I rely on learning to achieve immortality.

The notes Xu Zhou left for Peng Hu mainly involved basic knowledge of array formations, and did not include any parts related to inheritance.

Firstly, he did not intend to reveal the information he had inherited; secondly, he was certain that what Peng Hu needed most right now was precisely this basic knowledge.

Once the basics are established, given time, Peng Hu will surely make further progress in the art of formations.

When he returns in the future, he may have more insights to share.

Pity.

Peng Hu is old, and years of hard work have severely weakened his qi and blood. His cultivation level is only at the fourth level of Qi Refining. It can be said that he will never be able to establish a foundation in this life, and his great talent will be wasted.

Thinking of this, Xu Zhou felt a pang of regret.

He could tell from Peng Hu's notes that the other man's talent was truly extraordinary.

Despite having barely studied it, relying solely on scattered knowledge of array formations available on the market, he was able to learn and organize his own unique system, which is far superior to rote memorization.

Browsing through his notes and drawing inferences from them can also help compensate for one's lack of inspiration.

Two days later.

Xu Zhou temporarily stopped flipping through his notes.

Li Zelei's mission is finally over, and he can now set off to return to his sect.

Xu Zhou has bought almost all the medicinal herbs and materials he needed, and has almost spent all the spirit stones he had saved. He shouldn't have to worry about this for the next few years.

After bidding farewell to Senior Brother Lu Liao, the two departed.

After leaving the market, Li Zelei remained as cautious as ever, keeping a watchful eye on any strange noises around him.

They had only walked a few dozen miles when they heard another roar that shook the mountains and fields.

Xu Zhou frowned slightly: "What was that just now?"

"It sounds like the roar of a wounded demon beast," Li Zelei said thoughtfully, "but it could also be bait set up by the cultivators."

"It's better to avoid trouble; let's not go this way."

The two reached a consensus and changed their route.

After walking several miles, they encountered two other groups of monks on the road.

One of them was a bald, short man, and the other was an old man in a Taoist robe. Both of them had the aura of being in the middle stage of Qi Refining, and they happened to have come to this path.

The four glanced at each other, but did not approach to talk. They kept their distance and went their separate ways.

This is, after all, the wilderness, so it's best to minimize contact with people unless absolutely necessary.

After walking for a while, Xu Zhou suddenly realized something was wrong.

Before anyone knew it, the surrounding mountains and forests fell silent.

The sounds of wind and insects vanished in that instant.

Xu Zhou's heart tightened suddenly, and he almost subconsciously released his divine sense.

The next moment, his expression changed.

Under the probing of divine sense, the surrounding spiritual energy was flowing unnaturally, slowly converging in a very subtle trajectory.

This change was so subtle that it would have been almost impossible for him to notice it if he hadn't been studying array formations all these days.

"A formation?"

Xu Zhou's heart sank.

Before he could react, the speed at which spiritual energy gathered suddenly surged.

In just a moment, the changes that were originally extremely subtle were displayed before everyone's eyes and became impossible to ignore.

"Who is it?!"

"Something is wrong here!"

The two cultivators walking ahead also noticed the problem and stopped in their tracks.

"not good!"

Li Zelei immediately made a judgment: "Be careful! There's an ambush!"

Before he finished speaking, the old man at the front immediately released his magical artifact, which shot forward like lightning.

The moment he sensed danger, the old man made a decisive move and decided to use his magical artifact to escape.

"Wait a moment!"

Li Zelei tried to warn the old man, but he ignored him and continued to use his magic weapon to escape.

However, he did not escape very far.

He had only flown a few dozen feet when suddenly, it was as if he had crashed into an invisible barrier, and the magical artifact beneath him immediately began to shake uncontrollably.

The old man was terrified and tried desperately to control the magical artifact.

But before he could regain control, a beam of light suddenly shot out from the woods beside the road.

Whoosh!

A beam of light shot forth, piercing the old man's throat in his terrified gaze.

Blood spurted out, and the old man immediately lost his balance, falling to the ground like a tattered rag and disappearing without a trace.

Upon suddenly seeing someone dead, Xu Zhou's face turned pale.

Li Zelei remained calm and spoke in a cold voice:

"Don't move!"

"They're probably just passing bandits randomly grabbing people. We were unlucky and fell into an ambush. We absolutely cannot panic now!"

He wasn't just talking to Xu Zhou, but also to the bald, short man in front of him.

We are in a dangerous situation right now, and we must immediately unite with others who are also in danger in order to have a chance to survive.

The bald, short man clearly realized he had been ambushed. Reminded by Li Zelei, he calmed down and did not act rashly.

He nodded to Li Zelei as a thank you, but did not approach them, remaining wary.

Li Zelei didn't take it seriously.

He had encountered this situation far too many times.

"The surrounding spiritual energy is gathering in an unusual way. It seems we've fallen into someone else's formation."

He looked at the bald, short man: "Did you also come this way because you heard the roars of beasts in the forest?"

The bald, short man shook his head: "I sensed a fluctuation of spiritual energy, and I was afraid that it was the work of a cultivator who had undergone a tribulation, so I came here. I didn't expect there to be a trap here as well."

"That's right."

