The Deep Secrets of the Formation Array

He sat down cross-legged, pressing both palms against the icy runes.

Now!

The power disguised as the spiritual fluctuations of the "Sky Dream Iceworm" was carefully injected by Huo Yuhao into the vast formation array beneath his feet, slowly, like the finest probe.

One second.

Two seconds.

No response.

Like a drop of water merging into the sea, utterly silent.

Did it work?

The instant that thought flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind—

"Buzz!!!"

Agony!

Indescribable agony exploded from the depths of his spiritual origin!

If that previous "purifying power" had been a grinder, then now he felt as though he had been shoved into a particle collider!

Entirely different yet equally cold and merciless counterforces surged madly from every runic node in the formation array! They were not rejecting him—they were "shearing" him apart!

Like countless infinitesimal surgical blades, they followed the structure of his spiritual power, cutting, tearing, and dismantling it with frenzied precision!

[Warning! High-frequency energy shear field detected!]

[Spiritual connection is being forcibly dismantled! Damage rate to the host's spiritual origin is skyrocketing!]

[Damage rate: 17%... 21%... 25%...]

Damn it! This "firewall" was fucking double-layered!

The pain nearly made Huo Yuhao pass out on the spot, but he gritted his teeth and clung to the last shred of clarity in his consciousness.

"[Thought Palace]! Calculate!"

"Analyze its shearing pattern! Find me the pattern!"

Boom!

Within his spiritual sea, the computational core of the [Thought Palace] erupted with unprecedented brilliance!

Every cut and every vibration of those countless "surgical blades" was transformed into the purest data, refreshing madly within the palace!

[Counterforce pattern analysis in progress...]

[1.74 million high-frequency vibration combinations detected...]

[Performing reverse frequency matching... Match failed!]

[Adjusting algorithm... Initiating "Chaos Theory" model for fuzzy computation...]

Huo Yuhao felt as if his brain were about to burn dry!

That excruciating pain was no longer merely pain. It was more like a mental "dissolution"; his consciousness and memories were beginning to fracture and blur!

No! He couldn't hold on!

At this rate, forget absorbing Sky Dream—this damn formation array would "format" him first!

Yet at the very edge of collapse, the ruthless defiance in Huo Yuhao's bones—the refusal of a transmigrator to be toyed with by fate—erupted completely!

"Hold the line!"

He was not shouting at anyone else. He was issuing the most fundamental command to himself!

"Do you want to spend your whole life as that useless trash everyone can bully?"

"Do you want to let Mother's hatred go unanswered?"

"Do you want to be played to death like a chess piece by that god sitting high above?"

"No!"

"I refuse to accept that!"

He abruptly poured in even more spiritual power, heedless of the consequences!

Pain? Then let it hurt even more!

You want to dismantle me? Then I'll give you more—let's see whether you can break it down faster, or I can replenish it faster!

It was an almost self-destructive act of madness!

But amid that madness, the chaotic waterfall of data within the [Thought Palace] suddenly became clear for an instant!

[Resonance singularity detected!]

[At the 970,000th vibration frequency, the energy shearing effect weakens for 0.001 seconds!]

He found it!

That was it!

Huo Yuhao instantly seized this lifeline!

He stopped resisting blindly. Enduring the agonizing pain that seemed to tear his soul apart, he began adjusting the vibration frequency of his spiritual power with unimaginable precision!

It was like threading a needle with a strand of hair in a storm-tossed sea!

[Calibrating frequency... 97.13%... 97.84%... 99.99%...]

[Calibration successful!]

Buzz—

In that instant, it felt as though the entire world had fallen silent.

The excruciating pain that could have crushed his soul receded like the tide.

His spiritual power was no longer being sliced apart. Instead, it was guided by a gentle force, smoothly passing through layer upon layer of defensive systems and flowing toward the deepest, most central part of the formation!

He had succeeded!

He had truly penetrated this damned "firewall"!

Like a traveler who had crossed billions of light-years, Huo Yuhao's spiritual power had finally reached the end of its journey.

He "saw" it.

No, he did not see it with his eyes.

It was a pure form of perception.

His spiritual power touched a vast, ancient sea of consciousness, silent as death.

There were no waves, no sounds within that sea—only boundless darkness and a loneliness that seeped into the marrow...

