At the very instant Qiong Xiao lowered her head and completely lost consciousness.
A series of cold mechanical notifications exploded through Lin Feng's mind like divine thunder from the Ninth Heaven.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host. Maidservant No. 1 has been successfully recruited. The maidservant contract has been established!"
"Contract effect activated: the Host will obtain full access to all of maidservant Qiong Xiao's current abilities, including cultivation, divine abilities, Law Comprehension, and the right to use her magic treasures!"
Before the words had even faded, a vast torrent of information beyond description surged brutally into Lin Feng's soul consciousness at a speed surpassing light and thought.
This was not a simple transfer of knowledge.
It was a higher-dimensional imprint of laws originating from the Great Dao Origin!
It was precisely Qiong Xiao's Innate Divine Ability as an Innate Being—the Thirty-six Transformations of the Heavenly Dipper Formation!
From the first transformation, Creation and Transformation, to the thirty-sixth transformation, Reviving the Dead, every formation structure, every essence of transformation, and every mystery of deduction became Lin Feng's instinct in that instant.
Buzz!
Lin Feng felt as though the entire world had completely changed before his eyes.
No longer were there merely mountains, rocks, grass, and trees. No longer were there cold stone walls within a mountain cave.
Everything in the world had been deconstructed into the most fundamental "points" and "lines" before him.
Every wisp of spiritual energy flowing through the air possessed its own trajectory. That was a line.
Every speck of dust rolling across the ground was an insignificant point.
Yet when points and lines intertwined, they formed "planes."
The layering of countless planes formed the space within a hundred-mile radius.
And this was the most fundamental form of formations!
So-called formation deployment was merely changing the positions of these points and lines, reshaping the way they connected.
At this moment, Lin Feng had an absurd yet incomparably real feeling.
He was not learning formations.
He was formations themselves!
If he wished, every breath he took could draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and form its own cycle. A single glance could lock onto spatial nodes and lay down a deadly grand formation.
This was a realm approaching the Dao itself.
With a thought, the formation was complete!
Almost at the same time, Qiong Xiao's own understanding of formations surged over like a tide. Lin Feng absorbed it instantly, then discarded it just as quickly as if it were worn-out shoes.
Too crude.
Too immature.
The dozen or so formation transformations that Qiong Xiao had only comprehended after cultivating arduously for countless years naturally surfaced in Lin Feng's mind.
From his current perspective, they were no different from castles built of mud by children, filled with laughable mistakes and flaws.
The utilization rate of spiritual energy was less than thirty percent.
The connections between formation nodes were stiff and clumsy, filled with redundant steps.
As for those so-called transformations, they were even more rigid and dogmatic, incapable of adaptation, wasting the supreme power of this top-tier divine ability for nothing.
"So this is true power..."
Lin Feng murmured softly. An unprecedented sense of solidity filled every part of his body, dispelling the lingering trace of insecurity that had haunted him ever since he crossed into this world.
This was an absolute sense of control, as though heaven and earth were held in the palm of his hand!
Just then, a sudden change occurred!
Within the void where Daoist Black Tiger had vanished, an incomparably venomous remnant soul will drove his natal magic treasure, the Black Tiger Seal, into the most devastating self-destruction!
A black seal compressed to the extreme tore through the void, carrying a vicious aura capable of defiling a primordial spirit and corroding one's Dao foundation as it shot straight toward the exhausted Qiong Xiao in Lin Feng's arms!
Fast!
So fast it had reached the extreme!
This was the final, hate-filled blow of a Golden Immortal cultivator. Its power was enough to fill any existence of the same realm with despair.
Yet in Lin Feng's eyes, this so-called "certain-kill strike" was as slow as a crawling snail.
And its construction was riddled with flaws.
Lin Feng's gaze did not even pause on the Black Tiger Seal.
Within his "vision," the magic treasure's internal structure and the trajectories of its energy circulation were utterly clear.
In pursuit of maximum explosive power, Daoist Black Tiger had compressed all of its energy into the seal's front end, creating a break in the energy supply at its rear that lasted one ten-thousandth of an instant.
To lock onto Qiong Xiao's aura, his divine sense had become overly concentrated, making the entire magic treasure's spirit exceedingly rigid and incapable of handling any sudden changes.
To add that vicious defiling power, he had mixed chaotic negative energy into the core of the spiritual treasure, instead damaging the treasure's own structural stability.
Flaws!
From beginning to end, nothing but flaws!
It was like a work of art riddled with holes, fragile enough to shatter at a single blow.
An expression of extreme disdain tugged at Lin Feng's lips.
Faced with an attack capable of threatening a Golden Immortal's life, he did not even have the interest to lift a finger.
He merely stirred his thoughts slightly.
"Seal."
A single word echoed within his heart.
In an instant, the freely flowing spiritual energy lines and the randomly moving specks of dust in the space before the Black Tiger Seal seemed to have received a supreme decree.
They instantly rearranged and combined according to an incomparably profound pattern.
An invisible, intangible, yet indestructible net formed from space itself appeared out of nowhere!
"Buzz!"
The menacing Black Tiger Seal seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall. It abruptly halted and hung eerily in midair, less than three inches from Qiong Xiao's brow.
No matter how its internal energy surged or raged, it could no longer advance even a fraction.
"This is... Space Laws? No! This is a formation! How is that possible?! How can such a formation exist?!"
A scream of utter terror erupted from within the Black Tiger Seal. In that moment, the remnant soul's Worldview was completely overturned.
There were no formation flags, no formation disk, not even the slightest Mana Fluctuation!
With a single thought, space itself had become the most terrifying prison!
What kind of unimaginable attainment in the art of formations was this?!
This was no longer something human strength could accomplish. This was a god! A devil!
"Noisy."
Lin Feng finally felt a trace of impatience.
The arm holding Qiong Xiao tightened slightly, allowing her to sleep more peacefully in his embrace.
Then his thoughts moved again.
"Crush."
Boom!
The invisible net formed from space abruptly contracted inward, crushing everything within it!
Every spiritual-energy mote and every energy line composing the formation erupted with terrifying force capable of pulverizing stars.
"Crack... Crack, crack..."
A teeth-grinding sound of shattering came from the Black Tiger Seal.
That incomparably sturdy Acquired Spiritual Treasure split apart under the pure, extreme force of spatial compression. Spiderweb-like cracks burst across its surface and rapidly spread across the entire seal.
"No! Spare—"
Daoist Black Tiger's remnant soul could not even finish begging for mercy.
Bang!
A dull, muffled sound rang out.
The Black Tiger Seal, along with the last trace of remnant soul will within it, was forcibly compressed into a cluster of the most primitive energy motes, then completely annihilated and dispersed into nothingness.
It was as though it had never existed in this world.
Absolute silence returned to the cave.
Only then did Lin Feng lower his head and look once more at the sleeping beauty in his arms, whose brows had furrowed from the recent danger. A faint smile rested on his lips.
He extended his other hand, his slender fingers gently brushing across Qiong Xiao's smooth forehead and slowly smoothing away the crease between her brows.
"Sleep."
"From today onward, no one will ever be able to hurt you again."
Before you continue