Princess Taiping visibly paused at his words.
She truly had not considered that detail.
She turned to Lu Changfeng with an inquisitive look. "You mean...?"
Lu Changfeng pointed into the depths of the churning miasma. "Your Highness possesses profound cultivation, and your Divine Sense is far keener than mine. Can you sense whether there is a source of flowing water within the core area covered by this Gu Formation?"
Princess Taiping immediately gathered her thoughts and held her breath, sharpening her perception to its utmost as she carefully distinguished the sounds beneath the shrieking of countless gu insects and the murmur of flowing miasma... Sure enough, she picked up an extremely faint but continuous gurgling!
A flicker of genuine surprise crossed her eyes, and she blurted out, "There really is! A very small spring. It is so quiet that the insects would all but drown it out unless one deliberately searched for it. I suspect... only a tiny opening was left somewhere in the stone slab."
"Then that explains it."
Lu Changfeng nodded. "That spring is enough for the Blood Tai Sui to draw in moisture and connect to the earth veins. It also means this cave must connect to an underground river deeper below! So we may not need to break through this Ten Thousand Gu Spirit-Devouring Formation head-on. As long as we find that underground river and dig through to it, we can reach the underside of the spring. Even if we cannot extract the Tai Sui's entire body, we can sever its water-drawing roots and still obtain a treasure of heaven and earth."
Compared with ordinary Tai Sui, the Blood Tai Sui resembled a capless mushroom, and seemed more like a living creature.
The Blood Tai Sui inside was more like a spiritual plant than the "flesh reishi" of an ordinary Tai Sui.
Understanding dawned on Princess Taiping, and undisguised admiration entered her gaze as she looked at Lu Changfeng. "Your thinking is meticulous indeed, Minister Lu... Since the person behind this has already obtained a portion, he must have dug a hidden passage nearby! The mountain is solid, and digging at the surface would be far too conspicuous. But if he secretly tunneled along the underground river, using the natural waterway as cover, it would not only make the digging easier, but also make it extremely difficult for outsiders to notice. So there must be a secret passage nearby!"
"Your Highness sees clearly."
Lu Changfeng frowned. "Even so, the underground river has branches everywhere. Finding the passage will not be easy, and digging a new one would be too conspicuous... Wu Sansi is watching like a tiger eyeing its prey, and another group is lurking in secret. Unless we deploy a large force... but then, I fear we could no longer keep this secret."
"Not necessarily."
The corners of Princess Taiping's lips lifted. "Do you know what the fourth realm is, Minister Lu?"
Lu Changfeng paused, then answered, "I asked Qing Dai. The third realm is Xiantian: one opens the twin bridges of heaven and earth, condenses internal energy into force, and can project it outward to wound enemies. As for the Fourth-Realm Grandmaster... I hear one must comprehend an intent, project one's Divine Sense, and merge with heaven and earth..."
"Correct, but you have yet to touch upon its essence."
Princess Taiping nodded slightly and took a light step forward.
With that seemingly casual step, her aura abruptly became as unfathomable as an abyss.
Taiping held her hands before her as though cradling something, forming an ancient, abstruse seal, as if she were embracing all of heaven and earth.
"What is 'intent'?"
Her voice was ethereal, as though descending from the nine heavens. "Intent is the embryonic form of the Dao, the foundation of the primordial spirit's true aspect!"
"A person possesses three treasures: essence, qi, and spirit. In the first realm, Essence Refining into Qi; in the second, Qi Refining and Meridian Opening; in the third, Xiantian Spirit Nurturing. Then one visualizes the spirit and tempers the will, uniting spirit with qi until the Three Origins Returning to One. Only then can one enter the fourth realm-the Grandmaster realm-and begin to comprehend an intent uniquely one's own."
A faint purple halo began to radiate from her, and her aura entered a wondrous resonance with the surrounding heaven and earth.
In an instant, wind rose and clouds surged, and the grass and trees bowed low!
"Each person's cultivation method, experiences, and insights differ, so their intents vary in countless ways. Some are fierce, some yielding, some noble, some sinister... Yet ten thousand changes never stray from the root. Once one successfully condenses an intent, one can..."
Before she finished speaking, an indescribable majesty abruptly descended!
Clang-
A clear, melodious phoenix cry, seemingly crossing time and space, suddenly rang through the cave!
Then a pair of enormous, magnificent, illusory wings formed from pure heavenly and earthly qi spread wide behind Princess Taiping, shimmering with golden light and incomparable nobility! At the same time, the phantom of an extraordinarily majestic golden phoenix manifested above her head, gazing down upon the world. A slight flutter of its wings sent the surrounding qi roiling as though it had boiled.
"Condense intent into an aspect, manifest the primordial spirit! Drawn inward, it safeguards the self against all evil; released outward..."
Princess Taiping opened her phoenix eyes. All ordinary emotion had vanished from them, leaving only the indifference and majesty of a deity.
