Primordial Era: Reborn as a Qi Immortal, Steadily Cultivating

Chapter 9 Mountain Protection Formation
The external situation is constantly changing.

The confrontation between the Celestial Court and the Heavenly Court has already taken shape.

Inside the White Bone Cave.

Ma Yuan's mind was completely absorbed in deducing the Great Dao of Formation.

There were no magical artifacts or spiritual roots in front of him.

Instead, it was a light curtain formed by magical power.

On the screen of light, countless mysterious and complex runes appeared and disappeared.

Sometimes they converge into lines, sometimes they intertwine into patterns.

It is constantly being arranged and combined.

This is the protective formation he designed for his Skull Mountain dojo.

"Using mountains and rivers as the base of the formation, spiritual roots as the core of the formation, and drawing upon the spiritual energy of the universe as the driving force, this is the common principle of formations."

Ma Yuan's eyes were closed, and his primordial spirit was running at high speed in his sea of ​​consciousness.

He sorted out and integrated all the knowledge of formations he had gained from his scattered memories of later generations and from his travels over the past thousand years.

However, what he wanted was far more than that.

An ordinary protective array,
Whether it's a maze, an illusion, or a killing formation, it can only defend against attacks temporarily; it cannot prevent those with ulterior motives from observing and breaking through it over a long period.

Especially when facing those powerful beings who are skilled in divination and fortune-telling.

Any formation, even one formed innately, can eventually be seen through.

What Ma Yuan needs to do is to set up an unprecedentedly large formation.

A supreme array centered on his own unique understanding of the Dao of Cause and Effect, capable of completely obfuscating the secrets of heaven, severing cause and effect, and temporarily causing the entire Skull Mountain to disappear from the net of the Dao of Heaven in the primordial world!

This is the ultimate secret to stability.

The idea is wonderful, but it is very difficult to implement.

"Congeal!"

Ma Yuan suddenly opened his eyes and pointed with his finger.

The countless runes on the light screen in front of him froze instantly.

They formed an incredibly complex array, yet it subtly revealed a profound and simple aesthetic.

He didn't hesitate at all.

With a flicker, he appeared above Skull Mountain.

With a flick of his sleeve, countless pre-crafted array flags and array plates transformed into streams of light, shooting with unparalleled precision into various directions of the mountain range and disappearing into the depths of the earth's veins.

Immediately afterwards, he made a hand seal and muttered incantations.

"Using cause and effect as the guide, and all laws as the basis, we isolate the inner and outer, locking away the secrets of heaven! Arise!"

With a low shout, the entire Skull Mountain trembled violently.

Streams of mysterious light, invisible to the naked eye, rose from the earth's veins, intertwining with each other.

In an instant, a huge, invisible shield was formed, enveloping the entire mountain range.

Above the protective shield, wisps of invisible and colorless energy flowed, which was the trace of causal Dao he had comprehended.

With the formation initially complete, Ma Yuan floated in the air, calmly sensing its power.

After a moment, he slowly shook his head, his brows furrowing slightly.

"No...it still doesn't work."

This grand formation appears to possess a myriad of magnificent features.

It can indeed conceal one's aura and prevent divine sense from detecting it.

But Ma Yuan himself could clearly feel it.

Its interior is completely hollow, and its operation is filled with a sense of stagnation.

Let alone severing cause and effect, even the most basic confusion of heavenly secrets is done extremely poorly.

It has the form but not the spirit.

This grand formation is more than enough to trap some ordinary Earth Immortals and Celestial Immortals.

But what if you encounter a Golden Immortal?

Especially those cultivators who are also proficient in the art of formations.

It probably won't be long before they find a weakness and break through it easily.

"Ultimately, the foundation was too shallow."

Ma Yuan descended and landed in front of the cave entrance, letting out a soft sigh.

His understanding of the Dao of Cause and Effect far surpasses that of the vast majority of beings in the primordial world.

However, the art of formations is also a profound and extensive field of study.

It requires a massive accumulation of knowledge. It demands a profound understanding of runes, restrictions, ley lines, celestial bodies, and many other aspects.

