The bearded man had merely been assigned to cooperate in the mission, and he had not thought the target of the mission would appear along this route.
Of all the routes the target might take back, theirs was neither too close nor too far. It was not the best choice.
To deal with the target, their side had laid traps along several routes. Yet they had no idea which path the target would ultimately take.
By their estimates, the target was most likely to take either the nearest route or one of the three longer detours.
It was even possible that the information they had received was false, that the target had no intention of returning anytime soon and was merely laying out a smokescreen.
Thus, when the bearded man truly discovered the target within the grand formation, even he was greatly surprised...
Before setting out, the bearded man had received a set of incantations for controlling the formation. However, he was not the one operating the formation core; he did not possess the ability to fully activate such a formation.
Under normal circumstances, he could barely have managed to activate the "Ten Gates Killing Formation" at full strength. But this was the "Rouge Sea," making what he could barely achieve utterly impossible.
He had chosen to ambush and kill these people because he was not confident he could break that red jade ruler. He knew better than anyone here just how powerful Elder Wang was.
If his single strike failed, he would expose himself outright. Rather than that, it was better to intercept these people—or simply hold them back.
Especially since he was now inside the grand formation. Borrowing the formation's attacks, he could wield the strength of the Body Integration Realm, and maintain it continuously.
As for the