Five Elements Jade

"Go! Follow me."

Once he had chosen the place, Liang Zhaohuang immediately led the others out, avoiding several areas where Spirit Demons had gathered, and hurried to the selected Earthen Hill.

When they reached the vicinity, Liang Zhaohuang saw it even more clearly. The Earthen Hill was only a few li around and no more than several zhang high. Calling it a hill was generous; in truth, it was merely a larger mound of earth, a raised platform.

There was hardly any vegetation on the hill either, only clods of dirt and broken stones, utterly ordinary. Even the Spirit Demons there were no more than a dozen porcupines at the Qi Refining level.

But under Liang Zhaohuang's Five Elements Dharma Eye, he could plainly see five-elements spiritual energy gathering within the Earthen Hill, slowly circulating along a particular route.

"This basically confirms it. It should be an arrangement left behind by predecessors."

Liang Zhaohuang looked around in all directions, and he already had a conjecture in his heart.

"It should be a stronghold arranged here by some county magnate family in Ludong County who knows how many years ago. By now, that county magnate family has probably already perished. This stronghold has only left behind some ruins buried in the earth, yet some arrangements are still functioning, gathering five-elements spiritual energy from the surroundings!"

"It has been less than seven thousand years since Ludong County established its cauldron, and the county magnate families that were destroyed can be counted. It was also one that cultivated five-elements magic power."

"After the Spirit Cauldron Secret Realm ends, I should go back and check the county annals. There should be some clues."

As thoughts turned in his mind, Liang Zhaohuang pointed at the Earthen Hill before them and said, "This is where our family will open up its stronghold."

"Is there something special about this place?" Second Sister Liang Zhaoyu asked in some puzzlement. "It looks perfectly ordinary."

Liang Zhaohuang smiled and said, "Good things are all buried beneath the earth."

As he spoke, he climbed onto the Earthen Hill. Those porcupine Spirit Demons all charged at him. Liang Zhaohuang summoned the Golden Lotus, and petal after petal turned into Golden Blades that slashed down. They were only a dozen or so Qi Refining Spirit Demons, and in the blink of an eye, all were slain, delivering over a dozen pieces of Spirit Source Ore.

Liang Zhaohuang waved his hand and put away the Spirit Source Ore, then circulated his Five Elements Dharma Eye as he walked across the Earthen Hill, observing the flow of five-elements spiritual energy beneath the earth and stone. From time to time, he would strike out with a stream of magic power, shattering and clearing away a patch of soil and rock.

With his Spiritual Sense having reached the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, controlling magic power at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage was completely effortless for him, precise down to the smallest detail. He shattered the earth and stone without damaging the arrangements beneath in the slightest.

An inch, a zhang, then a whole stretch—under Liang Zhaohuang's clearing, the Earthen Hill seemed to gradually shed an outer garment, revealing the "formation" within: a field of broken walls and collapsed remnants, the ruins of a formation.

Though it was a ruin, some of the broken formation within could still operate with difficulty, slowly drawing in the power of the world's five elements.

That was enough to show that the person who had originally arranged the formation for this stronghold had absolutely not been low in attainment in the Dao of formations.

"Cultivated five-elements magic power, and was highly skilled in formations!"

With these clues, if he consulted the county annals, he should be able to determine which family had arranged this stronghold back then.

"Liang Ruiqin, come take a look at these formations and see whether they can still be used."

Liang Zhaohuang called over Liang Ruiqin, the fifth of the Rui generation, and gave the order.

The Liang Family's inherited classic, the Five Talismans Scripture, not only allowed Liang Family descendants to awaken Spirit Light of the five-elements attributes and sense five-elements spiritual energy for cultivation, it could also slightly increase the family disciples' Talisman Sense, giving Liang Family disciples more or less some talent in talisman crafting.

However, after four generations of inheritance, with more family disciples, a few odd talents would always appear.

Liang Ruiqin was precisely one of them. His Talisman Sense talent seemed to have gone a little crooked. Compared with talismans, his talent in formations was actually higher, and he was especially skilled in talisman formations—setting up formations with talismans.

Among the Liang Family's more than one hundred people across four generations, he was currently the one with the highest level in formations, though he was still only a first-rank formation master.