His experience in this area is almost zero.

They wanted to create a causal array that was unprecedented in history out of thin air.

It's nothing more than a castle in the air, a pipe dream.

"Formation..."

Ma Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, and several names involuntarily floated into his mind.

In the primordial world, who is the most skilled in this art?

Without a doubt, they are the Three Pure Ones, transformed from the primordial spirit of Pangu.

Each of the Three Pure Ones has its own strengths.

The sage Lao Tzu of the Great Purity governed by non-action.

He was most skilled in alchemy, and his mastery of alchemy was unparalleled in the primordial world.

The Jade Purity Saint, the Primordial Heavenly Venerable, reveres the Heavenly Mandate.

They are most skilled at crafting all kinds of magical treasures, and almost every member of the Chan Sect possesses a high-quality magical treasure.

The Supreme Saint Tongtian Sect Leader was upright and honest, and taught without discrimination.

What it is most praised by later generations is its superb array formation skills!

His disciples set up the Nine-Bend Yellow River Formation, which could cut off the three flowers on a person's head and destroy the five qi in a person's chest. It almost wiped out the twelve golden immortals of the Chan Sect, forcing the Primordial Heavenly Lord to personally intervene.

The Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation he personally set up was said to be unbreakable by any but the Four Sages.

It is the supreme killing formation, the most powerful in the primordial world, renowned throughout history!
Ma Yuan knew that if he could learn even a little bit of the Tongtian Sect Master's array formations, and combine that with his own understanding of cause and effect, he would have a better chance of deduce and perfect the cause-and-effect mountain-protecting array that he envisioned.

Unfortunately……

A complex emotion flashed in Ma Yuan's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

He would never join the Jie Sect.

The Jie Sect, seemingly enjoying the glory of countless immortals paying homage, had in reality become the protagonist of the great calamity of Heaven.

Joining at this point would be tantamount to courting death, actively jumping into the most tragic and devastating calamity of the Investiture of the Gods.

The final outcome.

They either die and disappear from the world, ending up on the Investiture of the Gods list, subject to the whims of others.

They will either be reduced to their original form and become someone else's puppet or mount.

Even the Tongtian Sect Leader himself was eventually imprisoned in the Zixiao Palace and deprived of his freedom.

Such a future ultimately runs counter to his fundamental path of steady longevity.

"The ways of others are ultimately their ways. I still have to walk my own path step by step."

The last vestige of hope and wavering in Ma Yuan's heart vanished completely.

He would rather spend a thousand times more time.

He slowly explored and deduced on his own, and absolutely refused to get involved in the enormous karmic consequences that could lead to his eternal damnation.

Just as Ma Yuan had made up his mind and was preparing to return to his cave to continue his arduous cultivation, starting with the most basic knowledge of formations...

His expression suddenly changed.

A pair of deep eyes suddenly rose, looking over the mountains and the half-finished array he had set up, down to the foot of Skull Mountain.

A figure appeared there silently at some unknown time.

That was a Taoist priest who looked extremely young.

The Taoist priest was dressed in a simple blue Taoist robe.

Her clothes swayed slightly in the mountain breeze, and apart from a wooden hairpin holding her hair up, she wore no other ornaments.

His face was as gentle as jade, and his temperament was calm and serene.

Her eyes were so clear they seemed to reflect the entire sky.

He stood there quietly, neither emanating any powerful aura nor making any probing moves.

He was like a pine tree or a rock in the mountains.

It blends perfectly with the entire world, naturally and without a trace of worldly concerns.

If Ma Yuan hadn't been intimately familiar with every blade of grass and tree on Skull Mountain, and if his primordial spirit hadn't been connected to the earth's veins, he probably wouldn't have been able to detect his presence at all.

Ma Yuan's heart leaped into his throat at that moment.

The person who came was definitely not a good person!

To be able to appear so quietly outside one's own dojo, without even disturbing the great formation in the slightest.

This person's cultivation level is in no way inferior to his!

(End of this chapter)