Chapter 915: I Want to Learn This!

Beyond Xiqi lies a vast, desolate plain, where wild winds brush past, setting rocks flying and filling the heavens with swirling dust.

Before the ranks of the Xiqi army stands one upon Wind-Fire Wheels, gripping a Fire-Tipped Spear—none other than Nezha; another rides a Jade Qilin, who is Huang Tianhua; Lei Zhenzi looms with a grotesque and wondrous visage, while Yang Jian stands steeped in a soaring Daoist aura, their eyes scanning the far horizon.

Within the Shang camp, Grand Tutor Wen sits astride his Black Qilin, golden whip held aloft at the front, followed by ten Daoists of grim countenance, their faces uniquely bizarre in shades of green, yellow, red, and white, who ride out upon immortal deer and align themselves in a single row.

The armies of both nations stand arrayed, enveloped in a chilling shroud of slaughter!

The gathering onlookers had never witnessed such a grand display; these mortal troops were entirely led by immortals and gods, whose brilliant methods left everyone struck with profound awe.

As the formation was laid out, the soldiers and generals parted ways, and the territory behind them, which had already been thousands of miles of blowing sand, now surged with rolling dust and dense, heavy mists.

Su Tianji and Lan Mo, the leader of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance, along with other cultivators, followed Jiang Ziya into the formation to observe; yet the moment they crossed the threshold of the formation flags, passing through an invisible portal, it felt as though they had entered an entirely different realm, where the heavens were dark without a sun and the earth was murky and unlit, causing even ordinary men to lose all courage at the sight of this mere unfinished remnant!

The disciples of the two sects clashed in magical combat, pitting their divine abilities and depth of Daoist arts against one another without relying on the deceptive strategies of conventional warfare; even so, that peril-laden formation made hearts leap with greater trepidation than any true military gambit!

Furthermore, whether it was the audience of the Immortal Relic Continent or the patrons of the new shop, as they watched up to this point, they admired Grand Tutor Wen's fierce loyalty on one hand, and the exquisite mastery of the Ten Absolute Formations laid out by the Ten Heavenly Lords of Golden Island on the other, eager to see how this grand array would unleash its divine might; yet on the other hand, they wished the Xiqi army would instantly march upon Zhaoge to deliver a harsh lesson to that tyrant king, leaving them worried that Jiang Ziya might fail to break the formation, while simultaneously fearing the defeat of old Grand Tutor Wen, their hearts tightening with every passing moment.

……

"Can anyone truly break this formation...?" Li Haoran, Yunyang Zi, and the other artifact refiners of the Wuwei Daoist Alliance stared fixedly at the massive array; these Ten Heavenly Lords had surprisingly chosen not to activate it yet, letting Jiang Ziya enter to inspect it first before allowing him to return and deliberate on a counter-strategy, reflecting an absolute confidence in their Ten Absolute Formations to act so entirely without fear.

But the formation clearly did not disappoint their expectations, for within the entirety of Xiqi, not a soul could devise a solution!

"How terrifying! This ancient land of Huaxia actually possesses such a dreadful thing!" In the new shop of Canglan City, the ancient black dragon Gultons also howled in shock, "The aura inside gives this dragon a feeling more frightening than powerful deities... Is this also a formation?!"

In its understanding, formations were akin to magic circles, but it had never seen a "formation" so bizarre and perilous!

"What Ten Absolute Formations?! What good stuff are you all watching again?!" At this moment, the Valkyrie Isabella, lying up in the Heavenly Realm, could only eavesdrop on the muttering of various onlookers to glean a few clues, waiting anxiously for the eight o'clock big-screen live broadcast; she was so frantic with impatience that she wished she could leap straight out of the pool to watch the latest episode of "Investiture of the Gods" in the shop.

Feeling her heart itch with unbearable curiosity, she quickly strained her ears to listen to the elves, terrified that she might miss some accidental spoiler they might let slip.

Just then, the group of elves suddenly cried out in amazement: "How can the master of this Soul-Dropping Formation be so powerful?!"

