"Master Gong, with your mastery of the Dao of formations, setting up this Seven-Colored Immortal-Felling Formation must be a simple matter for you, right?"
"Need you even ask? Master Gong is one of the top formation masters in our Congyun Sea."
"Exactly. Haven't you noticed that Master Gong has to step in personally for the formations' annual maintenance?"
The group of young cultivators chattered excitedly among themselves.
Master Gong stood to one side looking rather pleased with himself, stroking his beard with a smile.
'A formation master, is he?' Li Fan's heart stirred as he watched.
He had nearly forgotten someone's dying request.
Assuming a solemn expression, he called out from a distance, "Senior, would you happen to be Master Gong?"
The long-bearded cultivator started slightly and turned his head to look at Li Fan.
Surprise flickered in his eyes for merely a fleeting moment, well concealed.
He smiled and said, "I am Gong Boyu. And who might you be, young friend?"
Li Fan put on an excited expression. "I am Li Fan. Master Gong, I've finally found you! Getting to meet you in person is truly harder than scaling the heavens!"
Gong Boyu looked a bit embarrassed, but he still asked patiently, "May I ask why you were looking for me, young friend?"
Li Fan let out a sigh, his face filled with deep emotion. "I am merely fulfilling an entrustment from another!"
"My late friend He Zhenghao left behind a scroll titled *Detailed Explanation of the Hundred Meridians Formation Diagram* before he passed away..."
Li Fan had only gotten halfway through his sentence when Gong Boyu agitatedly cut him off.
"What? You're a friend of Daoist He? He left a formation manuscript with you?" Gong Boyu's expression turned peculiar, seeming half doubtful and half pleasantly surprised.
His figure blurred, appearing beside Li Fan in a flash.
Li Fan only felt his shoulder gripped in an instant, and then the scenery before his eyes shifted.
By the time he came to his senses, he was standing before a tilted, cubic building.
The cube seemed to be forged entirely from some kind of metal, gleaming with a cold, clear light under the sun.
"Follow me," Gong Boyu said to Li Fan, then stepped inside.
Li Fan followed him in.
Darkness enveloped them. Though the building appeared imposing from the outside, the interior was merely a cramped little room.
Just as Li Fan was feeling puzzled, the ground beneath his feet suddenly jolted, and the square space they were in seemed to move.
Then the walls and floor turned transparent, and Li Fan realized that the interior space appeared to have been sliced into countless independent cubes.
Each cube moved rapidly along a specific trajectory, and the busy figures of cultivators could be vaguely glimpsed inside them.
After a while, as if docking against something, the cube they were in came to a halt.
A seamless docking was instantly completed, and the surrounding scenery abruptly shifted.
The space they were in expanded severalfold, furnished with a few tables and chairs, appearing to be a reception lounge for guests.
Inviting Li Fan to sit, Gong Boyu asked with a warm smile, "Would you mind letting me have a look at that *Detailed Explanation of the Hundred Meridians Formation Diagram* you mentioned, young friend?"
Li Fan naturally had no objection.
He had long since deleted the message recorded inside He Zhenghao's jade slip and made several copies for safekeeping. Li Fan drew one out from his storage ring and handed it over.
With a touch of melancholy, he said, "Before Daoist He set out to explore that cave dwelling, he feared he might meet with mishap and his life's work would be buried forever. That was why he entrusted the *Detailed Explanation of the Hundred Meridians Formation Diagram* to me, instructing that if he perished, I was to deliver it to you, Master Gong. He hoped you could complete this unfinished explanation on his behalf."
Gong Boyu perused the jade slip intently, his face alternating between wonder and bewilderment.
After a long while, he carefully put the jade slip away and said to Li Fan, "Alas, though Daoist He's cultivation realm was somewhat low, his talent in formations was truly breathtaking. What a pity..."
"Heaven is envious of genius!"
Then he said solemnly to Li Fan, "Rest assured, I will do everything in my power to complete it. I will never allow Daoist He's masterpiece to be lost to obscurity."
Next, he handed Li Fan a communication talisman. "Once it is finished, I will notify you immediately. When the time comes, I will also give you a copy."
Pondering for a moment, Gong Boyu added, "This *Detailed Explanation of the Hundred Meridians Formation Diagram* is of tremendous help to our Formation Planning Hall. Even I have benefited greatly from some of its novel insights."
"You went through great trouble to deliver it to me, which counts as a meritorious deed. In a little while, I will transfer twenty thousand contribution points to you."
Li Fan had not expected such a windfall and hurriedly thanked him.
Seeing Gong Boyu once again engrossed in He Zhenghao's work, Li Fan was about to take his leave when he realized an awkward predicament.
He had no idea how to get out.
Left with no other choice, he had to disturb Gong Boyu once more.
"Do you truly know nothing of the Dao of formations?" Gong Boyu asked in surprise.
He then retrieved another jade slip. "This contains the introductory foundational course of our Formation Planning Hall. In your spare time from cultivation, you can study it. That way, when Daoist He's work is completed in the future, you won't be entirely ignorant of it."
"Remember, you must not share this with outsiders."
"Off you go!"
With that, he waved his hand.
Li Fan felt the ground beneath him vibrate as the surrounding space detached, re-forming into a small three-dimensional cube.
It sped off in the direction they had come.
Before long, it delivered him back to the entrance of the Formation Planning Hall.
Stepping out of this strikingly distinctive building, Li Fan looked up at it once more.
'There are still over a dozen years left. I hope you will be able to complete it in time.'
Returning to the Wanxuan Mirror, he took out the jade slip gifted by Gong Boyu and examined it, unable to conceal his delight.
Compared to the myriad introductory formation books on the market, the teachings within this jade slip progressed from basic to profound in orderly stages.
Moreover, it was structured with impeccable clarity and thoroughness.
From foundational theory to practical array-laying, it was as if someone were guiding him hand in hand.
In his previous life on Tai'an Island, Li Fan had also tried to learn and set up a seawater purification array.
Yet even for a formation as rudimentary as could be, it had taken Li Fan nearly half a month.
The Dao of formations was simply far too vast and complex.
Relying on self-study alone made it exceedingly difficult to cross the threshold.
With this jade slip, however, it would be much easier.
In the ancient cultivation world, this could easily qualify as half of an orthodox legacy.
After all, the knowledge inside this jade slip could not be bought even with contribution points.
"Good, good, good! Daoist He, you really are still shining bright even after death!"
Exhilarated, Li Fan uttered "good" three times in a row.
Settling his mind, he plunged hungrily into his studies.
Absorbed in the profound mysteries of formations, he lost all track of time.
He had no idea how long had passed before a faint spiritual premonition stirred in his heart and snapped him awake.
Checking the time, he found that it was already Year 18 of the Anchor.
'Delving into formations consumes far more time than regular cultivation,' Li Fan clicked his tongue in wonder.
In his perception, merely a few days had slipped by.
'Still, why was I jolted awake all of a sudden?'
Li Fan frowned, and events of the past drifted through his mind one by one.
...
"Three years ago, my elder sister caught the eye of a passing immortal master and was taken away. In the beginning, she would send people to deliver letters assuring us she was safe. But later on, not a word was ever heard from her again."
So it was this!
Enlightenment dawned on Li Fan immediately.
Chapter 126