Li Zelei frowned and said, "It seems we've been tricked. Those previous roars and spiritual energy fluctuations were just a smokescreen, designed to lure us here."

I didn't expect to run into a trap again today. Being trapped here is proving to be difficult to deal with.

Xu Zhou felt a sense of unease.

Although he studied the art of array formations, he mainly learned how to set them up. He had also dabbled in the methods of breaking arrays, but he had not yet mastered them.

Now trapped in someone else's formation, unable to discern its details, he had no idea how to break free.

Fortunately, Li Zelei seems to have experience in this area.

"No matter what kind of formation it is, there is a limit to its distance. As long as you rush out as fast as you can before the formation truly unleashes its power, you can save your life."

Xu Zhou sensed that the spiritual energy was thinnest in a certain direction and immediately pointed it out. Li Zelei didn't think much of it and immediately chose that direction to proceed.

The other bald, short man hesitated slightly, but still followed.

The three did not fly, but each activated several acceleration talismans, transforming into swift shadows and rushing out of the formation.

The further they went, the thinner the eerie spiritual energy within the formation became.

Xu Zhou secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The next moment...

boom!

The sparse spiritual energy around them suddenly trembled!

The previously scattered spiritual energy instantly surged back, as if an invisible giant hand had forcefully pressed them inward!

The three of them came to an abrupt halt in their advance.

Li Zelei was immediately alarmed: "Something's wrong with this formation!"

Before he could finish speaking, a water blade materialized in the void and hurtled straight toward him.

Li Zelei shouted and summoned the golden shield talisman in his hand, which transformed into a golden shield in front of him.

The water blade crashed down on the golden shield, causing a burst of spiritual light that shattered the shield into pieces.

Using the momentum of the explosion, Li Zelei retreated.

"Let's go!"

Only after retreating back into the formation did the surrounding spiritual energy seem to stabilize and stop pressing down on the three of them.

Li Zelei's expression was solemn.

"This formation can not only trap people, but it also has such a powerful attack method."

"This is troublesome."

Xu Zhou frowned slightly.

The trajectory of the spiritual energy flowing when the water blade appeared earlier felt vaguely familiar to him.

The bald, short man's face darkened: "What's next?"

"Find the array point."

Li Zelei immediately replied, "Every formation must have its nodes. If we find these nodes and remove a few, the formation will collapse on its own!"

This is considered basic common sense; even those who haven't studied array formations but have a little knowledge of it know this.

The formation they were in was only a small one, with a coverage area of ​​only a few dozen feet. With a careful search, it shouldn't be difficult to find the formation's points.

"But we need to be quick."

Li Zelei added, "The cultivators have trapped us here but haven't taken the initiative to attack. Clearly, buying time is to their advantage."

If the previous roars and fluctuations in spiritual energy were just a smokescreen, then it must have been set up by their accomplices. Now that we're trapped, those scattered accomplices will definitely converge here.

Once all those cultivators gather, with their superior numbers and the advantage of their formations and terrain, our chances of survival are slim.

The bald, short man was immediately startled, and quickened his pace several notches: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's find the array points!"

Before he could finish speaking, the surrounding environment suddenly changed again.

The once calm center of the formation was suddenly swept by a fierce wind.

Strands of water elemental energy continuously condensed, transforming into water blades that floated in the air.

Tap, tap.

A figure in black robes slowly emerged from the mountains and forests.

He was dragging an array plate in his hand, and at this moment he let out a sinister laugh.

"I didn't expect that someone would know so much about breaking the formation and find a way so quickly."

"Unfortunately, I won't let you find the array point so easily."

He flicked the array plate in his hand, and a bright blue light flashed.

The water blades that had been gathering around them suddenly trembled, and in the next moment, they rushed towards Xu Zhou and his group like a storm.

Li Zelei roared and took a few steps forward. A giant shield shaped like a tortoise shell flew out of his storage bag, releasing a tortoise-patterned light screen that firmly protected everyone behind it.

The water blades kept attacking the group from various angles, but they were always blocked by the turtle shield, only causing flashes of light.

The black-robed cultivator was filled with surprise and doubt.

"They even have a high-grade defensive magic weapon!"

But then he realized that Li Zelei had no way to retaliate, and he sneered smugly.

"However, it's a pity. I'll see if your superior-grade magic weapon can withstand my Profound Vortex Sword Formation!"

Xu Zhou's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Mysterious Vortex...Array?"

In that instant, the vague sense of familiarity he had felt was finally confirmed.

It's him!

The masked monk that day.

The most crucial part of that formation was completed by my own hands.

The mere addition of a layer of sword blade transformation completely altered the energy of the entire formation. No wonder I had felt something was off, yet couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Xu Zhou immediately suppressed the astonishment on his face, so that no one else noticed.

"I never expected that the cultivator I randomly encountered would be using the same formation I've seen before."

"I really don't know whether to say I'm unlucky or lucky."

Seeing that Li Zelei could still handle it, he shifted his gaze to the water blades that were constantly gathering in the air, his eyes gradually falling on the trajectory of the gathering spiritual energy.

Although he had only seen a part of the array diagram, it just so happened that it was the part with a flaw.

"As long as we find the array flag that I repaired, this array won't be difficult to break."

Xu Zhou remained expressionless, but his divine sense had already quietly spread out.