Innate Grand Formation

That faint spatial ripple was like a pebble dropped into an ancient well,

Though slight, it clearly shattered the long-standing silence and waiting.

The trace of pure, familiar Purification Dao Rhyme that drifted from it

Made Yuanshi's Dao Heart jolt as though something soft had gently bumped against it.

It's here! There's no mistake!

This immature aura

Was of the same root and source as the imprint formed by the Heavenly Dao Proclamation deep within his Sea of Consciousness, resonating with it from afar.

Tongtian reacted the fastest.

Almost the instant that ripple appeared,

A concentrated Spiritual Sense, solid as substance, had already extended outward,

Like an invisible tentacle, precisely piercing toward where the ripple spread.

But—

The next moment,

He gave a soft cry of surprise. The flippant look on his face faded somewhat, replaced by seriousness.

"Heh! This has some tricks to it!"

He withdrew his Spiritual Sense and smacked his lips.

"When my Spiritual Sense probed in,

It was like crashing into a bottomless stretch of soft, slippery deep water. There was nowhere to apply force!

Before I could figure it out, that wave-like formation gently swept it aside without even making a sound."

Rather than angering him, it kindled an even stronger interest in his eyes.

He looked like a child who had found a novel toy, or someone who had encountered an opponent worth striking with a sword.

"This turtle shell is interesting!"

Yuanshi ignored Tongtian's clamor.

The moment the ripple appeared, all of his attention had become intensely focused.

Clear Radiance flowed within his eyes.

Countless fine and complex Dao Runes flickered in and out of existence like a flowing galaxy.

Using his finger as a brush and the void as his canvas,

He rapidly traced and deduced.

He tried to seize that fleeting fluctuation and unravel the structure and foundation of this Innate Grand Formation.

His deduction arts were peerlessly exquisite, enough to glimpse the mysteries of heaven and earth.

Yet at this moment, his brow only furrowed tighter.

This Formation was far more profound than he had anticipated!

It was not a fixed formation diagram,

But had completely merged with the Earth Veins, water spirits, and even the unseen Heavenly Secrets and Rules of this sea region,

Naturally formed, without the slightest trace of artifice.

The Formation operated with flawless harmony.

Like a perfect cycle that endlessly refined itself,

It borrowed the power of heaven and earth for its own use, isolating itself from all prying.

What startled him even more was that within the vast and majestic foundation of the Formation,

There faintly flowed a Dao Rhyme that was pure to the extreme—and familiar to the extreme.

Purification!

It was a Purification Power of the same origin as the sensation in his Nascent Soul, yet seemingly more primordial and more pure.

It was not deliberately emitted.

Instead, it naturally merged into every circulation of energy within the grand formation, like breathing,

Washing away every foreign aura, chaotic thought, and even...

His probing Spiritual Sense of deduction!

It left him feeling both troubled and with an indescribable tremor in his heart.

Troubled because this Formation was nearly flawless. Forcing his deductions would not only yield twice the effort for half the result, but might also trigger the Formation's backlash.

The tremor came because this pure Purification Dao Rhyme undoubtedly confirmed the Dao Proclamation.

"Root of World Purification."

What the formation protected was certainly that... existence deeply bound to him by fate.

Thinking of the exquisitely delicate child sleeping with her eyes closed, whom he had glimpsed beneath the Taiji Diagram,

Yuanshi's heart unexpectedly fell into turmoil.

For her to possess the protection of such an Innate Grand Formation,

Her background, foundation, origins, and fortune were clearly far from ordinary.

Laozi stood quietly to one side.

His gaze was neither as urgent as Yuanshi's deductions nor as probing as Tongtian's. He merely calmly "watched" that stretch of void.

After a long while,

Just as Yuanshi's deductions met an obstacle and the crease between his brows deepened,

Laozi slowly spoke.

"The Formation and the island undergo Life-Intertwining Cultivation, wholly integrated as one.

This Formation is not an external covering. It is the manifestation of the Root of World Purification's original Dao Rhyme, naturally formed through the workings of heaven and earth."

He spoke evenly, yet every word was clear and struck at the heart of the matter.

"A forced attack will not only fail to enter it,

It will also violently shake the Earth Veins and Water Spirit Energy, and may...

Damage the origin of the spirit island within the Formation and harm the foundations of the living beings inside."

The words "damage the origin"

Were like a heavy hammer lightly striking Yuanshi's heart.

He immediately ceased all aggressive deductions.

The Clear Radiance around him instantly withdrew, as though afraid his actions had already disturbed what lay inside.

An unprecedented tension seized him.

Before, he had only thought about how to get inside,

Without considering the harm this might cause that little one within.

If her origin were damaged because of him...

Yuanshi did not even dare dwell on it.

What a grave sin would that be?

Moreover, she was...

She was the one destined for him by heaven...

A powerful urge to protect instantly overwhelmed all his curiosity and obsession with breaking the Formation.

"Eldest Brother is right."

Yuanshi's voice carried a solemnity and lingering fear that even he did not notice.

"I was too hasty.

This Formation...

Must not be broken by force."

Tongtian also put away his eager expression and rubbed his chin.

"If we can't attack it, then what do we do?

Are we just supposed to wait here?

Wait for whoever's inside to wake up and open the door for guests?"

He had the most impatient temperament. Making him wait idly was even more unbearable than making him fight.

The Prehistoric World did not count years; time was the cheapest thing of all.

The three Pangu Orthodox thus fell into a brief silence outside this seemingly empty sea region.

In the blink of an eye, several thousand more years drifted by.

Yuanshi no longer attempted to forcefully unravel it.

Instead, holding his breath and focusing his mind, he carefully

Sent his Yuqing Dao Rhyme, born of the same source and Pure and Inactive,

Slowly toward the grand formation like the gentlest Silken Threads.

It was no longer an investigation, no longer a test,

But like knocking on a door, carrying an indescribable...

Gentleness and goodwill as it lightly touched the Formation.

Yet the grand formation still showed no response.

It was like a pure bubble with absolute defenses,

Gently yet firmly rejecting all outside contact, whether malicious or well-intentioned.

Yuanshi's heart gradually sank.

Could there truly be nothing he could do but wait here in misery?

Wait until the seas ran dry and the rocks crumbled, until that little one inside happened to come out on her own?

At the thought of not knowing how many ages he would have to wait, Yuanshi actually felt a strange restlessness.

He suddenly understood a little of how parents waiting for their children to return home must feel.

Just as Yuanshi's emotions rose and fell, another change

Occurred!

This time, it was not a ripple at the edge of the Formation.

Rather, from the deepest part of that grand formation, faintly

Came an extremely weak yet exceptionally clear fluctuation of energy!

That fluctuation was neither an attack nor the operation of the Formation. It was more like something...

Had exploded?

A strange fluctuation mixed with dense Vitality, pure Water Spirit Energy, and a faint scorched smell

Passed through the indestructible Innate Grand Formation and weakly transmitted outward!

Immediately after,

An extremely childish thought filled with obvious indignation and grievance

Was vague and unclear, yet strangely enough, could be caught by the Three Pure Ones:

"Waaah! It failed again! Stupid grass! Rotten fruit! You won't listen at all! Waaah—"

The voice sounded fierce in a childish way, with a hint of tears.

Yuanshi: "!!!"

Tongtian: "???"

Laozi: "..."

The three foremost Great Experts of the Prehistoric World

For a moment,

Were all left frozen where they stood.