"To think he used a mere straw doll to pray away two of Jiang Ziya's earthly souls and six of his heavenly souls?!" They saw that Heavenly Lord Yao, within the Soul-Dropping Formation, had merely erected an earthen platform and set up an incense altar, upon which stood a straw doll bearing Jiang Shang's name; three lamps flickered above its head and seven lamps burned at its feet, as he cast incantations and seals before the altar, and in about twenty days, he had nearly prayed away the entire soul of Jiang Ziya, who had returned to ponder a counter-strategy!

Never mind the elves, what cultivator of the East Continent had ever witnessed such bizarre divine arts and Daoist methods?!

It was not only impossible to guard against, but they had absolutely no way to even begin resisting; even upon learning the cause, Yang Jian, Nezha, and the others were completely helpless.

This was a divine ability and spellcraft that had entirely transcended what they had learned and known, falling utterly outside their established system of knowledge!

They could not comprehend what connection this straw doll held with Jiang Ziya that could so easily bypass all defenses to seize his three heavenly souls and seven earthly souls.

This was simply far too perilous!

"What straw doll again?! What is it?! What powerful thing has appeared now?!" The Valkyrie Isabella, still floating in the pool, looked as if she would grow a hundred hands to scratch herself if she could move, the curiosity gnawing so deeply at her core that two hands were nowhere near enough to soothe the itch in her heart.

"Reveal a bit more, will you!" She was dying of anxiety.

And at this moment, everyone finally began to deeply appreciate the terror of this formation; this disciple specifically sent down the mountain by Yuanshi Tianzun had barely begun his mission before he was on the verge of dying here, his soul scattered to the winds!

Had it not been for Jiang Ziya's final heavenly and earthly soul yearning for Kunlun, drifting back to the Kunlun Mountains where the Immortal of the South Pole happened upon them and delayed the moment his soul was captured, this Investiture of the Gods might have ended shortly after its opening chapter.

And when they subsequently watched Chi Jingzi, the second disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun, go to reclaim Jiang Ziya's soul, only to fail and nearly perish within the formation himself, the shock in their hearts multiplied beyond measure!

One must remember these were the Twelve Golden Immortals! And Chi Jingzi was second only to Guang Chengzi among them!

"Just what is the background of these Ten Heavenly Lords... how does it feel like anyone emerging from this Jiejiao Sect is so incredibly powerful?!" If they had previously harbored some concern about Grand Tutor Wen meeting defeat before his campaign truly began, it had now transformed entirely into anxiety for Jiang Ziya and Xiqi; could anyone in this world truly unravel such a formation?!

What left them even more incredulous was that even going to Yuanshi Tianzun yielded no good method to enter the formation and rescue Jiang Ziya's soul, not until he received Yuanshi Tianzun's decree to visit Laozi at the Eight Desolations Palace in the Xuandu Cave of the Daluo Palace, where he obtained a Taiji Diagram to contend with this array—and that was merely one of the ten formations meant to seize Jiang Ziya's soul.

Needless to say, this figure whose combat prowess ranked near the top among the Twelve Golden Immortals narrowly escaped with his life even while bearing the Taiji Diagram to retrieve Jiang Ziya's soul, and he even lost the Taiji Diagram within the formation!

He emerged from the formation utterly frightened out of his wits!

"Can... can this formation be learned?!" Suddenly, quite a few cultivators in the shop cried out in surprise; one must remember that when these Heavenly Lords were refining their formation diagrams earlier, they had watched the entire process clearly from start to finish!

Su Tianji also stared intently at the Ten Absolute Formations, shouting aloud: "This elder wants to learn it too! I will learn this one... the Golden Light Formation of the Holy Mother of Golden Light!"

"Oh?! Ah!" Su Tianji looked on with delight, discovering that this Holy Mother of Golden Light was actually a fellow practitioner who also utilized lightning arts!

"Ah! I will learn this one! I will learn this one!"

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It was too late last night and my mind was a bit muddled, causing the Chanjiao and Jiejiao sects to become Chanjiao attacking itself... it has been corrected, my apologies to everyone.

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