When Xiao Hua's divine sense settled upon the defensive formation and he examined it closely for a moment, his brow furrowed slightly. This defensive formation was rather strange. It resembled a lock covering the sandbank, while the three streams rushing in from all sides resembled keys for unlocking it. The formation could only be opened through the streams. Yet the streams carried a faint, eerie strangeness, containing a hint of killing intent. Xiao Hua found it familiar, yet impossible to grasp, and had no choice but to ponder it further.
"How did Fellow Daoist Jingting enter this place last time?" Xiao Hua asked, seemingly having formed a plan.
True Person Jingting answered without hesitation, "When I first attended the Yaotai Gathering, I had already obtained a National Teacher's token in the mountains not far from here. Unfortunately, before I could put it into my Cosmic Bag, another fellow Daoist discovered it. That fellow Daoist was stronger than I was, and he struck me into that stream. To evade his pursuit, I used the Water Evasion Technique to hide. Who could have known that some utterly inexplicable force would carry me into that sandbank? It was just... my time inside the sandbank was extremely brief. I was brought out after merely glimpsing what lay within. Only later, through a fortunate coincidence... did I learn that what lay inside was the human essence commonly spoken of by us Daoist sect cultivators! Alas, once I learned that this thing was human essence, I came here to look every time I entered. But apart from that first time, only this time have I seen the ancient trees all around. During the previous several hundred years, Star Lord Palace had never opened this place."
"We do not have much time this time either!" Xiao Hua