The Outer Formation Core

The four-door bottom-mounted array is designed to absorb water.

This serves as a simple safety net.

However, it played an irreplaceable role in treating Wei Qing.

If the formation can be controlled, and the moisture from the twenty-foot-high pile of withered branches, rotten leaves, and decaying matter at the bottom of the secret mountain can be forcefully absorbed, even an ordinary adult can climb out of it.

Once ignited, the massive pile of debris would burn rapidly, eliminating the need for manual searching. For those with martial prowess, the chances of them quickly rushing into the inferno and rescuing Wei Qing were extremely high.

"The core of this four-gate protective formation..."

"Qu Bing mentioned your guess that the inner formation originated a thousand years ago, Principle originated from the Great Qin Dynasty. If we trace the origins of the formations from this Great Qin Dynasty scroll, we will definitely be able to find it!"

The new emperor's approach was very correct, and much better than Zhang Xuezhou's idea of a human search method.

However, this approach is rather radical.

Zhang Xuezhou currently has limited knowledge of the Four Gates Enclosure Formation outside the secret area, and he even suspects that the core of the formation is located outside a mountain.

He watched as the new emperor took out the scroll containing various formations and began to compare and contrast them.

Zhang Xuezhou recounted his method of searching for the array formations inside the secret realm, while the new emperor was now applying it in a different way.

Compared to Zhang Xuezhou's rapid flight over the Zhongnan Mountains, the new emperor had actually traveled through the Zhongnan Mountains several times and had a thorough understanding of the terrain in this area.

The new emperor also soared through the air, thus surveying the terrain of Zhongnan Mountain.

He had also determined the four cardinal directions (east, south, west, and north) for the Four Gates Encirclement Formation.

In retrospect, his previous calculations were wrong; it was most likely just a concealment of the formation's core location, while the true location had been overlooked.

"It should be here!"

There was obviously no time to think things through while rescuing someone, especially since Wei Qing was the most ruthless and capable commander of the army among the new emperor's officials; his death would be like losing an arm.

The new emperor's mind worked very quickly; his fingers moved across the array diagram, eventually settling on a particular spot.

"Where am I?" Zhang Xuezhou asked, puzzled.

"This is a mountain spring in the Zhongnan Mountains. The spring isn't large, only about a foot in diameter, but according to the array diagram, it's the location for setting up the array's core," the new emperor confirmed. "Take the Imperial Shuttle and take me there to see!"

"OK!"

Zhang Xuezhou glanced at Jin Wanliang and Huo Qubing, whose bellies were bulging, and gestured for the two to get along well.

"He looks like a tadpole with a big belly. I would never eat a little tadpole baby with a belly full of poop," Jin Wanliang said sullenly.

"You're the one who looks like a tadpole! What if your godfather doesn't come back and gets locked out? You'll have to beg me to poke your belly and let him out!"

Huo Qubing, however, showed no mercy and directly retorted to Jin Wanliang, holding his own.

Seeing the two getting along harmoniously, Zhang Xuezhou was immediately relieved.

He reached out and pulled, seizing the Sky Shuttle in his palm.

The hazy mountain scenery on the outskirts indicates that the secret place has come into contact with Zhongnan Mountain, and the hazy appearance is due to the limitation of the Geomagnetic Primal Light.

The Geomagnetic Primal Light a product of the secret place protecting itself, and also a result of the attraction and repulsion generated by its close contact with the world. The light is a visual effect brought about by the particleization of energy.

The forces involved are extremely chaotic, and even powerful demons like Zhu Jiuyin and Nine Spirits Primal Sage would avoid them, trying their best to stay out of it.

However, as long as the speed is fast enough and the body protection is strong enough, it is not impossible to force your way through.

"I understand. Vajra Talisman, Protective Talisman, Golden Armor Talisman, Rock Talisman, Heavenly Guardian Talisman, Five Divine Protection Talisman, Activate!"

After a brief exchange, the new emperor realized that it would be difficult to find a safe exit from the secret formation battle in the short term. He tapped several points on his body, and six streaks of light, some golden, some pale gold, and some purple, appeared one after another.

Perhaps due to limited production capacity, or the Empress Dowager's monopoly on Daoist School, or in order to maintain the royal family's advantage in power, very few talismans were made available to the outside world.