"...it forms a domain of its own and commands all within!"
The seals formed by her hands shifted. The enormous golden phoenix manifestation stretched its neck and cried out, while her mighty Divine Sense mingled with the incomparably pure true qi of the Purple Tenuity Heavenly Heart Formula and spread rapidly in all directions from her, like mercury spilling across the ground!
The next instant, an enormous Yin-Yang Array Diagram appeared out of thin air upon the ground, covering a radius of several dozen yards!
The diagram slowly rotated, black and white qi intertwining and flowing!
Within the formation, the Five Elements Essence-metal, wood, water, fire, and earth-flickered, connecting to the most fundamental powers of heaven and earth!
Yin-yang arts... Five Elements Positioning...
Lu Changfeng was shaken, his horizons thrown wide open. He had read descriptions of this art in the books of the Pivot of Heaven Pavilion, but never imagined that, when personally executed by a fifth-realm Great Grandmaster, its might would be so magnificent and terrifying!
All things beneath heaven bore yin upon their backs and embraced yang, attaining harmony through the blending of qi. Yin and yang and the five elements possessed their own cycles of generation, restraint, and transformation. Accomplished practitioners could use yin-yang arts to lay formations with their Divine Sense, transform the five elements within, and borrow the laws of heaven and earth to unleash powerful spells and techniques!
This Five Elements Positioning was an exceptionally profound application of yin-yang arts.
Once the art was released and the formation diagram unfolded, the caster became the sovereign of that domain.
Within the formation, the caster could clearly perceive and freely control the changes and distribution of the Five Elements Essence!
Princess Taiping held her breath and concentrated. With the absolute perception granted by this five-element domain, she carefully distinguished the strength and flow of the Earth Vein Qi and the subtle differences between its elemental attributes. Soon, she caught a trace of discord-near the mountain wall diagonally ahead, the earth qi representing the earth element contained a distinctly unnatural patch of emptiness and discontinuity!
"Found it."
Princess Taiping abruptly opened her eyes. The magnificent phenomena around her withdrew into her body like a great whale drawing in water, and the formation diagram dispersed.
Her gaze flashed like lightning as she pointed precisely ahead. "The entrance is beyond the mountain wall, concealed in the flowing water!"
Lu Changfeng considered it, then blurted out, "The Jade Belt River that winds around Jade Pillar Peak!"
True to its name, the clear, winding river wrapped around the foot of the mountain like a ribbon of green jade. Here, the mountain's contours turned its waters into an eddy, and their burbling provided excellent cover for any sounds a mechanism might make.
The two exchanged a glance, each seeing the delight of sudden understanding in the other's eyes.
Now that they had found a clue, there was no need to remain here waiting in vain.
They immediately turned to leave the gloomy cave by the way they had come. But just then, the enormous stone door that had only just opened behind them gave a heavy grinding rumble and began to close!
It moved slowly, yet carried an irresistible force, intent on sealing them inside this place of deadly peril!
The narrow entrance could only admit one person at a time to begin with. With the stone door closing, they were about to lose their way out!
Lu Changfeng's expression shifted slightly. Someone really was watching them!
Princess Taiping turned with a cold smile. She had anticipated this. In a flash, she reached the doorway and lightly raised her fair hand. Purple qi wreathed her palm, within which the faint phantom of a flowing river of stars appeared. The surrounding air instantly grew heavy and stagnant!
"Paltry tricks!"
With a cold rebuke, she struck out with her palm!
The strike seemed featherlight, but the instant it touched the enormous stone door slowly closing-
Boom!!!
An earth-shaking crash exploded!
It was as though stars had fallen from the nine heavens, bearing matchless force and the blazing might of heaven!
Under that tremendous palm strike, the seemingly indestructible Dragon-Severing Stone proved as fragile as tofu. It instantly burst into countless specks of dust that shot in every direction!
The entire Jade Pillar Peak seemed to tremble slightly with that strike, and startled birds scattered through the mountain woods!
Amid the clouds of dust, Princess Taiping lightly swept her sleeve, clearing the air, and walked out as calmly as if strolling through a quiet courtyard.
Lu Changfeng followed close behind. Once again, the two stood outside the cave, moonlight spilling over them.
But they immediately sensed that the atmosphere outside had changed.
"Come out."
Frost filled Princess Taiping's phoenix eyes as she swept a cold gaze toward the dark, dense woods to one side.
"Heh heh heh..."
A sinister chuckle came from the woods, and a figure clad entirely in black nightwear slowly stepped out of the shadows.
At the same time, bushes snapped and loose stones rolled. More than a dozen Giant Apes, each ten feet tall and covered in blood-red fur, slowly closed in from the perimeter. Their scarlet eyes glared, drool dripped from their fangs, and low, bloodthirsty growls rumbled from their throats as they formed a deadly encirclement, trapping the pair at its center!
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