Of course, with Liang Chen's talents of the Five Elements Dharma Eye and the Five Elements Restriction-Breaking Spiritual Light, if he were willing to settle his heart and study formations, he would likely surpass him very quickly.

But in these years, Liang Zhaohuang had spent most of his energy on cultivation. Otherwise, he would not have advanced to Foundation Establishment so quickly, and so he had not had the time to study formations.

Moreover, the Liang Family was only a humble gate, and they did not have any good formation inheritance for him to learn and study.

However, among the many materials harvested from the Sun Family this time, there were some decent formation materials. Liang Zhaohuang felt that when he had time later, he could study them and take a look.

"Yes, Little Uncle."

Liang Ruiqin answered, his face excited as he climbed onto the Earthen Hill and began studying those formation ruins.

Not only did he have talent in formations, he was also genuinely full of interest in the Dao of formations. Toward such formation ruins left behind by predecessors, he naturally had no small curiosity.

"Little Uncle, this should originally have been a great five-elements formation, but I can't tell what specific formation it was. At the very least, it was a second-rank or higher formation."

"The part that remains and is still operating now is the foundation of this great five-elements formation. Because it happens to fit the surrounding terrain perfectly, it is barely maintaining operation by borrowing the terrain. Its only function now is to draw five-elements spiritual energy from the surroundings."

Liang Ruiqin studied it for half an hour before finally deriving something useful.

"Terrain?" Liang Zhaohuang's heart stirred, and he turned to look in all four directions.

Sure enough, east of this Earthen Hill, roughly a hundred li away, was a vast stretch of wild forest where wood-element spiritual energy gathered. To the south, more than a hundred li away, was a dead volcano, planted all over with maple woods crimson as fire, called Red Maple Ridge, which was also continuously breathing in and out fire-element spiritual energy.

Speaking of which, that Red Maple Ridge planted full of red maples to the south was precisely one of Liang Zhaohuang's targets, the place where the Millennium Sacred Heart Fruit was grown.

Less than a hundred li west of the Earthen Hill stood a solitary peak, rich with metal qi. To the north, a great river curved around it, wreathed in water-element spiritual energy.

Together with the Earthen Hill located in the middle, this was exactly the terrain of the five elements separately suppressing the five directions, naturally matching a great five-elements formation.

"It seems it is precisely this terrain that allowed a bit of the foundation of these formation ruins to continue operating with difficulty, constantly drawing in five-elements spiritual energy."

"I would guess that the county magnate family who arranged the formation back then deliberately chose this location. Now, though, it has left my Liang Family a blessed land."

Thoughts turned in Liang Zhaohuang's mind.

Speaking of which, taking over the Sun Family Stronghold and building a family stronghold themselves could each be said to have advantages and drawbacks. The Sun Family Stronghold, after all, had been built according to the Sun Family's cultivation inheritance, and there were many aspects that did not accord with the Liang Family's five-elements inheritance. Though taking it over meant having a ready-made stronghold and brought many benefits, they would still need to spend no small amount of energy and resources afterward to slowly modify it.

But if they built their own family stronghold, they could open it up and construct it according to the family's needs from the very beginning. A "blessed land" where the five elements gathered like this was undoubtedly the most suitable place for the Liang Family to open a stronghold. Once it was completed, the benefits would be many; it was just that the initial investment would be too great.

"Little Uncle, I found a treasure!"

At this moment, Liang Ruiqin cleared out the center of the remaining formation, revealing a basin-sized piece of jade that shimmered with five-colored light, glazed and flawless.

"What a huge piece of jade! And it actually has all five elements!"

Liang Zhaoyu and the others had also climbed Earthen Hill by now. When they saw the jade stone, they could not help crying out in surprise. They had traveled outside for many years, yet they had never seen a treasure like this.

"Hm?"

Liang Zhaohuang gave a soft sound of surprise. His Five Elements Dharma Eye was operating, and it was best at observing five-elements spiritual energy, yet although this jade stone had gathered an almost ocean-like mass of five-elements spiritual energy, under his Five Elements Dharma Eye, it did not show in the slightest.