Night Thunder

Early the next morning, Ye An went to the back mountain.

An elder who guarded the formation was already waiting at the entrance.

The elder was gaunt, his presence steady and restrained. Ye An could not gauge his depth.

Either the elder had cultivated a secret technique for concealing his aura, or the gap in their cultivation made him impossible to read.

Another expert of the Gathered Origin Realm. Such was the foundation of Cangwu Prefecture's foremost Sect.

The elder glanced at Ye An and confirmed his allotted training time. "Go in. Once seven days are up, the stone door will open."

Ye An nodded and stepped into the cave.

Stone steps led downward. The deeper he went, the dimmer the light became, and thick roots gradually covered the walls on either side.

The roots broke through the stone. Many were thicker than a man's waist, intertwining like a vast net that stitched the entire mountain together.

Were these the roots of the Cangwu Tree? Perhaps this was only the tip of the iceberg.

Ye An reached out and touched a root beside him.

It felt hard, yet something seemed to flow slowly deep within it, as though it were alive.

Ye An withdrew his hand. He did not know what it was, but it should pose him no threat.

At the end of the steps stood a stone door carved with the patterns of the Four Symbols.

He pushed it open. Inside was a stone chamber several yards across, bare except for a few formation patterns carved into the floor and walls.

The intricate lines stretched toward the four corners and ran into grooves in the walls.

Ye An sat cross-legged at the center of the formation, took a deep breath, and sent his True Essence into the patterns