Heaven-Trapping Formation

"Every mountain has a different Mountain God. It depends on who first cultivates into a Mountain God in that territory. Anything in creation can become one."

The Daoist gazed into the dark depths of the distant cave and said, "The Mountain God of this mountain is about to ascend to the next stage! Its appetite is at its greatest right now. Human or demon, ghost or god—if it can swallow them, it won't spare them!"

"Come on, this way."

With that, the Daoist beckoned to Ye Qianfan again.

His hand was also formed from mist. As he beckoned, the mist trailed out like smoke stirred by the wind, leaving a long smoky streak. It was quite fascinating.

The two passed through several more caves in succession. Some contained skulls covered in cobwebs that looked very old.

Other caves were filled with filthy water. Every now and then, one or two large bubbles rose out of the sludge-thick water. Who knew what could be living in water that foul?

But whatever it was, it had to be either utterly filthy or extremely poisonous!

Had Ye Qianfan not already become immune to all poisons, he would certainly have kept far away from those pools.

"Don't be fooled by how filthy that water looks. It can catch fire. It's quite miraculous." Seeing Ye Qianfan studying the pool, the Daoist immediately launched into another explanation. "My master called this stuff fire oil."

"Fire oil?" Ye Qianfan's eyes instantly lit up. "Petroleum! All-natural petroleum! Holy shit! I'm rich!"

"Tch, what good is being rich? Do you have any use for money now?"

The Daoist scoffed. "And even if you really were alive, I'd still advise you not to get any ideas about this stuff!"

"This has always been something military factions fight tooth and nail over. Anyone who touches it ends up in trouble!"

"Unless you can beat them in that fight."

"That's not necessarily impossible!"

Ye Qianfan stroked his chin and smiled.

Still, this was not the time to consider uses for the oil. He had to deal with those soldiers first!

Soon...

Under the Daoist's guidance, Ye Qianfan arrived at the cave where the soldiers and their companions were hiding.

But upon entering their hiding place, Ye Qianfan saw great clouds of killing intent shooting skyward from the soldiers. They filled the entire cave with killing intent, making its occupants look exceedingly dangerous!

Entering in his soul form, he immediately felt uncomfortable all over. Fortunately, Ye Fu's cultivation methods included a soul-stabilizing technique.

Thus, Ye Qianfan silently recited the soul-stabilizing incantation while hiding to one side and observing the group.

His purpose was...

To find an easy way to take revenge on them!

"General Bai, didn't you say that driving people from both the yin and yang realms here would be enough to feed the Mountain God?" One subordinate punched the wall and said angrily, "But instead of falling asleep and forming a cocoon, that Mountain God started slaughtering everyone. It's treating us as food too!"

"Those bastards from the Demon-Quelling Office tricked us again!"

General Bai also gnashed his teeth in fury. "They clearly included us in their calculations! They wanted us and the Mountain God to fight until both sides were crippled. Then those scoundrels from the Demon-Quelling Office could come out to clean up the mess and seize the chance to dig out the Mountain God's Exquisite Heart!"

"General, what do we do now?"

A subordinate asked.

General Bai stroked his chin and said, "Set up a formation, then lure the Mountain God here to throw itself into our net. I'll kill it myself! We can break out of this predicament!"

"You heard him! Hurry up and set up the formation!"

The subordinate shouted, and the twenty-odd Patrol Soldiers remaining in the cave immediately sprang into action.

Three men each took out an Ink Line Reel, while another three hammered nails into the ground. The nails were arranged like an eight-trigram formation, forming a cylindrical polygon. Then the men began leaping and tumbling up and down as they wound inked cord around the nails!

From Ye Fu's memories, Ye Qianfan knew that just any inked cord would not do.

It had to come from a reel an old carpenter had used for his entire life, thoroughly imbued with yang fire, to have any effect!

Once they finished stretching out the inked cord...

An eight-trigram formation made from inked cord appeared on the ground!

Boom!

At the very instant the formation was completed.

Ye Qianfan saw an enormous burst of light shoot skyward!

That was...

"The Heaven-Trapping Formation!"

At that instant, Ye Fu's memories seemed to be drawn out by the formation before him, allowing Ye Qianfan to see every detail about it, its contents, and even how to set it up.

In other words, almost the instant Ye Qianfan saw the formation, he had already learned how to arrange and use it.

Ye Fu's memories even carefully explained every detail that required attention to Ye Qianfan!

It was practically like having a skill forcibly taught to him!

Awesome!

"You actually know this formation? There's more to you than meets the eye!"

Standing beside him, the Daoist looked rather surprised to hear Ye Qianfan correctly name the formation!

Wasn't this kid just an ordinary person?

How did he know so much?

"I know a little, that's all."

Ye Qianfan replied with a smile.

Perhaps feeling that he had been outdone, the Daoist immediately sounded rather disgruntled. "Didn't you say you were going to deal with these soldiers? Why aren't you making a move? I'm still waiting to see you display your mighty powers!"

"Or were you just bragging earlier, and now that you've seen all their killing intent, you've lost your nerve?"

"Heh, but it's only natural that you wouldn't dare. I wouldn't either!"

"After all, that killing intent of theirs practically keeps gods and ghosts alike at bay. Stop plotting against them, or you'll be the only one to suffer!"

Listening to the Daoist's contradictory remarks, Ye Qianfan knew that he was really trying to talk him out of it in a roundabout way!

He was probably afraid Ye Qianfan would act rashly and do something he should not.

"It's not that I don't dare!" Ye Qianfan said with a smile. "The time just hasn't come!"

"What time?"

The Daoist looked at Ye Qianfan in confusion.

Only then did Ye Qianfan explain, "Didn't they say they were going to deal with the Mountain God? Then why don't we wait until both sides are badly wounded before making our move? Wouldn't that let us kill two birds with one stone?"

"How could it be that easy?" The Daoist remained unconvinced. "Even my master couldn't have pulled that off when he was alive. You're just an ordinary person without any cultivation. Where on earth did you get that courage?"

"Probably... from Liang Jingru!"

Ye Qianfan tossed out the quip.

And while the two were talking...

"The formation is complete! You lot, bring some corpses over!"

Once the formation for capturing the mountain god was finished, General Bai immediately issued another command to the Patrol Soldiers.

Although the Patrol Soldiers were very reluctant to go outside, they still steeled themselves and carried in the corpse bearers, some wrapped in white cloth and others bitten in half by the mountain god, with only their upper bodies remaining!

Soon...

Seven or eight corpses and twenty-odd Patrol Soldiers were packed into the small rocky cave. It was positively brimming with human vitality, while corpse qi soared to the heavens!

Ye Qianfan discovered that after entering his soul form, he could actually see all kinds of qi!

For instance, the soldiers' murderous aura was red!

Corpse qi was green!

As for them...

The qi of beings in their soul state was white.

"How strange."

The Daoist could naturally see these kinds of qi too, so he said in puzzlement, "Logically, with so much packed into this tiny cave, there's no way the Mountain God could fail to notice it. How exactly did these soldiers escape its eyes and ears?"