Emperor Zhetian had already been startled the moment he saw that pattern.
The pattern was exceedingly rare, yet Emperor Zhetian happened to recognize it.
Precisely because he recognized it, he was so shocked.
It was a Soul-Splitting Formation, something that should have been lost to the ages.
The so-called Soul-Splitting Formation was a formation that separated the soul body of anyone who entered it from their physical body.
Anyone harmed by this formation would suffer a severe illness at best; at worst, their soul would be left incomplete, reducing them to a witless fool.
But either outcome was undoubtedly a thunderbolt out of a clear sky for Emperor Zhetian at this moment.
For although he was immensely powerful, he still had a weakness.
His weakness lay in the union between his soul body and his physical body: it was not entirely perfect, but had cracks.
Naturally, this closely guarded secret should have been known to no one in the world except him.
Yet the Soul-Splitting Formation before him made the truth unmistakably clear to Emperor Zhetian.
Someone else knew his secret.
That was why they had laid this Soul-Splitting Formation and lured him into it, step by step.
Once he understood this, the aura surrounding Emperor Zhetian began to grow utterly terrifying.
He, the sole mighty being between heaven and earth, the ruler of all things in the world, had been played like this.
Most crucially, he could now neither advance nor retreat.
Though the Soul-Splitting Formation looked unremarkable and contained little energy, it was a deadly weapon against someone whose soul body and physical body already fit together imperfectly.
By now, Emperor Zhetian could distinctly feel the tearing at his soul within him growing ever stronger, yet he could not steady it.
Unless he could find the formation eye