"Heh heh, that's what I'll do!"
Having made up his mind, Zhunti got to work.
He suppressed his aura to the utmost. He seemed to merge with the space around him. Even a Saint would have trouble detecting him without searching carefully.
He was like the most experienced thief, creeping forward step by step toward the edge of the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation.
As he moved, he plotted in his mind.
What should he do first once he got inside?
Attack Sanxiao directly? No. Those three girls might have lower cultivation than him, but they had the Primordial Golden Dou and were the formation's masters. If he drove them to desperation and they blew up the formation, things would get ugly.
The best approach was to create a diversion.
He could quietly use his magical power to sweep up the magic treasures on the ground, then immediately flee into the distance.
When Sanxiao discovered the treasures had been stolen, they would surely panic and split their attention to chase him.
With no one controlling the formation, its power would be greatly diminished. Then he could seize the opportunity to take all twelve Golden Immortals from the Sect of Explanation, along with Sanxiao!
Perfect!
A flawless plan!
The more Zhunti thought about it, the more certain he was that his plan was foolproof. The leering smile on his face grew ever brighter.
He could already imagine returning to Mount Sumeru, loaded down with a whole haul of "people with fate" and "objects with fate," and seeing the relieved expression on his senior brother Jieyin's eternally sorrowful face.
The West would flourish starting today!
He carefully circled around to the rear of the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation, where the yellow mist was thinnest and the baleful aura relatively weak.
He extended a finger. A faint trace of Buddhist Light gathered at its tip, like a needle, and gently pierced toward the formation barrier formed from the yellow mist.
He intended to make the smallest possible opening, just large enough for himself to slip through.
But just as his fingertip was about to touch the yellow mist,
an inexplicable sense of dread suddenly rose in his heart.
"Hmm?"
Zhunti's movement stopped abruptly.
As a Saint, a sudden premonition was never a coincidence.
It meant danger!
He immediately withdrew his finger and darted backward, hiding once more within the folds of space as he warily scanned his surroundings.
But all around him was silent.
The wind was calm, the waves still.
Apart from the fluctuations of the laws coming from inside the Taiji Diagram in the distance and the baleful aura of the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation itself, there was nothing unusual.
"Strange... Was it just my imagination?"
Zhunti frowned.
Unwilling to accept it, he sent out his divine sense again and carefully searched a radius of a million li.
Still, he found nothing.
"Hmph, trying to scare me!"
Zhunti snorted, deciding that he was probably just too tense.
After all, this was the East, the Mystic Gate's territory. It was only natural that he, a Saint of the Western Teachings, would feel a little uneasy about sneaking over to "scrounge for bargains."
He steadied himself and decided to try again.
This time, he was even more cautious.
He even used a trace of his Saint's origin power to turn his body completely into nothingness, untouched by karma or dust.
He was confident that in this state, even if Taishang and Yuanshi appeared, they would never detect him unless they ran into him face-to-face.
He returned to the edge of the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation.
This time, he did not test it with his finger. Instead, he directly activated his divine ability, preparing to merge his body into the yellow mist and pass through without anyone noticing.
But at the very moment he was about to succeed,
that sense of dread returned!
And it was much stronger than before!
It was as though, somewhere in the unknowable, a pair of icy eyes was watching him.
If he dared to take one more step, a terrible calamity would descend!
"Who is it?!"
Now Zhunti was genuinely rattled.
He abruptly stopped everything he was doing. His divine sense swept wildly in every direction like a storm.
This time, he held nothing back. His Saintly pressure burst forth without restraint as he searched every inch of space.
He refused to believe anyone could remain hidden under his full scrutiny!
But the result was still the same: nothing.
Empty space.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Zhunti's expression darkened.
When something was this strange, there had to be a cause!
It could only mean that the person hiding in the shadows was either more powerful than he was or had a concealment technique far beyond his own!
But in the Primordial Era, who could do that besides Dao Ancestor Hongjun?
Taishang and Yuanshi were fighting.
Tongtian was under house arrest.
His senior brother Jieyin was in the West.
Who else could it be?
A name suddenly sprang into Zhunti's mind.
Nuwa!
The Yao Race Saint who had stayed in Wa Huang Palace and kept to herself ever since the War of the Liches!
Could it be her?
What was she doing here? Watching the show?
No!
Zhunti immediately rejected the idea.
He knew Nuwa's temperament. She never lifted a finger without something to gain. Unless there was an enormous benefit involved, she would never bother leaving her comfortable retreat.
Could she... have come for the treasures and the people inside the formation too?
At the possibility, Zhunti's heart sank.
If it really was Nuwa, things would get troublesome.
They were both Saints, and neither could do anything to the other. If she insisted on competing with him, he might have made the trip for nothing.
"No, I have to find her first!"
A fierce glint flashed in Zhunti's eyes.
He decided not to rush into the formation. Instead, he would force his hidden opponent to reveal herself!
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