with a stone-like, expressionless face.

The fat old man looked outside the basilica and sighed. "Brother, another year has passed and we're one year older. When can we return to Fairy's Capital?"

The thin old man put on a gloomy face but he then lowered his head to drink his tea.

"If we continued to be like this, we're going to be here for the rest of our lives!" The fat old man shook his head and shouted, "I'm so disgruntled!"

"There's no use being disgruntled!" the thin old man said coldly. "The Emperor's decree has been given. No one can disobey it!"

"I've always felt that someone is deliberately spreading the rumor, fooling around with us!" The round and fat old man snorted, "Bullshit Multiform Demon Lord, he's not even here! A decade! How many decades do we have in our lives?"

"If we cannot find the Multiform Demon Lord, we cannot go back even after another decade!"

"That High Official Lee is also incompetent. He can't break the Formation so he let us guard it." The round and fat old man pursed his lips and said in disdain, "And he calls himself the best Formation master in the Imperial House!"

"He's the only Formation master in the Imperial House, so naturally, he's the best," the thin old man said. "I heard the Tempest Temple also has a Formation master. We have to find the Multiform Demon Lord's Abode before they do!"

"Brother, I've seen through it," the fat old man snorted. "The reason the Emperor let us guard this pace is not to get the Multiform Demon Lord's Abode but to prevent the Tempest Temple from getting it!"

"Tempest Temple does not seem interested in this Multiform Demon Lord's Abode."

"They just seem like they're not interested. We can't be sure if they're truly not interested!"

"The full-moon night is around the corner." The thin old man lifted his head and looked out the basilica. He sighed. "This time, I'll go into the Formation in person!"

The fat old man laughed and beamed with joy. "Who would've expected there to be an entrance in the Formation on a full moon night?"

"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. So, we have the advantage since we have more people." The thin old man shook his head.

The Rising Sun Faction had hundreds of people patrolling the Rising Sun Mountain every day. On a very rare occasion, the patrolling disciples had discovered a strange phenomenon. They followed the clues and found a secret of Rising Sun Mountain.

This huge Formation had an entrance every full moon night, but it would only last for a short while. The entrance would disappear after a few breaths' time.

It was a loophole that was almost infeasible to find. However, they saw it and this could only be said to be God's will as it was such a coincidental find.

The two did not report it because they wanted to be the ones who would make the contribution.

After a year, they sent some people inside but they found nothing. Not only did they not find anything, they had also lost more than twenty disciples. These disciples were never to be seen again; not even their corpses were found and this induced fear in the people of the Rising Sun Faction. If this continued, the people's morale would collapse and it would be the end of the faction as well.

This time, the thin old man decided to go inside himself.

"Brother, let's go in together," the round-faced old man said. "In case something goes wrong, we can help each other."

"Someone must guard the outside." The thin old man shook his head. "The people's morale now is pretty low. If there no one guards the outside, these disciples will run away!"

"Not necessarily." The round-faced old man laughed. "If both of us went in, they can be at ease too."

"What if someone comes?" the thin old man scoffed.

The fat old man thought for a moment and sighed. "Brother, forget it. Nobody knows the situation inside. Even if it's us, we're still very weak in the face of the Formation."

"Dead or alive — I'll leave it to fate!" The thin old man said, "I'm also tired of this place. If I cannot get out, report to the higher-ups immediately."

"Brother, I think we should report directly to the higher-ups!" The fat old man frowned. "We can't lose you."

"If so, our efforts during this decade will be in vain!" the thin old man snorted. "We'll achieve nothing!"