It was as though a child forgotten by the world for billions of years had curled up in an eternal dream, no longer even capable of sorrow.

Sky Dream Iceworm!

Was this its spiritual world?

Huo Yuhao's mind was struck hard by that immense loneliness.

Carefully, as though touching the most fragile work of art, he slowly pressed his spiritual power against it.

However—

At the instant of contact!

An instinctive, tyrannical force of rejection, as heavy as a planet, erupted with a roar!

"Get lost!"

A vague thought exploded directly within his sea of consciousness!

There was no technique behind this force. It was pure, overwhelming suppression!

If the formation's previous attacks had been scalpels, then this was a meteor smashing straight into him!

The spiritual power Huo Yuhao had painstakingly infiltrated was scattered in an instant, nearly collapsing on the spot!

[Warning! Target's instinctive defense encountered! Spiritual connection on the verge of severance!]

Huo Yuhao's heart tightened.

He had been careless!

Even if it was weak, a being that had slept for a million years was not to be taken lightly when it came to instinctive defenses!

He could not confront it head-on!

He immediately drew back his spiritual power. Rather than forcefully trying to "approach," he hovered at the edge of that sea of consciousness and began transmitting an entirely different kind of message.

He did not send some hollow slogan like, "I'm here to save you."

Through the [Thought Palace], he gave tangible form to his goodwill!

What he transmitted was not emotion, but a kind of "structure."

A modern scientific structure of thought, filled with logic and order.

[Concept Armament: Constructing "Goodwill" model...]

[Model components: mutual benefit, non-zero-sum game, fair exchange...]

Huo Yuhao packaged these cold, purely rational concepts into a spiritual signal and slowly sent it into that chaotic sea of consciousness.

Sure enough!

Sky Dream Iceworm's violent force of rejection paused slightly.

Though its consciousness was muddled, it could sense that this foreign spiritual power was very... strange.

It did not resemble the wildness and chaos of any soul beast it knew.

Nor did it resemble the muddled spiritual power of human Soul Masters, filled with greed and desire.

This spiritual power was pure, calm, and imbued with a certain... clear, orderly sense of order.

Like a precise mathematical formula appearing amid a mess of chaotic scribbles.

It felt unfamiliar, but... not unpleasant.

[Target's resistance decreased by 3.4%...]

There was a chance!

Huo Yuhao's spirits soared!

He knew that, at this moment, his identity as a transmigrator and his knowledge system beyond this era had become his strongest "pass"!

Striking while the iron was hot, he immediately began constructing a second "conceptual model."

This time, he conveyed the two most fundamental, primal impulses.

"Rescue!"

"Freedom!"

He did not explain what those two words meant.

Instead, he staged a "live broadcast" within the spiritual plane through the [Thought Palace]!

In the image, the enormous ice cocoon encasing Sky Dream Iceworm shattered inch by inch!

The ancient formation that had bound it for a million years dimmed, its runes collapsing!

In the image, it broke free from its underground prison and once again felt the warmth of sunlight, breathed fresh air, and saw the boundless sky!

It was the exhilarating, all-consuming pleasure of being completely unleashed after a million years of suppression!

Huo Yuhao projected this "mental film," in breathtaking clarity, directly into the depths of Sky Dream Iceworm's consciousness!

"..."

That deathly silent sea of consciousness fell quiet.

But the very next second!

BOOM!!!

An unprecedented spiritual storm, violent beyond measure, suddenly surged from the deepest reaches of that sea of consciousness!

It was no longer mere resistance, but something mixed with longing, confusion, rage, and a sliver of awakening madness!

Crack—

In the real world, a tiny fissure appeared without warning on the surface of the enormous iceberg-like cocoon!

Immediately afterward, the vast life energy within the cocoon, which had once been as steady as a mountain, instantly became chaotic!

Terrifying waves of energy crashed wildly within the cocoon like an out-of-control tsunami!

The entire magnificent temple began to shake violently!

It worked!

And it had gone too far!

Those two thoughts flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind at once.

He had awakened this sleeping beast.

But at the same time, he had ignited a nuclear reactor that could explode at any moment!

Sitting cross-legged at the center of the raging energy, he pressed both palms firmly onto the runes beneath him.