Aside from witnessing the new emperor, the Emperor Jing, and the Empress Dowager using talismans due to their wealth and power, Zhang Xuezhou rarely saw other cultivators using talismans.

Numerous talismans and precious lights descended from above, enveloping the Imperial Shuttle once more.

Zhang Xuezhou felt as if his body was encased in several layers of armor, and the Imperial Shuttle seemed to have become more sturdy as a result.

Clearly, if the goal is to find and rescue Wei Qing as quickly as possible, the risks involved include being injured by the Geomagnetic Primal Light, damaging the Imperial Shuttle, and having precious protective talismans used. These undesirable consequences demonstrate Wei Qing's standing in the new emperor's eyes.

"Charge!"

Zhang Xuezhou took a breath, and golden light from his physical body technique began to emerge.

His Law Power surged, and the Sky Shuttle circled twice above the secret place, almost reaching its maximum speed, before diving into the hazy direction of Zhongnan Mountain.

Lightning and fire appeared almost instantly, and even Zhang Xuezhou's body trembled involuntarily for several seconds.

When the Zhongnan Mountains became clear in his eyes, the layers of protective talismans and precious light almost completely faded away, and Zhang Xuezhou could even see the charred remains on the Imperial Shuttle.

He glanced back and saw the new emperor, his face flushed, circulating his Qi and Blood energy. His outer garments had been burned to black ash in a short time, leaving only a set of hard armor with fine white scales on his body.

"What amazing Geomagnetic Primal Light!"

Zhang Xuezhou looked at the new emperor, and the new emperor also looked at Zhang Xuezhou, who was controlling the Imperial Shuttle.

Seeing that Zhang Xuezhou's clothes were not damaged, he was speechless for a moment. He was completely unaware that Zhang Xuezhou's cultivation was so chaotic. It was as if the cultivators of the alchemy school in this world had actually trained their physical bodies, but they were not martial arts practitioners.

This left Zhang Xuezhou both vulnerable to attack and unable to launch an attack; he could fly at high speed, but once he flew over, he couldn't utilize his powerful Technique Method advantages.

This contradictory approach to cultivation also makes Zhang Xuezhou's abilities entirely geared towards support, which both reassures and troubles the new emperor.

"It's there!"

His mind raced with random thoughts for a brief moment before fading away, and then he focused on the core of the array he had recalculated and identified.

The shuttle veered slightly before flying towards the spring.

As the new emperor said, this spring was extremely small, only about a foot in diameter, just enough for a passerby to squat down and scoop up a few mouthfuls of water to drink.

Without calculations to determine the formation's location, this place is indeed quite ordinary.

But once the core of the formation was identified, this place was no longer ordinary.

"Certainly!"

Ignoring the mystery and unpredictability of the Four Gates Encirclement Formation, Zhang Xuezhou walked back and forth several times before successfully activating the Acupoint-Fixing Technique.

"Snap!"

A slight rumbling sound came, and Zhang Xuezhou felt the ground tremble slightly.

The trickling stream in the spring turned into waves, and the uncontrolled waves after the Four Gates Encirclement Formation ended also washed away this concealed area, revealing the bluestone that had been constructed by human hands under the soil more than a meter deep.

When the new emperor pulled hard, the bluestone slab was moved aside, revealing a three-zhang-square-meter water room in an underground space.

"The core of the Four Gates Encirclement Formation is actually a waterwheel?"

The water room at the entrance has several water inlets and outlets about the size of a human head, allowing for back-and-forth drainage and pumping.

In the center of the water room stands a bronze waterwheel, ten feet tall.

The waterwheel appears to be sealed off by the water room, thus forming a siphon effect similar to a pipe when combined with the inlet and outlet holes. As the waterwheel rotates continuously, it can pump water out of the secret place, and it can also continuously pump groundwater by rotating in the opposite direction, thus reaching all directions through underground channels.

The waterwheel, covered in verdigris yet showing no signs of decay, is at least a hundred years old, clearly the work of the former Great Qin.

The power source for adjusting and driving the waterwheel is Spirit Jade, which is powered by a Law Treasure mechanical device. The waterwheel is now covered with a layer of green algae.

With its power source cut off by Zhang Xuezhou's Acupoint-Fixing Technique, the waterwheel stopped operating, leaving the water in the channel to overflow haphazardly.